Completed, Progressing, Next

I got the white hat finished yesterday.  I made it one size smaller but it still is a little big.  The only reason I have been knitting hats is to have something on my head with the hot summer sun beating down on me so size does not really matter.  

It is hard for me to finally believe but the front of this sweater is done.  Now I have to extend the back to match, knit the sleeves, knit the button band, and seam the sides and it will be done.  And I will need to block it.  (Do I block it before or after I seam the sides?)  Of course this means this sweater will not be done this summer (I am a VERY slow knitter) but I will either wear it with a long sleeved pullover or display it on a mannequin.

Now that the hat is finished I am going to start a knitting UFO project.  I have been knitting the sweater in the studio where there are no animals to walk all over me and very few interruptions so I can count the repeats.  In the house I will be knitting socks and probably finishing up sweaters.  I haven't pulled out any of the UFO bags so they will be a surprise to me but I do need to finish things so I can use the project bags for new projects.

And I do have a new project I want to start.

This is called a Tesserino Cowl offered by Louet.  I watched a tutorial video on Very Pink and think I can do it.  I love cowls to keep my neck warm in the winter and this one looks like it will do the job.  But I can't start it until I get at least 2 UFOs finished.

We are expecting to have a quiet weekend so maybe I will be able to get a lot of knitting (and quilting?) done.  Have a great weekend everybody,   GARI

Linking with Patchwork Times.

June Finish

I finished my hat.  And I like it so much I am going to make another in white/blue. 

When I was at this point I was supposed to begin decreasing.  The problem I encountered was that eventually my cable was too long for the number of stitches.  I wasn't worried as I had began my sock knitting on double pointed needles so off I went to find the right sized DPNs, except I didn't have the right size. 

Well, that sure didn't deter me, I just used what I had.  It did not take long before I had completed all of the decreases and pulled the remaining stitches together and the major part of the hat was done.  Then it was time to pick up stitches for the "floppy" brim and finish the hat
.

When I was getting ready to start a new row on my Spring Bloom sweater I noticed the colors lined up on the needle.  Isn't that a beautiful rainbow?  And the colors in this picture are true.

 This is where I have progressed to.  It's really funny how short this looks without the bottom band and being blocked.  I still have a lot to do on this so I was really happy to have the hat done for a June finish.

 I did laugh as I put this on the mannequin.  It is a male one and it occurred to me that I might need to bring a female one into the studio if I am going to knit garments. 

And this was a surprise today.  I received this beautiful hand made owl mug from our son and daughter-in-law.  I love well done hand made items and this fits that criteria.  Thank you Jessica and Todd, thank you, thank you.

And now, I hope everyone in the US has a great and safe July 4th.  And I would that everyone would take time to appreciate living in a free country and see it as a real privilege.  Gari

I will be linking with Patchwork Times.

Flying Needles

 Isn't this impressive?  Yes it is.  Every day I have knit on this, a little at a time, and I am beginning to see the end of the body of this sweater.  There are so many mistakes in this sweater but between the color variations of the yarn and the movement created by the pattern, those mistakes do not show (unless, of course, you are a real knitter and look very, very closely).

 Here I have folded the front over the back to show how far I still need to knit for the body.  Then I will knit the sleeves I forgot and lastly I will be knitting the button band.  I won't have this done this month but maybe July.

 Does everyone remember the large number of UFOs I talked about last week?  Well, you can now add one more, a hat.  I saw a picture of one of these hats on Gramma's Quilting Room.  I had decided I needed a hat to wear when I had to be out in the summer sun: I tend to quickly become weak if my head is uncovered.  And I especially liked that Peaches and Cream cotton yarn is recommended and I still have a lot of it from the washcloths I made at Christmas.  So here is how far I have gotten.  I am almost to the part where we decrease to the top.  And then I am to return to the beginning, pick up stitches and knit the brim.  I think this will be a fun hat to wear.\

This is an easy pattern and fun to do.  I am going to try to get it done next week.  Gari

Linking with Patchwork Times.