PawsforThought's projects in 2021

After lurking for a good while I finally joined and started posting in this group back in the spring of 2020. I didn't get a ton of things done last year, but what I did get done was mostly utility knitting and darning/mending. That's unlikely to change much marching into 2021.
I mostly knit and sew but it's possible that the odd crochet, embroidery or other way of working with yarn and textiles will pop up, too. I love natural fibres so apart from sock yarn that's been reinforced it's primarily cotton, wool and linen around these quarters.

Some of the things I did last year:


I still have the same project list, though I've shaved off the finished projects and added a few others (of course).

My project list:

• Knitting Frankenstein socks ♺ ✔
  
• Knitting Frankenstein wrist warmers ♺ ✔
  
• Knitting Frankenstein neck warmer ♺
  
• Knitting purple cashmere wrist warmers ✔
  
• Finishing elbow patches on cardigans ♺ ✔
  
• Felting a trivet (small balls sewn together) - white/brown wool yarn (started)
  
• Crocheting a rug ("rag rug") - from bedding rags ♺
  
• Making a garden kneeling pad?
  
• Sewing duvet covers and pillow cases - from curtains and older sheets ♺
  
• Sewing larger heating pad (neck) - blue linen (started)
  
• Sewing smaller heating pad - blue linen (started)
  
• Sewing a large project bag
  
• Sewing a smaller project bag (Japanese knot bag) (started)
  
• Making beeswax wraps - from old sheets ♺ (started)
  
• Making a waxed canvas lunch bag - red canvas
  
• Knitting washcloths/smaller towels - teal cotton yarn
  
• Sewing a hot water bottle cover - from old felted cardigan ♺ (started)
  
• Knitting slippers - grey and white wool yarn
  
• Crocheting and felting a trivet - wool yarn
  
• Knitting and felting slippers - thick wool yarn
  

Happy New Year! I'm thrilled to see a Paws thread here. I always enjoy reading about your projects.

Hi Laura, and thank you. I'm looking forward to cracking on with some new things.

Happy New Year. Glad you decided to return. I like that you're planning to use up extra scraps. I'm planning some quilt scrap projects this year to use up some of my leftovers too.

Thanks Betty. I like it here, so I'm planning to stay for a while. I'm really glad I thought of a way to use the scraps, because I don't like throwing things away when they *could* be used somehow.

>1 PawsforThought: Happy New Year! That is a seriously impressive list! (oh, I do know that not-liking-to-throw-things-away thing!)

>6 avaland: Thank you. I think that it's at least partly an inherited trait.

I'm making some headway with my grandma square repurposing project. I've started on the first sock (toe-up) and just made it past the heel. I'm doing a lot of things for the first time so really learning a lot.
I thought the most difficult things would be the joining of the yarn bits, but the Russian join is working really well so that's not an issue. It does take quite a bit of time thought (short yarn bits) and the unravelling of the grandma squares takes time too so it's not the fastest thing I've ever worked on.

One of the Ravelry groups I follow has a new reuse/repurpose/recycle challenge for 2021. I've never even considered trying this sort of thing and hope to learn from those posting on the thread. And now from you, too!

Ooh, that sounds interesting. I hope you see some interesting ways to reuse things there.
I bought a set of booklets on the subject last year and they're really inspirational but still full of things you could actually really do, not just dream about. They had made a skirt out of a bunch of old ties and at first I just shook my head, but now I can't get the idea out of my head. I'd never want a skirt like that but I'm definitely going to look at the tie section next time I go to a second hand shop - there are usually at least a few made from silk, and silk is a great fabric...

I saw a vest made out of ties that I thought was awesome. I kept a picture just in case.

>11 dudes22: Cool! I lived with a guy for awhile who was collecting silk men's ties to repurpose to something else. A quilt maybe? I don't remember anymore.

>12 justchris: - My husband still has all his ties although we're retired. I'm thinking that someday I's like to make a bowtie quilt/wallhanging from them.

>12 justchris: Somewhere here, I think I have a pattern for making a quilt out of men's silk ties (or perhaps I gave it to someone). Will look though, just in case.

>13 dudes22: Retirement does have its perks! I have talked my hubby into letting me have one or two of his cotton button down shirts to cut up. He has long since settled into the Northern New England uniform of LL sweatshirts over a T-shirt.

>14 avaland: Somewhere here, I think I have a pattern for making a quilt out of men's silk ties (or perhaps I gave it to someone).

(It was me! I'm hoping to use it soonish, as I've certainly got a good collection of ties waiting.)

I've seen some lovely work from silk ties, mostly quilts. Some day, maybe.

>14 avaland: I think my friend was doing it for an AIDS awareness project. This was quite a few years ago now.

>15 scaifea: Good luck!

I doubt I'll be making a quilt from what silk ties I find. I know how much work goes into making quilts and I'm not signing up for that. Besides, I'm not one to make my bed with bedspreads and decorative pillows (I just straighten out the duvet) and when it comes to keeping warm or cozying up I prefer wool blankets. And I'm too utilitarian to make something "just because". Maybe a cushion cover? We'll see. I am not in possession of a single tie at the moment so it's not something I need to figure out right now.

I do not have any silk ties, but I have a bunch my mother made out of cotton novelty prints for my father. I do have a necktie skirt pattern somewhere, but I don't know if I'd ever have the moxie to wear one!

...actually, a lot of them are Christmas-themed, I bet that would make a fun tree skirt.

>19 melannen: - oh yeah - it would.

>18 PawsforThought: Right there with you. Prefer wool blankets, tend to be utilitarian, got way too many interests to commit to something simultaneously big and finicky like a quilt.

>15 scaifea: Ha! I eventually remembered!

I mentioned the booklets about mending I bought last year and it just occurred to me that I hadn't catalogued them in LT so I hastily did that. And lesmel's listing of the quilting books she's checked out from the library inspired be to post about my books here.
So here they are.



All three books are written by Katarina Evans and Katarina Brieditis and published by the Swedish Handicraft Association's in-house publishing house. The SHA have published a number of other booklets too, including one on two-end knitting (looks really interesting) and one about wool that I'd really like to have a peak at. I hope they continue to make booklets about other natural fibers, because I'd most likely buy them all.

These booklets are superb. I haven't read them cover to cover but have looked through them and find them really inspiring and they will definitely be really useful for me.
The titles are (l-to-r) Lappa (Mending), Stoppa (Darning), and Ändra (Changing). As the titles hit to, they deal with slightly different issues when it comes to old and or worn out clothes and how you can get more use out of them, even if there are holes.

I think the trend has been moving back for more reusing things. Those look like very interesting, practical books. My husband still darns his socks which I find vaguely amusing.

