February 2012 – Knitting Up North

The Little Things

It’s the little things in life that really make a difference.

A snow day even if it did come with less snow than I had hoped and 50 mph gusts. They closed one of the highways near my house so I decided to stay home with my hubby and kids.
Having electricity back after 5 hours without it. The kids enjoyed “pioneer day” at our house! Lunch was a little interesting, but we survived. We ate some cold leftovers or sandwiches and were happy that we didn’t have to go out in the blizzard.
Having some time to work on Hexipuffs for the Beekeepers Quilt. I’ve become slightly addicted to finding mini skeins of yarn on Etsy. It’s so fun to use a mini skein rather than great big huge skeins of yarn.
Finishing my 3rd sweater in the month of February! With two sweaters, a pair of booties and a hat, we know my new nephew won’t be lacking in clothing.

This is the Modular Cardigan from Grammy’s Favorite Knits for Baby. I used Frog Tree Alpaca’s Mariboo yarn. I have just enough left over out of the 3 skeins to squeak out a matching hat. I did it in the smallest size since I wanted to have something that Baby X can wear almost right away. It’s a cute sweater and a very quick knit. So quick in fact, that I didn’t realize that the sleeves were supposed to be in stockinette stitch rather than garter. Oh well, I think it’s kind of cute.

All the News That’s Fit to Print

There’s nothing like a new baby coming to kick your knitting into high gear. I became a proud Auntie once again last week. Our new nephew was born on Friday afternoon, healthy and happy with a full head of hair All the babies in our family are born with more hair than most adult men.

In the past week, I have finished

A 6 month size sweater for Professor X (what we’ve nicknamed the baby). Made from Sanguine Gryphon yarn in Abu Dhabi colorway. Sorry for the crummy iPhone picture, it was the only one I took last night that was remotely OK to use. This would be my official February Sweater for the 12 in 12 challenge.

A pair of baby booties, also for Professor X.

My January Sweater. Yes, it’s actually done. I do need to sew on buttons still. I think I’m going to do the ribbon button band from the Knitmore Girls to give the button band more stability. I’ll show pictures and talk about it more when it’s all done.

And I started a new baby sweater, just to see if I can get it done in the remaining days. Have I mentioned I’m crazy?

Less Than a 2 Minute Update

I finished the sleeve on my January Cardigan. I wound up the last ball of yarn so that all of the button band and collar would be from the same skein and packed everything up to take to my parents house for the weekend.

I packed everything except for the smaller size needles that I need for the button band. (*&%#$ %#$ I packed extra yarn (force of habit) and a pattern for my February sweater. I didn’t pack the needles for this pattern either. I didn’t pack my back up scarf just in case.

My mom, sister and I had some errands to run this morning so we went to Walmart. Normally I stay as far away from Walmart as I possibly can. However, knowing that they had some knitting needles I decided that it would be fine. They have No. Needles. Under. Size. 6. None. (Well except for a set of size 3 double points that would not help me.) Not even straight needles in a 4 or 5. It wasn’t as thought they were just out either. They don’t stock them. I think I just stared forlornly while my sister patted my back. Someone really needs to open up a knitting store in this town. Seriously.

2 Minute Update

I sure wish I had a finished sweater to show you. It’s almost the end of the first week in February and I don’t have a finished January sweater. However, I am close. Thanks to two classes I took last week I am very close. I’m finishing the ribbing on the second sleeve and just have the button band and collar left to do. Not too bad considering that I started on January 5.

The great thing about the 12 Sweaters in 12 Months challenge that I laid out for myself is that it is MY challenge. If I don’t get a sweater done every month the world will not end. I will not get fired and my children will not care either way. My husband will only notice because I’ll shove it in his face to admire and then take up most of the hallway with blocking the sweater. It’s ok. I make my own rules when it comes to knitting and the number one rule is that there are no rules. Knitting. Is. Fun.

I’m debating what I’ll do for February, but considering that I’m not done with this one and that I’ll have a new little nephew any day now, I think he deserves some new knits. Probably something in the newborn size so that I can get back on a semblance of a schedule.

Does anyone have suggestions on a cute newborn sweater for a boy?