Blues

Blues have been living on my needles lately. A friend recently had a baby girl, and being a pink-sparkle avoider like myself, I thought I would make her a baby sweater in non-traditional colors. The pattern is Baby Tea Leaves, and the yarn is Malabrigo Arroyo in Azules. I made a similar one for Mary, and I'm really in love with this pattern. The pattern is written so clearly and the result is super sweet for a baby girl. I made the 12 month size and it eats up 100% of one skein of yarn, which is exactly how I like it. I actually knit the body first, then divided the rest of the yarn by weight for the sleeves.

Also now finished are a pair of Cruiser Mittens in Brown Sheep Top of the Lamb Worsted. I knit a small buttonhole into the palm of one so that I could turn the page of my Kindle when it's freezing out. The convenience of being a knitter! Oh, and I did modify this pattern a bit by adding a thumb gusset. I really don't understand when mitten patterns are written with no gusset, because last time I checked the width of your palm across your thumb is bigger than the width of your palm above your thumb.

How quickly you forget the cold. It's hard to imagine needing to use these now that it's spring. Sheep and Wool is coming up soon! I'm hoping to take Mary this year and introduce her to all the sheep. It's funny how tastes change over the years, and this applies to yarn as well. This winter I realized how much warmer plain old 100% wool is. So, I'm hoping to find some non-superwash wool and/or fiber for socks and sweaters. Even though I've forgotten the cold, it doesn't mean it won't exist again.

The Four-Year Blanket

In April of 2011 I had the brilliant idea to crochet a 100% wool colorful granny square blanket. Four years later, it's finished! Like with many of my projects I didn't really grasp what I was getting myself into. 28 skeins of wool = six pounds of yarn = almost 2 miles of yarn = thousands of stitches = 540 color changes = over 600 ends.

I used Knitpicks Wool of the Andes (the colors are listed on my Ravelry page here) and only had to order more yarn once, for the border. The pattern is Summer Garden Granny Square, although I only did 3 color changes per round instead of 4. If I had done 4 you'd certainly be reading this post two years in the future. A huge part of this project was joining the squares together; I crocheted them together instead of sewing them, which ended up looking great, but taking for-freaking-ever.

So would I do it again? I'll give you the same answer I gave after I ran a half marathon 12 years ago - "I'm never doing that again." I'm not opposed to crocheting a blanket again, but not granny squares. Joining a billion of those things together killed my soul. But now I feel so freeeee! This thing has been hanging over my [crafting] head for years now, and now I have so much more time to knit all of the things.

Now, let me tell you about the 3 unfinished quilts in my basement, one of which is over 7 years old...

Wool Socks for Winter

Last time I mentioned how I do not do well with long-term projects. I really want to knit complicated cabled sweaters and intricate lace shawls, but about 60% in I end up wanting to burn the thing. Of course when it's finished I'm glad I put in the time and immediately want to start the next big project.

Sometimes, though, I need to knit a pair of socks in 4 days. The way that happens is to find some bulky yarn and big needles (it also helps to have small feet) and cast on 32 stitches. 32!! (A regular sock has about 64 stitches in a round.) I just made up the pattern as I went along, because after knitting about 50 socks so far I could probably do it blindfolded. I used Istex Alafoss Lopi, which is from Iceland and as close to an actual sheep as you can get. The wool is pretty "rustic," as they say, so these are better if worn with other socks underneath. That's ok, because it's 62 degrees in my house and they match my House Hat and House Scarf and House Long Underwear. Is it 62 degrees in your house?

A Year of Possiblities

I love this week, which seems fresh and new, like anything is possible in the coming year. I love reading and hearing about everyone's resolutions and projects. Even though I am cynical royalty and know that 90% of these projects will be abandoned (just ask me about my Project 365 that lasted two months), for this week and this month we will indulge ourselves in optimism.