Ooh, those pamphlets sound great! I just taught myself basic darning last year, I wish there were more opportunities to learn mending techniques.

>24 dudes22: Yes, I've been noticing a trend like that for a while, but there still seems like a lot of people aren't ready to start mending their clothes.

>25 melannen: I agree - there should be more opportunities for people to learn basics like mending and darning. I had textile crafts in school every year from 3rd through 9th grade and we never learnt anything like that. We learnt a lot of good things but we could have skipped "sewing a plush animal" and learnt to mend and darn instead. (Similar problem with home economics - a lot of making pancakes and milkshakes, less about how washing machines work and other necessities.)
I was just checking out the SHA's website and their most read article is "How to darn socks"!

I'm still working on my scrap project, and it's going fairly well. Except for the fact that I've had to unravel the top of the socks at least three times because I can't get it to look the way I want.

And I've spent most of the day today cursing myself for not having had the forethought of knitting the cashmere wrist warmers I've been thinking about making before today. We had a blizzard on Monday and Tuesday (the worst in quite a long time) and today the weather switched from mild to really cold. Not abnormally cold, but what I would call "properly cold". It's currently -22,8°C and while the heater works just fine, my hands and feet always feel extra cold when it's cold outside.

oh that's really, really cold. At least to me.

>28 dudes22: During a normal winter (and we don't always get those nowadays because of climate change) we tend to have at least a week or more with below 20, sometimes colder. The coldest I can remember is -37°C, which is really extreme, but around -30 for a couple of days in January is normal for this region. It does feel unbearably cold at first, but you get used to it quickly. And you learn how to dress for it.

>23 PawsforThought: Right up my alley! I moved into a cohousing community last year, and another resident and I are planning on starting up Fix-it Fridays. The idea is that we'll pool our materials for various types of mending/repairs/reconditioning and offer some tutorials/guidance to people new to such things.

Wish we could already be doing them. We're going to alternate fiber/sewing (hand sewing repairs, sewing machine repairs, darning, etc) and other stuff like leather/shoe care, woodware care, metal polishing, etc. I've got a whole announcement and schedule drafted up and ready to launch.

>30 justchris: Oh, wow! That sounds like a really great idea. Both really practical and an opportunity to learn new skills and a great way to hang out with people and get to know them better.
If there was something like that available here, I'd definitely go - you can always learn new things and maybe even help teach others something they didn't know.

>29 PawsforThought: That -9ºF. I don't think we've had that low a temperature in years. Our winters have clearly been warmer due to climate change. The last year we had a very snowy year was 2015, I think. It snows but it melts between storms (and the storms alternate more between snow/ice/rain.

>30 justchris: That is so cool!

>32 avaland: We used to always have cold winters (some more than others, of course) but the past 15-ish years it's been switching between fairly normal and really mild. I hate the mild winters, because it means that the temperatures hover around 0°C and there's ice everywhere, which is dangerous.
Our last super-snowy year was two years ago, when there where places with a combined snow depth of more than 170 cms.
I've experienced snow depths high enough to touch the windows, but that's unusual.

I've made some headway with the scrap socks. Halfway done with the second sock and then it's onto the heels. I'm doing a lot of things for the first time with this project so am learning a lot. I like the way toe-up socks look, but it's a pain in the behind to get started - I have to start over at least three times.
I've done Russian joins and am doing afterthought heels (hence why I haven't done them yet).

And after a week of really cold weather the temperatures are set to go up tomorrow, and we're going to have another snowstorm. Sigh. Hopefully it won't be as bad at the last one (no warnings have gone out yet, but the meteorologists are predicting 20-50 cms of snow, so).

The scraps socks have been temporarily abandoned (I only have the heels left), as have the scrap wrist warmers (I've only just started) and most other projects too. Having a hard time staying interested in/focus on anything right now. Real life is a bit too stressful atm.

Spring is in the air here. Still plenty of snow on the ground, but that's nothing unusual (it'll probably be mostly gone by Walpurgis - April 30th). It's above zero temperatures most of the time so plenty of dripping from the roof. And I saw a fly indoors yesterday.

>35 PawsforThought: Sorry to hear that real life is currently stressful. I hope that gets better for you. After several very warm days, our snow finally went this week; it's nice to see a bit of green but then it reminds me of the outdoor work that will need to be done.

Nothing much happening on the knitting and sewing front (nor indeed reading), but the past week has been so much better than the rest of 2021 (to say nothing of 2020).
Spring is finally really here, and while there still snow aplenty, the roads and bigger paths are thawed up so I've been going out for walks every day. And it's been sunny most days - how amazing it is to feel the warmth of the spring sun!

A few days ago when we were walking around the lake we spotted a pair of cranes dancing and singing on the lake. I've never seen cranes on this lake before. They pop up on the meadow beside it in the summer sometimes, but I've never seen them dancing. And two days ago there were six cranes dancing there! It was incredible to see (and hear! you could hear them over a kilometre away).

And the best thing of all: my dad got his first covid vaccination shot today, after weeks of vaccine delay. And mum has an appointment for her first shot on Monday. I feel like I can breathe again. I'm too young and healthy to be able to book yet (only 65+ so far) but I hope they set up a stand by-list system for the doses that remain at the end of the day and let anyone who want to get those shots. I'd walk into town at three in the morning if they asked me to, if it meant I could get a vaccine shot.

I loved reading about the cranes; I'm a bit of a bird nerd and would have loved to see that. I'm delighted your parents are getting their vaccinations! We are healthy and old-but-not-old-enough, so haven't had ours yet either. However, they should be available to all adults beginning April 19 and we'll have to see how soon we can get an appointment.

>38 lauralkeet: It was a really cool experience and I'm glad I got to see and hear them. I wouldn't call myself a bird nerd but I'm a big fan of wildlife in general and getting to see animals you've never seen in real life before is always cool, although I don't envy the people I know who've almost walked right into a bear - the bear here are fairly friendly (they'll run rather than attack, unless you're between them and their cubs) but I still don't think I'd want to get up close and personal with one.

>37 PawsforThought: Glad to hear you are experiencing some spring-like weather. Here, too; perhaps a bit unseasonably warm. Glad to hear that your parents are getting their vaccines. My husband and I, as of this past Wednesday are consider "fully vaccinated" now as we passed the two week mark after our 2nd shot. It's feels like something to celebrate. My adult children and sons-in-law (ages 36 - 42) all have appointments this month for their first.

