On to the next Christmas Project

I picked up my next project yesterday. It's a sweater vest for my dad made out of this lovely wool and silk yarn that is tweedy and knits up very soft. It's slow going, however, because the body is plain knitting in the round and the needles are only size six. Originally I had cast on to do at the knit out. Ha! So much for that – knit out was more like talk-out for me. Of all the Christmas presents I'm making this one makes me the most nervous. It has to fit him for one. I'm not certain I'm qualified to make something fit a real live person. I hope it comes out okay.

Speaking of knit out, someone just found an article about the New York Knit-Out. 35,000 people showed up! We would have been in a mess of trouble with that many people. I think that is the official city though, and the Craft Yarn Council puts it on, so they probably spend all year planning for it. I think next year we'll have more activities, but I doubt we'll ever be that big. (I don't think we would want to – what a load of work that would be!)

I found some great needles and yarn for my 5th graders knitting project. Smiley's yarn has some Bernat Soft Chunky on sale for $1.99 a ball. Granted it's not yarn I would normally buy, but it will be perfect for the kids to learn. I'm also getting 10 inch size 10 needles from there for around $3 each. So the entire project is going to cost less than $100. I'm really pleased – I think the PTO will just pay for it and we won't have to worry about trying to get donations. (It's just impossible to get companies to donate stuff these days. Almost not worth the effort in most cases.)

My friend Carla is coming over today to learn how to knit. I just love teaching new people and seeing them get hooked. I bought her some worsted weight yarn and size 8 needles, although I may switch her to tens instead – they are just so much easier to see the stitches.