A Wee Break

I needed a break from my Banded Turtleneck as the sleeves are giving me trouble and thus annoying me to no end.  So, I turned to my bin of WIPs and picked out one I thought I could actually complete in a short time and came up with the above Arika cowl by Jane Richmond.  It's very much like wearing a poncho without all the bulk.  There are two yarn strands used to "create" a bulky weight yarn in my version as I had no bulky yarn that the pattern calls for when beginning this project.  The first strand is Flax Down by Purl Soho which consists of Alpaca, Merino and Linen fibers and is so light and s-o-f-t.  The second strand is Tilli Tomas's Raw Silk 100% silk sport weight yarn. The effect of the two shades of yellow I find very pleasing as it creates more depth of texture.  Tying on all the fringe was fun and it does go all the way around the back in case you were wondering.  A very satisfying knitting project, but oddly too fast as I am not ready to go back to my sweater just yet.  Maybe it's time to go back to the WIP pile or cast on something new?

As for reading my son and I are still enjoying The Lightening Thief by Rick Riordan.  It's the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series and it really does hook you in as a first book should.  I'm hoping to finish reading it today to find out who was the instigator behind it all.  As for adult reading, I have been reading mainly on lots of blogs/websites lots about Minimalism.  We are wanting to downsize to a smaller home and as I go along in the process of shedding possessions I need some inspiration to keep me going.  Theses guys are my favorite.  I'm writing about our process to live better with less on my other blog called Small Simple Dreams.

Joining in with Ginny for Yarn Along.

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.