I hab a code.  It is a good long time since I had one so it's a little bit much. It comes from little boy kisses and snuggles over the holidays no doubt but I wouldn't trade it for the world.  If the price of joy is a cold...well so be it. I did nothing yesterday but drink tea and blow my nose and generally feel sorry for myself.  

Today I already did a load of laundry andcI plan to do dishes.  Neither are from choice but need.  I do not plan on doing much more.  A shower is planned and a nap is planned.  If I get those done I will have had a successful day. 

Progress?

After writing my blog yesterday, I knit.  It was a long lovely day of knitting.  

I knit all afternoon and part of the evening and by all that I know, I got nowhere.  When I started the day, I am pretty certain that I had about and inch and a half.  There was not a single bit of growth no matter that I put the whole day into the thing.  

Harumphhhhh

That's the thing about knitting.  As you work on the body of a sweater, there isn't a whole lot of stuff to mark the progress you make.  Even if you measure over and over again, it does not grow.  Tape measures lie in the same way that gauge does.  

That is what I am facing with this sweater.  It did not grow when I worked on it before and it is not going to grow today.  I had to pull out the big guns.  I put in a progress marker at the end of yesterday's work and as I knit on it today, I will see the actual knitting make it grow.  And that gives me hope that this sweater will be finished, one step, one stitch at a time.  

Is It Forward or Backwards?

This must be the looking forward part.  Appropriate for a New Years morning.  I was going to have all of this in yesterday's post but that was getting too long.  These are all the sweaters of the WIPs bin.  Heaven knows why I keep getting distracted from them except 'Squirrel'...  They are all good projects and I am going to finish them.  There is no particular order here, not oldest to newest.  Not nicest or most eagerly wanted.  No order at all.  It is just the way they came out of the bin.

First up is my Linger cardigan from Knitty.com.  If I could work on it routinely, it would be done in a flash.  I love it and I am looking forward to getting it done. 

The problem is it is a little hard on my hands.  This is particularly true on the sleeves which is where I am now.  It has to do with the weight of the yarn ( worsted held double)  and the trouble with my hands.  The pattern and design are great.  The fabric is just yummy and ever so slowly, it is getting completed.  

Next up is my sweater with Mrs Hunter's pattern.  

The yarn is some of the Briggs and Little from my Epic Adventure with a few skeins I had on hand.  It is coming along beautifully and will soon be at the part where I split the arms.  I enjoy knitting the pattern but I am getting to the point where I am looking forward to being mostly done with it.  The top is all lace, but the body will have only a small panel of the lace center front.  I am not a hundred percent sure of  what I am doing on the sleeves yet, but that will come.  I have been knitting lots on this one.

Oooo, now here is an oldie.  

This little teal number is being made for some really gorgeous buttons that I got in Vernon BC at a Twist of Yarn.  It is always on my mind but I never seem to pull it out to knit on.  

My Hacho sweater!

Everything I have been working with, even socks, has been thicker or loftier or yarn.  This sweater is a relief to knit on.  The yarn is tightly smoothly spun and is a lot of fun to work on.  There is just enough thinking in Joji Locatelli's Lipstick pattern to keep it interesting.  

The is Joji Locatelli's Newspaper pullover or rather it should be. 

I started it and then fell under the spell of the Linger sweater.  Since they are both a very similar sort of stitch, this one kind of got left behind.  That is such a shame.  

I really regret that this got set aside. It is such fun simple knitting.  All garter stitch.  Yay for garter.  The only challenge is changing the colour of yarn in a way that will make the most of what I have.

It is such a pretty bunch of yarns.  

And the my Scandinavian Star Vest.  The pattern is based on a design from Cheryl Oberle's  Folk Vests.

The yarn is Cascade 220 and is going to make a stunning hard wearing warm vest.  I am now using my one handed stranding technique and it is brilliant.  

This is my very strong, bright yellow sweater in yarn from Arcane Fibres.  I started this in August last year and I have no idea why it is not done yet.  However, it is going to be brilliant knitting for the deep cold of winter.  

And then my betweeness Seasonal cast on.

This is the brilliant Midknit Cravings London Fog colourway in their Comfort DK Sport base.  I am a bit farther along now

Being just a few rows into the simultaneous set in sleeves.  I love, love, love the colourway.  It is casual and old home and speaks to me of comfort and coziness in the nicest of ways.   

There are two shawls as well.  One is the Bridgewater shawl that I cast on in 2012.  

It is the oldest thing in my WIPs bin and there is part of me that doesn't want to finish it because it is from the days before Brian died.  It is part of what was but to not finish it would be silly. Life is what it will be and I may as well have a very prett,y dainty thing to wear.  It will get done.  

And last of the big things in the WIPs bin is my Starting Point shawl.  This is another Joji Locatelli design and I am using a whole bunch of stash yarn, all of which knits up to a fingering gauge even though some of the yarns are not listed that way.

The colours are glorious and vibrant and strong and are right up my alley.  It will keep the chill off my back in the evenings or tossed around my neck when I go out.  It is a gorgeous thing and I love it.

There are a few socks and other small things in the WIPs bin but these are the things I really want to finish this year.  It isn't a resolution.  It's more of a gee I sure would like to wear that plan.  The only way to wear it is to finish it and since I feel like I  have become a more monogamous type knitter ( hahaha ), maybe I can empty the bin.  

And maybe not.  It's going to be fun to see where I get to.  It's a good way to look at the upcoming year too.  It will be fun to see what I get up to!