>39 PawsforThought: We have bears here, too. And right now they are awake and looking for something to eat. They've shown up in our back yard more years than not. This cub was 2017's visitor:



I assumed his mom or dad had left him there to make his own way in the world. It just sat for hours on a big rock in back of our house. The last one we had was a very large adult and it seemed to be 'passing through' when I came out of the garage headed for the garden. I don't think of them as friendly, but we have a certain respect for each other.

>40 avaland: Good to hear you ae both fully vaccinated. I can't wait for my shots, though I suspect it'll be a long while yet. We will definitely be celebrating. I suggested mum stop by the liquor shop in her way back from the vaccination to pick up a bottle of champagne so we can celebrate step one, at least.

What a lovely bear cub! A real beauty. Poor thing must have been so confused when he/she was left to their own devices.
I consider bears to be "mostly friendly" if they don't attack people or purposely wander into densely populated areas looking for food.

>41 PawsforThought: The cub just seemed ... lost. It sat there for ages. I worried I was going to have to call some entity to transport it elsewhere.

I've made something. Sort of.
I've at least started making something.

Last weekend I started making a bunch of small balls of yarn. Six each of three different colours. There will be felted in the washing machine at some point, and then sewn together to form a trivet. It required less yarn than I had anticipated even though I made quite large balls (because I worried they'd be too small after felting) so I had yarn I didn't quite know what to do with.
Some thinking ensued and I thought it might be fun to made felted ankle boot style slippers. And then I remembered that I meant to make another type pf trivet in the same yarn, but this time crocheting before felting. So I think I will probably have to buy some more yarn. And find a crochet needle in the right size. And a slipper pattern I like the look of and that works with the yarn I have.
Sigh.

I still haven't made any more progress with the scrap socks and scrap wrist warmers I started on ages ago. I'm a terrible crafter.

So I think I will probably have to buy some more yarn. And ... And ...

Sorry, but this made me laugh. The best laid plans and all that. But I'd love to see the trivets whenever they are photo-worthy!

>44 lauralkeet: Feel free to laugh - I laugh at myself too.
I promise to upload photos when there's anything to show.

I knitted today. And finished something. Sort of.

I have never knitted with multiple colours before (only stripes) before, and I have a few things I'd like to do in the future that are patterns, so I thought it might be a good idea to get some practise in before I start "for real". So last year I bought a heap of fairly inexpensive cotton yarn (it's just for practise, no need to spend lots of money) and I'm doing swatches with patterns I've got marked for future use. One swatch done today. So that's the something finished.
I don't really want to just make swatches and have them lying around collecting dust and I'm not about to throw them away so I thought I'd collect them all, stitch them together and make a wall hanging out of it.
One down - many, many more to go.



Here is the fruit of my labour. Not the most perfect piece of knitting anyone's ever done, but it was the first time I knitted while trying to control two strands of yarn, so I'm pleased.
This particular pattern is part of a border that I'm planning on using for a pair of slippers.

I like the pattern and I like the colors. I think that would be a good pattern for a hat too. And I think that idea of a wall hanging is great. Once you block it, it will probably look better.

>47 dudes22: Yeah, it'll probably improve with blocking.
I was worried the pattern would be much tighter than the non-patterned area but I think I managed to not pull too tightly. I need to practise more on learning dominant colour and how to hold two thread at once, though.

Laura's our expert on knitting so she'll be able to give you some advice, I'm sure.

Nice work, Paws! You are so smart to start out with swatching. It took me a long time to understand the value of research and swatching before diving into a project.

If you've already identified tension, color dominance, and handling yarn as your primary concerns, you're well on your way to becoming a proficient stranded knitter!

I follow a Master Knitter, Suzanne Bryan, who has a YouTube channel "Knitting with Suzanne Bryan" as well as a Ravelry group. Her focus is on technique and is aimed at knitters who have advanced beyond the basics and want to become more proficient. Her YouTube channel includes a playlist of videos on stranded knitting:
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLKJ9GuhEEwkuOgHggJnL20ftWNH_kvvA

I think one of the videos, "Stranded Knitting - Methods of Holding Yarns," will help you. If I remember correctly she demonstrates a few different methods so you can try them out and see what works best for you. The videos on managing floats might also be useful.

>49 dudes22: Ha -- Done! Stranded work is one of the areas I have the least hands-on experience in, but I do love it and want to do more with it.

>50 lauralkeet: Thank you for the tip about Suzanne Bryan's Youtube channel. I've checked out the video you recommended and it, I'll watch it again when it's time for a new swatch. I'm always fascinated by the different ways of holding the yarn and the different ways of working it and still ending up with the same result. I doubt I'll ever get over the feeling that throwing the yarn (English knitting) is backwards.
I've subscribed to Suzanne's channel so I can get more good tips. Youtube videos really are great when it comes to learning new knitting techniques.
Drops have a great collection of videos related to their various knitting (and crocheting) patterns and I've learnt a lot there too.

I think I made it a little trickier for myself by knitting flat instead of in the round, but I didn't want to make the swatch in the round. The slippers the pattern is intended for will be knit in the round, though.

>51 PawsforThought: I think I made it a little trickier for myself by knitting flat instead of in the round ...

Oh right, I didn't think about that and working on the wrong side definitely makes it trickier. If you don't want to knit in the round (and I can't blame you for that), you could knit a speed swatch.

>52 lauralkeet: I'll look into that. Knitting in the round generally is all good and well (I'm good friends with my dp needles) but not for a swatch. Especially since I'm making that wall hanging.

>46 PawsforThought: Good job! When I was a kid I would knit the graphed motifs that went with sweater directions that were in the back of my mother's needlecraft magazines.

>43 PawsforThought:
I still haven't made any more progress with the scrap socks and scrap wrist warmers I started on ages ago. I'm a terrible crafter.

You sound like me, and a million other crafters. I think you are, instead, typical.

>55 sallypursell: Honestly, what I am is flighty. I start something and then think of something else and start that, and then something else...
But I have been busy knitting this past week and have almost finished a project. I'll get pics up when I'm done - hopefully tomorrow or the day after. (And no, it's not one of the previously mentioned projects.)

Miracles do happen. I started and finished a project within one week.
I've had this idea in my head since autumn when i bought the yarn during a massive yarn sale. Honestly, they had cashmere yarn at 70% off - what could I do but buy some? And now I've made the wrist warmers I imagined in my head - using two different patterns for inspiration and help during difficult parts, but otherwise my own design.
My first time ever knitting cables and it was much easier than I thought it would be.
The photo is a little deceptive - the colour isn't quite so vivid (I'd love it if it was) but slightly duskier. I bought a couple of balls of the same yarn in a deep red that I'm going to make another pair of (slightly different style) but I regret not buying even more. Cashmere is one of the most wonderful things on the planet.

>57 PawsforThought: - Yes, it is. And those are great! The cables look really good for your first time doing them. Or any time doing them.

>58 dudes22: Thank you! I was sure that cables would be very difficult but aside from being a little finicky it was easy-breezy. They are very simple cables, though, and I'm sure it can get very tricky very fast if you have something more complicated going on.
Cashmere really is wonderful. I bought myself a matching set of cashmere lounge pants, sweater and shawl a few years ago for my birthday and it's one of the greatest purchases I've ever made. I'd live in that permanently if I could.

Ooh la la those gloves look fantastic! Really nice job with design and cables.

>60 lauralkeet: Thank you. Having worked with cotton a few days before starting this it became very obvious how much easier it is to work with a stretchy yarn like cashmere (or regular wool) compared to the completely stiff cotton. Made the process much easier.

>57 PawsforThought: These are lovely and your cables look marvelous for a first go. I suspect I'm the only one distracted by wondering how you are taking the picture if both of your hands are in the frame. :-)

>62 rosalita: Ha! I was wondering if someone would notise that. I put my phone on the seat of a garden chair, with the camera pointing through the slats. And then used the shutter function on the earphone volume control.

>62 rosalita: doh! I didn't even think about it but if I did, I would have assumed someone else took the pic.

>63 PawsforThought: well that was pure genius, Paws.

Very clever!

>63 PawsforThought: Brilliant!

As the saying goes (in my family, at least): "It's no good being stupid" (meaning "you have to use your head").

>57 PawsforThought: Beautiful hand-warmers! And yes, for a first time, those cables are terrific.

>68 avaland: Thank you! I think the hardest part of making the cables was keeping track of which row I was on. I think I might invest in one of those row-counting rings. Right now, I'm keeping track with the help of a post it note and pencil, and that's not ideal.

So, there was a yarn sale... With 40% off yarn from Drops, which I'm fond of.
So I bought some yarn. Quite a bit of yarn. But I did at least only buy yarn for specific projects - no "this looks nice, I'll have some of that". So now I have yarn for a sweater, two pairs of shorts/bloomers, one vest and a pair of socks.

I'm dangerously close to becoming a yarn hoarder.
At least I won't get cold.

>70 PawsforThought: those sound like very responsible purchases, Paws. I mean, at least you have projects in mind. I will buy sock yarn impulsively but I don't think I've ever bought a sweater's quantity without have a specific sweater in mind. I'm too worried about not having enough, I guess.

>71 lauralkeet: I've never bought a sweater's quantity of a single yarn without a specific project in mind, either. I have bought more than sock amounts, though.
The thought of being without yarn is frightening in the same way being without books is.

I suspect yarn hoarding is not something requiring medical or psychological bit help, so you can rest easy. I'm sure you deserve every of yarn that you hoarded! :-)

I started my new job on Tuesday and since then have had two Zoom meetings/conferences. I was just listening and didn't need to takes notes or anything so to keep my hands busy I finished the elbow patches on my black lambswool cardigan. Some of you may remember I put elbow patches on this same cardigan last year (faux suede), but I didn't really like the look or feel so I've made some patches instead.
It's a terrible photo that doesn't show the colours correctly. The background on the elbow patch is black just like the cardigan, and the pattern is a dark, golden yellow. The edges aren't as neat as on the previous cardigans I've mended, because the fabric on these is thicker (sweatshirt fabric).
Sorry about the cat hair - I'm sure some of you know what it's like.

>74 PawsforThought: Very clever. I suspect the light is being reflected off the patch fabric and absorbed by the cardigan which accounts for some of the visual differences. I endlessly play around with my photos because it bothers me that an iphone or camera photo of a quilt doesn't look quite right taken in the studio. I like light of outdoor shots best.

>74 PawsforThought: I love that you're making good use of your Zoom meeting time! The patches look great.

Not much going on in terms of knitting or sewing. I've been fairly busy with my job and last weekend was Midsummer which I spent with my parents in our summer house. The weather was amazing, we haven't had Midsummer weather this good for years (the joke is that Midsummer is always the coldest, windiest and/or rainiest day of the whole summer).
I had my first covid shot yesterday (after months of anxious waiting) and my arm is very sore today so even if I had more time for knitting I wouldn't be able to do it. Hopefully I'll get something done when my arm is back to normal but before my brother's family arrive (for a three week stay) next week.

Hooray for getting your first jab! The sore arm is no fun, but a small price to pay. How long do you wait for your second dose?

>78 lauralkeet: Yeah, the soreness is definitely worth it. And being in pain means I can feel a little sorry for myself and eat some chocolate, so it's a win-win, really.
My appointment for the 2nd jab is August 17th.

>77 PawsforThought: - Yeah for you! A relief I'm sure to know you're almost there.

>77 PawsforThought:, >79 PawsforThought: Congrats on your first jab! Yes, chocolate is likely to help with the soreness, so ....

We are, of course, the "needle arts" group here....(I know it's a bad joke...)

>81 avaland: Ha! I can’t believe I didn’t think of that joke myself!

>81 avaland: *groan*

One of the online yarn shops I like just announced they're doing a 40% off sale on my favourite yarn brand. There's no point trying to tell myself I don't need any yarn, I'm definitely going to buy some. I just hope I have *some* restraint...

>84 PawsforThought: - I tell myself the same thing when I see fabric sales. Never works - there's always something I "need".

>85 dudes22: Yeah, I have too many wishlist projects that I could possibly blame purchases on. And if I don't I'll find a new project.

"My name is Paws and I'm a yarn-oholic"

>84 PawsforThought: that is too good a deal to pass up, especially if you're buying something like a sweater quantity of yarn.

It’s a good thing I thought to check my stash before making any actual purchases because I was about to buy yarn for two projects (a jumper/sweater and a pair of shorts) I’d *already* bought yarn for! Phew.
Obviously this means I get to buy yarn for two other projects, right? (It probably means I shouldn’t be buying yarn at all if I can’t keep track of what I’ve bought and not.)

>87 lauralkeet: Yeah, I’d regret it if I didn’t take the opportunity to buy some now. It’s not as if yarn has an expiry date, anyway.

I need your help! The original version of this sweater is made with a black yarn and a self-striping beige-ish yarn. That’s not my style. I was thinking about doing it with a deep red (wine/ruby type red) substituting the black and making stripes (not self-striping) with white and pink (bright berry type pink). Would that work or am I insane?

I don't see why not, Paws. The color combo sounds nice and you'd just have to think through the stripe pattern. Each stripe looks to be about the same size, so it's mostly determining how many rows per color and in what order.

It looks like the self-striping yarn has three colors: white, beige, and dark brown. Do you want another complementary red/pink in the mix?

>90 lauralkeet: Glad to hear it sounds reasonable to you. It works in my head, at least.
I’m not planning a third colour/yarn - there aren’t any others that I think would work well in combination with the ones I’ve chosen.

Regarding the stripe size, I thought I could either do plain blocks of, say, 5 rows of one colour and five of the other or I could do something more gradient and do something like four rows colour 1, one row colour 2, one row colour 1, four rows colour 2, etc.
I don’t need to decide on that now, though. I’ll need about the same amount of yarn anyway and I’m not starting this project right away (knowing myself it might take years).

I'm not a knitter so I don't feel qualified to weigh in, but I like the color choices.

>92 dudes22: Liking the colour choices is enough!

Well, I placed my order. Sadly they were out of the colour I wanted for one of my projects so obviously I had to buy yarn for another project instead. So soon I will have yarn for the following:

* Knitted and felted slippers
* Shorts
* Jumper/sweater
* Pillow case
* Beanie/hat (the replacement project)

All for just over the equivalent of about $50.

Nice!

>95 lauralkeet: I’m very pleased. I didn’t realise just what a bargain it was until it was time to pay.
Now I just have to get around to *starting* all these projects…

Have you used random stripe generators? There are some online for knitters. You put in the width(s) of stripe you want, colours, and away you go. It also works for other projects with stripes.

>97 SassyLassy: great idea! I used a random stripe generator on some socks once. You could choose a color palette so the results would look *sort of* like your stripes. And it was fun to play with the various options until I generated a pattern I liked. I'm sure there are lots of these on the web, but here's the one I used:

http://www.biscuitsandjam.com/stripe_maker.php

>97 SassyLassy: Thanks for the tip - I’ll keep it in mind, but I think it’ll be challenging enough to remember what I’m doing with fixed width and not random stripe widths. We’ll see, though - it’s not a project I’m starting just yet.

>94 PawsforThought: A deal, for sure!

I no longer knit, so I'll stay away from any commentary. You are in good hands, though, with the others here ;-)

>100 avaland: I just got a message saying the package can be picked up, so it’s too late now! Time will tell if I’ve made the right choice or not.

My haul has arrived! Not the best photo, but most of the colours are fairly true to real life, except the two skeins that look black - they’re both navy blue. And the red and pink look nice lying next to each other, so here’s hoping they look good knitted next to each other too.

What a great haul - makes you want to dive right in!

>103 SassyLassy: It’s taking a lot of willpower to not just get started, but I have a couple of other projects that I need to finish first (but am reluctant to pick up).

This shopping spree has brought something good with it (something more than amazing yarn, that is). When I discovered I was about to buy yarn for two projects I already had yarn for, I decided to go through my stash, divide the yarn up into projects (the yarn that had projects, that is) and put them in plastic bags clearly marked with number of skeins, type of yarn, name and number of the design and a note what kind of work it was. I’ve also made a note on the designs (either on the print out or in the name of the bookmarked online version) that I have the yarn for it. So now all of my projects are prepped and ready to be knitted, and next time I want to buy yarn, I’ll know what I have and don’t have.

Look at all that yarn! That’s a very nice haul.

>105 PawsforThought: that’s smart and I bet it was a very satisfying task. When I set up my studio I separated the “partial skeins that might become something” from true remnants. My hope is that in time I’ll find projects for those partial skeins.

Those look really nice. And I bet it was very satisfying to organize everything. I always like doing that.

Thanks Laura and Betty. I am very happy with my purchase.

And yes, it was very satisfying to get organised. The plan is to do what Laura mentioned and also organise the “bits and pieces”, but there isn’t that much of it at the moment so I have a fairly good idea of what I have and don’t. When I get some better storage (not three moving boxes that also contains fabrics) the organising will be even better.

I mentioned way up in >23 PawsforThought: that the Swedish Handicraft Association had published a few booklets I was interested in buying, but I only now realised that I never posted about actually buying them, which I did months ago. Shame on me.
These are the booklets in question: one is on two-end knitting, which I've never tried, but it looks like fun and it's a traditional way of knitting and I'm always interested in things like that.
The other one is about wool as a natural resource, how to use it, what kinds there are, etc. I'm loving the cover photo of this booklet, because I have a soft spot for sheep (despite knowing very well how frustrating they can be.)
I haven't properly read either of them - only skimmed through them, but they look really good (the SHA don't make bad books).

I’ve made some progress this weekend. I finished one of the scrap socks I’ve been working on for approximately a thousand years. I had to undo a bit (I don’t remember why, I just know I had to go back a few rows) which made me put it aside and not pick it up again. But I picked it up on Friday, undid what needed to be undone and today I finished it. And it looks good. I’m quite proud of how this little experiment has worked out. Now I just need to finish the other one and secure the loose ends. Phew.

I’ve also made another swatch because I saw a cool thing I wanted to try. It looks fine, but not how I was expecting it to look. I’m not sure if I interpreted the pattern wrong or if it’s because I was working in cotton (the pattern was using wool). I hate working in cotton. Wool is so lovely and forgiving, but cotton is just working against you the whole time.

I came across an article on nålbindning (why it’s not just called needle binding in English is beyond me), which I’ve read about before but not though much about. And for some reason it stuck with me so I kept looking it up and I think I have to try it and make a pair of mittens or socks or something. It sounds (and looks) like fun. And apparently you don’t need the special needle, you can just use a darning needle.

>110 PawsforThought: nålbindning
The Master Hand Knitting program required a report on the history of knitting, and I came across nålbindning in my research. It was described as a sort of precursor to knitting, and I believe there are early examples in museums like the V&A in England. But I didn't really understand how it was done -- I hope you'll share your efforts with us.

I'm glad your scrap socks turned out well!

>111 lauralkeet: I've seen it described as a cross between knitting and crocheting. I haven't done any deep-dives yet, but there appear to be several variations (just like there are several variation when it comes to knitting). The very basic core seems to revolve around hoops around your thumb and then driving the needle with yarn through said hoops).
I promise to get back to you if I ever understand it enough to make something of it.

>112 PawsforThought: I promise to get back to you if I ever understand it enough to make something of it.

LOL, it's a deal!

I've been cross-stitching a little bit lately. I'm finding it a great stress reliever.

>114 thornton37814: I've been doing a lot. I find it a good diet plan, as I snack less if I am engaged in something else.

>115 al.vick: Well, that too. Over the weekend, I had some LaCroix water beside me as I was stitching, and it took me a lot longer to finish that can than normal!

