Tag Archive | handknits

Sock It To Me Monday

Yesterday I showed you my new sock yarn, now I’ll show you my new sock WIP! I actually started this one on Saturday when I had a bit of time in the car going from one shindig to another. It was so much fun that I kept knitting that night while I watched Gone With the Wind, a movie that changes for me each time I watch it. There are things about it that make me cringe now, but there are also parts that make me laugh and parts that break my heart. Anyway! Where was I? Oh yes, sock.

fullsizeoutput_2506 I have given up hope of having them done by Christmas but that’s okay. I’ll probably set them aside and then I can have a brand new pair of socks next year!

My Pennyroyal hat is done and blocked and even has the pompom sewn on, after a minor hiccup. This is one of those poms that has a snap, so you can switch out colors, and somehow I always sew the base on upside down. Spoiler: it doesn’t work that way. But it was easily remedied and I have a lovely hat for the boy’s girlfriend.

The other skein of yellow is on the needles to make a second hat, this one for the girl. She might end up with a matching yellow pompom, though, since I didn’t buy a fancy furry one for her!

Right on schedule

Dec14

Here it is, about a week after my last post! So apparently I have a schedule, it’s just not that frequent. But I have finished things to share today. First up are are my gift socks and they’re not exactly the same size but neither are feet, right? So we’re calling them a win. Yarn is Treasure Goddess Yarns Treasured Toes in Everglades Excursion and as nice as it was to knit with, I think the socks are going to feel awesome to wear. At least I hope so!

I also finally finished and blocked and photographed my Diamond Cowl. Once I committed to it, this was a fast and easy pattern, and I just love a diamond lace pattern. The yarn is Ella Rae Lace Merino Aran and it was quite scrumptious. It’s soft and smooth and has a lovely drape. I even had enough yarn to do an extra half-repeat of the lace pattern.

I have more FO’s, if you can believe it, but they’re still in the blocking/photography phases, and plus I don’t want to throw it all in at once. Maybe I’ll manage to get another post out sooner than a week!

I’m excited about knitting right now, which feels good. I’m even still excited about a couple of potential gifts I want to make, if I have time. We’re on track with gift shopping, though we haven’t started wrapping yet, and overall I’m feeling pretty good about Christmas being so close. But it’s also Saturday morning, when I’m happiest and most optimistic because the whole weekend is stretching before me, so we’ll see how I feel in a week or so. Happy weekend, friends!

That’s it, then

Dec1

When I came home from work Tuesday night, I thought having the next five days off sounded like such a long time. But now I’m in the last day and guess what, it was not that long! The dinners are done, the girl is gone, and I go back to work tomorrow, alas. But all is not lost because it is December, the Christmas decorations are up, the girl will be back for winter break in about two weeks, and I still have the rest of the day to knit! The temptation to start something new for me is strong, but I will probably be good and work on my gift socks. I’ve got two pairs in the works.

The left is Treasure Goddess sock yarn, and the right is Berroco Vintage worsted. It’s for a work gift exchange. They chose a sock theme and of course I had to make socks! But I don’t have time to make actual sock-weight socks, so I’m doing a nice cozy bed sock or house sock or whatever you want to call it. I finished the first one in about four days — I’d forgotten how quickly worsted weight socks knit up! The pattern for that one is Arinn and it’s a simple rib. I also finished a cowl but it’s a test knit so I’m going to save that one for when the pattern is live and I have some prettier photos.

Oh, but I also need to make another Santa hat! Guess I better get to knitting!

Spring Rain

Nov26

It’s a holiday week and my girl is home and I think I might take the day off tomorrow to decorate and be home with my kids and it feels really good to have a happy head space! Plus, I have a beautiful new shawl to share with you!

fullsizeoutput_2488

This is Spring Rain, which I started a couple of months ago. I had a little hiccup in the middle of the last lace section but it recovered nicely and I think it’s gorgeous. And I learned that putting stitch markers between lace repeats is extremely helpful!

