Striped Stash Yarn Choux Sweater [sweater pattern by Jessie Maed Designs]

Choux Sweater Ravelry Link Here

I love this sweater pattern design by Jessie Maed. I love a lot of her designs and the Choux Sweater combines my desire for a loose, comfy, basic sleeve, loose arm opening and no seaming after you're done knitting. Getting to wear a sweater right off the needles rather than having to get around to blocking and sewing the pieces together is... magical. I knit to relax and get away from my more detailed forms of fiber work. This sweater pattern has the delight of immediate gratification when the knitting is done. I did have to stitch in a bunch of ends before this one was ready to wear, but I can do that with little effort while watching tv. 

I'm never totally sure about how a pattern like is going to come together, or how much I'll end up liking the style and fit. So I decided to go with stash yarn for the first run on the Choux Sweater. I don't have 3 skeins of any one stash yarn (probably not even 2 skeins)... so stripes. I have a lot of blues. Likely because I don't tend towards blues, turquoise yes, but not basic blues, so they've piled up. I got all the blues and their variations together, created a sample and washed it. (If it won't survive the washing machine in a lingerie bag, it's not worth knitting). I figured it was good enough, but as I started knitting the actual full-sized sweater, I didn't like it. I added a variegated sock yarn that has blue, turquoise, pink and plum, that solved my color problem. Just a little spot of pink/purples made it so I was excited about knitting this. I also sampled the stripes in single rows and double rows. I have something else large from a few years ago that I had started in single rows that I'm ripping out now, I like it for the Tin Can Knits beanie that I live in at work in the winter, but for a whole sweater I decided to change yarn every 2 rows. 

First Try-On

"You're knitting with pretty big needles for you" my friend Jenn commented as I cast on this project at our local tea shop in Old Town. She's right, knitting any bigger than size 4s is unlikely for me, even 4s are pushing it. Maybe it's just the fingering yarn size that kept this still fun to knit. I also don't really like heavy sweaters. I used to think I hated wool sweaters, but it was the weight and density that I used to find uncomfortable and suffocating. This is wool, so it's warm, but with the larger needles it's somewhat light, almost airy. A perfect comfort level. 

I have, in the past, created my own dolman style sweater that the COVID lock-down helped me finish. I was trying to keep track of how I knit it, but that wasn't fun. I knit it bottom-up and stitched the top of the arms up to a loose neck opening. I do love that sweater, but I didn't love figuring it out, and it's a bit bulky. I wanted to create a similar sweater but I wanted to work off of someone else's pattern. Jessie put this sweater out just in time (I bought 3 sweater patterns from her Ravelry shop during her birthday sale, hoping one would be ideal, the other 2 are raglans). I started this on a mini ski trip with a friend, messed up the middle area gsr pattern, had to pull that out and restarted. Tracking this on Ravelry, it looks like I finished this in about a month and a half. That's pretty good for me for a whole sweater. I have the size 9 needles and a great pattern to thank.  

Detail of stretchy bind off that I took out

The pattern suggested a stretchy cast-off for the bottom if you tend to knit tight. I do knit tight, so I used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind off (there's a lot of links if you google that one). Upon my first try on it was TOO stretchy and I didn't like the way it hung. So I took it out and redid it with my normal bind off, which isn't really stretchy, but it fits my hips and that's what matters. 

My next blog post will be about the matching earrings

Knit "Converse" Baby Booties

Now that I've given these to our friends at their shower I can post about them! I usually knit a baby blanket for friends who are expecting but Jenn is a knitter and I figured she'd have things that she wanted to knit so I offered her to pick something for me to knit for her. She sent me the Ravelry link to this adorable Converse baby bootie pattern. 

It's like 8 pages of directions but I couldn't seem to knit just one pair. So they got three. I would definitely knit these again, and it's easy to find and use stash yarn for these, so no need to go hunt down specific yarn (at least not in my world). 

