Tag Archive | knitting

It never fails

I feel like I do this every year: I cast on ALL THE THINGS in January and I’m so excited about all the variety … and then I get toward the end of the month and feel like I’m not close to finishing anything because I’ve just been flitting about between all my different WIPs. Progress this month was also slowed because I got kind of obsessed with my sock yarn scrap blanket. I guess I shouldn’t say progress was slowed, because I made great progress on that blanket, and I do want it it to continue, but now I want to resume progress on my main WIPs.

This weekend I hope to be watching some tennis so simple projects will be the best. I think I’m going to focus on my Turtle Dove II (still in increase phase) and my Scottish Highlands Shawl. I didn’t realize how much garter stitch this one had because my eye was so entranced by the lace border, but I have at least one more garter section to get through before I get to that.

The birthday dinner with my mom last night was very nice. She seemed to have a wonderful time, loved the margarita and queso, and the company of course! I also treated myself a bit yesterday and bought tickets to see KT Tunstall, a Scottish rock musician I love. You’ve probably heard a couple of her songs – Black Horse & the Cherry Tree, or Suddenly I See, from The Devil Wears Prada? I’ve listened to her for years and can’t wait to see her live. The closest she’s coming is Des Moines, which is only about 2 1/2 hours away from me. But she’s from Scotland — who knows if she’ll ever come this close again?? I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t go. Life is short, friends — do the things that bring you joy! Live music does wonderful things for my heart and soul. Anyway, I’m not sure yet who will be my date. I’ve asked a friend but if she can’t come, the husband said he would. Even if the seat next to me is empty, I’ll be there!

I’m looking forward to a lazy weekend. The only thing I want to accomplish is go to the library to pick up a book for my book group (Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. So not excited about this one but I’ll give it a shot.) and maybe wash my sheets. Other than that, it’ll be knitting and tennis all day long over here. Hope you all have the weekend you want, too!

Happy Saturday!

Sunday Sweater

Jan15

No, the sweater’s not called Sunday, though I think there is a sweater pattern called the Sunday Sweater. I’m just working on it on Sunday. I decided yesterday I was ready to start my Turtle Dove II. As you remember, I was pondering whether to knit the gray first or the teal, and I went with gray since it will be such a nice backdrop for all my purple shawls. I wound the first skein, gathered up all the needles, and prepared to swatch.

That’s a good swatch, right? Yes, since it starts with the neck, and is designed to fit loosely, I threw caution to the wind and just cast on! The pattern says to go down two needle sizes for the turtleneck, but based on advice from a friend who’s made a couple I went down just one. This morning, I put it on waste yarn so I could check gauge of the stockinette section and, more importantly, check the fit of the neck. I don’t want it TOO snug.

Results were mixed: my gauge is good, but the neck was a tad more snug than I’d like. Because I want to love this sweater and wear it all the time, I’m going to frog and start over, going up one more needle size for the neck. And see, this worked out well, because a gauge swatch never would have told me how I felt about the neck size, so doing it this way killed two birds with one stone! And it’s Aran weight yarn that knits up quickly, so I’m not losing much in the way of time.

Disclaimer: I do normally swatch for sweaters! Swatching is good and important. Except when you get better data just by casting on.

Happy Sunday, friends.

Come on, let’s twist again

Jan9

You’ve all seen the instructions, I’m sure: “Join to work in the round, being careful not to twist.” Duh. Obviously we’re going to be careful about that every time, you don’t have to tell us! And yet.

We had tickets to the symphony Saturday night and I needed a mindless knitting project. The Litmus Cowl has been on my queue for ages so I downloaded the pattern (free on Rav, can’t find it elsewhere), pulled out a skein of gray and a set of six mini skeins from Show Me Yarn (from DEEP stash), and got to winding. I even split each mini skein into four tiny 5g balls, to make for the most mindless of mindless knitting. I did my provisional cast-on, joined, and knit three rounds before putting it away into its bag for the evening.

That night, I pulled out it as I waited for the show to start, and guess what? You got it — I had twisted my stitches when I joined! ARGH. I had time to pull it all out and pick up the first row back on my needle before the show started, and then I think I got a row and a half during intermission. But since the show was rousing enough that I wanted to give it my full attention, I went home with a smaller project than I started with. Sigh.

At least it was a phenomenal show — celebrating the music of the Harlem Renaissance and featuring both male and female vocalists as well as a tap dancer. Ella Fitzgerald is a favorite of mine and the female vocalist had worked with her and shared a couple of stories, including one where Ella was nervous before a show because she was afraid the audience wouldn’t like her! Can you imagine?? Anyway, it was a delightful evening and I’m pretty sure the husband and I need to go see live jazz more often.

Happy Monday, friends.

Who can tell, anyway?

