January 1st 2018 WiP Parade

Another month has come and gone yet again. I'm looking forward to January because it tends to be a slow moving month for me. Every month has the same amount of days give or take but some just speed right by.

I was able to add 34 little 2" squares to my mitre square blanket in December. I found a new morning rhythm. I knit one square each morning while listening to an audio book. I have more "reading" time and more knitting time. I also find it a very relaxing way to start my day. Now if I can just get hubby and the animals to leave me alone for that hour or so in the morning. 

Some people like to block their blankets periodically but I'm not sure when I will block it. If I wait until it's all done then it will be huge and harder to block. If I block as I go then I wonder if the blocking will "set" or will I still need to block it again later? It's getting rolled or folded each time I work on it and "jammed" back into the project bag when done. It's bound to get out of shape again. Knowing me, I'll leave it until the end and even then I might or might not block it lol.

Each block is made from fingering or sock weight yarn but depending on the yarn base it could be thicker or thinner than the square next to it. I'm planning on adding some borders so I figure it will work itself out in the end. If not? Who cares? It's blanket. 

I've picked out my next bunch of minis to go into the blanket. Some of them are so pretty and I would love to knit socks out of many of them. A few of these are from socks I've knit for Robbie and I.

I've spent a little more time on my red, white, and blue hexies. This week I am adding the white trails or paths. If you're interested in seeing how I make my hexies I've been working on a video series over on my YouTube channel RsIslandCrafts - Robin.

I made very little progress on my red, white, and blue (notice a theme this month? lol) scarf. I was planning on taking this with me to my son's 2 hour doctor's appointment but it ended up getting rescheduled and I just never picked it up.

One of my Facebook friends sent me the below picture and asked if I could make her a purple version of this hat. I didn't come across a pattern but I recognized the stitch as seed stitch so I played around with the stitch count until I thought I had it right. Nope. I had to make the ear flaps several times until they looked right. Then after I knit the main body of the hat for 5" I could try on the hat and realized it was way too big. Bummer. I frogged the hat portion and played with the numbers a bit and now I'm happy. I'm back to the 5" mark and I just have to knit to 8.5" and then I can start the decreases. 

You may have noticed that there are no socks in this WiP Parade. I decided that after I finished Robbie's latest pair that I would hold off on casting on another pair until a few days into January. I need to to get the purple cat hat off the needles first and then I will cast on a new pair of socks.

I am carrying over several projects into 2018 but I'm okay with that. I like the idea of having a fresh start for the new year but that's only because then I can start several new projects lol. 

Are you starting the New Year with clear needles and empty wip containers?