The green is Madelinetosh Twist Light in Seaglass and it’s even more stunning in person. It’s vivid and saturated and a little darker than in these photos. I don’t even wear a lot of green but I love this color so much. The other yarn I got from a mystery destash and I have no idea what brand it is, but it coordinated perfectly with the Seaglass!

Happy Tuesday, friends — hope the Thanksgiving planning is going smoothly for you!

Cactus is NOT done

Nov22

He really was done, and very cute. And then last night I went to a book signing and the boy forgot I wasn’t going to be home so he didn’t lock up the dogs when he went to band practice. (You can see where this is going, can’t you?)

Yes, alas, Duncan strikes again. The silver lining is that it’s just the one piece that’s damaged, and it’s even the smallest piece. I should be able to remove that, attach a new one, and even save the flower. I guess that will be added to my weekend knitting! Sigh. Dogs. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them!

Keep the party going!

Nov18

You would think that I would get a lot done during a crafting weekend. I certainly thought I would. I packed six projects plus my journal plus my computer. Now, my portion of the “weekend” was only about 24 hours, and part of that was spent at the yarn store, so maybe I can justify why all I did was finish a sock and work a few inches on my purple Boxy. But the upside is that I had so much yarn energy built up that I came home and cast on three new projects!

You can probably tell that the top two are new socks. The bottom one will be a cactus, which I’m making for my work white elephant gift exchange. It will get a flower pot and everything.

I also snuggled with dogs a lot yesterday. Jack was offended that he was not invited to my getaway. I told him maybe next time.

Happy Monday, friends. Hope it’s a good one. At least as good as Monday can be.

Happy Halloween!

Oct31

It’s Halloween! But my kids are older so I don’t have to go out in the cold to trick-or-treat, and I don’t have to answer the door over and over while listening to my dogs bark. As cute as my kids were when they were little, I confess I don’t miss the chaos of Halloween. Instead, I’ll leave my porch light off and just keep knitting like it’s a normal night. I’ve got another bottle sweater on my needles, but today I wanted to show off my latest FO, my Not So Lacy Lace Scarf.

fullsizeoutput_2412 After blocking, it was 72″, and at first I was afraid that was too long, but now I think it’s perfect. Plenty of length to wrap around however you want!

fullsizeoutput_2417 Sorry for the less than stellar photos; it’s been a little chilly and I’ve been too lazy to get outside for a proper photo shoot.

The yarn is Schachenmayr Fashion Soft Mix, a nylon/alpaca/wool mix and it’s super lightweight and soft and fluffy! It’s a gift, and I really hope they aren’t sensitive to alpaca or wool. I haven’t made a scarf in a long time, and I was afraid it would drag on forever, but I finished this in a week! Once I memorized the 4-row repeat, it was fast and fun.

Hope you all have a safe and fun Halloween!

Sweater Weather

Oct30

Yes, we all know it’s sweater weather, but the fun thing about being a knitter (okay, one of many) is that we can make sweaters for all sorts of things! People sweaters of course, but also dog sweaters, maybe cat sweaters, even chicken sweaters. And now…a bottle sweater!

This was my first time doing cables. I’ve resisted them for years because you know, “cables are hard” and they’re fiddly and complicated. Well, guess what, they’re not hard or complicated. They are fiddly, but gosh darn it all to heck, I LOVE how they look! No wonder people persevere with cables; they look amazing. This is a gift for a coworker, but I might need to make one for myself just for a fun winter decoration.

The pattern is Wine Bottle Sweater and I found it easy to follow. Yarn is just acrylic from the stash. This was so fast to make; I think I got it done in one day.

What color is your pompom?

Oct27

Well, that sounds weirder than it did in my head. To follow up on yesterday’s hat debate, I ended up going with the two-color pompom. I was overthinking it to a great degree and finally had to realize that it would be cute no matter what color the pompom was. And it is!

