BIG Progress!

I’ve accomplished quite a bit on my finishing goals.  The fuchsia socks are finished as is the cardigan for my nephew…Actually, that one still needs buttons sewn on, but I’m not entirely certain what kind I want. I have until Christmas Eve to finish, so I’m not that anxious about it. After these were both finished, I started to work on some mittens for me, followed by the kid’s fairisle mittens. I previously finished most of one mitten. Within a few days, I had a completed pair. These were finished Saturday afternoon at knitting group. Everyone raved over them, even a couple of random strangers who were waiting for their drinks at Starbucks. Upon finishing, I pulled out the Question Bag that I started many, many months ago. This was free 1-skein pattern from the 2011 Local Yarn Store Tour. I had thought that it was mostly finished. To my surprise, I found that I had only knitted most of the 2 i-cords for the handles. This is a drawstring bag, so there are 2 30-inch i-cords that weave through the top. I finished the second cord and then cast on for the bag. By Sunday afternoon, I was finished, but forgot to take a photo before giving it to my sister-in-law as a birthday gift. She is planning to send me a photo when she gets some time. It was a fun and quick knit, probably only around 13 hours of knitting. Finally, I picked up the brown cardigan and started to rip the sleeve on Sunday afternoon. I am a little over halfway through the re-knitting and loving the feel of the Malabrigo slipping through my fingers. As I look over the lovely fabric, I think this time my gauge may be a little bigger than the looser sleeve and may also need to re-knit it, too.  This really isn’t a problem and I’m guessing that I will still have it finished by Saturday.

In the past 8 weeks, or so, work has been a little crazy. Our fiscal year end was yesterday, so management wanted us to get as many accounts as possible to zero. They even approved as much overtime as we wanted to work! I generally hate working overtime, but with my husband’s current unemployment situation, I like the pay for those extra hours. Working extra hours has left me with less knitting, sleeping, house cleaning, etc. hours, so I feel relieved to have it done.  Yesterday was a 14 hour day where I only had lunch and the bus trip to knit. This all changes back to the normal 8 hours per day starting this morning. I’ll have time for knitting, house cleaning, grocery shopping, sleeping and exercising, again. 

This morning, I ordered the yarn for the knit along. Instead of the Valley Yarns Berkshire that we originally discussed using, we chose an Elann yarn that is on sale, Sierra Aran. Twenty balls are about right for the yardage that is required. The sale is for full bags of 10. I ordered Walnut for my friend and Mallard for myself. Elann usually ships quickly and the post office usually delivers it within a couple of days, so we plan to knit swatches on Saturday. 

Next up, if my current project of re-knitting sleeves gets finished: a few more edging repeats on my Civil War Shawl.