Busy season

First off, I would like to wish folks out there a happy and safe holiday season ... whichever holiday is special to you between November and January.  Secondly, I have been busy these past seven-eight weeks, starting before sunrise on Halloween morning when I picked up my batch of chicks.  This month of December has been quite the roller coaster, with first a raccoon then the black bears killing some of my chicks ... yet in between those trials we finally closed the sale on our house up in Tennessee and are now completely debt free.  Triumph and tragedy, good and bad (and ugly, too) all one right after the other here.

With all my outside activities going on, I have not made much progress with fabric, and a small bit with yarn.  This morning, I finally turned the heels on the first pair of knee socks I am knitting.  At first I was annoyed when the 50g skeins ran out during the heel turn, then as I wove in the tails I realized that is actually the best spot to switch as weaving in ends strengthens the heel.

knee socks in progress

I have another pair of knee socks started, but I am not much past the cuff and have not yet finished the first motif.  Also on the needles are two pairs of midcalf (regular height) socks for me.  I have a pair for hubby that I took off the needles when I could not find my fifth set of circular sock needles.  Ah well, a box of splurge/celebration yarn is working its way down to me and also has three more sets of sock circs.

I really do need to sew in the waistband on that pair of cotton flannel pajama bottoms.  Then they will need a good wash before I can take pics, as the pink-nosed furry feline chaos demon decided they are the perfect napping spot.

Next time I take this long off from blogging here, do take a peek at my S&G Homesteade blog to see if we are just busy doing outdoor stuff - Florida is the Sunshine State, ya know.

Knitting cables

While I have been doing a smidge of sewing (nothing completed yet) I have still been knitting up a storm here.  Back in January, after I finished son's wool sweater, I started my very first cable project.  I finished all the knitting and even started to sew it together when the heat hit, and it languished over the late spring-summer-early autumn.  We did get a cool front earlier this month, and I pulled out my unfinished sweater and sewed up the rest of the seams, then I even managed to get some pics in the morning when it was cool enough to wear a 100% wool knit sweater in worsted-weight yarn without sweating too badly.

scoop-neck cable sweater

It is nice and warm, yet still breathes well, and I am certain to appreciate it over the winter even if it looks/feels a bit big right now.  I am not sure if I have lost weight (neighbor up the dirt road thinks so), or if I cast on one size too big, or if the stitches stretched out as I haven't washed or blocked it yet.

Now, for my most recent finished cable project, and also the most complicated so far: socks, of course.

Treehouse sock, in sunlight, close to actual color

fuzzy unfocused pic of both socks on my feet ... before 2nd mug of coffee

The yarn is more grey, although any time I have tried to take a pic in shadow it looks bluer than it is.  I had a lot of fun doing all this cabling although it was slow going compared to non-cabled projects.

Butterick 4419 hooded cape in black wool

I hinted at this, then used it as the "background" for Mom's doily ... and now here is the wool hooded cape shell on Matilda!

B4419 cape shell in black wool

The pattern itself calls for a lining, and using this cute piece of black with white dotted FM Shetland wool that was on sale a couple months ago just makes a lining necessary.  I actually cut and sewed the wool shell a few cold fronts ago, but didn't want to jinx myself on the lining by blogging it.  Since it's a cape - no fitting issues to worry about, so the continued weight loss is not a problem!  I now have the lining cut and on the new (to me) sewing cabinet to be sewn.

I intended to sew the lining (a 50/50 cotton/linen blend in fuchsia) yesterday but realized I needed to get a very old project out of the way: the Pembleton wool blazer UFO that Mom gave me back in June.  Yes, Mom ... I finally finished this unclaimed UFO that has been sitting on Matilda since I got back in June (and before that in your houses since the mid-1980s!).  When I test-drove Camster I sewed the underarm seams back, and yesterday I grabbed my hand-needle and black thread to reattach the lining around the bottom hem.  Why black thread instead of matching the grey?  My handsewing does not look as pretty, so I figure I'll want to pull it out in about a year and redo it.

This morning hubby mentioned he really likes the wool Matilda is wearing now.  It sounds like I may need to break the news to him that there is only a little bit of scraps left of it, as I had only ordered 2 yards instead of my usual four ... he loves the wool blanket I made him the other month, even though it has doubled in thickness due to the cat fur.