Mail Call

A couple of days ago, a friend, fellow knitter and viewer of the podcast gifted me a Junk Journal.  I have heard about them, but never really knew what they were.

This is simply amazing, and I am still seeing things
 

So many cool pieces to it

Which has me looking at my junk mail even closer before throwing it in the garbage

Of course, sending me down the Internet rabbit hole of other Junk Journals

Do you know about Junk Journals?

Have you ever done one? Or used one?

And if you have, what do you use yours for?

Did I say how cool this was??

The Weather Has Been Like My Knitting

Finally, the cold weather has left us, and little by little, the snow is melting, then freezing, turning a bit warmer,  raining, what a mixture of weather that has certainly kept me inside for more than a week.  But, it looks like that will be changing!

And with all the different weather patterns lately, so has the thoughts of what I wanted to blog about.

With a bit of luck, one of the sleeves of Comfy will be done and hopefully, by the end of the week, the sweater can be in a bath for blocking and future wearing.

My basket of Spring yarns are sitting in view of my knitting chair for now as a reminder of yarns I am excited about for possible next cast ons.  Are you thinking about Spring knitting yet?

 

And this fun pattern caught my eye last week from Leslie Friend.

Which promptly had me ordering from Amazon, a hot water bottle.

I don't have enough of my leftovers in Hue + Me for it, but, my friend Kendra is going to help me out with a skein so I can knit it up.  I have never used a hot water bottle in my life, but cannot wait to try it out, because I am sure the cold weather is not totally gone for this Winter.

Stay tuned!

Episode 111 My Sweater Project Revised

 If you need something to watch while the weather warms up, there is a new episode of PJKnits on You Tube, and you can watch it by clicking here.

I've got lots of sweater plans this year, come find out all about them!  I just hope I can make a dent in some of them for 2024!

Happy Friday

 Another weekend coming, another cold one, another snowy morning, more shoveling/sweeping where applicable.

But, only enough so I can get to my garage and garbage can & the mailman can make it to my door.  Because come Monday, we are getting some decent temperatures along with some rain, but the snow will be gone, hopefully.

I headed out early this morning, donning a nice, warm, fun hat and scarf.  I mean if you are going to be out when it is 7 degrees and the sun barely is showing up in the sky, you might just as well look like you are a fun knitter, am I right?

I first went out with my gloves, but it wasn't too long and I was back in form these super warm mittens that Sandy (RIP) gave me years ago that someone made out of old sweaters.  These were just what I needed to keep the knitting hands warm while I finished up.

And now for the rest of the weekend, I'll just sit back and watch out the window and do some knitting.

How about you?

Thing I Am Loving Right Now Today

Not waking up to some more snow, that I quickly put my jeans and boots on and went out to shovel for the mailman and grocery delivery.

It was a little deeper than it appears what floated to the porch, but about 20 minutes later, I had a pretty decent work out/steps that I was happy.  I don't do a great job, but enough to get the car down the drive and out to my garbage out.

 What I am loving right now is some fun knitting related stuff and well, yes, always my cuppa.

My Chip Basket, my progress keeper and my cup.  But, also, these cable locks from Twice Sheared Sheep.  They are coming in handy, for sure, on my Hansel Hap, so I don't have to push so hard to get the stitches close to the other end.

How is your hap knitting coming along??  Me, I am trying to knit on mine every morning with my cuppas and You Tube podcast watching, today, being an exception to having to dash out to shovel.

Oh, and before I forget, I am especially loving right now, sunshine and drips!!

Have a Joyful and Cozy Day!!

Mail Call

 It has been a while since I posted some knitting mail, but the last few weeks I have received some fun stuff and just had to share.

I am obsessed with these stitch holders from Timber Yarns.  I mean Snoopy, right?!  And of course, I had to buy some for grandkids projects.

 

This book finally came back in stock at Wool & Co, and I had to have it.  There are some really timeless knits in it that I want to knit.  There are a couple I will not ever knit, but the book on a whole has me wanting to knit Winter sweaters all year long.  Hmm, maybe I will.

And after the podcast on Journals, my dear friend, Denise sent me these!  They so remind me of when we used corners to hold photos in scrapbooks/photo albums before plastic sleeves.

I just love getting fun knitting mail, don't you???  By the way, it is still bone chilling weather here, thankful I don't have to go out for anything!

It's A Long Weekend

 Will we ever get out of the deep freeze?  I've got the curtains and blinds all shut down.  Cabinets under my kitchen sink open with a drip coming from the faucet.  The heat is turned up, and I have my trusty heating pad in my chair, along with an extra blanket on the bed.  And I'm staying in.

