First of all, Happy Independence day! Nicholas and I both have the day off from work, but it turned out to be a rainy fourth of July, so we're resting and relaxing, eating burgers, watching shows, and I'm doing a fair amount of knitting. It seemed a good time to pop in and give an update about my current knitting and sewing projects, specifically, those I planned to make for Summer of Basics, and anything else I've been working on.the Weekender SweaterI've never knitted a sweater "quickly." So, it seemed only natural that I would consider the Weekender sweater the most time-consuming of my three Summer of Basics projects, and thus the one I'd start first...

It's finished, and photographed, and it makes for snuggliest, softest, warm hug of a shawl. This project was lovely for so many reasons. I cast it on right before we left for Maine and I finished the setup rows on the plane and at airports so that I could knit the shawl body once we arrived (in a more relaxed/distracted vacation knitting mode). It will always remind me of that trip...

It's been awhile since my last "creative check in." I've finished quite a lot in that time and I have a lot of future plans for both knitting and sewing. If you're new to reading my blog, I do these check-ins periodically to log and plan my sewing, knitting, and crafty projects.KnittingFinished:There are some you've already seen in posts of their own:Scrappy socksBandera shawlNinilchik SwonchoAnd a few that are done, but I haven't written a full post about:a finished gift for a friend's first baby: Mavis baby sweater finished and blocked, but drying Milena Shawl...

I've knit a lot of things over the years, so it's hard to choose favorites. I could write out a list of most-worn items or items that stretched my skills the most at the time. But this project may be the most in-depth knitting project I've tackled to date, and when the temperature cools down again in approximately 5(?) months, I anticipate it will be heavily worn. I do have a little previous stranded colorwork experience with a hat for Nicholas, a Modern Colorwork Cowl, and a Glacier Park Cowl, I had never knit a top-down sweater, or a yoke, let alone a stranded colorwork yoke...

I anticipated our trip to Maine for months, specifically, since January. And in the last several weeks, I got into a flurry of planning what projects I wanted to finish in order to bring them and wear them on vacation, knowing the weather would likely be in the 50's and 60's. This was one such project. I thought cotton/wool blend and petite size would make it the perfect travel shawl--and small enough to stuff in a bag if I needed to...