Archive | 2019

Where’s my mojo?

Excuse me, have you seen my mojo? It went that way? I wonder if I can track it down!

Seriously, my creative juices are non-existent at the moment. I have two WIPs with a deadline so that’s all I’m working on, and I think that’s part of the problem. I have over-extended myself with non-selfish knitting. I’ve been doing a lot of yarn reviews, some gift knitting, some test-knitting, and I think I need a project that’s all about me. I want to choose both the yarn and the pattern, and I want to keep the finished project at the end. Another blogger talked about doing a Mother’s Day cast-on that is purely selfish knitting, and that is a thing I would like to do.

BUT. First, I have to make some progress on my deadline WIPs. I’ve got one birthday sock done and am on the gusset of the second. Thankfully these are Rose City Rollers so they go fast. I tried a new toe this time, a barn toe that’s more rounded, and I like how it looks. I want to try it on one of my socks next.

The niece likes complementary socks better than matching, so I picked two leftover balls and am just kind of making it up as I go along. I’m thinking the foot of the second sock will be striped.

My other deadline WIP is a shawl test for Under the Olive Tree Knits. It’s a beautiful lace pattern and I chose some Araucania Huasco from the stash, so it’s an enjoyable knit. I think my brain is just malfunctioning right now and is often too tired for a trickier pattern that I have to think about.

I’d like to say I’ll make good progress on it today, but that’s doubtful. The husband is out of town, off to fetch the girl home from her first year of college, so I thought “Oh! I’ll let the dogs sleep with me! How sweet that will be!” Well. I have three dogs. And Duncan is not a big fan of sleeping through the night apparently. So I had this 100-pound bear of a dog clambering all over me and licking my face and it was not a restful night. I have learned my lesson and tonight Jack will be the only one allowed upstairs with me because he is a good dog and knows how to behave himself.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to nap a bit.

Just a hat

Apr28

Yesterday was Yarn Store Day here in the U.S. and I did not celebrate the traditional way, i.e. by going to a yarn store and buying more yarn. I wanted to, don’t get me wrong! But I’d already bought yarn this month, most recently last weekend at a LYS, so my budget said I didn’t need more. (Budget lied but whatever.) Instead I celebrated in my closest little LYS, my craft room, poking through all my yarn treasures, reminding myself what perfect little pretties I already have. I picked out one gorgeous skein intending to cast on something new and fun just for me. Then I remembered that I wanted to make a baby hat for a pregnant friend. And then the SIL texted about my niece’s birthday in two weeks: she wants to collect donations in stead of gifts. So cool, right?? So cool that I decided I needed to make her a present to go along with our donation to support her generosity. Pretty multicolored skein went back in the stash…for now.

fullsizeoutput_20c2 The hat was quick enough to make, using leftover Blue Sky organic cotton from my blanket. It’s KU Jayhawks colors, just FYI. I hope it is, at least. The pattern is Long-Tail Hat and it’s one of my favorite baby hats to make. And yesterday was Grace’s birthday (she’s FIVE now!) so I made her wear it for a brief moment.

fullsizeoutput_20c3 She was thrilled, clearly. Anyway, gift #1 is done and now I’m on to some Rose City Rollers for the niece.

Superpower!

Apr27

No, I haven’t gone to see Endgame yet–I’m waiting until the theaters aren’t going to be ridiculously crowded. But I decided that my superpower (or one of them) is keeping people warm. One of my favorite people at work asked for a shawl, saying that her office is always cold and she’s perpetually freezing. (Yes, she’ll pay me for it, and fairly too.) I ordered the perfect yarn for the perfect pattern, but it’s dyed to order so it’ll take a little while to arrive. In the meantime, I decided she needed some fingerless mitts to at least help keep her hands warm.

Her color preferences are pretty much opposite mine, so I didn’t have a lot of yarn in my stash that seemed right, but I had half a skein of Knit Picks Chroma Fingering in an orange/teal mix that would work well enough. I chose my favorite pattern, the 75 Yard Malabrigo Mitts, with some mods for fingering weight, and cast on Thursday night. It’s such a fast pattern that I bound off the second mitt this morning!

This pattern allows for a lot of thumb/finger movement, especially since I keep the top portion short enough that it doesn’t constrict the fingers. They’re just the perfect tiny mitts for handwarmers! What’s your favorite quick gift pattern?

River Fleet Socks

Apr25

The pattern for the gorgeous River Fleet Socks is live now! I test knit the pattern for Under the Olive Tree Knits and had no issues. It’s well-written and clear, has tutorials for some of the trickier stuff, and it’s really not as hard as it looks!

To me, it looks like a cable running down the front, but there is no cabling, just increases and decreases, so this would be great for an advanced beginner or intermediate knitter. I’ve got the second sock on the needles and hope to finish soon, especially now that I’ve finished my Delphia shawl!

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The picot bind off took about two and a half hours, but I think it will be worth it. I had to save my end-weaving for another night, so I got that done last night, but blocking will wait for the weekend when I have plenty of time to get all those cute little picots pinned out perfectly!

Almost Done

Apr23

This morning I had some waiting room knitting time, and I took my Delphia shawl with me, hoping to get through a few rows. I did better than that, though: I’m ready to bind off!! Now the question becomes: is a picot bind off really worth the time and effort? I mean, I’ve got over 365 stitches here.

