:Yarn Love :

It’s been a few weeks since I did my YOP post and for good reason. Deadlines at work which had me working on the weekends (being a 1 person department can do that to you) and working on a craft article deadline — more on that in the future. Let’s just say with all that, I was pretty swamped. Things are beginning to calm down now, Friday was my birthday so this is technically my birthday weekend and I figured a great time to get a post up. Although I’ve not posted for some weeks, I’ve still been getting crafting in when I could. Mostly spinning (until both my wheels needed replacement parts — I told you the weeks were eventful, LOL) but some knitting too. Let me get into that knitting story …

One night in late Sept I had a crazy headache. So much so I couldn’t sleep. What does this girl do for relief? She decided that she needs to complete her first adult sweater! Notice I said complete because over the years, I’ve started and just never had to urge to finish. Sure, I’ve knitted baby sweaters/cardigans, but those are quick, cute, adorable so what’s not to finish! But the adult ones just seems to go on forever then I get bored and chuck them to the side. I know … the shame! LOL!

Not so with the current make — cue angels singing! I’ve been blazing through the Fast Fashion Sweater by Safiyyah Talley (aka Drunk Knitter) like a wildfire. The first night, I finished the neck and the first part of the yoke. Within a few days I’m at the bottom band. Once the band is done, it’s off to what I hear knitters call “sleeve island” … let’s see if I get stuck there.

I understand now what knitters mean when they say that patterns speak to them. I haven’t been able to put this knit down and am thoroughly enjoying myself. So much so, I bought two sweater sized project bags AND I’ve already lined up about 7 more projects — 1 cardigan, 4 sweaters and 2 ponchos. The fourth make on this list is a bottom up sweater so I can see which method I like best between top down and bottom up.

I wasn’t sure how much I’d like making this adult sweater much more finishing it so I used acrylic yarn for it. It’s Lionbrand’s Pound of Love in Pumpkin Spice. And boy is this sweater turning out to be just that — pumpkin spice and everything nice!

Happy Fall, Autumn, Spring depending on where in the world you live! Happy Sunday and I’m so looking forward to catching up with your makes.

Happy Sunday YOPers! Hope you all are doing well and if you’re in Texas and are affected by the apocalyptic snowstorm that you’re at the very least, warm, dry, fed and safe today.

While I had snow in my area the week past, it was what us East Coasters are used to this time of year. The snowfall, some tea, soup and Girl Scout cookie treats made the perfect backdrop on the snowy days for cozy knitting after work. I’m still continuing to go through the Hope Holders hat knitting portion of my Sigma 21 list. The current project is for my friend TJ. She’s another person who I could not have made it through 2020 without so my current project is a token of thanks. Her favorite color is green and as a Baylor University grad, green has an even firmer place in her heart (the school’s colors are green and gold). It took me some time to find the perfect shade of green for her coloring but it was worth the search. I faked her out in a text conversation — talked ad nauseam about my “friend” who loved green and wondered if she would like the shade. She totally verified that any green loving person would love the shade because in her words, the colorway is “exquisite”. I can’t wait for her reaction when she gets the hat in the mail.

The pattern I picked for her is Gather from Tincan Knits. The word gather means — “to come together; assemble or accumulate”. By itself, as a meaning, it doesn’t say as much as it could but in the context of 2020 and my experiences in that year, she was one of the people who came together, assembled themselves to provide me with a level of support I had no idea I’d get but absolutely needed. This project is being made with love and immense gratitude for who she is as a friend, a colleague who helped me stay afloat, the Shawn to my Gus (for all you Psych fans out there) and my faith sister.

The pic shows the project after the ribbing then the first two of an 8 row repeat. Her hat size recommends five repeats but I’m not sure yet if it’s necessary to do all five. I finished two more repeats while virtual “knit nighting” with my friend A from NightOwl Handcrafts yesterday so all that’s left is to measure it to see if I need to do another repeat or if it’s time to start the decreases. This should be finished today, then a slight wet block then mailed on Wednesday.

Project Details:

Pattern: Gather (this link leads to Ravelry. Please note that the new interface has caused accessibility issues for some users).
Designer: Tincan Knits
Yarn: MadelineTosh Vintage in Malmo (This link leads to the Jimmy Beans website. I’m not an affiliate or ambassador, this is just where I bought the colorway from.)

After I’m done with this project today, I’m taking a bit of a hat break to crank out this beauty for my friend Laurie who’s birthday is on the 27th. With 90 yds of Malabrigo Rasta on size 13 needles, I’ll absolutely finish this today for mailing on Wednesday too.

Cheers for a great week for all of you. ❤