This has been my week of finishing projects, both my own and others. For starters, I finished my Camp Loopy project (about a week too late to get rewards for it, but what can you do). Despite missing the challenge deadline, I’m super proud of myself for completing an adult size fingering weight sweater in a little over a month. Sure there was no colorwork or cables, but that’s still over 1000 yards worth of knitting in five days over a month. This includes the number of days where no knitting happened. So basically, in a pitch, I could crank out a sweater faster than a month if I needed to (hopefully I never need to, see my post on deadlines)

In addition to finishing my own sweater, I had the privilege of completing two additional sweaters. The first is a Kimoto style sweater that my coworker knit for her future niece or nephew.  While I’m not sure what the pattern is, it’s been a while since I’ve done any garter stitch seaming that required me to think about how the pieces fit together. My coworker will need to add a tie to the side of the sweater to keep it closed, but being able to hand her a sweater that took her hours to knit and me about an hour to seam up was satisfying. It’s one of the few moments where I’ve wondered if the process of knitting or the final product of knitting brings me the most joy.

Next up, I visited my Cioci (amazing crocheter) and picked up a sweater that she knit several years ago that had been sitting unfinished in her closet. This one required more work, as it was an adult sweater and I needed to knit the neckline after seaming the pieces together, but was also more mindless because of the bust and armhole shaping. I’m excited about my next drive down to visit my Cioci, it will be nice to set the sweater that we collaborated on into her hands. I love the idea that we worked together on something that will keep her warm, even if that means admitting that the acrylic yarn she chose is the opposite of what I would have chosen (does acrylic really keep one warm?), but I will acknowledge that I am biased towards natural fibers (and that there is a time and a place for synthetics, ie nylon to reinforce sock yarn).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not a fan of weaving in ends and don’t often choose sweaters that require seaming (although I think this is moreso because I hate purling). While I finished these two sweaters as favors, there has been something wonderful about putting together the pieces of someone else’s work. Weaving my own magic into their garments, if you will, while watching individual pieces transform into sweaters. I’m not saying that I’m going to start a side business of seaming garments for people, I’m just saying I would have a good time doing it.

And just in case you thought finishing three sweaters in less than a week wasn’t enough, I also finished a pair of fingerless mitts that I started before August’s Camp Loopy challenge. The pattern was heavily modified due to a serious game of yarn chicken. While there is nothing currently on my knitting needles, I do have an embroidery project going and plans to warp my loom to make a table runner. Or at least that’s what I tell myself I should be working on as I spend my suddenly large amount of “free” time on Ravelry looking for my next project or surrounding myself with my stash trying to decide which skein of sock yarn wants to be worked next (after all the holidays are rapidly approaching and I haven’t even created my knit list yet).