Looking Back and Looking Forward

Here it is again.  New Years and all I can as is how did that happen?  Time goes so fast and yet sometimes individual days drag on and on. Our perception of time is weird.  

  

Looking back at 2024 I feel pretty good.  I knit eight sweaters.

This thrills me because I was getting pretty bored with my sweater chest.  I have all these nice newer things to wear and that makes me feel good.  Plus I have lowered the number of bins in my stash closet by a two. That makes me want to dance with joy, not because there is less yarn to pick from but because I finally was using some of the great yarns that are in there.  All the sweaters except for the first one of the year were from very long held stash.  

I am particularly pleased with the summer sweaters.  I hardly wore anything but sweaters I made last summer and the days when it was not a sweater, I wore a shirt or top I had made myself. That part makes me so very happy.  It's fulfilling in every way.

I do have plans for a few more summer garments this year.  Just simple, no full things from yarns I have had on hand for a while.  Colour blocking, stripes and combinations of both are on my personal to make list.

I made some cats this year

and have a couple more to make.  One is a teeny tiny pocket Casper and the other a Mochi match to the golden  Marshmallow Casper.  (Mochi is a Ragdoll cat)

There were some hats cowl and mittens too.  There were NO blankets.

2024 has been a great year.  All the people I love are thriving or are getting there.  Sure there are challenges but hey, who doesn't have challenges.  I still love them all.  They matter.  Supporting them matters.  Being there matters.  I get to spend lots of time with all of them, more than most people do and for that I am so thankful.  

From all the happy little faces, from all the almost grown up faces, from all the big people faces in my world, have a truly wonderful New Year.  May 2025 be full of warmth and light in your hearts. 

  

Work Sock Joy

One more finished thing before the end of the year.

This pair of socks makes me happy.  It feels like a good old fashioned farm sock and that makes me think of my dad. He wore your basic farm socks for many years.  I remember them washed and darned.  I may have even darned a pair once. Beyond a doubt, my dad's socks are part of my pleasure making Sock Monkey Cabin Blankets.  And no, we are not going there again. Maybe.  But I do like the old fashioned look of them and look forward to wearing them on Christmas day.

On Saturday I worked on the Mrs. Hunter's pattern sweater for a while.  I have to tell you one thing I really like about this sweater.  It uses ONE ball of yarn at a time.  And Sundays Hacho sweater knitting?  One ball of yarn at a time.   It's a huge relief.  

So many of the things I have knit lately have had multiple balls of yarns being used at the same time or being swapped out and switched in or carrying multiple balls to distract from any possible variations in hand dyes.  

No more twisty yarns or tangles from the bag.  

It is going to look much more like this for a while.  

A single ball of Hacho.  A single ball of Regal. 

This is really nice to think about because after Christmas, I am thinking of a scrappy yarn project with an entire tub of yarn balls.  I am just thinking about it, mind, but it's a tub of yarn that would be nice to make into a something.  Probably a blanket. Might even look nice as a Sock Monkey Cabin style blanket, marled and colorful with cream.  Maybe.

An Empty WIPs Bin

I don't know where the day got to yesterday.  It just flew by.  There was Christmas stuff.  There was knitting stuff.  There was box making.  The tree is not finished yet, but will be today.  No photos of it but look what is photo worthy!  

I am so pleased with the boxes.  Or I will be when the middle row is replaced with slightly different boxes.  They do the job and they look tidier than piles of stuff on the shelf.  My only problem is that not all my cookbooks fit here.  There are a bunch on a shelf in my room.  I still have to make some cord holders for appliance cords, but that should get done today. 

And knitting too.

I did keep working on my socks.  There was not a lot of knitting though.  The weather is changeable and snowing and my hands were not up to a lot of it.  But socks.

I really love how these socks are turning out.  I didn't find them inspiring when I first started working on the grey and red but now?  They make my heart beat faster.  

It is time to get to work and get the tree finished.  Then some relaxing knitting.  And dreaming.  Because this is the season when you get a guilt free seasonal cast on!  It could be a Christmas cast on.  It could be a New Years cast on.  Possibly both, but it's guilt free.  Right?  Or am I thinking wrong.  Besides my WIPs bin is looking empty ( I moved the overflow to my room so we can put the top down for visiting) and if your WIPs bin is empty...

Boxes

I did not knit a single stitch yesterday.  Not one.  

I spent my day in the sewing room not sewing.  I worked on the box project.  My second shelf of boxes has been an utter failure.  They don't fit the shelves and I can't understand why.  I made all the changes needed to make them fit, twice, and they ought to fit.  But they don't.   I have one plan left and I know it will work so that is what I am going to do.  

