Tag Archive | crafts

Just a hat

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?

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!

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!

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.

cZgKBYzGQ5SS6MU34QZx9A

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!

Another Sweater

Apr11

My brain is not done planning sweaters from stash. After pondering two fade sweaters, which are still on my list, I saw all the Knit Picks Palette in my stash and realized I had a sweater’s quantity, if I could just find a way to use three to four colors. Ravelry was a great help, as always, and led me to the Funky Grandpa cardigan which is awesome. And in the projects for that, I found someone who had modified it in a way similar to what I was picturing. I pulled out the yarn and started playing around.

After that, I took my ~~limited~~ non-existent art skills and tried sketching out what I was envisioning. (Warning, the boy legit laughed at me when I showed him.)

I think it’ll work, guys! And since the Palette isn’t the softest yarn, having it be a cardigan is perfect, since it will always be over another layer.

But now I guess I better start doing some swatches if I want to make a sweater. Sigh.

Help me choose!

Apr10

My new review yarn came this week and I’m finally excited about casting on a new project! This is called Boca Chica from A Good Yarn, a yarn store in Sarasota, and I’ve got a super bright pink and a gray/pink variegated. Plus they included a couple of goodies!

Originally I’d planned to knit Delphia, a crescent shaped shawl with a big lace section. But then I remembered Straight and Arrow, which has some really fun striping and chevrons.

Delphia, on the left, is a lot of garter stitch and uses less yarn, so it would be a faster project and I’d have enough yarn left for a second, smaller project. But Straight and Arrow would put every yard to good use, and it’s a slip-stitch pattern so it wouldn’t be that much slower to knit. Help me pick!

1307 Days

Apr7

When I marked my Playful Stripes blanket as finished last night, Ravelry told me it had been 1307 days since I started it. Definitely my longest WIP ever, and I’m SO happy it’s finally done! The extra blue yarn arrived Friday but I didn’t get around to knitting with it until last night, but I got it all knit up that night. Today was my weave-in-ends day, which took about an hour and a half, and to heck with blocking, I’m calling it done!

Lptd+nGXRG2xGCKwrPqlMw

What a fun blanket I have for fall now, or even chilly spring evenings, maybe out on the deck! The yarn is Blue Sky Yarns Organic Cotton Worsted and I used eight colors, probably around 1800 yards or so. I’d have to measure my leftovers to be sure and I don’t care to to do that. It’s super soft but it is fuzzing up and pilling a little, so I’ll probably have to shave it periodically. I’m just so relieved to have this project finished.

Now I can focus on the test knit sock until my review yarn shows up. I’m still feeling like more of a monogamous knitter at the moment, no real urge to cast on something new. Which is even more surprising given that I went to a new LYS yesterday! It’s only been open about two weeks so they’re still building their inventory, which may be why the yarn wasn’t really calling to me. It’s a lovely store, full of squishy couches and beautiful furniture like sideboards and cabinets, so I’m confident it will grow up to be a favorite LYS for that area. It’s a little farther away for me so I won’t get there too often. Yesterday I left with only one skein.

Yep, it’s another skein of Manos del Uruguay Alegria in Locura Fluo! I was tempted to buy all three they had but restrained myself. I have no idea what this will be but it’s easily one of my favorite yarns so I’m delighted to have more. Plus I got a cute little pin to add to my collection!

Hope you all had a good weekend too, whether it was productive or lazy!

It can be done

Apr5

Two pairs of socks CAN be made from one skein of sock yarn! Sure, it depends on the skein and yardage and gauge and all that jazz, so let me amend to: I can make two pairs of socks from one skein of Show Me Yarn Bootheel sock yarn, and they’re both for me! I finished my Baby Girl Power Socks last night with a tiny bit of yarn left over.

fullsizeoutput_207d

I kind of forgot that I did a longer gray toe on the first sock, trying to conserve yarn, so the second sock has the normal amount of gray, starting with the decreases. I would have had enough rainbow yarn on the first sock but oh well, these are for me and I don’t mind a bit that they don’t match exactly.

The yarns for the blanket and the review haven’t arrived yet, so I’m at three WIPs and it feels comfortable. I’m not at work today, taking the mother to an appointment instead, so I’ll have time to make some progress on my test knit socks. Until then, I have time to cuddle with my pups.

zg3ntx2QRDid72hcC0%WLQ

Grace is happy.

Feeling scatter-brained

Apr4

There is a lack of focus in my head today. The last few days, actually. Even though I have very few WIPs on my needles, I feel like it’s all getting away from me. My knitting group at work is crocheting a blanket for the Welcome Blanket Project so I made some squares for that. I have a sock almost done, I just started test-knitting a new sock, and I have some new review yarn coming my way, along with the yarn to finish my blanket. I type that out and it’s like, Well, that’s not that much, Bonny. What’s your problem?? Who even knows. But here’s the yarn I’m using for my test knit:

Isn’t it so bright and awesome?? The socks are for Under the Olive Tree Knits again and there’s another lovely lace pattern. I finished the first pattern repeat last night.

And oh yeah, I have some friends having babies, so I wanted to make a few washcloths to add to baby gifts. A few means six, apparently, three for each baby.

But the washcloths are done, and the second Baby Girl Power sock is almost done, and I finished my squares for the Welcome Blanket, so that means I can focus on the test and review projects. Except I’m going to a new LYS this weekend and will probably fall in love with some other yarn that I’ll want to knit up right away!

Here’s Duncan. He really wanted to learn how to crochet but it didn’t work out.

78954d0f-e3ec-4066-a299-02c71f0f2381