Oh yes, and I a wearing my hand knit socks on with my slippers and there is always coffee in my cup.

And today's Weekend WIP is an EPS sweater I am playing around with some Plotulopi and Mohair.  Not much to report yet, but I am having some fun with it for sure.

Up side to today, the sun was shining again and no frozen pipes.  Win Win!

WIP Weekend

 There was a bit of snow on the ground this morning, but the  nice thing is there was sunshine to start the day, so I headed out to do some shoveling before the sun left me and the winds kicked back in.  But first, I popped on some nice warm socks, boots, a scarf, a hat and my gloves.

I gave it the ole college try and cleared off some of it from the sidewalk and back stoop.  

I had to be careful though, because there was some slick patches from previous snows.

I worked a bit of a sweat for sure, but, my sun is gone now and so I pulled out my first Ranuculus Sweater from several years back, and am nice and toasty.

And if you are having Winter weather like we are, I hope you are wearing your knits inside and maybe making this a WIP Weekend like I am~~~

A weekend of working on a new WIP everyday!

Now This Is For Real

 Winter and I mean the bone chilling, wind kind of Winter.  It's here!

But, first this was earlier today - Rain, Slush and 36 degrees.

And I am not going out until Tuesday, and only because I have to.  But, until then, I'm going to work on some WIPS that I have lined up.

Today, I worked on Comfy.  I only have two inches to go until the rib, but for some reason, it has been so slow going...I swear someone is ripping it out when I am not looking.

I am hoping this knit will be done by the end of January, at least that is what I am planning, so I best get back to knitting.

Stay warm out there, and stay in if you can!!

Winter Weather and Podcasting With My Friend

 Well, Winter is settling in on Central Illinois as we knew it would eventually!  Snow coming over the next couple of days and then, it is going to turn around and get COLD.  The knits will definitely come out to be worn for shoveling and other things, but, this morning, my friend, Kendra came and spent some time with me podcasting.  

We talked about our knitting right now, our goals and things we wanted to focus on for the new year, along with some in depth talk about our knitting journals and our approach to them.

It was such a fun morning, spending time together, you can watch Episode 110 by clicking here

Grab your knitting and a cozy spot and enjoy!  Be sure to like, subscribe, comment and tell a friend if you would!

Love A Good Inspiration Photo

This is the inspiration photo from Jamieson's of Shetland a few years back for my Hansel Hap that I started last night on our Zoom.

I am starting with a center square of Granny Smith Apple of a discontinued yarn from Lost City Knits from PYS.  I am super excited about it!

We had a great time celebrating the new year yesterday in our zoom, knitting haps and some non haps, which is totally cool!

 

Happy New Year

 And hello to 2024

Hapalong

 The PJKnits Hap-A-Long starts tomorrow night at 6 pm Central time.  The link to the Zoom is in the pjknits Ravelry group and I would love to have you join us!

We know it will go for at least 6 months, and I am anticpating my Haps will go all year long, as there are two WIPS and a definite one or two that I want to try out.

I've finally settled on yarn and colors from PYS and am excited to try Gudrun Johnston's Hansel in these color ways which are pretty close to Shetland colors from the sky of the water, the beach and a bit of a dirt patch.

My problem is finish a WIP or cast on new...

Winter has set in today in Illinois, with gloom, snow (but not sticking), a bit of wind and definitely chilly temps.

So a cuppa and knitting are definitely in order for today!!

Hope you are like me and knitting your way through the New Years Eve!  

The Last of 2023 Podcasts

 is up and you can find it by clicking here

Thanks for watching in 2023!!

How Was Your Holiday?

It was a quiet one here after the grands left early Christmas Eve, and yes, I had a day of sadness, but on Christmas Night, I spent it on a Zoom with a knitting friend, and it was nice to knit, talk and realize so many of us are in the same boat.

 Yesterday, I started the process of taking down all my Christmas.  I still have a couple of rooms to take care of and my dining room table in the basement is loaded with Christmas, strategically organized for putting away in tubs when I get to it.

After all morning and into the afternoon, I worked on it and cleaning a bit for delivery of a new refrigerator later today.  That felt good, but even better to sit down and get back to knitting for me.  Maybe, I'll even get to wear this sweater this Winter, if Winter comes.

This is not to say, I don't have other obligatory knitting (pigs and Death Star for the grands), but for this week and maybe into next week, I'm going be a selfish knitter and knit just for me.  What do you say?