Challenge Complete!

Happy Monday!

We had a relatively quiet weekend with the exception of the unexpected snowstorm Saturday. DH and I both swear the last thing we heard the weatherman predict was a dusting to 2 inches.  Well, 6 inches later, it finally stopped snowing.  it was the heavy wet snow too, that is a pain in the neck to clean up because it's so heavy but so beautiful to look at because it coats everything with a glistening white blanket.  This is one of the trees in my yard.  So pretty!

I finished the last of the hats for my son's hockey team on Saturday.  Here are the sophomores...

and the freshmen...

The hats are fun to make for the kids.  They really love them and it's fun to see them wearing them.  But after 11 hats in 23 days, I am ready to knit something else!

Since it is Martin Luther King Day today, I'd like to share a quote I saw this morning that reflects how I'd like to live.

"I have decided to stick with love.  Hate is too great a burden to bear." - Martin Luther King, Jr

My Poor Neglected Blog

I cannot believe that it has been 6 weeks already since I last blogged! There have been so many things that I have thought, "I should share this on my blog" and then life just kept up it's whirlwind pace and I didn't get to it. So I'm having a quiet day at home today and thought this would be a perfect opportunity to catch up a bit.

I had this great idea that I would knit a bunch of hats this past year, and then when we got together with our extended families for Christmas, I would have this wonderful assortment of items that our family members could choose from.  I didn't quite make it. I've shared some of the items over the year, and here of some more that I finished.  Maybe next Christmas this will work out!

The newest hats to the collection are....
Alpine Topper.  You've probably seen this in Interweave Knits in the Halcyon Yarns ad for the past few winters.  I love this design!  When I visited Halcyon Yarns this fall I just had to get the pattern and yarn to make it.  The green is Lamb's Pride Bulky in Turkish Green and the variegated is Malabrigo Rasta in Arco Iris.  I probably have enough of the Malabrigo left to make at least 2 more of these hats, maybe 3.  I think I need a blue one and either a Burgandy one or a grey.

This is Antler Hat.  I couldn't get one of the boys to model it for me to get a better picture but the hat itself is getting passed around among them quite a bit.  They love the deep ribbing that folds up so that it's doubled over their ears!  I used Madelinetosh Vintage in Weathered Frame.  I made the largest size and used all but 30 inches of the skein!

This is He Said She Said.  I used Berocco Blackstone Tweed Chunky for this hat.  It is super yummy yarn and I would love to have a sweater knit in this!

This is Twisted Rib Hat.  I made the child size for this so that I could use up some Dream in Color Classy I had leftover from a sweater I made for me niece.  Coincidentally I think this same niece is the only person that this hat will fit :-)

So that's it for the hats.  Some are being claimed by the kids, but hopefully some will hang around for gift giving.

We had a nice Christmas this year.  It was the first year without my mom but she still seemed to pop up everywhere.  There are the ornaments that she has picked out for me and for the boys every year that brought back so many memories and the occasional recycled box or gift bag that still had a tag on it in her handwriting.  I left her tags on everywhere I found them and we all laughed when we would see them.  My mom was famous for "Save the Box!"  It was a good memory :-)

It was nice to spend the day with my dad too :-)  Nothing like a selfie at the Christmas Dinner table!  We had a big crowd for dinner this year too!  15 in all. It was lots of fun and good food.

One more thing about Christmas.... My middle son went to the yarn store in his college town to get me sock yarn in his school colors.  May I present Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock yarn in Crimson Pride! Roll Tide!  Have I trained that boy well, or what? He also got me a bottle of Peach flavored vodka to make me Peach Sangria :-)  He's a keeper!

In other family news, my youngest son was selected Captain of the Varsity Hockey team!  I'm very proud of him and happy for him! He's taking the responsibility very seriously and sends text reminders and updates the team Facebook page with important info.  I love watching my boys embrace what they love and do it with pride.

And so begins another quest for hats for the team....  Last year I knit 20 hats in 7 weeks.  This year I only need to make 10.  I'm well on my way already.

