Monthly Archives: July 2025

Alpacas On Vacation

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Safely in DC and sweating my butt off at the National Zoo. The pandas are the main attraction but I spotted an Alpaca at the petting zoo. And I couldn’t resist a photo.

My Midwest self is a little puzzled how this is a zoo attraction when they are all over Kansas but I remembered that I am in a major metro….

I can tell these babies had their spring or early summer shear and are growing back their coats. I even got bonus points from my travel companion for knowing they were not llamas but actually alpaca. We were both befuddled by the cow exhibit next door. Again, our Midwest was showing!

Dream State On A Plane

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My Dream State and I headed out on jet plane! I have work trip that involves a lot of sitting in conference rooms and traveling on planes and busses. This should mean good things for the three hats I packed!

I made several inches of progress on my direct flight to DC. I managed an aisle seat so I had plenty of elbow room. I even made good progress listening to my latest audiobook. I am hooked on the Jessica Fletcher Murder She Wrote audio books from my library. Are they complicated? No but they are just the comfort listen that I need here lately.

Happy Knitting!!

Finished: Rainbow Radiate

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Rainbow Radiate is done and photographed on the HOTTEST day thus far. I must really love knitting.

Pattern: Radiate by Joji Locatelli (Rav Link)

Needles: US 6s and US 4s

Yarn: Hue Loco Phyllis DK in Vivid Sampler Rainbow, 316 Dye Studio House DK in Graffiti, Wichita Woolery Tweed DK in Graffiti

Mods: I made my own custom sleeves and did NOT follow the body shaping.

I am really happy with the fit. I could have used some more positive ease in the body but it does make a nice line at neutral or negative ease. The total yards ended up at 1,351 yards and I used up all of the tweedy yarn. I have had this idea for this rainbow sweater for close to five years and I’m glad it’s finally in existence. Now to wait for fall to actually wear it!

Happy Knitting!!

Autumn Gold Yoking

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I had some waiting room time this week and I really powered through several sections of my Autumn Gold sweater.

This pattern is pretty good thus far. Easy to follow and making a nice fabric. I am using a sunshine marker to help me keep track of each section when it asks me to knit for a certain length. I could measure from the increases but this feels more secure based on my previous knitting mistakes.

It’s also been nice to move to the bigger needles and not have so many stitches bunched up on the needle. I think I have two of five increases done so I have a lot of more stitches to add to this thing.

Happy Knitting!!

Well, That’s Backwards

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Guess what this knitter forgot? You gotta work color work charts left to right and not the other way round.

My Crown Town Hat inner brim is done but the letters are backwards. Sigh. So the letters are right side up in the wrong order. Rooking mistake! So, am I going to rip this out? No…I plan to keep going and test how my long floats fit in the finished hat. I will try this hat again to get it correct. And by then I will know if I left enough slack to make a nicely fitting hat.

This hat will be a keeper or go to someone who likes a little unintentional design feature. And now I know how to not mess the other colorwork in the rest of the hat. Let’s see how that works out for me….

Happy Mistake Making!!

Swatching: Bibliophile Sweater

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I decided to swatch for a second sweater after my Autumn Gold went so well. This time around I chose the Bibliophile 2 by Alicia Plummer.

I wound the yarn and used the recommended needles. And boy oh boy did that NOT work. My fabric is almost bullet proof tight and way off gauge.

I think I will I will try a second time with just one needle size up. I think that will give me stitch gauge but not row gauge. So there will be maths involved when I go to actually and knit the sweater.

Guess I can’t win them all? Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Autumn Gold Sweater

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Thanks to my successful swatching, I was able to start my Autumn Gold Sweater!

I am making the size XL and have already made one modification. I did not want to work the ribbing on the pattern recommended needles so I chose other needles. They are smaller than I will work on the body so there will be a size difference, just not to the designers specs.

I am done with the 1×1 ribbing and can switch over to the main body in stockinette. I much prefer stockinette in the round to ribbing in the round! How about you?

Cast On: Crown Town Hat

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I finally decided to get my Crown Town Hat cast on.

The only thing holding me back was was winding the dang yarn. So I finally did that. I know my gauge on US 5s with this dyer so I am choosing the adult medium size in the pattern. I got my cast on done and working in the round without a twist. I think I am deciding that I will do the colorwork on the inside of the brim.

Happy Knitting!!

Swatching: Autumn Gold Sweater

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I am so close to finishing my Rainbow Radiate and I want to be ready to cast on another sweater (or two).

I really like the fit of top down yoked sweater based on how my shoulders are structured and my bust size. I did a deep dive through my Ravelry queue and a pattern search and I came up with Autumn Gold by Veera Valimaki.

I chose some Berroco Vintage DK in a light grey from deep stash. I was a good knitter and knit a swatch in the round. I am very lucky that on the first try with the recommended needle size that I got gauge. So I need to wind some yarn and get my pattern marked up for knitting!!