Goodbye 2021!

Here we are at the end of another year.  I totaled up my knitting and crochet, just for fun.  Here's the first sock out of my handspun, for a little eye candy.

According to my Ravelry entries, I knit (or crocheted) 14,261 yards this year.

I made:

• 12 pairs of socks (not including the one above)
• 5 sweaters
• 4 shawls
• 2 pairs of mitts
• 1 hat
• 1 cowl
• 7 random heart projects
• 1 doily
• 1 flamingo
• 1 T-rex

 2021 has been both good and bad for us.  I'm ready to move on, but apparently our refrigerator was done refrigerating (we bought a new one yesterday) and this morning the hot water heater decided it was done too.  We're waiting on a plumber now.  Don't worry, a couple of weeks ago we replaced the upstairs HVAC unit, so there's our three things.  Done.  No more.

May 2022 be excellent for us all!  (I mean, it's not like it even has to try that hard after 2020 and 2021, right?)

Happy New Year!

A Finished Sweater

I finished my Iggy pullover!  This is knit in Miss Babs Yowza in Light Clematis.  I used just under two skeins and I love the finished pullover.  The front has a texture and the back and sleeves are ribbed.  I blocked the ribbing open for the back, but left the sleeves alone so they'd be narrow.  Narrow sleeves tend to not get in the way like flowing, dramatic, poetic sleeves (which are great for lounging around artistically and reciting sonnets while your hair blows in the breeze, but not so much for fishing the kitten out of the tree skirt, again).

As I was blocking this I thought about wearing it Christmas day, but apparently, it's supposed to be in the 80's here, so I will not be wearing a long sleeved, wool sweater tomorrow.  I now have no clue what I'm wearing tomorrow.

Merry Christmas and Happy Everything! 

Spinning

Starting here, with four ounces of fiber,

 

To three bobbins of singles,

 

To the finished yarn!

This is 360 yards of three ply fingering weight yarn.  Fiber is the Sweet Voices colorway from Three Waters Farm, 80% Superwash Merino/20% Nylon.  This was my first time spinning superwash anything but I really enjoyed it.  I'm really happy with how the colors worked out.  The finished yarn is super colorful, but I don't feel like the colors got muddy.  I plan to cast on for a pair of socks later today.  I can't wait to see how it knits up!

Spinning

I've finished spinning my third and final bobbin of singles for my first superwash spinning project.  This has been delightful to spin, and I don't just mean the colors (although they do make me smile).  Merino can be a little grabby sometimes and while I've made peace with it and we've gotten more comfortable together over the last few years, I still find I have to pay more attention to merino than I do with BFL or Polwarth.  I'm guessing the superwash treatment has made the difference.

I plan to ply this over the weekend and I can't wait to see how the finished yarn looks.  Will it do the color play that I'm hoping for?  Will it turn into clown barf?  I don't even know!  So. Exciting.

Want to know something even more exciting?  Caleb is coming home tomorrow!  We can't wait!

A Finished Cardigan and a New Pullover

I finished my Recoleta cardigan!  This is knit in Queensland Collection Kathmandu Aran 100 in Color 1, Smokey Gray.  It's a gorgeous, tweedy yarn that's super soft.  I knit it almost exactly like the pattern was written, only lengthening it about an inch.  I had thought about making it a much longer cardigan, but I realized that if it was longer I would sit on it when I sat down.  This yarn is not superwash and I was afraid the butt would get felted and that would look really odd in the lace on the back.

This was a fun pattern to knit and I think the lace parts will make it more wearable than it otherwise would be in Aran weight yarn here in Texas.  I'm looking forward to wearing it when it gets a little colder here. (But not like last February, not wishing for that, nope!)

After finishing Recoleta, I decided to grab some yarn from Deep Stash and start a top down pullover.  This is the beginning of Iggy, knit in Miss Babs Yowza in Light Clematis.  I bought this ages ago and have never found exactly what I wanted to knit with it.  I got three skeins and I couldn't find anything I was interested in that would use all of my three skeins.  I decided over the weekened that I'd just cast on already and knit this pullover and if I have a leftover skein, then so be it.  (Each skein is 560 yards, which explains the name Yowza.)  I'm sure I can find something to do with any leftover yarn.  I love this color and it's knitting up very nicely, but the ribbed back and sleeves will definitely need to be blocked before I wear it.