Author Archives: atangledyarn84

All The Apples

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Our apple tree is giving us a bountiful harvest this year! I have a daily ritual of picking the ripe apples every evening (and raking/scooping the fallen ones into the trash). I finally had a refrigerator bin full so the kiddos and I made jelly!

After A TON of cutting and de-bugging I ended up with two instant pots full of beautiful red apples. The tree was here when we moved in so we have no clue what kind they are. We just call them red apples, lol.

We painstakingly drained and filtered the apples for most of the morning. That left us with enough juice for three full batches of jelly.

And the apply flesh/pulp the kids and I ran through the food mill to make apple sauce. I’m not a fan of applesauce but PB and Jellybean gobbled it up!

Safe to say our winter stores are good to go for jelly. No doubt some of this will end up in Christmas gifts!

Happy Canning!!

Bifrost-ing Along

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My Bifrost is speeding right along. I am through most of the purple minis and I’m in the neutral creams and browns. It’s starting to get heavy and warm in my lap!

Thanks to TV watching (and possibly a glass of wine) I have on occasion added an extra stitch here and there. I have decided perfection is my enemy in this case and when I discover the extras I am just decreasing them away. Makes for a few lumps and bumps but no one will EVER notice in a garter shawl of this size.

The one thing I am fixing is where I split the yarns. I am marling my 2019 advent minis with skeins of Cloudborn merino singles. So I want to make sure every stitch uses both yarns, for strength purposes. So when I discover those stitches I am dropping down to fix them.

I should be approaching halfway with this project and couldn’t be happier! Happy Knitting!!

Mending For Jellybean

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Jellybean got a little aggressive with dress up play and his favorite sock monkey suffered the consequences. His little hair didn’t fair well and there were tears. But no fear Mom to the rescue!!

A little bit of heavy duty button hole thread, a needles and sock monkey was back to normal. Jellybean was impressed with my “magic” skills.

Nevermind its still 90 degrees in Kansas and he’s wearing a full coverage ear flap hat. Kids man!

Happy Mending!!

Decision Point: All My Stitches

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I am at a decision point with my All My Stitches. I have already gone past the pattern number of increases….but I can’t decide to do more or start the next pattern section. Which is a long slow decrease section.

I don’t want to play yarn chicken but I also don’t want to have yarn leftover or not use all the colors. If I get towards the end I could manage my colors to make sure I get some of each color in but that would leave me with leftovers. I kind of have my heart set on using all of the advent. I guess I didn’t make the best pattern selection for that, lol.

Time for thinking….

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Purple Rain Vanilla Socks

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Happy Friday! Let me dazzle you with my latest FO. My Purple Rain Vanilla Socks are done, blocked and photographed on my very very very dry grass.

Pattern: My own toe up vanilla sock recipe with 68 stitches and a gusset heel

Yarn: KFI Luxury Sock in Purple Rain gradient

Needles: US 1s

There are some SUPER tall socks. They still fit okay, especially after blocking. I have a little room in the toes but nothing untoward. And the they come up very high on my round calves. They smell wonderful like lavender wool wash so I need to tuck them into sock drawer for the coming fall.

Next up for my sock focus…..my third pair of scrappy advent mini skein socks. Just need to work up the mojo!

Happy Knitting!!

Bifrost Progress

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I have my Bifrost back on track and I’m really pleased with this version. I ended up with casting on 100 stitches to make this more of a wrap rather than a scarf. I have even moved into the second color!

So far this second mini skein is just lighter more variegated version of the first mini. The first mini was a tonal purple. And this second is a variegated white/light purple. And the slipped stitch edge is making my orderly brain happy.

I have set an arbitrary goal of finishing this by September 1st and before the 2021 Pigskin Party KAL kicks off. No WIPs allowed in that one so I want to crank out this yardage before I move to scoring those touchdown points.

Happy Knitting!!

Setting Myself Up For Success

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I decided to set myself up for success for my third and last pair of 2020 Advent Socks by splitting the minis in half and then winding them in order into little sock balls.

After some travails on my second sock where I didn’t get the mini skeins split into half in a super even manner….I decided to be really serious about these last ones. I opened each mini and found each end. I then paired them and wound them across the room until I got to the middle of the yarn. I would then break the yarn and start winding to small balls. I repeat for the next color and spit sliced the ends together.

Oh, and I made sure to start with last mini and wind to where I wanted to start. Feeling proud that I remembered how hand wound yarn works, lol.

Now I just need the mojo to really get these cast on! Happy Knitting!!

Knitterly Gifts

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My mom surprised me with a gift she picked up on her travels through Missouri last month.

There are two skeins of Jawoll Twin in Turquoise Tiger Stripes from Lang yarns. This is definitely sock yarn and hopefully makes a nice matching pair of socks. Next up is a unicorn tape measure that PB has already claimed as her and has disappeared into her toy stash. And last but not least is a muslin project bag that reads Peace Love Craft. Pretty sure that is a crochet hook but I love the sentiment nonetheless.

Moms who are also crafters totally pick out the best crafty gifts! Happy Knitting!!

So Freaking Close

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Huzzah for paper clips as they work in a pinch when you don’t have stitch markers! I am now ready for the second cuff on my Purple Rain Vanilla Socks. 🙂

I *think* was able to match up the increases fairly well with the first sock. It really did help to have the increases marked visibly on my first sock. I could follow along and know when to add in an increase on the second. It actually made the knitting faster and easier.

I have one tiny little cuff left and I can move this project to the finished column. Literally CANNOT WAIT! 🙂

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: 2020 Advent Socks #2

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Another pair of socks is in the books! The second pair of my 2020 Advent Socks are finished and blocked.

Pattern: My own toe up vanilla sock “recipe” with 68 stitches and a gusset heel

Yarn: A Girl and Her Wool BFL Sock in the 2020 Advent mini skeins

Needles: US 1s

The fit is better on this pair than my first attempt here. And as I had hoped, I think I have just enough minis for a third pair of socks. Which would be nice for both my sock drawer and to completely use up the minis from this advent calendar.

Now….I just need to get the next set of socks cast on! Happy Knitting!!