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.
