Turning Towards Knitting Weather
Sharon September 6th, 2012
It was a hot summer. I started a few knitting projects but I’ll admit, I didn’t really want anything wooly (or even cottony) on my lap most of the summer. It is still steamy here, and we’re going to hang on the remnants of Hurricane Isaac for a day or two, but then they are predicting a sharp turn in the weather - by Monday highs in the 60s, lows in the 40s. That’s more like it baby - I want to knit!
Honestly, most of what I make are small projects - socks, hats, mittens - the kids lose mittens so fast that I have to keep knitting to keep up. I want to make Baby Z. a blanket and have some lovely superwash wool that is just crying out to be a soft warm baby snuggly. And my children are campaigning for me to make them monsters for Chanukah -and who could resist that? I mean seriously, knitting monsters is awesome. I could also make a few more diaper covers. And one of these days I’m going to finish knitting my tallit (a project I’ve been working on for ummm…nigh on infinity).
So it isn’t like I don’t have anything to knit, but hey, give me more ideas. What are you making? What would you like to make? It can be sewn (I’m learning to make Waldorf dolls), or crocheted or whatever - what’s your handwork?
Sharon
- handwork
- Comments(10)
I finally knitted a sock! Well, one and a half so far.
My husband didn’t seem nearly as impressed by the first sock as I felt he should be.
Next I want to try tackling a sweater. I have the pattern in mind, but I need to get yarn.
Do you attach your pairs of mittens? My mom used to crochet a thin rope (just a chain really) between each pair of our knitted mittens so that we couldn’t lose just one. The mittens went on, cord over our shoulders, and then the coats went on. This was also super handy because we could take off our coats and mittens at the same time, leaving the mittens in the coat and they didn’t get lost as quickly.
I just cast on the ribbing for a vest of that lavender wool I showed you on Sunday
I think I’m going to take the plunge and use some Fisherman-type cables… eek! I love vests, because I can layer with them so effectively. Plus I don’t love making sleeves….
Would you believe a knitted shrimp cocktail? The shrimps are really cute
I’ll probably give it to my sister for Christmas. Then I’ll tackle the fish and chips….. 
viv in nz
When I say I’m learning to knit … practicing about once a year — or two — counts, right?
have also contemplated making dog toys. The stuffing just gets immediately ripped out, anyway. Why do dogs love ripping stuffing out of things?
… But now the garage is full of wool – raw wool – and DH gave me a drum carder, so I’m going to have to learn to spin, and then will be forced to do something with the resulting yarn. like, say, knitting it. Although some of it did become pillows, (still working on figuring out how to keep them from eventually getting lumpy) and I’ve tried to convince him it could be used for home insulation.
However, there will be neither knitting nor spinning, nor finishing the baby quilt started a year ago, until the canning is done. After which, the baby quilt had better get finished before the baby hits her second birthday. There’s also a lengthy list of clothes i’d like to sew, and napkins to make, to replace the ones that are getting worn out.
I am a fanatical sock knitter. Socks are the world in miniature! I also usually have a shawl on the needles. A warm woolen shawl is great to pin over my sweater in the winter when the house is cold. Baby booties knit up in an evening and are good sellers at our church bazaar. And I have the wool to make myself some felted slippers. I did some for my dd a couple of years ago, and she loves them-says they are ultra warm. The pattern is from Fiber Trends.
I’m making the Aran sweater from “The Opinionated Knitter”, an Elizabeth Zimmerman design. In the round, cabling every other row, fisherman wool, for my big broad-shouldered husband…it’s a dense project. I love it.
I don’t knit (yet - but must learn while mum is still around as she makes all of our family’s wonderful socks and mittens) but do sew. 4 yo needs pants, got enough cash to buy a metre of unbleached organic cotton jersey and just enough confidence sewing elastics to try making her some. I still haven’t finished the bra I started on the 1-day a week course I did last term, but the end is in sight. There’s an elastic factory in the city where I live and it would be great if I can skill up to use a serious amount of what they produce.
Also, my mum cut out a dress for me (from a length I bought several years ago when I saw it cheap) to encourage me to make it up. I have been going a bit ‘franciscan’ on the dress front (this is a fancy way of saying, mend it, mend it again, then add a bit more of something else to mend it again if you have run out of the original scraps) and she wants me not to be wearing a new and tidy dress so I look respectable at brother-in-law’s wedding at the end of the year.
I need a new shawl (the one I got given when I was 12 is falling to bits) and I am hoping I make enough cash proof-reading dissertations and doing tutoring in academic writing this term to buy a length of welsh wool flannel for it, woven by the lovely folks at Melin Teifi.
Is it too late to comment? I am finishing up a sweater for myself (which I started last February-typical) so I can start on my holiday gifts: knitted washcloths with which to wrap up bars of homegrown goats milk soap. That’s the plan anyway…we’ll see if I make any progress. Maybe for holidays 2013?
Have half knitten the Mariner’s Vest from the Seaman Insitutite. Hope to finish it for Christmas at Sea.
Cowls. I love having scarves that I don’t lose. They can go up on your head as a hood and down on the shoulders as a wrap. They can eat up ends of yarn putting them together. A nice mid-size project, not as big as a sweater but bigger than a mitten or hat.