Category Archives: Finished Objects

FO Friday: Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket

Posted on by
4

I’m so pleased to keep my FO train rolling! This week I finished my Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket!

Pattern: Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket by Staci Perry

Yarn: Knit Picks Brava Bulky in Solstice Heather, Cobblestone Heather and Red.

Needles: US 13s

Mods: Cast on 144 total stitches and worked extra stripe repeats. I also added fringe/tassels. My Rav notes are here.

I really wanted to use up every last inch of yarn and I had pretty decent sized balls when I bound off. So I thought…tassels! I measured and broke up my remaining yarn and added them to the points of my chevrons. This took the yardage of this blanket to 1,006 yards! I know the tassels are the most baby friendly but I can always remove them later. But for now I adore them!

I haven’t taken finished measurements yet but I have washed and dried this blanket. The above photo is taken on our king sized guest bed and it covers a good sized portion of it. Most of all, I’m just beyond thrilled to have over 1,000 yards of acrylic out of my stash and put to proper good (and washable) use!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Four Seasons Hat

Posted on by
3

My Four Seasons Hat has finished its bath and is nicely blocked and ready for a head to keep warm. This is a hat I had been keeping in my purse as a carry around project that got finished during recent air travel.

Pattern: 96 stitch slouched stockinette beanie with ribbed brim.

Yarn: KnitCircus RingMaster in a prototype skein called Four Seasons

Needles: US 6 for brim and US 8 for hat

I really just kind of knit this hat on the fly. I knit the ribbing until it was long enough and started the hat when it felt right. I knit until my ball of yarn was looking small-ish and then I worked a series of decreases similar to the sockhead hat decreases. It’s kind of a franken-pattern mash up of different ideas. I was working with a “seconds” kind of yarn that had knots. I pulled out all the knots and Russian joined the breaks. I really can’t see them in the finished fabric.

The crown decreases did come out a little nipple like at the very top. I haven’t decided if it bothers me or not. I can always throw a pom pom on it if I decide that it does. I used up about 155 yards of the 185 yard skein. So just about 85%. I’m guessing I could have eked out a few more rows before the crown decreases but I didn’t want to play yarn chicken. I tucked the leftover in my bin for a scrappy project or future hat repair.

I’m pretty happy with this finished item. I just need to decide if I’m going to keep or gift this one. Happy Knitting!!!

A Well Traveled Hat

Posted on by
8

My Four Seasons hat was very well traveled during my recent birthday trip to Portland.  This is where my hat started at 6 am at the Kansas City Airport. The terminal was shockingly busy for such an early Saturday morning. But based on overheard conversations, a TON of people were headed to Mexican resorts to escape the impending arctic blast.

I only knit on this hat while on modes of transportation during my trip. And by Monday morning when I boarded my flight it looked like this. (I also treated myself to a Mimosa to cap off a wonderful weekend. It wasn’t the greatest I’ve ever had but it felt decadent to do while traveling without the fam.)

And this last photo is brought to you by the KCI airport bathroom. I literally bound off the top of the hat while we were taxiing to our gate. The gentleman seated next to me complimented me on finishing so quickly. I think I earned some bonus points with him because I had asked him if my knitting would bother him  during the flight. He nicely told me it would not so he earned some good karma points in my book as well.

It’s a good thing this was done. It was 18 degrees with a feels like temperature of 9 degrees. I literally wore this out of the airport and all the way to my car….ends hanging out and all! It was perfection!

I’m going to drop this hat into a nice Eucalan bath and hope to have some non bathroom selfie FO pictures later this week. Happy knitting!!

P.S. My shirt says “I run on Caffiene, Wine and Bad Words”. I got a few chuckles from fellow passengers during my travels.

FO Friday: Dark Side Vanilla Socks

Posted on by
5

I have a FO and they are just about the wackiest pair of socks I have every knit. My Dark Side Vanilla Socks are done and ready for their recipient!

Pattern: 72 stitch vanilla sock made from a sock snake/tube

Needles: US 0s

Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in Dark Side and Cascade Heritage Sock in Grey

These socks are one full 50 gram skein of the Felici  split between two socks and then roughly 25 grams of the Cascade sock. I definitely didn’t split these evenly and one leg ended up longer than the other. You can see that one set of cuff ribbing is about double the other one. So the socks are now equal in total length but not in ribbing. I’m rolling with it.

And as pointed out so very eloquently in the comments of a previous post. The stripes are reversed because I knit toes from both ends of the sock snake so when I split in the middle they became opposites. And you can totally see that because the red and purple stripes are exactly opposite one another in each sock.

These delicious socks are bound for Portland Oregon as a gift for a dear friend whom I plan to visit this fall. I have a quick weekend trip up my sleeve to celebrate my recently acquired status as 35 years old. She is a dear friend and VERY knit worthly. Not to mention she is letting me crash for free in her house, so it’s only fair!

And I still have the other 50 gram sock snake in this color to deal with. I need to decide if they will be socks for me or another quick gift pair for Christmas….decisions decisions…..

FO Friday: Cheery Vanilla Socks

Posted on by
9

My Cheery Vanilla Socks got their last heel installed and I have all the ends woven but not clipped. Happy Finished Object Friday to all!!

Pattern: My own toe up vanilla “recipe” for  72 stitches with an afterthought heel

Yarn: Knit Picks Felici in Cheer. I used about 305 yards or 70 grams of yarn to make these. (I have a US 9.5 to 10 foot, the struggle is real you guys….)

Needles: US 0

Mods: I made shorties this time that land just above my shoe line.

They are snug without being tight. They seem to stay on my feet as I made sure to make my heel deep enough this time. Prior attempts with shorties left with socks that liked to slip off my heel and down into my shoe. Surprisingly they match pretty darn well. I honestly can’t remember if I tried to do that on purpose or it was a happy accident. I’ll take it either way.