>114 thornton37814: Yeah, keeping your hands busy is good for stress. I did a lot of jigsaw puzzles at the end of last year, when the news coverage of the US election was getting to me.

And I agree with >115 al.vick: that it’s also an excellent way to not overindulge on snacks.

Second scrap sock done now. I’ll tie up the loose ends (literally) tomorrow and take a picture. I lovingly call them “Frankenstein socks”, since they’re made of bits and pieces.

I’ve learnt so much from making these, tried new techniques and challenged myself. I’ll go into more detail tomorrow when you can see the evidence.

Alright, I promised a picture.

These are the much-talked about scrap socks, also called Frankenstein socks, that I finished yesterday.
About a decade ago, I started working on a grandma square blanket that I got about halfway through before realising that a) I’m not keen on enough on crocheting to finish and b) grandma square blankets aren’t really my thing. So the project got pushed aside and mostly forgot about. When I started crafting again last year, I discovered the remnants of the blanket and decided that throwing it away felt too wasteful but I wasn’t ever going to finish it, so what then? I decided to try and recycle instead. So I unravelled the grandma squares and started knitting, using all the scrap pieces of yarn from the squares. And since I didn’t know if it would really work I decided to let the whole thing be an experiment so I tried things I hadn’t done before. So now I know how to make a Russian join, how to knit socks toe-up and how to make an afterthought heel. I’ve learnt so much! And I can use the socks! They are slightly on the tight side, but I was wearing fairly thick socks underneath and I’m mostly planning on using them for sleep socks so it’s fine.

Those look terrific and I think it’s great how you used them to experiment and learn.

I think they look great too! Am I right that a Russian join is how you join yarns together without a knot?

Thanks Laura and Betty.

Yes, a Russian join is that. You sort of loop the ends around eachother and then use a needle to "sew" the ends back into the yarn it comes from. I didn't want to make a million knots and then have to secure all those ends. It makes for a difference in thickness of the yarn, but not enough that I was really bothered by it for this project.

I'm almost done with part 2 of the Frankenstein project, although I've been thinking that for a week and constantly needing to unravel because something went wrong means it's taken much longer than it could have. When I'm done with this, I'm going to take a break from this project before the frustrations make me lose interest in crafting altogether.

I've done some nalbinding! I like it a lot, and I really like the finished product - it gives a result that has a similar weight to knitting, and is also smooth enough for socks, but seems more flexible and drapey. It also doesn't ravel or run, which is good - I wore out the first pair of slippers I made that way, but the holes in the soles didn't spread much even without darning.

It does take longer than knit or crochet, pretty much require mostly-wool yarn at least the way I learned, and is an absolute torture to pick out if you make a mistake, though. And it's somewhat less stretchy than knitting, depending on the stitch (I did mostly coptic.)

Here's my attempt at a copy of one of the mittens at the Icelandic Museum that I totally screwed up the tension on and have been slowly picking out for several years (it's the only picture I have to hand!)

medieval mitten start

>124 melannen: Oh, how exciting! I’m very impressed with your work, even if you’re not happy with it.
I haven’t dived deep enough to know much about the different types of stitch (except that there apparently tons of them) but your stitch looks different to most of the pictures I’ve been looking at. Could be a combination of the stitch and the yarn, which tricks the eye a bit.
Not running is always a plus - that is one of the downsides of knitting.

Part of why I’m so interested in it is for cultural history reasons - one of my all-time favourite subjects. I know it’s been performed all over the world, but there’s a long history of it here in the Nordics so that makes me extra keen to try it. My heritage, I guess.

I think it's mostly that I got the tension way too tight, which hides most of the stitch - I have a hat I did with better tension and the same stitch where it looks very different! The mitten looked fine but it was so tight I couldn't bend my fingers with it on because I didn't really know what I was doing then.

There are a lot of different stitches, but the ones I learned were (like knitting) all variations on a theme of looping into loops. They didn't have as much texture variation as knitting, and the colorwork options were limited in comparison, but I didn't get very far into the super fancy stitches - I learned it via historical costuming groups, so I was only trying the ones that had very old archaeological examples.

>126 melannen: Yeah, tension can do a lot.

It’s fine that there isn’t much in ways of complex patterns or colourwork - I’m not really interested in that anyway, I just want to learn the basics.

>124 melannen: - I told my friend about this today and showed her the picture. (She knits and crochets). She made a note and thinks she might try it.

I finally finished the Frankenstein wrist-warmers last night and am fixing the loose ends. I'll put up a photo later.

I'm going to start on my next knitting project today, which I've been looking forward to for months. A pair of shorts. Not to be used as fashion but like an extra thermal layer.

>129 PawsforThought: - That's interesting. I was in at the coffee shop one day and a girl was wearing what looked like a pair of crocheted lace shorts which looked to be lined. I snuck a picture to show my friend.

>130 dudes22: I’ve seen a few patterns of “fashion shorts” that look nice, but I have enough in my to be knitted-pile as it is.
The ones I’m making will look like short yoga pants or leggings.

Here are the Frankenstein wrist warmers. They’re a bit lumpy because of the numerous times I switched yarns (and learned “weaving Steven” to fix the loose ends), amplified by my watch.
They’re not winning any beauty competitions but they’ll do the job of keeping blood flowing into my hands when I’m at the computer all day.

I couldn’t use my patented trick of photographing both hands with the help of a garden chair because we’ve put the garden chairs away for winter. You’ll have to make do with a photo of just my left hand.

Speaking of the shorts, the term used in Swedish is "mamelucker", which is primarily used to describe a form of old-fashioned underpants - think of the knee-length or full-length, lace-trimmed things people wore in the 1800s - and which are named after the mamluk army who apparently wore poofy trousers. Some linguistics history for you.

Well, I meant to start my mamluks/shorts yesterday but I need to find circular needles in the right size. And I wanted to find a good, super-stretchy cast on method, because these things are knitted top-down with a high waist and I do not want to have a stiff top edge that'll cut into my stomach. Long gone are the days when I accepted uncomfortable clothing. So I've been watching Youtube videos today to get inspired.

>132 PawsforThought: Very nice "Frankenstein" hand-warmer. I like it, it's kind of folksy.

I just gave my daughter all of my needles (the collection also had some of my mother's) and other related paraphernalia. She has a good collection of her own but she happily took my collection.

>134 avaland: Thank you!

I have quite a lot of knitting things, and my mum lets me take/use whatever I need from her stash, but somehow I never have the one thing I need.