Plus I took a break from the boys' hats to make one for Chandler's good friend who plays on the girls team.  It's a cooperative team with the Catholic High School in the neighboring town as neither school had enough players to field a team alone.  They've combined the colors from both schools to come up with a fun jersey.  So I made Steph a hat to match.  I think I nailed it :-)

So that's all the highlights!  I really do plan to blog more regularly again as I do miss it.  For now I'm on a quest to get all the hockey hats done.  I'm thinking about joining the Ravellenic Games this year. I'm not sure yet what I want to knit or what team/s I want to join.  What about you?  Are you planning any knitting for watching the Olympics?

Rolling Rock

I finished my Rolling Rock sweater!  I love how it came out!

I learned a new technique with this sweater too, and I like it.  It is knit top down but with a contiguous set in sleeve.  I don't have a good picture of it, but basically you increase on what becomes the front and back of the sweater creating what would be a shoulder seam if the sweater were pieced.  Then more traditional raglan increases occur for the sleeves.

This sweater is a henley style, so it is worked back and forth until you have created the length you want for the placket.  I started this sweater before I attended Amy Herzog's retreat and so I was able to use information I learned to customize this to fit and flatter me best.  So I knit this length to the measurement I wanted without trying it on and trusted my math skills.

I found these perfect buttons at Wal-Mart while I was running through one day.  Shh! Don't tell anyone that I used crazy cheap buttons with this lovely artistic hand-dyed yarn!  It's probably a good time to tell you that the yarn is The Plucky Knitter's Traveler Sport in the color Speakeasy.  It was really lovely to work with.

I continued using my new customizing skills by placing some waist decreases and then increases to better fit my hips without ever trying it on.

And the same with the length.  I knew where I wanted it to end, and how much ribbing I wanted to have.  So I knit to those lengths and finished it off.  I did the same thing with the sleeves.

I didn't put this sweater on until it was completely finished with all the ends woven in.  It's fits exactly like I wanted it too!  I have to say that this was completely liberating.  I don't really have a Spidey-sense yet as to how it should all look on the needles, but with my new found confidence, I'm sure that will come soon!

Ten on Tuesday

This week's Ten on Tuesday topic is one that has been on my mind ever since I attended Amy Herzog's Knit. Wear. Love. Retreat in September. I left that weekend completely inspired and feeling empowered to knit beautiful sweaters, and I want to knit them all right now!

The prompt is 5 Favorite Sweater Patterns & 5 Favorite Sweater Yarns for a total of 10.

First, the patterns…..
1. Acorn Trail.  It is currently on the needles because I just couldn't wait any longer to start it, even though I already had multiple projects going and plans for lots of hats for Christmas gifts.
2. Birch Bark. Simple but with a fantastic cable panel for interest.
3. Dark & Stormy.  Again with the simple and a gorgeous cable panel for interest.  Plus I love the big shawl collar on this one too.
4. Flippant.  I can picture myself wearing this all the time.
5. Que Sera.  An oldie but goodie.  I have knit this one already in cotton.  The sucker is heavy and stretches horribly, but it's comfortable and cozy so I wear it a lot.  I'd like to make another on in a wool blend.  Maybe it would keep it's shaper better…

Now, the yarns…..
6. Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage.  This stuff is like crack for me.  I wish I knew how to quit it, but I love it's roundness and the stitch definition I get with it.  Plus it's even softer after washing :-)
7. Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted. It's very similar to the Tosh Vintage, plus it has some cashmere blended in.  Yum!
8. Indigodragonfly MCN Worsted. Very much like Primo and Tosh Worsted, but Kim's colors are so fantastic and deeply layered that the resulting fabric is just gorgeous.
9. Harrisville Highland.  This one is new to me and I am using it for the first time for a sweater.  It just feels like "Your Grandmother's Wool Sweater"  I think it's going to wear like iron!
10. Madelinetosh Tosh DK.  This is not as round as the vintage and makes a flatter fabric in both feel and appearance.

