WhimsyCraft

 This pretty skein of bulky yarn has been around for a while, and it seemed like time to finally do something with it. I decided on this pair of cabled fingerless mitts . I modified the pattern just a touch - reversed the cable for the second one, and made the thumbholes two rows longer, but mostly according to the pattern, and they are very cozy.

 As predicted, these went very quickly once the gussets were done, and are now finished. Here's a photo of the pair, to prove that I really did finish them and so that you can see the fancy patterned foot tops, and one of the wrapped stitch detail along the side. The pattern is Lord, What Fools , and the yarn is Bearfoot (Ravelry links, both of them) that I've probably had for 20 years. Some of this stash is very well-aged at this point.

 Same sock, repair completed, heel and gusset finished, and starting to work down the foot towards the toe. This part goes quickly, so it won't be long now until I have a new pair of socks.

 I don't think you've seen these socks before. The first one was finished, and the second one almost down to the heel, before I looked at them together like this: You may notice the problem here: the sock in progress has ribbing all the way around, and the completed sock has, as the pattern directs, a six stitch stockinette column on each side. Well, time to grab a crochet hook and get to work! There are four columns that need help. For each of them, I dropped the stitch off the needle, and all the way down to where the stockinette column should begin, at the end of the cuff ribbing. Then, the crochet hook will easily pull each thread bar through and make the desired knit column. If I had wanted a purl column, I would have done the same thing, but from the inside. Now it is all fixed, and ready to continue!  Socks are Lord, what fools and the yarn is Mountain Colors Bearfoot (which I've had for probably decades). You'll get a better photo when they're done.

 Since the last time you saw this sweater, the sleeves have been separated off from the body, and I've been working downwards. Another inch or so and it will be time to start the body ribbing, and then finish the sleeves. Since I intend to slightly felt this, I'm knitting it quite loosely for the yarn weight, because i expect the yarn to fluff up and fill in the gaps, and I'm going to knit it about 10% longer than I want it to be, to allow for shrinkage. We'll see if that works out.

 Finished this one up a couple of weeks ago, but then it needed to be washed/blocked, and get its buttons sewn on, and then wait for a photo opportunity, which finally came yesterday. I am really pleased with it, and the buttons are ones that I made in a ceramics class in Fall 2019, so I feel a very strong sense of ownership for this one. The diamonds around the yoke were inspired by a recent leafing through of some old Kaffe Fassett books from the 80s, and I've given the pattern information in this post . The back is particularly fun. (Photo credit to David)

 This is progressing nicely - the cable section is finished and I'm about to divide off the sleeves from the body, which will make the row length much more manageable. Right now there are over 300 stitches per row.

 So, after knitting the cat bed , I was really enjoying the thick, multistranded fabric, and had some left over. The result was this improvised headband with flaps to keep the ears warm. I made it back when the bed was made but not yet felted, and just came across it again. It would have been handy to remember these last few days, because we were without heat, but we managed OK, and the plumber came today, and warmth is restored. I took some notes, so if you want to make one too, because it is very cozy, here is the pattern. Note that this is the first pattern I have ever made public, and no one has looked at it but me, which is generally bad practice, but also no one reads this blog, so if in the future someone else is reading this and decides to make one: (a) I''d love to know, and (b) please tell me nicely about any errors you find or things which are unclear. EARFLAP HEADBAND: To fit an average-to-large adult size head. It’s pretty stretchy, but you can modify...

 It doesn't look like much yet, but this is the beginning of this lovely top-down sweater with a cabled yoke. It's a bit of a gamble, because I'm working it off a cone of yarn that will change drastically when washed (it should fluff up and become less stringy) and I'm just hoping it will fit then. I did knit and wash a small swatch, but that doesn't really mean a lot. I'm also not completely convinced of the color, so there is some chance that it will become a vehicle for experimenting with dyeing a finished garment. Wow, that sounds like I don't like this sweater, which isn't true at all!

 is acceptable now. This is a Kitty Pi , made with four strands of yarn held together and then felted, so it's nice and thick. Still a little big, so might run it through the machine one more time. Here is what it looked like before felting:

When I got the roving, it was sort of a strange combination of white, yellow, green, and purple. As soon as I spun it, it became obvious that it was Mardi Gras yarn, and also who it needed to belong to - our lovely friends who throw the best Mardi Gras party every year. So this year, without a party, it was its own celebration to make it into this hat and scarf, and deliver it to them.  The cowl is a simple feather and fan lace, decreased towards the top, and the matching hat starts out with the same pattern, and then switches to white where I ran out of the handspun, decreasing to a swirled top.

 Can you identify this fairly shapeless blob of large-gauge knitting (4 strands held together, 3 sts/in)? It's going pretty quickly - started Tuesday, probably will be finished in another couple of days. Hint - I haven't been able to ask the recipient if she likes it...

 The scrap bin was getting full, so it was time for a stripy sweater. Oddly, although it is almost done, there doesn't seem to be any more room in the scrap bin... The pattern started out with cast-on numbers from the free Less is More pattern, but quickly diverged, with little contrast diamonds added to the yoke, and just working until it seemed to be long enough. I also changed all of the bands to garter, and made a zigzag division in the center back, using mostly cool colors on one side, and mostly warm colors on the other.  

 Today, we have a sweater that I started for Evan in 2014. It was intended to be about a size 8, and didn't get finished at that time. I picked it up again, thinking to finish it, and discovered that it is in no way a child size 8. If I make it a few inches longer than the pattern calls for, it will certainly fit me. Problem is, I don't particularly want it. It would fit Evan even now, but he won't wear anything which isn't black. Oh well, finish it and then figure out who it belongs to, I suppose. Pattern is Lancelot , modified with a v-neck (apologies for the terrible photo.)

 Those socks that were almost finished didn't take long to wrap up, and here they are. My friend was very very happy with them, and I got the kind of reaction every knitter hopes for. Also, one of the things I've learned to do in the last few months is bagels, because our local bagel place closed a while back, and when we were going through the 50 pound bag of flour from when flour was briefly hard to find, the bagel phase came after the sourdough phase. As a native New Yorker, I'm pretty picky about bagels, and these aren't as good as the best, but they're not bad. This is the recipe I started with: https://www.sophisticatedgourmet.com/2009/10/new-york-style-bagel-recipe but modified to use mostly whole wheat flour, and make 12. If anyone ever actually reads this and wants the changes, just let me know.  They look like this when they're boiling:  And like this when they come out of the oven: Turns out, Trader Joe's Everything Bagel spice mix is pretty good ...

 Hi! Getting a head start on a New Year's resolution here, to write down some things, so that I don't keep looking back and realize that I have no idea what happened to the last several months. It's really easy to do right now. Here are some almost finished socks for a friend. The yarn is discontinued Felici Sport, which is wonderful, and I have about four pairs' worth stashed away. The pattern is my own basic one, which may get written up someday. The recipient's feet are about one size bigger than my own, so they are measured to be a half inch or so too big for me.

Because of circumstances *completely beyond my control* (that would be otherwise known as an online sale at madelinetosh too good to resist, which turned out also to be too good to be true, but worked out all right in the end, and a local yarn store going out of business and selling everything in their overstuffed basement at $1/skein(!!)) I have way more yarn than I did a few weeks ago, and quite tempting yarn it is.  I've been working on getting it all into Ravelry, and trying to update some of my finished projects there too, but what I wanted to talk about here is the hat in progress. This is the lovely Azucena Hat , made out of some grey alpaca from the aforementioned yarn store going out of business sale. It's almost finished, about to be ready for the top decreases, but the thing that I wanted to mention is the hair tie around the middle, which is a cute little trick that keeps the stitches from wanting to fall off the ends of the double pointed needles nearly as much. ...

Ever since I saw Marsh a few months ago, I've wanted to make one. Usually I acquire yarn and then decide what to make with it, but for this one I ordered the yarn specifically for this project, and cast on pretty much as soon as it arrived. I'm using Zitron Polo in grey, and even swatched until I got gauge (on needles three sizes smaller than specified - I knit very loosely.) This is about up to the beginning of the second tier of leaves on the back. Another really nice thing about this is that the front can come with me as a mindless car knitting and waiting room project, and the more complicated lace back can stay home for more focused knitting time. I've also added a bit of waist shaping. As written, the back is just a rectangle, and a little shaping should make it hang better, hopefully. No photo of the front yet, it's just an absolutely plain piece of stockinette at the moment.