Tag Archive | handknits

Superpower!

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!

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!

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?

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!

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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!

Coming out of hibernation

Apr2

Okay, so we met with the architect last night, and walked through the project with him and the contractor, and I’m not currently terrified. I’m a little bit excited even, though it is tempered by the worry of cost. We don’t have a bid yet; that will come after the architect takes all his measurements and draws up the plan. But I like both of them, and more importantly, I trust them to do a good and fair job. So, we’ll figure out the money part and the interrupted routines and all of that as it comes along, but right now, I’m feeling cautiously optimistic.

As I’ve worried about this the last couple of weeks, my knitting has taken a strange turn toward Finish-itis. I currently have only three projects on my needles. Even though I have lots of ideas percolating, I’m eager to finish some more WIPs first. In that spirit, I pulled out my oldest WIP over the weekend, my Playful Stripes blanket. This is where I was the last time I shared progress:

I cast on for this baby in September of 2015, and it’s gone in and out of hibernation a couple of times. This is the last time, I swear! I worked on it all of Sunday and thought I was almost two-thirds gone, which is good since I was low on the main color. I knit and knit and knit and realized I wasn’t really two-thirds through and I was going to run out of yarn. ARGH. That’s fine, it’s still available, I could get more. So I went as far as I could before setting it aside.

I was in the middle of the yellow stripe when I started this weekend. Pretty good, no? This is a beast of a blanket, so huge! (Jack included for scale.) I’m not sure why I’m so low on yarn since I had more than the recommended yardage for the larger size, but I also didn’t check gauge because hello, it’s a blanket? Big blankets are fine by me! I’ve ordered more of the blue and as soon as it arrives, this blanket will be my top priority.

Anyone else dealing with Finish-itis lately?

Am I crazy?

Mar30

Yeah, I think I might be a little crazy. After thinking about fade sweaters recently, I was idly going through my stash to think of other yarns that might make good sweaters. And it hit me that I have a large quantity of yarns that all go together beautifully:

Now, maybe you’re thinking, Hm, I think I’ve seen that combination of yarn before! You have! This is the yarn for my Mermaid Shawl, which has been on my needles since September 19.

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And that’s pretty much where I still am. I’m on row 18 of the first color. That’s slow progress for me. I worked on it last weekend and only managed about three rows. I’m not sure I like enormous shawls that start at the outer edge. Each of these rows takes an eternity, and clearly I’m not loving this project or else I’d be itching to work on it.

What if…I frogged it?

Eek! Scary! This mermaid shawl idea has been in my head for ages, but…what if it was a Mermaid Cardigan instead? I think I’d wear it more often, and it would be the same gorgeous fade of colors. I’m thinking something like Gelato, though mine would have to be a little shorter, but I suppose I could find any cardigan pattern I like and make it a fade.

Tell me: Should I frog? And if so, what’s your favorite fingering-weight cardigan pattern?