• Knit from stash: I was the happy recipient of much gift yarn this year, and dropped a couple Benjamins on yarn for myself (whoops). This fall I reorganized my yarn by weight into 3 plastic bins, which lasted about 4 seconds before they started to overflow. My goal is to fit all of the stash back into those bins.
• Get the house in order: We've entertained the idea of moving to a different house this year, which means that all of those projects that were scheduled to happen someday need to happen now. I have a 2-page list of all of these projects, ranging from cleaning out drawers to minorly remodeling bathrooms, that I will spare you from.
• Complete photobook pages monthly: Each year I put together a book of pictures from the year, so they can live somewhere physical outside of my computer. Well, this (last) year I took over 1,000 pictures. Wading through them has been a monumental task. This year, I'm going to upload the pictures from each month and complete a few pages so I don't have to do it all at once.

Despite having a terrible name, dutch babies are delicious. Alton Brown's recipe is a winner. 

Currently Knitting

I've become a little too into certain Instagram feeds where new projects are posted every few days. Socks fly off the needles in four days, new shawls appear weekly, and a sweater magically knits itself every month. While incredibly inspiring, this is not how I roll. I tend to plod along on a few things over a course of a few months (or even years, in the case of blankets and quilts), which makes my updates all very similar. Hey guess what, this sweater looks exactly the same but is actually an inch longer!

What I'm currently plodding away on:

• A Red Rock Canyon shawl in two maybe-a-little-too-similar shades of Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere. The striping is subtle, but I suspect it will show up more when the shawl is finished. I'm probably more likely to wear a purple tonal shawl than a crazy striped one anyway. Oh, and this yarn is amazing. It's like petting a kitten's belly.
• Acer Cardigan in Cascade 220. I don't knit many sweaters, but somehow I ended up with two sweater quantities of yarn in olive green. The fronts and back are knitted in one piece, which is why it's so wide; don't worry, I'm not bringing 80s sweaters back.

I finished up a Sockhead Hat in some handspun merino which has finally found its calling. This is the third iteration of this yarn (previously a bias-knit cowl, and then a crocheted cowl), and it works! The merino is crazy soft and warm, although I'm still not nuts about the colors. Also, this is a "slouchy" hat. I'm not sure how trendy people manage to achieve the perfect slouchy hat, because mine always sticks up like a conehead.

Last but not least, I am so close to finishing The Afghan of Death. I started a crochet blanket in April 2011 (yes, almost 4 years ago), and all it needs are about 8 more seams and a border. Remind me about this if I ever mention wanting to crochet another blanket.

Season of Life

I remember reading a blog post once about the seasons of life, in the context of home decorating. There is a time in your life when your walls are covered in band posters and your bookshelves stuffed with college textbooks. There is a time when 90% of your furniture is from Ikea, because that's what you can afford. There is a time when you can afford a real couch from a real furniture store, and you have moved from posters to actual art.

Then there is the season in which I am currently: the one where the living room floor is littered with plastic baby toys, the car seat box still sits in the corner because it is the best thing ever according to both baby and cat, and the coffee table has been completely cleared. The one where there is a giant hole in the living room ceiling because a pipe got lazy and decided not to contain water anymore.

This can be frustrating because I like everything in its place and just so; my knitting projects in plastic bins under the table aren't exactly aesthetically pleasing. But Mary lives here too, now, and I'm sure that not too far into the future I'll long for these days. So for now, the floor is cluttered, and that's ok.

Hygge

I love fall, as it seems most people do, but the minute it turned even the slightest bit chilly, I started dreading winter. For months I can never get warm, mainlining hot drinks and wearing a hat 24 hours a day. Last year was particularly awful, having to be up all night in the freezing dark with a newborn. In an effort to head off the depressing, cold days ahead, I started a Pinterest board of all of the tolerable (perhaps even enjoyable) things about winter. This mostly involved steaming beverages, blankets, knitting, and lights.

I can't remember where I first heard of it, but I'm intrigued by the Danish concept of Hygge. It seems that everyone has their own definition, which is something along the lines of coziness & warmth, spending time doing the things that make you happy with the people you want around you. I hope this winter will have more hygge, filled with knitting and baking and nesting under blankets. There isn't anything I can do about shoveling snow, or trying to wrangle holding a baby and an umbrella while unlocking the door, but at least I can put up some twinkle lights. They are my winter lights, not Christmas lights, and are definitely staying up until March.