Socks For Socktober

Being that it is October, I put my big girl panties on and cast on for my very first ever sock. I know it’s already basically the end of the month, but I get points for the spirit right?

I pulled a ball of Knit Pocks Felici in the Peachy color way from my stash and I had chosen a Toe Up Sock with Gusset heel for a pattern. I was excited!

But upon careful reading of the pattern, as one should do before putting yarn on needles, I realized my folly. I had fingering weigh yarn and size US 1 needles when the pattern called for sport weight and size US 2s. Insert forehead slap here…….

After a cup of tea, I decided to forge ahead. I was determined to ” make it work” as Tim Gunn so often states. I forged ahead with what I had. Given the thinner yarn and smaller needles I decided to knit the largest size in the pattern so as to aim for something in the middle. This project is mostly about learning new skills for me, so who cares if they only fit a tiny adult.

I successfully completed my first ever seamless Turkish Cast-on and promptly set to knitting the pattern as written. I got to the end if the increase section and “tried it on” my foot and found one more increase was necessary to fit. So I wrote the change on my pattern and added it to my sock.

I then trudged through about an inch if stockinette and had one last fitting before bed!

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I will undoubtedly have to continue to alter the pattern as I go. But it’s very well written and it should work out alright. As long as I take excellent notes for the second sock, lol!

If this works out, I cannot wait to fill a drawer in my dresser with handmade socks!! Anybody else out there have the same urge?

Banking For Life

Yesterday my coworkers took part in a Breast Cancer Awareness 5K and it was amazing! We raised a ton of money for cancer research and got a great workout. Being a financial institution, our team name was “Banking For Life”.

Every woman should know the risks of breast cancer and get screened regularly!!! Seriously, it saves lives. I am high risk with breast cancer on both sides of my family and I take this sh*t for reals. I do monthly self exams and see my doctor every year like clockwork!

Here are some snaps of our crazy group!! Enjoy, and don’t forget to give’em a squeeze!

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A Shiny New Yarn Tote

My momma loves me and is a total enabler when it comes to my knitting. Look at the primo tote bag she scored for me!

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I am not sure what company this is from, but I love it just the same. It’s actually two pieces combined.

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The first is a solid box designed to hold paperwork or file folders. Then the other is a soft sided tote with two outside pockets on one side and three on the other.  And the middle is one big open bag. The two work together very nicely!!!

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My mother knows how OCD I am when it comes to organization. And she spoils me and I love her very much. Now to pick out a project to live in it….maybe my grown up sophisticate, the leg warmers that have been languishing at the bottom of my WIP pile, or maybe my nutmeg sweater!

FO Friday: Brick

Stashbustin’ #33 is complete!

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Love love love this sweater!! Despite all the ups and downs it came out wonderfully.  And after a bath and some drying time it’s ready to wear just in time for fall!

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Nice and roomy and I had just enough yarn for the project. Only have a skein left! I used 452 grams or 4 1/2 skeins of Berroco Vintage DK. That’s about 980.8 yards of yarn in one garment! Start to finish I think this garment took about three weeks?

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My one complaint is that the sleeves are still pretty loose even with knitting the tapered instructions. As I have said before my arms are not necessarily proportional to the rest of my body, lol. So as I was knitting I noticed the sleeve getting very long and I still have an entire decrease section to do before the ribbing. I measured and confirmed my fears. So I only worked five total decreases in the tapered sleeves with the final decrease having only 8 rows of stockinette following it. This solved my length problem but I feel the sleeves deserved to be tapered more to fit my arms.

I managed to make both sleeves match this alternation. So I didn’t have the heart to rip out and re-do. Besides this is going to be my cozy winter sweater anyway!

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P.S. Totally wish I was headed to Rhinebeck and this was my sweater….

TGIF and Happy Knitting!!!

Distraction and Disc Golf

I played a round of disc golf with the husband over last weekend. The hubs is pretty serious about it and I’m terrible. Not to mention the course we played could have doubled for a horror movie set with the abundance of creepy wooded areas.

I kept getting distracted by the foliage and canopies of trees against the brilliant blue sky! The hubs got annoyed. It was a gorgeous October day so we stopped keeping score and just enjoyed the day together.

Here are a few of my favorite snaps from the afternoon…

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Gloves For Fall

Due to Columbus Day here in the US, the hubs and I had a three day weekend. Which we turned into a four day weekend with the creatives use of leave time from work. It was a glorious break. I got to snuggle a tiny human, get in 18 holes of disc golf with the hubby (I’ll post pics tomorrow), see my dad’s football team play, eat waaaay too much, and chill out with the family.

I didn’t want to pack around my Brick or Nutmeg sweater, so I grabbed a single skein I had hanging out in my stash, a set of dpns, and a easy fingerless glove pattern.

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This some Berroco Vintage DK in a orange-y color way. I think I picked this up a fee years ago in a birthday splurge. I have been wanting to venture more into dpns and small projects.

So I cast on Simple Fingerless Mitts from Tink’s Knits. It is very fiddly for me to get a project started on dpns, but after a few rows I can usually cruise. I managed to finish the first glove and half of the second one over the extended weekend.

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Here’s hoping I can finish before the first fall frost!

A Grown Up Sophisticate

Remember the secret project I mentioned I started at my friends wedding? Well, I finally made enough progress to merit an update. Albeit, a small one at that.

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After making a few baby sophisticates, I decided I deserved one in my size! This is Sophisticate by Linden Down and will be #38 in my stash-busting efforts. I had just not quite enough Caron Simply Soft in Grey Heather….so I had to hunt down two more skeins in my dye lot.  Having conquered that, I grabbed my needles and cast on!

I’m making the medium size and I’m still in the yoke section. I have a feeling that this will feel like it’s taking forever after making the mini size!

Happy Knitting!

A New Life

Pardon me, for today I take a break from crafting to enjoy one of the greatest gifts anyone can make. A new life…

My oldest and dearest friend had a beautiful and amazing little girl this past weekend. I couldn’t stop staring at her angel face and tiny tiny hands. Who knows where those little hands will take her, but I can’t wait to find out!!!

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A Special Request Revisted

Earlier this week I completed a very special request for any old friend. While she was thrilled with the results…I felt the need for a few tweaks

  • I knit a 2×2 ribbed brim instead of the rolled brim
  • I knit at looser gauge to give the fabric some stretch
  • I only knit half the required row for the “nipple” portion to make it less “perky” as one other blogger put it, lol

All in all I was happy with the results! Sorry for the i-Phone shots. I finished the hat late one evening in a rush to get both hats in the mail to Momma before she popped. I’m hoping she’ll send me some action shots once the wee one gets here.

I used a smidge more yarn on this one, 63.1 yards or 32 grams. And I made the thing in one night! Not bad for a quickie 🙂

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A Brick Update

Huzzah! I have one sleeve complete!! And it’s a pretty one to boot, if I do say so myself! It only took me a couple evenings to finish one sleeve since I picked up at the armholes.

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This pattern has tested my patience, but I’m finally feeling in the groove. Here’s hoping I can slog along on the second sleeve and have this sweater ready for a bath by the weekend!

I did have to do some pattern mods to shorten the sleeve. But I’ll wait to finish the second sleeve before I post them.  Here’s hoping I can make them match! Apparently I have moderate T-Rex problem when it comes to the length of my arms in relations to my torso. Ugh…

Until then, Happy Knitting!!!