FO Friday: Arya Shaw
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Monthly Archives: February 2020
Knitting For Warmth
It’s a mix of rainy/cold and snow/cold here today. So I’m super glad my Hibernation Throw is at the point it makes a nice blanket as I knit!
Can I say how exciting it is to be on the downhill slide of a blanket project? The rows on this project are only getting shorter and shorter as I go. I still have plenty of scraps to add to this blanket. I really think this is going to be a nice personal sized blanket when I’m done. I can admit I have googled more coned sock yarn in a grey color because I’m already planning a second throw….sheepish grin….
I’ll try to spread this blanket out and take proper photos of this blanket when I can grab some sunlight. Happy Knitting!!!
WIP Wednesday: Prism Break Hat
It’s a dreary Wednesday here in Kansas. Mother Nature cannot pick a lane here lately. I have been able to both let my kids play outside without coats and then two days later sled with them in the front yard. The headaches are real yo!
But I digress, I am knitting on my Prism Break Hat during my many conference calls this week. I’m still in the eternity that is that is the ribbing on the sockhead slouch pattern. I am pretty pleased with my overall stitch count and how the yarn is striping around. It’s not a clean rainbow stripe as the rainbow section is kind of stacking on each other. But it is making a really interesting micro stripe.
This yarn and hat live in my desk at work. Most days I don’t touch it at all…hello end of year and impending financials audit. But it’s there and I know its waiting for me, which is all I really need. At the current pace this hat should be finished by 2022, lol.
Happy Knitting!!
Planning Makes My Brain Happy
I have my planner and my go to crock pot cookbook….I’m ready to take on this busy week. I am really liking the meal planner insert and I’m using the pages to keep of what I accomplish instead of what I have to get done. It’s been empowering in a time of high stress. I am really enjoying my planner and color coding so far in 2020.
Tonight’s recipe is meatloaf and mashed potatoes magically all cooked in my instant pot and waiting for me when the family gets home tonight. It takes some prep time the night before but really the Instant Pot does all the heavy lifting. And bonus, if I call it “Meatloaf Cake” then my kids gobble it up.
Now I need to plan out the rest of the week! Happy Cooking!!
Habitation Throw Halfway
My Habitation Throw is over halfway now. I finally got to where it looked good enough for me and I started decreasing.This thing is really screaming through my scraps! I have gone through a good amount of my coned solid white yarn and I had to pull some bigger used skeins out of my stash as I was working the long middle sections.
My widest point is the peachy/pink section. I am now having to strategize with my remaining scraps. I want to make sure the colors look good adjacent to one another but that I will also have roughly enough to do an entire repeat of garter and eyelets. That’s just my personal brand of crazy.
I still have a ton scraps in my bag. And I’ve pulled some DEEP stash skeins of sock blanks and Joann’s sock yarn just in case I need some longer sections. This blanket has literally consumed all my knitting time. I don’t want to work on anything else right now.
Do you have a project obsession?
Knitty McPurly Just Up And Sucked Me In
I tried a new to me knitting good purveyor. Knitty McPurly was an audio podcaster turned video podcaster that I have followed for quite a while. Devon Ventry is a work at home mother who has found a way to incorporate a successful online knitting business. Now, she is a well established pattern designer but she has branched out to add crafting jewelry, crafty tools and project bags.
She had a sale in January and I got sucked right in. I picked up a necklace that doubles as a stitch marker holder and a cute Alice in Wonderland notions pouch. I also got a vinyl Knitty McPurly sticker for my water bottle. But currently Jellybean is using the water bottle as his go to cup so I don’t have a photo.
I’ve already been wearing the necklace and received many compliments. It is a bit fiddly to open and use stitch markers though. Since it swings up and there is very little ridge to the edges it is easy to spill….ask me how I know! But I still love it just for the aesthetics. And the pouch has been living in my tote bag holding extra ear buds and other miscellaneous stuff that used to roll around in the bottom of my bag.
All in all, I think I like her style and these were good investments!
Happy Knitting!!
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop
My favorite project right now is still my Hibernation Throw. It’s just so fun to watch the colors develop as I add new scraps. Plus it’s extra satisfying when one of these section uses up every last bit of yarn. It makes this knitters heart happy!
I’m still increasing in the pattern and since I’m heavily modifying the pattern I’m not sure when to stop. I might see how many larger sized scrap balls I have left so I can work until I have enough to get to a middle point and then have enough to account for the larger decrease sections as I work down.
I have been kind of monitoring my colors and changing every eyelet row if I haven’t already run out of yarn. This has made my color blocks uniform-ish in size and makes the fabric look intentionally scrappy. My symmetry loving brain really likes this. Though it does mean that some of scraps are used up and I still have little balls leftover.
Happy Knitting!!
Skeining Up For Hibernation
My Hibernation Throw is continuing to grow and grow. I have almost exhausted the first skein of the Valley Yarns coned sock yarn I had previously done up. I am holding my sock scraps double with this undyed/coned sock yarn for my blanket. So last night I dug out my cone and wound up more yarn. I still have my hand made yarn swift that my husband’s family made me. (The cone is only set on the center for photography purposes…it doesn’t function that way.) I wound off two same-ish sized skeins and tied them off with random scrap yarn.
My husband asked me why I just didn’t work from the cone. Well, this coned yarn has quite a bit of spinning grease left in it and it really plumps up when I wash it. So as not to distort my fabric of my finished blanket when I was it, I really prefer for the plumping to happen before the knitting. It’s extra time and extra steps but I really hope it prevents future heartbreak.
I tried a sample of the Pineapple Grove soak wash. The scent was fine but I didn’t really get a wiff of it on the finished yarn. But it smelled nice in my sink.
Now I just have to wait for these two skeins to dry! I called my main hall bathroom curtain rings into service to hold these skeins out of reach of grubby kid hands. Fingers crossed!
Happy Knitting!!
New To Me Spinning Wheel
Featured
I present to you a HitchHiker single treadle spinning wheel by The Merlin Tree. I was gifted this wheel by mother after she procured it in a trade with her quilt shop coworker. I have been doing my best to research this wheel as it’s a little different than most. It’s a direct drive wheel which means the flyer is turned directly by the wheel as you treadle. Honestly, its kind of an obscure wheel and it doesn’t have a lot resources either from the manufacturer or on YouTube. It has been a little frustrating but I shall persevere.
I have been practicing just treadling on the empty wheel because it is going to take some learned muscle movement to keep the wheel going in the same direction as I start and stop. That is just the ups and down of a direct drive wheel. Just putting your foot on the treadle can move the wheel in a direction you didn’t intend. The brake band also needs some TLC to be snugged up which I am hoping my woodworking father can assist with. I think I may also have to try to fall upon the mercy of the local spinners group for assistance/lessons. Time will tell…
With the wheel I also inherited the spinner fiber stash. In the bin in addition to a knitty knoddy and spare wheel parts was a TON of fiber. I dig through and found llama blends, alpaca blends, romney wool, merino blends and several unidentified fibers. This spinner clearly had good taste.
This all came from a rural farm, so right now it’s living my sub zero garage just in case it has anything other than fiber in there. I’m hoping to zap this with some heat somehow before bringing into the house with my other stash.
I’m interested to if I can become a spinner?
My Current State
Hey guess what? The laundry from yesterday is still there. I decided it was a good idea to delegate the folding to my hubby since I washed and dried it all. But he has a different world view on how quickly these kinds of things should be done. I’m curious to see how long it will take to get put away? For now, I’m just dressing Jellybean and PB from the baskets, lol.
But for now I have comfy yoga pants and my Weekender Sweater. The ladders are still there no matter what I try so I’m hoping that the blog advice that they will block out and even out when its done is true. So far I’m really pleased with the even colors I’m getting with the helical knitting. I have almost put one complete ball of the Malabrigo Rios into this sweater. Here’s hoping the next balls fades in nicely as well!
Happy Knitting!!
My Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventures 