I know that my blog is named Books With Cassie but I have really been feeling the urge to share my other hobbies. I’ve been thinking of how I wanted to incorporate my love of knitting and cross stitching here and what I came up with is this weekly update where I can share what I am working on, what I have recently purchased for these hobbies, and anything else that is related to my stitching.

For today I thought I would share what I have currently on my WIP (works in progress) wheel. I have the tiny decisions app on my phone and every morning I spin it and see what I am going to be working on for the day. The only caveat to that is that I do have a morning project that I work on every morning until it is done. Which I’m not sharing today because it is part of my Mom’s Christmas present and I think she sometimes checks what I have been posting here and I don’t want to spoil the surprise. Also, we can just skip past the fact that I am posting this the day after Christmas and it’s still not done. My goal is to have it sent out before the year is over which I think is possible because I am so close to finishing it. I will say that it is a knitting project which most of my works in progress are because I only recently picked up cross stitching again after a ten year hiatus.

Next week I will share current project photos of what I work on during the week so you can see my progress but for now I thought I would just share what each project is.

All pictures link to where you can find the pattern. All knitting ones link to Ravelry. All cross stitch ones link to the store I purchased the kit.

Connor’s scarf

I don’t have a picture or a link for this since it is a pattern that I made up myself. I am using blue and black Vanna’s Choice yarn to do a striped scarf for my oldest son. I can’t remember how many stitches I cast on but I am alternating 14 rows of blue and 10 rows of black until desired length. He also told me that he wants me to add fringe to it when its done but I haven’t decided how fringey I’m going to make it. I love acrylic yarn for my kids since you can throw it in the wash if they get it dirty and it’s not a big deal.

Nora hat

I found a skein of Caron cupcake yarn in my stash and I remembered that long ago I tried to knit my niece a similar hat but the sizing was off and the finish wasn’t great so I am remaking it with a fresh ball of yarn. I am using a really pretty pink blend and I have just started the second stripe and I can already tell you that my knitting has improved so much since my first attempt and I’m loving how it is looking.

Cross stitch cat

Isn’t this one so sweet!! I bought a few kits when I decided to get back into cross stitching because I didn’t want to jump straight in and start buying all the patterns and fabrics without making sure that I still loved it. I’m happy to report that it is something I still fully enjoy and now I’m looking into buying all the things and I already have a hefty wishlist on my phone. I’m trying to show some restraint though but it’s hard!

Slipstravaganza

This is my first Stephen West design (although I have tons of his other designs saved to my favorites) and probably my most ambitious knitting attempt. I wanted to do it because there are a lot of techniques in this one shawl and he has amazing YouTube tutorials to guide you along. This was a mystery KAL (knit a long) and he released one part of the pattern a week for a month. I fell behind and I’m only on the second part but I love it so much. It is a HUGE shawl though and I currently have around 420 stitches on my needles and we keep increasing every row. I heard the last part is around 900 stitches per row so I don’t anticipate having this one done anytime soon.

Home Sweet Home

I thought this was so cute when I saw it in the store and I know exactly where it will go in my house. I don’t love the empty space at the bottom of the flag. Especially since I started mine a little too high so I will have more space at the bottom so I am on the lookout for some cute embellishment or something to add there.

Garden Path Blanket

I started this one when the pandemic started and I only have the last little bit of border to do before I’m done with it. I wanted a large project to do and I honestly don’t think I anticipated or thought that we would still be living in a Covid world when I finished it. It’s crazy to look back nine months ago and how naive it was to think Covid wouldn’t be as devastating as it is. I guess we had no frame of reference for it but at least with all the vaccines now we will hopefully have a better 2021.

English Roses

I have never done embroidery but I thought this was beautiful and I would try my hand at it. This is on my wheel but it hasn’t come up yet so I haven’t actually started it so I don’t know if I love it or not. Well, I think I will love it but I’m not sure how good I will be at it.

Uptown Cardigan

This is a very meditative knit because the whole thing is done in garter stitch (every row is knit). She has different versions of this cardigan depending on what weight yarn you use and I plan on making all of them. Probably more than once because this is a great project to have on the needles when you need some mindless knitting. I was even able to knit this on a car trip at night (my husband was driving) because I don’t need to see to knit this.

Pajama Cardigan

I am knitting this for the Cozy Acorn KAL that the Cozy Moth Knits on Youtube is hosting. We have until the end of January I believe and I have only done the bottom ribbing so I really need to hit the gas with this one. I plan on making this my morning stitch as soon as I am done with my Mom’s present and I probably won’t have it done in time but I should have some good progress on it by the end of next month.

~Cassie