Raise your hand if you want to hear about some knitting! While I haven’t done very much actual knitting recently, I have taught some knitting classes and I’ve been thinking about knitting a lot, especially the projects I had to put on hold for now. So I’ll show you those projects and tell you about the classes I’ve been teaching. Because even though my knitting has abated somewhat I’m still all involved in ALL THE KNITTING.

First how about I show The knits that I’ve been wearing in this seemingly endless cold weather streak we are having? These are my go-to hats and mittens:

The top left hat is the Baa-ble Hat. How adorable are those sheep??? (scroll to keep reading!)

Click on the pattern link to see the pattern on Ravelry. If you don’t know what Ravelry is, the best way to describe it is that it is the Facebook for knitters and crocheters. You have your own page, a sub-page with all the projects you’ve knitted, a section for keeping track of patterns you’d like to knit, chat groups you can join, pattern shops, etc. It’s pretty awesome if you are a knitter or crocheter. You think Facebook is popular? Ravelry had 3.7 million active accounts in the past year. I bet you had no idea knitting and crocheting was so popular. They have their own subculture.

The top right hat is the Hiking in the Snow hat by Laura Aylor. I love many of her patterns. This hat is so warm an toasty. And it has a pom pom for extra sass!

The bottom left hat is my go-to IYKYK (If You Know, You Know) hat, Stay Out of the Forest by Jennifer Lassonde. The sayings on the hat are from the very popular podcast My Favorite Murder (a true crime comedy podcast), which now has videos on Netflix. It’s fun to wear this hat and see if there is anyone who comments on it. I also have a t-shirt from this podcast with another saying: “This is Terrible. Keep Going.” It’s a great saying for me personally as it reminds me to keep going when things get tough. But really, the saying is referencing when co-host Karen told co-host Georgia, as Georgia is reading some horrible facts from a murder mystery, “This is terrible. Keep going,” so she could hear the rest of the facts.

Lastly the mittens are the Hot Chocolate Mittens. They are knit in a thicker, bulky wool yarn, making them extra warm and toasty!

As for this cold weather I found this funny meme somewhere on Facebook recently:

Now on to some other knitting things….

I had a lovely semi-private knitting lesson with two fun women who wanted to learn how to knit two socks at the same time using one long circular needle. This is another IYKYK. This method of knitting socks can be very efficient because you knit both socks at the same time and therefore are finished with both at the same time. For those who knit socks, you might be able to relate to “Second Sock Syndrome” which is essentially the ennui you get after you have completed one sock, knowing that you still have a whole other sock to knit. Finishing one sock feels like you are finishing the whole project, but alas that is not the case. Here is what they got done for their first session:

It doesn’t look like much, but casting on and getting the first two rows knitted helped them learn the technique. They will come back for a second session, with the leg and heel flap done, to learn about the heel technique for this method. I’ll show you the results when that happens.

You might be wondering what projects I have put on hold since my elbows have been hurting. If you weren’t wondering, you’ll get to see anyway. Ha!

Check out my work-in-progress Sailor Slippers by Annie Germain!

The current slipper I am working on is almost 15 inches long! (remote in picture for scale…?) Once I am finished knitting it, I will put it into the washer and purposely shrink it (also known as felting) to make it the correct size (about 10″ for my foot.) Felting it will make the slipper thick, durable, and toasty warm.

The next project to show you are my 2025 Advent Socks:

The Cozy Knitter dyes this self-striping yarn each year with 25 different colors. On December 1, we knit the first stripe and then one stripe every day after that until Christmas. It’s fun and you get a pair of socks by Christmas. Except for me. I always take a while after I’ve knit the 25 stripes to finish the heels and the cuffs and the weaving in of the ends. I’ll tell you a secret: I never wove in the ends of my 2024 Advent socks. I wear them all the time and nothing has unraveled, so they are likely going to stay that way!

I’m also working on Elf-burgh by Ysolda Teague.

This is an adorable elfin cap. I have barely started it but I am using a self-striping yarn in some pretty colors. This will be a double-thick hat and has an interesting technique to do that. I’ll show you more as my project progresses. This pattern is written for many sizes, babies to adult, but honestly I really just prefer the look of it on babies or toddlers.

I do have ONE finished project to show you! I completed this Fair + Square Washcloth by Purl Soho (free pattern!) for my mother-in-law who uses them to wash dishes. This one was fun to knit because it is knit from the outer edge to the middle and includes a little hanging loop.

Whew! What do you think of all that? Let me know in the comments!

Coming up this weekend, I’m teaching two classes at The Spinning Room in Altamont, NY. The second of three sessions for the My Jose Hood (the coziest, warmest hood/scarf) and the Buttress Hat (knit in the brioche technique – not the bread, the knitting stitch.) I’ll take pictures and show you those in another post.

In the mean time, please enjoy this cute picture of my friend’s rescue pup Posie (with her adorable bat ears!)