I had a day full of Zoom meetings and seminars yesterday and knew I'd be bored and needed something to occupy myself with or I'd fall asleep. So yesterday morning I desperately looked through my yarn pile for something to do that was easy enough that I could still concentrate on what was being said on Zoom. So I started another pair of socks, using some of the yarn I bought in last autumn's yarn shopping frenzy and a basic pattern I haven't used before but quite like (though I think I'll make the heel bit a bit wider next time).

This is the yarn I used - the colour is called Hardangervidda after a national park in Norway, though it doesn't seem to be available anymore. The skeins/balls are big so I'll have plenty of leftovers.

Ooooo - like that.

>136 PawsforThought: I like the colors in that one!

>138 thornton37814: The purple is a little less vibrant in real life, but I really like it too. It’s not a combination of colours I would normally have thought of.

>132 PawsforThought: Fun knitting. I thought at first it was actually variegated yarn.

I actually have a small wardrobe of "wristers", as they are known here. I love them, and have them in different weights for different uses - so versatile. That yarn in >136 PawsforThought: would make a great pair!

>136 PawsforThought: That is very lovely yarn!

>141 avaland: I really like it. I was kind of regretting not buying more and making a sweater. Oh well.

I've finished the socks - it is "Socktober" after all. I'll put pics up soon.

I bought a couple of books, or rather one book and a booklet.

First 150 Scandinavian Motifs: The Knitter's Directory by Mary Jane Mucklestone, who apparently doesn't know the difference between Scandinavia and the Nordic countries. (The Swedish title, which is geographically correct, is "Sticka nordiskt" (Knit Nordic).) Despite this fatal flaw, the book seems very good and is filled to the brim with beautiful patterns that I look forward to exploring.

The booklet is a pattern booklet that the yarn producer Järbo put out when they launched a new type of yarn last year, with 100% Swedish wool (and called, appropriately, "Swedish wool"). There are a couple of really lovely patterns, and I'm now thinking of buying not only the rest of the pattern booklets for this yarn but also some of the other booklets they've put out. The last two have been called "Arv" (inheritance) and "Sägen" (legend/tale) - both very influenced by Swedish folklore and knitting history.

>143 PawsforThought: apparently doesn't know the difference between Scandinavia and the Nordic countries.

*Googles*
Oh. 😀

In short, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Denmark are all Nordic countries with Scandinavian roots, but typically, you will only find Danish, Norwegian, and Swedish people referring to themselves as Scandinavian.

This article says the two terms are used interchangeably in "other parts of the world," but still: an editor should have caught that.

>144 lauralkeet: It's only used interchangeably in other parts of the world because people are ignorant or don't care.

The root of the issue is that Norway (which used to be part of Denmark) and Sweden make up the Scandinavian peninsula, which is named after the Scandinavian mountain range running along the border or Norway and Sweden. Thus Denmark, Norway and Sweden are Scandinavian. Iceland is nor Scandinavian though they speak a Scandinavian language. Finland is neither in Scandinavia nor is Finnish a Scandinavian language (Swedish has more in common with Romanian that it does with Finnish).

I often compare it to people calling Ireland "British" just because it makes up part of the "British Isles". Or calling Scottish people English because they're both in Great Britain.

>145 PawsforThought: It's only used interchangeably in other parts of the world because people are ignorant or don't care.
I accept that!

Your last paragraph is a helpful comparison.

This is "a hill I will die on" as people say.

Having said that, I should mention that the "Nordic Craft Week" includes Craft Associations from both the Faroe Islands and Estonia. (But we do have a lot of shared craft traditions so...)

>145 PawsforThought: >147 PawsforThought: Stay on that hill!
I completely understand your frustrations over usage, having spent an inordinate amount of time trying to convince/educate people that Scotland is not just a northern version of England, but a very different entity indeed. I will stop there before this becomes a rant!

>148 SassyLassy: I’m glad to know I have an ally in this fight!

I finished the socks a while ago but only managed to photograph them today. I really like this yarn, but I still haven't a toe and heel version that I'm really sold on. I'll keep exploring.



And I bought not one or two sets of new knitting needles, but six. I'm going to need them with the projects I have planned, and I was tired of trying to find the right size in my mother's and grandma's old stashes.

>150 PawsforThought: I love the socks! And one can never have enough needles.

I agree with Laura - never enough needles - great socks.

>150 PawsforThought: Love the socks! I understand the desire for your own knitting needles (my younger daughter just took my collection of needles, which include my mother's. It's a really weird collection and she probably won't use many of them, but it was nice to pass them on).

I’ve started on my shorts. And re-started. I had to start over four times (luckily I’d never made it past the first row so it wasn’t that much work) because things didn’t want to work out, but I think it’s going well now. Which is just in time because tomorrow I have another Zoom meetings/seminars day and I’ll have something to occupy my hands.

Nearly a month later and I’m still working on the shorts. The frustrations at the start gave way fairly quickly and since then it’s been going fairly well (though there are definitely a few mistakes in there). I’m just about to start on the legs so I have about a third of the work left.

I’ve also made good progress on another projects, namely yoga socks. It’s getting cold here now and since I do yoga every day, my poor feet are not always happy so hopefully this will make things a bit better. I’m not following a pattern for this, it’s basically just a very long top part of a sock, but with a hole for the heel.
I’ll show pictures when they’re all done.

I have a couple of questions that I’m hoping a more experienced knitter can help me with.

I was planning on adjusting this pattern to be a bottle cover using just the tree pattern and working in the round but the diagram is confusing me a bit. There are decreases on some of the branches, why only some and why are they not compensated by increases? And why is the cable almost at the top switched around compared to the others?
Can anyone explain this to me? I’ve racked my brain for hours over this.

I haven't done a lot of knitting lately, but it looks to me like the stitch just changes rather than decreases. Or that the pattern on the first and third branches are just different to give it more interest? And I think the thing at the top might be a heart rather than a cable. But it's kind of hard to see. Maybe Amber or Laura will know better.

>157 dudes22: It’s definitely decreasing - you start out with 23 stitches in the pattern and end up with 16, and none of the other diagrams have increases to make up for it.

>156 PawsforThought: The stitch count definitely decreases from the bottom of diagram to the top in diagrams A.3, A.7b and A.7a. I'm puzzled by this, too. The object it's designed to cover doesn't decrease in size so why would the cover get smaller? I don't see any reference to compensating increases either. Weird.

As for the two 4-stitch cable patterns towards the top, the difference is that one of them uses a knit and purl and the other, two knits. These create a slightly different look.

There are 9 projects on Ravelry using this pattern -- including a bottle cover! -- but no one has commented about issues with the pattern. Sorry I can't be of more help!

Good luck with your "yoga" socks, I hope they help.

