New Year Sweaters

The daffodils are up and going crazy and I still haven't posted photos of the New Years sweaters. Ok, ok, so I haven't even finished one of the sweaters and another one I forgot to photograph. So instead of the ensemble here is just a taste and then we can move on to enjoying the spring rain.
Look at me.

No.


Look at me

No

Look at me

No
Look at me...There you are


Show me your sweater.

No.
Show me your sweater

No

Show me your sweater

No
Show me your sweater

oakay



Photography is all about outlasting the models.



Sam knit in Cotton Fleece. This is modified. I knit the 12 month size but made it extra long since the kid is 2.5 years old.

I'm finally done with this green and it's out of my stash. I bought a crazy amount of this yarn from mill seconds site. In my stash spread sheet I even mentioned I must of had a plan when I bought that many balls but I couldn't think of it. And the yarn was just so very bright green, not as seen in the photo, a common occurrence when shopping online.

I overdyed about half of the yarn when I hosted a guild workshop at my place. I still had enough for a sweater for me in a color I didn't really want to wear. Finally, I knit up this extra cute sweater and sent the last 3 balls of it to my Valentine Secret Pal. It feels so good to have it gone from my stash.

Pattern from my head. A top down raglan with rolled hems a-la-J Crew. The yarn is a mystery 100% cotton. It's the very first yarn I bought to knit myself sweater.

As a brand new knitter I was still in shock at yarn prices so I bought $30 worth and hoped it was enough but thought it probably wasn't. At that point I knew enough about gauge that I could make up my own hat patterns and knit socks but I wasn't sure about matching a written pattern.

I swatched a little and then put the whole thing away. As the years went by I think I lost a ball of it and had lost all of the labels too. I had no idea of the yardage. No way was I going to try knitting a sweater for me out of it but it's too much yarn for baby sweater. It languished for 9 years looking for a good medium sized project. It's finally out of the stash and one of the cutest sweaters ever.

The M is a bit of leftover cotton from a friend. I put off the embroidery for about 6 months since the color wasn't what I wanted but all I had. It turned out looking great and just right.

First Day of Spring

Crazy blizzard on the first day of spring is over.
I finished my Darkside Cowl. It's knit out of hand spun yarn and it is fabulous. I have enough yarn left over for another cowl and, I hope, a hat.
Fiber was Ashland Bay Merino that I spun 2 ply to aran weight. The pattern is easy and well written.


I also finished my Tuja socks. They took 10 days to knit but it felt like only a few hours. I love everything about them. I did center the heel so the ribbing would flow nicely down the foot. I used two balls of Rhythm. I have small feet and that's all the yarn I had left.

Front Load Washers Are Bad At Felting, My Ass

I read over and over again about how front load washers suck at felting. What a pile of shit.
If that was true how did my Pixie Wing socks turn from this

Into this!
They were only 14 months old.
Now this is a pair of socks pulled from the same machine of death and they look almost as good as they day I knit them 9 1/2 years ago. Yes, my first pair of socks. Quality yarn is so worth it. I love you Regia. You aren't even thinning on the bottom and I wore you once a week for the first 5 years. That's before I built up a drawer full of hand knit socks and had the ability to pull you out just once a month.

I took a learn to knit class because I wanted to knit socks. It was a 6 session mitten knitting class. While the other students knitted a pair or even two of mittens I plowed through the mittens, a few hats, and then these socks before it was over.

The pattern is the formula in Nancy Bush's book and my instructor had me buy reinforcing thread to knit in at the heel and toes. The socks are a little pilly, especially after today's washing, but I wouldn't be surprised if they had another 9 years in them.

Want, Want, Want,

Quinoa With Toasted Almonds & Dried Cranberries This is so good and so easy to make, although it sounds complicated. It involves soaking the Quinoa for 12 min and then toasting it in a little oil until browned. I swear half of them popped like tiny tiny popcorn. Once lightly browned it's cooked like rice although this recipe used broth instead of water. Add dried cranberries, orange zest, and slivered almonds and it's done. It's so good. I would never had picked this up on my own. It was a Christmas present where everything was all measured out for me. If I can find a place to buy quinoa I'll make this again and again.

Last Saturday was another cooking day although a shorter one since I had other things I had to get done. Another 3 recipes and another 30 meals in the freezer. Lion's head and Mountain Stew used up the rest of the cabbage. Spicy Indian Cauliflower Saute used all the fresh and half of the frozen cauliflower. I'll cook again this Saturday. If it's another huge cooking day I'll finish up the recipes I bought for or if I only cook another 3 recipes it will spill over to at least another Saturday maybe two. But with the using of the last of the fresh vegetables this weekend I can take my time with the other recipes since they use canned and frozen ingredients. Then it will be a relief to not have to think about food again for a good long while. My math says another 6 weeks. I'll have to see if that works out. It sort of depends how long the cream for my coffee lasts.

Another LYS is closing and that is a sad sad thing. It also means that local yarn is on sale. Then a favorite online store is having a sale right now too. I want to buy yarn so very very badly and right now I can not and that makes me want to buy even more. So instead of buying yarn I cast on new projects. It sort of takes the edge off.

Thuja made me feel better for 24 hours. It's knit in Jojoland Rhythm.

Then I cast on Which Way Do We Go baby sweater which has held my attention for the week. Yarn is Brownsheep Kaleidoscope.

I suspect that I'll be casting on one or more new things this weekend. Maybe not all of the projects will get finished but I can always frog them and get the yarn back so if it keeps me on track to knit half of my stash then it's all good.