Tag Archive | handknits

Stress Knitting

My break from my Fade led me back to sock knitting, which has become the best kind of knitting when nothing else will do. It’s good for when you’re visiting someone who’s unwell, and it’s good for when you’re tracking a tornado that might or might not be coming right your way. Unfortunately, that means this sock has grown a lot this week. When I picked it up on Sunday, I had just the cuff knit.

I made it past the gusset decreases today so I expect to have it done by the end of the week, barring any surprises.

Last night, the girl surprised me by doing some cleaning and cooking a bona fide feast for us. She made carnitas tacos (even deboned and cut up the pork shoulder herself!), lime/cilantro rice, guacamole, and pico de gallo. She also cut up limes to squeeze over everything, and it was all sooo delicious! It really helped brighten a day that desperately needed brightening. I also got to see the boy’s excitement over his first car!

It’s a 1963 Mercury Comet Custom, and he is seriously in love. It needs some work but runs well, and he and his dad can’t wait to start fixing it up. And even though I’m afraid it’ll be a little bit of a money pit, I have to admit it’s a pretty sweet car.

Hope the storms missed the rest of you last night too!

Stupid Fade

May28

This is not going well. My Fade shawl is currently in time-out and maybe you can help me. I’m using 4 colors instead of 7, and I thought I had a good plan for the color switches, but when I got to the first planned switch, I still had half the first skein left. If I switched then, I was afraid I’d run out of the other colors before I got to the end of the shawl. (I have ~1700 yards; it uses anywhere from 1500-1800 depending on which project page you look at.) So right now I’m at the end of section 5, out of 13, with 37 grams of the first skein still left. I have several choices that I can see.

Be risky and frog back about ten rows to fade in the second color as I’d planned. If I run out at the end, I would have to end early or finish with the first color.
Do section 6 (lace) in the yellow and start fading at the beginning of section 7. The downside I can see is that I might end up with a very large yellow section, compared to the other colors.
Start fading in the second color in section 6, even though the pattern recommends doing the color melts in the garter stitch sections and not the lace.

Please help me. I know this really shouldn’t be this difficult, but there are some other things going on that are sapping my capacity for thinking and stuff. Thank goodness I have good dogs to snuggle with.

And look at my new stitch markers! Those are MY DOGS! They’re from Jill’s Beaded Knit Bits. I sent her a photo of my dogs and she made these and I love them so much!

FO Monday?

May20

Why isn’t FO Monday a thing? I mean, most of us are coming off a weekend where hopefully we’ve had some knitting time, if not substantial chunks, so it seems like Mondays would be the perfect day to show off finished projects. I’ll start: I knit a sock this weekend! On Saturday morning, I had an inch of cuff for my second River Fleet sock, and last night, I grafted the toe. Of course, it was the second toe because first I had this:

These socks do not match.

I couldn’t live with that much difference, not when it was easily fixed. I pulled back just the toe and reknit so they’d (mostly) match. Even then, the second sock seemed bigger overall than the first sock. I was disgusted with myself for the lack of matchiness so I tossed them to the girl to try on.

These socks also do not match.

It’s not super obvious, but the lace doesn’t match. Somehow, the second sock has an extra repeat in the foot. I have no idea if the first was right or the second is right, and at this point, frankly my dear, I don’t give a damn. They are done, they are pretty, and the girl can get them on her feet and they fit. I’m calling it a win and moving on.

The pattern is River Fleet Socks by Jem Arrowsmith, which I test knit. I really do love the lace on this one. I’m just learning I need to pay close attention when I knit lace! The yarn is Knit Picks Capretta Reserve, with 10% cashmere, in Vibrant Violet. I’ll be interested to see how they wear with the cashmere.

And today is Duncan’s birthday. He is three, which I hope means we’re moving past the long stage of chewing things up. He’s been doing much better the last few months so I’m cautiously optimistic. Here he is from adoption day to now! Spoiler: he’s a lot bigger.

Hope you also had a lot of knitting time this weekend!

I’m getting there

May14

Last night I pulled out my naughty shawl, the one that had the stitch count issues the other day. I counted my stitches, all 383 of them, and realized that I was only off by one stitch at that point. I spread out the lace as best I could on the cord, and the lace pattern looked okay, not all wonky, so I decided it would be fine to continue on and not frog back to before all the craziness started. I got about six rows done by 9 pm, and I really wanted to finish since I only had six rows left before the bind off, but with each row almost 400 stitches, it wasn’t gonna happen. But it should be done and blocking by end of day Sunday!

779a3eb7-fc83-4027-8119-ab80c4099f99 I’ve been making sock progress too, during my lunch breaks at work. This is my Pickle Juice/Belle Star sock, and I’m past the gusset now.

It’s a good thing this shawl is almost done, because I have five skeins on the way for the commissioned shawl for my work friend, so I’ll be able to switch my focus to that. But there’s also a little short-sleeved sweater I want to knit, and I have a second sock in my WIPs, and my Changing Staircases shawl, plus this sock and its mate. Clearly I need more knitting time in my life!

HOW does this happen?

May13

As you all know, I got new yarn last week, after the husband came home from Colorado. It is beautiful yarn and I love it! But somehow, I STILL ended up at my LYS on Friday afternoon, buying more yarn.

See, I’d been itching to visit them for a few weeks, but they were hosting a trunk show over Mother’s Day weekend for a dyer new to me, and I wanted to check out her yarns. So I waited, not knowing the husband would be bringing me new yarn. And Friday came and it was a super long day and I really needed some retail therapy so I went. I just went. And it was good.

Except there was no one there to make me feel guilty for buying so much. And the one friend I texted encouraged me to treat myself, so…I did. And I love my new bag and my gorgeous new purple yarns from Honey Girl Farms! She had a lot of pop culture themed yarns, lots of Game of Thrones and Outlander, but also a few Harry Potter. She’s got amazing project bags on her website; at first I wished she’d brought some but then I was kind of glad she didn’t. Anyway, I came home and played with yarn and I’m pretty sure I have an amazing fade begging to be knit:

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I would have cast on yesterday, but I’m trying to finish my test knit shawl. I’m in the last section but I’m afraid I’m going to have to frog about five or six rows, rows that are around 350 stitches. Somehow, my wine convinced me that I could fudge a lace pattern that was off by several stitches. I don’t think it went well but I’ll check on it tonight. I’m pretty sure I’ll be wishing I’d put in a lifeline at some point.

Hope you all had a lovely weekend, especially my fellow Moms!

Review: Boca Chica yarn

May10

A while back, you all helped me choose a pattern for some new yarn. That yarn, which is a brand new base called Boca Chica from A Good Yarn Sarasota, was for a review, and I’m happy to report the shawl is done and blocked!

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This is a fingering weight merino wool dyed in gorgeous, bright colors, both solids and variegated. Boca Chica Key is an island in the lower Florida Keys, and the colors are all named for things found in the Florida Keys. I had to pick the hot pink, Duval Street, and the pink/gray variegated, Rainbow Reef, and I was impressed when my package arrived. Not only was the yarn beautiful, but it arrived with extra goodies! The gauge/ruler tool is a thick, sturdy plastic and has come in very handy already, and the bag lives in my car for those unexpected shopping trips.

After much pondering and discussion, I chose the Delphia shawl pattern and I think it was a great choice for these skeins. The pinks matched up perfectly, so the shifts from one colorway to the next were subtle. The first thing I noticed as I was knitting was how lightweight and airy the yarn is. I’m pretty sure that’s thanks to the fact that it’s a chainette yarn. With chain construction, the fibers have already been “knit” into a tube, which leaves air between the fibers and provides a lot of drape and breathability. Even after using almost both full skeins, the finished shawl is light and comfortable for spring and summer evenings.

This was a really fast and fun project for me. I liked the chain texture of the yarn, though I found it to split easily. I was using my Addi Turbo Lace needles with a pointy metal tip, so maybe that split the fibers more than another type of needle would. It didn’t affect my experience too much; it just meant I couldn’t do the lace portion without looking. And I LOVED the colors. They do recommend prewashing high-contrast colors, and I would agree with that. The water after my shawl’s bath was really pink, but I didn’t notice any fading or bleeding with the finished shawl. The gray was still perfectly gray.

The skeins are generous, with 480 yards per 4 oz, and retail for around $28 on their website. Even though it is superwash merino, they recommend hand wash/dry flat for best results, which is what I did. It blocked out wonderfully, with the lace opening up nicely and the picot edge all pointy and defined. Overall, I think this is a great yarn for spring and summer pieces. You can find it here: http://bit.ly/AGYbocachica

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Thank you to Stitchcraft Marketing and A Good Yarns Sarasota, who generously sent me two skeins of Boca Chica (retail value $56) for free. I received no other compensation for this review. All opinions and photos are my own.

WIP Wednesday

May8

It is Wednesday, right? It feels like it should be Friday but alas, two more days to go. Still, there is some good news here: I finished a project last night! The birthday socks, which are to be gifted on Saturday, only need some ends woven in and then they can be wrapped.

My goal was “complementary” rather than matching, and I think I succeeded at that. Here’s hoping she’s pleased with them! I especially like the second one (on the right) where I striped the two yarns together before switching to the variegated for the toe. Wish I’d done it on both!

But I don’t just have a FO, I have a new WIP to share too. This one is a selfish knitting project (hooray) with yarn that was a gift from a friend. We’re both knitting the Changing Staircases shawl and I got a good start last night.

I can tell this is going to be a fun knit! It alternates between simple lace and stockinette, so it’s quick to memorize but switches so often that you don’t get bored.

And the best news of the day: the girl is home for the summer! I’m looking forward to having her around again for a couple of months at least.

Take time to save time

May6

I bet all my knitters know what I’m talking about! This weekend, in between increasingly long shawl rows, I swatched for a sweater. I’ve been wanting a selfish knitting project and the Funky Grandpa cardigan has been hovering in the back of my mind, so I pulled out the Knit Picks Palette and knit a swatch. And since I had to wash it anyway, I washed some socks too!

Before it was washed, I was sure I’d gotten gauge on my first try. I was only half a stitch short, and I figured my swatch would loosen up with washing. Nope. It pulled in tighter instead, so I had 22 stitches per 4 inches instead of 24.5. Figuring out gauge makes my brain hurt, but I was pretty sure I needed to try with a smaller needle, so that’s what I did next, along with snuggling a pup.

Fingers crossed I got gauge this time!

Where’s my mojo?

May4

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.