I would definitely knit these again. 

Night & Day Cowl (Is this Ska?)

I'd been eyeing some checker-esque cowls on Ravelry and with Bryan's help finally picked one out to knit myself for my birthday. The Night & Day Cowl by Andrea Mowry was the perfect project to become obsessed with. I'd usually take a little more time knitting something like this but I had 2 or 3 days of being sick which landed me on the couch knitting when I wasn't sleeping off whatever has been going around. Thus, I knit this up in 12 days. 

I had gone to Woven Art to get the yarn for this project and Meg was super helpful with suggestions, as was Bryan. I landed on a Rowan Felted Tweed in black and Berroco Renew for the off white. I bought 2 balls of each but ended up only needing one of each. I almost used all of the white, but not really since I had done a sample swatch with it too. I had plenty left of the black tweed.

When I initially read knitting instructions I feel a little overwhelmed, like, I-cord edge? That sounds hard. It's literally part of the pattern, I just needed to start knitting, follow the, very clearly written out, instructions and it comes together beautifully.

One of the reasons I loved knitting this is because it uses stitches/rows in 4's for the "checkers." I love multiples of 4. Nice even numbers that my brain is drawn to. My favorite number is 4. I try to keep to multiples of 2s and 4s in my own artwork because it's just so satisfying for me. So, this pattern was a dream. 

Lois models it's progress

This pattern isn't true checkers, so is it ska? Sarah says it's ska-adjacent. It's much easier and faster to knit than checkers and gives a nice illusion of them. I enjoyed knitting this so much I offered to knit Bryan one, his is on the needles already. 

Bryan's colors are both in the tweed

I still keep a pair of socks on my needles for when I'm on-the go. The pattern is just too easy at this point and it rarely takes my attention from a meeting, movie or coffee dates so I'm on my 38th pair of socks (which I started knitting when I started going to AA meetings) which I'm thinking I'll wear at the I Voted for Kodos show in Chicago in May. I'm excited about these socks, the pink is black-light responsive...and it's weird being excited about pink. I recently saw a post that said "girlhood is realizing the "I hate pink phase" was never actually about pink" and that resonated so deeply. I like pink, but on my terms, don't you dare get me something pink, especially a pastel pink. It feels like pressure to be girlier and clearly I'm not alone in that lifelong fight. My last tattoo my artist wanted to add pink, and I balked, but let it go because it's his art style that I wanted, we discussed my issues with it and visa versa, he's always liked pink because of the neon pink in motorbikes he's had...so there's some pink in my colored thigh tattoo.  I could rant about pink for forever, so we'll leave it at, this pink I like, especially with the black. 

Pink and black stripe sock in progress

Jesse Maed's Totally Tank Top (Racerback) in Turquoise

I love Jesse Maed's designs, they're really fun to knit. I was hooked with the first one that I knit thanks to Sarah's suggestion of "My Secret Little Crop" (which I have knit 3 of) and then I got into Jesse's other designs. This Totally Tank Top took me forever (see it's tag), for a crop top anyway...longer than I'm used to...ok, I was learning. I ripped this out and restarted at least once (twice?) and then it took me 3 tries to get the neck edging right (for me). 

I knit the Medium size. I extended the arm opening (at least 2 inches, it was 70 rows total) which also created more of a scoop neck that I like better. The first time I had enough of this knit up to try it on I was following the suggested strap length and the arms holes were tight and the neck much too high for me.  

I love Jesse's designs because they're super easy to make adjustments on. I chose the "ribbed" arm and neck finish which I seemed to be picking up the stitches weird and this yarn blend wasn't "ribbing" it just wanted to lay flat on this needle size so it decided to be a "design choice" a pattern at the end of the day. I ended up knitting a lot less stitches (58 ish on the sides) than called for in the pattern (75 on the sides) for the neck.

I put my first tag in a hand knit piece :)

I've worn this a few times and I'm finding it really versatile and summery, which is what I was going for. 

