Zac liked the owls. I’m not sure I should encourage him, as one day of “Owls-HOOT!-giggle-giggle” over and over was enough, but… he did love them. I’m spinning him some batts of romney/alpaca 50/50 (that I’d handmade-from-fleeces last term) in various shades of owly brown, and knitting him a little jumper with a cabley row of owls on it, and perhaps a hood (if he’s good).

Part 2 of my NEWT.

• Knit Owlet with Madelinetosh Vintage in Bark.
• Spin my alpaca/romney batts

January’s job. The top is for his birthday on the 22nd.

Dec 15. Not sure of my gauge, so I’m casting on 37 for the sleeve/swatch. Going to do moss stitch instead of ribbing on the edges.

Dec 20. Frogged and started again with 31. Did 14 rounds of moss stitch and then did a double increase on each 5th round until 49 stitches. Knit straight until the sleeves were 72 rounds above the moss stitch. Gauge = 20stitches/4inches.

Zac is 23” around his chest, so I’m casting on 125 stitches for 25 inches.

Dec 23. Used one skein to cast on 125 stitches and knit 65 rounds (14 moss and 51 stockinette). Height is 24cm. Need to test the fit before I knit too much further, but the boy is in bed…

Dec 26. Doing owls. So cute! I did 10 inches before joining the arms. The arms are a bit longer, but Vintage does tend to lengthen when washed. This NEWT is flying along; still have to do some spinning, but I should be up to 50% mid Jan, if I don’t get too distracted by classes :)

Dec 29. I’m stuck. I don’t understand the short-row shoulders. I know how to do short rows, but the instructions don’t make sense, and I need to understand it to adapt it to my alterations. Time to spin for a while, I think…

Dec 31. Finished Owlet except for button eyes. Weighs 308g (37g left) so about 530y. Tried it on him… hmmm… Actually, I think I’ll knit more length into the bottom until my yarn is gone. He’s a tall one :)

Jan 10. Changed the neck, added 20 rounds of stst to the bottom (but only 12 rounds of moss st) and cast off the hem with a JSSBO. Sewed on button eyes. Unwashed, it’s 41cm from the front neck to the hem. Weight: 336g. Tiny ball of yarn leftover.

Spinning: able to spin it thinner than I’d thought, probably thanks to the Romney half. Have done almost half.

Jan 11. Found googley-eye buttons! Sigh… Replaced 5 pairs of eyes right on the front, and will leave the rest as buttons, I think. Blocking (ie washing, then drying on an incline on a cot mattress) only added 2 cm to the length, so I’m glad I lengthened it.

Jan 13. Finished half the spinning. Skein 1. 65g. 18WPI.
160m/175y of nply. (480m/525y of singles)

Jan 17. 50%. Woohoo!