yarn along

Joining Ginny for yarn along at Small Things to share what I’ve been knitting and reading this week.

The anticipation of yarn along has kept me working away on the Fisherman’s Pullover for my newly turned five-year-old. He is anxious for it to be his and three of his siblings have requested a mama-made sweater of their own. I hope I can finish what I’ve started but of course I’m more than pleased that my knitting meets the approval of four rather choosy children. Little brother hasn’t weighed in on the matter…yet.

I finished the body of the sweater and made it to the ribbing on the first sleeve before I started panicking that I may run out of my beautiful Puffin wool. I decided to move the live stitches to a spare circular and work on the second sleeve so I can get as much length (hopefully evenly) in the sleeves as possible (I’m anticipating how much this long boy will grow over the summer and want to get those sleeves as long as my wool will allow).

While I was contemplating the sleeves I started a quick pair of fingerless mittens for my six-year-old as a reprieve. I accidentally felted her previous pair when I threw her muddy coat in the laundry this week, oops – they are felted beautifully now for little sis! I don’t know if I’ll end up finishing these in a hurry or not. I’ve made multiple pairs like them in the last year and sometimes they fly off the needles and sometimes I take them nice and easy. Do you find you knit at different speeds depending on your mood? I read Elizabeth Zimmermann’s advice last week not to knit while angry but I imagine my tension may change a little depending on how laid back I am, how many (little) people are speaking to me at the time and how easily my eyes are staying open (or how easily they are drooping). These feel like a low-key knit.

I am still reading through The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (and loving it) along with The Knitting Workshop but decided to show some of our most recent library acquisitions. An old family favourite (Tikki Tikki Tembo because I love saying his name over and over), some new family favourites and inspiration for mama. I discovered our library system only has two Elsa Beskow books on its shelves – The Tale of the Little, Little Old Woman and Pelle’s New Suit. Oddly, Pelle’s New Suit is only available there in Arabic – which of course I didn’t realize until my husband arrived home with our stack of library holds. The kids were perplexed at my choice (and the cover which opens at the left) but the illustrations are enough for me. My mama book, Craft Hope, is one I learned about on Dana’s awesome blog (she has a pattern featured) and I love both the patterns and the concept – each of the patterns can be made and donated to a specific charity (learn more about Craft Hope here).

I really have so little left to finish up my sweater that I hope I can unveil it next week. I’ve already bought wool for my next sweater project and I’m itching to get going on it (first things first, though, I know).

Can’t wait to see what other’s are up to on this week’s yarn along! Thanks for coming by!