It’s day 40 of my no yarn year, and I think I’m doing pretty well. I’m starting to work on some of the projects I’d been meaning to pick up, and I’ve been making a lot of stitch markers. A lot. You can see them here!
A fun thing happened a couple weeks when the mail came, as I got one package I expected and one I didn’t. I’m in two sock clubs this year, Bunny Sock Hop and Rockin’ Sock Club. I expected the January bunny sock hop package today because she sent them yesterday and is also in Western New York; the surprise was the Rockin’ Sock Club shipment, since I hadn’t realized it was coming yet.
The other surprise is pictured below:

Two sock clubs, two luscious red colorways? Nice.
The spinning bunny club pattern is called high bush cranberry and is beaded, so came with some really lovely bright red e beads. This one appeals to me more than the november pattern, which was called Aurora Borealis and has metallic yarn carried through it. It’s a pretty pattern, and the yarn is very nice, but the bright magenta-pink isn’t one of my favorite colors, so I put it on the back burner for now. This one is more to my liking, especially this close to imbolc.
The socks that rock pattern is called Serendipity, which doesn’t appear to be on ravelry yet either, in a bright bright colorway called Dragon Dance that I’m a little in love with. I’m excited to knit both, and am super entertained that they both came on the same day and are the same color tone.
I just made hannah from magknits, which is a super quick pattern except that I had to frog parts of it twice to make the body of the hat just a little longer. Its cozy and warm and accommodates my hair. I have a few more buttons and another skein of bulky alpaca, so I might knit another just to have one in another color. I also started the hemlock ring blanket, but frogged it this morning after getting frustrated with the pattern because it wasn’t lining up. I think part of the problem originally was the dpns I used at the start, as they’re some lion brand plastic ones I found in a clearance section, and I really dislike the tips. I’m oncall right now, so can’t leave the house, but the husband promised to pick up a pair of bamboo ones for me on his way home from ice fishing.
I’ve also been slowly working on a pair of socks in plymoth sockotta, but since they’re black and a plain rib, they can be a little boring, and as such are my carry around knitting.
About the only knitting purchases I have made recently are a ball winder and a yarn swift from joann.com with some of the discount coupons. The yarn swift came last week, but came with the end glued wrong, so there’s no way to attach it to a table. I am very sad, because I dislike winding yarn by hand and I have lots that I have waiting to be wound. It was shipped back two weeks ago Monday, and hopefully they will send me a nice shiny new one pronto. I’ve never sent anything back to joann.com before, so I hope it goes smoothly. I have lots of yarn I want wound, but that I don’t want to wind by hand! I did recieve the ball winder on though, and made sure it was good to go before I send the other one back.
I’m having a definite problem with knitting monogamy, because I keep starting projects and getting bored. Either I need to work on something big big big and force myself to do it, or work on small quick knits. As I have a shawl I need to finish for my mom, I would like to actually be able to pay attention for more than 5 minutes.
I’ve been sick for the past week, but I did work on one supposedly quick project, a headband from DROPs designs which turned out badly. I think my gauge must have been off, or the Debbie Bliss cashmerino aran wasn’t quite thick enough. I’m not going to even bother taking or posting a picture of it, because it was way too small. I’ll just frog and swatch properly this time.
In February, I need to at least get a baby bobbi bear knitted for a baby shower. I was hoping to be able to wind the yarn for it with the swift, but I may have to do it by hand so I can get started. I’d love to be able to get some other things done as well, but that will be my main goal.