A Successful April

I thought that I would not finish April's small project. At the beginning of the month I decided that socks were a good idea as one of the designers for April was Cookie A and I have her Sock Innovation book. Cookie’s sock patterns are never simple and the one I chose was no exception with the start of round changing four times in each pattern repeat. But the good thing was the foot of the sock was all stocking stitch.

I finished the first sock within half a month but I really thought that the second one was not going to be finished on time for my arbitrary deadline. The yarn was a sight unseen fundraiser I purchased last year from Chicken Coop Dyeworks. The colourway is Rhubarb. The cable pattern ate up yarn and I used just under 75% of the skein. Before putting it away, I added a couple of rows to my crochet blanket.

 

 

There were also two other projects I really wanted to finish. One was the cardigan I started at the beginning of the year. I had finished the knitting of the sleeves and body by the end of March and blocked it at the beginning of April. All that was left was picking up stitches and knitting two front bands, picking up stitches and knitting the collar and buying and sewing on buttons. The buttons were purchased on Thursday and attached on Friday so just in time for an April finish. Except, the buttons didn’t work with the garment. So on Saturday I cut them off and sewed on different ones I had purchased in the closing down sale. The pattern is Baileys Irish Cream by Thea Coleman and the yarn is Breathless by Shalimar. A soft merino/cashmere/silk blend. Of course I’ve finished it just in time for never wearing sweaters!

 

The other project I finished was the crochet shawl I started towards the beginning of March with yarn I’d purchased in a closing down sale. As it was the beginning of the sale and the discount was only 20% I wanted to get this project started and finished as quickly as possible. The pattern is Waroo and uses four different yarns. (Although the pattern does include a 3-colour option.) The yarns I used are Hedgehog Fibers Cashmere Merino which I held double as it is a lace weight. I used all of the skein except for a small amount which I added to my crochet blanket. There was not quite enough of this yarn to complete all the rows so I used some lightweight baby yarn – probably Sirdar Snuggly – in a speckled white to work the last two rows of the first colour. (The little bit left over of this yarn was also added to the crochet blanket.) The next yarn is Elevate Fibers Deluxe Sock in the Butterscotch colourway. The last two yarns are both Alexandra The Art of Yarn Sun River. The variegated is Espresso and the last colour is Persimmon. I have not added any of the last three to my crochet blanket as I will wait to see if I want to use them in other projects.

 

 

Three projects finished; still a few on the needles. But did that stop me from starting anything new in May? Of course not! I planned my quick project but haven’t started it, I gauge swatched the sweater yarn from the previous sale and I started a project with the next purchase from the most recent closing sale. Again, it was yarn purchased for a specific project. It is an easy project so it would be nice to finish it this month even though it is not my small project.