November has just flown by.  I did get a lot of knitting done on my sweater in honor of National Knit a Sweater in a Month but I did not get it finished.  As of November 30th, this was my progress:

This is really more of a jacket than a sweater,  longer than the typical sweater measuring about 20 inches from the underarm.  The pattern is Pavement jacket  from Modern Top Down Knitting.  The yarn, our Zealana Heron in cloud blue.

I’ve found it necessary to make a few alterations in the pattern on the body of the sweater.  The advantage of the top down, seamless construction is that it is easy to slip the stitches onto waste yarn and try it on at various places to ensure the fit you want.  I’m also planning to alter the sleeves as I prefer a straighter sleeve treatment.

And, rather than the collar, I’m thinking about adding a hood.  By the time I’m done – sometime this month, I hope, it will be very much MY sweater.

Did anyone else work on completing a sweater in November?  Comment with a link to your photos!

It’s Wednesday, so that means Yarn Along with Ginny at Small Things.

I’m behind on updating you with what I’ve been working on lately.  Rather than getting caught up today, I’ll just share the most recent project I finished.  Chase and I were invited to a baby shower for her midwife about ten days ago.  Not a lot viagra time to make hand knits, but we did. Chase made the cute hat and I made the sweater.

Not a lot of reading time with granddaughters desiring playtime but I did finish Louisa May Alcott’s Old Fashion Girl and have started rereading Little Women.

Although I haven’t seen a link to this year’s challenge, Knitgrrl in past years has established a National Knit a Sweater Month for the month of November.  While writers are attempting to compose a novel in 30 days, knitters are challenged to knit a sweater in a month.

I’ve finished two, albeit baby, sweaters in October and have yarn (Zealana Heron in cloud blue) to make a sweater for me.  I’m not promising to wait until November to start it, though.  As soon as I can decide on a pattern – I’ve narrowed it down to a couple – I’m going to start.  I’d love to have it finished before November is over, but with spending time with the girls, I’m not sure that is realistic.  But as the days are growing colder here in Maine, I’m going to be needing that sweater as soon as I can get it done.

Are you up for the challenge?  I’ll try to update you regularly on my progress here.

I’m going to take a lesson from Ginny over at Small Things, our hostess for Yarn Along.  Her blog for today simply lists the book she is reading and the project she is knitting.  I may manage just a few more words today, but not many more.

That big stack of books I showed last week has been taken back to the library, unread.  I’m going to be heading up to Maine next week instead of mid November so there simply wasn’t going to be time to read those.  So instead I picked up Knit Fast, Die Young by Mary Kruger which my sister-in-law passed on to me this summer.  Quick read, mystery, about knitters – all those things make it the perfect book for this week, when I am trying to do five weeks of preparations in one.

I finished the first fingerless glove I showed the beginning of last week.  Actually, I’m probably able as far along on the second one as the first one was last week.  So I’ll get that finished up before I leave.  Then on the train (36 hours) I’ll be working on a sweater for Little Cutie, the name the girls have come up with for the new baby.  Once I’m settled, I’ll be tackling a sweater for me.  I’ve almost narrowed down the pattern.  It’s between two right now.  And I’ll be needing that sweater soon.  Oh, and remaking Rhi’s socks because they were, in fact too small, and making a pair for Lolly.  And then on to those poor brown socks I made over the summer.  I’ll get the fit right eventually.

I doubt that I’ll be able to post next week, so I’ll see you all the following week with my “knitting up the East Coast” saga.

Can you tell that all of the books I had on hold at the library came at once?  It amazes me how often that happens, even though they were requested at different times and had more or fewer other people also waiting for them.  Since The Help by Kathryn Stockett is the one with the shortest check out time, that is the book I’m spending the most time with.   This is a remarkable first novel.  I’m old enough to remember some of what she is talking about in the early years of the 1960s and the civil rights movement.  The courage and strength of these women, both black and white, in contributing toward the change of attitudes is inspiring and humbling.

On top of the pile is my current knitting project.  While waiting to get word on how well the socks fit Rhi, I started a pair of fingerless gloves for me.  I’m using a lush handpainted superwash merino from Handwerks Textiles that I won on a blog giveaway last year.

Do you see that bit of a sheen in the yarn?  It slides across my needles like it is polished.  It took me a long time to figure out what I wanted to make with this yarn and I’m glad I waited for the perfect project.  I’m going to enjoy wearing these so much.

Linking with Ginny over at Small Things.   Stop over and see what everyone else is doing.

Children’s socks go so much more quickly than adult socks.  In less than I week, I finished this pair for my older granddaughter.

They look so skinny, but Chase tells me all of her looks skinny right now.  And, both Rhi and Chase know that I’m very happy to tear them out and make them again if they don’t fit.  I mailed them off yesterday, swatched for Lolly’s socks and will wait until I find out how Rhi’s fit before I start Lolly’s.

