Although it’s only the middle of September, the pressure of Christmas knitting has hit me hard for the last couple of days. I have been trying to ignore it and be faithful to my Dressy Jacket, but yesterday afternoon it reached fever pitch and I cast on for Coronet using the Bernat Natural Blends Cashmere I bought a few weeks ago. I’m a little over halfway through with the cable band and the yarn is working up nicely. I’ve been wanting to knit this pattern since it first came out and am just now getting around to it.
Last year, I made hats for my sons and scarves for my daughter-in-laws; this year I’m making hats for the girls, and I haven’t decided yet what I’ll do for the guys. I picked up the Patons Men pattern booklet yesterday and it has some really great sweaters that my boys would love, but there’s no way I can complete 4 sweaters by Christmas, so they may wind up with gloves or socks.
I also picked up two other Patons pattern booklets: Next Steps Two – Create Your Own Pullover and Next Steps Three – Create Your Own Cardigan. These booklets are a good size to fit into a knitting bag (approx. 5.5” x 8.5”), have multiple style options, and the patterns are sized up to 5X! But the best news is that I used 40% off coupons at Jo-Ann’s so they only cost me $2.99 each. There are a few more of the Patons booklets I’d like to buy, but Jo-Ann’s did not have them in stock. I guess I’ll have to check back the next time they have a sale.
Here is what else I picked up while out yesterday: 5 balls of Peru DK Luxury yarn in a lovely shade of purple. This yarn is a blend of 70% merino, 20% alpaka, 10% silk and it’s very soft. Each ball has 124 yards for a total of 620 yards and it was only $2.99 a ball. Purple is a favorite of one of my daughter-in-laws, so this is destined to become a hat and gloves set for her.
On a side note: my husband and I will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary this Sunday. He was planning on surprising me with a trip to Montana, something I have desired for quite a while, but things did not work out as planned. I told him that it was OK; it meant the world to me that he even thought about it. He does have a special surprise planned for me tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to that. For me, it doesn’t matter what we do or where we go; it’s enough that we’ll be together. When we were first married, 30 years seemed like an eternity and I couldn’t even begin to imagine what our lives would be like when we reached this milestone. Now, here we are and I can’t help but see how blessed we’ve been to arrive at this point, still together and still in love. To my darling husband, here’s to the next 30!!!
The Bernat looks wonderful in the cable band! Thanks for your kind words re. hubby’s kilt hose.