Jan7

I pulled out my mosaic knitting Mix Tape Cowl the other night, and I think I was rewatching the Great Pottery Throwdown while I was knitting. The pattern is cool in that it gives you like 16 different stitch patterns that you can choose from for each stripe. I’d chosen number 3 for the first, and 13 for the second. I got to the last mosaic row and realized it didn’t look like the picture. I checked my pattern, which I had displayed on my iPad, and it was showing the instructions for 3, not 13. Somewhere in there I’d gotten things moved around, so apparently I just invented my own stitch pattern.

I briefly — very briefly — thought about ripping back, but decided it definitely wasn’t worth the bother. Nobody but me would ever know, and it looks fine. Still, I do hope I can do the rest of the stripes correctly!

I also recently got yarn for another new project. I got a bit of money for Christmas and decided to get a sweater quantity to make a Turtle Dove II sweater (the pattern is free on Rav). I found a fantastic sale on Cascade Aereo that allowed me to get TWO sweater quantities and I can’t decide which to do first.

I’ll wear the heck out of the gray one, but the teal one will be more fun to knit. Which would you knit first?

A new shawl project

Jan3

Time to share another one of my New Year’s Day cast-ons! I’ve been wanting to start the Scottish Highlands shawl for a few weeks, since I saw it on Instagram. It calls for two skeins, and I got a skein of yarn as a Christmas gift that was absolutely perfect for the main color. Stash diving produced a nice contrast for the lace, and I was off to the races!

The purple is Gnarled Paw Frida Helix, which is a deliciously yummy merino blend with 10% cashmere and I’m absolutely loving it. The white is sock yarn from Honey Girl Farms but it feels nice and squishy. So basically this project is just making me very happy. And I needed something happy tonight because I had to go back to work today and I forgot my laptop at home so I had to drive back and get it plus I had to talk to people and I got out of the habit of that over the holidays. Thank goodness there is knitting, that’s all.

Happy Tuesday that feels like Monday.

Mix Tape Cowl

Jan2

Yesterday I managed to cast on five new projects! I didn’t get very far on any of them, but they’re ready to go when I want them. The one thing I realized is that they’re all a little more involved than I expected — not all that difficult, but none of them are easy mindless knitting. I’ll definitely need to add another project to my list for that purpose. Today I worked on my Mix Tape Cowl by Carissa Browning. It’s mosaic knitting, which looks so much more complicated than it really is, and this pattern is super easy to customize, with different stitch patterns you can choose from. I’ve got my first stripe done.

I definitely have to pay close attention to this one, because one mistake can throw off the whole pattern! It’s really fun, though, and I can tell it’s going to be addictive with those short, differently colored stripes! Did you cast on anything fun so far this year?

Happy Monday, friends.

Happy Year Year: 2023

Jan1

I love that New Year’s Day is a Sunday this year. There’s just something so refreshing about new starts, and to have them all on one day makes it even better. New day, new month, new year — the possibilities are endless and I am full of optimism, at least for now. I don’t like to make resolutions but I do like to set goals. What’s the difference? Not sure, but for me it’s about being gentle with myself if I don’t reach those goals. Well, that and they’re not centered around things that are “wrong” with me like so many stereotypical new year’s resolutions. So what are my goals?

Knit at least five squares per week on my sock yarn mitered square blanket: yes, I’d love to do a square a day but I know I won’t hit that. I’m more likely to pick it up once or twice a week and do two or three squares at a time.
Use more yarn from stash than I put in: this always sounds so doable at the beginning of the year, when I am flush with new yarns from holiday gifts. But I don’t have any big knitting retreat trips planned this year, so that should help!
Finish my first colorwork project: I saw the Pawsitive Vibes Cowl on Instagram and I have to make it. I have to. I even have the perfect yarn in my stash. (It’s on Rav but I believe you can also get it directly from the designer Read Street Knitting.) I tried colorwork a few years ago and couldn’t get used to wrangling two strands of yarn at once. But I feel more confident in my knitting skills this days!
Journal more regularly: I’d like to get back into the journaling habit, even if it’s just a couple of lines a day.

There are other things on my mind, things like walking the dog more regularly and managing my discretionary spending (which is slightly connected to number two on that list), but those four are top of mind. (I kind of hate that I used that corporate phrase but darn it, it’s accurate and I can’t think of a better replacement at the moment.) Oh and maybe blog a little more often? And comment on other people’s blogs? I do a fine job of reading them but have been lax about taking the time to comment.

So far I’m feeling good about these goals. Last night I worked on my sock yarn blanket while the husband and I played Scrabble (I won) and Trivial Pursuit (he won) and I’ve got a square started so I don’t forget how to make the miter go the right direction when I pick it up next time. Yes, that’s a problem I had. Took me AGES to get it sorted.

I also had a winding party this morning and have got yarn for SIX projects ready to go! When I complete them, it will use up nine skeins of yarn from stash, as well as some leftovers.