These still need a good wash to get the martini scent out and even out some of the stitches. Oh, and I’m noticing that the heels don’t match exactly. Maybe I can use this to designate a left and a right sock?

I’ve been puttering around with these socks since August 2018 so I felt pretty chuffed to clear my needles and have a pair of socks to add to my drawer. And the yarn has been in my stash since 2015 so that feels good as well. I like to see some of my older but yet still loved yarn see its full potential.

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Dad’s 2019 Christmas Socks

Posted on by
5

I have to be honest. I didn’t think these socks would ever be finished.  These were started in FEBRUARY. I knit a whole sock only to find out that it was insanely too big. I ripped back and started over. I knit these traveling, in hospitals and traveled miles and miles in my purse. DK weight socks shouldn’t take eight months but they are DONE now!!

Pattern: My own toe up vanilla sock “recipe” and afterthought heel for a US Men 13 foot. This is a DK weight yarn so I used a 64 stitch count

Yarn: Viking of Norway Aurora self-striping

Needles: US 3s

The hubby tried these on for me since my Dad wasn’t around. He thinks they are a little loose around the ankles. But Dad likes his cuffs to be on the shorter side a little looser in case he wants to scrunch them down inside his boots. I ended up using roughly 303 yards or 111 grams of yarn and did not need contrasting yarn for the heels.

I wish I had more to say about these socks. But honestly I’m just happy they are done and ready for the gift box. I was ready for this point. But now I don’t have a sock on the needles and I’m at a bit of a loss to know what I want to pick up next??

I have a couple of sock tubes in the stash but also a ton of great sock yarn just waiting to be socks. Do I make shorties or do I make more traditional sized socks? I think I have analysis paralysis, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Fledgling Pom Pom

Posted on by
6

I decided that my finished Modified Barley needed a pom. It had nothing to do with the fact this project is for a knit-a-long where the yardage in the project earns me imaginary points for a chance to win real prizes. I took Jellybean and PB to Joanns and we bought pom pom makers, four different sizes so that we can pom pom our hearts out.

Jellybean and I sat down one evening and worked through our first pom pom. Honestly it was challenging and I got frustrated because I was learning and the instructions were lacking in my opinion. Jellybean actually took the whole process in stride and told me “it’s okay if we make mistakes”. And in the end we made a serviceable pom pom.

I’m not sure how I feel about it on the hat. It’s maybe not big enough? I’m going to let this marinate for a bit. But the good news is that the pom used almost every last yard of yarn and I got more points for my KAL, lol. Because that’s what matters….

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Modified Barley

Posted on by
7

As promised I snagged some better FO photos off of my parents front deck. They still have a ton of green foliage that isn’t long for this world but it sure made a pretty backdrop! This is my finished (and still not blocked) Modified Barley.

Pattern: (Heavily Modified) Barley by Tin Can Knits

Yarn: Plymouth Yarn Worsted Merino Superwash Hand Dyed in the Lipstick colorway

Needles: US 6 and US 8

Modification: A TON! I took the stitch count for the adult medium and knit the hat without the garter panel. And for length I knit until it looked good enough and just started decreasing.

I am pretty happy with the finished size because it will surely grow with blocking as superwash yarn is want to do. I can wear the hat slouchy or fold the brim up and have a more traditional beanie fit. I only used about 172 yards or 79 grams of yarn to make this hat. I have a decent sized ball left, maybe enough for a pom pom?

This is definitely going into the gift bin for Christmas. It was such a quick knit that it makes me wonder why I don’t knit in worsted weight yarn all the time! And I highly recommend the Tin Can Knits patterns for excellent size inclusive and schematics for sizing.

Happy Knitting!

FO Friday: Progression Shawl

Posted on by
11

I finished a beautiful thing and I’m just busting at the seams to share it. The yarn did most of the work but the pattern and yarn just went together so well. Jellybean helped me style some FO photos of my Progression Shawl.

Pattern: Progression Shawl by Carin Risinger

Yarn: Frabjous Fiber and Wonderland yarns Cheshire Cat in the Mad Tea Party color

Needles: US 5s

Mods: I faded in the color changes between my five mini skeins

This shawl/scarf is MASSIVE. I took out an actual tape measure and the blocked dimensions are 90 inches by 13 inches deep. It fills our king size bed from corner to corner. I was really pleased with this pattern. It was straightforward and easy to hack to fit my yardage. Not to mention it is just plain lovely because garter has a special place in my heart.

I have decided that this will be going in the gift pile. This beauty will be wrapped up under the Christmas tree for my mom. Meanwhile, I am wishful knitting and stash diving for my next shawl cast on.  I can’t have empty shawl needles!!

Happy knitting!

FO Friday: Soft Serve Sock Snake Socks

Posted on by
5

It’s full on summer here in Kansas so seems like a perfect time to get my Soft Serve Sock Snake socks completely off my needles!

I managed to get two pair of ankle socks out of two 50 gram skeins of Knit Picks Felici (with the help of some contrasting heel/toe/cuff yarn) in the soft serve color way. The snake tubes were cranked over 72 stitches. The top  pair is for my sister’s birthday and they fully coordinating. I had to get a little more creative and go sort of franken-sock with the second pair.

My leftover tubes weren’t equal so I had to use scraps to extend the toe of one sock. And then I didn’t have enough speckled contrast yarn to do more than the cuffs. So I pulled out some Cascade Heritage sock yarn to do the toes and heels. I think this makes them superbly unique and a great addition to my sock drawer.

With the socks tubes I finished two pairs of socks in like two weeks with only half-monogamously working on them. You certainly can’t beat that!

Happy knitting!!