As many of you are getting snow down south and we might be having floods this week-end up here on the shores of Norton Sound in Alaska . . . the weather is knitting weather, stormy and winter is approaching!

What do you all have on your needles? Fun projects, frustrating projects, secrets, what are we all working on?

I am going to knit a few American Doll sweaters, finish mittens, 1 pair of socks, 1 raglan sweater, and I can not wait to start---which brings me to yarn . . .

Yarn
Ok I may be biased but when I order a large order from Schoolhouse Press they wrap it in tissue! I love this and it is such a treat! I hope they never stop doing that! I have yarn from them that will be knitted up in this pattern with a few little twists that I am still thinking about: a Peer Gynt pattern Snokrystall---it will be more along the lines of the older traditional one if you are familiar with design.

The yarn is Canadian Regal which I love. I call this yarn with "ganas" balls in Spanish! I yarn that has some substance to it and is older and traditional.

Do tell what projects we are all either in the middle of or about to start for the winter or fall depending where you are located!!!!!!

Nancy I always enjoy it when you start this seasonal thread. I love seeing what other people are doing.
We have a brand new granddaughter, last night at 2:30 AM, who has a big sister starting in preschool. Since August I have done two baby blankets, 8 baby or little kid hats and a lace scarf.
I'm also up to the last 9 of 100 crocheted snowflakes for our church Christmas thing. Actually I've been doing those a few at a time for most of the summer. Stiffening them is the worst part.
Right now I'm doing another baby blanket. Pastor Joan said "Wouldn't it be nice if we could give every new baby a blanket?" She does counted cross stitch, not knitting. Who knew so many people would be reproducing.
Ahead I am going to do my Elisabeth Lavold sweater with the dragon! I have some Brown Sheep Prairie Silk in Treasury Turquoise. The dragon will have two heads!

I actually have a project I'll be starting soon that I'm really excited about. My boss is about to become a first-time grandma, and I offered to make a baby sweater for the new arrival. I don't know what yarn I'm going to use yet, maybe a superwash wool, but I'm going to use the pattern for the baby sweater that's in the book "Seven Things That Make or Break a Sweater". Nice and simple.
I'm also making a reusable shopping bag and trying to start it from the bottom because the lace pattern I chose looks better one way over the other. So I need to work "up" instead of from the top down. This has to be an original pattern because I intend to offer it as a knitting class.

After an extensive search for just the right yarn, I am about to start a wedding veil. It is very difficult to find really white laceweight yarn, but Zephyr 50% merino/50% silk will do the job. I am using the "Queen Silvia Shawl" pattern from "Knitted Lace of Estonia". Since this is NOT a "take-along-in-the-car-and-knit-as-Husband-drives" project, I am also making a Christmas stocking for a friend's new great-grandbaby, as well as a few last-minute scarves for the "Christmas At Sea" program. We manage to keep busy, don't we?

Knitter

I've been doing a tallying of my projects this year and dumped out the dishcloth bag. Have 127 for the women's shelter. Also have 38 hat,scarf and mitten sets, 18 baby and adult blankets. Most from yarn that folks in town have given me when relatives passed away and no one wanted it. So feel like I am donating on behalf of many people who aren't here to do it. That is a cool feeling. Then there are stoles and scarves for the cancer treatment center that has kept me fairly busy the last couple of months. Might get something done for me one of these days. Just got Creative knitting in the mail and like several patterns for a change.

I am waiting for a few extra skeins of yarn to finish up a cotton sweater-jacket that's been in the works for several summers. I'll be glad to see the last of it! My husband's doctor always sees me knitting when we visit and asked for a sweater. No time for a sweater, but I just finished a scarf for him in King Charles brocade. Three knitted pumpkins so far...adorable and quick. A Lopi cardigan for me and plans for a cashmere cowl (me, again).

I had told earlier that my wife and I will be grandparents in March. Just found out this week that it is a GIRL. I have just finished the gague swatch for the christening blanket. It is square but knit in the round (an oxymoron if there ever was one). I am using Debbie Bliss Casmerino Baby in white for it. The pattern is the ALPACA BABY SHAWL by Marie Grace Designs.

