thumbsucking

I've been having fun with Knitting Pure and Simple's topdown kids' sweater (you can purchase the pattern at your favorite shop, or online through Patternfish -- oh, how I love and fear Patternfish!). It calls for a gauge of 4 sts/inch (16 sts/10cm), which is perfect for my beloved Bartlett and Peace Fleece yarns. Of which, it comes as no surprise, I have quite a bit. I discovered that the two smallest sizes can be made using just 3 skeins of those yarns. I've started with the colors I have three skeins of, for solid-colored sweaters. When I run out of those, I will start making stripes -- of course, that will interrupt the mindlessness of the project, but not catastrophically.

Peace Fleece, Brenda's Purple -- it's more a classic purple crayon color in reality; size 6-8

elann.com Peruvian Highland Chunky, color may be Harvest Heather; size 2-4

 

These two are destined for a Lakota reservation in South Dakota, where they will keep someone's little one a little more comfortable this winter. (Not enough -- it's never enough -- but it's something.) The next two or three will go up to Maine, with the same goal.

I told Pat that these sweaters are so tranquilizing -- kind of like sucking your thumb. She immediately christened them "thumbsuckers," which sounds vaguely vulgar to me, but the name has stuck. You will be seeing quite a few of these around these parts as we move into cooler weather!

A4A quick campaign

Pat and I are long-time supporters of Afghans for Afghans. These things head out tomorrow
for their quick November campaign:

The red mittens you've seen before; I knit them because I felt like knitting something with cables, and now they've found where they're supposed to go. The blue socks are Bartlett's Maine wool in colors Blue Loch Heather and Thistle; the mittens with stripes are a double strand of Lion Brand Fishermen's Wool, with contrast stripes in a double strand of Paton's Classic Wool.

Information on the current, brief campaign for hats, mittens, and socks may be found here.

cold weather is here

It is cold here -- I heard someone mutter about possible snow this week! -- and it is colder up north. So these things are boxed up and will head off to Nest: Maine tomorrow morning:

Left to right: Peace Fleece mittens in Siberian Midnight (discontinued) and Moscow Magic; double-stranded mittens using Lion Brand Fisherman's wool and Paton's Classic; small red mittens made with Briggs & Little wool; socks using one strand Lion Brand Fisherman's wool, 1 strand variegated aqua Kroy sock yarn; striped hat from miscellaneous scraps (100% wool); red waffle hat from Lamb's Pride worsted (85% wool, 15% mohair), possibly color Medieval Red; purple wool blend hat made from anonymous (meaning I don't have the ball band) yarn obtained from Elann quite some time ago.