The season is changing and so is my mind

The season is starting to change and that, for me, means that snow and cold weather is coming.  Probably sooner rather than later.  Autumn is my favourite time of year and colder weather gives me lots of excuses (as if I needed any) to wear my warm and woolies.

I have so many projects on my mind right now. I am days away from starting a mystery lace shawl KAL. I'm excited about it BUT it is easy to mentally put aside a project where you don't know the end result. I am going to try to keep up with the clues but knitting 800 yds of lace in a month may be a little much for me. I just need to get started before I get completely distracted with other things.

I had also promised to knit Finn a sweater. His project is technically first in the queue. We finally have the right yarn and have found the picture of the skull he wants- the skull from The Punisher. The real problem is that if I make this Scott will want one too.

Now I just need to make a chart for this!

So what else is on my mind and in my queue:

1. Cabled Canuck by Tanis Lavallee.  I belong to Tanis' Year in Colour yarn club. I just received my September yarn and it is gorgeous! She provides yarn, in this case her Orange Label Cashmere/Silk Worsted (yummy!) and the pattern. The pattern she sent is also a lovely cabled hat but I like this one better. This hat is going to look absolutely gorgeous in the Mosaic colourway.



Photo Courtesy of Tanis Lavallee of
Tanis Fiber Arts



2. The Lonely Tree Shawl by Silia Bo Bilivia. I really like this worsted weight shawl. I imagine it wrapped around my neck in a bold, yet subdued colour that accents my grey winter coat. It also could be one of those shawls that works well wrapped around or on top of your seasonal coat.

Photo Courtesy of Silivia Bo Bilivia

3. Love Potion by Nadia Crétin-Léchenne. This woman designs fabulous cardigans. (She also designed my Early Evening Cardigan, known to the rest of the world as the Miss Marple Cardigan.) This looks like the kind of cardigan you could live in. Warm and snugly yet stylish and chic. I like the detail of the icord for contrast. (That being said right now when I am not in the throws of knitting 2 miles of attached icord.)

Photo courtesy of Nadia Cretin- Lechenne.

4. Trellis by Lili Comme Tout. If I were inclined to knit a fingering weight cardigan right now, which I might be, this is the one I would make. I may have already ordered a sweater's worth of Hazel Knits, Entice yarn in their new Halloween colourway BooKnits (a Gothic dark purple); but that may just be a unseemly rumour that is being spread by my husband. I love the lace detail on the front. I love the simplicity of the design. A really dark purple seems to be my colour focus this fall. It is a good neutral for me and not too far away from my favourite blacks and greys. I'm already imagining knitting this and have decided that I will knit this as a faux cardigan- it won't really open although I will add the buttons. I think that I would wear this piece closed so as to better show off the lace detail.

Photo courtesy of Lili Comme Tout.
(BTW: I love her play on words.)

Just one more and because mittens are never too far from my mind...

5. Warm Hearted Mittens by Rose Hiver. I am fascinated by stranded colour work right now. I found that I really enjoyed my first pair and I am anxious to do more. As above I may have bought a shit load of fingering and DK weight yarns to make mittens this winter. Those who can see my stash on Ravelry- not my husband!- can see that I am becoming a bit of a hoarder for this type of yarn. I definitely see another pair of colour work mittens in my future; maybe these ones. LOVE them!

Photo courtesy of Rose Hiver.
Pattern can be found in newest issue of Knitty, Fall 2013, for FREE!

So what are you knitting these days?

A bad case of quickly changing knitting priorities

I've been planning my next  hundred couple projects even though a have a few (only 5) projects on the needles already. I have found a hundred few new projects that really excite me and I am ... ahem, sorry, I seem to have a bad case of queue-itis (it is so a word) right now.

Apparently, I am not one to have my queue set in stone. I would think that I would be a seasonal knitter. Coming into the summer months I am trying to look at smaller projects, like socks and mittens, but my attention keeps coming back to the sweaters. The voice in my head whispers that I could quite realistically have one or maybe two of the items on my queue done before fall. I am trying to be assertive when I tell her to shut up and to focus on our current WIP but still my eyes wander.

If I want to have my knitting priorities to be set in stone I had REALLY better stop looking at new knitting publications and on Ravelry.
Here's what's on my mind and in my queue these days:

1. Pont Neuf, design by Emily Wessel and found in Twist Collective Spring/Summer 2013. I LOVE this sweater!!  I am not usually one to choose such a fitted and feminine sweater (never mind the buttons, eek) but this one is gorgeous. You had me at the lace front panel and my heart was stuck at the 3/4 length sleeves.  I love the cheeky and peek lace. 

Photo Credit: Twist collective spring/summer 2013

2. Robin, design by Josee Paquin, published in UandIKnit and downloadable on Ravelry .  This is much more my style. I could wear this with everything I own! It is a loose fitting and comfortable sweatshirt style sweater with details that allow you to hint at some shape underneath. I love the ballet neckline and the scoop  in the back that will cover my bottom.  I am also really drawn to stripes right now.

Photo credit: Josee Paquin, Ravelry



3. Humbolt Raglan, design by Alexandra Virgiel and found in Knitscene Spring 2013. Again much more my style. This is a simple sweater with a lovely lace detailing on the front that allows for that flirty peek of lace camisole beneath. I have bought the yarn already for this one already as it immediately jumped to the head of my queue right after I bought this magazine. I bought Berroco Vintage, DK, in a hot pink.

Photo credit: Knitscene Magazine

and just one more:

4. Maybe this will be the next Birthday Mitten for my sister. These are the How Cold Is It? mittens, designed by Drunk Girl Designs and available on Ravelry and on here on Etsy.com. These are fabulous, hilarious, and crude. Just like me... and my sister. So perfect all around.

Photo Credit: Drunk Girls Designs

 What's in your queue right now? Are you a seasonal knitter?