Happy Valentines Day!

 Happy Valentines Day dear blog readers!  Something to look forward to in February, right?!

I made Joe sugar cookies for V Day.  I didn't have a heart cut out so circles it is.

Finished up the Sophisticate baby sweater. 

Size 7 Needle

Happy Feet DK yarn that's been is stash forever.

Mason will get it so I need to make another one for the new baby in the family.

Used almost every bit of yarn!  Which you know I love.

The colors are a little hard to photograph.

 I have started working on the 2nd sock again.  BORING!

For Valentines Dinner tonight, we  had tenderloin, potatoes, steamed califlower , salad and finished with Red wine in the glass Martha gave me that her son made!  All so good.

 

 

Ruth is moving along on her HAP Shawl.  Houlland pattern out of Book of Haps.Yarn is Elemental Effects Shetland Fingering

 She said the long long rows are getting shorter now.  Soooo beautiful!

 Martha continues to work on her beautiful sweater:

She is  up to the armpits on the fronts. She can hardly wait to cast them off since it means the knitting goes very quickly. 

In her own words:

 So far I’ve kept the button holes in order, the pattern on track, and the neck edge details on repeats successfully. now thankfully The button holes are done. It’s just the neck edge and the armholes to do.  I’ll take a picture of the neck edge detail in separate email.  The pattern is unbroken by Anne Hanson.  The yarn is purple by Lana Plantea, purchased at a Rhinebeck. 

this pic is worth it but it shows how she’s moving the ridge from the front into the neck edge. The ridge in moving is between the gold sheep markers. No other news here. I’m hoping* to try to finish it over this vacation.

 I don't think I've ever mentioned it but I love this purple yarn..Jealous!!  LOLOL

Have a good week dear blog readers. Stay safe and be kind.

Shorter

Hi Dear Blog Readers!  Happy Superbowl Sunday!

This week my blog update will be even shorter than last week!  I knit on the baby sweater. Had one sleeve done, ripped it out because I thought it was too big.  Redid that one and just ready to start ribbing on 2nd sleeve.  Dull for sure!  Next I will pick up around the front and do the large collar. 

Next I will finish the 2nd sock.  If you know me at all, you know I am itchy to start something NEW!

Ruth got adorable buttons for her girly baby sweater from Esty. Beatrix Potter.

This is totally adorable.

She started a Hap shawl this week. Houlland pattern out of Book of Haps.

Yarn is Elemental Effects Shetland Fingering.

As always, I will past Martha's update directly from her since she explains it so well.

Hi Connie, here’s my zooming project sock. I finished the hat, gave it to my Yoga instructor. She loved it and posted it on FB with the sun behind her. Unfortunately the sun is peeking in and so you can’t see the hat but it’s the thought that counts! I was outed at union negotiations when the  superintendent asked me what I was knitting in my zooms? Opps! I promise it was off camera, but when I showed her the hat she oohed and aaahed.  Unfortunately i don’t have a pic but it looks just like the one I made for my principal but with a burgundy Pom Pom

Ok onto sweater. I’m starting with the Ravelry pictures of the Unbroken sweater by  Ann Hanson.   See how huge and sloppy the sweater looks? I wanted it much more fitted so I made it to fit myself exactly figuring the design stretch would do.

 

Here’s my sweater.  

Start of fronts:

 Great job Martha!  Beautiful for sure!

In other news:

My Christmas cactus is blooming. First time in 2 years I think.

Have a good week dear blog readers....Stay safe and be kind.

Short

 Hi Dear Blog Readers,

This post is going to be short and sweet.  I have been extremely tired this week and have not knit much.

The 2nd sock is coming slowly.  I finished the German Short Row Heel and now it looks like a short sock.  I will get back to it.

I mainly worked on the Sophisticate baby sweater.

Left the body stitches on the needle and started the arms. I really hope I am not short of yarn.  The body is a little shorter than I would like, hoping to go back and add a little length.  I added some stiches to the body and arms because I have a lot more yarn than called for. Let's hope I didn't short myself  at all!

Ruth finished up her baby outfit, sweater and hat.  Ruffled baby cardi. 

It is totally adorable.  She was not short on yarn and made a cute bonnet to match. 

Can't you just imagine a little girl wearing this...adorable!  I said that already but I needed to say it again!

Martha's Unbroken sweater may look a little short after a week of knitting.  

She had to rip back a week's worth of knitting because she noticed the cables were off.  She is a genius with patterns and figuring stuff out. Plus the pattern is sooooo complex!  I'm glad she noticed before it was too late.  

 

In other news:

It was sooo sunny here today and it's 5:41 pm and still a little light out. We had quite a bit of snow this week, and very very cold temps.  Glad we are all safe and sound.

I made some white chicken chili today.  I'll share with Tiffany. She can't eat anything tomato based right now.  A little cilantro and it will be so good. (I hope).

 

 

Have a good week dear blog readers. Stay safe and be kind and knit as much as you can!

Peek A Boo

 How can it be Sunday again dear blog readers?  Knitting progress was good here this week.  

Finished the blue sweater.  Juist 2

Jacob Yarn, Size 8 needles.

The neckline was too big, so I picked out the cast on stitches. Each stitch was a three step process, not very quick.  Put the stitches on a needle and did a few decreases at the shoulders. Turned out great. 

 

 

One thing I dislike wearing a sweater with rolled top or ribbing-- when you wear a necklace it comes over the top....looks a little weird to me sometimes.  I really like wearing a necklace with my plain sweaters to jazz them up a little.  See it coming over the top in this picture.