Jesse Maed's Outline Tank in Orange & Long Fringe Earrings

Art Installation on our walk to the Madness show!

We went to a metal concert on Valentine's Day at St. Andrew's Hall in Detroit and there was a woman there wearing a long skirt with large checkers. I had to compliment and inquire where she got it. Shein of all places, which is known for inexpensive (like really really cheap) fast-fashion clothing. She actually had me feel the fabric to confirm it was nicer than one would expect, I agreed and, of course, I ordered it. I recall a long period of time where it was hard to find checker-anything and it's practically a staple "color" for me so I don't usually hesitate to grab something checker right now while it's back in style. 

I love the skirt (yes, it will probably pill, it's already fuzzing weird after one wear, fast fashion and all) I decided I want to wear it for the Madness concert we went to this month in Seattle. I needed to pick a top to go with it and nothing that I had or was shopping for was inspiring me. I had purchased 2 patterns from Jessie Maed Designs in February so I decided it was time to knit one of those tops. The Outline Tank called to me and I went on the hunt for a really bright saturated color yarn. Of course there was nothing in my stash that fit the bill so I went over to Woven Art to hunt something down. 

I wanted a cotton/linen blend but everything was in neutral or pastels, in the sale area there was a lovely orange Manos Del Uruguay Alegria, a merino superwash and polyamide blend which I was worried would be too heavy for a drapey tank top, but I knit up a sample swatch, washed it and really liked how it turned out. (I also bought and knit up a sample of the Mojave cotton blend but what I thought was maybe a grapefruit color was much more pink when it knitted up than I liked). 

I had a month to knit this top. So I got started, it only took me 2 weeks, including a few tear-outs. I can thank our day at Pinball at the Zoo' for helping move this knitting along. Bryan drove (knitting time) and I was on the easy part of stockinette stitch so I got about 2.5 inches done between the drive and knitting while waiting for my turn on the machines. I also ended up hand-winding the second skein of this yarn on the drive there since it kept getting tangled on my swift. Thank you to Gotham Knits on Instagram for normalizing hand-winding a yarn ball for me! I really love the soft light weight of this top and yarn. The only issue is that the "outline" detailing isn't showing much in the straps and neck. The yarn is a little too squishy, next time I knit this I'll use a more structured yarn.

I was going to do a separate post for the earrings that I made, but they belong with this top. Even without the skirt finishing off the look....

I don't usually like to bead fringe. I pull too tight and it gets all kinked up, then when I loosen it, it seems to gap and have thread showing at the top between the bottom of the stitched base and the top of where the fringe starts, gravity taking its toll on the spacing. This is why I prefer to stitch beads into each other one and a time, tight and controlled. Not OCD at all....

(lighting is weird in this photo)

These actually turned out. 30 years of beading made me think through what would work best for my particular beading issues. A thinner thread makes me bead looser (it snaps when I pull too tight), I don't back through the fringe, I thread the fringe gently. I'm really proud of myself at how well these turned out, I kinda expected the same too-tight fringe disappointment but here we are with a successful pair. For a moment I thought, maybe I should start making fringe-earrings. They're really fun. Then I remembered how much I hate bead-stringing and I only do it when necessary. I'm not interested in getting into the habit of making these to sell, so fringe will come when it's needed for another outfit. 

I've gotten a lot of complements wearing the earrings and top together and separate. The Madness concert was awesome and I was glad to have a bright ska-outfit for it :)

Boatneck Batwing Lace Knit Top

As a casual knitter it's rare that I knit a sample swatch or hand wash... or follow any directions with my handknits. I often just end up making my own patterns up as I go like the last larger sweater I knit. However, the more I hang out with more professional knitters (mainly Sarah Peasley) and follow various knitters on Instagram, the more inclined I am to swatch and do things properly, which I did for this top. 