>159 lauralkeet: Thanks for trying to figure it out. I feel like a yarn over next to the decreases should work, but I guess the only way to know is to try it.

>160 avaland: Thanks. It's going well so far so won't be long until I can try using them.

I just took a second look at the pattern this morning, hoping something would jump out at me after a good night's sleep. But no.

Yarnovers will create holes in the fabric, as with lace patterns. You might consider a bar increase or m1 (make one) increase instead for something less obvious (this is me flexing my Master Hand Knitter qualifications LOL).

Then again, you could try knitting a small version as written (like for a cup) just to see how it looks without increases. Maybe there's a method to the madness. You can use stash yarn if you don't want to waste the yarn designated for this project.

>162 lauralkeet: Yeah, the hole problem with yarn over did cross my mind. I am very fond of what you're calling a bar increase so will probably end up doing that if I make it. (I keep learning new English knitting terms, it's great!)
And I'm very glad to have the help if a Master Knitter. :)

The shorts I'm working on (which I'm having to adjust the pattern of because my body is, ahem, curvier than the pattern allows for) uses yarn over for increases and it has frustrated me at times because I always forget which way to put the yarn over and have to change it when I come back next row and am supposed to knit it. Bar increases are way better.

Oops - sorry - I didn't really read the notes, just looked at the picture and it looked like it was straight. Like Laura said, it doesn't make sense. And I haven't knit in a long time.

>156 PawsforThought: I've never done cables, so I'm not sure, but yeah, that definitely looks like intentional decreases! It could hardly have been a mistake when the diagram makes it so obvious.

Maybe the cables have less stretch than the background knitting, so that in order for it to grip evenly the whole way up, it needs to have fewer stitches at the top? If I was doing a tall mug cover I might decrease a little bit even without the cables to make it less likely to slip down. That's a really drastic decrease, though, almost a third of the width! I probably would have to just knit and see how it works up.

Maybe the cables have less stretch than the background knitting, so that in order for it to grip evenly the whole way up, it needs to have fewer stitches at the top?

Good thought and we might be getting closer although I haven’t quite worked it all out in my head. Cables will have a tighter gauge (more sts per in/cm) than the background. So if your background gauge is 5 sts/in and cables, 7 sts/in, 100 sts in background would measure 20” and only 14” in the cable pattern. Designers often have to compensate for this difference using increases and decreases at transition points. That is probably what’s going on here, in some way keeping the fabric appropriately snug.

I haven’t worked it out mathematically but that’s a very logical explanation. Thanks melannen!

The cable-stretchiness theory makes sense, I think.

Trying to think about what to do about the rib at the bottom and top. I'd prefer it to be looking the same (it doesn't in the original pattern) but whether to increase stitches the the top rib or decrease stitches at the bottom rib? Or a bit of both? Hmm.

>168 PawsforThought: It looks like what they've done is made a bit of wider rib at the bottom so it flows nicely into the tree-shaped cable above, so that bit is 4 knit sts where the rest is a k1p3 rib. The top ribbing is k1p3 all the way around. So you could adjust the k1p3 bits and as long as you kept them at 4 sts (e.g., k2p2), the "tree trunk" part would still fall in the right place.

>169 lauralkeet: I’d been thinking of doing k2p2!

I'm just popping in to say this is a fascinating discussion even if I don't understand it! It's probably how people feel when a friend and I start talking quilt blocks. Well, some people. Most everyone I know, their eyes would glaze over instead of leaning in. Heh

>171 lesmel: Ha! I’m glad you find it interesting even if it’s confusing. I like reading about the trials and tribulations of quilting even when I’m at least slightly confused about 70% of the time.

>172 PawsforThought: yes, me too. I admire quilters very much, because I'm hopeless at combining colors and patterns the way they do. And it's fun to see a piece come together.

My yoga socks are done and have been tested. Definitely more heat in my feet today than yesterday. I made the heel opening extra big to make sure there’d be no knitting “underfoot” - don’t want to risk slipping.

Nice - I like the yarn.

>175 dudes22: I think that yarn is a leftover ball from my grandma’s stash. She often knitted socks with self striping yarn. Made me smile thinking of her as I knitted (which she taught me, once upon a time).

Those turned out great, Paws! I also love the connection to your grandmother.

I've done most of my Christmas shopping online this year, and I couldn't stop myself from buying a present or two for myself along with those for my near and dear. So I have two more books on knitting - Knit Step by Step is about basic techniques (left) and Sticka: egna modeller och fler detaljer is about how to make more specialized details and creating your own patterns (right). Both look great. And some yarn may or may not have also slipped into the order...

>178 PawsforThought: - There should always be a little "to me...from me'' to make the season bright.

>180 dudes22: I wholeheartedly agree. And with the year we've had, the more presents the better.

>154 PawsforThought: Just tuned in today. What a great pattern.

I think the tapered shape mimics the idea of tea cosies visually, but also tightens the piece at the top slightly so that it doesn't slide down like some leg warmers do.

As to the actual decreases, looking at A.3, the decrease in row 6 from the top is compensated on the other side by the decrease in row 3 from the top. I suspect the second cable from the top is different to create a "tuck in" effect for the tree, so that it isn't loose at the top. I think I might even be tempted to do the top ribbing in a 3mm if you are using 3.25 for the body.

>178 PawsforThought: And some yarn may or may not have also slipped into the order...
What good elves there are there!

>182 SassyLassy: Thanks for your input.

I will be doing a sort of "turtle neck" at the top of my bottle cover so won't need the top part to fight tighter than the rest. Won't be for this Christmas so have plenty of time to work it all out for next year (or the year after, or...)

What good elves there are there!

Yes, very good elves. Who knew what sock yarn I've been drooling over...

>178 PawsforThought:, >180 dudes22: I have an Amazon gift card burning a hole in my pocket, but I'm intentionally waiting until after Christmas to spend it on a little something for myself. So I'm wholeheartedly in favor of your approach, Paws.

Agree with the others: the more presents the better.

Merry Christmas to you all, dear friends! I hope you have the very best holiday the circumstances allow and that the new year brings with it only good things.

My Christmas is getting off to a great start with -12 C and clear blue skies. Perfect winter weather. I’m fortunate enough to have my family with me and we’re looking forward to a great meal tonight (and some presents, of course).

I’ll be setting up a new thread for 2022 sometime during the weekend, when things are a bit calmer.

Well - That's pretty cold. We got our first dusting of snow last night - about an inch or less. It was 22 F overnight (-5C) which is right around the average for Dec.

Hope you have a great time with your family.

I've set up a new thread for the new year here, but will be staying with this one until the end of the year. Hopefully I'll be able to finish a project or two before New Year's.