One of the “other” things that I do to keep me sane (?) is to knit, and occasionally crochet. I’ve been knitting off and on since college. Mostly it is just relaxing and fun, but lately (as the pandemic has dragged on, and on) I’ve been trying to learn new things. One of the first things I learned is that it is REALLY hard to get yarn here. Some of the fabric stores carry the Mexican equivalent of Caron Pound of Love, but I’m not a fan of acrylic – especially not in hot weather. I brought back yarn from the PNW adventure, and I can order it online from the States, but I miss the great yarn stores that I frequented in the States.
Lately I’ve worked up a few projects:
I wanted to learn to knit lace, and follow a chart. This is the Aperture Stole from Modern Daily Knitting’s Field Guide #15. This was SUPER challenging, and at times I thought I was in over my head, but I’m really glad that I kept at it. The finished wrap is about 70″ long. I’m hoping that this will be really useful during the winter here – and it looks and feels just gorgeous!
Side-to-side knitting is a serious tax to the brain if you are used to knitting either from the bottom to the top or vice versa. Trying to imagine what the finished product will look like is nearly impossible. This Alna sweater from Berocco Yarns was fun, knit quickly, and kept me really interested throughout the project.
In progress 
Finished
After finishing the Alna (above) I wanted something easy, fun, and to use some of the odd yarn that I had and didn’t know what to do with. A friend had shown me this pattern from Rowan and it looked interesting and pretty tame. I’m sure that the knitwear designers did NOT plan for using this type of yarn, but… Why not? This was fun. It starts at the back hem and knits up and over the shoulders and down to the front hem. I still need to sew up the side seams, but am looking forward to wearing this as a “slouchy” comfy sweater.
These last two are just playing at learning something new. The one on the left is a “water drop” stitch that I converted from a flat knit to in-the-round. It is now a lightweight cowl. The right project is an extended swatch as I am (1) learning 2-color brioche – a stitch that is reversible, with one color dominating each side, and (2) learning to use increases and decreases to make a pretty pattern. Hopefully I can learn this well enough to make THIS.
Water Drop Cowl 
Learning brioche knitting
More to come as I try new things!