Friday, December 13, 2013

December days

It's been a wet, cold winter so far. I'm holding out hope to get snowed in on Christmas.  We have had holiday-themed activities for most days this month, and for the most part, the boys have loved it.
We saw Santa. 
 
We played in the snow. It's been fun to show the boys some of my favorite parts of the season. 

I don't knit gifts. I have in the past, but generally find that I don't need that extra stress of finishing things on time when the recipient may not appreciate or even use the item. So I'm free of that load this year. 

An update on my shawl: I am nearing the end, and came to a point where I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to finish without running out of yarn. As an insurance, I ran a lifeline so I could easily back up should I run out. 
There are a couple ways to run a lifeline, but I prefer to use a darning needle and run it through stitches on the needle. I find there's less chance of distorting your stitches than knitting with 2 strands.  Just make sure you get through the stitches cleanly, going through all plies of the yarn. Here I used some cotton (it really should have been smaller gauge yarn, but it's what I had handy) in a contrasting color. Should I need to rip out my stitches, I can now simply remove my needles and rip away, the scrap yarn will stop the unravelling and then I can replace the stitches on the needle. Here is a shot of the lifeline a few rows in. 
I did, in this case, run out.  But after considering doing the border with a different color, I decided it would look better to keep the same yarn throughout. So I got on trusty old Ravelry and found some in a stash for sale. It arrived 2 days later and away I go. Maybe I'll even have enough leftover yarn to make a coordinating item!  

While I was waiting for yarn to arrive, I made some progress on my multicolor cardigan. I am quickly nearing the end of the last sleeve.  Next will be finishing and knitting the button band. I am somewhat anxious about the finishing process on this item, I've never done it on something with so much colorwork. It will be important to keep things lined up so the colors line up, too.  

My next project up is something to keep hands warm!  I'm looking forward to it!  

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