The open knit made me nervous which is why I actually started by following the swatch directions. I knit during my AA meetings and I was worried it might be too complicated to work on during a meeting. The swatch definitely gave me a feel for the pattern and it wasn't too bad to get in a groove. Like most patterns, once you get the hang of it, it's fairly easy to read your knitting. One direction is a straight knit which also helps keep it simple.

I've been eyeing James N Watts' patterns on Ravelry for a while but the ones I liked the most had sleeves and I don't really wear sleeves unless it's a cardigan or a hoodie. When this new Boatneck Batwing top dropped I checked to make sure I had some yarn in my stash to use and purchased this pattern. 

This yarn is by Anzula Luxury Fibers, Meridian, Lace 55% Tencel, 35% Alpaca, 10% Nylon in the colorway Tesla. It feels deliciously buttery in this knit.

When this was fresh  off the needles it looked too short when I put it on and I thought I would get around to knitting it again with a little more length. Once I hand washed it and hung it to dry it dried to a length that I like much better. I have a fairly long waist so unless it's intentionally a cropped top I prefer longer tops.

I wasn't sure how much I'd like this top in this color, or how much I'd like knitting it. Turns out I couldn't put it down.  It was fun and easy to knit, I have 1 or 2 mistakes that I just wear in the back so I don't have to look at them when I wear it. The color goes with my summer wardrobe and I'm sure I'll be knitting this again in another color....I'm going to wear it more to get the hang of it though. A big me-problem; I get it snagged on everything. I have the same problem trying to wear lace too, but overall, I love this pattern!

My Secret Little Crop #3; Super-cropped Cotton/Hemp blend

Backtracking to my summer projects...I can't get enough of this crop top pattern by Jessie Maed Designs. "My Little Secret Crop" knits up quickly and I found some stash yarn I wanted to try for a lighter weight garment...I also wanted it shorter to go with overalls. I started and finished this crop top in June and every time I wore it out it got compliments. 

Out at lunch for a date-day:

Waitress:  I love your top
Me: Thanks, I made it.
Waitress: You did? Do you sell them?
Me: No
Waitress: Would you sell them?
Me: No, I just knit for myself, it takes too long to knit to make it worth selling.
Waitress: ...[clearly disappointed tension]
Waitress: Oh, it even has a crisscross back! [walking away]
Me: It's a pattern on Ravelry if you learn to knit...
Bryan: I thought she was going to rip it off you. 

I thought it looked cute with my work pants, 

it was easy to throw on for a totally different look to grab dinner when I got off. 

I have a bunch of small balls of a cotton/hemp blend that I love. I know I used this yarn in red for the red leaf tunic I made years ago, I'm not sure what I have all this green for. Sometimes when I love a yarn I just buy a bunch, which is probably why this has been sitting in my stash. I have been good about not doing that kind of purchasing anymore, I have more yarn than I'll ever be able to use (yet never what I'm looking for so that's when I buy more). Anyway, the green hemp/cotton blend with a pretty Berroco variegated blend turned out really lovely. I wore this top a lot this summer.

Second Knit Crop Top: Black and White Stripes

I am so behind on blog updates, I swear, I'm still creating! As we plan for our dressy punk wedding I keep thinking of things I can make to wear to concerts coming up like Rammstein, ska shows and Riot Fest (our honeymoon) so I decided to try a black and white stripe crop-top.  I got it done just in time for the Kill Lincoln, JER, Dissidente concert in Grand Rapids at the beginning of this month.  

Bryan and I both happened to have Friday off before his birthday and it just happened that there was a ska concert in Grand Rapids.  It's almost like it was my birthday, I promise that I gave him other options of things we could do and left it wide open, he picked the ska show. <3  We switched up our usual dinner spot and I introduced him to The Electric Cheetah which I had apparently forgot existed as it's not as close to the music venue as our usual spot, Luna. Bryan rolled a Yahtzee on the second roll and got his Yahtzee dinner for free, plus a birthday cookie. Ultimately things kept turning up Bryan around his birthday so it was a good week for us.

