Happy Sunday, and if you’re in the US, happy Labor Day weekend! Today I’m sharing a Year of Projects update. YoP is a great group of bloggers who plan projects for the year and share progress each week. I joined a little late this year, but so far I’m enjoying my looser plan.
I made a lot of great progress this week in a bunch of different areas. My next big project will be a baby blanket for a friend, but I am getting yarn tomorrow, so I had some time this week. As I said Friday, I did a bunch of blanket square knitting and now I’m a quarter of the way through the project! I’ve also been working a bit on two socks – the Ace Pride socks as well as a new test knit called the Twist and Shout socks. They’re fun little shorty socks that use different CCs for the cuff, heels, and toes so they’re great for using up leftovers. I started those yesterday, there’s taking a current break due to some errors in the pattern, but I hope to finish them off this week.
I have also been working a bit on my Grandma. This will definitely be a long term project. It’s really satisfying to see this come together, but a bit tedious to make. Yesterday I figured out I could do some carrying along of the yarn not being used, so there isn’t an end every sing time (the back of this shawl is hiding many, many ends). But that means that you have to carry it along which adds to the time, both to do the actual carrying and then to keep untwisting the yarn. So I’m moving a bit slowly with this. It’s good and bad that you can kind of stop after any square, I have my stitch counts by square, so I don’t feel like I need to get to the end of the row every day. But that also means that I don’t finish rows sometimes which makes it feels like it takes longer.
Life is pretty good outside of the knitting front. This week I got a new car! It’s really pretty and it’s a hybrid and I love it. Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous so I spent the afternoon at a brewery starting my socks and enjoying some live music. I’ve also been enjoying a lot of tennis as the US Open is happening, and today I hung some new artwork on the walls which definitely adds a lot to my living room space!
Interesting art. Congrats on your new ride and YAY for hybrids. We got the new Rav-4 and it’s nice to get 40+ miles of charge before it switches to gas. Last time we had a new car was in 2012 and it’s fun to have so much technology as Waze is my navigator and Spotify plays my jams.
The Rav4 would have been my second choice, but it was a little too big for me. I got my last car in 2016 but it was a 2012, so the technology is definitely a huge upgrade!
Love, love, love your artwork. Are they special artists to you?
So many socks… but you are a fast knitter. Grandma looks great. Is that mohair?
A new car… I’m so jealous. I just sold mine to my son’s girlfriend so I’m in the market. But this old lady wants a sports car – Mazda Miata please.
The 3 pieces along the back wall were given to me by a really good friend and was made by their boss. The small painting of the arch was passed around from office to office and I got it recently since we’re moving to an open floorplan and we had to all clean out our desks.
Grandma is single ply so it’s a little halo-y but no mohair.
Congrats on your new car. We love our hybrid Sonata we got in December. Almost 50 MPH most of the time. Your art work is cool. Really adds some personality to your living room. Love contrasting cuffs, heels and toes on socks. Gives them a bit more oomph.
Nice, this is the Niro and so far that’s about what I’m getting so far, especially since I mostly drive in the city.
Yeah I’m excited about the socks, I think they will look really cool!
The socks look lovely. There is something so uplifting about socks made from leftovers, they’re so quirky and fun.
Congratulations on your new car! The artwork looks great in your living room – very nice additions! And your knitting projects look wonderful, as always. Grandma is really interesting looking – love it!
I really love the colours you picked for the testknit, they are going to look amazing! Love how the ace socks are coming along as well – and the shawl will be AB-SO-LUTE-LY stunning when it’s done!
Also – YEAH for the Hybrid! Which type of car did you get? (I’m sorry, I didn’t recognise the brand) – we have a Toyota Yaris and Philipp is super happy with it. 🙂 (I haven’t driven it, but I really like it too). I really admire that you have redecorated your living space, by the way – we haven’t even hung all the pictures up, but ahem, it’s only been six years since we’ve been living here … I mean … er …
I got the Kia Niro!
Haha yeah… there’s definitely still stuff I want to do around the house but I’ll get to it eventually 😂
That top picture – the one with all the sock yarn – makes me SO HAPPY! And your Grandma looks like it’s going to be a lot of fun.
Congrats on the new car! It is sparkly and gorgeous!! We’re starting to save for Matthew’s 40th birthday — he wants the new electric Ford truck!
Yikes – I think my comment disappeared – sorry if you get two of these 🙂
I love that top picture with all the sock yarn – so pretty! And I’m excited to watch your Grandma grow!
Congrats on the new car! It’s sparkly and gorgeous. We’re starting to save for Matt’s 40th birthday in a couple of years… he wants to get the new electric Ford truck!
Great artwork – it looks really nice! Fun to see your progress on current projects, especially the entrelac one. That’s going to be amazing when it’s finished!
Congrats on the new car!
I love entrelac projects, but agree on the frustration I feel when past-me has stopped in the middle of a row because it’s so easy to do that. It really does make it feel like the project takes a lot longer to do. Though, being able to knit backwards helps, so that you don’t have to turn the work as frequently.
I learned a little bit for a project I did that had small little short rows, but I think I need to look into it again. The challenge will be to see if it’s possible to purl backwards on the WS rows.
I forget how to do it every time I learn, honestly. But it’s fast enough to pick back up when I have an entrelac project that would benefit from it.
Adding my congrats on getting a new car, the style and color are beautiful! Enjoy it!
Lovely artwork, I like that you get a chance to hang them and make your space more special than the prints being tossed in the trash,
The socks look great! (the ACE ones and the test ones) The Grandma Shawl does look like a BIG project! Way to pick it up and make some progress.
I like your new car! Getting an upgrade always feels good. I hope this week’s weather is equally enjoyable and you have more opportunities to enjoy the outdoors.
I’m not sure how I missed this last week, anyway I love the purpleness that’s going on. Your new car looks so shiny and new, exciting…any road trips planned in it? The pictures look great, I always think they make a big difference and our walls all have hung pictures, even the utility room (laundry room). I watched the tennis last night, I don’t usually watch it and think the last time I watched a full match was in 1980 or 1982 Wimbledon final with John McEnroe and Jimmy Connors. I enjoyed the match but wouldn’t be surprised if another 40 years goes by before I watch another. Emma did great though, what an achievement at 19 years old.
Yes, I’m going to Lake Placid, which is about 4 hours away, at the end of this month!
It was an amazing match! I loved watching those two teenagers
Lovely new car – I’m about to change mine as well to some form of Toyota! Your shawl is looking gorgeous and well worth the time input. I watched the final last night as the first tennis I have watched for ages.