 It came to me one night about 4:00 am ( because what better to think about than knitting at that hour, right?)  When not put in a little peek a boo hole for a necklace.  So when I was redoing the neck, I cast off three stitches in the center and on the way back around cast on three stitches.

 You can't really see it with the rolled top.  I like it...and since it's hidden, don't have to use it.

 

 I'm happy with the fit.  It's bigger in the top than I would like but the hips fit nicely. I wore it today and it is so nice and warm!

I forgot to put a towel over it Thurs night when I was letting it dry and this is what I woke up to. Grrrr it's a good thing he's cute!

Started the Sophisticate Baby sweater for Joe's nephew out of this Happy Feet DK yarn.

Just about ready to put the sleeves on holders.  These are Mason's colors so it may not make it to the new baby.  :)

Not much work on the 2nd sock this week.  If you look closely at the toes, I thought the colors would be more the same..but nope!  All is good.

 Ruth is nearing the end of her adorable Ruffled Baby Cardi by Anna Trofimenko. Yarn is Webs Valley Yarns super wash Merino. Color is Mauve.  She will have enough yarn left for a hat.

Martha said she felt like me this week because she is working on not one, not two but three projects at once.   As always, updates are better in her own words so here you go:

My sweater.  Remember I said I left my iPad at work but I would knit away on the sweater because I had memorized the pattern? WRONG!!  I did the pattern repeat that night well so then I did another one over the next few days with the iPad and pattern at home. Unfortunately the pattern I made without the pattern (ipad) was two rows short. So you see here I remembered to put a life line in and ripped! I’m now ready to count my rows and start reknitting.    I 

 

 

Knit the gussets on the mittens I made for my student. I’m hoping the gussets come up to his elbows so he can’t take off his mittens outside.

 

 

Next is my second hat out of this yarn.. this project is my zooming project because it is very easy to knit 2 purl 2 around and around as I listen. 

 

 

 Finally, this week I prepped my sock for an afterthought heel so I would not lose the stripes flow. I used a Utube video to remember how to do it and she uses lifelines to help with the opening up of the heel.  It helped me to remember to use one for the sweater rip too! This is another zooming project for when the hat is done.  Knitting round and round!  No picture.

In other news:

Martha gave me a beautiful embossed rolling pin for Christmas that has sheep on it.

I used it today and they turned out so cute!

I used this recipe and they taste like Lorna Dunes.  Addictive.  I glazed half and left the other ones plain. Joe and I had them with tea for lunch.  (If you look the recipe up, it makes a ton of cookies, so I halved it). 

 

 

We got quite a bit of snow this weekend.  it sure was pretty. This is Friday morning. It snowed most of Friday and quite a bit Saturday morning. 

 

 Here is one of Mason's 4 month baby pictures. 

Have a good week dear blog readers.  Stay safe and be kind.

Focus

 I'm doing a 30 day yoga challenge this month and it's teaching focus.  Maybe that is why I was able to concentrate on the sweater sleeves.  One done, and 2nd one is almost done.  

Reminder this is the Juist No 2 Sweater

Yoke construction which is different.

This neck is very wide. I am going to try and pick it out and put on needles and make smaller. Wish me luck.  Should be done by  next week.

Worked on the 2nd sock while at a hair appt this week. The colors are different.  I'm kinda diggin it.

Ruth is working on her little girl sweater. Pattern is Ruffled Baby Cardi by Anna Trofimenko. Yarn is Webs Valley Yarns super wash Merino. Color is Mauve. Is it soooo cute!

Martha finished up her hat for her co worker and started another one!  I like her pompom choice!

Here are her own words to describe her knitting this week:

Hi, ok here’s the hat for my principal who is retiring and who admires my knitting frequently.  This pattern is called Bulky Waffel Hat by Laura Luna.  The yarn is by Ella Rae Huenique, color way Dame de Pique.  It’s super easy to knit while on zooms at work so there’s that. I started a second hat for my yoga teacher

While I was fussing about my yarn gauge issue this morning I produced these for my student.  They’re 8” long and I hope they will go up his cuffs to stay on. 

 

 

I used this yarn.  Mark gives me this yarn every year, same color.  It performed perfectly for this job.  I used both balls one solid red, one rag pink and red.  

 

 

Ok here is my yarn for fussing.  It’s 22 stitches /1”.  This swatch was knit on square needles first and it’s a little stiff before swimming and blocking.  It looked terrible; it didn’t move around the square needle smoothly so I switched to round needles which was a much more consistent swatch.  I labored to figure out another Anne Hanson pattern at this new swatch and decided on the Unbroken pattern.  I’m pretty intimidated by the pattern.  But it caught my eye when she published it months ago, and I had a lot of yarn I wanted to use (since I spent so much money buying it!) and her patterns are well written so I’m going to try it. Pray the yarn is not too dark to see what I’m doing.

 

 

My thoughts on Martha's knitting:  I think the sweater is going to be beautiful.  I could not do it...not my kind of  knitting..but hers will be beautiful.    Also, I find it both hysterical and endearing that her husband gives her the same yarn every year, and the same color.  Wonder if he has a big bag of it stashed someplace.  

In other news:

Ruth watched her niece's dog Moxie this weekend...She is a sweet doggie.

My favorite pictures of Mason this week:

I love this picture. Tiffany said this sums up their relationship perfectly.  Athena never leaves his side.

I was watching him yesterday and Athena heard a noise outside. She ran next to me and Mason and was laser focused on the door making sure we were safe.  

This picture is actually from last week.  Mom loves playing with him.

I will be so glad when this next week is over. I'm afraid for what might happen in the country.  I hope all is safe and no one gets hurt.  Be kind and stay safe dear blog readers.