New Year and all things are possible

 The New Year has arrived.  I tell myself all sorts of strange things for the upcoming year — I will walk every day, I will exercise every day, I will post every week.  You know, those things we HOPE for, and strive towards, but often miss.  So far, I have walked in the neighbourhood of 3k on Sundays and Mondays.  Easy, because those are my non-work days.  The rest of the week?  Well …

I do, however, have knitting on which to report.

My first finish for 2023 is the Color Evolution design, from Laines du Nord.  (This pattern is not yet available on Ravelry!)  I used the recommended wool, Matera, in four colours and a 4.5m needle for the body.  I have to say that this wool is fabulous — soft in the hand and even better on the body.  I put the sweater on for the picture, and did not want to take it off!  (8 balls of grey, two red and one each black and golf.)  One aspect of knitting that I really like is that I can make the sleeves fit exactly right, something most store sweaters fail to do.

We have been teaching a master knitting class at the store using the design Carnival Blanket from the designer Margaret Holzmann.  Rather than a full sarnize blanket, I opted for a baby size.  Even so, it was a multi-month project!  The multi-colour yarn used in the star shapes is King Cole Tropical Beaches DK (and only one ball!) and the green oval shapes are worked with Sirdar Snuggly DK #490 (3 balls) and a 4.0m circular needle.  The afghan will be finished by working a row of single crochet followed by a row of crab stitch, using the Sirdar Snuggly.

The technique I used for the construction of this blanket was to knit the four oval sections, and then join them together by working the 4-point star.  This worked well for the initial join process; however, when joining the four circles together I ended up with gaping holes.  I sewed those holes up, using the tail from the initial knitted pieces ... and it all looks great in person.  Would I recommend this designer to other knitters?  Absolutely!

Another very recent finish is a wee pair of socks for a little man in my life.  These were meant to be a Christmas gift ... the best intentions often go astray.  In any event, the yarn is Lang JaWolle Cotton Stretch 4-ply in two colours -- the same colours I used for the little man's mama and step-papa. 

Sadly for me, the little man lives far, far away so I had to guess-and-by-golly a bit on the sizing.  I finally decided on a 2.5m needle, 48 stitches and a 7" foot.  I hope to know by the end of next week how close I was on the sizing!

Finally, a finished object from 2022 -- this is the Bragg Creek Cowl, designed by Caroline Sommerfeld.   Our sales rep. was kind enough to leave us two sample balls, and oddly enough the pattern just kind of fell into my Ravelry ... The yarn is Hertig from Ancient Arts and the colours I used are Scottish Mist and Kismet.   Absolutely a delightful wool and an easy-to-read and execute pattern.  I strongly recommend this one too!

That's about it for me today.  Hopefully I will be back soon with more updates!