Finally Finished Friday

From DMC - Hug This!  The animal with velcro arms and the yarn to knit came as part of the kit.  All for a reasonable $19.95

Instead of knitting the pattern provided, I used the Grandmother's Dishcloth pattern and did a corner to corner little blanket.

The kit itself said there was sufficient yarn for a carriage blanket.  I had quite a bit left when I finished, so I could have knit this a bit bigger than it's 27 x 26 finished size, but I was really ready to be done with this blanket.

I'll gift it to the gal that does my hair in a couple of weeks, and tell her it is the perfect size for throwing over the car seat when transporting, and re-purpose later as a carry around blanket for the toddler.

Hey, tomorrow is September 1st and we are starting our first ever KAL via my You Tube Channel and the pjknits group over on Ravelry.  I would love to have you join us in the knit or if you have knit it already give us your thoughts too!

Have a great and safe holiday weekend!  Catch you on the purl side!

On The Needles This Week

My Ouzo is on the needles!  It is all stockinette for awhile, until I get to the sleeves and some lace on the back.  In the meantime, it is kind of boring.

But, what I am really anxious to get started on this Saturday, the first of September is Veronika!

Yesterday, the Tall Guy and I celebrated 42 years.  And because, we don't really buy each other anniversary gifts, we bought our own...mine was yarn, lots of yarn for many projects.  As soon as they start being delivered by the mailman, I'll show you what they are.

And on a Summer note, this is what is in our bush right outside our kitchen.  This is our second set of Cardinal babies in a new nest in the past couple of months.  How cool is that?!

Weekend Happenings

On Saturday, I decided to tackle the Yarn Room.  Go through a few yarns that had been given to me and donate them to other good causes.  After I did that, I decided to go through canvas bags on my hall tree and cut bait with some of them.  This is what I came up with...lots of needles, lots of empty canvas bags and quite a few projects that needed to be tossed out.  And I did it without feeling guilty. They all served a purpose at one time, but it was time for them to go, there was never any hope of them growing into real finished projects.

And today, I decided it was time to take a break from knitting on the most boring baby blanket ever, and do a bit of swatching on future sweater projects.  First up is for my Veronika that is slated to be cast on September 1st.  Which just so happens to be the first day of a long holiday weekend.  The yarn is YOTH Father.

And second up is Magpie Fibers Solstice and this is swatch is for my Ouzo.

It would seem by the looks of these two swatches that I plan on wearing a lot of denim with them.  Ah well!

Let's Knit - Veronika Cardigan

At first glance a couple of years ago, I was kind of ho hum about the Veronika Cardigan,  thinking there is no way I could wear it. Then, this past June, I got to try it on at ZK and fell in love with it and got reviews from my peeps that I could wear it.  Several at our table at ZK have since cast it on and I've been wanting to ever since.

But alas, I've had a couple of things on my list that needed a bit of attention...Until, I started getting super jealous of theirs and was ready to cast on last weekend.  Then, I was  enticed by another friend to cast on the first of September.  I am hoping if you are reading this, you might want to knit along with us.  I have added a thread on the pjknits group on Ravelry if you want to join in the fun of knitting this sweater together.  #tags on Instagram are #pjknitsveronikacardi  #veronikacardi if you want to join in there, or you know I'll be posting here progress as well as on You Tube.

I think this is going to be a perfect transitional sweater for me, for wearing late this Fall, throw it on in Winter and into Spring next year!  I chose my color way at Stitches Midwest earlier this month from YOTH Father in the Concord Grape color.  It is going to be a great go to with all shades of denim, brown and black, all of which I wear a lot of no matter the season.

And now to swatch.

Finally Finished Friday

Fine Sand by Heidi Kirrmaier out of Rowan Purelife Revive

I am lovin this finished sweater for My Sweater Project!

Wednesday WIPS

This is a cut bait week.  I tried finishing the front of this Tee, but finally on Sunday afternoon, I decided it was time to give it up and toss it into the bait box and let it go.

I just was not feeling it, the yarn was a bit stiff.  I had great doubts that it was going to fit me when I finish it.  And to be perfectly honest, it wasn't fitting any of  the criteria for my sweater project.

The sleeves were not going to cover what I needed them to cover, and most definitely the whole sweater was going to need a tank under it.

It just was not me and I feel so good to have this one crossed off the list!  One WIP down!

What's On The Needles This Week?

After a weekend of wanting to cast  knit on all the things, the start of the work week has me a bit more focused.  I did cast on a couple of things and one got frogged for a later date, but the second remained on the needles.

Mainly because it is for a baby gift that I want to give to the baby's mother in a month, so I figured I better get cracking on this blanket.  Believe it not this yarn from DMC is classified as sport weight.  I really thought it was fingering.  I am knitting one of the Grandma's Washcloth patterns, a nice easy pattern that can be knit in public quite easily.

Getting a bit of knitting time is my Upside Down.  This is going to be perfect for early Fall, so I'm knitting a bit on it this week too.

I'm also knitting one block a night on my mitered square blanket.  It had been sitting in the corner mocking me for not getting any time in my hands that I decided it was time to get to working on it.  I'll show it when it is not so ragged looking with stray ends hanging out.

That's all I'm knitting for now, (subject to change)!

Episode 12 - Transitional Sweaters

Episode 12 of pjknits  is up on You Tube - here

And please join the pjknits group on Ravelry  -   here   where you can find all the show notes and another contest!

Another Great Weekend

Another Stitches Midwest is in the books.  Later this week, I'll show my shopping. And yes, there will be a You Tube Podcast about it as well.

What a fun time it was and there is so many things I want to knit on now!  Even though, it is still Summer, and the temps in Central IL say it is Summer, I'm ready to cast on some Fall/Winter knitting so I'll be ready when Fall comes.

While at Stitches, I really pared down the projects I took with me to two. And only ended up knitting on my one wrap.

Here is a before and after picture.

I'm super pleased that I didn't overpack my knitting  on this trip, but rather stayed focused.  Wish I could say that was the case right now with my purchases.

Until later, have a knittingly fantastic weekend!

Heading Out To Stitches Midwest Tomorrow

It's here! Stitches Midwest and the last of my Summer Knitting Travels.  I am more prepared for this adventure than I have been for any of them. Well, except for some speed drying I am doing on my Fine Sand sweater.

I stayed up til it was finished last night, got up early this morning to weave the last sleeve ends in and then started the blocking.  Originally, I was just going to wet down the hems and the front garter band because I knew I was going to have a very limited time to get it dry today.  Then decided I had better get it all wet.  As expected, it was still very wet tonight when I got home from work, so I started following the sun with it to get some fast drying.  I'll bring it in shortly and throw it back on my table with the fans for the rest of the night, and it should be done by packing time tomorrow.

 I've got my list.  I am taking less bags than I have ever taken before and that goes for the knitting as well.

I am taking only two projects to work on.  My wrap from the Magpie Fibers yarn I bought last year and a cowl for the 40 Cowls project should I need it.

I'm going to concentrate on the wrap most of the weekend.  Tomorrow morning, I'll move the progress keeper to where I start it on the trip up and we'll see how far it gets by Saturday home time.

Have a great weekend, and I'll blog next week about Stitches Midwest!