Charcoal Vest an FO

I finished this project a few days ago. Nice, easy pattern. Yay! But it took me four months to finish it :-\ Details are in this January post.

OTN Update: I'm about 1/2 finished with a pair of socks - using left over Steinbach Wolle Sockenwolle from this project. Plus another ball of Sockenwolle in green/gray/brown.

I mentioned this pair in the previous post actually.

Baby Sweater on Two Needles (AKA - February Baby Sweater)

Yippee! It's done and I'm happy with it. (My photo taking skills are another matter.)

Pattern: Elizabeth Z.'s

Yarn: Louet Gems Topaz in Eggplant
Needles: 7 [US] / 4.5 mm
Knit for: Baby B (due in mid August) - that is, IF Baby B is a girl. Parents to be are friends of DD1 and live just down the street.

On The Needles Update:

1. I'm about 75% finished with the The Vest.

2. I've started a pair of socks (generic ribbed pattern) for me - using Steinbach Wolle Sockenwolle in "brown" (think tan) and a green/gray/brown twist#180. Not enough of either for a pair, so I'm doing stripes. Not pretty. But, this pair will keep my feet warm. (And that's why I knit socks for myself - to have warm feet!)

I bought wool today for a February Lady Sweater for me! I went to Knots & Bolts with a deep red/burgundy color in mind. But, I decided to live on the edge and came home with Purple! Actually, it's Cascade 220 - #7811 Purple Jewel Heather. Can't find any photo online that show's the true color. They're all much too dark. I'm going to try to finish the vest before I start the FLS. Try.

OTN Update

Busy times at the Mitch Manor. Little time for the computer and only a little more time for knitting. But, I do have two projects in the works:

1.) The Vest - started in January, the back is completed and I'm about half through one front panel. It's on hold as I work on:

2) A February Baby Sweater. For DD1's friends' baby due in August or Sept. (They know the date, I can't remember....) Details in a future post.

As my DS who lives down hill from The Rock (see photo at top of blog) says: I owe, I owe, so off to work I go.

OTN Update

I keep trying to be a project monogamist, but I have a wandering eye and lust after yarn and patterns and FOs. [Sigh]

Project 1: I was given a lovely, dark green, velour top that goes beautifully with a pair of dark green slacks. The only problem is that the top has a wide (and deep) V neckline. I don't feel comfortable with so much of my skin exposed, so I decided it needed a scarf.

Until that point I didn't think I'd ever want to knit lace. Just don't have a need for a shawl - at least a lacy one full of "holes" for cold air to attack through. But, hmmm... didn't want a silk, or silky type scarf. It needed to provide some warmth to my neck and chest. Wool. But, it needed to be light weight to wear all day at work. Lace?

I also wanted a quick knit. No fiddly pattern. I searched blogs, and dang if I can remember where I found the pattern, I found one that works! I had in mind [dangerous, I know] a lace weight yarn of a lovely tweedy mixture of greens, browns, and muted golds. Does anyone produce anything like that? And what would it cost? The project was on hold while I contempted searching the Internet for the perfect yarn. Meanwhile, while on a stash dive, I found the remains of yarn I'd used for a pair of kids socks last year [Reynolds Swizzle.] The ball felt like it had enough yardage for The Scarf. The green is a near perfect match. It has funky yellow, blue, and pink stripes to add "interest" or maybe just "contrast." OK, then. The original pattern is wider, but I CO 23 stitches on a size 10 [6mm] 16" Addi Turbo. One row pattern! I have about 15" completed. I'm hoping for a 48" total. Should have weighed the ball before I started.

Project 2: I *was* going to use the extra Knit Picks Swish (DK) to make a pair of Knucks for myself. But, I wasn't sure if I'd really have enough, I ordered a contrasting color of the yarn. When I got the two together, Nutmeg and Cinnamon, I thought SOCKS - for ME. [I still want Knucks, but I'll have to buy more yarn.]

I looked for a pattern for DK weight socks. Requirement: not an online pattern, but one from my collection of knitting books. I settled on Priscilla's Dream Socks from Favorite Socks. I read through the pattern and decided that I don't want to fiddle with short row heels. Actually, I don't think they fit as well as heel flap heels. I have a high instep and need some extra stitches to start the foot - which I get by picking up 2 or 3 extra stitches on each side of the flap. So modification 1 will be the heel. I haven't committed to the toes, yet. I have knit "quite a few" [it's all relative, I know] socks with the leg entirely in ribbing, but have not previously used this pattern's method of switching from a larger needle [US 3 / 3.25 mm] to a smaller one [US 2 / 2.75mm] half way down the leg.

I could only find one [24"] size 2 circ, so I switched to dpns that are US2/2.75mm. A few days ago I found the other size 2 circ and this morning decided to move the stitches over to the circs. But, WAIT. This doesn't feel right. The circs are larger. Sure enough I could not get the circ through the size 2 /2.75mm hole in my needle gauge. I looked on the package and, naughty word, they are "Size 2/ 3.00mm" Drats. I'll keep using the dpns because I want a firmer fabric for the foot. These will be my February Socks for SAM7.

ETA: Yes, I did use the CO the pattern calls for - "Old Norwegian" - I love it!!

Project 3: The Vest. I have 9" completed on the back.

OTN Update and Mid-January Musings

Last evening, as soon as I finished the earlier-posted-about socks, I swatched for an easy vest to go with my turtle necked tops & slacks [for work.] Requirements for the yarn:

1. Inexpensive

2. Easy Care

3. Chunky

4. Colorway to "go with" my collection of current & proposed turtle necked tops: black, red, white, pink, burgundy, green. dark lavender. [I currently only have the first four colors.]

I had in mind a yarn that was maybe "homespun" and in a white-black-and shades of gray colorway. Keep in mind, that Inexpensive was my first priority and Easy Care was my second, so I headed for H.L. with a Christmas gift card. There was absolutely Nothing that came close to what I wanted. However, what I settled on will work. I was thinking of something with more white and less gray. But, it's OK.

And now I have about 5 rows of the back OTN.

Pattern: Lion Brand free pattern - "Denim Vest"

Yarn: Lion Brand Homespun #312 Edwardian

Needles: Size 10 [6mm] circ

Knit For: Me :-)

Mid-January Musings

* I'm still working on my To-Do list that I wanted to finish during my 17 day Holiday Break. I thought it was a do-able list, but I needed two more weeks [at least] to finish it!!

* It's awfully tempting during Mid-January in the upper midwest to question WHY I live here. Oh, yeah. Grandsons, daughters, mother, and a much better job than the one I left five years ago [in the shadow of The Rock (see photo at top of blog).] But, Dang, winters are long here. The weather.com alert icon is flashing red in my computer's task bar. It's trying to tell me about the blizzard watch for this area. Last winter went into the record books for all-time-record snowfall. This winter, so far, we are more than 10" ahead of last winter. I'm typing "DANG," but you can be confident that I'm saying other things.

* Knit projects on the horizon include a pair of knucks for me, and a secret project that will use some of the same yarn as the knucks. More important to finish the secret project first. And I might have to improvish with my pair of knucks. Or buy more yarn. The yarn is Knit Picks DK. I'm thinking that I could probably use some leftover sock yarn from my stash in a coordinating color [and doubled] to do the ribbed wrists. I'm also smitten with a cardigan [to knit for myself] = Berroco's free Rosebud pattern. And then the day after I mused that I probably would never have to buy another knitting book, I bought: Knitted Jackets by Cheryl Oberle. There are five or six patterns I'd like to do. Decisions, decisions.