The weather has turned downright chilly, and, as happens every year, I get an overwhelming desire to knit–and that’s just what I started doing. First, I finished a sweater for my son:

This is Drive-Thru, by Wendy Bernard. I knit another version of this for my daughter a year or so ago. It’s an excellent, basic pattern for a child’s sweater. It knits up really fast, too, which is great when your children grow like weeds!

After I finished that, I chose a couple of leftover balls of yarn from other projects and knit my daughter a candy cane hat.

The sample in Handknit Holidays had a little top knot on it, but my daughter flatly refused to accept a hat that had anything “weird” on the top.

Feeling a little jealous of my daughter’s new hat, I made one for myself out of MMMMMalabrigo:

Amanda Hat by Gina House.

I was a little worried about the bright orange color and the flat crown, thinking this would look a little too much like a terra cotta flower pot, but both color and style look fine…right? RIGHT??? I don’t look like I have a flower pot on my head, do I?

Last, but definitely not least, I have a NEW NEPHEW!!! I’m so very excited. I whipped up some booties for him, which are nowhere near as adorable as he is, but pretty darned cute all the same.

I’m desperately trying not to cast on for too many projects, but it’s hard since there are so many wonderful patterns and yarns out there and this is perfect knitting weather. My goal for the next couple of months is to work my way through some of the single balls of yarn I have rolling around in my craft closet. I’ll probably be knitting a lot of hats, headbands, toys…scrappy things. I also owe my daughter a sweater. She’s outgrown her last one. I can’t keep up with her!

A couple of years ago, while I was still working full time, I decided I needed to spruce up my wardrobe and the most essential part of that was finding the absolute most perfect dress boots ever. I bought several pairs, paraded around the house in them, and, one after the other, decided none of them fit the bill. Luckily, Nordstrom has a spectacularly great return policy. They never hasseled me about my serial returns.

My husband still refers to this as my “quest for the Holy Grail (H.G.) of boots.”

Now that I’m at home, my wardrobe isn’t as fancy. I spend most of my time in jeans and sweaters. I have a fantastic pair of jeans, which I wear all the time. I have lots of sweaters, and like most of them, but none of them has quite measured up as the H.G. of sweaters…until now.

I love, love, love my Fair-Isle Yoke sweater. Thank you for recommending I just cut off the cuffs of the overly long sleeves and re-knit them to the right length. It worked like a charm and saved me a lot of heartache. Best of all, I get to wear this wonderful cardi now instead of weeks later.

Now that I’ve finished this big project, I have no idea what to put on the needles next. Perhaps something small and fun? A hat or some socks? I think I’m going to take a day off and read a novel, play with the kids…enjoy my wonderful new cardi…and tomorrow, I can plan new projects.

It took me a ridiculously long time to finish this cardigan, but it’s done at long last and I’m happy with it.

The cables are pretty, aren’t they? Bonne Marie from Chic Knits really outdid herself with this design.

To be completely honest, though, I have to tell you I’m feeling insecure about the size of the sweater. Most of my cardigans have a lot more ease than this one. In retrospect, I would have done better to knit the next size up. I haven’t figured out why I’m drawn to knit things that are designed to fit closely when I like to wear things that are roomy. I’m just weird that way, I guess!

Anyway, I’m going to take a couple of days off from knitting to let my arms recouperate from the workout they got from finishing this beast. In the meantime, I’ll be plotting what to knit next. Will it be Kate Gilbert’s Sunrise Circle Jacket? (Ravelry Link) I have some pretty dark green tweed set aside for that; however, I’m not sure how that design would look on me, so have been shying away from it.

I also just bought some Dream in Color in Happy Forest, which I could use for any number of things, such as the February Lady Sweater. I’m hesitating over that for two reasons: (1) the design is a lot like Juliet, which I knit recently; (2) that colorway of DIC is very popular for that sweater and I’m not keen on being so unoriginal…yet…it is pretty…

Aren’t I fortuhnate that these weighty matters are all that are on my mind at the moment…well, that and a couple of nightmares I’ve had about grocery shopping with my mother?