February was mostly dedicated to a fingering weight sweater that I had hoped to finish and did not.  I am coming down the home stretch, but not there yet.  As you can see from the picture, one sleeve is almost done and the neck and other sleeve are next.  This weekend?  Hopefully.  In my defense it is an A-line tunic knit on fingering weight yarn.  I will be writing the pattern for this.  I actually have made it before and it is super comfortable and cute to wear with leggings.

There were a few other small things finished this month.  The crocheted scarf  is done and ready for class. (we have 4 for the class so far).  The scarf was crocheted with Noro’s Retro.  It has pretty subtle shading.

I also finished the Baby Surprise Sweater.  As always, it turns out cute.  I have enough yarn left from the ball to make a baby hat to match.  Soon!?!

And the knitting guild project this month was fingerless gloves. So, I used that as my excuse to make a pair.  I made a Slouch Hat from KFI’s Indulgence 6ply and it is a huge ball of yarn (you can get 2 hats out of it) and I was thinking it would be nice to make a pair of fingerless gloves to match.  Well the yarn has been setting on my desk for it since I made the hat and this gave me the excuse to do it.  So now we have a matched set!

And my fun project.  I had an empty wall that needed some art.  On Pinterest I had seen someone take knitting and stretch it over a canvas.  Cool idea, I can do that!  So I gathered some scraps of Noro Silk Garden.  I cast on 100 sts and I used short rows and changed the texture (st st, garter, seed st, etc) when the yarn changed color.  I am very happy with it and what an inexpensive way to to decorate!

Last month I showed you a bag of yarn and pattern that was to become a sweater.  Unfortunately, it still looks like this.  As soon as the sleeves are done on the tunic…  I hate to say this but the new spring magazines are here and I am intrigued by a few things, so who knows what will happen next…

Until next month, Happy Knitting, Nancy

As promised here is the finished sweater dress on my daughter.  Fits well, she looks good and she likes it.  Success!

Now for January’s knitting.  Now that the dress is done, I could get back to all my distractions again.  I showed you the magazine cover I wanted to make, Done!  Though they knit it in cotton, it looked a little wintery paired with a turtleneck.  I brightened it up a bit knitting with a pretty blue in Berroco’s Lago.  I love it, it’s comfortable and easy to wear.

My winter Jacket, on the back burner again.  A little progress was made.  I am up to the neck and a sleeve is started, but….  I am afraid it’s back to the bottom of the pile.  It’ll be ready for next winter.

In the meantime, new patterns and yarn arrived from Berroco.  One of my favorite companies!  The new yarn, Fuji is a silk, cotton, rayon blend.  Then there was this cute pattern from Norah Gaughan.  Now, a sweater.  The pattern doesn’t call for sleeves, but those days are over for me so I added a short sleeve to it.  I can’t wait to wear it.

Now, on the needles (and the hook!)…

I started a crocheted (yes, crochet) scarf.  I am offering a crochet class later in the month and so this is the sample of what we will be crocheting.  It teaches single, double, treble and a shell stitch.  I am crocheting it with Noro’s Retro.  You can see the subtle shading, pretty.

I also started a baby surprise sweater in a cute self striping yarn that we carry.  Just started, we have a  little ways to go.  This will also be a class later in February.

And for me, another sweater out of Ella Rae’s Lace Merino.  You are probably tired of hearing about my knitting with this yarn.  LOVE IT!!.  Fingering weight and such a beautiful hand.  I am actually making a repeat of a sweater I made in this a while ago.  The last one had 4 different colored stripes.  This on is a single color and I will write the pattern when I am finished.  You can’t tell from the picture, but it is a super comfortable tunic, that looks great with leggings.

As long as I am telling you everything… this is the yarn that just arrived today Berroco’s Floret and what I will be knitting it into…very soon!

And that was January.  Hopefully you’ll see a few of these things finished in February.  Until then, Happy Knitting, Nancy

To start out the month, I finished the 2 pair of mittens I mentioned last month.  They were Christmas gifts and I forgot to take pictures before I wrapped and gave them away.

Then there are the 2 still unfinished projects (with Pictures).  I think you will agree, there has been progress, but still not done.  I’ll start with the most undone.  The Winter Jacket.  I am up past the knit in pockets and armholes. And that’s it, it has been set aside for the next unfinished project (and maybe another…) Maybe this will be next year’s winter jacket.

