2020 Knitting Wrap Up

 With Covid being front and center for over nine months, it certainly helped my knitting mojo.  I don't cook or bake, so my thoughts turned to knitting, and here is what I accomplished.

Socks - 3 pairs (two of them larger them my foot)

Sweaters - 9, yes 9.  That has to be a record for me, and no baby sweaters in the lot.

Shawls and Wraps - 3

Cowls - 2

Dishcloths - 11

Poncho - 1

Let the knitting begin for 2021!

Are You A Planner?

I am.  And if you are a planner, what kind of a planner do you use?

 I have to admit, I bought three for 2021, and I am still not sold on the one which one will make the grade.  There are so many qualities in a planner that I wish could be incorporated into one single planner, I just don't want it to weigh a gazillion pounds.

One journal for sure is that I will be using my Thoughts journal that I bought a year ago at Walmart for my knitting journal.

What kind of planner do you use?  What kinds of things are you planning on for 2021.

Top Nine For 2020

These are my most liked posts on Instagram for 2020.  Funny how six of the pics duplicated three items.

Left to right, top to bottom:

Dotted Rays

Dotted Rays

Rock-It-Tee

Turtle Dove II

The Weekender

Tea Leaves

Rock-It-Tee

The Weekender

Retirement Clock

The Last Days of 2020

 How are you all doing?  Are you ready for a new year?

Despite everything that 2020 has brought, some good things have come out of it.  

Retirement, more at home time, close friendships developing via Zoom, Instagram, texting and lots of Knitting!  I would have never had that if there had not been a pandemic. 

In the last few days of 2020, I am going to do some random posts, things I am noodling on for the new year, 2021, weather reports for the next couple of days include some snow, so you know I'll post weather pics and finish up with my the tally of what I knit in 2020!

Christmas Day - Don't you love how we are standing in height order?!  And yes, compared to the 6'7" Tall Guy, the over 6 ft Baby Boy B and one of our daughter-in-laws, me at 5'4 is the shortest of all.

Hope you had a wonderful Christmas, we did!

 

Christmas Eve 2020

Advent Updates

 Christmas is just four days away.  Can you believe it? As a kid, I couldn't wait, but then every kid says that, don't they?  I'm still excited, and tonight, after sunset, hopefully, we will be able to see something amazing in the sky!

But, for today, let's catch  up on my two Advent Calendar projects.

The Cozy Knitter Socks are coming along, but with just five days left, I do not see where I will have a whole pair done and ready to wear Christmas Day, so maybe they will be New Years socks instead.

About a week ago, I stopped knitting on my Adventurous Wrap by Ambah O'Brien out of the Sun Valley Fiber Advents.  What happened was that  I opened up the first of what I knew was going to be five days of shades of gold.  In keeping with my pattern, they would have been right next to the blues and I just was not feeling that.

So, I opened the rest of the Advents to see where we were going. 😩

I decided after talking to several knitting friends to just stop knitting on the wrap and use the Advent for something else at a future date.

Which I did, until, I received a new top as a Christmas gift from a friend.  When I opened the gift, I remarked that wouldn't it be nice if I knit a shawl to go with it. In my mind, I thought I would check my stash/personal yarn shop and see if I had anything to go with it, and if not, it would be an ideal time to support my local yarn shop.

Then, while in the shower (where I do my best thinking), it hit me!  Hmmm, I need to check the start of my Advent wrap, I think those colors might just go with it.

Perfect, right?!  

And it even has a bit of gold in it, so I am back at it.

Sometimes, it pays to just put something in time out and not immediately rip!

Finally Finished, But Wait.

Finished my last Christmas present yesterday, socks from a purchase at Stitches Midwest 2017!  

You know what I mean, right?!

 But, then the Tall Guy comes up with an idea for one more pair of sockies.  And I say, yes, I still have next week, I might be able to do that.

Stay tuned.

Episode 52 Christmas Traditions

You catch the latest episode of PJKnits on You Tube - just follow this link 

Then head over to the Ravelry Group pjknits and post in the threads.

Happy Hanukkah

 

Friday Finds!

 I couldn't show this until it was opened because I was afraid, my Roomie, Debbie would inadvertently read this, but now I can.

This was her Hanukkah/Christmas present that I delivered to her.

I saw it last Summer in a post from the Mother/Daughter team at Knot House Yarns and just knew I had to get it for Debbie.

It was so cleverly packaged and this is as far as I would let myself open it, since, well, it is a present.  

Happy Hanukkah!

Christmas Napkins for 2021 - DIY

A little gift for you if you have a serger or a sewing machine with a rolled edge.

Start making them for next year's Christmas Celebrations!

Sunday Advent Catch Up!

Happy Sunday!  

I thought I would catch you up on one of my Advent Calendars that I have been doing this year.  This is the last few days of the Sun Valley Fibers Advent Calendar.  If you remember from last week, I chose the Paper Roses color way based on this photo.

Each day after I knit the repeat for the Ambah O'Brien, Adventurous Wrap, I decided to take a pic of it, with the bag it came in, along with an ornament from my trees.

We spent several days in the rosy purple area, and I started to see where we were going.

Yesterday, we stayed with the rosy purple theme and kept hoping the next day, we would make a change.

Today, we did.  #6 went really royal blue on me, and I was not expecting royal to be in the mix at all.  Based on the inspiration photo, I never thought it would take this direction of blue.
 

Hmmm, can't wait to see where we go in a few days, as right now I am anticipating several days of royal blue variation.

Finally Finished Friday

 Before I could knit on my new Advent Socks you saw earlier this week, I needed to finish my socks out of the Shirley Brian Deconstructed Fade Sock yarn that my Roomie, Debbie gave me earlier this year.  (I needed the needles)😉

In typical pjknits fashion, I had made a plan a week or so ago to knit a certain amount each day, in order to be finished before December 1st.  See planning does help!

And all set to go for Christmas for the grandkids are some cute lamb scarves that I knit just for the fun of it.

These were all a quick knit and fun!  The yarns are so soft and snuggly that it was a dream to feel it after it came off of the needles!

Off to wrap them, have a great weekend!

Episode 51 Holiday Fun and Yes Flubs

 The latest edition of pjknits on You Tube can be found  by clicking here.

Here are the things I chat about.

Thanks in advance for tuning in.

Day 2 Advent 2020

 When I opened Day 2's package, I was a bit disappointed.  It was another purple.

But, then I went back to the inspiration photo, and ahhhh, I am not so disappointed!  

I think I might know where this is going!  Stay with me.

Advent Calendars

Up until last year, when I did a mitered square a day for Advent, this is what my Advent calendar looked like for many years.

So this year when the Advent Calendar posts started happening, I decided on this one from Sun Valley Fibers.  I have been a fan of Jeanette and George for many years, and couldn't wait to see what their Advent looked like.  The bags alone are so cheery and I am looking forward every day to opening a new one.

This is a first for me to knit with The Cozy Knitter Advent Calendar that is 24 different stripes.  A little bit of sock knitting a day and at the end a whole new pair of socks to wear for Christmas!

Every day, stay tuned for updates to my Advent Calendar Adventures!