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.

Will This Fit Into That

 I am bad with measurements of any kind.  Really bad.  Joe will say something was 100 yards away...I say that means nothing to me...tell me from here to where?  When the kids were still home, I would often ask Joey when talking about leftovers.."Will This Fit Into That"  because eyeballing it I often picked a dish too small or way too big.  Plus it got him to talk to me when he was a teenager....:)  So fast forward to  this current sock.  I told you last week my goal was to use up the yarn.  After using the pattern on the leg for 8", I decided to start the ribbing.  Each of the markers on the leg represents an  increase so I can make the 2nd sock the same.  See the little 6" tail of yarn..that is what's left.

This is the back of the sock. The ribbing turned out to be 4"..I didn't judge the amount of yarn left correctly (will this finish that)....so the ribbing is long, but it's ok because it's stretch to go over my fat muscular calves.

Here is the front.  I like the color changes. The sock is 20" long!

Close up of ribbing.  There is even pinky colors in here.  Tonight I want to start the 2nd sock, because it needs a little thinking. 

Using Dancing Leaf sock blank.  I wound the sock blank into a ball, then weighed it, and split into two balls.  I like it a lot!  This is the back....notice how the foot area is very blue.

Front - pattern is Double Eyelett.

I learned this new technique for casting on foot up socks which I love.  From Modern Daily knitting Wanderlust book.  Going to work on the sweater this week and try to get the sleeve done.

I found this size 6 circ needle , 16" at Walmart today.  For $3.98.  I'll let you know how they work out. The other sizes were too weird to try.

Ruth ripped the sweater she had almost done. The sizing was just way too off.  She already redid the sleeve due to poor directions. The pattern is not written well in my opinion, since she is a perfect sweater knitter.  

She started a sweater for a baby girl coming in the spring.

Pattern is Ruffled Baby Cardi by Anna Trofimenko. Yarn is Webs Valley Yarns super wash Merino. Color is Mauve

Martha finished her sweater!  So cute.  It's currently drying. In her own words:

I finally figured it was best to do the button band by following the directions! Three times is the charm! I also figured out how to do the math for the button holes which I usually do by some great eyeballing, swearing and by guess and by gosh.  It’s nice to just do it by math one time right! I’m very happy with the outcome of this sweater. I have yet to try it on with buttons that’s the real test.

I spent the time today making a felted mitten for a student. So far it’s felting and I think it’s going to be too big. I made it out of the rest of the red rag from the sweater.  I may make another one pair from another bunch of odds and ends so I can keep this yarn for msweater repair emergencies.  Just in case.    The ribbon won’t stay on it’s just to keep the holes open so I can knit a long cuff on it if it shrinks properly.

She still hasn't decided which pompom to use on her retiring co-workers hat.

Have a good week dear blog readers.  I hope to knit more this week.  This past week I was too tired for much of anything after work.

Stay safe and be kind.

A New Year - Any Knitting Goals for 2021?

Happy New Year Dear Blog Readers.

Did you make any knitting goals for this year?  Share in comments please!

My knitting goal is to learn new things. I think I say that every year  And to play more with color.  Martha is fearless when it comes to color!  Ruth just dives into patterns and makes them work.  They are my knitting idols.  :)  Truth !

I have about  7" done on the sock leg since last week.

Using Dancing Leaf sock blank.  I wound the sock blank into a ball, then weighed it, and split into two balls.  I like it a lot!  This is the back....notice how the foot area is very blue.

Front - pattern is Double Eyelett.

Here is the back

I have a lot of yarn left over. Today I was knitting along and all of a sudden it it me..I have to remember to do ribbing since it's bottom up.  LOL!  I wanted to use all of the yarn but it might be too long.  Because I wanted to see the colors, and well, I wanted to use all of the yarn. My calves are big so I am increasing on the way up - that is what the markers are.  I'm wondering what the 2nd sock will look like.

Here is my sweater with the bottom ribbing done. I measured it a few times this week on a tube. I actually tinked back a little and then started the ribbing.  Length is good.  I am working on the first sleeve.  Since it is a yoke sweater, the sleeves are already about halfway down my arm.  I am anxious to get this done.  It will be, as Martha told me, like wearing a big blanket.  Lots of ease.

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I have been wanting to do a Log Cabin washrag for a while. I have had the yarn. KnitPicks Dishie yarn.

So to keep with the goal of learning something new, I made this. Easy peasey, and now I know.  I am going to keep going and make a small blankie for my grandkid(s).  Who knows, this may be the only new thing I learn this year, but I met my goal !  HA!

Here are the other colors sitting in the bag. There are two purply ones, though different. I don't think I'll use one of them.  Not too thrilled with the beige, but that is what I have.  This will be extreme, I mean really extreme brainless knitting. 

 Ruth is continuing on with her sweater. The pattern had some bad information, so she ripped a lot of it out this week, and is now back to before she ripped.  Cobblestone cardigan with Bartlett yarn.  So nice.....!!!!!

Martha is working on her candycane sweater, as she calls it. Bartlett yarn also.

She is on the second sleeve cap, but has not sewn up the seam on the sleeve.  Elsbeth Cardigan.

She is going to make a hat for her principal that’s retiring. She has dark red shoulder length hair and brown eyes.  She thinks this yarn will look great. (me too wince it's my color hair).  She is   taking a poll. Which pompom should go on the hat? My vote is the purple or black.  Leave your vote in the comments.

She got these buttons to go with her sweater, but is now not sure.She may stash dive for buttons.

This week Martha also made this cute little sweater for one of her students. The student always rolls up her sleeves so Martha made it short sleeve.  Stash dive yarn.  Pattern is Raglan Child by Catherine McMillan on Ravelry.

The sweater is so cute and it is so nice of her!

In other news:

I took the Christmas decorations down  today.  Makes a mess.  I have a feeling it will take a couple of days to get the house back in order.  Took the real tree down, but going to keep the fake tree up till this weekend.

Have a great week dear blog readers.

Stay safe and be kind.