Category Archives: cast on

Cast On: Dreaming of Spring Fingerless Mitts

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I had the itch for a quick project with a tweedy yarn. And in the spirit of using stash I hopped on Ravelry and compared my pattern library to my stash and came up with a wonderful idea. A sport weight pair of fingerless mitts for my Jellybean’s Kindergarten teacher!

I picked the Dreaming of Fingerless Mittens by Joelle Hoverson (Rav link) from my book More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I pulled my Good for Eve Claddagh which is a sport weight tweedy black yarn with rainbow pops.

I’m working on US 4s and 5s so this is going pretty quick using my nine inch circular. I’ve already completed the cuff and started the hand portion with the thumb increases. I’m hoping to power through this and get these wrapped up by Thanksgiving. I have a Christmas checklist and I need to get going!!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Hurricane Hat

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Jellybean was side eyeing PB’s recently finished sweater and made the comment that I hadn’t made him anything in awhile. So we sat and talked about what did he think he wanted? He muddled it for a bit and decided a hat. So we went to my stash and I showed him some yarns to pick from. He ended up picking my West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley DK.

And then he promptly went off to play. I did make him come back and feel the yarn to make sure it was soft enough. This yarn has a little tooth to it and it’s definitely not merino soft. He still said yes this is what he wanted. So I took off to Ravelry and found an easy but yet cute hat.

I chose to hold this yarn double to get aran weight and knit the Hurricane Hat by Andrea Guldin (ravelry link). I’ve obviously made it super far into the ribbing, lol. But Jellybean seems delighted just to see have started. Eventually this hat will have a purl bump that spirals up the body of the hat ending nicely in the decrease. Or it will if I can correctly follow the pattern!

Happy Knitting!!

Engineering Christmas Knee Highs

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Christmas is approaching and I have a sock snake waiting for me in my stash. I had the Hippo For Christmas color from lolodidit yarns just chilling in my stash. I thought this snake would be a good way to earn points for the Pigskin Party KAL and get a pair of knee highs into my sock drawer.

This is one half of my sock snake tube. I’ve got live stitches on end. My next step is to rip back and re-knit a toe on the end with the live stitches. I know that my generous calves will NOT fit into the other end of the tube. This means also ripping back the other side and knitting in some increases and/or ribbing. I just haven’t done the measuring or math to figure out how far that means.

But I think I would benefit from adding the afterthought heel in-between finishing the toe and starting the ribbing. I feel like I will better know to to engineer the sock to make the best fitting knee high.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: The Knit Sky Socks

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I have cast-on-itis and it’s running full bore. In addition to casting on a sweater for PB and redoing my DK Ripple Bralet I have also cast on some more vanilla socks for my purse project. Because I couldn’t be bothered to get my swift out, I chose some KnitCircus sock gradient cakes that were already wound. They are 25 grams each so to make full socks I also grabbed some Cascade heritage in solid purple for heels toes and cuffs.

I managed to get the solid purple toe cast on and have now attached the gradient. I chose to work from the outside of the cake so that the purple end of the gradient would line up nicely with the solid purple. I just thought that starting with the blue would be jarring.

This is my own recipe for a toe up sock worked over 68 stitches on a US1 needle. I am pretty invested in this project as it’s really satisfying to watch the gradient work up and change. And these will for sure be for my sock drawer so I’m relishing the project.

Happy Knitting!!

Recasting On DK Ripple Bralet

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I got over my disappointment for my first attempt at the DK Ripple bralet and re-cast on. I went up two whole pattern sizes this time to account for my gauge in the first go around.

I managed to complete the stretchy cast on again and get working in the round for the 1×1 twisted rib. Twisted rib is not my favorite but it doesn’t last long for this project. I think I may sit this one aside for a bit until I can finish the sleeves on my Radiate pullover. I really feel like I need another FO win to boost my mojo.

So for now, I think I’ll stick to one sweater a time! Happy Knitting!!

