Porch knitting

Hi friends and happy … what day is it again today?

It’s hard for me to believe that I’ve been at my parents nearly a week! It’s been lovely to be able to hang out with my family, have a break from writing (I sent off a draft of my dissertation right before I flew!), and cast on a few new projects … I’ve been enjoying some quality time sitting out on my parents’ back porch, knitting and listening to the birds.

First up, some new socks which I mostly worked on on the plane …. these are Waiting for Henry by Tabitha Gandee:

You might recognize the yarn … the main color is the beautiful Once Upon a Corgi that lovely Tammy from Gracey’s Goodies sent me as part of the Sock Yarn Stash Swap that Kat from Felinity Knis.  I’m going to save chatting about these for next week’s monthly sock post, but spoiler alert: I love them!

I’ve also been working on a new colorwork hat — this Curlew hat was designed for the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) to raise awareness about declining Curlew populations.  Kate from Northern Yarn is hosting a knitalong for the hat and is donating a portion of all her sales of Spindrift for the hat to the RSPB.  I couldn’t resist casting on ….

I’ve mentioned before that my mom and I like to cast on new projects when we’re together. We had initially planned to  be Very Responsible and work on our Southwell Cardis together, which we cast on together .. um … last spring.  But then we saw the lovely Lotta dress by Marie Greene, from the most recent Laine, and one thing led to another and …

We cast on.  And I have no regrets! The Tukuwool sock is so scrummy to work with, and I think this dress is going to be an awesome addition to the wardrobe!

It’s also been nice spending time with the furry members of the family … especially given Mr. N and I are still in a house where we’re not allowed pets!

Molly is a longstanding fixture of the house:

And little Gray, a new addition, rescued from some brambles by a parking lot last week:

So far, he’s only mildly interested in knitting, so the WIPs have been (mostly) safe!

How’s your week going??