Well, I waved my magic wands over some materials (for a long time. Seriously, there was a lot of wand waving!) and out came these lovely socks! Tadah! (you can clap now)
Pattern: Petty Harbor by Rayna Curtis
Yarn: Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in Marine Heather
These are a Valentine’s Day gift for my boyfriend. They say the way to a man’s heart is through his feet…wait…? I knit them over 3 weeks.
Yay! Now I can start my sweater!
Ok, so now that I’ve talked about how Christmas is not about stuff, here are some of the things I received from friends and family. It was a good Christmas.
My mom gave me a gift card so I could buy exactly what yarn I wanted.
Also, this, which she picked out for me. My mother knows me well. Thank you, mom.
My littlest sister, whom I taught how to knit, came full circle by knitting me a hat. The best part – she needed help to finish it, so I was given an unfinished project. My knitterly heart was ecstatic!
My sister the artist made me an Evenstar pendent based on the Lord of the Rings.
A good friend gave me this. I am so excited to add it to my tree.
This is from my lovely boss at the music studio: Thank you for a wonderful year of teaching!
And the Piece de Resistance: Look what my wonderful boyfriend gave me! He picked it out himself and I love it so much! ❤ ❤
I made a tiny sweater. I think I’m in love. I think I need to make 18 more.
Pattern: by Sarah Schira at ImaginedLandscapes (I’m a test knitter, but Sarah plans to release the pattern in the near future)
Yarn: Valley Yarns Superwash DK in “Natural” colourway
Needles: US size 3 DPNs
Sometimes when I knit I think about the yarn and how every single inch of it flows through my hands. I touch every bit of it. It’s not just that I feel every inch of the finished product, it’s that I see and touch all of it before it is a thing. I touch the inside. I touch the outside. I handle the inside of the fabric that no one else will ever even think of, let alone try to feel. We could even take it a step further. If you herd your own sheep, you get to shear them. You can wash and card and prepare the wool for spinning. You can spin the wool yourself to make yarn that you can then knit with.
Knitting is magic. It kind of blows my mind every time I think of it.
I am knitting my first lace! I cannot tell you how excited and terrified I am right now. Let me tell you the whole story.
Remember a few weeks ago when I told you about the yarn shop my boyfriend found for me and how he waited patiently as I took far too long inside? Well, I bought this beauty.
Isn’t she wonderful? She is 400 yards of handpainted 100% silk from Venice. It was love at first sight. How could I say no? Why would I want to say no?
So I bought her and took her with me to her forever home. At first I wasn’t sure what we would do together. It’s always interesting getting to know a new personality, but I was not surprised to find that we got along perfectly. There was a slight bump in our relationship when I realized the pattern I had picked for her (which was going to be perfect and which I still hope to knit someday) required more yardage than she had. But I’m not the kind to shame a girl for being too short, so after a bit of a pout I started looking at our other options so that we could have a long and fulfilling partnership.
I searched and searched and pulled up gazillions of tabs on Ravelry, but nothing seemed quite right (also, I had to pay for all the patterns I found, and I tend to be a bit of a cheapskate am on a budget). But then as I was reviewing the notes for a promising pattern I had a realization: I don’t need to buy a pattern. I am a smart and sensible woman. I can make my own!
I decided to knit a half pi shawl inserting this lace pattern once I had finished the first few increase rounds (also, starting with only a few stitches and increasing means I don’t have to swatch. Sounds like my kind of knitting).
I started off excitedly increasing in the correct places and for 1 glorious hour I thought my stitch count and my lace pattern were going to dovetail perfectly. It was with sadness I realized life was not going to come together quite so gloriously, but I am soldiering on. I have tinkered with stitch counts and lace charts. I even made a spread sheet! This lace is going to happen by hook or by crook!
I finished it. I turned this beautiful yarn…
…into this beautiful cowl. I am so proud of myself. I used literally all of my yarn (In this case literally means what it really means: there was not even 1 inch of yarn left over).
Also, look what my lovely coworker gave me. I work with the best people.
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Dramatic Lyric 