Until now, I’ve only made socks with live models, so I could try them on for fit as I went, which to me, is one of the great things about knitting socks from the toe up.  This time I had some measurements and an outline of her foot.  So I’m anxiously awaiting word about the fit.

I love the striping produced with this lovely yarn.  It made the knitting go that much faster.

On the reading front, I’m still working on the same two books from last week.  There is a pile of books in transit from the library, though, so I really need to carve out more reading time.

What’s on your needles/hooks this week?  Pop over to Small Things and see what everyone else is doing.

After a month deep in the quilting zone, I finally finished my blue socks.  I never thought they would take this long, but I’m very happy with the results.

The lace pattern doesn’t really show up in the photo, but it’s there.  I kind of like it and kind of don’t.  The pattern itself is nice enough and it was fun to knit, but I think I might be happier with plain jane stockinette stitch socks.  The natural stripping in the yarn shows up best on the sole, where the lace patten isn’t.  So, in the future, I think I’ll reserve lace for solid color socks.

And, just so I can keep talking about socks,    I started a pair for Rhi.  These are plain stockinette stitch and I love the way the striping is going.  Well, you can barely see it in the photo, but I’ve gotten another inch or so done since the photo and it shows now that they really look like socks.

I’m just amazed at how quickly the shorter rows and simpler stitch pattern is knitting up.

Good thing, since I’m adapting a bigger pattern to a much smaller foot and I’m not exactly sure how to shape the gusset to be the right size.  I have a general idea, but one or two parts I’ll have to play by ear.  At least if I have to tear it out and try again, there won’t be as much to redo.

I’m reading both fiction and non fiction this week – and a lot more things on the computer than is usual for me.

Joining Yarn Along with Ginny over at Small Things.  Come on over and see what everyone else is doing.

A few more inches done on these socks.  I want to make them pretty long, so there is still a bit to go, but more knitting happened last week than the week before.  And I’m wanting to move on to other projects, so I’ll be working on these more this week.  Now that Chase’s MIL has come and gone and I know what she made for the new baby, I’m looking forward to working on a sweater for the little one soon.

I finished the Jane Yolen from last week and thoroughly enjoyed it.  Now I’m reading the second of the Camel Club series by Balaccci.  My son and I listened to the first one while we were traveling earlier this summer.  Reading the same books he is reading is a holdover from our homeschooling days.  We get great pleasure talking about the books we read together and teasing the one who hasn’t finished yet with veiled references to things to come without giving away anything.

Stop over at Small Things and see what everyone else is knitting and reading.

I’m still knitting socks.  I’ll be knitting socks for a while, although after I finish this pair, the next two pairs will be for the girls and will go much more quickly.  Then I’ll tear out the brown pair and redo those.  I know that’s the only solution for that pair.    But I’m working hard finishing up the first part of a quilting project this month (you can see what I’ve done so far here) and knitting is taking a back seat at the moment.   So I manage a few rows a week on the socks.  By September, well, sometime in September anyway, I’ll have the top of the quilt completely done and then I’ll be back to knitting most evenings again and the socks will fly.  I hope.  I trust.  Since I have a pair of fingerless gloves and a sweater to make for me before I leave for Maine and the arrival of my next grandchild.

This week I’m reading another of one of my favorite authors, Jane Yolen.  This is one of the books I found in our used bookstore shopping while we were on vacation.   Not only is it by Jane Yolen, it’s a book about King Arthur, always sure to catch my interest.  I’ve only read the first section so far, but according to the fly leaf, Merlin buries a sword in the stone to unite support for Arthur as king, but the wrong person pulls it out.  I can’t wait to see what happens!

Leave a comment with what you are knitting/crocheting and reading and join us with Ginny over at Small Things for Yarn Along.

Wednesday means Yarn Along with Ginny over at Small Things.

I’ve just gotten back from a two week trip to Ohio to visit Aunt Jo.  Since I was the only driver and spent my days working on a big quilting project, I only managed  just a little knitting while I was gone.   So an update on what is currently on my needles – socks, still – will wait for next week.

But I remembered that it is time to send in my contributions to Nest Maine.  In past years they have asked for contributions by early September, and so I assumed that would be true this year as well.  I went to the web site for the address and discovered they are now accepting contributions year round.  Oh well.  I’m still planning to mail mine out in the next week.

I had originally planned to make one hat a month for Nest Maine.  I didn’t reach that goal, although some of the hats that I might have sent to Maine went to Japan instead.  Maybe next year I’ll get to the full dozen.

On the reading front, I just finished a book by one of my favorite authors, Charles deLint.

This was in some senses darker than his other works, without the sense of magic and fantasy.  Set in the mythical city of Newford where many of his other books take place, I’ll be Watching You deals with abuse and stalking with characters which soon become people you care about.  As in all of deLint’s books that I have read, I always find some truth that I am ready to hear.  I don’t reread a lot of authors, but deLint is one I do.

Leave a comment telling us what you’ve been knitting/crocheting and reading and pop over to Small Things to join the fun.