A confession: I’m not really knitting the things I’m posting in the Friday Five.

I really, really want to, but let’s face it, I don’t have nearly as much time to knit these days as I do to fawn over and fantasize about patterns that, while lovely, are maybe not as practical in my daily life. I mean, sure, there were the three weeks of terrible, completely uncharacteristic winter, but the number of scarves I actually need in rotation living year-round in Georgia is honestly pretty small, and when most of your knitting is done in bits and pieces between other things, colorwork, no matter how much I love it, tends to fall by the wayside. And, frankly? I’m exhausted most days, by the time I get to the point in the evening allotted for knitting time, so mostly, the more simple the pattern, the better.

So today’s Friday Five is maybe less inspired, but here it is – what I’m actually knitting right now (or about to knit, as I am not insane enough to have five active WIPs at one time).

Anders, which I think I already blogged awhile back, but really this just proves I do actually wish I could knit from the Friday Five patterns! By the time sweater weather comes around again, Levi will be too big for even the largest size in this pattern, so I’m feverishly trying to crank it out now for our evening walks in the woods, when it’s still a little too chilly for babies in short-sleeves.

There was a bit of a debacle with this one when I neglected to grab enough yarn for the 18 month size and upon returning to the store learned the colorway (Stormy in Yellow Label DK with Dobson in Shepherd Sport) had sold out over the weekend, but Tanis has us covered and hopefully I’ll finish this up this week!

Maxfield Cardigan – my new knit night project! I haven’t even cast on for this yet, but my yarn is wound and my pattern is purchased and ready.

I’ve been having a tough time finding a project that wasn’t too complex to knit at knit night, since I’m often up and down helping or ringing up customers, so thus far all I’ve managed is a “quirky” half of a Nursery Cat and swatching some new yarns. But after a lot of queue and favorites-searching, I finally settled on this, a cozy sweater in a neutral palette that doesn’t need to be finished until fall. For yarn, I picked Herriot DK, in a chocolate brown and a very light natural brown.

Plain socks. Just your standard, 1-inch of ribbing, stockinette the rest of the way, plain socks. I know, I know, I’m legendary for my loathing of sock knitting, but here’s the thing – I own a lot of sock yarn. And plain socks kind of rock if you have to squeeze your knitting into stolen minutes here and there. I keep them in my car, and I work on them whenever the world just seems too stressful for anything so complicated as keeping track of a pattern repeat or counting rows or shaping. The Knitmore Girls Vanilla Sock recipe is a good place to start, if you don’t have your own plain sock formula.

Summer Vines – this just came out and I’m excited about starting it just as soon as I finish either Anders or my current pair of socks. It seems like exactly the type of handknit that you should own if you work in a yarn store and live in Georgia and enjoy being able to wear knitted garments more than 3 months out of the year. And, not gonna lie, it seems like it might be a little forgiving to my postpartum body, too.

Though I’m kind of glad I can’t start it yet, because I’m still undecided about what yarn to use! Currently, I’m waffling between SweetGeorgia Merino Silk Fine, Yarn Love Elizabeth Bennet, or Lorna’s Laces Solemate, but who even knows where the yarn search will take me?

A men’s sweater – so unsurprisingly vague, I know, but it’s next on my list and at six foot seven, anything I choose is guaranteed to have miles of mindless stockinette. Dan’s been jealous all winter of the Latte Baby Coat I made for Levi to wear on their walks, so I’m embarking on something for him, too. The problem is one many of us face – the man doesn’t really wear sweaters, and he’s not very charmed by most of the men’s sweater patterns I’ve found.

So I’m queueing up some choices I think would work and hoping for the best – right now, my top candidates are Emilien, Redford, and the brand-new Sandpoint Pullover (which I am leaning towards as it’s the closest in appearance to other items of clothing Dan actually wears).

Don’t forget to submit your answers to this quarter’s first trivia question today, Friday the 11th!