I wasn’t comfortable calling myself a garment knitter until I knit something I actually wear. (I knit one lone sweater several years ago, but I don’t find it especially well done or flattering so it’s never seen the light of day.)
NOW
FINALLY
I am a garment knitter.
pls ignore no makeup and toothpaste on my bathroom mirror
Perfect Knit T-Shirt by Kaitlin Barthold / Originally Lovely. A simple and classic raglan style t-shirt with a shaped neckline and slightly relaxed fit. I knit this in Lion Brand Coboo in colorway 135 / Terracotta. It’s a super comfortable and soft fabric with nice drape and I’m so happy with it that I purchased more Coboo in a neutral colorway to knit a second one at some point.
Last week was a lot of beautiful outdoor time – hours at our neighborhood pool club reading ‘Wedding People’ and ‘Villa Coco’ and ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ on my Kindle (all of these have been very different yet satisfying reads – and “Mongo is appalled!” – iykyk), miles of brilliant blue sky and sun, more reading on the front porch with the evening light sliding down over the hydrangeas and our hanging fern baskets, weeding the hostas and setting up the new river stone birdbath and photographing Brandon’s family lilies.
This week – not so much.
I’m sure everyone with a news app (or eyeballs) is aware of the Canadian wildfires which are sending smoke plumes across a wide swathe of the US. In Detroit, we’ve had the worst air quality in the world for at least one day and it looks like that beat goes on into the weekend. We’ve had a couple of summers where we’ve been impacted by wildfire haze, so it wasn’t especially surprising in theory, but yesterday when I stepped outside, I was shocked. I don’t ever remember the skies being this hazy, obscuring the sun to a vivid mere pinpoint, such an intense odor of burning.
Coupled with several days of high temperatures near 100, it’s been unpleasant. I’ve shifted to indoor activities in my after-work hours, reluctantly. Summers in Michigan are brief and therefore precious, and having to lose any of it has been a ding to my mental health this week (along with the constant barrage of terrible news – ICE murdering another person, diarrhea lettuce, the war). I’ve had to make extra efforts to stay positive and look on the bright side.
The heavy haze has put our hometown festival in jeopardy. While safety comes first, I’m thinking of the vendors and organizers who rely on this weekend or have spent numerous hours throughout the year planning it. I could still hear the valiant beer tent band last night (we live close to the heart of our small downtown) but with little improvement in the air quality, the attendance will probably be much lower than previous years. It’s our own tradition to run the small 5k they set up along the parade route, and then spend a few hours watching the parade and enjoying the community gatherings – the suffragette parasol drill team, the old-timey brass band on the city hall lawn. At the moment, those plans are up In the air.
Luckily the Tour de France is grinding away on Peacock and I have way too many knitting projects. I finished (!!!) my Perfect Knit t-shirt and wore it to work for the first time, and having that off the needles has given me mojo to keep pushing away on my kiddo’s Bug Collection scarf.
I also have a goal to knit up another pair of mittens or two using stash yarn, to help out one of my favorite local nonprofits. Mittens for Detroit, Inc., is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charity that collects, purchases, and distributes new mittens and gloves to children, teens, and adults in need in Detroit and other underserved cities. On June 26, a pipe burst in their 100-year old building and they lost thousands of pairs of mittens, so in additional to making a donation to help them repair and start to replenish, I’d also like to add a couple of my own pairs. If you’d like to also support, their link is here.
It’s all a reminder that while I can’t control the weather, I can control (or work to manage, at least) how I adapt. Stay safe out there. Whether we are able to enjoy the festival as planned or stay tucked inside with books, the Tour, and WIPs, I hope your weekend brings a little peace and comfort.
How was your weekend? We had some very strange weather here in SE Michigan, even for what is occasionally a month of weather extremes. I can remember heat waves and wind storms and ice storms all occurring in Marches past. Sadly, a tornado touched down in Three Rivers (a little over two hours away from us) with a resulting loss of life.
