Yarn Along

Well I am still reading Naked Heat by Richard Castle, which is pretty much a sad commentary on how little time I have had to read recently. The again I have chosen to spend what free time I have knitting and not reading so that at least is a personal choice. Much of my problem lay in the fact that I had a hard time getting into this book but since I like to finish one book at a time I didn't really let myself pick up something new, however since I borrowed this book I figured I had better read it so I could give it back! It's actually an easy read and now that I have gotten more into the meat of the story it is pretty decent, not as predictable as the last book, but then again I am still not finished!

In addition to my knitting I have been spending quite a bit of time "spring cleaning." It's a bit early for spring cleaning but if I start now I might actually finish by spring... Needless to say we have a lot of junk lying about the house. I am trying to get myself viciously organized and am only partially succeeding. I got the book A to Z Storage Solutions by Donna Smallin in my stocking and I have been trying to make use of her tips but also shovel as I go.  I spent all this morning shoveling out the guest room closet and I made some headway but we still have a lot of stuff! I have also made good headway into organizing, cataloging, and properly storing all my yarn so the next project is cleaning out the craft room so I can have a place to be crafty; something that is hard to do when the craft room door is blocked by a iron board loaded with stuff waiting to be put away! I made shameless use of Raverly in an attempt to get myself organized and catalogued all my yarn in my "stash." Hopefully that will prevent me from purchasing duplicate yarn and save me from buying more yarn when I have something in the stash that will suffice.  The goal for this year is to make a dent into the stash, a big dent!

Xander enjoying his new mommy made sweater.

As for knitting I worked up this sweater for Xander last week.  It's from the Fit for YOU pattern by Shonny Isley, a fellow Diva.  I must say I am a total slacker because I was supposed to test this pattern for her back in August and I had the yarn and everything and I am just getting around to it. Basically I realized that if the pattern requires me to do math then it isn't a good pattern for me to get going quickly on.  That being said, it worked up nicely and very easily.  I didn't make something fancy with cables or anything so it is just a nice, plain, very functional sweater.  I made it a bit big on purpose so there is some room to grow but overall the fit is nice.  I should have closed up the V a little sooner so it wasn't so wide on the shoulders but I also haven't blocked it yet. This pattern doesn't really lend itself well to a bulky weight yarn in a small size (although what pattern really does) so I do want to try it in something of a lighter weight. I really do love the raglan style though.

Once I finished Xander's sweater I moved onto to some longies for my neighbor's expected babe.  Actually the plan is to make a whole layette, including longies, a hat, booties, a milo, and a sleep sack/cocoon but since the baby is due in March we'll see how far I get! I'm using Carina Spencer's Convertible  Baby Bloomers pattern but since this babe is a boy I am making them as longies rather than bloomers.  I like the fit of the butt and thighs in this pattern. I love making longies in a single ply yarn- it is so soft and cozy feeling.  I'm not sure I would use a single ply on a bigger baby (I am making a nb size) because I would be afraid it would pill terribly but ooooh they are squishy.  The rest of the layette will be made in superwash for easy care but longies are special!


Well back to my organizing and knitting!  Come join us over at Ginny's place to check out all our New Year's Knitting.