Monthly Archives: July 2022

Sweater In Slow Motion

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My Catbells Cardigan is growing ever so slowly. It’s turning into more of a square box and I’m into my second skein of the Briggs and Little worsted.

I find myself actively seeking this project to pick up and work on but after a couple of repeats of the lace like pattern my attention wanders off. So that seems to be the main cause of the slow pace of this garment.

Last I took photos, I had just joined the underarms and working the full body. Since then I have added a full handspan worth of work to this. The full body needs to measure like 20 some inches so I still have a LONG way to go, lol.

It’s been 100 degrees in Kansas as well, so a worsted sweater does get hot in my lap. But I hope to stay on target to finish this for the fall. Happy Knitting!!

Knitting Poolside

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For our recent vacation travel, I also took my Victorian Mauve sock with me. I used this as poolside time killer as I made sure PB didn’t die on the toddler slides.

I think I managed to add roughly an inch of sock over two days of poolside knitting? I did end up getting in the pool with the kiddos so my knitting time was limited. But any progress counts!

Side note: I tried to be the cool mom for Jellybean and I regret all my life choices. I did all the slides and stair climbing he asked for. Every cell in my body is sore and he better know how much I love him! Legitimately made a Target run mid vacation to buy ibuprofen and icy hot, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Sunset Knitting

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The hubs and I took Jellybean and PB on a little summer vacation jaunt. Whilst they were sleeping off pool exhaustion the hubs and I snuck out onto the balcony. I used the dying light to get the brim of my Connections Beanie started.

I managed to get all 150 stiches on the needles and a few rounds of the pattern described ribbing on before I lost the light. It’s not normal vanilla 1×1 rib so its sorta slow going and I have to pay attention.

Heck, I’m just happy the hat is on the needles and I didn’t twist the work. And that I only had to do the long tail cast on twice, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

A Victorian Mauve Toe

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I had the kiddos help me hand wind my La Bien Aimee skein of BFL sock so that I could get the first toe of my Victorian Mauve sock.

With my toe up socks, I use DPNs to do a magic 8 cast on and then work across those two needles until I get to my total number of stitches. Then I switch over to my nine inch circular to work up the foot.

This is my first time working with a BFL sock yarn that is as fine/thin as this one is. I would categorize this as a light fingering weight instead of regular fingering. Should make a really light but warm finished fabric. I did make one small mistake with an errant yarn over that created a hole. I couldn’t be bothered to rip back so I’ll just sew it closed later, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Midway in The Gradient

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My BFL gradient is moving along. I am in the third of three total colors and its a kind of nice solid blue.

The first color was a very bright teal that rubbed off on my fingers and the second was a very light or pale blue. This gradient should develop nicely! I hope to get all these singles spun onto one bobbin and then 3-ply/chain ply the singles to maintain the gradient.

The trick is going to be finding time to spin with the hectic buzz of summer and children’s activities. Happy Spinning!!

Cast On: Victorian Mauve Socks

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I finished up my last Celebrate the Night socks and I couldn’t stand my sock needles getting too cold, so I pulled some recent yarn from my Hill Country Weavers purchase. This is a skein of BFL Tough Love Sock from La Bien Aimee. It’s just so pretty!!!

The plan is to work my “recipe” of 68 stich toe up vanilla sock with gusset heel that works well for this tonal/variegated yarn. Of course my first step is going to be wind up the skein, lol.

Happy Sock Knitting!!

FO Friday: Celebrate The Night Socks

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I caught some hours in the natural daylight and managed to get my second afterthought heel installed in my Celebrate the Night socks. I was even a good knitter and have all the ends woven in!

Pattern: My own 68 stitch toe up vanilla sock “recipe”

Needles: US 1s

Yarn: Cozy Knitter Sock Set in “Celebrate The Night”

I used 265 yards or 72 grams of the 115 gram sock set. So I have plenty of leftovers to add to my memory blanket and other scrap projects. I am pretty happy with the overall fit. I did increase four stitches in the upper leg to add ease for my calves.

Now I just need to figure out what my next cast on for socks is going to be! Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Connections Beanie

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I have decided its time to dip my toe into colorwork. I have avoided it up until now for now good reason other than I wasn’t ready to learn. But I have two skeins of DK from The Shepherd’s Mill that have been calling to me to combine.

I have my pattern printed, needles pulled and I just need to wind the skeins up. The pattern comes with a light and dark version. I plan to cast on the light version first with the hopes that I could squeak out a dark version with the colors reversed? Might be a bold plan for my first colorwork project and expecting that much yardage management, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Fell Down In The Fiber

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I have been spinning so much this summer that I am rapidly expanding my handspun stash while running out of fiber stash. So I fell down on the internet with my credit card and bought more fiber.

The top two are braids from 316 Dye Studio out of Wichita KS. I picked two braids of each color. The blue/grey on the left is Rambouillet and the blue/white on the right is Polwarth. I am hoping to that with 8 ounces I can end up with more than one skeins.

The bottom two 4 ounce packages from Three Waters Farm. The aqua on the right is a Targhee wool while the brown on the right is more Polwarth. This will most likely end up being smaller skeins for smaller projects.

I have sent all this wool to marinate and cool there heels in my spinning stash. Happy Spinning!!

First Garden Harvest

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Our garden has been a little slow this year with unseasonably cool spring that immediately shifted to boiling hot summer. Everything is plodding along but we picked our first produce, a very health zucchini!

I should have a second squash in a week or so. Our yellow squash plant is not far behind but it has more blooms that is spreading out the resources of the plant. Our tomatoes are LONG way from producing. I guess we will have to be patient, lol.

Happy Gardening!!