So Saturday morning was muggy and grumbled with thunderstorms, which was fine with us because we had firm plans to stay in and watch one of the opening events of the cycling season (we are cycling fans here), the Strade Bianche, where wunderkind Tadej Pogacar devastated the field, the same as he did last year (and as he probably will in every race he starts for this year). I tried to make some progress on the kiddo’s bug scarf but the double knitting requires significant brain power and when cycling is on all I can manage is the most mindless garter stitch. So I mostly worked on my Cozy Comfort throw which will be a blanket that the kiddo can take to college.
The kiddo had a lot of homework and a paper to write and was holed up in the library or a coffee shop all weekend, so Brandon and I had an evening out for dinner and drinks. We don’t do this very often – we’re both early to bed folks – and as a result it felt like we were out quite late when in actuality we were home by 9. We set the clocks forward and so we still had energy to cuddle up with some snacks and get started on the Paul McCartney documentary “Man on the Run” (so much bad hair in the 1970’s).
It was a nice weekend together and although we lost an hour, we made the most of it. I hate this time change, being a person who has to adjust to the increased daylight (sort of a reverse SAD). It will probably make me feel a little off-kilter this week. I hope you were all able to enjoy a similarly cozy weekend with friends and family and fill your cups a bit in preparation for another week ahead.
The Melt the ICE knitted hat pattern started making the rounds several weeks ago. A yarn store in Minneapolis, where ICE agents have wreaked so much misery, drafted the pattern and offered it for sale for $5. It’s based on a historical Norwegian knitted hat that was used to protest the Nazi occupation of Norway in the 1940s, and proceeds are being donated to Minneapolis immigration aid. The pattern has raised over $250k so far!
I used Cascade 220 worsted superwash merino and mine came together in about a week – the seven inches of 1×1 ribbing took the most time. It’s a fun and easy pattern, and now that I have the feel for it, I think I’m going to make a second one with a few modifications. I’d like a longer cuff (despite the distinctly unappealing concept of spending more time on an additional two inches of 1×1 ribbing). I’ve also seen some knitters making them longer and pointier and I’d love that aesthetic for my next one.
I also had a skein of red fingering yarn from West Yorkshire Spinners in my stash that was perfect for tiny ICE melter hats. This is a private pattern not on Ravelry that I saw on the Antifascist Knitting subreddit. (You can find it by searching for “A Pretti Good Hat Keychain” on Ravelry – the pattern drafter posted it as a project and provides the full pattern in their notes). They suggested making keychains out of them, although they also would be really cute just pinned to a coat or a bag. I made three, and they each took about a half hour of concentrated effort.
Knitting like this has been criticized as performative, but this pattern has raised real money for a community that has been under siege and desperately needs support. What is happening in our country is not acceptable. We are seeing the rapid increase of brutal authoritarianism and a masked, untrained, heavily armed police force that has no oversight. Despite being on camera taking struggling women into portajohns, beating and kidnapping men, women, teenagers and children (many of whom actually are American citizens), using children as bait, and outright murdering two protesters, the federal government has told us we can’t trust our own eyes. The Vice President has even stated that they have full immunity for anything they do. Which leads me to ask – what would any of us do if we saw an ICE agent raping a woman? Or harming a child?
We know what the administration will do. The men who murdered the protesters have been protected and taken to safe houses, rather than being immediately jailed and required to stand trial in accordance with our justice system. These are the actions of an authoritarian regime and untrained, violent vigilantes who have been armed and mobilized for shows of political retaliation, fear and force. The people they are terrorizing, racially profiling and targeting are not criminals or drug dealers (Trump has pardoned too many of those for anyone to believe that has anything to do with it) and the protesters are being demonized by the same administration that pardoned the violent offenders of the January 6 insurrection at the Capitol. (Don’t even get me started on how this administration has tried to rewrite the history of that horrific event.)
Knitting, donating, calling my representatives, and speaking out – it feels woefully inadequate but at the moment it’s all I’ve got.
Make 9 boards haven’t worked for me in the past, but since I want to be more intentional and consistent with my knitting this year, a set plan might serve me well. My overall goals are to finish WIPs, whittle down the bin of yet-to-be started projects I’ve already purchased patterns and yarn for, and reduce stash. With a couple of fun things thrown in as well.
