Winter Knitting

The cold weather is approaching fast and with it comes a feeling of nesting, what better way to beat that feeling then to drown it in some warm comforts like soup and chili and some warm winter knitting.

Every winter since the time I began knitting I always kick out the warm bulky yarns and large knitting needles and tell myself this winter I am going to make myself something to wear, and well I never do. I would love to have the time to make myself a pair of socks, a hat, and some double knit mittens, as well as another blanket. I have a small knit throw I made a while back that was really just a knitting experiment but it is amazingly warm and I would love to make another one that is wider and longer to fit my whole bed. I guess I just need to take one project at a time. Therefore, I am starting with the hat and mittens. I will need them the most once it gets really cold (mind you, our nights are getting down to 30f and they are already predicting snow).

I have already started the hat. I am making the new owl torque designed by Barbara Prime (fuzzymitten) surprise surprise. When am I not knitting one of her patterns? It is really cute. I am making it with Bernats natural alpaca. It should be super warm and squishy when I finish. The pattern is written for newborns up to 1 year olds so I had to add extra stitches. After making a swatch and roughly measuring my head my calculations said I would 99 stitches so I went cast on 90. I figured this way it would fit snug and with the give of the knitting should fit nice. I think I may have cast on too many though. It is looking a bit large. I just have the ribbing done and instead of the k1, p1 ribbing I did K2, p2 ribbing. I hope that once I move up to the cable and seed stitch it will get a bit tighter. I guess if it does not fit me, I can give it to my younger sister. Her head is a bit bigger than mine is and then I would have another excuse to make another.

As for mittens, I am not sure what pair I am going to make. I would like a double knitted pair but I would also like to incorporate the owl cable. Maybe I will just double knit a plain pair, knit the cable separate, and then sew it on the top of the mitten. That might be the easiest way to go about it. We will see.

On a non-knitting/crafting front, I bought a new car this past week and I love it. It is a 2001 Nissan Maxima and it is excellent. All my cars prior to this have been older cars that I have bought for under $1000. The difference between has this new one runs is amazing!