With any luck, I can get through the bind off tonight and start weaving in ends. How long does a picot bind off really take, right? I’m ready to be done, yes, but I also have my next shawl project planned and I want to use these needles!

I’m doing another test knit and needed over 500 yards of fingering weight yarn. I was worried at first since all of my fingering skeins are 3 oz and between 400 and 450 yards. Then I found these two skeins of Araucania Huasco that have been in my stash for over three years, and I think they’ll be perfect. I just need my shawl needles now!

Interlude

Apr21

My Delphia shawl went into time-out on Friday night. I was working on the lace pattern and realized I’d added four rows of stockinette that weren’t supposed to be there. (I was supposed to start on row 5 of the lace pattern, not 1. Argh.) I had to decide whether to frog four rows of 250+ stitches or live with the extra rows. The weather was perfect spring sunshine so while that project thought about what it had done, the husband and I went out adventuring. We hit a couple of estate sales and then a couple of historic downtown areas, and had a marvelous time shopping, window-shopping, and enjoying the weather. Of course I found some goodies!

The little sheep salt and pepper shakers might be my favorite find. Except for the yarn. Yes, of course we went to a yarn store! At Florilegium in Weston, I bought two beautiful skeins from dyers I’d never heard of.

For my car-knitting, I pulled out my new vanilla sock. I’m using the Knit Picks Capretta Reserve in Pickle Juice for the accent and Show Me Yarn Bootheel for the body.

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As always, I love the colors in their self-striping yarn and right now this is all I want to knit!

Delphia Progress

Apr19

As I said yesterday, I have been getting a bit of knitting in here and there this week. The weirdest thing is that I’ve been a monogamous knitter. I’m not sure that’s ever happened in my knitting life. But I’ve just been merrily going along on my Boca Chica Delphia shawl, enjoying the mindless garter stitch with a few stockinette rows thrown in for fun, and what do you know? It’s grown a lot!

fullsizeoutput_2097 I’m loving this pattern, and the colors of the yarn. I’m also really glad I didn’t try to use these yarns for Straight and Arrow because it definitely wouldn’t have been enough contrast to do it justice. The color changes are super subtle.

fullsizeoutput_2098 See those stockinette rows? Those are the ones with Color B (aka the solid pink). They don’t stand out as much as I anticipated, but it’s fine. I’m starting the big lace section now, which means this won’t be my mindless knitting anymore. Pretty sure that means I need to cast on some new vanilla socks today!

Where’d my week go?

Apr18

I’ve missed this. Work has kept me away from my knitting life this week. We organized a big external event with a well-known (in the science world) speaker, and I love the energy and bustle that comes with putting on those events, but it’s pretty much non-stop from the day before to the day after. It was on Tuesday, and today’s the first day that I feel like I can catch my breath. I’ve only been knitting in short bursts here and there, so I have no fun progress photos to share. Still, I wanted to share how pretty spring is in my neck of the woods!

I wish it could stay like this year-round! Plus, I’ll share some dog photos, because they’ve been the other constant this week: I work, I come home and pet dogs, and I sleep!

Jack is doin’ a snooze, Grace is waiting for the squirrel to reappear, and Duncan is basking in the sun. You can tell I’ve been spending a lot of time on our deck!

Hope your week has been a bit less hectic than mine, and that I have knitting photos to share soon!

A sock and a dog

Apr14

I finished the first River Fleet sock that I’m testing and it’s quite lovely. I adore the pattern that looks rather like cables and isn’t cables at all.

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The yarn is Knit Picks Capretta in Vibrant Violet, which is a fantastic color! The yarn is nice too; very soft. And thankfully it also fits nicely!

I’ve got the second sock on the needles and hope to finish it in the next week or so, depending on how obsessed I stay with my new shawl! Well, also depending on whether I get distracted by dogs!

This is Teddy. He showed up outside our yard today, and I spent the morning trying to catch him, then trying to figure out what to do with him. He had no tags and no microchip. How do I know his name then? We went to the animal shelter and they recognized him, said he gets out frequently and apparently it doesn’t concern the owner enough to take the necessary steps to prevent that or make it easy for people to return him. Sigh. Too bad I couldn’t keep him!

New Shawl

Apr13

Thanks for all the feedback on my next shawl choice! I really do love both patterns so it was hard to choose, but I finally decided Delphia was the better pattern for this particular set of skeins. As I was winding the gray/pink skein, there was more pink in it than I originally realized, and I want more contrast when I knit Straight and Arrow. I’m almost through the first big garter stitch section.

fullsizeoutput_208a Soon I’ll start striping in some of the solid pink, and then eventually I’ll get to the big pink lace section. I’m loving the colors in this yarn! (Which is Boca Chica by A Good Yarn, a brand new yarn!) I’m also loving the comfort knitting of squishy garter stitch.

But fans of Straight and Arrow, do not fret, for I have also picked out the yarn I want to use for that pattern, and it was even from stash!

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The only problem with spring knitting is that all I want to make are shawls and lightweight sweaters, and those are bigger projects that take more commitment. I guess that’s what socks are good for, right?