Knit the yarn

Life has been a little hectic lately, which means I haven’t been posting much… but that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been knitting. I’ve been trying to line up appropriate projects so I can just grab and go, and make the best use of the knitting time I have.

Here is some proof! I got most of the main body of this handspun sweater finished on the road trip to Cleveland a few weeks ago:

I got to the last 6 rows, which are short rows, and I wanted to reference some instructions about the technique before trying to do it in the car. So I stopped knitting and there the sweater has sat for the past few weeks. After finishing those 6 short rows, all that is left is to pick up the neck back stitches and work them. Exciting!

I also started knitting Boy 1’s Gramps cardigan out of the blue yarn. It is a simple and familiar construction (top down raglan, stockinette), so I was able to cast on and make good progress during a social knitting event. Last night, I finished the body, and now it is ready to work the sleeves. The color isn’t great in this photo (fall is tough for weekday photos), but here is proof:

And finally, my colleague with the cute baby who was the recipient of the first Gramps sweater about a year ago, approached me tentatively the other day. The conversation went something like this:

Colleague: The nights are getting a little chilly for the baby, and [my wife] was wondering if just maybe…

Me: Yes! What do you need!?!

Turns out they just wanted a little beanie hat. I said to send me some photos of what they had in mind and I would make it happen. I started looking on Ravelry but didn’t want to overwhelm a Muggle. My colleague, who is a librarian after all, said “what is that site?” And before I knew it, he had emailed me a link to the Ravelry page for Regan’s Aviator Hat. I should have known that a librarian would not be intimidated by a database! He wanted to buy yarn, but I wanted to work from stash… so I brought in a bunch of options for him to “shop.” He chose this handsome, heathered, charcoal gray that is left over from the eyeballs on my own boys’ Minion Hats.

This is 6-year-old yarn that I was very happy to use! As a bonus, I was even able to find those two buttons in my button jar.

I modified the pattern slightly – I eliminated the button closure at the chin (babies like to chew on buttons) and subbed in i-cord ties. It is so sweet I could just eat it. It might be too small for baby… since the sweater I knit him last year was too big, I chose the smaller of the two sizes I was considering. He is a petite baby. But baby hats are so small that if this doesn’t fit him, I will just make another one in the next size up. This took me one day to make and was so satisfying.

It is finally cold here – this morning we have temps in the 40s – so sweaters feel right. But as luck would have it, I’m about to fly to a place that is 40 degrees WARMER than here for a conference. Go figure! I’ll be back in this lovely, chilly weather soon enough though…

I hope your sweater knitting is going well!