Friday, January 1, 2016

Happy New Year 2016!

Happy New Year to everyone!  In retrospect, 2015 wasn't that bad of a year.  It went by quickly, possibly because it was packed with trips and activity.  While writing our Christmas letter, I struggled to abbreviate the news to fit on one page.

The Custom Fit cardi didn't get finished in time for Christmas.  The pieces were sewn together, but the button band wasn't started.  It is in progress now and should be done by the end of the weekend.  I have the buttons ready to go.  Hopefully by my next post I'll have a picture of it being worn.  That will be the test to see if my pattern modifications actually fit me.


The Faith shawl made its debut at Christmas.  I'm very happy with how it turned out. It was blocked and dried in time for me to wear it to my family's celebration in Cincinnati. Since the weather was so warm that night, my brother-in-law built a fire in the fire pit.  The shawl now has a smoky aroma.  I've tried airing it out, but it still lingers.  I guess I'll have to deal with it until I decide to block it again.  With all the points, I won't be doing that again soon.


Here is a close up of the point,


a side shot


and the detail of the center.


Ed was the only person who didn't receive a hand knit item at Christmas.  He got an IOU for a cowl.  I was able to get it banged out in a couple evenings.  He's going to wear it tomorrow morning when he goes hunting.


The next big project on the docket is a Big Wool Blanket for Trisha.  She saw pictures on Pinterest and requested one.  One of my sisters gave me a huge bag of wool to use.


Patty suggested that I split each piece in two lengthwise and put it through a diz.  As I split the wool, I lightly drafted it to make the thickness more consistent.


Being not familiar with using a diz, I watched a couple videos on YouTube.  I found a shawl pin that had holes that I figured would work.


After dizzing it, I ended up with a fluffy ball of roving.  It was almost magical how it ended up so nice.  It was like cotton candy!


After I had a couple balls made, I cast on  42 stitches for the blanket.  I'm using Size 36 needles.  The gauge is about one stitch per inch.  There isn't a pattern I'm using.  I'm just going to do whatever my heart desires as this goes along.


My temporary retirement is scheduled to end on January 11.  My knitting productivity will decline once work begins.  This makes me very sad because I've loved all the projects I've done in the past 7 weeks.





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