Slowest Knitting Ever

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I got a wild hair this past week and decided to make a Ripple Brawlet DK in some precious Chromatic Yarns DK from my stash. I bought the pattern, skein-ed my yarn, kitted up a project bag and accessories. I was full of enthusiasm and cast-on-itis so I jumped right into the pattern. I then came to a screeching halt as the pattern called for an Old Norwegian Cast on. I don’t know how to do that one and after an hour on YouTube and complete concentration in a kid free environment…I had five stinking stitches.

I used many tutorials including the “slow” version by Very Pink Knits YouTube channel. I just couldn’t make it click with my brain and my hands. I really want to start this project so I think I’m going to use an alternate cast on that is also stretchy. I will learn the Old Norwegian Cast on someday….today is just not that day!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Radiate

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I finished my Weekend and dove right in to my Radiate pullover by Joji Locatelli. It helps that yarn was already caked up and I had swatched. I am knitting the XL size and in pretty much two sittings I had progressed to where I am incorporating the second color.

This pattern utilized slipped stitches to create visual interest and the line, as the pattern suggests, radiate down from the yoke. My camera is kind of blowing out the Hedgehog Fibers blue color but I am loving it. I was worried the highly variagated yarn would too much but so far I think it looks fantastic.

The best part is that the pattern isn’t overly complicated and I can read my knitting enough that I can just knit knit knit and it doesn’t take too much brain space. This project is definitely my addictive project right now, its kind of the only thing I want to work on!

Happy Knitting!!

A Blanket Itch

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I have been using my DK Habitation Throw in the evenings a lot. I made it from scraps earlier this year and it was so fun. I have been fighting the itch to cast on another one. I finally tipped over the edge when I found my Teal Torch Knits minis from last Christmas’ advent calendar.

They came in a full spectrum rainbow in 12 minis, so I used my swift and ball winder to wind them into two equal cakes of six colors. I used a loose knot to connect the colors but I will russian join them when I get to the actual knitting. I also spied some leftover Suri Alpaca that I might work into the blanket. I’m considering using it a separation between the rainbow colors OR holding it double with the sock yarn on just the eyelet rows to provide some visual interest. I have some thinking to do on that one.

This project is living in my Cherry Pie Cottage project bag that is the most perfect summer theme of mermaids and ocean creatures. Probably going to be as close as I get to the beach this year!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Retro Rainbow Vanilla Socks

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As promised, after I finished my Antagonist Vanilla Socks I put some needles right back on the needles. I remembered that I still had the MustStash sock yarn wound up from my winding frenzy and so I got to work on another vanilla toe up sock.

I’m just doing a 72 stitch toe up sock on US0 needles. Nothing super fancy, I’m just going to let the yarn sing. I did notice that thanks to my winding I will be working one sock from the inside of the cake and the other from the outside to make them match. Whoops!

This is the Retro Rainbow color from Stacey at MustStash and it’s brilliant. I haven’t even finished the full six color repeat and I’m already in love. Self striping sock yarn is the most perfect kind of magic.

These socks are the perfect pick me up to tuck in my purse to wait in social distancing lines and drive thrus. Thank goodness for knitting!!

2020 Mother’s Day Cast On

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Every year on Mother’s Day I take some time for myself and cast on a new project with full delight and wild abandon. WIPs be damned….it is incredibly satisfying to have a little treat just for myself and let myself do as the mood strikes. This Mother’s Day kind of snuck up on me given the current state of our world. So I found myself on the eve of Mother’s day with no real plan.

I searched my brain and I remember that I had a skein of KnitCircus Trampoline in the Dream a Little Dream colorway that came already caked up. It’s a gorgeous gradient that felt right for Mother’s Day. I did some pattern searching on Ravelry and came up with the One Perfect Skein Shawl by Fredi Baker.

This pattern is specifically designed to use up the whole skein of yarn and would showcase the gradient nicely. Bonus points were that it was garter stitches and eyelets, which is kind of my jam right now. Though it has a picot edge, not sure how I feel about that but I can always modify that

I can’t wait to see how this purple fade plays out. I didn’t get very far on Mother’s Day as PB asked to take me on a bike ride on the local park trail. I of course said yes as I needed to burn off breakfast in bed feast of pancakes and bacon. This means I neglected to get my customary photo of my babies with my project cast on. Oh well, maybe I’ll wait until it’s finished and get my group photo then.

Happy Knitting!!