A few snow flurries fly this morning as I link with Kat and the Unravelers. The weather app calls it drizzle but it looks like snow to me. Later I'll make a grocery list and decide whether to shop this afternoon or tomorrow. Honestly, getting the list together is the battle for me. I still have laryngitis but could send my husband or wear a mask to go out. I finished all the lingering 2022 projects on the needles by December 31. This doesn't always happen but it is nice when it does. The night of the solstice, I cast on a pair of socks because I needed a project I could pick up and put down easily. I am counting them as a 2023 project.
The Advent Wrap is washed, blocked, and dry. I'll photograph it after I weave in the ends. I finished the cowl knit mostly from handspun. It's not my favorite piece but was a learning experience. The yarn is a little wooly for around the neck. When I spindle spun that fiber, I had plans to knit the the four shades of yarn as a gradient but if I'd looked at the colors more closely I'd have realized that wouldn't work. Now, I would have plied different shades together to make a more interesting yarn. Spin and learn. It's all a grand experiment. My goal is to try some new-to-me spinning fibers and techniques in 2023.
Last fall I swatched for a sweater with a combination of commercial and handspun yarn. On New Year's Day, I cast on the sweater. I am using the adult raglan sweater pattern from Ann Budd's The Handy Book of Topdown Sweaters and planning to stripe the gray with handspun. I am excited to play with handspun in this project. I expect some unraveling and re-knitting along the way.
While I have five or ten minutes here and there, I've knit on the renamed Solstice Socks. Last week I knit the heel flap and turned the heel during our drive to Omaha. Ravelry reminds me this is the fifth time knitting this pattern. What patterns do you reknit? Socks tend to be my fuss-free knitting.
Currently I'm listening to Fellowship Point by Alice Elliott Dark. I love that two of the main characters are older women. I like reading about writing and books from the viewpoint of the character Agnes, who is a writer. The descriptions of Maine shore are beautiful. The plot meanders along slowly, almost like an older novel. At times, I think the story moves too slowly and would benefit from editing out mundane details. Perhaps the author is trying to convey characters in old age living at a slower pace as well as life in summer cottages along the shore. It's been good company on cold nights while I knit and as I undecked the halls. I'm almost to the end and I plan to finish this evening.
The picture book Winter Bees by Joyce Sidman, is a small collection of winter poems along with a paragraph or two about the flora and fauna in the poems. The illustrations are gorgeous. Sidman has published quite a few books of poetry for children.
Lastly, here is the amaryllis watch. The plant is growing and I may need to find a stake.
The snow has stopped but with temperature hovering around freezing I plan make the grocery list today and send my husband tomorrow. We can eat from the pantry and freezer this evening. Stay warm and safe friends.
Ravelry Links
All of your projects look lovely to me and look at the buds on your Amaryllis!! We gave a waxed Amaryllis to Rob & Eva as a thank you for caring for Mabel...I wonder if it has a bud yet (we have not seen them thanks to Covid on our part). The socks I tend to knit a lot are Petty Harbor and Hermione's Everyday socks.
ReplyDeleteThat cowl looks lovely in the photo and even if it's not next-to-the skin soft, the fact that you learned something is valuable. It will be interesting to see what color your amaryllis is. The buds are an interesting sort of pinkish color, and it looks like there might be two bud stalks. I also enjoyed reading Fellowship Point and the older characters. There are not many older women in novels, especially ones that are independent women. I hope you feel better completely better soon and stay warm and healthy.
ReplyDeleteI think your cowl looks BEAUTIFUL! If it is a little too rustic, you can always wear it over a turtleneck.
ReplyDeleteI'll be finding out about that Impossible Girl socks. I cast on that pattern today. (It was supposed to be my NYE cast on, but COVID got in the way.)
I forgot to answer your question. My go-to sock pattern in Melanie's Twist. I like to make mine with a lacy option. I don't do the M1. I make a yarn over and don't twist it on the next row. So, I get lacy holes.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy to see you knitting with your handspun; I have seen so many newer spinners afraid to use the yarn they make because they feel it isn't "good enough." Your handspun is lovely, of course, but I think that even yarn we think of as imperfect is still usable as long as it isn't falling apart.
ReplyDeleteWhen I knit socks, I typically use my own recipe that I have in my head and can pretty much knit without looking.
Your cowl is absolutely gorgeous, Jane! I have seen several people suggest rinsing wooly yarns with hair conditioner and they say that helps somewhat, I have never tried it myself.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the Winter Bees book! I think that would be the perfect book to send off to the littles in my life!
And my sock recipe? Like Sarah, I have an "in my head recipe" that works for a knit while doing anything project!
Beautiful projects. I tend to knit plain vanilla socks because they are mindless knits. My sock drawer is stuffed, so I am taking a hiatus from sock knitting. I like the convenience of ordering groceries online and picking them up.
ReplyDeleteHow cool to be knitting a sweater with handspun yarn! I've been hearing a lot about Fellowship Point - and everyone agrees that the writing about nature is beautiful. (hope your voice comes back soon!)
ReplyDeletethat sweater is going to be spectacular! How exciting to be using your own handspun wool. yay. love the flower shot as well. we have rain turning to snow and the weather app for our area never gets it right.
ReplyDeleteYour year is off to a wonderful, fiber-y start, Jane. I can't wait to watch all your projects unfold over the next weeks/months. I hope you're feeling better by the time you read this . . . XO
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