And the reason everything is stalled… The Cable Dress for my daughter.  Almost done, but not quite.  I am finishing the yoke, then the neck, weave in a few ends and I’ll be done.  Hopefully in a couple of days. I saw a cabled dress in an ad and thought, my daughter would look cute in something like this.  I showed her (I’d never do this without prior approval), she liked it and I started designing.  The good news is, as I put it on the dress form today for the picture, it is doing exactly what I was hoping it would do.  I used a ribbed cable for most of the dress with a panel down the front and back.  I was hoping the rib/cable would let the dress spread and hug where it needed to, and it appears that it will.  She will look gorgeous in it.  Ahhh, to be 25 and thin……  Next month you will see the finished sweater, hopefully on her!

Since I only had about 4″ done at the end of November and it was 28″ to the armhole, there are no other pictures for the month.  It’s not like I didn’t knit a lot, just not a lot of things.  This will be done soon, what’s next?  I could finish the jacket but I might start on a sweater from the cover of Knitter’s magazine…

There was also some pattern searching this month.  On the weekend of Dec. 15 my daughter got engaged!  We are all very excited and happy.  Your first question, Am I going to knit her wedding dress?  Sadly no, I’d love to, but she doesn’t.  But…. here’s the story.  He is in the army and will be deployed around next November.  So rather than rush to plan a wedding this summer, they are going to have a small (family) ceremony this summer and the “Wedding” next summer (2014).  I might get to knit the dress for the marriage ceremony this summer. (I’ve been calling it the Marriage and the Wedding, my husband calls it the Paperwork and the Party). So the search is on for the perfect knitted summer dress… I’ll keep you posted.

That was December.  I wish everyone a very Happy and Healthy New Year!  Happy Knitting, until next month…. Nancy

So, the pink sweater I showed you a preview of last month, got done.  It is knit with Crystal Palace’s Panda Silk, so it has wonderful drape. So, check one thing off the list.

I got a lot more started, then stalled for Christmas and a few gifts finished.  Which do you want first?  Ok, started…

Last month you saw I-cord for a winter jacket. Started.  Actually, a good start.  In the last issue of Vogue Knitting there was a Meg Swanson article on inserting a “Blister” pocket as you knit.  Unfortunately, it is done when knitting from the top down, so I figured out a way to do it from the bottom up.  I now know why it is easier from the top down, but, alas, my jacket has pockets.  I am still working the neckline out in my head, not sure where I want to go with it.

The purple sweater you saw started is still at about the same stage, so I won’t bore you with a picture.  But I told you about the picture of a cabled dress I saw and thought, my daughter would look great in something like that. So, swatches are done and the dress is started.  This will be a gift, but not for Christmas, as I have about 30″ to the armholes.  This will be good Christmas vacation knitting.

Now the distractions, my son loves my knit ties (my husband doesn’t), so

Tyler gets one!  This is 3 colors of sock yarn knit in seed stitch, alternating color every row.  This was sitting in my knitting bag finished and at  Thanksgiving, my son was telling me how much he likes my ties and how many compliments he gets when he is wearing them and how he’d like one for Christmas… so maybe one’s not enough… I’ll make another…  This one is garter st, knit on the diagonal.  It’s turning out very pretty, the tricky part was figuring out the taper, since when knitting on the diagonal, you aren’t at the same place on both sides.  3 tries and close enough.

Next distraction, there are a few “significant others” that will be around this Christmas that are new to the family and therefore have not gotten Earflap Hats. 2 Hats done. Check.

Slouch hats… Everyone keeps asking me if we have a slouch hat pattern.  New yarn came in and lots of pattern requests, you can see where this is going…  Slouch Hats.  Two.  I wrote the pattern for different gauges.  Fingering, DK and Worsted.  These actually knit up pretty quick.

And that is about it.  Except for the mittens I started last night, I have 2 pair to make.  A friend and her daughter admired mine, Cele made them for me and so… They will get mittens for Christmas.  Now, I think that’s really it.

I wish for you lots of finished projects and Holiday joy!  Until next month, Happy Knitting and Holidays!  Nancy

First, I did it; 100″, give it a twist and sew a seam and I LOVE it.  The Mobius sweater.  It is so easy and comfortable to wear.  I’d make more of them, but there is that 100″ and how many of these can you have in your wardrobe before people start to wonder about you (maybe they already are…)  Anyway, it was worth the 100″, I’ll get alot of use out of it.

There was lots cast on last month and a few things to show for it this month and some things that weren’t even cast on yet, that came up along the way.

First the jacket.  Done!  I used Mirasol’s Tuhu and it has a fair amout of angora in it.  It gives the bright colors a nice softness and is really pretty.  I am pleased with the way this turned out. It will be a nice warm jacket for the winter.

The other cast on sweater has the ribbing done.  And I am sad to say that’s it so far.  It will be a cardigan with a fabric lace ruffle (scarf yarn) one of these days.