Fall has arrived. The weather is cooling, the leaves are subtly changing colors, and my nose is running for the hills, literally. My minor yet extremely annoying allergies are back again to haunt me for the next few weeks, if I am so lucky to escape the misery of three months of fall. Nevertheless, my hasty escape from nature to nigh indoor solitude offers plenty of pleasant opportunities to pick up my knitting and tackle my apparent stack of Christmas presents before the holiday draws too near.
I’ve been able to breeze through quite a bit of knitting over the past two weeks while nigh constantly blowing my nose or unsuccessfully stifling a sneeze. My Spring Cardigan, named only for the colors, is nigh complete. Since the last I wrote, I have been able to finish all, but the two button bands. The first is nearly halfway finished while the second has yet to be touched. I have yet to get and/or make the buttons, if I so desire and have time. My hope is to incorporate a bit of yellow into the buttons to live it up even more and add more of a spring feel.
In the meanwhile, I picked up the sweater of doom again, aka the sweater for mom that is almost a year late in the making also called the Braided Riding Jacket. I frogged the previous sleeves since the wrap pattern was too time consuming for my busy schedule and have started reworking them into a suitable seed stitch pattern. It’s been two days and already I have twice as much complete as the wrap stitch took me in two weeks. How I better love this design! The sleeves look superb so far and hopefully will continue so, especially since I have to modify somewhat the design and fit. I dearly hope this sweater will be complete by, if not before, Christmas. It has been sitting in my I'll-knit-it-later-if-I-ever-get-around-to-it pile for far too long.
Finally, it seems I have happily acquired a host of new knitting projects, most of which being Christmas presents for family and friends. My younger sister has insisted that I make a pair of thigh-high stockings for her Christmas present, after I showed her a favored pattern of mine. From the appearance of the pattern, the stockings should neither be too difficult nor time consuming, though I have been wrong before such as with the afore mentioned pattern. Time will tell if my prediction is correct once, that is, I get the materials, namely needles. As of late, I only have two, possibly three, other knitted presents to make. One friend has requested a sweater, a lovely choice on her part I might add while another has requested a hat, which should not be difficult to complete in the least, and the possible third has yet to choose an item. Sometimes it proves very difficult to pick the perfect knitted item, as all knitters know far too well.
To finish this post, there have been a few ladies at church and otherwise who have shown interest in my knitting and commission work, a few have even inquired a commission or two. As providence would have it, it seems that I may have a small knitting job the end of the month. It seems a lady from church would like to commission a baby outfit of some sort, I have yet to learn what the actual item might be, if her daughter is to have a baby girl. I’m rather excited at the moment as I dearly need the income and business opportunity. I also find it a great privilege to potentially be able to help a new family in that manner. It truly is exciting! The deal is still up in the air and many aspects have yet to be discussed, but come near the end of the month I may be one less job short of broke.
