Beginning a New Year

 “Begin as you mean to go on, and go on as you began, and let the Lord be all in all to you.”

― Charles H. Spurgeon, All of Grace

Charles Spurgeon was a Calvinist preacher in England in the 1800s.  All of Grace was a book written by Spurgeon and published in 1885.  

I have heard and seen many times the statement above... begin as you mean to go on.  Ha ha!  I began this piece on New Year's Eve and now 22 days later I'm finally finishing it!  I hope that doesn't mean the whole year will be filled with missed deadlines.

I started 2022 with some sewing projects and some knitting projects.  I spent some time in my sewing studio, organizing and cleaning out some old stuff, and then sewing.  I made a blue knit top and wore it later that week.  It's good to be making garments again.  

After having my close encounter with hot chicken broth in November, I lost time on my knitting.  I had intended to make small projects for holiday gifts for the family.  I finished three pairs of fingerless mitts before the incident, one pair for my grandson with yarn that had a light reflective thread spun in.  

Once those mitts were done I couldn't wait to make some more, and each pair that was begun made me wonder what other color they could appear in.  They're like potato chips, you can't stop at one!

This is such an easy pattern!  

And it's fee on ravelry.com.

The blue and gray pairs were gifted on Christmas Eve, and the purple are promised to my son's fiancé, Ms. A.  Another blue pair are finished for her daughter, Miss L.  

But then I could NOT stop!  Once the church ladies saw them, they said "oh, how much would I have to pay to get you to knit a pair for me?"  Goodness!  It's a good thing they're fast and fun, or that would be a chore.

See what I mean?  They pile up quickly!  I am learning about the yarns I'm using by doing the same pattern over and over, using the same size needles.  These are all DK weight yarns, and they are varying sizes depending upon the springiness of the yarn and the fiber content.  So far, the best are merino wool and merino blends, followed by Superwash wool which has a little less bounce.  For softness and shape retention they rate a 10 out of 10.

The yellow pair at the top of the stack is mystery yarn.  I didn't do a burn test but I think it might be acrylic or poly.  During blocking all of the others were easily shaped, but not the yellow.  That was the first clue.  The yarn was a gift, a partial skein with no ball band, and with it was a loose wad of eyelash yarn of the same color.  The giver is not a knitter and had gotten it from someone else.  Thus the mystery content.  But it knit up nicely and they are pretty.

I used one ball of silk and bamboo, which are very smooth and soft but tend to be loose and don't have a lot of shape retention.  They're beautiful but not very practical.  We'll see how warm they are too.

But for sheer brightness I think the winner is this neon yellow-green pair.  The yarn is Manos de Uruguay in the color Highlighter.  I bet you can't tell why!!  I think this might be the pair I'm keeping for me...

So I guess I did start as I mean to go.

Knit on...