I finished the third bag. And yes, that’s a silly picture, but at least it’s different from the other two 😉

And then I started another small project. Simple house slippers, from this pattern. I used some leftover yellow yarn from this cowl.

Love them. So warm, so soft. So… I’m kntting another pair (still had some yellow yarn left).
I guess I like to knit things over and over again (remember Soulemama’s hat pattern?)

After I finished the first, my mother and the girls started hinting that they’d like a grocery net too. So I made another one, in white.

And since I had quite a lot of both colors left I started a third one.

I’ts kind of boring to blog about, but luckily, they’re actually quite fun to make 😉

Last week I finished my shalom cardigan. I had some trouble finding the right buttons (my mind was set on wood, but the shop didn’t have the right size), but when I sorted through my own stash I found the perfect ones. Problem solved. And I kind of love that both the yarn and the buttons are thrift shop finds, so that makes this a rather inexpensive sweater…

The pattern is based on the Shalom, but I made a lot of changes. I used thinner yarn, so thinner needles, a bigger size (cast on more stitches), buttons all the way down and I added sleeves. It came out just the way I hoped.

Since my basket seems to be bursting at its seams lately, I thought it would be fun to take a look at what’s inside.

First a finished object. I’ve always loved the crochet grocery nets that pop up on blogs regularly, but I never felt up to the challenge to make one myself. Luckily I found this knitting pattern.

I still have to test the bag in real life, but it’s amazing how much it stretches. I think I’ll make some more soon. I already have some requests by my girls  😉

Next up: a cardigan. It’s based on the Shalom pattern, but since I have thinner yarn and a bigger body than what the pattern is intended for, it will be different. I also want to be able to button it all the way down and if there is enough yarn left I’d like to add sleeves. So I guess it’s only the yoke that’s really based on the Shalom. Anyway, I think I will actually wear this one. The yarn is thrifted, but as far as I can tell it is real wool, so it will be a great warm sweater.

And then there’s this. I was browsing my own archives a few weeks ago and I found the scrap blanket that I started knitting when Amanda Soule started hers. I found pictures of it that is, since I threw it away when I thought I would never be knitting again because of the pain in my hands. Well, I am knitting again, I still love seeing her blanket every once in a while and I was also slowly accumulating some odd balls of scrap yarn, so I thought I’d start one again.

Well. that’s what’s in my basket right now, except for the little pink pouch that holds my notions and a notebook. I am itching to cast on some other projects though. I like to think that I’m a one project-at-a-time-knitter, but sometimes I seem to catch a bit of startitis. And I’m already doing that blanket on the side, so… Hmnn 😉

The receiver of the white cowl (4th picture in this post) was pleased with the design, but she stated she would use a scarf when it was really cold, since it was rather wide and therefor not suitable for colder weather.
Hmn. Okay…
So I took the challenge and used the same yarn (two threads Sparkle byZeeman and 1 thread Royal by Zeeman held together) to knit another cowl, that would be closer to her neck. My first trial involved flaps and splits, but it looked awful, so I frogged that and knit this simple ribbed one.
Mission accomplished.

She doesn’t really like how it looks though (I don’t either, but it’s practical and warm). Yesterday I saw that she solved that problem herself , by wearing the first, wider, cowl over this one, creating an even warmer cowl that looks great as well. I think she may be on to something…

Some Dutch readers told me that “drop stitch” is called  “lazy wife’s stitch” in Dutch. So what does that say about me and my cowls? Hmn.
Oh well. I did it again.
This time I used another pattern that I saw at Soulemama. It’s different because it creates waves by doing double and triple yo’s. I love how that looks.
I used one skein of Julia yarn by Zeeman on 7 mm  needles. That was all I had and it makes a scarf long enough to wear under a coat. 

Yep, hats again. I’m working through the remains of my epic cowl knitting and if you’ve been reading here before you know I love knitting hats to get rid of scraps. This was the Julia yarn (from Zeeman) that I used to knit two cowls (third picture).
To avoid running out of the yarn I kept it simple: a rib band and a round top. I could have done something more, since there is still a little bit left, but I do like these simple hats. I’m going to ask the receivers of those cowls if they’d like a matching hat. If not… well, I guess hats are like cowls. You can’t really have too many, right?

After knitting all those cowls I didn’t really feel like knitting for a few days, but on New Year’s Eve, my fingers started itching again. Seven of the cowls and the grey hat for my husband were knit from the same type of yarn (Marl Wool from Zeeman) and I guessed the leftovers were enough to make a hat.
So I cast on and started knitting. I kind of knit myself into the new year and finished it on the first of January.
I guessed right;  there was enough to make a nice slouchy hat. The very last pieces of the yarn became a pompom to finish it off.

I don’t know if I like the way it looks on me though… (it is nice and warm)

It started oh so innocent.
Inspired by this post on Soulemama, I thought: what if I made some of those drop stitch cowls for my sister and her family, as a thank you gift for hosting Christmas dinner the 26th? Four cowls in two weeks. Totally doable.
Maybe some for my parents too? Six in two weeks. I can do that.
I was working on the first one when one of my girls walked in and said: “Oh, I love that cowl.”
So I planned for three more. And a hat for my husband since he already uses a hand-knit-by-me cowl.
But if I was going to knit for the whole family, I couldn’t forget my brother and sister-in-law…

So I knit twelve cowls and a hat. That’s one cowl too many, I know. But after I finished the pink/orange one that I loved very much myself, I couldn’t link it to any one of the people on my list. So I added that one to my own collection of cowls (can’t have too many, we already established that) and started another one in a more muted color.

I’m not a knitting machine. I finished the last one after I already handed out the first ones. (That’s why there are no pictures of all cowls together.)
Stephanie’s post about knitting presents and what if you didn’t finish came right on time. You could also use words to say you love people. Brilliant. (Also, I made some peppermint bark to give and bought some flowers too – we’re not the kind of family that actually uses words to say things like that)
But I did finish in time. And it was fun.

Top two pictures: Marl wool by Zeeman – CO 66 stitches, 7mm needles, 5 repeats (the pattern says “4 more times, so a total of 5, but the original picture has 4, I decided how many to do by looking at the height of the cowl and the amount of yarn I had)
Third picture: Julia by Zeeman – CO 71 steken stitches, 7mm needles, 5 repeats
Fourth picture:  1: purple cowl –  Olga byZeeman, 8mm needles, original pattern, 4 repeats;
2: white cowl – two threads Sparkle byZeeman and 1 thread Royal by Zeeman held together), 8mm needles, original pattern, 4 repeats; 3: green/white cowl – two threads Royal by Zeeman held together, CO 66 stitches, 7mm needles, 5 repeats
Hat: Marl wool by Zeeman, 6 mm needles, own pattern (or: I just started knitting)

I love the Honey Cowl pattern. I already knew that it would be a pattern I’d make over and over again when I knit the very first one. And then I knit another and a third.

So when I found myself some beautiful yarn at a thriftshop, I immediately knew what I wanted to knit with it to show off those gorgeous colors.

Yes, I do have quite a few cowls right now (though my husband claimed the grey one). But can one really have too many beautiful handknits? I think not.