UFOs piling up

Aren't long weekends wonderful? Canadian thanksgiving yesterday...and it was a beautiful one, perfect weather!

So, I've added my rainforest sweater to the UFO pile, all snug next to greenfield and virpi. Have not touched any of those projects, at all, as of late. Instead I've been casting on all the things.
First, I cast on the Basket Whip Cowl (by Classic Elite) and I'm knitting it with Quince &Co Chickadee in Robins Egg Blue.

I've not knit with Quince& Co before and I'm quite liking it. It seems like it would be great for sweaters. Final verdict after I wash and wear it of course.

Midweek, I hit up Maison Tricote to do some knitting on the basket whip cowl, have some tea (and make faces at babies)  I ended up buying some yarn-this gorgeous Illimani yarns Cadena I in beige (i'm very into neutrals right now) that will eventually become a giant, smooshy cowl. The Cadena is super bulky yarn, chained, made with 73% alpaca and 27% merino. It feels amazing. And somehow, I did not take pictures of it.
I also bought some of the coolest stitch markers ever!

Because why not? With the number of projects I have on the needles right now, I need a lot of stitch markers!


Before I could finish the cowl,  I had to cast on for a new pair of Leethal Mary Jane slippers. I know I swore to never make another pair, but I love them and my favourite ones (the ones made with bulky black swish and mustard yellow Eco Merino Possum Chunky) somehow got a hole in them *sad face*.

I think they just wore out, due to incessant wear, and I just couldn't be arsed to darn them, they served their time,  let them go. This also gives me the opportunity to go stash diving!  I cast on the new slippers using leftover balls of bulky Wool of the Andes (from knitpicks); 2 strands of Planetarium and 1 strand of Stormy.

Those worked up so quickly, I think 4-5 hours total for both slippers? including finishing. Bloody hell, they take a long time to dry though! Totally worth it though, so comfy on mah feets.

I was worried I wouldn't have enough wool to finish the slippers, but I really needn't have, I had plenty.

With those done, I should have been focussing on the cowl again, but instead I decided I needed to knit a hat with alpacas on it! I've actually been thinking about a chullo-style hat for awhile, it's why I bought that hank of Fleece Artist  blue-faced Leicester in Ebony (a gorgeous deep brown) all those weeks ago. And using the leftover bfl in Smoke from my skoodlet for the alpacas!  Anyway, chullo and alpacas go together like pb&j so I found a hat pattern I liked (and knit long ago in noro silk garden before I knew about yarn weights and needles sizes) and an alpaca chart and did some math (ick) and started knitting.

Now that was a quick knit,  banged out most of it while binge watching season 1 of Portlandia.
Sadly, my floats are too tight and I don't think it's going to fit and I don't like how it looks because of the puckering. I soaked it overnight, hoping to get as much stretch as possible out of it, and now I'm blocking it on a balloon, but I don't think it's working *sigh*

I'm going to have to re-knit the bloody thing. It's too small, and too puckery-I wouldn't ever want to wear it, nor would I want anyone else to wear it. I have enough leftover yarn that I should be able to knit a whole new hat, and if I don't, well, I can always frog the hat and pillage the yarn.

And that brings me back around to the cowl. Working on it again, probably about half way through?

I'm going to focus solely on the cowl until it's done, try some project monogamy for change. I'll probably finish it today or Wednesday and then my plan (hah) is to re-knit the hat, and then hunker down and knit the body of my rainforest sweater, it's getting cold and I've been wearing my two V-necks, my Aiken and my Cypress incessantly and I need a new sweater in rotation. I figure I've been away from the sweater long enough that it might seem like I don't have that much knitting to do before ribbing and casting off. Then, as a reward I'll cast on a cowl with that yummy Cadena I! Cannot wait to get that sqooshiness on the needles! I also want to take a picture of my stash, document it, share it, laugh at some of it, and maybe get rid of some of it.

Plans...so many plans, hopefully this burgeoning cold doesn't put a damper on my plans.