Campfire Cardigan

This was one of those patterns that went viral. I don't remember where I first saw it--Instagram, Pinterest, blogs...At first, I thought "Ugh...oversized, the loose granny stitch won't make it warm..." etc. But then I started thinking maybe it would make a nice cozy cardigan, especially if I made it a smidge tighter gauge. And especially if I could use my stash. Not use my stash--not going to make it. So I had to find two yarns that would work well together.

I've had this elann.com "Highland Wool" for a long time. Back when they still had their awesome site instead of selling on Amazon. I paired it with some Noro "Kuryeon" that felt like a great match. I've had it forever too. Surprise!

 I love the plum colour!

Thumb holes specifically for my short arms!

The fit. Mmmm. Kind of hard to do a FBA on something like this. I know I did something to it so the fronts would be a bit wider. I think there's a link to suggestions in the pattern. And I made it longer. After my Einstein Jacket in 2007, I realized square things don't look good on me. I re-worked the sleeves quite a bit because I was running out of Noro and I wanted them tapered. And thumb holes! Why not? I think I tapered it a bit much but I needed to in order to make it slim enough for the hand.

The issue. It is WARM! But without buttons or a zipper, and because it does still have holes, it can't be worn in actual cold weather. So the days to really wear it seem to be few and far between. Add in the wild colours and the chance that I'm wearing something subdued enough to look okay under it?

I had some challenges with the hood because I had altered the sizing and shape a bit. Doubtful I'll ever use the hood but if I was camping and couldn't grab a hat, I guess I might.

 It is cozy though. And used up some well aged yarn. My yarn cubbies actually looked quite a bit emptier after. Enough so, that I combined a couple cubbies and bins, took one bin, and put all my serger cones in it. And some of the cubbies are still a little bare. I have a lot of odd balls and leftovers, which I keep in bins. I have some yarn that I bought multiple balls of the same colour, but they're in sealed bags, so why open them.  Maybe I'll turn another cubbie into sewing storage. Though I have enough storage for the sewing "extras"; it's the fabric that is filling up my storage space. I'll have to think about it.

Megan didn't like how I had been posing. Since she follows a lot of beauty bloggers on IG, I let her pose. She did pretty good! Thankfully she didn't steal the sweater. Actually, she asks me not to wear it most of time. It is a bit of a challenge to wear but I still like it.

The yarn totals were included in last year's totals. 615gr. I think I had five or six balls of Noro and a seemingly endless supply of the Highland Wool. I have a little bit left of it. Less than a ball, I think.

Green Mittens

I'm not 100% sure why I choose green. I do like the colour, but it means I can only wear them with my black coat, which I don't wear to my lunch supervisor job. They are Rowan Superwash Worsted, I believe, left over from custom Christmas stockings 2016. I made them two at a time on one circular--so that I could do the gusset shaping at the same time and not have to try to figure out what I did on the second one. However. Got to the flap business and apparently forgot that I do not have two right hands.

I fixed up the left one. I wasn't happy with how pointy the tips were, not my usual mitten style. But after re-knitting them a few times, I left it. And the thumbs are a smidge long. They are decent mitts though. We just had strange weather here. If it was really cold, I had to wear my work jacket as my black jacket has lost it's buttons. So I only wear it when it's warmer. When I wouldn't need 100% wool mittens.

I don't seem to have a finished picture. But they look basically the same, just one left and one right mitten. The totals were included in last year's totals even though I realized late on Dec 31 that I had goofed and it took a while to get back to them. I was almost done by the end of the year. They were 84gr.