I’m too old to be wishing time away, but I’m very glad to see the end of this summer. Between the virus, the election, and Purl losing her eyesight, it has just been fraught with anxiety. Even though we’re opening for some regular store hours starting the 9th, fall will still be a worrisome time, with a cataract operation coming up for me, and maybe for Purl, and the country in an uproar that may or may not end on November 3. So it’s a good thing that garter stitch exists because that seems to be all I can do right now.
Knit, knit, knit. Turn. Knit, knit, knit. It’s soothing!
So Glow is done. It’s gigantic. It’s humongous. It’s massive. In other words, it’s pretty darn big.
When I wrap it around myself, I look and feel like I’m wearing a blanket, which may be very nice in the middle of winter! Otherwise, it could serve as my own personal pup tent. I ran out of yarn at the very end (because I was using up some partial skeins), and found something in my stash that was okay to finish out the last wing. You can see the difference in the following photo:
but it’s not that apparent in person. In any case, Glow is done and my obsession is over.
To alleviate the knit, knit, knitting, I’ve been doing a few designs of my own. I showed you the Twist-Slip Cowl last time, and I hope you’ll try one of the kits before the yarn I used is gone, because it’s perfect. I moved on to something just a little more complicated, which I’m calling Windows Cowl:
which is a rather fun slip-stitch pattern. I used the light color as my main and dark as the contrast above. Deb Hawk test-knit the pattern for me in reversed dark/light, and I love the way it turned out:
Beautiful job! You can find your own favorite combinations, and there’s plenty of yarn in both versions to make a much bigger cowl if that’s your thing.
I love mittens in the winter. These Diamond Mittens use a super-bulky yarn at a tight gauge, for warmth and sturdiness, and have a pretty design on the back of the hand:
which you can choose to do or just leave them plain for a faster and easier but equally warm knit.
My prototype was a little short in the hand and cuff so I’ll be keeping these:
and I’ll be cozy this winter when I walk Purl.
So we have lots of fun, small projects to be making for gifts, and I’m not done yet. But for now, I’m going back to garter stitch. This will be a striking scarf using Noro’s colorful Tsubame and a soft black yarn for contrast and interest, all in garter:
And I have a million single balls of Berroco’s Remix that I’m going to use to make a log cabin afghan. All in garter stitch.
Knit, knit, knit, my dear friends.
