Monthly Archives: July 2019

Self Care And Socks

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My four year old Jellybean is testing my limits with all he’s got. Bedtime has turned into a huge ordeal. I know this is part of his growing up and learning to question the world and push boundaries. But ooof, it’s exhausting and consumes almost all my patience. So last night after a 55 minute bedtime battle I settled in for some self care.

I poured myself a low carb beer, turned on the Wet Coast Wools podcast and worked on the toe of my Soft Serve Sock Snake socks. As far as self care goes I feel like this was the better option than the large bowl of ice cream I really wanted. Though my sock toe might be a little wonkier than if I had skipped the beer, lol.

Happy Knitting and take care of yourself!

Happy Anniversary to Me

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As of June 30th, the husband and I have been married 12 years. We’ve added two dogs and two kiddos over those many years and boy are we exhausted! I’ve said this before (with all due respect and love) that my  husband is a terrible gift picker outer. So these days I keep a google doc where I link to things I would like to have. He then only has to click and purchase from a list of things hes certain I want. It has served us both well.

This year he picked out some wonderful things from Tuft. He chose a sock soap, bath bar and some hand balm. I think the sock soap is just natural scent, the body bar is honey scented and the hand balm is definitely blueberry lemonade. They are all heavenly and this is my first Tuft experience and I’m not disappointed so far!

And he managed to throw in some yarn from String Theory Colorworks. This is Stark Effect on their Inertia base (80/20 blend of merino and nylon). It’s crazy rainbow bright and should make some brilliant socks.

P.S. Don’t worry I didn’t forget the hubby. He is getting his car professionally detailed to rid it of kid crumbs, dog hair and about 7 years of Kansas mud and dust!

Happy knitting!!

Cast On: Vamping

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I have had this pack of mini skeins in my stash for awhile now and it keeps popping up in my mind. It’s some Frabjous Fibers and Wonderland yarns Cheshire Cat in the Mad Tea Party colorway. There are five mini skeins in a rainbow-ish kind of fade. I picked this pack up at a yarn store closing and I have been hoarding it. Well, last week I got a yarn newsletter that highlighted the Vamping pattern from Jennifer Dassau. And I rushed to my stash to grab my yarn and needles..

I was so lost in the wool fumes that I hand wound the first mini and cast on right then and there. It was like 9:45 pm and my brain was a little foggy so the cast on took three attempts. But I think I’m on track now….I hope….

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Westport Blanket

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With a little concentrated effort and binge watching some Big Bang Theory re-runs…my Westport Blanket is done!

Pattern: Westport Blanket by Fifty Four Ten Studio

Yarn: Knit Picks Mighty Stitch (held double) in the Celestial colorway

Needles: US 13s

Mods: I added two extra body repeats before working the garter border.

The color is blowing way out in these photos. But this blanket is a deep royal blue and is PERFECT for my cousins little baby boy due in October. The finished size is slightly more rectangular than I would want but I used up just over five skeins of DEEP stash to make this blanket. This took 5.3 skeins or 1,111 yards of worsted weight yarn held double. It felt amazing to make such a beautiful project and put a dent in some yarn that had been collecting dust.

I really enjoyed the pattern as it was very well written. I noticed that Fifty Four Ten Studio has several other baby blankets that might be a good match for some future baby knits. Blankets in general take a ton of time but bulky knits like this really make it fly off the needles. And now this blanket is washed in baby safe soap and tucked in the cedar chest awaiting a baby shower!

Happy knitting!!

Second Set Of Shorties

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The first set of shorties are off my needles and I’m starting to work on my pair. These are pair number two in my Soft Serve Sock Snake Socks.

I had to do some finagling with my scraps for these tubes. I went ahead and added the speckled yarn for contrasting cuffs. But those cuffs completed used up that mini skein with nothing left for heels or toes. Also, the tubes were not the same length by a noticeable amount. So I dug out the leftover scraps from the first pair and added until they were the same length. You can see the strip sequence is off for the sock on the right.

Now my dilemma is what yarn to use for the toes and heels? I pulled a couple options from my stash but I’m not completely sold on either. I might need to do a deeper stash dive after the kiddos go to bed. I don’t need these perfect but some degree of coordination would keep my brain happy.

Happy Knitting!!

Knitting At The Farmers Market

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Wednesday is Farmers Market day in downtown Topeka. It is a small but mighty affair every week. My favorite is the fresh baked bread you can find. But that kind of negates the health benefits of walking, lol. But I digress!

Today’s yarn on the go is brought to you by my Cheery Vanilla socks and their project bag that is much more suited for walking. This time I opted for a zippered sock bag with a fixed wrist strap. It still flopped around while I walked but none of the pesky twisting. I walked roughly 35 minutes and completed two stripes.

Now I also managed to snag a fresh tomato for BLT sandwiches. Because bacon is awesome, obviously.

Happy Knitting!!

Westport Decision Point

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I have reached the end of the pattern instructions for my Westport Blanket. I have completed the pattern recommended number of repeats. But I still have a yarn left and I really want this blanket to consume as much as possible. I’m at a decision point.

I know, roughly, how much yarn each of the stockinette block and garter rows repeat consumes. And I have one full and one partial skein left that I can hold together. I *Think* I have enough yarn for two or three more repeats and then the garter border and bindoff.

My only concern that is if I add too much more length that the blanket will become more of weirdly shaped rectangle and less of a usable blanket. This fabric texture and gauge has some good stretch to be able to shape it. But the high acrylic content tells me that it might not hold a blocking very well. I need some time to muddle on this one…but I REALLY want this off my needles soon!

Happy Knitting!!

Yarn On The Go

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I have been trying to put more “go” in my life and get off my tush and walk. I work in the heart of downtown Topeka and therefore have access to lots of cool places to to walk. Today my Dad’s Christmas Socks and I took a walk to the Capital building.

The project bag that these socks live in is NOT acceptable for walk knitting. It kept twirling and twisting up the yarn so that I would have to stop and unspin my bag. The bag (not pictured) is a drawstring bag by 19 Stitches. And it’s a wonderful bag for holding a project, don’t get me wrong. It’s just not great for walking.

As for the sock, I’m almost to the place where I need to weigh the yarn ball to see if I am close to 50%. I need to make sure I leave enough yarn for a cuff and a heel on sock number one and enough yarn for a complete sock number two. But i’m struggling to remember to do this in the evening after the end of what have been very long days lately.

Happy Knitting!

Soft Serve Sock Snake Shorties

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I’m halfway through my Soft Serve Sock Snake Shorties. The first pair for my sister is done!

I made the choice to rip both the tubes back a bit and re-knit the toes back down with the self-striping yarn. I then used some Acorn Willow merino nylon sock yarn I got at Woolfest 2019 for speckled heels and cuffs. I think this random mini looks really fantastic with these pastel stripes.

I used Cheree of KirbyWirby’s tutorial for a true cut in afterthought heel. I did a pretty good job of preventing a hole at the corner and matching the gauge of the sock tube. My notes on the number of rounds and decreases that work for me are on my Ravelry project page.

I’ll gift these to my sister when I see her in July. And next up I have two tiny tubes left that I am going to try and eek out a second set of shorties for myself!

Happy knitting!!

Happy 4th of July!

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No knitting content today, sorry guys. Between the American holiday today where I will consume way to many s’mores and watch a lot of fireworks to celebrate those that gave so much so that I and my family could have democratic freedom and the fact that my dad and I have been demolishing and relaying the kitchen/office floor for two days straight…I’m tapped out.

I need like a whole tube of bio-freeze, a nap and a beer in that order. Happy 4th of July!

white and red flag

Photo by Aaron Schwartz on Pexels.com