Here is a quick look at what I finished in the last month and what I’m working on in January.
FINISHED
The Winter Birch Sweater is finished and released! I’m very grateful for the yarn support I received from the Brown Sheep Company for this one in their Prairie Spun DK in the color Rain Cloud. I really enjoyed the loft while knitting with this yarn and am amazed at how warm the sweater feels.
I also finished this pair of adult mittens and toddler mittens out of Lamb’s Pride Worsted in a bright red color named Red Hot Passion. I loved them! No pictures on the hands but they did go to the intended recipients and I hope they’ll keep them in warm hands this winter.
The first of two planned Malachite Shawls is finished too!! Knit out of Dream in Color Jilly in the colorway Green Lantern on US Size 2 (2.75 mm) needles. I really love this shawl and I can’t wait to get it ready for test knitting. I’ve had some starts and stops on the planned second of these Malachite Shawls and I’m starting to wonder if the second Malachite design might actually want to be a cowl instead of shawl. But I haven’t decided yet.
Also – hats! A new hat design in 6 sizes (baby, toddler, child, Adult S, Adult M, Adult L) in two different shades of blue Knit Picks Wool of the Andes worsted. I knit each of these hats on US Size 7 needles to get a fabric that isn’t too loose or too dense for the cables. The sample hats are just barely off the needles. The next step is writing the pattern, edits, more edits, more more edits, final edits, tech edited and then a call for testers. Even though they are all the same pattern, I think these hats will count as 6 towards my 20 hats in 2020 for Geminate Podcast especially since they are in the 6 different sizes.
That’s it for finished projects. Next up my projects that are progress or just about to be in progress.
ON THE NEEDLES
I’ve been busy working away on other mittens too. Every now and then I’ll get into a mitten jag when I work on mittens almost exclusively. I’m not there yet but I did work on mittens a lot over the holidays because they are so easy to pack along and work on while also socializing. I almost always knits my mittens out of Lamb’s Pride Worsted. The picture above shows finished mittens in the colors Prairie Fire, Persian Peacock, Pottery, Kiwi and Plum Smoke. I knit all my adult mittens on US Size 6 needles and follow the same basic recipe I modified by trial and error (and trying in-progress mittens on lots and lots of hands) from the mitten section of Ann Budd’s Knitter’s Handy Book of Patterns.
The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that they are all missing thumbs……because I hate making the thumbs. So I’ll make a whole whack of mittens and then do all the thumbs at once.
Speaking of test knitting. The Salt River Sweater test knit started just after the first of the year and I’m excited about all that great testers that have signed up so far! I pushed the deadline for this test knit back to April 1st since I wanted to be sure to give testers plenty of time to participate if they were interested. That does mean an early April release for the sweater. Early April isn’t exactly sweater weather but I feel like a less than optimal release date is worth it get the extra eyes and hands on the pattern and sweater. The sample is knit out of Valley Yarns Northfield in the color chestnut (I’m calling this one a deep rust or burnt orange in my head).
The Lavinia Shawlette test knit is scheduled to start early next week (the week of January 13th). Running two test knits at once is about all I can handle and still stay engaged in the threads….especially while working on other projects and keeping up with teenager commitments.
This is the beginning of a top down layering tunic out of Valley Yarns Colrain (50% Merino, 50% Tencel) in the color Chestnut (in my head I’m calling this color burgundy or wine) on US Size 6 needles. I originally planned to make this tunic out of Lamb’s Pride Worsted (in the beautiful Plum Smoke color shown in the mittens above). But my SQ was purchased as a Yarn Second or Mill End (sold through a third party because the yarn didn’t meet the company quality control or have been discontinued, they are still excellent and beautiful yarns…plus they didn’t end up in a landfill which I really, really appreciate). Normally I can use these yarn seconds for any project but this particular SQ had just enough thick and thin in the skeins to make it hard to properly photograph the finished design without it looking like a design element. I maybe still make myself a tunic out of that yarn to wear…..or I might end up purchasing some the next time I make the trek to the LYS (our local, local store closed so the closest is now more than an hour away).
These 3 shades of basic worsted wool (Knit Picks Wool of the Andes worsted again) will be turned into a different new hat design in 6 sizes. I’m hoping to start this project sometime soon since I really like always having a hat on the needles to use as a grab-and-go project for meetings and basketball games.
And I’m finally ready to cast on a new Sherri Pullover out of this Valley Yarns Amherst in the color Harvest Gold! I need a new one for my winter hiking sweater. My old one has covered more than 300 winter hiking miles, been down to Phantom Ranch at the bottom of the Grand Canyon. I love it for a warm and breathable mid-layer worn over a simple long-sleeve base and under an outer fleece.
But it is worn out!!! Can you see the spots here where parts of it have actually felted from the all of the abrasion from wearing a hiking pack? This yarn has performed amazingly well and I’ve really loved this sweater. It has worn exactly as it should have and now it is time to replace. I was so happy with the Valley Yarns Amherst that I originally made it with that I’ve decided to replace it out of the same yarn in a different color.
And that feels like quite enough for now.
