Girl, Finish it February Rocked! I feel like I made that month my bitch in every way possible. It is my birthday month, it is your birthday month, and all of the knitting took place. I finished two sweaters and a hood and then cast on and finished a sweater all in one month. You will notice that I have no Works in progress listed below, and the only New cast on that I had in February, was also finished in February. It was crazy!
Finished objects:
The Zipper Sweater by PetiteKnit. This is fabulous and I love her. You can see in this picture that one sleeve is slightly shorter than the other, but I am not mad at her. There is a separate post for this project but Oh I Love It So Much!
The Harris Hood by Cheryl Mokhtari. Again, there is a separate post for this. It didn’t turn out how I wanted, but look at the gorgeous fabric that yarn created!
The Weekender by Andrea Mowry. There will be a separate post about this shortly. I am really happy with this sweater. I love the dark side of the moon vibes of the rainbow paired with black.
No Frills Sweater by PetiteKnit. A separate post will be coming shortly. I am a die hard Flax Sweater pattern fan for basic sweaters, but this pattern could change me. I really like the pattern/ yarn combination. This sweater took me fifteen days to knit from cast on to bind off!
Goals for next month:
Figure out the Knitting My Memories revamp pattern
Crank a sock tube
Find projects for Mend it March
Cast on Mother’s Day gift for the Mother
February was short, but man she was packed. I am not sure what got into me, but I just wanted to knit and work on all the things. The Zipper Sweater was kind of a cheat, because I only had to sew in the zipper and tack down the facing to call it complete. I knit the entire body in the month of January, so all of the lengthy work was done. The Weekender was a passion project and I had no business casting on the yarn that I just purchased, while my stash yarn glared at me from across the room. I love it so much, though. And technically, I still used stash for the black yarns. The Harris Hood shouldn’t have taken me as long as it did. I could have knit that in a day. The only reason she was put in time out is because I couldn’t be bothered for find the specific set of needles that I needed to continue. The project was lovely, but the product was a flop. The Zipper and the Hood used such beautiful, squishy yarns that I wanted to continue the trend. I got a wild hair to use up more of my sweater stash and knit something gorgeous. So I paired mohair silk with merino lace weight and got the lightest, most fuzzy and dreamy sweater. The Husband said hugging me when I wear it is like snuggling a lovey. I am very happy to report that even though I was knitting like a crazy lady, my wrists and elbows did just fine. I made it a point to knit slow and steady and not do any hand cramping gages that would cause problems. After I finished No Frills I hit kind of a studder-step. That was it, I had no more works in progress and nothing more to work on. I felt accomplished and deflated all at once. The weather has warmed up, ridiculously early, and it has me thinking of Spring and warm weather knits. I need to start planning a Mother’s Day knit for the Mother. I am leaning toward the Lace Tee by Annie Lupton. I have knit that before, and don’t remember it being terribly difficult. I will need to use thinner yarn and add length. I ended up gifting the first one to Sister #1, because it was too cropped and looked very blocky on me. She is taller and tends to be more slender, so it worked better on her. If not that top, I may cast on another Rota Top for her. The only issue with that top is that she has scars and it bothers her to have them on display. And lastly, I need to figure out what I am going to do with my scrap blanket project. I did order an enormous cone of white/ natural fingering weight superwash and it has arrived. I know that my plan is to hold it double with my scraps to make the fabric thicker. I know that I want it to have the same effect as my recent Weekender as far as being a neutral rainbow. What I don’t know is what pattern I am going to follow. I can very easily cast on using the Knitting My Memories pattern that I already have written down. I can find an existing pattern, like the Granny Striped blanket (I can figure out that crochet pattern). I could also try my new circular knitting machine and knitting long tubes or smaller squares and patchworking them together. This would create a fabulous, double- double layer blanket that would be amazingly warm and cozy. Another horrible and intrusive thought that I had was to go through all of the scrap yarn and pull out any that could be cranked on the CSM, that I have yet to pull back out of the box and learn to use. I hate when my mind tries to make order of my mess. Hate it.
The month of February was fabulous. There is no other way to describe it. It started with an evening with my work peeps having dinner and drinks. We had good food and good chat. The following night was ladies dinner out with the McC ladies. I miss my friend so much and need to do better about getting together with her at least monthly. The little ladies had a wonderful catch up too. The next weekend was my pre-birthday weekend and the O’s came to be decadent and relaxed. We had the best weekend. The Husband did it proper. We had snack dinner the first night. We had his special lasagna the second night. We had delightful brunch and snacks and all of the amazing things. We had beverages and jammies and chatting. I couldn’t have asked for a better weekend. I bought myself some yarn and the 40-stitch circular knitting machine. PassioKnit Kelsey uses hers to crank ear warmers, and that gave me ideas for charity and gift knits. It may also work for the aforementioned Knitting My Memories revamp. Oh, and the Husband bought me the glass mannequin head that has been on my wish list for eons. She has a proud place on my bookcase in the bonus room. Once the O’s left we did more relaxing and got Feebs ready to start her week. I took my birthday off of work and spent it with the Mother. We had a lovely breakfast and did a tiny bit of shopping. I took a lovely nap, then we had a scrumptious meal at my favorite Pakistani restaurant. We then had the ladies over and enjoyed my favorite cornmeal pineapple upside down cake. I am 45 now. I used to get very anxious about my age, but after the hell that was 2024, I am grateful for every year that I am here. I will take them all as long as I can be healthy and happy and safe. I spent the week trying to get caught up at work, which is always a losing battle. I don’t know if I should really put this on the internet, but since this is a log of my life I suppose it’s okay to say: Feebs started her period. I was one sad mama. It seems too soon for such things, but I don’t control the world. She handled it great, though and breezed through the transition. That week I got my taxes done and for the first time in years, I don’t owe federal. So, hooray! That weekend, the Mother and I started to hull out the mess that was her garage. We made good headway and also got her kitchen cabinets in place. Her kitchen may finally be done at some point in this decade. We did a lot of work and had fun spending time together on a project. I am very lucky that we are able to work well together. Somewhere along the way (before the work weekend) I managed to trigger my sciatica. I was in pain for three weeks of February, and it sucked. I also think I made it worse by sitting too much over the weekend, then much worse for sitting the following two days during treatment. My treatment went well, but my whole lower left side has been kicking my will to live. I do entirely too much sitting and need to take the pressure off of whatever is broken in my spine/ nerves. I even had to do five days of Prednisone, which is always an adventure. The pain is still there, even as I type this, but will hopefully be on it’s way out soon. The following weekend, Feebs and I went to the Father’s house. We spent a lot of time playing games and Feebs and the Father were pretty much neck in neck in the scoring races. I did terribly the whole weekend, but I love watching them interact. I love that she enjoys playing the games I grew up on. We also got to see Sister #2 for dinner on the last night of the month. The Father had a previously scheduled engagement and we were on our own. We got to see her oldest’s new house. I am so impressed! It has a lot of work to be done, but damn, not bad for the first home of a 25 year old single guy. And then the month was over, on to March we go.
Look at my Bingo Card!!!
I am so grateful for another year for me, and another year for you, darling. We have been through some shit, and I am so grateful for our 4 years together. I am grateful for a husband that doesn’t just say he loves me, but shows it in all the best ways. I am grateful for Feebs and her every changing personhood. I am grateful for family, both blood and chosen, that love me and come together to celebrate me. I am grateful for a work family that likes to get together and let down our hair. I am so grateful for my life and all that comes with it. I already know that March is going to be jammed packed, but I am hopeful that it will be just as good as February.
Loves,
M
Mrs. Collins Makes Stuff 