Allison Marie Knits

  Never in my wildest dreams would I think of myself as a sock knitter. I mean, what 30-something does? But here we are, many years and pairs of socks later and I don't see myself slowing down any time soon. At the very beginning of this 2020 I decided I would focus on knitting as my hobby of choice. We all had a bit more free time, right? And what else would take away the unending dread of the news than learning a new skill that I can do  while  binging Bridgerton? It's the best of both worlds! I decided to focus on knitting and gave myself the goal of knitting a pair of socks and a sweater by the end of 2020. We got to both before July.  As the years have passed socks have become one of my go-to knitting projects. It's fast, it's satisfying, and they keep my always-cold toes at least a little warmer. I've even published a few sock knitting patterns! I don't know if I would proclaim myself as a sock knitting expert, but I certainly know my way around a sock kni...

As someone who started their knitting journey in the hot hot state of Louisiana, finding the right yarn for a summer knitting project has been a high priority from the beginning. I'm a year-round knitter, and I'm not just going to take a break because it's 100 degrees with 95% humidity. But, as all new knitters do, I've picked the wrong yarn for summer knitting more than once. Having learned a lot more about fiber and choosing the right yarn for your project I decided to dig in and figure out once and for all what are the best yarns for summer knitting projects. Everyone's summer looks different - this post is mostly geared to the hot and humid summer weather. Living in Southern Louisiana and now back up in the Midwest I know a thing or two about 100-degree days and oppressive humidity. And while I probably wouldn't wear a precious knit that is delicate and difficult to wash on a 100-degree day, there are a few tops and tanks featured in this post that I would w...

This post contains affiliate links at no extra cost to you. When I started the journey of making this blanket (and yes, as cheesy as it sounds it's been a JOURNEY) I dramatically underestimated the time and yarn it would take to finish. By more than half. Whoops! But if you're in the market for an easier than it looks crochet project, this is just about the warmest and coziest I can suggest. I decided I was going to make this blanket when we had a cold snap in October. We had really just moved in, and it hadn't been cold enough yet to turn the heat on. Which would have been wise to do before we bought the house because it didn't work. And it was suddenly 30-ish degrees outside and our summer bodies couldn't handle the house being around 66 inside (which is, incidentally, what we keep the heat at now). We had our bed loaded up with every blanket we had and we were still cold at night so I made it my winter project to make the warmest blanket possible. A...

This post contains affiliate links at no additional cost to you and help me keep this project running! I started my 2020 goals way early. I got started in October, so welcome to 2020, things are going okay. One of my big goals for 2020 is to keep learning, and teaching myself new skills that I can enjoy for basically the rest of my life, and I'm starting with knitting! My mom taught me how to knit when I was around 12, maybe? And I haven't touched it since because I found it so difficult at the time. It was stuck in my head like a weird frustrating puberty hormone-driven angst that I really needed to get over. And I finally did in the last two weeks.  It all started with a painfully time-consuming practice swatch that I unraveled before taking a photo, sparing your eyes this displeasure of so many holes. How I kept missing stitches is beyond me, I'd just look down and three rows ago there would be a big hole. It happens. After the rage-unraveling was over, I jus...