Finished: Online Training Hat

My Online Training Hat is done and this was my first score for the Down Cellar Studio Podcast Pigskin Party 2025 KAL.

Pattern: My own basic beanie “recipe” with 88 sts

Yarn: Big Sky Yarn Company Squish DK in “Do You Want To Build a Snowman”

Needles: US 8s

This hat used 62 grams of the DK weight and equated to 143 yards of yarn. Not bad for an adult sized small beanie. I think the 1×1 rib for the folded brim looks really neat in this variegated yarn. I hate knitting it, but it looks so great finished.

Now I need to decide what hat to start next! Happy Knitting!!

Swatching

I am making progress on my Love Note and I have several sweaters I want to do this year. And no more that I have ready to cast on. I need more swatches.

I blind pulled one of the project bags I had ready and it was the Unisex Round Yoke Pullover. This is using some deep stash Knit Picks Provincial Tweed in Candy Apple. I think makes a cute pun for casting on during October and Halloween season.

I was able to get gauge the first time, knock on wood, and I’m excited. So I have needles and ready to cast on once I finish my current sweater. Love the new tool I picked up to help with gauge form my SSK swag bag. I measured with this AND a ruler just to be safe.

Happy Knitting!!

Love Note

I’m still here being the mom taxi and chugging away on my Love Note.

I have decided to make the longer version rather than the cropped version. I have a good chunk of my Old Rusted Chair sock yarn left and just one single skein of the mohair left. I don’t think I will be playing yarn chicken.

I have noticed a few places where I didn’t both strands. I try to correct them as much as a I can but the mohair really hides the mistakes. I can also go back and duplicate stitch over them anyway.

Happy Knitting!!

Building

I got out of my comfort zone on the weekend. I helped my dad make progress on his guest house project.

Duke appointed himself honorary foreman and I was in charge of climbing, fetching and toting. Thank goodness for electric staple guns.

We managed to fully insulate this shed and get over half of the tongue and groove flooring done. Boy oh howdy am I sore! That was a lot of lifting and bending. Not sure who was more sore me…or my dad. We just need a few cool days so we can finish the floor!

Happy Constructing!!

Decreasing This Hat

I passed my online training and took a HUGE load off my brain. And in the process I got my Online Training Hat all the way to the decreases

I know this is DK being worked on Worsted gauge, but I don’t think it is causing any issues. The hat may be more on the smaller snug size and it will still be adult size. I think 20 more minutes of knitting and I will have a finished hat!

I still have a decent ball of yarn left and therefore leftover will be involved. My next hat WIP might need to be a Musselburgh and use more scraps as that bag is full.

Happy Knitting!!

Collar And Sleeves

It’s been a minute since I showed you my Love Note and I got a wild hair to abandon the body and work the finishing part.

I knit the sleeves according to pattern but on a US 8 instead of the US 9 I am doing for the body. I just couldn’t find small circumference needles in the correct needles size. After knitting both sleeves, the gauge is close enough. I used half of the second skein of sock yarn and almost a full ball of mohair for these.

And I deviated from pattern on the collar. I followed all the directions but I didn’t use the super small needles called for. I used size 8s to make sure I had wide enough and stretchy enough collar to fit over my noggin.

Now to just cruise through the body and high/low hem for a finished sweater! Happy Knitting!!

Spinning The Pink Bobbin

I just passed the second full bobbin and I am starting the third on my mini fiber combo spin for the 2025 Pigskin Party KAL. I am hoping this really scores some points!

This set of minis are pinks, oranges, maroons and some rainbow-ish fiber. This fiber is more consistent and higher quality. I am hoping it makes for a more pleasurable spin.

There are lot of the same colors in this bag. I will have to be very intentional to use it without big swaths of any of the same colors and sprinkle in the rainbow. But so far, so fun!

Happy Spinning!!

Finished Bobbin #2

I am finally finished with this infernal bobbin. I really had to force myself to want to spin this rest of this fiber.

The colors were not my favorite and the fiber type was all over the place. I couldn’t get into the spin and my consistency was crap. And done is better than perfect.

This bobbin was the “and the rest” from my fiber minis. I am really glad I spun this second and didn’t save it until last. I would have struggled worse. From this end, you can see the variety of wild colors in this. There is more black in other parts of this spin but I thought this end was beautiful.

Now I get to start the pinks! Happy Spinning!!

Setting The Order

I am really on the struggle bus with this second bobbin for my mini fiber combo spin.

To say this fiber is all over the map is an understatement. There is toothy long wool and ultra find merino with everything in-between. I have been struggling to keep a consistent fine single and with the transition between minis

I have just a few minis left, so I have them planned out to the end. I couldn’t help making sure to break them up so that no one color is next to each other. I just can’t help myself that I need the appearance of randomness without too many colors bunching up.

I can’t wait to finish this! Happy Spinning!!