Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Yarn Along: New Year's Edition




 I have neglected my blog almost all of December. It's been a rough month. I never took into consideration that having Walking Pneumonia would really slow me down. The last time I managed to get a blog post up it was December 5th. If you go and look at my previous post, you can see where I was on this dress on the 5th. I had just started this dress for my friend's daughter. I managed to finish the dress on Christmas Eve. It isn't a difficult dress, but I still I amazed myself by actually getting it done in less than two weeks with all the other demands of the season.
Last night, I sat down to work on my Mini Mochi Fair Isle Hat. I'm not using Mini Mochi yarn, but some fingering yarns from Knit Picks. This isn't the greatest picture, but the lighter color morphs (Knit Picks Chroma Fingering) slowly from light green to darker green and the other color is a very dark green called Midnight Heather. I can't help it, but I'm swayed by exciting color names. I'm making this hat for a friend as I am usually knitting for someone else. I enjoy this easy diamond pattern and I think the end result will be delightful especially when the lighter green gets darker. At the moment, I made a mistake in row 6 of the pattern and I have to un-knit almost a whole round. So, I put my knitting down and decided to blog!

As for reading, I'm currently reading:

How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character

It's an interesting look at how it takes more than cognitive ability to succeed. There's much more to the intelligence picture than just smarts. Character matters.

Happy New Year, friends. I'm looking forward to an adventure-filled 2013.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a great dress...very pretty!

Anonymous said...

Hi! You don't know me but I stumbled apon your blog sometime last year while looking for inspiration from other Catholic mothers. I feel weird reading when you don't know I am here so I thought I should introduce myself.
I also wanted to thank you for inspiring me to learn how to knit. :-) I've always admired, and love to wear, knitted things but never really expected to want to, let alone actually learn how to knit.
Seeing all the beautiful things you have been knitting and how passionate you are about it, all while homeschooling and raising a family, started to take an effect in me. So when I learned that my grandmother, who just recently moved close by, knew how to knit I asked her to teach me. But one thing or another prevented us from meeting for a lesson (mostly sick kids) so after buying some yarn and needles I couldn't wait any longer to start working with the pretty things so I pulled up a few YouTube videos and learned to cast on, the knit stitch, an increase and a bind off, and made a dish towel! I was hooked and within the next few months I have gradually learned a bit more here and there. My knitted things aren't beautiful but I'm having fun and there really is something therapeutic about knitting. I hope that with practice and time I can eventually knit things as lovely as you show here on your blog.
You have a beautiful family. I have three sons and a daughter under 6. Life can be awfully hard and stressful sometimes, even while being completely perfect in every way. Being a wife and mother is what makes life so wonderful, yet at the same time, it can be quite stressful. :-D I think it is a cross, very lovingly-given to us by Our Lord, and we really just need to ask Our Lady for her help with our struggles.
God bless you and your's. I hope you have a speedy recovery from pneumonia.