I’ve had some trouble settling on just one project lately; I have Christmas presents to make, but I just can’t seem to concentrate on anything for very long, so I don’t have any finished projects to show this week. Instead, you get a bunch of who-knows-when-they’ll-be-done projects!
First up, I’ve been making applesauce like crazy around here. I normally hate to cook and consider it more of an inconvenience than anything else, but for some reason I love to can and make jam. I got a brand new, giant canning pot, so now I can process a bunch at a time instead of trying to fit them into our little pressure cooker (there’s only 3 in this pot because it was the last of the batch, but I can fit up to 8 pint jars in here!).
In craft project news, I’ve been working on making a Super Grover costume for friends of ours (they have a dog named Grover, so it had to happen) and I’m fairly proud of this helmet I made:
Zoey is quite rakishly modeling it for me in this picture (she is the WORST model, so she’s being bribed with a tennis ball here), but I’m hoping Grover’s Mom and Dad will send me some pictures when he dresses up for trick or treaters, so hopefully you’ll see the whole enchilada (there’s a cape too) soon!
I’m also working on a birthday present for the husband – he is a notoriously difficult person to shop for, so when he really liked the Warwick sweater from my The Knitter magazine, I decided that would be the way to go. I can’t show the full thing because he reads my blog (hi babe!), but showing the backside is safe, and I’m actually pretty proud of it:
Of course the sweater he liked involves colorwork, which is not a thing I’m particularly good at. After completing the entire back and half of the front, though, I think I might finally be getting the hang of it; my floats are pretty uniform and not totally out of whack gauge-wise. The pattern is well written and fairly easy to follow, and the colorwork is pretty simple as far as it goes, so I recommend it if you like making sweaters and want a bit of a challenge. Now that I’m getting a bit more confident in my technique, I’m eyeing some of the more complicated patterns in that issue – like this adorable sweater vest. Maybe after the new year!
My youngest brother (age 11) has been asking for a hand knit sweater for years, and I always hesitated because 1) he grows SO FAST and 2) like most kids, he’s really hard on his clothes. But, I found this Red Heart “Team Spirit” yarn at Joann’s in red and black (his favorite colors because he’s a huge Manchester United fan), and decided it would be perfect.
This a great yarn for a kid sweater; it’s totally acrylic, comes in fun colors, and is really bulky. I don’t love knitting with it, but I found some tutorials online about softening up rough yarn, and since it’s inexpensive and quick to knit, it won’t matter super tons if he puts holes in it. I’m using the Flax pattern, with a little modification, and I’m loving how the top-down knitting makes the stripes different widths.
And because I don’t have enough fiber projects happening, I’m also working on a couple of blankets. I can’t show one of them, as it’s a Christmas present, but the other one is just-for-fun crocheted blankie. I started out with a hexagon pattern:
But as it grew, I just didn’t love it, so I frogged it and decided to try out a wave stitch, which I am now totally crazy about.
This is just a small sampling of what I have going on (there’s some other top secret stuff I can’t show yet), but I’m hoping to actually have something finished soon, so stay tuned!
Measured and Slow 