Here I am jumping both feet in to my first ever attempt at chain ply. I have my Tequila Sunrise Singles all rested up and in my homemade lazy kate (aka box with knitting needle poked through). And I clearly have no idea what I’m doing…but that is what the internet is for!
I watched roughly 10 videos on chain plying a three ply and just jumped right in. I started with my all yellow singles and moved to the orange/yellow next and finally added the pink. My hands understood the motion pretty well but my feet wanted to add a lot of twist. This may end up being a very ropey yarn. But my brain was happy being challenged with new movements and new skills.
For now, I have the finished yarn resting on a bobbin and when I have the gumption, I will wash and whack it to se what I ended up with.
Spring has sprung and I have been cleaning organizing. I got my to bedroom and discovered I might have a WIP problem…..
In this pile are two blankets (long term), enough yarn for three shawls, three pairs of socks, several random cakes of yarn for hats one glove project….oh and a knitted knocker.
I think I need to dust some of these off and either Finish or Frog. But not today George, lol. I think I’ll just knit in another room…
I have another pair of socks for my sock drawer! The 2020 Advent Socks are done and ready for my feet.
Pattern: My own 68 stitch toe up vanilla sock “recipe” with a gusset heel
Needles: US 1s
Yarn: AGirlAndHerWool 2020 Christmas Advent Calendar (minis #1 through #8)
These socks are just so cheery and happy. It felt satisfying to actually use up the mini skeins from my advent calendar instead of hoarding them. I will admit the socks are a tad bit big or maybe have less ease that I would normally want. I could have probably done with 64 stitches instead of 68 for the foot and heel sections. But 68 feels good in the leg.
The socks ended up decently tall and the BFL content feels soft but hardy on my feet. I ended up using roughly 360 yards of yarn to finish these socks so that puts these on par with the amount I use from a normal skein.
Finishing these socks inspired me to clean my sock drawer. I pulled out six pairs of socks that I have knit that have shrank in washing (or my feet grew during pregnancy) and no longer fit super well. I gave all six pairs to my sister who wears a size 7 shoe compared to my size 9.5. She was super grateful and I’m hoping those socks get some wear instead of hanging out sadly in my drawer.
The spring sunshine and warmer temperatures has brought my family outside more. I have been making myself bring my spindle spinning outside to finish off my Tequila Sunrise Singles.
Turns out when you work on something, it gets done! I have managed to spin up ALL the pink singles. You can tell that this braid of fiber had more pink than yellow or orange. I’m okay with that. I really really want to try and chain ply this yarn. This will truly push my spinning skills. But hey, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
This started as 4 ounces of Corriedale roving from BlueBerryChick etsy shop. It was from the Down Cellar Studio’s 2020 Splash Pad Party KAL. Feels good to get this fiber worked up before the next one starts, lol.
I got another wild hair to cake up a bunch of yarn. I think this might be the leading edge of a fit of “cast-on-itis”. But hey, I have to go where the knitting mojo takes me.
The project started with six skeins of yarn, some lemonade and the Down Cellar Studio podcast in my ear buds.
I ended the afternoon with nine skeins of yarn and many dream knitting projects I can’t wait to cast on. I hope to turn this pile of yarn into:
Three skeins of green yarn that I will plan another Into The Light
Three skeins of pink yarn for a third Into The Light
That is A LOT of knitting. And I’m heading into busy accounting/audit season at work so my energy and free time about to be sucked up. But maybe if the yarn is ready and waiting I’ll have a better chance to keep projects going?
The hat mojo has shown no signs of slowing. I finished the Learning to Flick Hat and turned right around and put another worsted weight hat on the needles.
This yarn is some Leading Man Fiber Arts Box Office worsted in the “He Will Have His Revenge” colorway. I think I will end up calling this the He Will Have His Revenge Hat because that just sounds delicious.
I’m already almost all the way through the ribbing and ready to start the stockinette section. I did my same 88 stitches on size US8 needles “recipe” for all my recent hats. I do plan to flick the stockinette portion so I’m hoping this is a quick knit. I’d like to get some the Shepherd’s Mill yarn on the needles as well.
