Tag Archive | WIPs

So that’s the problem!

I made a hat yesterday. Like a whole hat, start to finish. And I enjoyed it and actually wanted to knit, which is different than the last few weeks have been for me. I was trying to figure out why that was, when I’ve been so stuck in my knitting lately, and I realized that I might just be stuck with fingering weight shawls and sweaters. My socks are still a reliable knit for me, and I’ve made two hats with worsted weight, but that Boxy sweater is my nemesis right now, and my Melodia shawl is boring me to tears with all those plain garter stitch rows.

Add that to yesterday’s yearning for a yarn store fix and I think one possible solution is to do some stash-diving today and find a new worsted weight project that excites me, in a pretty yarn I’ve forgotten about. Not to get all philosophical about it, but the rest of my life is challenging and stressful without any easy or quick fixes, so maybe I need the opposite from my knitting at the moment.

Here’s a sneak peek at my newest review project, which is for a new yarn from Manos del Uruguay. It’s a sport weight which apparently is different enough from fingering weight to keep me happy.

The pattern is the Oleada Cowl and I’m loving these striped chevrons! This is a really addictive pattern; I just want to get to that next color change.

Now, I’m having lunch with a former co-worker today, so the question is: do I go to the yarn store while I’m out? I mean, I legitimately need to buy a pompom!

WIP Wednesday

Nov13

I still haven’t taken good photos of my finished cowl (it’s been SO COLD the last two days…okay, I’ve just been lazy about it. Whatever.) so I thought I’d share a couple of WIP photos. Can you believe I only have four WIPs at the moment? Clearly there is something wrong with me. I got to the third color of my Color Me Happy cowl last night.

It’s hard to see, but there are a few rows of the solid purple up there. I think I’m going to love this once it’s done, but it’s an awful lot of stockinette right now. Maybe I need to go to a movie so I can knit on it in the dark.

And I made a swatch! It’s a little swatch but it’s a good start. This is for my Penny sweater with my birthday Malabrigo.

I’ve been waiting to start it because I’ve been trying to eat better and exercise lately, and I thought maybe I’d want a different size. But then I thought, Heck that, I want a pretty pink sweater and I can still wear it even if it’s a little big.

But here’s the best news of the day: I get to have a crafting weekend this weekend!!! One of my blogger friends is meeting a few friends at local hotel for the weekend, and she and I decided we needed to finally meet, so I got a room for myself and it’s going to be DELICIOUS. I won’t spend all weekend with them, because that might be too much, plus why wouldn’t I take advantage of a comfy quiet hotel room all to myself? But we’ll knit together and visit the best LYS and I’m super excited.

It’s also a little scary because I’m an introvert who hates meeting new people, but apparently I’m pushing myself lately. Last weekend I went to a birthday party where I only knew two people, and I had a blast. Maybe that was enough to nudge me toward the crafting weekend. Or maybe I was just drawn by the opportunity to have an extended period of time to myself. Either way, the room is booked and I just need to plan my projects. I’m pretty sure I need to a new cast-on! Sock or shawl??

Mermaid Sea Swell Shawl

Oct28

Remember months ago I wanted to make a mermaid shawl with five skeins of yarn and I tried to make this lace shawl and it just didn’t work for me? I remembered that yarn today and I might have found the perfect pattern on Ravelry.

Capture

This is the Sea Swell Shawl by Stephen West and it’s a gorgeous fade with five colors, which is exactly what I wanted, and it’s a semi-circular shape, which I wanted, and it even has a wave pattern, which I didn’t even KNOW I wanted! Plus after making my Dotted Rays, I’m excited to make another one of his patterns. That one was so fun and addictive, and so much squishy garter stitch. My only caveat is that for some reason I thought my mermaid shawl should have some delicate lace too. But mostly I think I can’t resist how perfect this is in every other way!

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!

Color Me Happy

Sep25

I have a new WIP! The reason why is a bit convoluted so bear with me. See, I agreed to test out some new circular needles, and I have one size. That’s actually how I ended up casting on the Spring Rain shawl, but then I realized that 24″ circs aren’t long enough for a shawl. I needed to put the shawl on a longer cord, but I needed to go to the LYS for that. Then when that was done, I needed a pattern for 24″ size 2.5 circs, and I thought a cowl would be perfect. I plugged all the necessary info in Ravelry and ended up choosing the Color Me Happy cowl.

Oh, what colors? No, not the pink and purple in the original, though I totally tried to find something similar in my stash. Instead, my stash threw out these three skeins and said they’d really like to work together.

6444a1bb-dd52-4c08-9fc0-a1375cfdc1e2 Won’t that be lovely? I purchased the pattern and got all ready to cast on with my little 2.5 circs…only to see that that size was needed for one section if you were doing a straight bottom edge instead of the kerchief style! For everything else, it recommended a size 4.

Well, to heck with that, I say, and I’m just going to use these darn needles and it’s going to be just fine!

Honestly, now that I’m this far into it, I think the size 4 would be too big and I wouldn’t like the loose drape anyway. Now I’m just eager to get to the point where I can join in the round and start zooming along!

Darn that job

Sep7

Don’t you hate it when work gets in the way of your fun stuff? This week has been too busy, and I haven’t had the mental energy to put much toward knitting or blogging or cool things like that. But I’m going to change that today! It’s a cool, sunny morning, so I’m outside with a cup of tea and a couple of dogs and I’m going to clear my head of work.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I HAVE been knitting; I’ve just been working on projects that don’t make me think too much. My Mudpunch sock has gotten the most time, which is why I’m a good way into the foot.

This is the Twizzler socks pattern and I like it a lot, but I also like how this stripe pattern works up in plain stockinette. I almost wish I’d done a vanilla sock. (I also wish I’d taken the time to get a better photo, now that I see this one here. Oops.)

My other project this week has been my Estonian lace cowl. I worked on this while I was watching the US Open, but only during the less critical matches, i.e. not Rafa Nadal. My skein was smaller than the designer’s, so I cast on fewer stitches for a cozier cowl. I might not get the full three repeats of the lace pattern but I’m not bothered. I’ll just go until I can’t go anymore.

And today is Duncan’s Gotcha Day! We’ve had him for two years now and can’t imagine life without him. He’s the husband’s favorite as well as the boy’s favorite, and he’s such a sweet snuggler. I’m just really glad he stopped destroying things as he got older!

Happy weekend, friends!

Fall = Knit all the things

Sep2

I love summer and I don’t really want it to end, but I’m also kind of happy that it’s almost sweater weather! At the very least, it’s knit-a-sweater-weather. Yesterday I decided I needed to double my WIPs so I cast on three new projects, and yes, one of them is a sweater. And before you ask, yes, I am swatching before I cast on the sweater itself. I knit a proper swatch on circular needles so I can accurately measure my in-the-round gauge, since I know that it differs from my flat-knitting gauge enough to affect size.

I decided I’m going to use five skeins of purples to make a Faded Boxy sweater. I’m not exactly sure how I’ll decide when to fade the colors, but I might just take the length of the body and divide it by five. Wouldn’t that work? Or wait, should it be 10, since I’ll have 10 sections (Color A, Color A & B, Color B etc)? Yes, maybe that would work. I just want to make sure I have enough yarn to fade the sleeves too. I know there are other Faded Boxy projects on Ravelry, so I’ll have some reference points to help. It’ll be fine. The real question is how long it will take me to get bored of miles of stockinette in fingering weight yarn!

I’m starting my Fade with the gray/purple variegated on the far right in that photo, and the swatch has been washed and is currently drying. The middle purple/gray is from Herd of Cats, a Colorado dyer. It’s a worsted merino that is going to become an Estonian Lace Medallion cowl. The ~~non-purple~~ blue/white is a color called Rocky Mountain High from Andromeda Socks, and I’m trying the Chevron Socks pattern to see if it creates a subtle mountain look. Now I have a wide variety of knitting to carry me through the second week of the US Open!

For my U.S. friends: enjoy the Labor Day holiday today!

Time for a reset

Sep1

Maybe it’s the change of seasons, but I’m feeling the urge to take a deep breath and reassess some stuff. I’ve been disengaged a bit from work lately for a few reasons, and I want to refocus and start pushing myself again. But I’m also wanting to re-engage with my knitting. It hasn’t felt as rewarding as usual this summer, and I want to get back to finding the joy again. Right now, that means the urge to cast on all the pretty new projects!

One of them was supposed to be that June Lake top. But the one person telling me to swatch, swatch, always swatch, was right, not that it’s much of a surprise. I went up one needle size and two pattern sizes, got my first textured panel done, measured the length, and it STILL wasn’t as long as I need it to be. Assuming I were to stick with the size 5 needles, I calculated my gauge and how many stitches I’d need to cast on to get the size I want, and my concern is that I won’t have enough yarn. SO. That project is in hibernation while I decide what I want to do. I’d still really like to make a sleeveless top, but I’m not sure I can get the size I need with just two skeins.

Instead I cast on for a new sock! I wound my brand-new Mudpunch self-striping yarn and after seeing Mildly Granola’s Twizzler socks, decided to make my own. I’m loving how they look!

But I want more new projects! I’ve got a selection of purple yarns that would make a fantastic fade, and I’m debating between a Find Your Fade and some kind of fade sweater. I think I’m leaning toward a sweater, but I need to check patterns and gauge (again, argh) before I decide. And I’m feeling the itch for some squishy worsted too, so I might need to cast on a new cowl soon too.

Now, all you swatchers, help me out: when you’re planning for a sweater in the round, do you swatch with the exact needles you’d be using (i.e. 32″ or 40″ circs)? I see the logic in it, but it would make for a huge swatch! Or do you use the same material of needles (i.e. bamboo or metal) but smaller circumference?

Adventures in Swatching

Aug25

With only three WIPs on my needles, I decided yesterday that it was time to cast on for something new. My WIPs are easy, mindless projects, so I wanted something a little more involved. I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

In my queue, I found the June Lake sleeveless top pattern, and I had two new skeins of pretty yarn that would work well. Since the body of the sweater is knit in the round, I knew I should swatch in the round. But I didn’t want to swatch on my 16″ circular needles, so I thought DPNs would be fine. My first swatch had too many stitches per inch. My second swatch, with the next size up needles, had too many stitches per inch. My third swatch, up one more size, was too loosey-goosey for any kind of top I’d want to wear.

I liked the fabric of the first swatch the best. Dang it, that meant it was time for math to determine which size I should knit with my gauge. Gauge math is the WORST for me. It took some time, and a lot of notes, and a lot of calculations, but I figured out I needed to go up two sizes. Before I cast on, though, for some reason I decided I wanted to double-check my gauge on the recommended needles, and without much thought, decided I needed to check it on circular needles.

Yes, apparently I do have some self-preservation instincts after all. Because this gauge swatch was different than the one with DPNs, and this gauge swatch indicated that my gauge matched the designer’s and I could pick the correct size after all! So all my swatching and calculating and teeth-gnashing could have been prevented, and if I had done my swatch correctly the first time around, I would have saved a lot of time.

Alas.

Still, the good news was that I was free to cast on, and I did and I’m enjoying my new little WIP.

fullsizeoutput_22ee It’s knit from the bottom up with an interesting band along the bottom, which is done in two pieces and then joined in the round for the body. I love this stitch pattern! And today is quiet and rainy and gray and I think I might spend the day with my knitting and my puppers. Happy Sunday, friends.

p.s. The pretty yarn is Pixie Sock from Supernatural Yarns in the Hogsmeade colorway!

100 T-pins Later

Aug3

My Imagine When shawl is blocking right now, with all the little picots pinned out nicely. It’s not a full 100 pins, but it’s about 96, so that’s pretty close. It’s not as long as I’d expected, so I hope it’s still wearable. We’re leaving very soon to take the girl to college so I doubt I’ll get good photos taken before then. But eventually I’ll show you nice photos where you can actually see the pretty yarn (Manos del Uruguay Alma)!

The girl’s furnished apartment for the coming school year fell through five days before we were scheduled to leave, so the past few days have been frantic and stressful. We’ve got an apartment lined up, but need to get a roommate finalized. We got a couch and chair from family, and she can take some furniture from home. Since we don’t have our bigger vehicle (thanks to Car Accident Sunday), we’re renting a U-haul to get out there and then a smaller car to get home. We’ll get a cheap bed from IKEA in Denver. I mean, I think we’ve got the biggest things sorted, but it’s been a bit of a nightmare. We’re all stressed and anxious and snapping at each other, and I’m really hoping that once we get her stuff moved in, we can have a few days to relax and enjoy Colorado!