Stitching Status: Long Weekend Stitching

My husband went out of town for the majority of the Labor Day weekend so I had the house and dogs all to myself. I did some GRE studying and rewarded myself with lots of knitting for being so focused. I like knitting when I’m home alone, I get so much done without distractions or guilt of ignoring my husband. Plus I typically take the dogs on a long and exhaustive walk so they just want to snuggle and sleep under my works in progress while I knit away. I also took off on Friday to extend my long weekend and really just hang with the dogs and have some quiet time to myself.

I’ve been plugging away at the baby/toddler knits for friends because it’s quick and satisfying knitting. Plus once I get them all out of the way I can focus on bigger projects. And of course just as I start to catch up with my knitting I find out friends are having more babies! It’s a never ending stream of babies in my life. Whenever people ask me if I miss not having kids of my own (a question that always perplexes me when I’m asked) I always tell them no because I have an abundance of babies and friends who will happily pass a sleeping baby over to me whenever I want. This little Autumn Dress was one of my pieces I finished over the weekend for Maddie. I actually made her this piece before when she was a newborn and her Mom liked how she could make it into a top as she got bigger and asked if I’d make another one at some point. I like pairing a super bright pop with neutrals, plus this color combo reminds me a lot of my Cooldown cardigan.

I also decided to finally get started on a sweater for myself for fall’s first chilly days. Even though it’s just the first week of September and we’re going to hit 90 degrees all I week, I know fall is just around the corner. When I first learned how to knit sweaters I made my sister the Bermondsey cardigan and then I accidentally felted it but the material the yarn turned into was absolutely beautiful. The only draw back was the sleeves are slightly too short for my sister’s liking. They’re more of a bracelet length sleeve than full sleeve. But I always loved the shape and swing of that cardigan and wanted to make one for myself and I wanted to replace a black and white cardigan I owned and loved. So I ordered up some of the new KnitPicks Might Stitch Bulky and decided I would make my version black and white stripes with a bright pink border. I am a little worried about fuzz and part of me wishes I went navy and white but so far I am absolutely loving how it’s working up and have only made slight modifications to help narrow out the sleeves.

And after a couple of days off and lots of knitting to myself, my husband returned and to celebrate the end of the long weekend we took the dogs out for “ice cream” (whipped cream) at Ben & Jerry’s down at the National Harbor. We got stopped a lot with the two dogs and Jelly let every child pet her and I talked to a lot of people about adopting dogs. Overall I’d say I had a pretty great long weekend, how was yours?