There's my list. Honestly, I could keep going on the sweater patterns.  There are so many fantastic patterns to choose from.  And I'm sure that as I read the lists of the other knitters playing along with Carole this week, my queue will grow!

What's your favorite sweater right now?

I'm So Indecisive

Have you ever had so many projects going at once, that you absolutely love, that you have a hard time deciding which one to work on when you do get a chance to sit down and knit?  That would be me right now!  This is what I have going right now….

First is my Toasty Twist Socks.  I have had this pattern in my queue for a long time.  It is one of the patterns for the Socks That Rawk! Ravelry group knit-a-long right now.  I decided to use my Rocktober color way for this pattern.  I like how they're coming out.  I do think though that the foot is a little looser than I usually like so I'm going to drop down a needle size for the rest of the foot.

Next is the Vamp sock from the Cookie A club.  The yarn is Pagewood Farm Glacier Bay in the club color Cape Cod Cranberry which kind of makes them the perfect color to be knitting in November.  At least in New England :-)  I'm through a few repeats of the cable pattern now and it is making sense and becoming more intuitive for me.  They're already knitting quicker than they were the first night I worked on them, but it's cabling with twisted stitches on every row, so I need to pay attention to what I'm doing.

This is Acorn Trail which is the sweater I just couldn't wait to cast on.  I. Love. It!  It is really the only thing that I really want to be knitting right now.  But I want to continue to make progress on my other projects too, so I've been using this one as a reward.  It's knitting up pretty quickly. This is the back after only 3 evenings of knitting while watching tv.

Rolling Rock.  What can I say?  Obviously I decided not to rip back the body and alternate skeins.  It may be a mistake, but in normal indoor lighting where I will primarily be wearing this, the color difference doesn't show.  So onward it is.  I'm on sleeve island with this one.  The only upside on this project is that I can knit away on the sleeves while I read and who doesn't love to multi-task like that?

So what to do?  How to decide what to work on?  The logical part of me says to finish Rolling Rock and Toasty Twist because they are the closest to done.  But the planner part of me says to work on Vamp because the next club shipment will be here in a few weeks and I should finish this one before the new one gets here.  And the dreamer part of me wants to work on Acorn Trail because I just want to be wearing that baby NOW :-)

Help…..?

I Should Bog That

Hello Dear Readers!  I can't quite believe that it's been more than 2 weeks since I last blogged.  I don't know what it is about this time of year that I always think that I will have more time available for leisure activities than I do, but…. I do.  Every year.  I'm sure it's the fact that vacations are over and the rest of my family is back to work and school which gives me several hours a day home alone.  What I always forget though is that these are not bonus hours added to my day. The house still needs to be cleaned, the laundry still needs to be done, errands need to be done, and life itself just plain continues on.

Anyway, I have been knitting, actually a fair bit.  But I've also had a wicked case of startitis.  There are so many things I want to knit, and I want to knit them all RIGHT NOW!!  I have too many active projects on the needles.  I really need to pare that down.  I have finished a few projects though.

This is Windschief by Stephen West.  I knit this in Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in the color Fig.  This was an easy knit and quite quick really.  It's comfortable too!

 This is Habitat by Jared Flood.  I used Peace Fleece Worsted for this, the color is Father's Grey.  This was the first time I've used Peace Fleece and it was great.  I thought that it had a wonderful hearty and rustic feel to it.  It did have a fair bit of vegetation in it that was rough on my fingers from time to time.  I gave the hat a good long soak with some Eucalan when it was finished though, and it seems to have helped with that issue quite a bit.

 I also have to say, in terms of the pattern, that I think Jared Flood is a genius!  This hat is so richly cabled, but the crown decreases don't diminish them, or stunt them.  Somehow he always seems to figure out how to make it all flow together and still be gorgeous.

