Comfort Food Cowl and What's On the Needles

Usually, I'm a monogamous knitter. I like to knit and knit and knit, until I have a finished object off my needles. Then, I'm prone to panic because I haven't thought ahead, and I'm left without anything to knit immediately.

This month, however, the tides have turned for some reason. First, I saw the Comfort Food Cowl and Fingerless Gloves set by IrishGirlieKnits featured on her blog of the same name. I had just finished Dancette, and I was eager for a relatively quick, worsted weight project. I had 2 skeins of Malabrigo Worsted in Water Green, so that satisfied my need to knit right there. The cowl is finished, and I love how it turned out. See?

When I finished the cowl, I cast-on for the fingerless gloves right away. The pattern was going much more quickly in the gloves, so I got about a third of the way up the cuff of the first glove.

Last Sunday, I had the house completely to myself because my husband and daughter went to a football game. I was so excited! I was going to watch movies and craft all day. I really wanted to start something new, so I decided to start crocheting a Queen Anne's Lace scarf for myself out of a pretty skein of Malabrigo Rios that I had picked up in Maine. Things were going swimmingly, and then I saw it.

A mouse.

Now I do not like mice....AT ALL! In our neck of the woods, it is pretty common to have mice trying to get in your house. I know they've been in the garage and stuff, and we have a pest company on the situation. Or so I thought. I had not seen one inside my house in a very long time. So, I watched this mouse climb up the side of my fireplace and duck into a tiny hole in the stone. What did I do? I called my sister, and I yelled and whined and basically freaked out.

After I commiserated with my sister, I saw the offending mouse stick his head out of the hole. I thought to myself, there is absolutely NO WAY that I am going to watch this mouse run around my house. I yelled at it and pounded on the stone of the fireplace. I swear the thing sneered at me. I sprayed it in the face with water and it rescinded into the hole. I called my sister back (for moral support), and then I cut up a stainless scrubber and shoved it into the hole where the mouse had peeked out. (I had read that mice do not like to chew through any type of metal or wiry material.) I didn't see him again that day, and I was relieved. Maybe he was too. My day was a bit deflated after that. I did crochet, and I did watch a movie, but it wasn't the same. My family had a terrific time at the game, so at least they didn't have to deal with our uninvited creature.

It took me a couple of days to calm down, but getting yarn in the mail helped me forget about the creatures. (That and several visits from the pest control people).

I had been watching the progress of Susan B Anderson's Polly Pullover turned Cardigan KAL on Ravelry. I just knew I had to have this cardigan, knit out of super bulky weight yarn, for my fall and winter wardrobe when I saw it featured on the Spud and Chloe blog. I finished my other sweater first, and then spent a good two weeks hemming and hawing about my color decision. I loved Susan's version in Carbon, but since I already own a plethora of charcoal colored sweaters, I decided to go with Sequoia, a reddish, terra-cotta-like shade. Then I was in a holding pattern, anxiously waiting for its arrival.

I received the yarn for my cardigan to be last Monday, and I was so excited to start. I really love the color! With the gauge swatch completed, I cast-on right away and made it through the body in just a few days. Love super bulky weight yarn!

I love that I've come this far, but I'm going to frog half the body. Why? I included the waist shaping dictated in the pattern on the sides of the cardigan, and I don't like how noticeable it is. I've tried it on several times, and reasoned that the sweater will be fine without it, and I'll be happier. Plus, it will take me almost no time to catch up because this yarn knits up so fast.

Although, I am starting another project today. (How many is that now?) A Gobbledyghost for my daughter for Halloween. She has requested a purple one, so I'm trying to knit it on the sly in time for the big day. So, the fingerless mitts, the scarf, and the sweater will be on hold for a bit. At least, I can't say I don't have anything to work on, right?

Happy Monday! What are you knitting these days?

My Favorite Sweater

I have a sweater that I wear all the time. As soon as the temperature starts hovering around 60 degrees and below, the sweater comes out. Although I have been known to wear a tank top, boxer shorts, flip flops and this sweater when driving my daughter to school in May or June, along with glasses and a haphazard bun.

I pull it on first thing in the morning, and keep it around during the day to don if I feel chilled in any way.

Now I didn't knit this sweater, and I didn't receive it as a gift. Well, not really anyway. My mom was cleaning out her closet about 6 or 7 years ago, (She is very good at that sort of thing, by the way. I am not.) and she asked me if I wanted this sweater of hers, a heathered gray 100% wool cardigan with a collar and pockets. I said, "Sure!" After all I love sweaters, and I love gray, so this seemed like a decent score for me.

This sweater seriously became my goto for everyday life. It's not particularly stylish by any stretch of the imagination. It's very basic, has a healthy dose of positive ease and might even be bordering on frumpy, but I love it. It's warm, it's cozy and it's comfortable. It's like a favorite sweatshirt, but I like sweaters better. I affectionately call it my "Mr. Rogers sweater". If I am home, I probably have on that sweater. (Yes, I have it on right now.) Don't get me wrong, it's been out and about too....to the supermarket, school meetings and that kind of thing. It is my favorite sweater.

Since this sweater has been providing me with warmth and coziness for the past 6 or 7 years, some things are starting to go. Take the elbows for instance. I noticed the fabric wearing very thin in the left elbow 2 years ago. There was no way that I would ever consider throwing this sweater out on account of a hole in progress, so I found some multicolored dyed yarn and just kind of whipstitched over the offending gap. Not a very knitterly solution for a knitter, but at the time I was in a hurry to get the sweater back on. While I was at it, I took the same yarn and whipstitched the cuff, 2 stitches in each purled section of the ribbing. Just because I felt like it. While I don't have a photo of my classy elbow fix, I can show you what the cuff looks like.

Pretty fancy, eh?

Yesterday, my quick fix of the elbow blew out, leaving my elbow exposed to the drafty elements in my house. What to do? What to do? I grabbed the same variegated handdyed yarn and knit a patch. I cast on about 15 stitches and knit in stockinette stitch until it seemed like it would cover the gape. While I was knitting, I decided that I liked the purl side better, and then I unexpertly mattress stitched the sucker in place. See?

Yes, I know it's not perfect. You have to understand that my attitude about this sweater is very laid back. It's missing a button, and it now has a wonky patch on the elbow and will probably need another one on the other elbow soon, but I don't care. I love it just the way it is. It keeps me warm, it's my favorite and it's mine.

Enough said. :)