From the top left moving clockwise and ending in the center:
Good Grandpa cardigan by Caidree – knit in bulky weight yarn, the pattern description from the website reads: ‘The Good Grandpa Cardigan with pockets is slightly cropped, drop shoulder, deep v neck that buttons up at the front. It is a classic design with a modern twist. It will keep you cozy and in style during any season. It is designed to sit slightly longer than your waist line in length, but it can easily be made longer because it is constructed from the top down.’ This isn’t technically a stash buster, but I do have quite a lot of bulky weight yarn, so I hope to use at least some of it in this knit, even if I have to purchase more to finish the pattern. I like the look of this cardigan and think it will be a good basic wardrobe staple – as someone who does not have any hand-knit garments that I’m comfortable wearing to work, it would be nice to change that and start adding some, gradually.
Easy Peasy ribbed socks by Jen Yard – I am going to knit these up just as they’re shown, as scrappy socks, using leftovers from my 2024 Homespun House Advent calendar. I have lots leftover from my Wolop cowl. This pattern is available on Ravelry, or also as a kit on Folksy or Etsy.
Bug Collection scarf by Yarnquarium – I blogged about this last week and it’s going to be a slow knit but I really want this to keep the kiddo’s neck warm during her first winter out of high school. Pattern is available on Ravelry or on Etsy.
Sockhead slouch hat by Kelly McClure – Definitely a stashbuster. I have so many skeins of sock yarn and I could honestly make a few hats if I had the time (and if I like the pattern). This is available as a free pattern on Ravelry or on Wool & Co.
Perfect Knit t-shirt by Kaitlin Barthold – This is a WIP that I’d like to finish for summer wear. It’s actually so close to being finished, but I need to bind off the neckline and rip out the hem and redo it – for the life of me I cannot figure out how to end the six stitch icord bindoff. I like the look of the finished product and actually bought yarn to make another one in a neutral cream color, thinking it would be a nice wardrobe staple. But gotta finish this one first.
Cozy Comfort throw by A Homespun House – This is another WIP that I just want off the needles. I’m using minis from my 2021 Homespun House Advent calendar held double with Purl Soho Line Weight merino in Dove Gray. It’s resulting in a beautiful squishy warm blanket that’s taken FOREVER. I’ve promised the kiddo that she can take it to college in the fall so that’s good motivation. Garter stitch is good TV knitting.
Basic Bulky Mittens for the family by Marci Richardson – I made this three times last year for the Mittens 4 Detroit initiative and I’m going to use the same pattern in the fall. It’s an easy bulky-weight knit that results in a nice looking, warm mitten with a variety of size options. Will I make three pairs again? I’d like to. I’d also like a pair for myself…I have a skein of deep ruby Malabrigo Chunky that I’ve earmarked but who knows.
Easy Heel Colorblock Socks by Purl Soho – I’ve had this kit ready to go for at least three years. No excuses. This is the year they have to get done and clear that space.
Wild card – Joker is wild! This is a space holder for a gift knit, a passion project, something that catches my eye that I just can’t plan for. After all, all work and no play.
I’m trying to be more organized with my knitting in 2026 and that means clearing the needles of some lingering WIPs. I cast on the Wolop cowl last February with my 2024 Homespun House Advent minis and it’s just been soothing garter stitch in the round ever since. For almost a year. No one ever said I’m a fast crafter.
I finished it last week and had a couple of days of weaving in so.many.ends. I took it out into the world this weekend (specifically to the bookstore to look for more Japanese mysteries – I am reading a classic Japanese whodunnit by Seishi Yokomizo ‘The Inugami Curse’ and I’m hooked) and the kiddo helped me get a couple of pictures that didn’t make me want to put a paper sack over my head. (Raveled.)
I’ve also cast on what is likely the most challenging project of my knitting life to date. The kiddo saw the Yarnquarium Bug Collection scarf on TikTok and immediately sent it to me with several pleading emojis. The scarf is double knitting, which I’ve never done, and which results in a cool reversible pattern. However, it’s fairly complicated to get the hang of since you’re using two separate yarns to create the pattern on one side and in the reverse color on the other side, knitting in one color and purling in the other color. (The chart is over 500 rows.) So, with hubris and love for my only child, I waded in.
I hope she still wants it when she’s 35, which is approximately when I may finish it.
I’m trying to assemble my Make 9 board for 2026 which will mostly contain WIPs that need to be finished, projects that I’ve purchased the yarn and pattern for that have been sitting in a bin, and several stashbusters. There may be a few substitutions along the way but my goal for 2026 is really to try to get a handle on the overflow of yarn and projects that I have stowed away without purchasing new things. (This won’t include gift knits that may come up or charitable knitting, such as my Mittens 4 Detroit projects next fall, where I will probably have to buy the appropriate yarn.) More to come on that as I hope to have the Make 9 locked down within the next week or so.
(As an aside, knitting and reading are helping to save my mental health these days. I feel – and I’ve seen a lot of other makers express that they, too, feel – unsure about posting good things when so much of the US is suffering through a dystopian nightmare. The images and stories out of Minnesota are especially devastating. I guess the way I look at it is that without these refuges of calm and peace, making things with our hands and being able to escape for a little while in a book or a movie, many of us would just collapse under the weight of our unregulated nervous systems. One of my favorite knitters and YouTubers, Denise DeSantis / EarthtonesGirl, shared a reel on Instagram recently and she just simply said none of us know what’s okay now and it’s okay to not know. We all do what we can to keep showing up and being able to say ‘this is wrong‘, day after day.)
One of my colleagues and his wife are expecting their second child in early January and while I don’t usually feel confident enough to gift knit for many people, this was an exception. He is a young expat on assignment from our parent company, I really enjoy working with him, and I have been wanting to make this pattern for awhile so all the forces converged.
Pattern: Baby Bear Bonnet by Pernille Larsen for Knitting for Olive
Yarn: Knitting for Olive Merino / Knitting for Olive Soft Silk Mohair held together (both in Pearl Gray)
This was one of the most fun knits I’ve ever done. It was challenging and I had to rip back and restart three times and find tutorials for the German short rows which shape the back and the neck as well as for the i-cord bindoff on the neck. However, those challenges made it all the more enjoyable and it was a true pleasure to see it come together. It’s definitely not a perfect knit but I’m not embarrassed to gift it (the pattern is so well drafted and truly adorable). I would definitely knit this again, even just to have one in my stash to gift for a future as yet unidentified arrival.
November is a great month for knitting. All my mojo comes back after a year lamenting my inability to get a project across the finish line. Part of this is definitely attributable to the darkness – currently in SE Michigan, the sun is setting around 5pm which is a far cry from our long days of summer, when it will stay light until after 9pm. I relish the joy of evening knitting and the coziness of spending grey weekend afternoons with vlogs or audiobooks and my WIPs.
My pressing projects for the month were my contributions to the excellent Mittens for Detroit initiative. Last year, I finished one pair, and this year, thanks to better planning, I finished three.
Pattern: Basic Bulky Mittens for the Family by Marci Richardson
Yarn: Berrocco Vintage Chunky in (L-R) Charcoal, Mushroom, and Sage.
It’s been quite awhile since I’ve done a pin post so allow me to share what’s been catching my eye here in southeast Michigan in these final days of September.
It’s been hot and dry here for the past few weeks and I’m more than ready for this kind of weather. Although maybe not too quickly, because the kiddo’s senior pictures are scheduled for mid-to-late October and she and I are both on pins and needles hoping that the weather holds. We want cool temps, peak color, with no rainstorms to strip all the leaves. After that it can do what it will.
My knitting projects are even more scattered than usual. I haven’t finished anything in ages and while I’d like to keep going on something – ANYTHING – to have a finished object, I have to start two new projects. It’s time for me to start my annual contribution to the Mittens for Detroit charity. But even though I pinned the two ideas above (I thought the duck mittens would be really cute for children and I obviously love the stripy pair (and they’d be warm too), I won’t have time to do anything other than a basic pair. I also have to cast on for a baby hat for a work friend, whose wife is expecting and due around the holidays. I’ve waited too long here and am in a lot of knitting hot water.
I really like this outfit although I’d wear it with my Sambas. And I never understand how women can tuck sweaters in – even a half tuck. And it’s been too hot. But everything else I like.
I don’t know if my wild femininehas revealed itself, but I like the concept of putting the ‘people pleasing maiden’ to rest.
One of the major projects that Brandon and I have to tackle in my 1962 Colonial is a kitchen remodel, but thinking about what that will entail (especially with a teenager and three cats and working from home 2 days a week) usually makes me think “hey, this too-small, outdated, not-ideal kitchen is JUST FINE!” But the day is coming and when it does, I am GOING to have a wide windowsill for plants. (Not those little angel figurines, though.) I love plants and I have one cat (Emmett I am looking at you) who is a plant murderer and will chew anything that is lower than six feet off the ground or that he is able to climb to. So my little collection of Thanksgiving cacti, Pothos, Hoya, snake plants and Pileapeperomioides are scrunched up on the mantel and high up on shelves and in less than ideal spots for their growth and display. Someday I will have a nice wide kitchen windowsill and I will have a nice little collection of plants there to bask in the sunshine.
So that’s about it for this morning. I have to get out for a quick run and then I’m off to help the kiddo’s marching band at one of their competitions this afternoon (pray for them; it will be 80 today and blazing sun, in full uniforms. These kids are absolute troopers).
The days are long and bright here in Michigan, with the big western sky full of light in the shifting clouds until after 9pm. It’s my usual season of languid ennui that has not fully come to fruition yet. I love taking a bit of time off in July and just going summer-feral, but I’ve had to keep my nose to the grindstone instead. So I’ve been trying to grab all the time I can in between to read, run, and be inspired with making and crafting.
I have a few finished projects that I’ve been saving up to show you. First – like many of us I had several terra cotta pots in the garage and when I saw this Pinterest tutorial I was smitten. I think they turned out pretty well! Two quick observations- one, the supplies were a little pricey – the mesh stencils alone were about $20, and I needed to purchase all the craft paints (white, brown, and black) and spray sealer. The upside is that I have supplies leftover to make many more of these if I want to, or find different projects I can use them for. I do think that I may need some different sealer, because once they were planted with flowers and soil, they have started to discolor a bit. I don’t mind it and think it adds to the vintage look, but hopefully they last.
I have also been making loads of simple earrings and bag charms. I’m not much of a jewelry person but I do love a minimalist earring. I also have a deep and nostalgic love for seed beads so I’ve been trying my hand at several different variations. I’ve ended up with so many new supplies that I actually opened a little Etsy shop to get rid of some of my finished objects (a girl only needs so many earrings). —-> see Etsy icon on my sidebar.
It’s a win-win because I can test my designs first and modify until they turn out well – in terms of aesthetics and durability. I just keep, repurpose, or give away the projects that don’t turn out quite well enough to list. It’s more work than it looks, an Etsy shop, and my photography skills are definitely in need of improvement. A better camera is on my wish list (which will also come in handy for my daughter’s senior year in high school)! These (below left) my favorite recent finished objects. I modeled them after a pair I saw while out shopping with my daughter and used Miyuki seed beads in the “Art Deco” color.
I did a beaded anklet for my daughter, which she liked until the hemp cord stretched out and the cheap beads I used (remnants from my old original bead box) began to lose their paint. She is a great tester – her job at a plant nursery really puts my designs through the wringer (particularly when she has to water her most-loathed plant nemesis, the roses). So I tweaked and modified and in my search for better beads, I found some that are made from recycled wooden skateboard decks! She likes the vibe and I was able to modify the sizing and the adjustability to accommodate for the relax in the hemp.
Lastly, knitting away. I am not much of a garment knitter but I am DETERMINED to finish this Perfect Knit Tshirt by Originally Lovely for Lion Brand Yarn. I had to rip it back once already because a mid-project try-on revealed that it was just too big. And I believe this yarn (Lion Coboo) will grow. It was a setback but I’ve just separated for sleeves and am going gangbusters on the body so with any luck, a July finish? (Don’t bet on it.)
I hope you are finding time to be inspired and creative and try your hand at some new things if you are so inclined!
Six Ten 