I finished these socks a few weeks ago and just kept forgetting to show them off.  I love the color of these socks!!!  The yarn is Miss Babs Cosmic Sock Yarn and the color is Inkwell.  This was the yarn and the Istanbul pattern from the August installment of Cookie A's Sock Club.  As you can see, the front of the sock is a beautiful lace pattern….

 and the back is a basic rib pattern.  These are so comfortable and fit so well!  I'm sure they'll get lots of wear this winter :-)

So those are the finished projects.  I'll try to log again in a couple days and show you all the projects I'm actively working on.

Finding My Happy Place

See this kid?

Good looking kid, isn't he?  He would be my youngest child and today the one who makes me appreciate why some animals eat their young.

It began innocently enough like this.....
Chandler: Mom, where are my spare helmet parts?
Me: I don't know.
Chandler:  You said you were going to put them somewhere safe so I'd know where they were the next time I broke a buckle.  And I need a clean sweat band too.
Me: Are you sure they're not in your hockey bag?  Or your room?  Why would I have them? You drive yourself to practice now.
Chandler:  I looked and I couldn't find them, but I'll look again.
Me:  Do you want me to take a look tomorrow too?  (Now, you experienced parents know that this is where I made my first mistake...)
Chandler:  Would you?  I'd really appreciate that.

Fast forward to today when I actually crossed the threshold into the deep abyss that is his room.  Oh. My. God.  Let me say that mostly I think that I am a good parent.  After 3 sons I have pretty well mastered the art of picking my battles and navigating the excellent life lessons to be learned by natural and logical consequences.  Let's just say that the natural consequences of the state of his room were about to start trickling down the stairs and attracting vermin. Not good.  Into his room I went armed with trash bags, laundry baskets, pledge and my vacuum cleaner.  I handled it quite well really even after 2 bags of trash and 3 baskets of laundry were removed.  Where I lost it though.....?  That would be when I decided that looking in his desk for the still missing helmet parts was a good idea.  His top drawer is filled with pencil shavings.  That's right.  Pencil shavings...... Because apparently it was too much of a hassle to get the trash can TWO FEET AWAY!!!!  I'm going to need an adult beverage tonight.  Just saying.....

Time to take a deep breath and find my happy place......

So let's talk knitting and what's on the needles :-)  I'm still chugging along on my Rolling Rock.  This was my Plucktember project that clearly didn't get finished in time.  So on to Plucktember..... I took this picture this afternoon and am just seeing the block of lighter color......  It's the first time I've noticed that so I'll be waiting until we have a day that's not overcast and look at it more carefully.  I'm 3 inches from finishing the body, but I suspect now that I may be ripping back some and alternating skeins.  It's crazy how they can look so excellently matched but it's not until you see them like this that the differences show.

I've started a few new projects too.  The Socks That Rawk group on Ravelry chose Toasty Twist for one of the knit-a-longs this quarter.  I've had this pattern in my queue for a very long time!  I cast on with Rocktober in lightweight.  I love this color but have been having a hard time finding a pattern that works well with it. I'm not sure this one's a winner either, but I'm going to knit a couple more inches before I decided.

This is a hat by Brooklyn Tweed called Habitat. I'm using the Peace Fleece that I bought while away on for the Make. Wear. Love Retreat.

This is the beginning of Windschief by Stephen West.  I'm using Madelinetosh Tosh Vintage in the color Fig.  (Ribbing.  Super inspiring, isn't it? LOL)

This next one isn't on the needles yet, but I can't wait to start it.  It's Acorn Trails by Amy Herzog.  I got an email Saturday that this was released and all I could think was that I needed to knit this sweater and I needed to do it right now!  And gosh, wouldn't that look great in Harrisville, which my LYS pretty much always has in stock!  I was thrilled to see that Harrisville was the yarn that was used! It took all of my self control not to make a special trip to Spinning Yarns on Sunday to buy yarn for this.

But I went yesterday :-)  I'm hoping this charcoal color won't be too dark for the lace and cable work.  I'll be swatching in the next few days to decide!

I'm feeling happier now.  Yarn does that for me :-)  Thanks for letting me rant a bit!

PS - The helmet parts are still missing.  I guess I'll be calling Promasque tomorrow to order more....