Winter Woollies

It's been insanely crispy cold out lately. Or at least in my neck of the woods. I'm just blocks away from the ocean and so the cold air just sticks to you. The past few times that the Munchkin and I were at the park kicking around on the playground it hit me just how cold it really, really was. So cold that the Munchkin wanted to leave and go straight home...and this is a kid that I thought was impervious to temperature and wants nothing more but to be outside 24/7! This past weekend was no different. We barely left the house! Although, it didn't help that the heaters in the house weren't working (um...yeah, I should've looked at the breaker box...ahem!) and it felt just as cold inside as outside. You bet I was bundled up from head to toe!

So of course I've been thinking about nothing but knitting warm woollies for me and the family as of late. More specifically, warm AND quick woollies. The Munchkin still refuses to wear the Thorpe that I made for him last month, so I'm not so sure if I want to keep knitting for him just yet. He's still in this phase where he's being extremely picky about what clothes he wears. He seriously has to inspect the graphics before he will even consider wearing it, and of course it's all about the colour...if it's not red, blue, or green, this kid ain't gonna wear it! I decided that until he wears the Thorpe I'm going to hold off on knitting him anything else (even though I had started a few other projects for him before the Thorpe). As for Brett, well...I still need to even swatch for the cardigan that he requested for a Christmas present. He needs a warm hat too. The Turn A Square hat that I had knit for him last year is kinda out of commission...as in a thin part of the thick and thin Noro that I had used had snapped and now two stitches are missing. The yarn that I had used is "sticky" enough that the hat itself hasn't unraveled at all. But I don't want to be around when it does. Having my knitting unravel/fall apart is one of my worse knitting fears! I still have a lot of Noro in the stash, so I'm thinking of making him another Turn A Square. Although, I also have some Knit Picks Chroma Worsted in the stash too that I have no idea what I'm going to do with, so I just might give that yarn a try.

Of course, I've also been thinking a ton about warm woollies for myself. I've been wearing my new Owls sweater practically every time I leave the house ever since it came off the blocking mats, and sporting my Georgia around the house (how could I not? It's made of yummy MCN after all!). Even though I have a few cardigans on the needles already I decided to ditch them for now, in favour of bulkier and quicker sweater knits. One of those bulkier quick knits is actually almost finished. Here's a hint: it's a Jane Richmond pattern. I'm actually quite surprised that this one is almost done considering that I haven't really been able to knit much lately (we're talking maybe a few stitches here and there each day, with actual knitting time last Friday when I went to knit night). I also finished a cute cowl last week and have been wearing it around the house (it's also a Jane Richmond pattern). Hopefully I'll be able to get around to blogging about them this week. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to finish this bulky knit and have it blocked and ready to wear before the week is over. I'm just dying to wear it! It's going to be so lush and cozy!

For now though, I have to concentrate on spending time with my sewing machine so that I can update my shop in time for holiday shopping. My downstairs neighbour has been away on holiday for the past week and so I've been up until at least 3am every night since, either sewing or cutting fabric. Such late work times wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to wake up at 7:15am every morning when the Munchkin wakes up. I'm thinking I'm going to have to give myself a night off and try to catch up on some sleep! This same neighbour is back home now, but was super kind enough to tell me that she'll be working a lot of night shifts this week so I'll be able to keep working throughout the night.

On that note, I should get all my day time stuff done so I have nothing to worry about tonight! If you don't hear from me in a while, I've probably fallen into a sleep coma.

Have a crafty week!