Back to the newly knit crop top; it held up great through skanking, jumping, dancing, sweating. I knit up My Secret Little Crop last year in a more vintage look and wore it all last summer. Being a crop top it still has air flow so it doesn't feel too heavy even though it kind-of is for warm-weather application. I usually don't think of wearing knits like this in the summer, but I'm learning it's all about the shape and styling at the end of the day. I've thrown a lot of "do's" and "don't" of fashion out the window over the years but nowadays I think I'm just dumping all the rules out and setting them on fire.

I really love this crop top pattern by Jessie Maed Designs.  She has a ton of cute patterns and you should check them out if you're a knitter. I kind-of want to start another summer top but I have way too many projects going right now. Also, thank you to Sally for passing along her late mother's stash to me, I'm finding ways to use it while I practice and improve my knitting.  This stripe top is 100% her mother's stash yarn.

Currently most of my free time has been outside working on our gardens (weeding lots!) and picking away at the very time-consuming paint-job that I'm doing on the garage. I'm just realizing that the garden along the door-privacy-fence is filling in in the way I always dreamed of being able to have a decorative garden. So I guess I'm pretty ok at gardening. The garage paint job is satisfying my need to play with colors in the same way that the door fence and my beadwork does. At the end of the day it's really neat to see how the way I design translates into each other. 

My First Toe-up Socks, Maybe My Last

Sock knitting. I've recently decided to make the switch to smaller needles (1's) which made my tight cast-on even more problematic.  I spent a lot of time talking to my friends Jenn and Sarah about different ways to get my cast-on looser, I've watched "stretchy" cast-on YouTube videos....nothing seems to be helping. Everything I stitch is so darn tight. 

I noticed that when I cast-off it tends to be a little looser or at least a little stretchier, so, I decided at 20 pairs of socks it was time to learn how to knit socks from the toe-up rather than from the top down. I found knitting from the toe-up to be very different, maybe even awkward. I completely understand the  reasons why some prefer it... but... it didn't help my problem. Moving down to size 1 needles is really the issue here (beyond my tight knitting). I also, finally, have the hang of knitting socks from the top-down, 20 pairs of practice will do that.  I can change, but this is a relaxation-thing so I don't really want to change how I'm knitting socks.  I keep socks as small, portable projects to keep my hands busy during meetings, to find some calm on my lunch break and while I find a little down-time while waiting in a line. I dream of one day having a sock drawer full of hand-knit socks for myself and Bryan. 

Now I can at least say that I've tried it and compared top-down to toe-up sock knitting. I will also mention that the difference between the slipped stitch heel vs picking up the stitch heel is very noticeable to me and I prefer the look of the heel shaping on my top-downs.  

As for my too-tight-cast-on issue, I decided to cast-on with my #2 needles and knit 1 round, then switch to the #1's.  I think this is going to work for me, I'm well into my 22nd pair of socks (to go with a pair of leather platform Converse for this summer). 

I keep saying no more projects but I may have started sampling for another crop-top. Apparently I'm thinking ahead to summer concerts and honeymoon/RiotFest outfits.

Leaf Me Alone (Final!)

It's finished! This is the first sister-piece to She Can't See the Forest through the Trees and probably not the last.  December 30, 2019 is when I warped Delilah for this large Leaf Me Alone piece.  I have had lots of projects going on at the same time as I do with any large weaving (as you can see by all of my blog posts in the past 2 years!). I really need the extended time and mental space to get something like this piece finished properly. I finally got that with the second week we were in quarantine with COVID and then some solid full days-off that I set aside with goals to finish so that I could go skiing without stressing out about getting this done. 

I dyed the warp and weft in 2014, I wound the warp in 2017...I have finally come to the realization that dying and creating warps en masse doesn't work for me. I need to do one piece at a time.  I'm quite tired of looking at blue and green at this point! I'm really excited to be able to get back to the piece with the really long name, particularly because it's grey and black.

