What I’m working on now:  (Pictures will come in a future post)

Before I start, let me say that I have decided that I am going to try to knit Christmas gifts for this year.  I was a little concerned about it because I didn’t want to spend all of that time and money working on these projects and have my family not really like them.  So the last time I went back home for a visit, I brought all of my knitting books and announced to my family that I was thinking of doing this, and that if anyone was interested in me making them a sweater for Christmas, here are the books.  My family DEVOURED the books, and I now have sticky notes sticking out of the tops of almost all of my books.  Even my 20 year old nephew was really excited about it and chose a sweater pattern.   So, on that note, my projects:

I am making the puff sleeved cardigan from Fitted Knits for my niece, Hailey.  I am almost embarrassed to say that they yarn I am using for it is an acrylic yarn from Wal-Mart.  It is the Caron Simply Soft yarn, which really is very soft, and it’s a pretty red/kind of burgundy color.  I chose to use this yarn because I am making this as a Christmas gift for my niece, and did not want to spend a fortune on yarn.  The yarn at Wal-Mart comes in the huge skeins and are very cheap, so I can make this sweater, basically, for about $10.  I am really almost finished with this project, and have been working on it for about a week and a half.  I love Fitted Knits because the projects are worked from the top down, so you can really see how they look as you are working and also because, except for a few finishing touches, everything is worked in one piece.  I can definitely see myself making many more items from this book.

I am also making a sweater for my sister-in-law, Rachal (Hailey’s mom).  She chose the Cable Trim Sweater from my Classic Knits for Real Women. (Side note:  I am really disappointed in this book for this reason:  It says it has “versatile knitwear designs for plus sizes,” but the projects only go up to about 46″ bust, which really is not THAT plus.  My SIL is a 52″ bust, so I am making the largest size and using larger needles.  I hope it works out because I will feel HORRIBLE if what I spend that much time working on is too small for her.  If it is, I will have her chose something from Interweave Knits, which I have discovered DO go up into the larger sizes.)  Okay, back to my project.  I have this sweater going at the same time as the Puff Sleeved Cardigan because when I go to spend time at my LYS, I refuse to bring that acrylic Wal-Mart yarn (I am embarrassed about it, remember?)  So I bring the Cable Trim Sweater to work on when I’m visiting at my LYS.  I am using an EXTREMELY SOFT Jo Sharp Aplaca Kid yarn in a kind of off white color, and I love working on it.

When I was visiting my LYS Saturday, the owner told us that she was approached by someone who works for a Hospice Care to maybe try to get some knitters to make socks, hats, and/or lap robes for Hospice patients.  Of course we all jumped at the chance right away.  She told us that she would provide the yarn (although I would have bought the yarn myself and donated the projects) if we would knit some projects.  So I brought home 3 skeins of Berrocco Pure Merino with the intention of making a pair of socks.  I whipped out the socks in a day and a half (getting really good at the sock thing!) and still had an entire skein of the yarn left plus a little bit of the other 2 skeins, so I made a hat too.

For my sister, Stacy, I am making the Lacy and Light Mohair from my Knitting Simple Sweaters from Luxurious Yarns book.  I had cast on and done 1 row of this a couple of months ago then promptly set aside and haven’t touched it yet.  When I finish Hailey’s cardigan, that will be my extra project to work on when I need a little break from Rachal’s sweater.

I have a scarf going which I started after I finished my rolled brim hat.  I loved the yarn so much that I thought it needed a scarf to go with it.  I think it will be a Christmas gift for my nephew Nick’s girlfriend.  (Since she is not actually family, she doesn’t really rate an entire sweater yet, but I don’t want to leave her out, either)

Okay,  my batteries are dead in my camera right now, so they are recharging, and I will post pictures after they are charged.

RANDOM THOUGHT:

I have currently started listening to podcasts.  My kids all have ipods and I bought my husband one last Christmas, but I had never got into it.  Lately I have been seeing references to podcasts everywhere I look, so I thought I’d check them out.  So I picked up an ipod that we have here at the house that is not being used by anyone.  I got my daughter to show me how to manage the ipod itself and to find and download podcasts.  Of course I went straight to knitting.  I have a few comments.  I will not say which podcasts I have listened to, but I must say that I am not really impressed with them.  I expected people talking about knitting - what they are knitting, different types of yarn, patterns, etc. - but most of what I am hearing is people talking about their lives, their kids, what they did this past week (not necessarily having anything to do with knitting), and they throw in a couple of comments about something they are working on (like, “so while I was waiting 6 hours in the emergency room for my daughter’s gash on her chin to be of a high enough priority for us to be seen, I worked on the clapotis I have been putting off working on”)  Don’t get me wrong, not all podcasts I have heard have been like this, but really, for a lot of them it is like just listening to people talk about their mundane lives.  I’m downloading KNITTING podcasts in order to hear people talk about KNITTING.  I have heard a few of them that I was impressed with; they talked about knitting projects and yarn and patterns.  Do any of you have any suggestions?  I don’t know if I’m not doing it right or I just don’t know what I’m supposed to be looking for, but seriously.