You know how you forget something? But you can't remember what it is?

Blogging is what I have been forgetting. 

It's been practically a year since I've been active here but I still can't let this show go on without me. 

I could talk about each project but - but I think I'm just going to start anew. This past year was mostly hats (for charity), shawls (for friends and family), Christmas stockings (for kids) and mittens (for general consumption) - but I already have plans for 2018.

I think it's going to be a deep dive year. I'm planning to use up some very old stash and complete some of my oldest projects and patterns. Time to make up for lost time!

Arms and dimples

 

Well, the Giant Sweater of Gloom has two attached sleeves and the start of a drastically reducing yoke. Elizabeth Zimmerman designed this Hurry Up Sweater to be finished in a month, even taking time out for holiday preparation, but I am woefully behind.

 

Part of its charm, however, is the sloping yoke, with decreases every round at the armpits of the Sweater. Six episodes of a Korean drama under your belt and you have a finished sweater!

Years ago, a blogger by the name of Mr. Wynne, was making a sweater on his knitting blog. He was looking for a name for his sweater and included some photos of his sleeves.

Gosh, he had the best decreases! They looked like evenly spaced dimples! I mentioned this and he ended up calling the sweater "Dimples!"

Well, this view of decreases is barely visible but I'm liking the pattern of divots.

 

Well, onward to glory. I don't often wish for cold weather in April but this sweater deserves it.

Another inch in the wall, er, sweater

 

After regular breaks in my knitting time (this bulky yarn and size 13 knitting needles is killing my wrists!) - I'm officially up to the arm pit area of my Hurry Up Sweater. 15 inches in the front and 17 inches on the back, thanks to the short rows I added in. 

 

I decided to mark everything in order to keep track - Elizabeth Zimmerman's directions are usually very short and concise.

One of the other knitters doing this project - there's kind of a Knitalong group at Lila and Claudine's Yarn Shop in Mahtomedi -  was counting back to her increase markers for the same reason!

 

She's already pretty far ahead of me!

Looking ahead - I'll be at the Minnesota Knitters' Guild Annual Retreat again this weekend. I'm taking both gray projects as well as a ball of hand spun and a new hat pattern I just bought, the Whiskey Highball hat by Thea Coleman. It was just published this week and I snapped it up, her patterns are just that good!

 

Hopefully, I'll be through to the sleeves of both sweaters by the time I'm back!

Two shades of gray

Although one of my New Years resolutions was to wear less gray, I'm starting off my winter knitting with two gray projects.

 

The first is a Hurry Up Sweater from Elizabeth Zimmerman's Knitting Almanac. I'm part of a group knitting this project at Lila and Claudine's Yarn and Gifts in Mahtomedhi.

It's a hefty project, knitting at 2.5 stitches per inch with size 13 needles. I'm using a very vintage looking Briggs&Little super bulky yarn in deep gray.

 

I'm liking the devil-may-care EZ style - but the yarn in pretty tiring to work with.

My second gray project is actually a do-over. I began this Islay cardigan and got practically to the sleeves before I had to set it down. It's not a hard pattern at all but I wasn't careful enough with my bodice lace patterns and pretty soon - I decided it was better to just rip it back and do it correctly. Why finish something you aren't going to like?

And for days when I don't want to work with gray - I'm breaking away to navy blue. I'm working on a navy blue Berocco Vintage Pine Tree Blanket - only done as a shawl.

 

 This uses the Gull Wing Lace pattern made famous by Elizabeth Zimmerman's February Baby Sweater. It's easily memorizable and easy to take places.

Finished! Otherwise known as . . .

Third time was a charm!

The Going for Gold hat is actually very easy if you read the instructions.

Repeat projects - bring them on!

Sometimes, it takes more than one try to get a project completed.

I'm currently in a knitting swap. Actually, late for a knitting swap! I started this hat before Christmas on a ski trip. Ski, ski - no knitting.

Following the trip, my family came down with the flu - 1, 2, 3. So, not much knitting then. Then, some happier pre-Christmas evenings with drinks and knitting. 

The end result was a very short hat (not pictured!)

So I knit it again with worsted weight yarn.

Not too bad in this photo - but the original was still too short. Well, guess what? I'd missed one 16 row repeat on both hats!

So I tripped both hats back and re-knit them both. Then, I looked at the pattern photo. Hmm - still not right . . . 

 

What I had been reading as three purl repeats turned out to be a three stitch Cluster Stitch. (I'd  make a rude joke here but my mom might read it!)

So, if the knitting doesn't work out, try, try, try again. This swap package is going out on Tuesday with three variations on the same hat and my apologies.

My quarterly visit from Outer Space!

Okay, that's a lie. I originally started this post back in October 2016 but since then, due to some cloud setting issues and a lack of being able to import photos onto my laptop, I put this off. 

Today, I actually logged in to write a good-bye post but I started reading some long-ago posts and I began to change my mind. 

After all, this blog is largely for me and my knitting. Sometimes, a few online friends stop by (and sometimes those robotic pigs try to burst in as well!) but it's really just for me. 

So, today I searched for a better solution and found an app that allows me to blog from my phone (where all my photos are!) 

And it so happens, that I have a few pictures of my recent knitting to be able to share which means -  

I'm back!

Southern Comfort Ravellenic Cowl

I'm a big fan of designer Thea Coleman over at https://babycocktails.blogspot.com. Her cable designs are all lovely and she is one fun lady. I made this cowl in the summer for the Ravellenic 2016 Games.

Now, having made one last baby step on my laptop - I'm moving over to my phone. Wish me luck!

Way back machine malfunctions!

So, way back in March, I bought some of this lovely red Sweet Georgia Yarns' Trinity Worsted for an Adama Cowl.

Well, then it sat. And sat. Until May when I picked it up again for a travel project.

Finally, I finished it. This cowl is higher in the back of the neckline - basically like a sweetheart neckline? - but you can wear the high part in the front or in the back.

Just in time for June

While the yarn was luscious, it is a little tightly wrapped for this pattern. I think I'll make it again with a fuzzier yarn - something a little more soft. In the skein, the yarn is deceptively fuzzy . . .

And now that I have a bit more free time on my hands (***clears my throat, uhm, wedding!), I'm back to the neutrals I love so well. I've started an Islay cardigan from Gudrun Johnston in some pearl gray Imperial Yarn Tracie Too that I bought years ago in Maryland. 

So far, I'm loving the yarn's soft hand and the pattern's traditional style.

Knit on!