First FO of 2017

So, first thing's first.  I finished the baby blanket!  This took me a little over a month, which is actually pretty good when it comes to baby blankets (for me, anyway).  By finished, I of course mean I still need to block and weave in the ends.  The pattern was super easy, and, bonus, it's free!  At first, I was turned off because of the charts, but they make a lot of sense in this case.  (I hate charts.  HATE. Charts.)

Look at this work of art!

I used KnitPicks Brava Worsted in Lady Slipper.  The actual color is far more purple than the image above is letting on.  The yarn is 100% premium acrylic 218 yards/100 grams.  Generally I run far, far away from acrylic yarn as all I picture is SuperSaver.  I can feel the scratchiness thinking about it. Brava is super squishy and soft - I was happily surprised.  I would use this again if I had anything that called for a worsted weight yarn that needs to take a beating.

With the baby blanket complete, I can finally work on my schweater again!  This is Ease by Alicia Plummer.  It's a paid pattern ($6.50) and the pattern is simple and easy to follow.  I used size 9s for the body and sleeves and 6s for the body ribbing.  I tried the 10s the pattern calls for, but it was way too large.  Luckily, my darling boyfriend pointed that out, because I like to live on the wild side and not do a gauge swatch.  As of today, I've finished the right sleeve and I'm working on the left sleeve as I write this.  Hopefully, I can update this blog again soon with Ease as a FO.

I'm making Ease out of  KnitPicks Preciosa Tonal Worsted in Panther.  It's a worsted weight 100% merino wool 273 yards/100 grams.  It is so, so soft.  I'm in love with it's softiness.  It's advertised as a tonal but it's sort of a striping yarn between dark gray and black.  This doesn't bother me at all, but there is some color pooling right in the front of the sweater.

Current works in progress:

• Ease 
• Catskill Mountain Shawl 
• Fox and the Grapes Shawl 
• Striped Socks 

Finished Objects:

• ABC Baby Blanket   Completed 1/27/17

Acquired:

Nothing! Success!

New Years Resolution: Cold Sheeping

Cold sheeping, or the act of not buying any new yarn until some arbitrary goal or another is hit, is something that I've tried (and failed at) many times.  This time is different, though - somehow. (It isn't, really, but let's pretend.)

So here I am, fresh into 2017 and refusing to purchase any new yarn until:

• A vast majority of my stash is used up
• Yet another person I know gets pregnant 
• Vivid Fiber Arts stocks a color I love

The problem of my yarn stash is almost like that of a Steam library, always growing no matter how many new projects I started.  However, unlike Steam, yarn takes shelving.  And also boxes, to stop the newly acquired cat from eating said yarn.

Odin, the All Father, Eater of Wool

So, I think the plan will be to update this with works in progress, finished objects, and what items of my stash are all used up as I go along.

Current works in progress:

• ABC Baby Blanket (Hopefully my only baby blanket of the year)
• Ease (My first sweater ever, on hold because baby blanket)
• Catskill Mountain Shawl (This is just going to take forever)
• Fox and the Grapes Shawl (This thing.. just... is going to be so huge)
• Striped Socks (I work on this when I'm out and have nothing else)