Knitting Update: My Latest Projects

Well, it's been a while since I've done much knitting. I got all wrapped up in crochet and seem to have forgotten my roots :) So, last weekend I got back into knitting. First off, I've had a plan for a while now to make a collection of holiday baby hats. My idea is that I will make one for each holiday and we can pass it in my immediate family to whoever has a baby at that time. Pretty ingenious if I do say so myself :)

The first holiday baby hat is the Jive Turkey baby hat. I found a picture of a baby wearing a turkey butt hat on Pinterest and the rest is history. Isn't it the cutest?! So, I worked on it Friday and Saturday night and finished just the hat part.

This is my 'fancy yarn' from the local yarn shop and it really is the perfect turkey color. Now it's just waiting for me to pick up stitches and make the legs :)

And here's just a cute baby shot from when I checked it for length and size  :)

Also, last Sunday I decided I would finally start my Hope Shawlette using my other 'fancy yarn'. The only thing was ... I had to roll the hank into a ball so I could use it.

Holy crap, you guys. I rolled this while watching The Walking Dead and it took me 45 minutes of straight winding. I now completely understand why people will buy a $50 + machine to do this for them. It's 475 yards and man did it take a long time. But once it was finished, I started trying at the shawlette. I tried 4 or 5 times to start this project and I would get to a certain point and things would be so off that I would just pull it out. I went back to it again on Monday night and realized the problem - there is an error in the pattern where it says knit 2 instead of knit 3 like it should. It's a simple thing and an easy mistake but man does it cause a whole lot of problems while knitting it when the stitches don't line up for the pattern. Once I figured that out it was smooth sailing and now I've been working on it little by little each night.

Here's how it looks so far. I'd say it's about 35% finished and I have been pretty diligent at working on it because I can't wait to get it done! It's just starting to get a little bit chilly and I would love to get to wear it. Hopefully I can whip it out quickly :) Oh, and just let me say how much I ABSOLUTELY ADORE this yarn! I'm finally beginning to understand the fiber contents of yarn - it's just like with fabric, I know, but it never really clicks with me until I can feel it for myself and even though it felt nice and soft as just yarn it makes a huge difference when it's knitted up. It's actually silky soft :) Hooray for Lorna's Laces Solemate!

So that's it for knitting lately. I've been so busy with work and teaching the girls to sew and home duties and running from family events and whatnot that I feel like I'm going to go nuts, but knitting is very relaxing to me so I make sure to get it in where I can :)