Knitting Notes

We are back to cold temperatures although we missed the heart of the storm that arrived in the wee hours of this morning. The wind roared and temperatures plummeted from yesterday's high of 50 degrees to 11 degrees at daybreak. If we have an inch of new snow I'd be surprised. I think quite a bit of it blew away. 

I finished the Contrail Shawl right before Christmas. It is a generous sized shawl and good for wrapping up in on these cold days. I enjoyed knitting the pattern and the yarn. I finished hat and mitten sets for our Connecticut grandsons after the New Year. They fit - mostly. The finished hat for the youngest looked small so I unraveled the crown and added another inch to the body of the hat. I think that inch makes it wearable for him this winter. Whew! Micah's wild and crazy hat is a little bit big so maybe he will get another year's wear out of it.  I'll exercise a grandmother's privilege and post a photo of them.

On New Year's Day, I began swatching for a sweater from some leftover yarn. I don't have enough in any color to make a pullover for myself but do have three colors in enough total yardage. (Very brief Rav notes here) I could have striped the yarn but decided to make a colorblock sweater. I intend to wear this sweater for everyday and am thinking of it as an experiment. At least that is what I am telling myself. Five times, I cast on and knit a few inches. Each time I came closer to a raglan line with a ribbed design and increases without big holes. I knew this would be a process and thought of it as swatching. The yarn held up beautifully to repeated ripping and knitting. I cast on one more time and knit along until I made a mistake in one of the increases. I took out three or four rows stitch by stitch because when I pulled it all of the needles I couldn't quite get the increased stitches back on correctly. Now the knitting is smooth sailing and I may need another more complex project to break up the stockinette stitching. 

Today I am going through my yarn stash and knitting bags in an attempt to make some order. My knitting bags are a jumble of needles, patterns, and yarn both leftover and wound for projects not yet begun. I am not making any elaborate goals. In keeping with "light" as my guide word, I am hoping to shed some light onto the yarn and be inspired by this stash. 

I meant to write a post yesterday in order to link with Kat and the Unravelers. Perhaps I need to write on Tuesday so I can publish on Wednesday. So it goes. Enjoy these deep winter days.