I’ve done a lot of knitting this summer (don’t ask me to explain that one) and my goal for the next several months is to slowly work through my yarn stash. Some of that means finding new homes or new projects that I lost interest in and some of it means finally getting to certain projects that have been in my Ravelry queue for ages. In the interest of making this happen I went through and cleaned out my queue and removed a bunch of projects that I know I’ll never get to or just no longer have any interest in doing. I also couldn’t resist looking around at patterns and adding a few to the list. Only a few! Anyway, here’s a few of my favorites that I moved to the top of the list. You’ll notice a theme.

Chateau by Melissa Schaschwary

Lila by Carrie Bostick Hoge

Boxy by Joji Locatelli

Speckled Shrug by Lion Brand Yarn Patterns

Oshima by Jared Flood

Chainlink by Norah Gaughan

Fisherman’s Daughter by Carol Sunday

Sperry by Amy Miller 

This might actually all realistically happen this winter too. I have a half-finished green, navy, and white Sperry lying around somewhere. I have a cream Fisherman’s Daughter that just needs sleeves. Plus between starting this list and actually posting it, I’ve managed to get a ton of knitting done. I started a Lila. I have a Boxy sweater who’s only missing a neckline and some faith that I didn’t knit the wrong size, and I finished a Chateau and a Speckled Shrug that is huge and so cozy and I want six of them.

Meet my extremely squishy Chateau.

Funny story about the Chateau. It was SO fun to knit and so quick that I did the “Just one more row..” thing until it was completely done and about 2am. At that point I completely passed out with my finished Chateau in bed with me, and at some point during the night it fell in the crack between the wall and my bed and I completely forgot about its existence until about three days later. Surprise new sweater!

If you follow me on Instagram you’ve seen the blanket and tiger Archer I now live in.

Sidenote: I have a feeling I’m going to be feeling very smug about completing so much of my knitting wishlist until the next time I go on the Brooklyn Tweed website again and add six complicated cabley sweaters to my list.

Another sidenote: I’m really really bad at culling my Ravelry queue. In my defense half of it is things like a chart for the Tree of Gondor which you just never know if you’re going to need.

Completely knitting-unrelated, but I also wanted to mention a really cool  contest/fashion show a reader (thanks Holly!) emailed me about. Uncommon Threads is a wearable art show that takes place in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Every year a theme is chosen and artists submit crazy artistic garments that fall under their interpretation of the theme.

This year’s theme is “Epilogue”, and here is how juror Wylie Garcia explains it: “This year’s theme asks artists to meditate on notable books, authors, or literary characters and use wearable art as means of opening up a conversation about these influences. By revisiting the stories and writers that have made a personal impact, artists are encourage to create a garment that serves as an epilogue to a single novel or an entire writing career. Comments on genres, the dynamic between the physical and electronic medium of books, and the cultural implications of works of fiction and nonfiction are also appropriate ways to interpret this theme.”

How awesome does that sound? I seriously debated making something to enter but between getting ready to move (yes, again!) this weekend and still being in the midst of Cinderella and ruffles, I couldn’t see starting a large scale project like this and keeping my sanity. Maybe next year! For anyone who is interested, submissions (not actual finished pieces) are due November 16th and the show is December 5th.

Below are some photos* of past shows and you can find out more by visiting their website here.

*Photos used with permission.