January -- Blahhhh

January is not always the best month for me . . . and now that February is on it's way out, I can talk about it.  Here in SLC, January is when we experience the worst "air quality".  In fact, we are often ranked as having the worst "air quality" in the country during this time.  We live in a bowl, surrounded by mountains.  The mountains are beautiful, but at this time of year you cannot even see them.  The cold air in the bottom of the bowl and the warm air above, traps all of the pollution down where we live and breath.  As if January weren't drab enough . . . 

My Herringweave sweater continues, and like January, it has some issues.

I'd like to think every sweater I knit, gets better and better . . . and that is generally the case, as I learn new tips and tricks to make them more and more perfect.  However, although I've learned some great new tricks for buttonholes and button bands, I need to be more careful about the number of stitches I add back in for the buttonholes.  You can easily see that I've added too many on this buttonhole, causing it to flair out.  Another new trick I've learned is a sewn bindoff, which is the technique I have used here.  This sewn bindoff is super stretchy, and still lays really flat.  A great trick, except it takes hours and hours to sew.  This would not be a problem, if I didn't need to tear it all out to fix the buttonhole!

In addition, I ran out of yarn before I could add the buttonband.  I had to rip out my swatch (thank heavens I had one), and soak the yarn for reknitting.  Therefore, my buttonband is not near as wide as I would prefer.

The lighting in this picture makes the yarn color look completely different, but you can see that I've got all of the pieces sewn together, and after setting it aside for a week, or so, I'm ready to start ripping back.  Wish me luck. . . .

As long as I'm whining, I thought I'd show you how my new dishes arrived, via UPS.  I've been wanting to purchase these everyday dishes for a while now, and I finally took the plunge.  I ordered two sets of 4 place settings of these stoneware dishes.  I loved the natural pottery look to them, and thought they would be great for everyday use.  All arrived fine, with the exception of this salad plate.  I couldn't bring myself to pack the entire set back up and try to ship it back to the manufacturer, so I simply called Target.  Here is one bright spot . . . Target sent me a $10 gift card so I could go to my local store and replace the single, $4.00 plate.  Target is the BEST!

January and February also brought the 80th birthdays of my parents, so we hosted a big party for my Dad, and a non-party/Valentines Dinner for my Mom.  I purchased this cute banner from a dear friend, who has the cutest, hand-sewn items in her etsy shop:  The Brass Button Shop.  You should check it out, she makes very high-quality items out of the cutest fabrics.

I also added two greenery wreaths to my french doors.  I attached them to the metal doors using magnetic hooks.  The perfect solution.  Since we removed the curtains, I have loved the light that comes into the room, but that end of the room always looked so plain.  I think the wreaths are the perfect addition.  Sorry you have to look at my covered patio furniture out on the deck.

My Husband's friend made this long, wooden tray for us, so during my disappointment period on the Herringweave, I knit up some stuffed hearts for Valentine's Day.  Look closely, they actually are hearts in several Valentine colors.

I also started my new project.  I'm not sure what I'll call this sweater, as I'm trying to copy a sweater knit by "Jankee".  I just love her designs, and she teaches me so much.  She didn't produce a pattern for this sweater, but she added lots of tips on her Ravelry page.  I have the back finished, and I'm hoping the final product will look like a version of this:

Winter seems to be in it's final stages here, so I'm hoping Spring is just around the corner.  We've started a bit of ground prep for our Summer garden, and I've grudgingly started a bit of Spring cleaning.  Our pantry has been a huge mess for several years now.  Hopefully, getting this room cleaned out, will motivate me to move on to a few other messy rooms in our house.  One thing is for sure, I'll always be knitting.  Happy Knitting . . .