days #12, #13, and #14: 30 + 1 handknits...

without meaning to, i managed to wear three items i knitted almost exactly a year apart each. forcing yourself to wear - and appreciate - things that you made with your own two hands, especially things you frequently overlook, is a really great exercise in creativity and valuing your own work. being able to keep yourself warm via your hands, two needles, and a bunch of yarn is a pretty amazing thing, all in all.

mostly, though, it makes me want to get chickens. and a goat. and maybe a few sheep. and generally just support myself with my own two hands as much as possible. i know, i know, i'm a freaking hippy, but, hey, that's what handmade is all about.

day #12: February Lady Sweater by pamela wynn, completed in september 2008. this pattern was simply lovely, and monday was definitely a flannel shirt, wool sweater kind of day: such a very cold morning, followed by a very gray day.


this is also a "two-fer" - check out that handknitted, bobbly cowl, keeping my sad little neck warm.

day #13: oscar the grouch sweater (personal pattern), completed in september 2009. i brought this yarn on super sale, intending to make a toxic-sludge looking scarf of some sort. i tried and i tried, but it kept looking straight up fugg and not at all ugly-cute. so then it became a fuzzy little sweater instead! ah, the life of a skein of yarn.




i don't remember what prompted the belly laughs, but it was awesome, i'm sure.


day #14: the leftovers sweater (personal pattern), completed in october 2010. another simple sweater out of my own head, this one features dropped stitch, open ribbing around the waistline. i knitted this whole thing using leftover yarn from other projects - thus, the name. there's something terribly pleasing about not having to buy anything to make a sweater (although it also speaks to how much yarn i have in my stash - i.e. too much).





also, boombox likes leaps:

make a gif at gickr.com