When I get to a point on a big piece like this where I can see an end in sight, it's important for me to have an exhibit in mind to submit to so that I will spend all my extra time finishing it. The driving exhibit for Leaf Me Alone is with the Handweavers Guild of America's Convergence Conference, I submitted this to the Mixed Media exhibit, we'll see if the juror likes it enough to invite it to Knoxville this summer. It looks like I might be able to squeak it into some other submissions this year too (Michigan League of Handweavers Biennial Exhibit). 

I feel like I've typed at length about this piece. How it represents my need for creative quiet space and less busying myself with socializing or even leaving the house. I'm so much happier, more productive and at peace at home with my little nest of kitties and Bryan. 2 days ago I read the following from my "Meditations for Women Who do Too Much" book and it describes some of the feeling that this piece can allude to for me:

Exerpt from "Mediations for Women Who Do Too Much" 

by Anne Wilson Schaef, Revised and Updated Edition 

It's taken me nearly 40 years but "alla my stuff" that I cherish most is my personal time and taking care of my emotional mental space. I spent years of my life with "Leaf me alone" running, yelling in my head which turned into anger, sadness and resentment.  Now I make sure to take a lot of time for all the crazy that's in my head!! Luckily it comes out of my heart and finger tips as these new pieces of artwork.

Leaf panel for Leaf Me Alone

Regardless of the emotion I feel behind my word pieces, I always hope that different viewers pull from their own personal experiences to relate to my works like these. We are all human experiencing things with very different stories or the same stories and we all have a huge range of emotions that need to bubble up and out.

All my Leaf Me Alone workings thus far....if you want to look into more ramblings. 

The Long Answer to "What are you knitting?"

    One of the projects that I keep in my purse to keep my hands busy is knitting my thrums.  I've been tying the short pieces of rayon thread together and knitting them into strips for a few years now. I currently, finally, have a definite reason to be knitting them. I get asked all the time "what are you knitting? (or making)" and this one is hard to describe. Fabric. That's the short answer...and this is the long answer:

    Thrums are the leftover pieces of thread or yarn left on a loom when the weaving has been cut off. They pull off the bars they were tied on to easily so I just throw them in a bowl of them that I have started. I began keeping them because I think they're just so beautiful, these little knots of leftover hand dyed rayon, and decided I'd just make more fabric with them.

    They knit up with a far different texture than the weaving they helped produce. I don't knit anything fancy, just open and loose knit so it ends up being a very stretchy open-knit fabric. 

Past knitted strips

The video I posted is a time-lapse of tying thrums together during a zoom meeting, knitting and then using the dissolvable fabric to make the knit strips into leaves.  It's another one of my tedious processes which is the kind of process I enjoy. Below you can see the difference between a leaf with the woven fabric versus the knitted fabric. It's quite pleasing to have some more texture.

Woven Leaf on the Left, Knitted on the Right

Knitting Project: My Little Secret Crop

I was talking to my friend Sarah and she mentioned this cute crop top pattern on Ravelry.  I looked up My Little Secret Crop by Jessie Maed Designs and loved how versatile the pattern is and how she encourages you to use stash yarn. As much as my initial thought was that I have no business wearing a crop top at my age, I decided to ignore that and try my hand at knitting this top. 

I have recently purchased a pair of Levis that are flared "ribcage" jeans which I would just describe as super high-waisted stove-pipes so they allow me to wear a crop top without any unsightly bulges sticking out. I've always loved the vintage 70's look and I think this top, the yarn choices and the pants all make it come together for me. 

I was so proud of myself, I sampled ahead of time and ended up using 3 strands of yarn at the same time to get the correct gauge. The rust colored yarn is a bit scratchy so it took me about a month of knitting in the evenings to finish this without rubbing my fingers raw. I haven't done a burn test on this yarn to see what the content is. I was a little worried that it would be too uncomfortable to wear at the end of the day, but as I used to say "fashion over function."  After washing it I've found that it is comfortable to wear and I love it! 