I hope I can get it done. We have a 10 month old Lab puppy (85 pounds--another oxymoron: a puppy who weights 85 pounds) who demands a lot of attention (and there is another story there which I will post at a later time.)

Then of course, there will be the hats/scarves/mittens too.

It's good to see what others are working on. I am doing a lap robe for a prayer shawl group - I've done two shawls and wanted something that was perhaps more oriented towards men. I also belong to a group that is called "Knittin' for Kittens" - we knit snuggles for the Animal Rescue League and meet at the League once a month. They really have had an influx of cats and kittens so the snuggles are put to good use. Of course both of these are on-going projects. I have started a cardigan vest for myself - using a plain vest pattern and put a lace pattern on the front - thanks to help from my lys owner and our great teacher. I'm taking a class right now using EZ's percentage system - I'm going to be doing a cardigan with some color work on the bottom and yoke. This involves steeks and I'm a bit apprehensive about it, but our teacher knows what she is doing so I'll be fine. We also have a class in toe up socks scheduled and I'll be learning how to do two socks at once on circulars. Plus I have scads of projects that are half finished or on my list to work on over the winter. Thank goodness I'm retired, my summer job is done and I have lots more time to knit. Today we have light snow - very early for our part of the country and it is the perfect day to put on some soup to simmer and knit the day away.

I am knitting a pair of socks for Christmas, and finished a pair last week. I have the Christmas ornament kit from Knitpicks, as well as the sipalu bag pattern from Knitpicks. The bag is beautiful. It has 37 colors. I would like to do that for Christmas too. I also have a new grandchild coming within the next month.It is girl and I had a suitable blanket knit a long time ago. I should knit some mittens for a charity event. I spent more than a half hour today untangling a skein of yarn that's the sock I'm knitting. NOT the fun part of knitting! (or should I say KNOT?)

I just finished the handspun hat for DH. He has been wearing it constantly ever since because our thermostat was not working.
Note to self: the doorbell does not run the furnace no matter how much alike the wires are. Hooking up the doorbell wires to the thermostat does not get you heat. Thank goodness I figured it out before I asked my electrician friend to take a look. I would never have lived that one down.
Am knitting socks for Dad and a sweater for elderly creaky cat who really likes to wear sweaters.
Snow and temps in the twenties and only wood heat. boy am I glad I have wool sweaters, socks, and hats.

Crazy as it seems we had 58 above zero here yesterday and we went biking. Last year at this time we went skiing. Down south it is cold brrrrrrrrr! Stay warm all and knit away!

Dances,
I love your post. When we moved into our house there was a switch in one of the bedrooms that didn't seem to turn on anything. My DH took the plate off and connected the wires and every light in the lower level went on. Some people just don't have the wiring knack.

I've finished all 100 snowflakes and only 19 of them left to stiffen. I'm hoping that that is the sum total of snow I'll need to deal with this winter.

When I was a baby, Dad built our house. He did everything right for others, but family got by with "Well, it works, I'll finish it one of these days."
He wired the house and no matter what light switch you flipped the lights went on in a different room. I was 6 before he finally got it straightened out and it was the family joke for 40 years.
Knitski, I wish we still had a wood stove. Have enough trees to cut down on this place to keep it fed for a long time. DH decided that he can't handle cold any more so we put in a propane heater and have another one that he will install "one of these days" in the kitchen. It gets colder then heck in there but I don't dare say that he takes after my Dad unless I want to start a fight.

Lady, I suppose you know what they say is the favorite winter passtime in the Dakotas. It's pushing the house down the road to jump start the furnace.

OOOOOh.
I have maintained for years that there is a secret building in Nebraska somewhere. It's sole purpose is to clone Stan, Ollie, Curly, Larry, Moe and Shemp and sell them in Gross lots to the building trades. Usually as plumbers and electricians. It explains everything I have had to change, repair, rewire and replumb. Our outside faucet comes into the house behind the lazy susan in the kitchen and there are other worse things to contemplate and fix.
If you are jump starting a furnace does it have an automatic or a clutch?
Check this site out, it is a great source of thanksgiving. whatever I have is not that bad....