I get a lot of large boxes from a certain large vendor and I was planning to cut them down to size and cover them to make the two bottom boxes.  While I was mucking about, I realized that three of the smaller boxes ( which are packed inside the larger boxes.  I know.  It is weird. )  fit the space I am trying to fill perfectly.  All I need to do is cover them. That bottom row is well under way.

And that is what I am going to do for the weird row of boxes.  I am going to gather more of the boxes and will cut them short and cover them.  And that will be the end of my fabric box making career.  It is taking too much time from my knitting.

The Good Keep Going

When things are going good, you have to just keep on going.  

And that is what I did.

For some silly reason, these socks have taken over my brain.  I am completely consumed by them.  It's really silly to feel that way about socks but there it is.  

I am going to work on them again today.  I think I should treat myself to a new pair of socks for Christmas.  

A Mind at Rest

I picked up the dark grey yarn on Friday and started a thing.  Since then I've been wondering, endlessly debating inside my head if it was right.  

It is and I like it.  It's Mrs. Hunter's pattern, an old Shetland stitch.  I am still not quite sure exactly how this is going to go, but I am comfortable now, with wherever it wanders. However, the sweater was not why I am feeling really good about my choice.  

I visited with some local friends via Zoom on Sunday morning.  It was lovely.  I needed something easy to knit on, so I pulled out the Hacho sweater.  

I'm on the body now and it should be easy visiting knitting but my hands felt disconnected from it and clumsy. Plus I still felt unsettled and squirmy inside.  The knitting was not soothing even with some great company.  

I pulled out my knitting biggest guns.  They always work.  

I couldn't find the bag I wanted in the WIPs bin, so I pulled a sock from the big bag o' sock yarn which always seems to be nearby.

It was magic.  As I knit, a little miracle happened and calm rose within me.  I relaxed and felt right with my world and my hands connected with my knitting.  And that is what I worked on the rest of the day.  At the start of the day it was an inch plus the toe.  Now I am starting to feel like I might just finish another pair before the end of the year.  It's a delicious knit.  I am so enamoured with the marled red and grey.  It is being knit with two strands of whatever yarn was in the bottom of the big bag o' yarn.  They are all leftovers with no particular purpose, that never made it out of the bag.  The fabric is thick and cushy and it makes me feel Christmassy, and not Christmassy at the same time.

My mind is at rest and I am eager to knit and knit and knit.  Life is pretty great.

Launching for the day

I am still happily sewing away on boxes. Today is the last of it though.  I still haven't made up my mind what to knit next and so no knitting yesterday.

What I did instead was to print and put together another pattern from Muna and Broad. The tape and scissors were out full force.  I don't think I will get to sewing on it today but I do hope to have the work table clear enough to lay it out with a pattern that I know fits great and make whatever adaptations I need to do for a good fit on me.  

I do hope to have my head clear enough to make a decision about what yarn is going into production next.  As it is my head is too full of ideas to focus on any one thing too much.  I need a broom to sweep its proverbial corners.  

I have had my coffees.  I have goofed off watching a bunch of vlogmas videos. They and the coffee are done for the day.  It is time to launch myself into the day.  It is also eleven o'clock so a late launch but hey, I launched.

Nifty boxes.

Yesterday was mostly a sewing day.  It was time to pay some serious attention to the things that I was planning.  And success.  

Okay,  they don't look like much.  This is immediately after sewing them and they look appallingly floppy and weird for something you have purposefully sewn.  They take shape when you add the stiff bottoms, and sides.  The bottoms pop in covered or plain.  My bottoms are made of corrugated plastic because we had some on hand.  The sides are of cardboard, a free to me material.  You simply cut to size and slip the pieces in and fold the top of the sewing down.  

They look really good on the shelf and they fill the need we had.  Pens and paper in one, batteries in another, simple meds ( antacids, ibuprofen, that sort of thing ) in the third. 

I have a couple more shelves to do.  We need a place for potholders, and a few other things and a place for your basic household rag.  And because we have room, a place for kitchen towels and dishcloths needing a wash to be kept till we have a load to wash.  This last is going to be lined with some waterproof PLU fabric that I have.  

Then I can do some sewing of my own.  That is the part I am really looking forward to.  

There was knitting in the day too.  My Hacho yarn variation of a Lipstick sweater is what came to hand, so that is what got some love.  It will get love a little later today too, but sewing first.  

Lingering Sweaters

I spent the day dong chores and knitting.  I decided to pick up one of my WIPs and make some progress on it rather than casting on something new.   

Behold a completed sleeve on my Linger Cardigan. I really like this thing.  The fabric is thick and rather glorious. It is so cushy and cozy that I am looking forward to getting it done.   I only wish I could knit on it for a week without stopping but that way leads to hand problems.