About this stash yarn. I met Sally through Reach's Not So Silent Night holiday fundraiser a few years back. She has some of my beadwork and I've done some repairs on antique bead pieces for her. She told me she had nice yarn from her mom's estate that she wanted me to have. Last year we finally had a good time to meet when she was in town for me to come pick it up.  I'm still sorting through it, much of it is a little thicker than what I use for my regular (double weave) weaving but I use anything and everything when I tapestry weave.  When I decided to make this crop top, I found this wonderful rust speckled yarn that may actually be from the 70's to use as the base of this top. It has the turquoise and pinks in it so using them as accent stripes made sense. The images of the various top combinations on Ravelry were inspiring and I definitely liked the striped ones over the tops with just one color.

2020 and 2021 is really the first time in my life I've spent a lot of time knitting other people's patterns. From the beginning of my knitting career in elementary school I always preferred to figure out how to make something on my own. Most things were very blocky because I didn't know how to do much. This past year I have been knitting more of other people's patterns and I'm finding it more relaxing (it's all figured out for me), and I'm learning a lot more. The straps to this top are double knit, which has recently come up as a thing I thought I should learn. It's double knit on a small scale but with the pattern showing me how to do so it was a quicker learning process and now I'm letting it roll around in my head as to how else I could use this (and how can I knit it like I do double weave pick up). I also learned how to do a three needle bind off. Mind. Blown. Which I actually needed to do for my next knitted top's bottom hem. It looks lovely and no stitching anything together afterwards. 

I've already worn this top twice and I have a sneaking suspicion I'll be making more of these.

Dolman Sweater

This sweater began with an award from a Michigan League of Handweavers Fiber Art Exhibit during the last Conference. My award was a gift certificate from Threadbender Yarn Shop. I decided to peruse the selection they had at the vendor's market.  I kept eyeing this yellow and fuchsia yarn, I had no idea what I wanted to make with it, and usually it just ends up in my stash as some sort of accent yarn to use for tapestry or Theo Moorman inlay.  Rather than adding this yarn to my stash I obsessed over it. I looked through hundreds of Ravelry patterns and against better judgement I decided I couldn't find a pattern I liked so I'd make one up as I went along. I had the idea in mind and I have just enough knitting knowledge to be dangerous. 

I knit samples for the first time ever, just to check gauge and make sure my yarn blending was going to be about what I imagined in my head. I had decided to knit a dolman style sweater; I kept being attracted to this style at Talbots and figured the slow increase would be simple enough to make up as I knit.  I had been knitting a lot of socks at AA meetings and I thought it was time to make something larger for myself. As this piece grew I realized I needed more yarn, I picked some up at Woven Art to blend in, but as I got to the yellow top I started to panic.  Thankfully I found some left in a yarn shop that posted on Amazon.  I could have made this a little bit longer now that I'm looking at the finished piece but I was too nervous that I'd run out of the yarn again and I wanted the sleeves/cuffs to be a solid yellow. 

I thought for sure that I'd have to flip this piece inside out and stitch the side seams up for a better fit, but as it turns out it's the perfect comfy, slouchy weight that I wanted.  I knitted this sweater using 2 strands of Manos Del Uruguay lace weight yarn on a size 4 needle. I'm guessing it took me just over a year to finish, I kept putting it down to think it over, wait for yarn, or I just wasn't into knitting in the evenings. With this quarantine all I have wanted to do is knit and hand stitch.  There's something really soothing about knitting, it's good for the soul while the world spins outside.  Which I need because I spiked a fever yesterday, freaked out, had to call in to work and go get tested. So now I wait. I am hoping it's just a seasonal cold because from what I've read the symptoms of COVID are similar. Let's hope that's all it is. I'm very thankful that I love hunkering down and being home with Bryan and the kitties.