Sticks and Stitches

Hello there! Apologies for my absence here, but after my last post I'm sure you understand. Things have been a little stressful and a lot busy, but life is moving along as it tends to do, without a care that you might need to stop and gather your thoughts before time marches on again. Thank you all so much for your kind words. And thanks to those of you who have made donations (I feel like that should say 'whom' and not 'who' but I also feel like that would be awkward). I've started receiving some packages in the mail today to be part of our raffle at the benefit we're planning, and they're delightful. I'm so touched, truly. The internet can be a wonderful place :)

I cannot believe it but I have not touched my sewing machine in about a month. I don't have a pile of things to do that I'm ignoring, I'm just not motivated or inspired right now. Plus, it has been bitterly cold here, and it feels more right to be cuddled on the sofa knitting than sitting in the cold dining room sewing. I finished the sweater I was working on. A sweater coat, actually. It looks really nice. The thing is...it's pretty dang big. I definitely should have made it one size down. I don't want to share yet, as I think if I add a belt to it it'll look much better, like it has a little shape, so I'm going to do that and then show you.

I have become really gung-ho about being a better knitter, for some reason. There are certain things I'd like to make (hats and socks, mostly) that require knitting in the round and double-pointed needles and magic loops and really scary sounding things. But you never get good at something if you don't try, so I made a bit of a purchase that looks like a splurge but totally isn't to help me on my way.

That there is fifteen sets of DPNs ranging in size from 0 to 15. I found a set of them on Amazon for a great price (considering how I'm probably not going to use them that frequently) and they arrived today. They feel nice and smooth and not just like a few pencil-sharpened sticks. This is the largest next to the smallest:

I have no idea what you'd ever use those teeny little things for. I swear dry spaghetti is thicker than them. The others look like telephone poles next to them.

Look how they printed those teeny little numbers on there. Sorry, I know they're wooden sticks but the skinny little ones are just crazy skinny little. If I had bought all of these needle sets individually I'd have spent a small fortune on them. I'm hoping they hold up. You can find them here. Needles crossed they're not a disappointment.

I've been working on a shrug the past few evenings. I had bought a ton of silvery gray yarn with the intention of making a sweater, but I've back-burnered it in favor of some quicker projects that don't take weeks and weeks to do. So I found this interesting shrug on the Lion Brand website and am making that instead. It's basically a large rectangle you fold and sew into a shrug.

It was supposed to be single crochet, but I didn't like the fabric I was creating so I switched to a half double and I'm in love. It's just row after row of hdc through the back loop, but it gives an amazing texture that's soft and stretchy without being too open or loose. Which makes the little bit of boredom worth it, because it's a visual and tactile treat.

I got a big box of yarn for Christmas and I've picked out what I'm doing for my next afghan. I tried to get a good picture of the colors but it's not happening in lamplight. I ordered a few more colors I decided I needed to have so when they get here I'll show and tell everything. And then we'll see how long it takes that to get going.

Not much of a post tonight, I know. With a lack of made things to share I'm feeling a little uninspired to write right now. I think I need to just whack into some fabric and go for it. That always seems to help. Starting is always the hardest part.