I sat down the other day and realized how close my 2020 Advent Socks were to being done. I had finished both heels and scooted right up the leg.
So I have connected the eighth and final mini skein from my 2020 Christmas Advent calendar. I will finish off these socks with some 2×2 ribbing until I run out of this mini. Overall, I’m digging the mix of colors in these calendar. They do look very scrappy but intentional.
Now if you do the math….I have used 8 mini skeins out of 24 so there are 16 left to do something with. If I follow the same “recipe” I could make two more pairs of scrappy socks. Which I may very well do, but not right away. Or maybe I let these percolate for a bit?
My sock drawer is starting to get very fully. I may need to start knitting socks for other people again!
In full honesty, this is done but not washed or blocked. My hat knitting mojo is strong and I think I want to crank out a bunch of hats for knitting practice and to give out as gifts throughout the year. I will do one massive block and wash once I have a few piled up, fingers crossed anyway.
Pattern: None, just an 88 stitch beanie with decreases made up on the fly
Needles: US 8s
Yarn: Lilliput Yarn Woof Worsted in Chasing Cars colorway
Mods: none because I just made this up.
I knit this thing thing in basically four evenings over nine days. It was super quick especially with worsted weight yarn and teaching myself to flick. I used up 81 grams of yarn or roughly 176 yards. I have a decent nugget leftover for my leftovers pile.
The variegated yarn played really well with the overall stitch count but also with the decreases. I never saw one peek of flashing or pooling. I would absolutely get and use more of this yarn in the future. It was great to knit with and makes a beautiful finished product.
My hat mojo is staying strong this week. I have plowed through several inches of hat this week and I’m now ready for the crown decreases on my Learning to Flick Hat.
I think there might be something to this flicking thing making me a faster knitting with the knit stitch. I think I knocked out about five inches of hat in two evenings worth of bedtime knitting.
I’m using the super scientific eyeball method to determine when to start the decreases. This is paired with looking my ball of yarn and trying to decide if I have enough to get to the end, lol. But mostly when I fold up the brim it looks like I have really decent warm hat that will fit the average adult.
Maybe if I get some decent knitting time tonight I can have a FO tomorrow?
Oops, I also went on an accidental yarn crawl this weekend while with my mom. My mom needed to pick up her BOM (block of the month) quilt packs from a quilt shop that is sponsoring a remote quilt along. Not only did this fabric store carry yarn….there was a full fledge yarn shop on the way to the fabric shop.
Our first stop was Stitch and Chatter in Stockton KS. It was an bright and fun little shop with a small yarn selection in the back. I ended up coming away with two vegan pompoms, some KFI painted sock and six KFI minis for heels, toes and cuffs. Everyone was masked it was nice to peruse the almost empty shop because we got there right at opening.
Next up was the Shepherd’s Mill in Phillipsburg KS. This is a yarn shop AND working mill. They mill custom yarns for their shop as well as mill yarn for other fiber producers. There are long windows so you can see the mill working even. Of course we were there on a Saturday and they only mill during the week.
But I came away with quite the yarn haul. Starting in the top left I got some Lanaloft worsted weight in a camo colored single for another stockinette hat. Then I picked up a 2 ply fingering weight yarn that has mohair blended with wool, alpaca and nylon (grey). Next up are two skeins worsted weight for more beanie hats. The red/purple one is a 3 ply marled worsted while the teal skeins is a 2 ply tonal worsted.
Next up, at the bottom, are some custom gradients. The dark blue/purple is a 2 ply fingering gradient with alpaca, rayon, wool and nylon. And the pink skein, which my mom picked out for a hat, is a 2 ply DK yarn made of wool and nylon.
I really want to go back to this shop when we have more time. They offer classes and aren’t a bad distance from my parents house. I want to take some in person spinning classes after my vaccine and while I have childcare. I’m so excited I almost can’t wait!
My Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventures 