Knit 1, Make 2

I’ve been making my sweet, slow progress on my wedding shawl. That doesn’t stop me from being myself and working on other things. I’ve been in a cast-on kinda mood and I’m here to tell you about it.

First of all, I finished my first pair of Christmas socks for my self-imposed sock club. To tell you the truth, I finished these on January 5, they were awfully hard to put down.

The yarn is Three By the Sea, Sanibel base (75/25 merino/nylon) in the Christmas Island colorway. I’ve started knitting 75/25 bases on a 2.25 mm (US 1) needle, up from my usual 2.0 mm sock needles – I just feel like it makes the thinner yarn feel a bit cozier and the socks fit me better, not so tight. Anyway, this was a great first pull! They’re so Christmas-y!

After those were done so early in January, I’ve continually been resisting starting a new pair in sock club, so instead, I started a hat. And as hats tend to do, it went by so fast, I barely put it down.

Ta-da! This is Harlow, a pattern by Andrea Mowry. I knit it up in some yarn I picked up from Magpie Fibers back in the fall – I’m pretty lucky that they are local to me! The main color is Spincycle Yarns, Dyed in the Wool base in Verba Volant and the background (light mint) is a Spincycle x Magpie collab called Dyed in the Skein, in the colorway Mint Condition. This simple brioche is just so impactful with the fun color change.

I love it.

Once that was done, I was kinda in the mood for more of both Andrea Mowry and the Spincycle fun so I cast on The Shift. This is a cool, mosaic knit cowl that you knit flat and let the yarn do a lot of the work.

I’m using (l-r) Birds of a Feather (another Spincycle x Magpie collab), The Meadows, and Lightyears. I’m a little nervous about that kelly green that’s coming along, but I’m really trying to roll with the punches here.

Once the hat was done, I was left without any mindless knitting and to keep myself from casting on my February socks, I pulled out an old sock WIP.

Last summer I worked on knitting up old advent yarns, and this was the main skein from one. Nothing to crazy hear but y’all know I always have socks on the needles somewhere. These will probably get put back on hold when February starts, but they’ll make another appearance, I’m sure.

Finally, I wanted to share some not-crafting in this space too. I’ve started up the Storygraph annual challenges to push my reading a bit this year. I typically read primarily sci-fi, fantasy, romance, and a smidge of horror. I did a non-fiction challenge back in November and it was so fun! I liked stepping out of my usual and trying some new genres.

Enter, the Storygraph (amazing app, btw) genre and read the world challenges. I’ll share some more once I have more of my TBR decided but first up, in the read the world challenge:

I’m reading the Fox Wife, by Yangsze Choo, a book set in early 20th century China. It’s kind of a historical fiction with a little light fantasy mixed in and it’s just been a magical read.

Thanks for sitting down with me for a little glimpse into everything else I’m working on. Until next time, happy making (and reading)!