I picked the Linger up because I have not decided what to knit next.  Its a conundrum.  I thought that it would be a long sleeve variation of the Tolsta Tee  but then I remembered that I had a bunch of dark grey Regal that I wanted to knit up in this before Christmas part of winter.  The yarn for the Tolsta came out in the second stash dive of the fall.  That dark grey is so gorgeous and a very simple very dark sweater is always a good wardrobe staple.  It is the perfect kind of yarn for a Weekender.  It has the right rustic look.  

Only one problem.  I don't really like the Weekenders reverse stockinette and I have just finished a drop shoulder sweater.  Do I want another one right now?   Granito perhaps?  I am not really sure. Until I am particularly inspired by something or other, I am going to leave it alone.

That leaves me to wok on the WIPs bin.  It's not a bad idea to wind up the year working from it.  I won't be working on Linger today though. Though my hands have had a very good fall, working on it yesterday was enough.  The heavy weight work is going to have to be done in bits and pieces. There are plenty of other things in the bin and  I am just going to stick my hands in and see what comes up. 

Pleased as Punch

It's done and I love it.

The only thing I need to make note of for future reference is that I should have given myself an inch more ease at the under arms. Once it is blocked it will likely be okay but without blocking the colourwork feels more snug than I wished for. Failing the blocking magic, I steek and make a cardigan. I do have white left to make a button band.  

I have a bit of the grey left too and I might knit the neckband longer, till the yarn runs out but that is only to prevent there being yarn left over. 

I have two bins of leftovers now and more leftovers feels self defeating of my ultimate goal of knitting down the stash.  One bin is for the true bits and ends of projects and the other is for those yarns where there is enough for hats and mitts or cowls.  Mind you any part of either bin could be combined to make all sorts of things. Many of the podcasters make blankets and I do sometimes think of starting one but then I remember that already have a scrappy blanket project on the go from sock yarn scraps. 

and a knitted blanket that I am making from yarn Marcus picked for me for my birthday a few years ago.

This blanket is farther along than this but only by a few rows.  I need to work on it. But to start another blanket is just silly.  Or is it? I don't have a crocheted blanket on the go so...

As I worked on the last sleeve of the sweater, my mind was fully occupied with other thoughts.  Which sweater next?  I know I have one or two that I really ought to finish (actually seven. I thought it was five.  Eeeep! ) rather than starting something new, but it is hard not to dream with all the lovely yarn I have ready and waiting.  It would be nice to clear out the WIPs bin but those are things I have already dreamt of and put on the needles.  That is much less fun than thinking up something new.

So what is next?  I am not sure but I know it is gong to involve dishes, laundry and dong some needed sewing. Those boxes need doing asap.  And coffee.  The future holds coffee and that, all on its own, is pretty great. 

Or Not?

What is the first thing you do when you are at this point on a really nice sweater?

You rip back and you make it better.

I shouldn't  have done any decreases below the colourwork and the other surprising thing? 

I hated the lice in the sleeves.  It looked great but the floats were making me batty.   I caught it everytime I put it on and off and I just couldn't face it anymore.  Odd, because I really liked them on the body of the sweater.   The white on the sleeves will be plain.  

I am really wishing I had more of this grey.  Sigh.  Oh well.  That is the way it goes.

Sleeve Theory

The really nice thing about a drop shoulder sweater construction is that about a third of the sleeve knitting is done by the time you start the sleeves.

I have to give it a try on before I am sure but I think I am getting close to the cuff.  I have a feeling that four of the lice rows is going to be the right length before the cuff.  That bugs me.  It's about proper proportions.  I can't change how long my arms are and I need the sweater to function properly so the sleeves can't be too long.

I do not care for sleeves that fall into things like water when you are doing dishes, or flour and dough when you are baking.  And I hate it when my dpns get stuck into my sleeves when I am working on socks or hats.  Sleeves are supposed to stay where they are put and if not, they need to be three quarter sleeves.  That is my personal theory of sleeves.  

I will be surprised if the sweater isn't complete by Monday.  The rounds on these sleeves go so fast and there just not that many rows to go.  I am prepared for it not to happen though, but I am hopeful.  I have my trusty coffee by my side and the time to get it done.  

 

The Next Thing

And done.

It is not five inches.  It clocks in at four, but the sweater length is right where I wanted it.  I did a try on and I really like it.  I can't wait for the sleeves to be complete. 

There is a limited amount of the grey.

It was a wee bit over half a skein.  I needed to get sleeve uppers and the neckband out of it.  Before I could divide it for sleeves, I needed to do the collar.  

