So far this year....

  We are on our way with 2015 and I thought I would talk about my first finished objects of the new year. Spoiler alert - there is NO knitting!

  My biggest Finished object this year would be the 6 scarves I double crocheted for the Pine Ridge Reservation. It was fun to work with the bright colors and crochet just goes so much faster than knitting for me. I started these in December and had hoped to get them finished and in the mail by Christmas, but it was just too hectic and I didn't get enough time to get them done, so they went out in the mail yesterday.

  I didn't put much detail into my Ravelry page about these scarves, (they are all double crochet and I mostly winged it) but if you are dying to know what yarn I used for one of them or want more information, feel free to pop over HERE and have a look.

  The other finished object I have to share is a scarf I made for myself. We went to Michaels Craft Store on New Years Day and I spotted fleece yarn in a cheetah pattern and I had to have it! And yes - that means the first day of 2015 I purchased yarn! No yarn diet for me!

  The scarf is Double crochet with a size L (8.0 mm) Hook. I used two skeins of the Premier Yarns Cuddle Fleece in the Cheetah colorway. (You can see my Ravelry project page HERE.)

 

  It wasn't too bad to work with, but the end product was a bit stiff. I am hoping a run through the washer and  dryer will help soften it up a bit. I wore it to work the day after I finished it as we had a -35ºF wind chill and I wanted to be warm! It worked - but turning my head with this around my neck while driving to work was a bit of a challenge. 

  Part of the joy of Ravelry is that I can keep track of all my statistics. I tag my projects as I go, and so far for 2015 I have used  1,259 yards of yarn. Neat! 

  And that is all I have so far. My hope is to finish some socks that I started in the fall of 2014, and do some WIP (works in progress) busting over the winter, but we shall see. The need for scarves and mittens For the Children of Pine Ridge is great, so I will probably be working toward that rather than focusing on WIPs. 

Happy knitting everyone and Stay Warm!

Hot Child in the City

 

• Project Name: Hot Child in the City
• Pattern Name: Cabled Hot Water Bottle Cosy by Alexis Layton. 
• {This is a Free pattern on Ravelry found HERE.}
• Yarn:125 yards of  Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Bulky in the color Wine. 
• Needles: Size 10 double point needles and a cable needle 

My Ravelry project page can be found HERE for anyone interested in greater detail.

I have been wanting to knit a hot water bottle cozy for many years. What could be more comforting then a hot water bottle with a hand knit cozy? So I dug through patterns on Ravelry and came across this one. The pattern is written to have a tie at the top to keep the cozy secure on the bottle, but I preferred the ribbed turtle neck look to the tie down look. I also think having no tie is just more practical for us. Nothing to get lost or separated.

 

The pattern calls for 5 repeats of the cable pattern, but I had a smaller hot water bottle than the one in the pattern, so I did the cable pattern 3.5 times which brought me to the top of the bottle's body. Then I did the k2,p2 ribbing until I was to the to the top of the spout of the bottle, did a knit row as a kind of turn row, and then switched my ribbing to p2,k2 so it would lay nice.

 

I kept ribbing until I had the length of the neck/spout area covered and was back to the body of the bottle, then bound off in the ribbing to keep it nice and neat. 

I am really happy with how it turned out. The yarn is a ball of Knit Picks that was was in my stash for years, so I was able to Stash Bust to make this as well - so that felt good too. 

And I think I may be giving my bottle a test run today. It's so cold out that all the schools in the state are shut down and my boss called me last night and told me I could stay home if I wanted too today. (Uh, yeah I want to stay home!) So it's nearly 11:00 and I am still in my jammies playing on the Internet. Not a bad day after all!

Jaded Dreams but Warm Hands

Another pair of mittens finished! I once again used the Wool-Ease Mittens pattern by Stephanie Taylor. This was knit with 100 yards of Brown Sheep Lambs Pride Bulky yarn with size 10 double point needles. These are really warm and the fit is perfect. If anyone wants the details on my project pop on over to my Ravelry page. (I did very minor mods on the pattern - the pattern is pretty much perfect just as it was written!)

I keep making mittens in an effort to stop my hands from cracking and bleeding so much. Sadly - it's not helping too much. I am still struggling with chapped and bloody hands. BUT I will keep trying to wear mittens and moisturize in an effort to stop this.

 

Temperatures are well below normal here in the Twin Cities. It's been cold and the roads have been awful to drive on. Every year I wonder why we live here. It's just bitter cold and miserable. Maybe I will have to look at pictures of my garden from this summer. Summer in Minnesota is awesome. 

Wind Blows

The snow is not melting away anymore. It's in the teens in the mornings now. Brrrrrr! Not very excited for it to be winter again. Although it's been fun wearing all the hats and other knit accessories I made over the summer. My first real chance to rock them out!

See - there is always a bright side.