YOP Update - Stages

 

I've been unsettled this past month with my knitting and blogging.  You may have noticed an absence here as I've let my twice weekly blog schedule slide.  I derail from projects very easily.  Usually all it takes is missing the deadline for a single blog post or setting down a knitting project for another.  But, under the general malaise the cause I believe was the knitting retreat I attended.  It was a wonderful experience to be sure, but while I tweak my knitting style to be more efficient, knitting seems a bit more like work than fun.  Knitting is simply harder right now as I try to lose old habits and gain new ones.  I think that along with having a lot of obligation knitting (2 scarves, 1 sweater, mittens, and a vest.  How did I ever think my gift knitting was almost done?) hanging over my head has really dampened my knitting mojo if you will.  

I managed to push through on a project, steadily work on another (slowly) and of course add yet another project.  The finished project is the hat Tensfield by Martina Behm.  It was knit from some yarn I won in a giveaway and is destined for my friend Amy's charity which provides hats and shawls for those undergoing chemo therapy here in the Twin Cities Area.  The hat is all garter stitch with clever short rows to give it it's form.  Being densely knit made the going slow, but the end result is very pleasing and hopefully very warm.

Next up is a scarf for a friend of a friend which is my slow and steady project.  it has become my morning ritual to sip my tea (Irish Breakfast with cream and maple syrup - sooooo good) while knitting a few rows.  The pattern is His (Birthday) Scarf by Monika Steinbauer and it's putting my new Norwegian purl to the test.  It's going to be tight to get a 60 inch scarf out of my 5 skeins, but hopefully the yarn will relax some in blocking. That is when I finally get to the blocking stage.  Sigh.

On to the new shall we?  Yes, let's!  You may remember the yellow yarn I was knitting a poncho out of - Purl Soho Flax Down?  Well, it shed quite badly which I thought would continue to annoy me in a poncho, but wouldn't be so bad in a cowl.  So, I frogged the Hugo poncho, sold all but one skein of the yarn (the skein from frogging), then paired it with a leftover skein of Tilli Tomas Raw Silk to get the yarn up to a bulky weight and voila we have the beginnings of an Arika Cowl by Jane Richmond.  It's hopefully going to be a quick project being knit with US 10 1/2 needles and only using about 200 yards.  We'll see if I get distracted yet again...

Lastly, I thought I'd leave you with a few pics of my son Sam and the Mighty Mississippi River.  We went on a home school field trip riverboat ride last week on a beautiful, albeit very cold, Autumn day.  We caught the paddle boat at Harriet Island in Saint Paul and took a leisurely 1 1/2 hour trip down to Historic Fort Snelling and back again.  We met some new people, learned a bit about the river as well as river boats and had a good time all around.  

Joining in with Ginny for Yarn Along.