Thursday

This week started out with a couple of inches of snow which quickly melted in the 40+ degree weather of early in the week and then reality hit in the form of high winds and sub-zero wind chills and by the end of the weekend we should be back to at least a couple inches of snow or lots more depending on which meteorologist you listen to. Michigan weather is never boring.

Running hither and yon this week was limited so I was able to attend sock night at Sip N Knit. Good thing…I had them lining up for help on double knitting and sewing up the bunny pattern from Heart Strings Fiber Arts. It is always good to be welcomed with enthusiasm and then be able to share my skills with others. I went home with a warm and fuzzy feeling. I get this feeling a lot with the women in Ithaca. Recharges my batteries for another week of going to work, helping with homework and all the other chores of life.

Off the needles
This week 2 items have come off the needles:

Sock number 1 for January’s Sock of the Month which is the Railroad Rib Socks pattern from Fiber Trends is done. I like the pattern but the yarn chosen from the stash ‘Red Heart Luster Sheen’ and size 1 needles make this a long knit although I love the resulting fit. Up until now I have not been happy with the fit of my hand knit socks, they are always rather sloppy on my feet. Could be a sign I should do a better job of checking gauge and such but where is the fun and adventure in that? Sock 2 will happen but not immediately. Need to rebuild the reserves for this one.


I also took out the lace waist of the AG shorts, decreased stitches and used smaller needles and I am much happier with the result. The fit is much nicer on the doll. I can now finish this area of instructions on the pattern. Should be up for offer it in my Etsy shop soon.

On the needles

February’s sock has been started. The pattern is Hellen’s Socks from Fiber Trends and I am using some yarn from the stash that I picked up at Lavender and Peonies, a yarn shop in DeWitt, approximately 2 years ago. Golly, time flies when we are busy.

Started the Cobblestone Pullover from Interweave for hubby by doing the swatch on size 7 needles which turned out to be too small so we re-swatched on 8’s which are closer. The number of stitches per 4 inches is within ½ a stitch so that is good but I am several rows shy of the rows per 4 inches so I may have to adjust shaping at the neck to accommodate this difference. Needles have been purchased though so onward we shall trudge.

Goofy Girls

My final Christmas project was a knitting bag for my younger daughter. Here it is as modeled by both of my goofy girls.



One of my bags was being used to carry her knitting around and I had some wool that she kept wanting to help herself to so I put that together with an old bag turned liner and crocheted her a bag. I got to test felt a swatch and determine how big to make the bag based on my test. I was pleasantly surprised when it actually worked out close to my calculations. Also got to install a zipper into my work for the second time. I think I am getting the hang of it.