stripe happy

Happy last day of November! We had a lovely Thanksgiving filled with family, friends and yummy food. I had to work for part of the day but came home to a delicious dinner prepared by my sisters-in-law. One of the many blessings in my life is having family who live close by. Especially ones who know how to cook and throw a good party :)

I can't believe how fast this year has gone by! Only 3 & 1/2 weeks until Christmas! I know that a few of you have been knitting gifts year round. Wish I had the forethought to do that. There are a few gifts in the knitting basket which are underway. Just small things this year: a bunny which is currently on hold until the baby is born in January. The parents are waiting to find out the gender. As soon as that happens, I can outfit the bunny accordingly. Also some fingerless mitts and a cowl which I am still waiting on the yarn for.

And of course, there has been lots of fun Christmas sock knitting going on. Speaking of socks, I've got a backlog of finished ones to show you all. Presenting my Stripy Socks for All Seasons:

Spring

Summer

Fall

Winter

Spring is a plain sock with heel flaps. Fall & Winter are vanilla socks using my new favorite afterthought heel technique without waste yarn. And Summer is a scrappy monster sock with a Strong Heel.

fall woolens

Can you believe that it's already the last day of September? This month has just flown by. There has been a lot of knitting on little projects here lately and today I have a couple of new fall woolens to share with you.

First up is Laurus, the fourth hat in the fringehatalong. It was a quick and simple knit with a cute little bit of colorwork thrown in. I decided to go with a brown/cream marled yarn for the main color combined with a kelly green contrasting yarn. I like the outdoorsy vibe of the finished hat.

Next is a pair of fingerless mitts that I modified from this cute mitten project that I saw on Ravelry. I love how the fake thrums look like little hearts. I used a super soft bulky roving yarn in the stash that had a lovely mix of autumn colors. These feel pretty great to wear and I can't wait for the chilly fall days ahead!

Do you have any fun fall projects in the works? I've been itching to get started on a new sweater but can't decide on a pattern. In the meantime, there are still plenty of small wips to keep me busy. Happy knitting and have a great rest of the week :)

knitting en plein air

I was all set to show you some new fall knitting projects but with temps in the high eighties and the humidity going through the roof, it looks like those will have to wait. Not complaining too much because with beautiful views like these, it's hard to stay mad at summer for hanging around a little longer.

I love watching the slow transition from summer to autumn that happens here on the island, the little glimpses of gold and red among the still bright green leaves and the blue skies looking over it all.

So on days like these, the best thing to do is to find a quiet comfy spot in the shade, preferably with a small knitting project or two, and just breathe it all in. And the two projects keeping me company today?

The first is a fun stripey pair of Simple Skyp Socks that I was inspired to cast on for after reading this post on the lovely Wooly Cakes and Wooden Spoons blog. It was a call to help her friend Tracey in collecting much needed socks for homeless shelters in the Washington DC area. More info can be found here if you are interested in helping. Despite averaging a pair of socks every three years, I am determined to whip these out in less than a month. Some of you might be wondering if it wouldn't be easier to just buy a pack of socks to donate? Yes, it would be easier and I do intend to supplement my handknit socks with packs of men, women and kids sized store bought ones. But the merits of wool socks was recently made clear to me after reading this post. (And now my toes and feet are suffering from a bad case of FOMO** I might turn into a regular sock knitter after all!)

The second little project on the needles is the first of a pair of fake thrummed fingerless mitts. I wish that you could feel how soft this roving yarn is!

Have a wonderful rest of the week!


**fear of missing out

do-over

Can you hear my huge sigh of frustration? There has been more frogging than knitting going on around here lately and it's making me mighty grumpy. You know that knitting has taken over your life when everything that goes wrong can be blamed on it. Forgot to update the kid's lunch account? (should have done a proper gauge swatch before casting on for these cute Fee-bee mitts) ... started dinner at the last minute and found out that a couple of essential ingredients were missing? (the lace cuff was looking too big and messy) ... forgot to pay the cable bill? (kept on knitting despite it all) ... the air-conditioner stopped working? (ended up admitting defeat & ripping out the entire project).

So this morning, I decided a do-over was in order. After putting the little guy on the bus and drinking a huge mug of coffee, I escaped to my secret knitting spot, enjoying the beautiful water views along the way (while ignoring the frogs croaking rip-it rip-it). The clouds cleared and the sun came out.

A couple of blissful hours of knitting on Morning Mist did wonders to lift my mood.

With a clearer head and calmer heart, I have decided to ditch the Fee-bee mitts for now and just play around with some pretty autumn colors from my stash. 

I hope that this week (and your knitting) has been kind to you!

audrey loves wabi

I've been on a hat knitting binge lately. Strange, since until this year, hats were mainly reserved for gift or charity knitting and not for personal wearing. But I've recently discovered what great little accessories they make, especially when one is suffering from a bad or lazy hair day (which is every day for me). Plus, they can add a little handmade personality to an otherwise ho-hum outfit. I also like the fact that they can be worn comfortably for three out of four seasons here in Maryland. And the best part is that they are quick, fun and portable projects to knit.

This here is Audrey which is the first hat to kickoff the fringe hatalong hosted by Karen from Fringe Association. I used the recommended yarn, Snoqualmie Valley Yarn. Did I mention that hats are also a wonderful way to indulge in new yarns? So yeah, I broke from the stash for this one and it was well worth it! Not only did I have enough yardage to make Audrey but there was plenty left over. So I decided to knit a pair of wabi mitts to keep Audrey company.

I like how they look together and both were fast and fun to knit up. The hat turned out a little big, so I wear it more as a slouchy beret.

Right now, the second hat in the fringe hatalong is underway. It's a lovely little pattern called L'Arbre by Cirilia Rose. Mine is off the needles but still needs to be photographed, so more on that later.
Do you like to knit hats and/or wear them? If so, what style of hat do you prefer?