winter fade

Really excited to show you the progress on one of my shiny new projects for the new year. It's the Find Your Fade shawl by Andrea Mowry. I am sure that many of you who go on Instagram have seen a number of knitters who are either planning out their fade or knitting on this right now. I love looking at all the yarn/color combinations going on out there. For mine, I was really inspired by the colors of the winter season, mainly greys and blues. I wanted a very subtle fade and so decided on a gradient effect:

the uncommon thread everyday singles

I am just loving this project right now. So soothing and relaxing to knit. The yarn is a single ply merino and is heavenly to work with. I've been watching a lot of video podcasts lately and this project is the perfect accompaniment along with a hot cup of tea and holiday chocolates. One of my favorite knitting podcast right now is a homespun house. I can listen to Molly talk about yarn and fiber all day long.

What kinds of shiny new projects are currently on your needles? Are there any particular knits that you would like to focus on this year? I can remember being so excited to knit socks at the beginning of last year. I am hoping to mix it up more this year, with socks, cowls, shawls and sweaters all getting equal attention.

reflections

Thank you for all of your well wishes. Happy to report that my back is slowly getting better. I ended up taking all of last week off from work after not being able to get out of bed the day after New Year's Day. I overdid it the week before and ended up with a ruptured disc in my lower back which was pressing down on a nerve. It had gotten so painful that I couldn't sit up and could barely walk. So the first week of 2017 ended up being a pretty dull affair with no knitting accomplished. On the bright side, I managed to get a head start on my reading goals. 4 books in one week!

Now that my back is truly on the mend, I'm excited to cast on some new projects. But before looking ahead to what this year will bring, I wanted to briefly reflect on some things that I learned in 2016:

15 pairs of socks, 3 cowls, 2 sweaters, 1 shawl, 1 ornament

Socks Socks and more Socks: I will fondly remember 2016 as the year that I got bit with the sock knitting bug. It has been so much fun learning a couple of different heel techniques (Afterthought & Strong heels) besides the traditional heel flap. Plus I gave toe-up socks a try. Designing a pair of tabi socks was also a highlight. But the number one most satisfying thing that I learned from a year of sock knitting is being able to do the Kitchener stitch without having to refer to written instructions or diagrams ever again.

Improvising a top-down sweater: This was a huge accomplishment for me. Still can't believe that I managed to pull it off. I learned so much in the process, such as the importance of planning but also being flexible when certain parts of the plan didn't work or needed to be changed.

Thank you for all of your support and kindness! Even though my blogging has been sporadic at best this past year, I still treasure all of the wonderful connections that I have made here. Looking forward to what this new year will bring for all of us! Hopefully lots of love, good health, beautiful yarn and shiny new projects :)

whoosh!

And just like that it's another year coming to an end! Can't believe how quickly Christmas came and went. It was a pretty low key affair this year since my MIL decided to spend the holidays at her new house in Florida. I also took a nasty spill at work and threw out my back two days before Christmas. Luckily, all the decorating, baking, shopping and wrapping were done so all that was left was the fun stuff i.e. spending time with the family, watching holiday movies and eating a ton of yummy food. There was also some knitting and ornament making:

mistletoe socks (pattern: hermione's everyday socks)

yarn: knitmona in mistletoe colorway

pattern: mitten garland advent calendar

stitchable mitten ornaments by katrinkles

Wishing that I had a few more days of bed rest but unfortunately it's a crazy busy time of year at work. So heading back to the grind tomorrow morning. I hope that your holiday season has been chock-full of family, love and joy! I will be back soon with an end of the year roundup.

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.

building blocks (westknits mystery shawl kal 2016)

There was quite a bit of controversy in the mkal forum with this shawl. Some knitters did not care for the construction, a few were in an uproar when two color brioche was included in one of the clues, others didn't like the final shape. Guess I'm easy to please because I enjoyed the entire process of knitting my building blocks shawl. I loved seeing how the different colors interacted with each other depending on their placement and the stitch patterns involved. We were essentially blending the colors like paints on a palette. It was also really cool learning how to increase and decrease in two color brioche. Stephen had these funny but very clear and informative videos on the special techniques used in each clue. I especially loved the brioche knitting one and can't wait to knit one of his brioche designs. The final shawl shape is pretty versatile (I made the small size). I like to wear mine either draped over the shoulders with the long ends hanging in front or wrapped cowl-like around the neck. The bat wing shape is admittedly not to everyone's taste (I personally prefer a more curved & rounded shawl). But it's good fun to step outside of my comfort zone every once in awhile.