I Actually Have FO's.

For the past few weeks I have been knitting and I do have a few fo's to share.

Twig Brown Mens Slippers

Pattern: Family Foot-Warmer Slippers by Anne Baron Designs, made for Knitwits.
Size: Mens Large (10-12 inches)

Yarn: Northern Worsted by S.R. Kertzer (discontinued)
Content: 100% Acrylic, worsted weight
Color: Twiggy

Needles: Addi Turbo Circular size 10.5

Cast on: November 3, 2015
Completed: November 8, 2015

You know, it's really too bad S.R. Kertzer discontinued their Northern Worsted. It's wonderful yarn. Oh well. This is the last Knitwits item I'm doing for the year. I turned it in yesterday at the December meeting just to give Jan, our fearless leader, a hard time. It was our distribution meeting where we hand out everything to the 12 charity organizations we knit/crochet for. Here's a pic of everything we made for the year, well over 2300 items.

At the beginning of the month of November I began working on 5 Christmas themed outfits for Ellowyne Wilde dolls that I wanted to put in my Etsy store. I was doing great until the week of the storm and power outage. After that everything just seemed to go to heck for me and I didn't get them done in time. There's a very small window in which one can sell holiday themed doll clothes and for me it's over. If I wasn't going on the cruise I would be fine, but I am going on the cruise, so, no Etsy for this holiday.

I have everything but the jewelry done, which wouldn't take long but when I started thinking about all the photography involved and then getting each listing written and put up on Etsy, which is hours of work, I became overwhelmed.

The past few weeks have been incredibly stressful. Besides the week of storms and power outage, there was Thanksgiving, and I've also lost 3 family members (including Cable) in 3 weeks, and the loss of Cable hit me very hard. I got sick from the stress which put me out for a couple days, so something had to go. I'll do Valentines themed things for February and save the Christmas stuff until next year. Anyway, for my own record keeping, I'm posting the sweaters and hats I've made. These are all my designs, patterns not available.

Made with lace weight Elann Silken Kydd on size 3 needles. Size 8 silver line red seed beads are knit in the neck ruffle. The fabric in this feels a little too thin and flimsy for my taste. I decided after this one to start using 2 strands held together.

This one was knit with 2 strands of Cascade Yarns Kid Seta in red which is a lace weight mohair, silk, and nylon blend. It's nice to work with, as mohair goes. I used a different lace pattern in the ruffle than in the beaded one. I like it a lot better. I also like the fabric much better using 2 strands.

I used Cascade Yarns Kid Seta in Pewter for this one. I did the same lace pattern as the red one, and knit with 2 strands held together.

This one is knit holding 2 strands of the lace weight Elann Silken Kydd on size 3 needles. I love how it turned out.

I started getting a little tired of mohair, so I dug in my doll yarn stash and found a skein of  Lion Brand Vanna's Glamour sport weight yarn in Topaz Gold. It's an acrylic/polyester blend with a gold metallic thread. I love love love the way this one turned out! I added the lace pattern at the bottom hem and I definitely need to do more of this design.

I knit hats too and decorated them so they would be Christmasy.

I used Cestari Ash Lawn Collection in natural white for the first one. This yarn is a cotton/wool blend and I love the results. However, it comes in just a few rather spring like colors, so I had to change yarns for the rest of the hats.

I decided to try Ella Rae Classic Sport which is 100% wool and made this heather green one. I used one strand, which is okay, but I like a firmer fabric. I definitely like this yarn for hats though.

So I made a second one in Ella Rae Classic Sport, this time knitting with 2 strands held together and the same needle size (5). It's perfect! Oddly, I got the same gauge, but a much firmer and more 'hatty' fabric. I love this particular color too. It's brown heather with green and red mixed in. Perfect for a Christmas hat.

The fourth hat is made using Lion Brand Vanna's Glamour in Platinum (2 strands held together). It has a silver metallic thread running through it. I shortened the brim and rolled it up a bit.

I need to figure out what knitting I'm going to take with me on our trip.

I should be able to re-purpose all the sweaters and hats for Valentines outfits. I sewed the decorations on the hats, so I can easily remove them. So not all is lost. I look forward to finding Valentine fabric that will work with them. (I see visits to my favorite quilting shop in my future.)

I restarted the Mukluks again I began a year ago for my cousin. This is the 3rd try and I'm not happy with it. I am having a very hard time with them. For some reason, I can't get the tension right when changing needles (knitting in the round). I'm frustrated with it. Actually thinking about just chucking this project and finding some other pattern to knit for her.

This week I've spent my time getting ready for our trip. There was a lot to get done. We're leaving day after tomorrow. I'm very excited. It will be good to get away for a bit. I need the break. Especially to somewhere warm.

The weather has been very cold. Didn't get above freezing since Thanksgiving day. Today, though, it finally warmed up a bit. We actually got a bit of rain which melted some of the snow off our roof. (Did I mention we got about 3 inches of snow?) Forecast is for more rain over the next few days. I can live with that. I would prefer our house not get buried in snow while we're away. I don't want it to be difficult for my sister-in-law Kathryn to get in and out of the driveway. She's going to be taking care of our cats while we're gone.

Live long and prosper. \\//