 

In a sudden burst of knititude, the collar happened.  It will be folded over and sewn down during sweater finishing.  I opted to sew it rather than knitting the edge down as I cast off because when I tried that long ago, I found my knitting got too tight and it was much too easy to put the stitches together unevenly.  Sewing it only takes a moment.  

I also sewed on box 1 of 5.  It is a pretty simple process but getting it right takes some time.  The sizes are all custom based on the existing shelves, so there is a lot of measuring happening.  More sewing is going to happen today.  

 I got up a bit late this morning so I am running behind.  Coffee two needs to happen before anything else.  

Again with the ribbing.

Again with the ribbing.  

I had really hoped to get it done but because I am aiming for 5 inches of ribbing, I knew it was just a dream.  I can't do that in a day.  I deeply and sincerely envy those who can. One more day.

I am mostly going to be working on some boxes.  When Keith did the flooring in summer, one of the changes he made was to take out one range of cabinets.  We did not really use them.  He put in a set of shelving to replace them and I really like it.  The only thing I miss is the junk drawer. A kitchen without a junk drawer is inconceivable to me.  

My job is to make the drawer boxes for pens and paper, batteries, basic meds.  I am making the boxes like this tutorial.  

Pretty simple, yes?  Making them is going to take some time, though and there are 5 boxes.  That's a lot of cardboard to cut and a lot of fabric to sew.   I am using the bolt of black cotton that I bought in spring.  It's really nice knowing I had it on hand and that there is lots available.  Fabric stash.  It's a good thing.

Ribbing!!!!!

Ribbing!

I stayed with seven rows of lice (the pattern has nine) but I did add a couple more rows of plain stockinette to match the space before the lice began.  So lazy but not really.  Just right perhaps?

I have been thinking about sleeves.

The original Cait pattern has the same design at the colour change on the sleeves.  I am not sure that the scale it is, at my gauge, is going to look right on the sleeves.   It worked on the body because, let's face it, I have a lot of body to cover.  I am thinking about just doing lice on the sleeves and the stripe of red.  If I had enough of the grey, I would do the sleeves all grey.  I do have enough white but all white sleeves were vetoed at the start of the sweater.  I am closing in on a finished sweater but there are still lots of things to think about.

About my thoughts on dealing with the dark of winter, I decided to take one step at a time.  I started by watching Vlogmas episodes on Youtube.  It is hard to stay feeling a bit down when people are having so much fun opening tiny packages of yarn and other knitting goodies. I thought about ordering a calendar back in June, but I prefer my mysteries in books not yarn.  Jana's Finnish Knitting Stories is a great place to start and I love Annes' My North Knit Corner.

  I also watched another Advent calendar featuring two guys who are opening a bit of an array of advent calendars and picking a daily winner of what was in the calendar.  Keith was watching while he made himself some coffee, and it sounded like fun.  It was.  They are on my watch list this season.   If  you might be interested, the channel is extraashens on Youtube.

Last year one of the things I did was to knit striped socks from my stash of plain sock yarns.  It was fun.  I thought about doing it again but using black or a dark yarn as a main yarn with the same colours of stripes.  I am not really in a sock mood right now where last year all the knitting was all blankets and socks. I am just going to keep on with my sweater kick, I think.  

Making that decision felt good because it allowed me to pick which of my yarns I was going to work with first.  I pulled all those yarns out a couple weeks ago and my hands are itching to start working with them.  I think my first is going to be a Tolsta Tee long sleeved variation with the green Jaggerspun and some sort of striping with the creamy Custom Woollen Mills single. 

Right now I am playing with the idea of making two garter ridges, rows of yarnover, knit two togethers, followed by two more ridges of garter stitch in the white. That won't be firmly decided till I am knitting the sweater. 

As sure as I am that the green will be the next sweater the pretty blue is calling loudly too.  I do like the idea of a Felix Pullover for it.  

The blue will be so pretty with the lacy raglans of the Felix.  

Well as much as I could talk all day about the next sweater I will knit, it is time to go and finish the body of the current sweater.  And my coffee cup is empty. Time to get on with the day.

Almost There.

 I did something different this weekend.  I stuck with knitting the same thing my sweater.  

It is almost long enough.  I am planning for a rib at the bottom.  The question is do I stick with my current 7 rows of lice and a good long rib or do I do two more sets of lice and a shorter rib?  Two more sets of lice would make the body quite long and I am not sure if  I want that.  I have two more rows of stockinette before I have to decide.  

The body of the sweater is almost done.  Sleeves won't take long because of the dropped shoulder. So yipeee.

I have been feeling a little down this last week.  I suspect it is just the darkness of winter.  I can't change that but I can change the things I am doing to address it.  I need to look at what I have been doing  reading, watching, knitting, thinking about, to see what I can adjust to make winter feel better.

Let's see what I come up with.