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Thursday, February 14, 2013

Mid February Already!

I had thought I'd try and post more often here on my blog but all good intentions seem to disappear and before I know it, a month or two has flown by!  Ahh well, here is my post for anyone left out there who might still read my blog.  I've been knitting and crocheting on a fairly regular basis and the gauntlets you see below are one of the fruits of my labors.
I joined a KAL (Knit-a-Long) on Ravelry and proceeded to knit the Downton Abbey gantlets with the help of the KAL leader, Kristin, and all of the great people on Ravelry......knitters are such great people, so very helpful and friendly.  The KAL was run by Jimmy Beans Wool and they are one of the best and most helpful knitting sites on the web, in my humble opinion.  The gals there really go out of their way to help you or to fix a problem, right a wrong, and all manner of customer service.  Can you tell that I really like JB?  No affiliation, mind you, just one satisfied customer.

I'm also knitting the second sock (it's going mighty slow, may I say) to match this one which is knit using Opal sock yarn and size 3 dpns.  I may or may not keep these since my DD is throwing hints about how she wears all the socks I've knitted for her and they're starting to show a bit of age.  It seems that I rarely wind up keeping any of the socks I knit between my daughter and my mother whose feet are always cold, poor things.

I also cast on another pair of socks (no picture yet) using for the very first time, Three Irish Girls Adorn sock yarn in Bread and Butterflies colorway.....it's a lovely pastel mix of pinks, aquas, purples, etc. and will be lovely looking when completed. I like seeing the progression of the colors as I knit the little bit I have done so far.  I'm knitting these on 2 circulars for a change of pace but I normally use my trusty dpns, always thinking, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it".  I'll post a picture as soon as I get enough progress so that you can really appreciate the colors.  I've never used TIG's yarn before but the gals on Ravelry absolutely rave about it so I'll let you know.

Finally, I'm back to crocheting the baby blanket I began in the fall of last year!!   I'm using a washable and dryer friendly acrylic, Caron's Simply Soft and I have to say that I really like the squishyness (my word) of this yarn and the kind of lifted definition it's giving to each stitch.  I've made more progress than shown here but you get the idea.