Happy Sunday, friends!

That’s all, folks!

Dec31

It’s the last day of the year and I have my snacks ready for tonight. The boy and his partner are coming over for games so they should keep me up until midnight. I did manage to finish one more project last night — the one pair of socks on my needles — so tonight I’ll probably work on my sock yarn garter stitch blanket.

Yarn is Mothy & the Squid sock yarn and isn’t it lovely?? I have almost half a skein left over which will go into my blanket, as I currently have too many socks and not enough storage.

With that pair of socks, I completed 40 knitting project this year, including:

10 shawls
7 hats
6 pairs of socks
6 pairs of fingerless mitts
6 cowls
4 sweaters

I used up 99 skeins of yarn and added 129 to my stash. I’d like to flip that next year, and use up more than I add, but I’m not going to stress about it. My yarn collection makes me happy just by being there!

I also read 51 books this year, slightly above my goal of 42. I hope to continue that next year and be intentional about taking time to read. I’ve been rethinking my book group participation, because I don’t love having feelings of obligation connected to something I’d like to do for fun, and I don’t love spending time forcing myself to read a book I wouldn’t otherwise read. But then I might miss some books I wouldn’t otherwise read that I might love! It’s tricky.

Next year I think I’m going to keep track of LEGO sets I put together too. It would just be a fun bit of data to look back on.

My knitting queue for 2023 already has nine projects on it, and I can’t wait to start casting on tomorrow!

Happy New Year’s Eve, friends!

FO Friday: Great Diamond Authority Shawl

Dec30

The Great Diamond Authority shawl was my last big finish for 2022, and for a while there I wasn’t sure I’d get there! I started this shawl back in June, I think, and it kept revolving in and out of hibernation. It’s a BIG project, for one thing, and sometimes I needed to not be knitting lace. But after I finished the MKAL at the beginning of December, I made a big push to get this one finally done, and I’m so glad I did!

Each section has a slightly different diamond lace pattern, finished with a knitted-on lace border. Now, friends, I think I can say with confidence that I NEVER want to do a knitted-on lace border on a shawl ever again. It took ages and ages of knitting the same little 12-row repeat across the width of this massive shawl, decreasing six stitches each repeat. BUT. (sighhhh) Oh my goodness, it’s stunning. Why is it that my favorite FOs are often the ones that gave me the most grief during the knitting process??

I just wish I could capture the sparkle. The yarn is from Polka Dot Sheep Fine Yarns, and it’s their Rime base which has that delightful 2% stellina that I’m unable to photograph. Just look at their photo and then imagine my shawl just glittering away! I can’t wait to wear this one out into the world!

Happy Friday, friends. I hope you all have fun and safe New Year’s Eve celebrations this weekend!

December Wrap-Up

Dec28

I feel like I can finally hold my head above water. Work was just absolutely bonkers busy all month long, plus there was holiday stuff to prepare for and then actually do. Christmas was good, not great — I missed the girl A LOT — but I enjoyed seeing all the my families and I got lots of thoughtful gifts. Still, I’m done with Christmas and ready for it to go away. I’ve started putting away a few decorations and hope to get them all put away (except for the tree) by the end of the day. Of course I’ve also been knitting, because how else would I still be sane?

This month I finished my zebra socks, a Merfolk Fade Shawl (Rav link), and my Winter Wonderland Mystery Knitalong (designer’s website)!! I never really thought I’d be able to keep up with it but the designer planned it well and it was pretty much the only thing I worked on until it was done. It’s very long, and most of the stitch patterns were super fun. A couple were fiddly and honestly that snowflake in the middle was a pain in my butt — but it was totally worth it. You can see more photos on my Instagram! Oh, and I gifted all the things I’d knitted for my teammates and I think everything was a success. They acted pleased anyway, and that’s all I need.

Grace has another bump on her chest but we got it checked out and it didn’t show any signs of being another mast cell tumor so we’re just watching it right now. She’s still a very happy girl! We did a DNA test on Duncan and discovered he’s almost half Rottweiler! I’d thought he was a Rottweiler/Mastiff mix, so I wasn’t completely wrong. I don’t really understand the point of these tests and yet I still want to do one for Jack too.

This month our work team volunteered for a couple of hours at a local non-profit helping low-income single parent families, and that gave me a much-needed boost. I also helped plan our sales conference, which happened this month and went very well. I had a great time at the event but good grief the exhaustion after — I basically spent the next day on the couch doing nothing. Our office building is decorated for Christmas, including this fun crown that is modeled after ones that were on display downtown back in the 1960s. It’ll be interesting to see how fast they take down the decorations!

I guess that’s December in a nutshell. I did just finish one more big project, but it’s blocking and I think it deserves its own post, so hopefully I’ll pop back in here before the month is done! Happy Wednesday, friends.