WIP Wednesday: Party Cake Vanilla Socks

Good Wednesday morning to all! I have a be WIP. I’ll pause for you to absorb the shock….

I felt the need for more vanilla socks in my life and grabbed the Show Me Yarns Bootheel in the party cake peeps color from Knitting in The Heartland and got cracking.


Thanks to some grandparents baby sitting and the new Avengers movie (I’ll spare you my opinion on that) I cruised through the foot of the sock and started the gusset increases! I’m just working my standard 68 stitch toe up vanilla sock on US 1s. 

The speckles are just darn addicting. I can’t put this down! Definitely a winner in my 2016 Sock Yarn Experiment. This dyer has great color sense and the yarn base is pretty easy to work with. I’m smitten 😍

Happy Knitting!

Another (Almost) Finished Baby Sweater

My second Baby Sophisticate is done! Ok, well the knitting is done anyway…


This is the Baby Sophisticate by Linden Down. I knit it using Bernat Satin Solids in royal blue. It’s got quite a bit of shine to it but the blue is just so rich it’s going to look gorgeous on the blue eyed babe it’s destined for.

I worked this pattern back to back and I have to admit this second one was quite a slog. Even for a tiny baby sweater. But alas I persevered! I even managed to dig through my mom’s button and ribbon stash to find grosgrain ribbon and buttons for both this and the first baby sophisticate. I’m hoping to have some time this weekend to work on the finishing.

Happy Knitting!

FO Friday: Baby Sophisticate

I’ve done this pattern now six times and I still simply adore it. The sweater is knit, washed and blocked. I still need to install the buttons and grosgrain ribbon (and weave in the ends) but I couldn’t wait to share this (almost) FO!


I think I’m going to wait until I can dig through my mom’s button and ribbon stash. 😜

Happy Knitting!

Mothers Day Cast On

The Prairie Girls of the Prairie Girls Knit and Spin podcast have a Mother’s Day tradition I decided to adopt!

The deal is you cast on a just for your project on Mother’s Day and take pic of your kiddo holding the yarn or project. Then you get some unadulterated knitting time to work on it! I’ve already informed my husband this is what I want.

I pulled my 600 yard skein of Cashmere Super Toes sock in the Pieces of Eight color way that I got at Knitting In The Heartland this year. And I found a perfect pattern, Old Man of Storr shawlette by Carie Harling. It’s triangle shawl in mostly garter stitch that should help me maximize this mega-skein!

Happy Knitting!

WIP Wednesday: Beach Glass Vanilla Socks

I might be becoming addicted to sport weight sock yarn….

Thanks to some recent windshield time I’ve finished sock #1 and have a good start on #2. The pooling/flashing is much more pleasing to my eye over 62 stitches than the 68 I started with. Not to mention the fit is much better!

I’m making this pair an honorary member of my 2016 sock yarn experiment and it’s one of my favorites so far. The yarn is Mint Rin Hand Dyed Sport Sock in the beach glass color way. I’ll definitely be getting more of this!

Happy Knitting!

More Little Old Man Sweaters

I’m in that season of life where my friends are having ALL THE BABIES. And lately it’s been a string of boys which suits me fine because like I said last week, I’m obsessed with tiny baby old man sweaters!


I couldn’t resist and started another Baby Sophisticate by Linden Down. This time out of some deep stash Bernat Satin in Royal Blue. This is destined for a little boy that if he’s anything like his sister he’s going to have the most amazing blue eyes. 

I’m just now ready to separate from the sleeves. And of course do the finishing on my Uptown Worsted baby sophisticate….

Happy Knitting!

Falling Out Of Love

I’ve had a Clapo-ktus on the needles since Jellybean was a few weeks old. It looks like this…


The yarn is great, the pattern is great, the FO will be beautiful but I just don’t love it anymore. It takes so much brain power to count my stitches and it’s hard to set down in order to chase Jellybean away from danger. I need more simplicity in my life. I think I’m going to rip this and cast on something garter related.

Maybe 22.5 degrees by Martina Behm….

FO Friday: Mandrake Vanilla Socks

Happy Friday to all! I have a finished cheerful pair of springtime socks to share today!

  
Pattern: Toe Up Vanilla socks with afterthought heel over 68 stitches

Yarn: String Theory Colorworks Continuum in the Mandrake color way

Needles: US 1

  
These were part of my 2016 sock yarn experiment. I really enjoyed this yarn. The colors really popped and the fiber content of merino/cashmere/nylon was just buttery under my fingers! I will totally use this yarn again. And best of all…my stripes match!! I got a little off on the second heel but it’s still very close.

  
My only disappointment was that my afterthought heel was a bit snug. I worked it over 60% of the stitches but it still feels small. We will see how they wear. For now they are going into the drawer for next fall.

Happy Knitting!!

I Love Little Old Man Sweaters

I’ve been surrounded by pregnant ladies of late with large percentage having boys. Not that I’m partial but I adore tiny male humans in tiny old man sweaters.

Some friends of my husband are having a boy so I pulled out a favorite sweater pattern….Baby Sophisticate by Linden Down

This pattern is easy and adorable. And at worsted weight it practically flies off the needles. I’m already at the sleeves. I’m using some yarn I bought on my 2015 yarn crawl, Uptown Worsted in Navy. It’s 100% acrylic and first time mom friendly. It has a soft feel but knits nicely. Pretty darn happy with it for it being acrylic.

This pattern runs small so I made the 6-12 month size just to be safe. I also plan to “finish” this one wit grosgrain ribbon on the button bands. It’s definitely time to step up my finishing game!

Happy Knitting!!

Sock Whoopsie

I was cruising along on my Beach Glass Vanilla Socks when that all too familiar niggle started in my brain. The whispers were swirling “this is too big” “this is too wide” “this will never fit”.

So I compared it to my finished Mandrake sock and measured with a tape measure just to be sure. And what do you know…I’m like 6-8 stitches too wide for my foot.
  So this happened…

I frogged back to the toe and I’m starting over. Based on that this yarn is sport weight I’m going to work on a 62 stitch foot and an 64 stitch leg. I really like working with the yarn. It will be interesting to see how the pooling changes between the counts and especially how it looks from my first attempt.

Happy Knitting!