Monthly Archives: January 2025

Finished: Flats Hat

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The Flats Hat is complete and ready for my 2025 gift bag.

Pattern: My own 88 stitch beanie “recipe”

Needles: US 8s

Yarn: Thelittlewolfknits Opti base in the Pigskin Party KAL exclusive colorway “Flats or Drums”

I forced myself to extend this to maximize yarn usage. I used 82 grams or 179 yards of yarn total. I got 40 bonus KAL points for using sponsor yarn. I really like how the dark brown spiraled in this hat at my gauge.

I would definitely buy more yarn from this dyer again. It was nicely dyed and I didn’t have any colors bleed. And the hand of the finished fabric is very soft and nice. Orange isn’t usually my colors but I love how the browns and green bits punch this one up.

Now on to my next hat! Happy Knitting!!

The Last Bit

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Y’all….I am down to skein 11 and the last bit to boot for my Pigskin Party Blitz Blanket!

I am now entering the phase where I watching my ball of yarn to make sure I can finish a full row of stitches. I do want to try to finish with a row of SC to make a stronger edge to match the cast on edge.

This project is super heavy and I am not looking forward to blocking this one. I am fairly certain my washing machine on the delicate cycle will be the way to go. I have a clothesline in the basement I can hang this one to stretch it out using its own weight.

Let’s finish this! Happy Crocheting!!

Flats Hat Decreases

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My Flats Hat is ready for decreases!

The family sat down and watched RedOne since we missed it in December and I cruised through the body of the hat. The move is great and seeing a jacked Santa was something else! This yarn is Littlewolfknits yarn in the Opti base called “Flats or Drums”. I picked flats because those are the superior wings IMO.

I managed to get my DPNs installed before my eyes started crossing and it was time to go to bed. I should be able to wrap this up in the next couple of days. And bonus for me, it will earn me extra points in the Pigskin Party KAL for an exclusive sponsor product.

Happy Knitting!!

Starting Skein 10!

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I am committed to this blanket. I really want this done and I am honestly kind of bored with the monotony. It’s also getting very heavy and I started using blanket clips to help me flip it back and forth. And I am persevering, I am officially on skein 10 for my Pigskin Party Blitz Blanket.

I coming to the realization that this thing will be mahoosive. Unblocked and still one skein to go….this thing covers my parents patio table. This will probably end up a large throw size. I am fairly happy with the color progressions. If I wasn’t trying to clear out this yarn, I might have left out the teal and the green/yellow.

One more skein and I can check this off! Happy Knitting!!

2024: A Year in Stats

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Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com

I sat down and updated my Ravelry account to wrap up my 2024 items and I decided to crunch some stats on what I did last year.

  • I finished 51 projects that totaled 13,962 yards of yarn used up
  • I purchased 84.5 skeins of yarn that totaled 16,566 yards of yarn brought in
  • I made 41 completed hats that represented the bulk of my knitting this year
  • I purchased 10 new bats or braids of fiber this year
  • I finished 5 skeins of handspun
    • Tallied a total of 1,429 points for the 2024 Pigksin Party KAL
    • Attended three in person knitting events or retreats

So all in all, a very productive year for me. I really felt my knitting mojo coming back after I changed my work situation. I did bring in more yarn that I used up but only by 2,600 yards so that isn’t so bad. I’m really showing my inner accountant with this post, lol.

I don’t really feel like setting any goals for 2025 and letting the fiber guide me! Happy New Year!!

Cast On: 2024 Advent Socks Take Two

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I have been watching The Cozy Knitter make her advent socks and she does this cool feature of adding blips of the contrast yarn as she changes stripes. I have always meant to try it but then the holidays hit and I can only manage stockinette. After finishing a vanilla version, I am committing to trying this out!

I had to dig through my scraps to find some toe yarn. It’s a light grey from Red Door Fibers and should blend well with this mix of colors. I then used the scraps of the white contrast yarn from The Cozy Knitter to start my blips every 4th st.

This is my normal recipe for a 68 stitch toe up vanilla sock. I will do afterthought heels and this time inside a stripe to not mess up my colorwork. I am trying to work hard to make my floats stretchy and not pull them tight. It would be nice if these socks fits at the end!

So far I am happy with the look of these and I am learning a lot about managing the white yarn to avoid 1,000 ends on the inside. Should be interesting!!

Happy Knitting!!

Turning My Flats Brim

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Thanks to a holiday dinner at GGs and some family chit chatting….I knit enough to turn the brim on my Flats Hat.

My little cousins were mesmerized at how much fabric I could make during one family party. They tried to convince me that this was orange enough to be a hunting hat, lol. I know I need to make more ribbed brims for my hat collection, but it is just so much faster to work stockinette in infinity.

This hat has a deadline to score some extra points in the Pigskin Party KAL. This yarn from thelittlewolfknits earns me sponsor points! These hats really don’t take much time if I can force myself to be monogamous…but that has been a problem lately as I want to cast on all the things!

Happy Knitting!!

Christmas Tidings

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Santa was very kind to me! He left four new skeins of yarn and a bottle of wine in my stocking.

There is one skein of KnitCircus trampoline in the purple to yellow fade, one small skein of Greatest of Ease in the light blue speckle, half skein of the Daring base in the red color and finally a full skein of Divine DK in the grey. I love that they do mystery boxes so its a surprise!

My parents got me a knitting backpack to help me lug around my 1,000 WIPS and my kiddos got me a new set of mermaid themed crochet hooks with soft grips. All in all…I had a pretty good haul! The wine may or may not already be gone…..

Happy Knitting!!

Finished: 2024 Advent Socks

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All tucked in cozy over here in the new year with some glamour shots of my 2024 Advent Socks!

Pattern: My own “recipe” for 68 stitch toe up vanilla socks and afterthought heel

Needles: US 1s

Yarn: 2024 24 stripe advent skein from The Cozy Knitter with her Bliss base

I decided to finish these socks with the striping yarn and not the white. I decided to use that partial mini skein I had left for another project/plan. The finished length is more than an ankle sock but less than mid calf. All in all I think I used 270 yards of yarn combined and I have a full set of the 24 stripes left.

I did insert an afterthought heel and I tweak this to fit my large foot. I add extra plain rows at the beginning of the sock and taper down to add depth for me. It’s not fool proof but the socks don’t get sucked into my shoes.

This color set wasn’t my favorite of her past advent skeins but I still love the finished socks. I wasn’t sure why we progressed to the lighter colors and then back to saturated colors?

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Chiefs Touchdown Beanie

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I have officially wound up the hat kit I purchased from TreasureGoddess yarns. I am going to start my Chiefs Beanie and really lean in to doing actual colorwork.

This is a great yarn dyer but I still took the precaution of pre-washing the red yarn and doing a citric acid soak on the red yarn. I would hat to ruin my FO with bleeding dye. Great news, I didn’t see a drop of dye come out in either back it took!

This hat does work at a smaller gauge that I have historically been doing. I am torn between a swatch or just starting the brim and using that to gauge. Knowing myself, it will probably be door #2.

I have the needles prepped and a project bag lined up. I just need to start! Happy Knitting!!