Category Archives: cast on

FO Friday: In The Light

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I had the pleasure of attending a virtual professional women’s conference this week. It was 7 hours on zoom learning lots of cool things. But the upside of the virtual conference is that I got to knit all day. I decided to challenge myself to finish my In The Light. And you know what? It worked!

Pattern: In the Light by Casey Day-Crosier (Rav Link)

Needles: US 9s

Yarn: Cloudlover Fiber SW Merino Sock in the Mag Mel and Mojito colorways and One Twisted Tree Prime Fingering in the Forest Floor colorway

Mods; I added tassels to use up more of my skeins of yarn

I am super please with this project and how well all the yarns played together. The two Cloudlover skeins I used at the beginning and end were HIGHLY variagated and you know what? Holding them double really helped blend the yarn. The One Twisted Tree was more of a speckled tonal and gave a nice blend to the middle.

This patterns is addictive and uses SO MUCH SOCK YARN! With the modified tassles I used approximately 1,077 yards of yarn and most of each skein. I had the most left of the middle Forest Floor color. Now this is the simple version and it does use less yarn than the fringed version. I’m okay with that I like the simple elegance of this version.

I’m already itching to cast on a third In The Light in some lights/pinks. I can’t help myself when a pattern is this good and burns through so much sock yarn. Not to mention its helping me with those pesky “pretty” skeins of variegated yarn that I can’t help buying but never know what to do with.

Happy Friday and Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Purple Rain Socks

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My sock needles/project bag were getting lonely and cold so I decided to cast on a new pair of toe up vanilla socks after I had finished my Toxic Oreo Vanilla Socks.

I went downstairs to my sock yarn stash and rooted around. Being too lazy to get out my swift and ball winder….I selfishly pulled some already caked sock yarn to start my next project.

This is the KFI Collection Painted Sock I picked up on my accidental yarn crawl a few months back. And this yarn has the bonus of already being split for socks. My plan is to knit toe up vanilla socks with gusset heels and just let the gradient fall where it may.

I haven’t knit with this yarn before and I’m not sure how the guage will work out. These could be shorty socks rather than mid-calf socks. But the great benefit of toe up socks is that you can literally work until you run our of yarn!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Mom’s Christmas 2021 Hat

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Next up in my hat addiction is the yarn my mother specifically picked out to maker her a hat. My last few hats have been worsted but this yarn is DK so I’m having to re-do my numbers. I have tentatively cast on 96 stitches on a US 7 needle.

I really should gauge swatch but I am just going to start the hat and see what comes out. I mean the worst that happens is that I rip back and start again, lol. This yarn is some of the Shepherd’s Mill I picked up on my accidental yarn crawl. It’s a two ply DK with a subtle pink fade/gradient to the colors.

It will be interesting to see how far I get into the color progression before I need to finish the hat.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Purple Worsted Hat

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Now that my arbitrary knitting rules are satisfied with finishing my Toxic Oreo Vanilla Socks I let myself cast on my next worsted beanie.

I snuggled into my bed with my knitting and zoom knit night friends. I plugged away and got the ribbing complete. This yarn is quite a bit thicker than my last worsted skein. It is the 3ply worsted from Shepherds Mill I got on my accidental yarn crawl. So I only cast on 80 stitches to keep the hat coming out oversixed.

This thicker and rounder yarn is creating a much denser fabric than previous hats. This will for SURE be a wind proof hat, lol. But the world needs all kinds of hats so I’m just going with it.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: In The Light

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I was so thrilled with my Into The Light both for how much yarn it used up and how beautifully it turned out that I pulled yarn to make at least two more. And it was now that I realized I was using the wrong name for the project….its actually In The Light, lol.

@atangledyarn84

This version is going to be a green version. I pulled two skeins of Cloudlover Fiber sock yarn that I bought literally before Jellybean was born, so six years ago! They are the Mag Mell and Mojito colorways are going to be my beginning and end colors. To pull this project together I chose a golden skein of One Twisted Tree sock yarn in the Forest Floor colorway. One Twisted Tree is no longer dying so this is a special skein for me.

For this go around with the pattern I am going to do the plain version instead of the fringed version I did the first time. I am chugging through the first color section. Holding these highly variegated yarn double really smooths the colors out and makes a nicely evenly colored fabric.

I’m pretty excited to get to the next color to see how things blend! Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Dad’s Camo Hat

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After finishing the He Will Have His Revenge Hat last week I spent date night and some of the weekend working on my next hat. I pulled the skein of Lanaloft I recently procured from my accidental yarn crawl. My needles were cold and my mojo is still going strong.

As you can tell I made fairly good progress for just a few hours. It’s amazing what a few hours of movie and playground knitting can get done. The ribbing is done and I’m a good chunk of the way up the main body of the hat. This skein is a little shorter in yardage from my last few hats meaning its a little thicker of a worsted. This yarn is also a single so it is working up a little differently than a plied yarn and I kind of like it.

I am at a crossroads to figure out how much more I can knit and still finish the decreases before I run out of yarn. This hat will be for the Christmas box, likely for my Dad since I already gifted the hat I intended for him. He’s got a pretty big noggin so I need a pretty robust hat. Maybe I can sneak a peak at his favorite ball cap or fishing hat?

I predict this will become a FO soon! Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: A Hat For Dad

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I needed some easy peasy no concentration knitting after I finished my Into The Light shawl. I decided to cast on a generic worsted weight beanie for my dad.

I cast on 88 stitches in the round on a US 8 needle and started 2×2 ribbed brim. I will work the brim until it looks good enough and then switch to stockinette. I think I want a decent amount of ribbing so the brim can be folded double for extra warmth.

The yarn is some recently obtained Lilliput Yarn in her Woof Worsted. This blue color is her Man’s Best Friend colorway. I’m really pleased with the variagation and subtle tones that are playing out as this knits up. We will see if I get any pooling or flashing as I keep going.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Double Vanilla Socks

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The last thing to hit my needles from my winter winding party are my Double Vanilla Socks. And they have been my go to school pick up/drop off knitting.

This yarn is some Blissful Knits Classic DK in the teal colorway. It’s a DK sock yarn that is 80% wool and 20% nylon which made me feel safe to turn these into socks. Now it’s been a hot minute since I have knit DK socks so I pulled the Double Vanilla Socks by Blue Ammonite Designs (ravelry link) so that I could follow a stitch pattern and heel.

I totally didn’t gauge swatch so I am just winging it and following the medium size on this free pattern. I may regret this choice, but its not like DK yarn doesn’t knit up quickly into socks. I can always rip out and start over if the first one is small. And a plus side, I am going to try a new to me heel!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: 2020 Advent Socks

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The next thing to hit my needles after my winding party are my 2020 Advent Socks. I have decided on a plan to work them in tandem on two separate nine inch circulars.

So far I have the full skein out and I have knit both toes of my socks. Next up I plan to open up the minis in the order the dyer intended and split each 10 gram mini into halves. I will then add half to each sock. The yarn is BFL sock so I think I should be able to spit splice my joins so I won’t have 1,000 ends to weave in.

I haven’t decided on a heel plan or final construction. My first instinct would be to knit tubes and add after thought heels. But I have a TON of yarn and I think this will end up looking pretty scrappy. Maybe I will do a toe up gusset heel and just let the colors fall where they may?

I’ll just decide when I get through the foot I guess! Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Into The Light

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The first thing to hit my needles after my winding party is the Into The Light shawl by Casey Day-Crosier.

I did end up swapping out one of my color choices for a last minute addition. My gut told me to do it so I just went with it. I decided my final combo would be Hue Loco Spun Sock in
“Skip With Me” (my first color), Twisted Owl Fiber Studio Super Sock 4 ply in “Razz-Ma-Tazz” and finally Into The Whirled Meridian Sock in “Scissors Lizard Spock”.

I have the tiniest of the tab of the beginning of the shawl. This project does have you hold the yarn double. My needles aren’t the sharpest so I have to be careful to make sure I grab both strands. But otherwise, I REALLY love this project. It eats yarn sooooooo fast and I can’t wait to get to the first color fade.

Happy Knitting!!