I’ve been working on a Stockholm Sweater when not working on kid socks. I’m using some Zealana Air yarn held doubled for this. The yarn is 40 percent cashmere, 40 percent brushtail possum down, and 20 percent mulberry silk. This is the second time I’ve worked with a yarn containing possum down, and it’s pretty delightful. The halo of this yarn makes this seem like it will be a cozy next to the skin delight to wear this winter.

This yarn was irresistible last year as a closeout purchase when the local beloved yarn store in Fayetteville closed. It was expensive for an entire sweater, but at 40 percent off was more doable. I have to keep checking (as I usually do when knitting strands doubled) that I haven’t dropped a strand here and there. I’ve caught a few in the moment, and had to drop down several rows to pick up the strand in other cases. I’m making the Stockholm Sweater. It’s a super simple knit, and sometimes those are my most worn items.

I avoided drop shoulder sleeves for years, for no good reason really. I used to think that they wouldn’t fit well, or wouldn’t be as nice to wear as set in sleeves. A set in sleeve is still my favorite, but my appreciation is growing for drop sleeves because they don’t have the same up in your armpit fit that sometimes drives me crazy. I’m a sweaty person. I don’t love all of my armpits felting over time, so maybe this will help a bit.

I can’t wait to wear this fuzzy fluffy goodness. It does make me sneeze occasionally while knitting it, because it puts out some excess fluff into the air. I think it will be fine in the end.

I hope everyone is staying safe, masked, home, and even though it’s really hard to think about not spending holidays with family, it’s for the best. It seems like we are down to mere months from having a vaccine available to fight COVID-19 and it’s worth the wait to avoid countless more deaths.