So that will go off to my work friend this week. I also finished the scarf for my other friend and it will be blocked today. I’ve got a busy day ahead of me today, but wanted to share my Spring Rain “progress”.

Spring Rain is a two-color shawl with alternating garter and lace sections. The lace sections are 22 rows, no repeating rows, and I had a little trouble keeping track of where I was at times, but I was doing all right. Maybe had to fudge a stitch here or there, but it all worked out. Then, disaster: the needle slipped out of about ten stitches! GASP! With some knitting, that’s not a big deal. But with lace, where you have yarnovers and SSKs and K2TOGs and SKPs…it’s bad. Very bad. I was in denial at first and thought I could fix it. I picked up what I thought were the stitches and kept knitting. The first lace row after that was off by two stitches, so I added two and kept going. The lace row after that, I was off by four. Yes, it was bad. No, I had not put in a lifeline. Apparently I live on the edge. By this point, I was 17 rows into the 22-row lace section. It was the last lace section of the shawl. I could have kept faking it, but I knew the lace wouldn’t look right, and since it was the outer edge, I didn’t want it to look wonky. I needed to frog.

My first step was to find a long circular needle in a smaller size, I think they were size 2, and thread it through the last row of garter stitch.

I did that all the way across without any issues. See the two needles in there?

img_5801-1 Then I pulled out the original circ and frogged all those rows of green lace. It was satisfying and sad at the same time. And this time, when I started with the lace again, did I start using a lifeline too??

No, I did not. But wait, hear me out! I did start putting in a stitch marker after each repeat in the lace rows, so when I lost track, it was easier to find my mistake(s). And since then it’s been going pretty well, though it’s been on the back burner while I focused on some gift knitting instead.

I am glad I frogged, even if I did lose a good chunk of progress. I love this shawl and really want to it to be as close to perfect as I can get it. It’ll be done by St. Patrick’s Day at least!

P.S. I ended up giving Grace her monthly injection for her Addison’s disease a day early and it made a huge difference. She’s back to her bouncy obnoxious self, licking all the faces and roughhousing with Duncan. Fingers crossed it lasts!

I get knocked down, but I get up again

Oct26

A couple of days ago the girl sent me a snapchat asking if I was okay, because I hadn’t blogged in like three weeks. I confess, I teared up a bit because it was really perceptive and sweet and I miss her. As I told her, the answer is yes. But also no. And all the gray area in between. One of our dogs, Grace, got really sick last weekend and she’s still not quite 100% so I’ve been worried about her, plus a little stressed about how much we spent on vet bills because of it. Work hasn’t been what I want it to be lately, and I’m at the point in my life where I think about things like what are my long-term goals, how can I have multiple, competing goals, how do I want to spend the rest of my working life, is it okay to do something that fulfills you even if it’s not “A CAREER”? And I haven’t found any answers yet. I’m knitting, but I haven’t felt the call to write about it lately. Every time I think about it, it seems like a lot of work, so I don’t bother. But, here I am, doing the thing, because maybe if I push myself a little bit, I can get back in the groove.

My most recent FO is a hat commission I just finished this morning. It’s not quite done because it needs a pompom, but I’m debating between pink, silver or both. What do you think? It’s for a 10yo girl, if that makes a difference.

I used Caron Simply Soft Party Sparkle. I do like their acrylics, and I do love some sparkle! The pattern is Zayo Bayo Hat, which says it was written for 4-7yo kids, so I bumped up the stitch count by a few stitches.

Over the last few weeks, I also finished the Cersei hat for my former boss’s birthday, and I cast on for a new cowl for myself and a scarf for a friend’s birthday coming up. Plus I’ve been working on my Spring Rain shawl and my Boxy (not that much on the Boxy, to be honest). Oh, and I cast on a new pair of socks for a nephew, but I haven’t gotten a photo of those yet.