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I’m still knitting socks during meetings over here. It looks chaotic but having lots of pairs in different stages of progress means I always can match my sock to the meeting content.
If I can get 3 out of the 4 here finished, that’ll be 6 pairs for the year. Not bad!
Who else spends a not-negligible amount of time thinking about GAP’s holiday collections of 1999 and 2000? Just me? It was all so good, though. I didn’t own this sweater–I think it sold out before I could scrape together $48–but it haunts me.
Sewing/textile influencer Martha Moore recently posted about the third striped sweater she’d knit. They’re all giving 1999 Gap Crazy Stripe Sweater and that gave me Ideas.
The pattern Martha used is from PetiteKnit, the designer whose pattern gave me such a gorgeous finish on my green vest. It’s called the Aros Sweater (yes, you can make a dress; I won’t, I just liked the stripe colors in the dress more).
Thinking about what colors I’d use in my stripes is, of course, the best part. Every time I use the hot water bottle in its stripey cover, I get happy. So what if I used that as a jumping off point? 
The only impediments are my unfinished summer sweater, the pile of sock yarn to knit up, and finding a yarn that isn’t the least bit itchy (but not spending $480 on hand-dyed cashmere; I have more money than I did at 19 but not that much).
I did decide to try a summer sweater after I posted about it last month and yeah, a sweater on 3.5mm needles is taking forever. I can only think of my progress in terms of socks–this is at least a pair’s worth of knitting but I’m not even to the bottom of the armholes.
I picked this pattern from last month’s roundup. It doesn’t look like much at the moment but I’m hopeful. It also looks a little rough, but that’s cotton yarn for you–once it gets blocked/steamed, it’ll smooth out. But the squishy 2×1 rib is really pleasing and the yarn I picked has some nylon so it shouldn’t just bag out with wearing (a danger of cotton).
There are at least 8 more weeks of sleeveless weather left (probably more) so the race is on. Click-click, tiny needles!
I was so pleased with my fuzzy winter vest that now I’m thinking about making a summer version–a little knitted shell with some texture.
Are these all knit on sock-size needles so will take me all summer? Yep. Do I want the cabled look but don’t actually want to do any cabling? Also yep. But sometimes the planning is the most fun.
Vest Taipei by MochiKnits, really cabled but really nice.
Lost Tank by Friday Knits, not cabled but the rib adds some interest (and is faster to knit).
Uri Tank by Daughter Judy Patterns (yes, she designs sewing and knitting patterns!)–I’d do this in a fuzzy yarn to get some texture and I think it would be very “fashion Muppet.”
Lined Loop Top by Other Loops, note the styling with the big loose pajama-y pants–a great WFH lewk.
We’re almost halfway through the year and I’ve finished almost five pairs of socks (or the equivalent thereof)? Not bad! 
The big red pair on the left is even a gift for Doc’s pop, since he has worn through the original red pair and there’s barely enough left to darn (which makes sense; they are nine years old?!).
The others are all for me, of course. I think I want a few shorties for the warmer weather but otherwise the sock drawer is going to be in good shape after this year.
I redid the neck on my sweater vest and look! It fits over my head!
I’m so pleased it worked out. It’s exactly like I pictured it, from the fuzzy texture to the grass green color to the fit. Those deep armholes are what drew me to the pattern and make it easy to layer over big shirts:
The pattern–the Holiday Slipover by Petite Knit–was a joy to knit from; I can see why her work is so popular. I watched the videos on her site and did my best job yet picking up stitches for the neck and arms, plus my first Italian bind-off on all the edges. (Twice, on the neck edge.)
The yarn is a thicker cotton/alpaca/merino held with a silk/mohair strand. That mohair fuzz is a Petite Knit signature; I’d always avoided mohair because it seemed itchy/tickly but on a vest, it didn’t matter. I’m glad I added it because the finished fabric is so light but super warm and also delightfully fuzzy.
This is the first non-sock/big needle knitting I’ve done since the year my mom died. Part of the avoidance was four years of tendonitis and part of it was remembering waiting at my parents in the days before she died, working on another chunky sweater on those same needles.
I’m glad the next project on those needles turned out so well. Green for a new start.
Did I finish this vest last night and get so excited to wear it? Yes!
Does it look exactly like I wanted it to? Yes!
Was I able to knit on big needles without pain for the first time in five years? Yes!!
… Does the neck fit over my head?
Yeah, that was a surprise. The pattern said to “bind off tightly, for a neat look” and I thought, Maybe that’s too tight? but kept going, so … trust your gut is the lesson here. In the end it’s not a huge fix–the neck is picked up last so I can take it all out and try again without endangering the body–but it’s definitely humbling.
Well that didn’t take long: I finished the hot water bottle cover in the self-striping yarn and just look at those COLORS:
The details are all linked on the progress post. That free pattern was excellent (it includes two different weights and a calculator for anything else) and the provisional-cast-on-to-kitchener-stitch finishing worked fine.
I love the colors so much I’m currently just leaving it out like another throw pillow.
Maybe I need to get another colorway and knit an actual throw pillow? Those happy stripes are hard to quit.
How do you combat the gray lingering days of January? Order a bunch of sock yarn from Germany and start that hot water bottle cover:
I ended up ordering from a place called Sockenwolle-Paradies in Germany. A true sock yarn paradise, they had the thick Lang yarn and so many other brands that are hard to find in the US (hey, if you’re already paying for shipping… ).
I’m using a free pattern for the hot water bottle cover but did a provisional cast on at the bottom to sew up later vs. trying to learn a new seamless cast on. The needles are twice as big as sock needles so it’s going fast!
Between the flu and the sudden cold weather, the hot water bottle has been getting a workout. So has mindlessly browsing the internet–I ended up on a German sock yarn site and saw that they knit up the thickest sock yarn into a hot water bottle cover:
The flu meds might have made me extra-suggestible, but the colors! The ease of a self-striping yarn! The promise of MORE soft and warm! Suddenly this was the most desirable project ever.
I’ll try to track some of this Rainbow Brite yarn down stateside and find a pattern to use–maybe a goal for tonight’s mindless scrolling.