Winter break projects

Northwestern University gave us the full week off between Christmas and New Years, so you know what that means. I was crocheting and knitting my hands off (almost literally).

The first set of projects were some bulky hats I made for the clothing drive at my local library. I had some extra yarn from these bulky basket sets I made, so I did mix and match hats from a pattern I've made before.

I also dropped off a scarf I didn't want (but never wore), so the clothing drive got a nice little donation from my household this year. (I even saw my stuff in the picture that the Palatine Library posted on social media!)

One of my favorite but simplest new things is a cowl to go with the hat and gloves I already knitted a few months ago. 

The hat and gloves are Playbill by Leading Men Fiber Arts, colorway Punk Rock Highlights. I did the hat in Peru and had enough left over to do the gloves. (Bought this yarn at YarnCon Chicago 2016. Love this vendor!)

I wanted to make a cowl to match, but I didn't have anything that matched these fabulous gold and pink tones. 

I found Nature Spun Sport Weight by Brown Sheep, colorway Goldenrod, in Kanawha City Yarn Co. while I was traveling for Thanksgiving. I love that store and enjoy visiting it when we see Dave's family.

I modified a plain cowl pattern to include the zig-zag that appears in the hat. Yes, I like to be matchy matchy.


Another find at Kanawha City Yarn was Malabrigo Caracol, the yarn that looks like stained glass.

I used this yarn to make a hat-scarf combo for my mother in law, although I had to get some bulky black yarn because I didn't have enough Caracol. 

One other completed object is a lacy sweater I've been working on for a long time. I found it in a Vogue Knitting crochet special issue in 2012 and fell in love. I found a lovely cream blend on KnitPicks.

I've still got to block it, but I'll post a photo to Instagram when it's done. I do know that it fits, which is a relief. It looked really big when I was making it.

I worked on two other things that I posted about on Instagram, but they aren't completed yet. The first is a glove set (one down, one to go). The second is a legwarmer set (one down, one almost down). I am really happy about both of them, especially the yarn.

One thing I learned this week, though, is that I probably can't (or shouldn't) crochet 12 hours a day for 8 days straight... I got back to work on Tuesday and was typing with claw hands. Gotta take it easy.