We Have Sleeves!

I've finished the sleeves on my Austin Hoodie and have begun the actual hood!  I have a little over two weeks to finish this sweater and submit it for the Happily Ever Hooded CAL at the end of the month.  I'm hoping the hood moves along pretty quickly, and I'm planning to start weaving in ends sooner, rather than later.

Next quarter's CAL is Circular Yokes (details are at the link above).  I've got a few possibilities, but I haven't settled on any one project yet.  I have started putting serious thought into it though, while trying to stay focused on my hoodie.  I'll be sure to let you know when I do make up my mind.

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! 

Still Life With Sock and Dog Toy

This is my racing sock - as in, I knit it during Formula 1 practice, qualifying, racing.  It's a simple sock that I don't have to look at while I knit it, but it gives my hands something to fidget with as I watch Kimi Antonelli wreck his car at the end of Practice 3, less than three hours from Qualifying. (So as not to leave you on a cliff hanger, I will tell you that he was fine, and they not only got his car put back together for Qualifying, but he qualified in P2, and went on to finish the race in second place!) 

The sock pattern is Broken Rope from the Hello Sailor Sock set by Summer Lee.  I worked a slight variation of the Gym Sock Stripe pattern - mainly, I added a third stripe and I only changed colors on odd numbered rounds so that there wouldn't be purl bumps showing.  The yarn is Potions and Purls Luna sock in Keeper of My Heart.  The accent color was included with the skein for cuffs/heels/toes/whatever.  I have used it for the stripes, and will probably also use it for the toe.

The dog toy is one of Obi's favorites - it's a Holee Roller.  Our house is covered in them in various sizes.  The smallest size is a great ball for fetch because he can breathe through it when he's running around like a lunatic, and the largest size is great for tug of war, general chewing, and sometimes it serves as a dog pillow.  Our first Holee Roller lasted nine months, with much of that being through his puppy teeth/furry land shark stage, and we were so impressed we've just kept ordering them for him.  The oldest one we currently have is over two years old.  No affiliation with the company, but just a very happy dog mom.

Progress!

It's sleeve time!  My goal was to be finished with the body of my Austin Hoodie by the end of February, but I was actually able to get started on my first sleeve!  I'm currently farther along, but our mornings have been cloudy which makes it hard to get good photos.  

I hope to finish the first sleeve soon and be finished with my second sleeve next week.  Then it's just the hood and front edgings.  I still haven't decided what I'll use to face the front edgings, but if I can get all the knitting finished by the end of March, I can submit it for the Hoodie CAL.  Facings can be finished later if I need to.

I'm knitting exclusively on this right now, but I'll be starting a pair of socks later this week.  It's finally Race Week - Formula 1's 2026 season kicks off in Australia this week, and I've learned (the hard way), that I need an autopilot type of sock to work on during Qualifying and the Grand Prix.  Without knitting, I'm just a mess, and anything that requires thought is going to be frogged to correct mistakes.  The yarn and pattern are chosen.  I'll show them to you later this week!

Progress!

Now that I've gotten my Mystery MusiKAL shawl finished (pictures to follow when I get the ends woven in), I'm focusing on my Austin Hoodie again.  I have finished knitting the lower body section and divided the front stitches from the back stitches.  I've completed the woven section on the back and I'm about to start the ribbing section.  I had played with the idea of using different stitch patterns, but I eventually decided that I really did like the stitch patterns used in the original pattern, with a couple slight changes.  I did not double strand the woven section because I'm using sportweight yarn instead of fingering weight, and I am going to reverse the ribbed section at the top by knitting where I'm supposed to purl and purling where I am supposed to knit.  This should give me a slightly more subtle ribbing and still match at the shoulders.

I'm hoping to really make some progress on this and be finished with the body before the end of the month.  I have to have the whole sweater finished by the end of March and I will have two sleeves, a hood, and front bands to do after the body, so I've got to get moving!

In other news, Mickael got me a robot vacuum (and it mops!) for Valentine's Day!  It's seriously amazing!  I was just sitting here this morning, drinking my tea, and writing to you while it went to vacuum and mop the master bathroom.  Obi barks at it occasionally,  but he really doesn't seem too troubled about it, he tends to follow it a little bit, but the barking seems to be more on general principal than because he senses any threat.  It did knock one of his squeaky balls out from under the sofa yesterday, and he was thrilled to get that back!

I'm Binding Off!!!!!

Yes, I'm binding off on my Mystery MusiKAL Shawl!  It has been a long road, but the end is in sight.  Sort of.  There are at least eleventy million ends to weave in when I finish with the actual knitting, but I'm getting there!  (I chose to work only one section of the brioche edging, but I made it wider than the pattern called for.  I decided the shawl was plenty big enough and I was starting to make stupid mistakes, so it was time to call it done.)

Choices

I'm currently working on the brioche border of my Mystery MusiKAL shawl, but while I work on that, I'm also thinking about what ribbon I want to use to stabilize the front edge of the Austin Hoodie Cardigan.  From left to right, top to bottom I have: a cream ribbon that has different undertones than the cream color of the yarn, a pale ballet slipper pink, a mauve, a slightly darker mauve that leans a little more brown, a gray velvet that can look anywhere from silver to dark gray, and a greenish gray color.  Nothing is quite perfect.  The two gray tones are too dark and will possibly show through.  The mauve ribbons are both nice, but I'm not sure because I don't wear those tones.  The pink is pretty but it might be a little twee with the cream sweater.  The cream is just the wrong color of cream for the yarn.

As you can see, there are some possibilities, but nothing is quite right.  I'm still thinking about it, but I might need to order more ribbons.  I could also use strips of fabric to stabilize the edge.  While I'm making up my mind, I'll keep knitting the border on the shawl.  I can tell I'm almost finished with it, but each row has eleventy billion stitches so it's not moving very quickly!  

Hopefully this weekend I can get some knitting done and have more to show you next week!  

Thawing Out

I've gotten back to work on my Mystery MusiKAL shawl and this was the perfect project for this past weekend.  Once I figured out where I was, the actual knitting isn't difficult, but I have to pay attention just enough to keep me focused.  This was a nice way to keep my brain from thinking about the storm outside.  You can see the new section above the diamonds.  This new part looks woven.  I'm about halfway through it by the number of rows, but since it's worked using short rows, each row is a little shorter than the one before.  I hope to be done with it in a couple of days and then I just have the final border to go!

We ended up getting between 3-4 inches of sleet from the storm.  There's a layer of actual snow in there somewhere too, but it's become one with the sleet at this point.  Overnight it becomes extremely hard and slick, but we're supposed to get above freezing today, so hopefully it will start going away.  There are a few tire tracks in it through the neighborhood, but most people seem to be staying home.  The schools are still closed around here.  

Obi had a blast in the storm.  He wanted to lay in it and play in it all day.  He doesn't have any cold weather gear, so I had to bring him back inside before he was ready, but he doesn't understand things like frostbite.  If the warmer daytime temperatures don't melt the backyard, he'll probably eat it!