Category: knitting

I’ve been going to the same gym class time for quite a few years now, which means I’ve made some friends just from seeing them three times a week at 10 a.m. One gym friend lifts just about the same maxes as me–which is humbling, because she’s in her 70s–and she’s been my rack partner/spotter for the last few years.

She and her husband just got back from a cycling trip to Portugal and she brought me yarn as a souvenir! 

An entire sweater’s worth of yarn, that she made a special trip to the yarn store for, and used Google Translate to make sure was made in Portugal and merino wool because when we were talking about her upcoming trip, I told her my fact that the Merino sheep originated in the Iberian Peninsula.  🥹

I spent a very fun afternoon browsing patterns and think I’m going to do a cabled vest–the Vest No. 8 from My Favorite Things Knitwear looks like an easy to memorize pattern and someone on Ravelry has already made it in the same color:

Then I can use the leftover yarn to make my gym friend a cabled hat and mittens set, as a thank you for the gift of yarn.

Apparently, sweater knitting is either all or nothing with me. I’ve been going all-out for six weeks on my J. Crew-ish rollneck sweater and all I have left to do is some length on the sleeves and body!

It was 80 degrees in March so I’m not sure I’ll be able to wear this until the fall (or the next alarmingly mild winter) but I think it’s going to be really nice–oversized and classic and (most importantly) NOT ITCHY.

I jumped right into another sweater after I finished my non-itchy rainbow sweater. I was high on the success of the making something wearable, so I did some more shopping for cotton blend yarns, and now I’m already done with the yoke:

This will end up being a rollneck sweater, like the classic J. Crew cotton sweater.  I’m using a PetiteKnit pattern again and added stripes for an even MORE J. Crew vibe. It’s going fast–bigger needles and more meetings at work in which to knit–so maybe I can wear it once or twice before summer.

(Shoutout to my new project bag, too. I’ve sewn three different knitting bags over the last three years and didn’t enjoy using any of them, so I finally gave up and bought something. It’s perfect.)

Blogging as usual feels a little like this:

But as the great Elizabeth Zimmerman said, “Knit on with confidence and hope through all crises,” so that’s what I’m doing.

I’m down to the final ribbing on my rainbow stripe sweater that took one entire year so expect pictures of that soon. And instead of doomscrolling at night for the last few days, I’ve been scrolling knitting patterns to find my next sweater that will take another year.

I do love the PetiteKnit patterns and she has a mariner stripe sweater that could be great in an orange and white–but I also saw this neutral (!) cardigan that pulled up memories of my two favorite Banana Republic sweaters in high school, a gray cardigan and a marled b&w turtleneck:

If I could BUY this I would have already, but I’m not sure about making it: Those black flecks are actually colorwork,  i.e. knitted into the fabric using two yarns vs. just using a speckled yarn, so this might not be a fun relaxing knit for me.

But wow did it bring back nostalgia and make me want to cuddle into a cardigan and read some J. Peterman catalogs.

Of course I looked up knitting patterns for sauna hats after I read about them. (Who doesn’t?!) There were far less than I thought there would be but Ravelry had a handful, including this felted gem with jaunty earflaps!

The designer’s Ravelry page tells me I can get the pattern in English, which is good because their actual site is all in Norweigian. It’s still fun to click around, though–and look at what else I found I could make for a future sauna life: A DRINK-HOLDING MITTEN!

Those clever Norwegians…

I sure didn’t need to buy yarn for another project but here we are: Harmony was having their anniversary sale so I wanted to support them and they’d just stocked some super-soft and lovely sky blue alpaca blend.

I’ve been eyeing some of the hood patterns that have come out in the last year or so. They seem very chic and they won’t flatten out your hair like a beanie. (I remember my mom hated hats that flattened her hair too–may the circle be unbroken.)

So I think this yarn will become a Harris Hood…someday. Right after I finish the endless stripe sweater and about 20 socks.

I’m deep in Sleeve Island/SSS (Second Sock Syndrome) territory over here, but when I pile it all up, it DOES look like a lot of knitting:

Considering I didn’t really have any meetings in July and spent most of it at the pool (without knitting), I guess the sweater’s coming along OK? But all the socks are stalled out at parts where I have to pay attention, so I guess I’d better watch an MST3K rerun and get the second one started so I can have mindless meeting knitting again.