Adiós is the monthly series of crafty notes and captures of this beautiful world.
Happy February! I hope you had a great start of the new month!
It feels good to be back after a very busy week. Time to sum up January’s crafty and life bits. It was a great month, busy, full of emotions and work. I did a lot of walking getting to know the town better, meeting new people and contemplating.
Though the town is full of tourists all year round, it’s still pretty easy to find cozy corners where the time seems to stop and you can be left alone with your book – narrow streets that look like magic alleys, little gardens where only the sound of birds and nature break the silence…
I often feel like I got several centuries back and can almost feel the history with my skin.
January Crafty Notes
I tried to stay on my craft goals for this year and I feel like I succeeded. This month was definitely a WIP month when my long standing project monogamy collapsed. I have 3 WIPs at the same time and 2 FOs!
Crochet Kram Cardi is still in its infant swatch stage, but I finally made the decision on colors.
Ocean is still on the needles. It is a challenging and exciting project for me. I would have finished it by now if not for my Gallery sweater that came along so unexpectedly.
Green Snowflakes are really slow, as I am trying hard to stay consistent with my tension. But I am in no rush – I want to learn as much as I can from my first fair isle.
All the projects are so different that I definitely don’t get bored and always have something to do during my free evenings and weekends.
The only documented FO of January was Reindeer From the Woods. I loved working on it and I love wearing it!!
If you remember, I promised myself this year to become more proficient on my knitting machine and have one FO a month. I though the Ocean would be my first one, but the Gallery sweater won the race. I still don’t have any photos to show you, but they are coming. I absolutely loved this project and it’s probably the softest sweater I have ever had!
Technique of the Month
For the last couple of years, I’ve been knitting cables without a cable needle. And let me tell you – as soon as you get used to it, it’s so much faster! I really recommend trying it if you want to speed up twisting these stitches. There are a lot of tutorials over there, but personally I prefer to start with the videos. Here is a great one – Knit Cables With No Cable Needle. Just keep in mind that maybe this specific method won’t be 100% for you, I, for example, do it in a slightly different way. But you have to start somewhere to get the idea and then you can experiment and find what is the most convenient method for you.
Knitwear Looks of the Month
I recently joined Pinterest, I may be the last one in the world 🙂 I am still figuring it out and finding use for all the features, but what I enjoy the most is the ability to create my own inspirational knitwear style board. Every morning I open it up to look through all the beautiful knitwear looks with my morning tea 🙂 So, I decided every month to share my favorite picks.
- Photo: collagevintage.com
- Photo: sincerelyjules.com
- Photo: stellawantstodie.net
The first look is so perfectly “lady like”! I love the idea of mixing up cables and a light feminine ankle length skirt.
The white textured cable sweater+white jeans – perfect casual outfit for everyday.
My favorite Pin of the month – I would wear this dress every single day – love the length, interesting construction and color!
So, this is all for my monthly roundup. I hope January was good to you!
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I use Pinterest to keep track of my recipes. If it turned out to be a good recipe I’ll pin it to my board. I’m eager to check out the cabling without needles video. I love to knit cables and I could see where not fiddling around with a cable needle would really speed up the knitting. Your town is so beautiful.
Yes, Pinterest turned out to be really useful! You should try no-needle cabling, at first the stitches might slip off, but then you get the idea!
First of all, you live in a fairy town! It’s absolutely beautiful there! I can’t decide which of your wips I want to see first as a FO. Each one is so unique! Pinterest has stolen so much of my time! There are so many things to see there. Knitting patterns, recipes, beautiful places, decorative ideas, quotes, funny staff, the list never ends! I love it!
Thank you, Zeta! The downtown here is such a beautiful place! Yes, I can understand how Pinterest can become really time consuming – so much goodness our there!
So much going on! It’s been nearly 20 years since I was last in San Miguel de Allende. So long ago. Neat spot! Timeliness, in a way. Although there are probably cell phones there now, as with the rest of the world. Back then, there weren’t.
I have gotten REALLY into Pinterest lately…it’s allowed me to discover all kinds of new things and ideas. Enjoy February!
Oh, you’ve been to San Miguel! Oh yes, cellphones and selfie sticks everywhere 🙂 It’s hard to walk. I love how history and modern world are mixed up here! I also hope February will bring you a lot of joy!
I love your town, just my kind of place with these narrow streets and atmosphere of times bygone. You are lucky to live and create in such surroundings.
I have an account on Pinterest, but I’m not active there, the same with Facebook, can’t find the time to follow them all 🙂 But I’ll look forward to your findings, that’s a cool idea for the blog.
Thank you, Carmela! I am sure with your love for traveling you would fall in love with this town! I am also not very active in social media, I don’t remember when I opened my Facebook the last time 🙂
Oh wow you have a beautiful town to explore – what gorgeous pictures. And some lovely knits too – especially the snowflakes. I’m wishing for snow here but if I’m going to get it I think I’m going to have to knit it!
Thank you, Carie! Snowflakes are really beautiful! A wonderful design!
Congrats on such a successful January. (I feel like I couldn’t quite keep up with my January goals -the month was just too hectic. Oh well, let’s see how February goes) Also, I can’t wait to see your Gallery Sweater, your city is BEAUTIFUL, and I’m definitely going to look into that cabeling tutorial since I am really interested in figuring out ways to increase my knitting speed.
Thank you, Alexis! It’s ok when plans don’t work out – life often gets in the way! I hope February will bring you lots of joy!
Your town is beautiful, I love it when you share photos.
I joined Pinterest not that long ago but I have to say I don’t really use it that much. It is a great idea in theory but when you see boards with hundreds of pins on you have to wonder do people really look at them all? It becomes virtual clutter……
I love all your WIPs, it is good that they are all so different that is what I try to do with mine so they are not competing with each other! I am not sure about cabling without a needle, I daren’t even look!
Thank you! I know that Pinterest, as any social platform can be way too overwhelming. I know how you feel about cabling without a needle – I was always afraid the stitches would just slip off, but surprisingly I got used to it pretty fast!
Such beautiful WIPs! I’m loving how they are all coming along, but of course I like the green snowflakes most of all- it looks SO good! And remember, stranded work is similar to lace in that it looks a bit off until it has a good wet blocking.
Thank you, Julie! The unevenness of the fabric isn’t drastic, so I think blocking will definitely fix it!