I have been doing some cleaning in the basement and unearthed my Granny Stripe Blanket and wanted to see it all spread out.
This is a California King bed in our bonus room. It doesn’t quite stretch across the top but does go a decent length. I think that this would lay nicely across a Queen? For sure would hang over on a Full size bed.
I picked up some brighter colors on my Alaska trip and KITH 2026. I think this summer before the 2026 Pigskin Party KAL I will add a few more rows to this project!
I have Jellybean working to earn money this summer for his dream technology. Turns out that is a very helpful parenting technique. I can sit on the patio and read with a coffee and he push mows the yarn before the Midwest heat gets us both.
This current book is “The World’s Greatest Detective and her Just Okayest Assistant” by Liz Tully. I picked this up on a whim on a delay in the airport. The cover was beautiful and I was bored. Turns out this book is GREAT. I haven’t had a ton a ton of time to read but I am really invested in this book. Would 10/10 recommend.
Okay, the Bibliophile 2 needed some tweaking. I let the sweater fully block and dry before I tried it on. And it was….interesting.
The sleeves were WAY too long and the body was not long enough. Which is fine, as all hte stitches were still live. So I ripped back 2 inches of each sleeve and cast off. I can still cuff each sleeve or let them go past the wrist to my knuckles unfolded.
And then I need to keep knitting on the body. I think at least another inch to two inches on the body before I start the 2×2 ribbing for the hem. I don’t want to be tugging at the lenght but I also don’t want to be swimming in length either. This will surely test my math skills with the blocked versus unblocked gauge.
The garden has shown a modicum of progress since the 4th of July.
PB and I went to weed and water yesterday and we picked: One Roma tomato, one jalapeno, four cherry tomatoes and four strawberries. PB quickly devoured the cherry tomatoes and the strawberries were split between PB and Jellybean. It feels nice to feed them from the fruits of my labor.
We will see how long they think this is cool. I am going to ride that wave! Happy Summer!!
I have been feeling the itch of the Bibliophile 2 and to see where I am at after much knitting
I put the sweater body stitches on my stitch cord and the sleeve stitches were already on waste yarn so into the bath it went! I wanted to see how much this Berroco Vintage DK would grow under the full weight of the sweater.
I borrowed my parents patio table that happens to be rust free metal and well ventilated. This worked until the tornado warning and thunderstorm rolled in. Thankfully I got most of th sweater dry in the 100 degree heat and pulled it in before the rain. I am going to let this finish drying and then do a try on to see where I am at.
My conference in Chicago had me in ballrooms for eight solid hours over two days. And this place was FREEZING. I was actively shivering for the first four hour session. I honestly knit on my 2018 Advent Socks just to keep my fingers from falling off.
I would knit a stripe on one sock and then switch to knit on the same stripe on the second sock. I think I confused the lady at my table but I had the irresistible urge to keep them “even”, lol. I am on color 14 of the 24, so just over the halfway point.
As with some previous advent socks, I think I will do the 2×2 ribbed cuff in the last four colors of the self striping skein. So I need to keep count when I hit color 20. I bet I mess that up on at least one of the socks.
My second Sharing Creativity Cowl is done and I did some really good blocking on this version. I was really going for the drape factor.
All the pattern and size details are found here in my Ravelry project page. I did not lose yarn chicken and I added I think four extra rows to the main body of the cowl. I could have maybe done two more? But I didn’t want to run out of yarn mid i-cord bind off. I did AGGRESIVELY block this cowl out for the drape factor. I didn’t do that with my first version and I wanted to see the contrast. I can see the benefits of both and they both have limitations.
Jellybean helped me take photos when I looked nice and dressed up for work. But I like how the jewel tones of this cowl looked with the blue maxi dress. This could be some outfit inspo for this coming winter!
I took a very quick turnaround trip to Chicago for a professional conference. It didn’t turn out to be the most relaxing of a trip due to some work stress. So, what is a girl to do? Yes, find a yarn store!!
I managed to walk to Yarnify on Chicago’s South Side and peruse a LOVELY store. I forgot to take any pictures of the inside or outside because I was in a mood over work issues. But I did manage to spend some money in the store.
I always try to support local dyers or dyers I don’t see very often. On the left I grabbed some Leading Men Fiber Arts yarn. I grabbed some vivid mini skeins for my scrap/mini skein blankets. And then I got a skein of the Dramaturg base in the “fortune teller” colorway. Next up on the top is some RMR in the Rocio base. New to me dyer and it’s not on Ravelry but I couldn’t resist the speckles.
Next up on the right is some Baah Yarns Savannah in “Lincoln Park After Dark” colorway. This is a cashmere blend and I plan to pet this skein QUITE a lot. And then I finished up with the top corner of some Stone Barn Farms gradient cake called “Eye Of The Storm” colorway.
I really need to take one of these hot afternoons and get all my summer yarn purchases put away and organized into my bins….
Happy 4th of July to all who choose to celebrate! The heat is starting to crank up the garden progress. We are already ahead of last year….or so I hope.
PB’s strawberries (that I was very skeptical of) are actually producing fruit. And she stated they were DELICIOUS. If these plants survive the summer I may actually try to over-winter them with some straw.
The main garden has produced a single (and beautiful) large jalapeno. I plan to dice this up for taco night this coming week. Not all my family members like jalapeno but maybe they will try a tiny bite that doesn’t have seeds.
Now I am off to shoot some fireworks with Jellybean and my Dad because we are ALL children when it comes to the 4th. Also, hopping for a really good and properly cooked s’mores
It’s hot as BLAZES here in the Midwest and here I am knitting a super bulky cowl….
The second Sharing Creativity Cowl is now joined in the round. Because I did use a little bit of the end of the first skein from the first project, I do plan to add at least a couple of rows to the height of this cowl. I think it will improve the fit of the finished accessory but also maximize the use of yarn.
Will I end up playing yarn chicken, maybe? But it will feel good to finish this yarn and mark complete in my stash. Will I buy Caracol again….maybe, for the right project. To keep in my stash….probably not.
My Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventures 