Knitting weather

The temperatures are falling, along with the humidity levels around here, and because of it, I am finally getting in the mood to knit!

I had stalled out on this sweater for my younger son, and it sat in a bag all summer long, so close to done, but I just didn't feel like sitting with a pile of wool in my lap this summer. Last night, with the cool air blowing through the house, was a perfect knitting night. I put on a good murder mystery from the DVR, poured myself a glass of wine, and pulled out the knitting projects. I'd really like to finish up this sweater for my son before it gets really cold so that he'll have a chance to wear it this year. I had him try it on to check body and sleeve length. Body length is perfect, and I actually had to pull out about an inch and a half of the sleeve to get it to the right length for him. The red part at the bottom of the sleeve is actually a hem and will be hidden inside the sleeve, but I think it's a nice detail.

While I was paying attention to my son while he tried on the sweater-in-progress, the cat took advantage of the situation and wandered over to the side table where my wine glass was perched, and proceeded to knock it over, right into the knitting bag. As my daughter told me (by text), it was my own fault for not paying complete attention to the cat. The cat has been very needy since my daughter left for college. Luckily, wine can be easily blotted from the balls of wool, but my knitting bag and my circular needle holder are a little sticky and need a good washing. It's a great excuse to organize my knitting projects and tools, especially since dear husband will be out of town all week, and won't be here to complain about the mess of knitting paraphernalia. 

Even before the cat spilled the wine into my knitting bag, providing the need for a reorganization of the knitting stash and projects, I had been planning to make a concerted effort to finish up projects that have been languishing (for years, even decades!). I've already been making great efforts to knit from stash yarn and not buy anything new, but I think I need to step it up a bit. Time to log in all the unfinished projects and either finish them up or frog them and reuse the yarn for something else. When I start pulling out all the works in progress, the number is rather sobering. 

For today I'm going to focus on finishing this sweater for the younger son, and then I'll start pulling out more WIPs (works in progress) and see what I can finish up by the end of the year. Wish me luck.

Shelley in CT