Tag Archive | WIPs

Stress = a new project

Yesterday was Not a Good Day. Not as bad as Car Accident Day on Sunday, but not great. It was more stress piled on to to all the other things we’ve dealt with this summer, and my nerves are just about at their breaking point. I needed some serious comfort knitting, so I pulled out some colorful worsted and cast on for a new cowl.

The pattern is simple and easily memorized, so I can just sit and knit without having to think too hard. The needles are bigger, so I’m not gripping them as tightly as I’ve been doing with my fingering weight WIPs. And the yarn, oh, it’s so pretty! It’s mystery yarn from a destash, so I have no idea of the brand. But it makes me happy to knit with it, and it’ll make me happy to wear it!

Happy Friday, friends. Hope your week’s been better than mine!

There is knitting happening

Jul31

I have gotten a lot of sock knitting done in the last couple of days. Thanks to a careless, speeding, idiot driver, we are currently a one-car couple. Everyone but the car is fine, thank goodness, but since the idiot did not have a current insurance policy, it’s all being covered by our policy, so we’re trying to save a little bit of money by carpooling for now rather than renting a car. Especially since we’ll have to rent a vehicle soon to take the girl’s belongings to college. (My car Edward just won’t hold as many boxes as the smushed car would have, alas.) Anyway, like I said, I am grateful that we are all unhurt and we have good insurance that will help us get it all sorted out. Eventually. Until then, I am knitting in the car while the husband drives me to and from work!

I’m loving these Apothefaery socks and who knows, by the end of the week, I might have a completed sock!

I also have a completed shawl as of last night. I bound off my Imagine When shawl and used up almost all the skein, hooray. Unless something else unexpected comes up, (and considering how the rest of this summer has gone, it might) I should have it blocked by the end of the weekend and have pretty photos to share soon! Until then, here are cute dogs.

Duncan & Grace love each other!

I hope your week is going better than mine, and that you are also getting lots of knitting done!

Back to knitting

Jun8

Things are weird around here. My head isn’t quite right; the experience with my mother-in-law brought back a lot of feelings about my dad and I’m struggling to get on top of them again. Added to that are a few smaller things weighing on me, and it’s all feeling heavy. I haven’t been excited or eager about knitting, so I’ve just been forcing myself to work on my Fade while I watch the French Open.

But here’s the thing: I think it’s getting better. I took two days off after the service and have been spending time with the husband and kids, who are all home this week too, and that’s been good. I had dinner with my siblings, who always make me laugh. My dogs have been nearby, ready for snuggles. And Thursday I cast on a new sock with yarn that was calling my name. So I’m getting there. Day by day, right? In the spirit of easing back into my routines, I’ll show you what I found at an estate sale this week.

VRdkZHfST52b2rxLaVi7kw The two smaller blue cakes are Koigu fingering weight merino, which came with the unlabeled cake of worsted. The two WIPs I mostly bought for the needles. I’m not sure which brand they are but they remind me of Addi needles. I’ve already frogged the projects, and the big ball of red/blue/white will probably become warm socks for my Colorado girl. And here’s my new yarn, an impulse purchase after seeing it on Instagram.

Z%QLZCKHTxOtf4Bw1pHqGw It’s called Pride in the name of Love, and is an exclusive color from Three Irish Girls for Eat.Sleep.Knit. I kind of had to get it, right? Purple and rainbow! If you feel similarly compelled, it looks like they still have some in stock here.

With any luck, I’ll get a good photo of my Fade progress this weekend, and I can show that off soon. Happy weekend, friends!

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!

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.

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.

Feeling scatter-brained

Apr4

There is a lack of focus in my head today. The last few days, actually. Even though I have very few WIPs on my needles, I feel like it’s all getting away from me. My knitting group at work is crocheting a blanket for the Welcome Blanket Project so I made some squares for that. I have a sock almost done, I just started test-knitting a new sock, and I have some new review yarn coming my way, along with the yarn to finish my blanket. I type that out and it’s like, Well, that’s not that much, Bonny. What’s your problem?? Who even knows. But here’s the yarn I’m using for my test knit:

Isn’t it so bright and awesome?? The socks are for Under the Olive Tree Knits again and there’s another lovely lace pattern. I finished the first pattern repeat last night.

And oh yeah, I have some friends having babies, so I wanted to make a few washcloths to add to baby gifts. A few means six, apparently, three for each baby.

But the washcloths are done, and the second Baby Girl Power sock is almost done, and I finished my squares for the Welcome Blanket, so that means I can focus on the test and review projects. Except I’m going to a new LYS this weekend and will probably fall in love with some other yarn that I’ll want to knit up right away!

Here’s Duncan. He really wanted to learn how to crochet but it didn’t work out.

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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?

Stuck on sleeve island

Mar24

I really need to clear out some WIPs. My knitting is not inspiring me lately but I can’t bring myself to cast on anything new right now. It’s dumb, because I only have four WIPs on the needles, but my brain won’t let me accept more. Really, I’m a little blocked with my knitting. I recently had a big load of dirty handknit socks, so I decided to be bold and try to machine wash and dry them, partly to save time and effort and partly to get rid of most of the dog hair stuck to them. And for the most part, they’re fine, or so I thought. A couple of pairs might have felted a tiny bit, and a few looked a bit smaller, but hey, they’ll stretch. Then I found a solitary sock that didn’t make it into the dryer.

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That is…not ideal. Maybe they shrank more than I realized? I guess I’ll find out when I wear them. I think I’m just feeling a little defeated with my knitting. I love knitting socks, but they’re high-maintenance, they don’t stay snug, the heels felt, and they shrink. I don’t wear hats, you can only have so many fingerless gloves or shawls or scarves, I have yarn in my stash I won’t wear now that I have purple hair (I refuse to wear red and purple together) and what’s the point even of having so much yarn and making things?

Oof. That’s not a pretty thought. I mean, maybe my head wasn’t in a great place yesterday anyway, but I had to fight this because in my heart I know there is value in making pretty things, so I picked up my sweater. I love to wear my handknit sweaters, and since I wear a layer underneath, they don’t need to be washed with each wear like socks. Sweaters are useful and practical as well as fun. So I knit a sleeve yesterday.

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This morning I picked up for the second sleeve and I’ll work on that while watching movies I love, and with any luck, I’ll feel better about my knitting by the end of the day.

And I’m not going KonMari my whole stash, but if you’re interested in a gorgeous skein of Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Silk Single for $30 including US shipping, let me know. I would much rather have a skein of this yarn in a color I’d love to wear all the time.

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