Nailed It (So Far)

I am trying to dust off my WIPs to clear them out for the 2025 Pigskin Party KAL. No WIPs allowed in that. Today I pulled out the Crown Town Hat and installed the KC into the main body.

The pattern called for duplicate stitch and I’m rubbish at that. So I decided to double down and work stranded colorwork. I simply left LONG loops and moved the blue yarn back to the beginning of the row. I’ll cut those later and weave in both ends.

I think I did not so bad! Blocking will do a world of good for this. I feel like this hat is going to be shallow so I might add a few rows after the KC to make sure this will fit my dad. I hope I don’t regret my decision, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Emotional Support Chicken #2

I am still feeling the mojo for the Emotional Support Chickens. I decided to cast on #2 with the opposite colors of #1.

This cream color handspun is much more consistent than the darker color I from the last one. I am hoping I will get a more consistent fabric? This chicken will be for Aunt Barb, who helped me make jam this year, to give to her best friend who loves chicken. I am on a bit of time crunch as this ladies birthday is coming up so I need to get knitting!

Happy Crafting!!

A Finished Emotional Support Chicken

The Emotional Support Chicken is complete!

Pattern: Emotional Support Chicken by Annette Corsino (Rav Link)

Needles: US 7s

Yarn: My own handspun and commercial scraps

My eyeball placement could use work but I think it adds character. I ended up using up 200 grams of yarn on this project. Which didn’t use up the handspun. I think I have enough left to reverse the colors and make a second chicken. Aunt Barb wants one for her friend.

This chicken is going to my office and I think I will let my team give it a name. It’s a rough go in local government and we could use all the support we can get!

Happy Knitting!!

Almost A Chicken

The emotional support chicken now has a beak!

I ended up finding some Malabrigo singles in a bright yellow from my hat leftover stash. I held it single and I kind wish I had held it double. Might try that on the next version. I also grabbed some red leftovers of Cashloft from the hat leftovers as well.

I just need to knit the chest piece and sew everything up! Happy Knitting!!

An Emotional Support Chicken Body

Thick yarn on big needles really makes a project fly by! I have completed most of the body of my Emotional Support Chicken.

My crochet join of the tail region could use some work but it’s secure and I can always add more rows to cover. I am working with uneven handspun so it doesn’t hide my sins as easily as a commercial yarn.

Next up I need to start and shape the head. And see if I have any polyfill in my crafting stash. I don’t make a ton of toys so it’s not a guarantee…

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Handspun Emotional Support Chicken

I am finally getting my Emotional Support Chicken on the needles. I have a whole bag of crunchy woolly and rough handspun that will be great for this type of project.

I chose not to swatch as I am not aiming for a specific size of finished toy. I am just making sure that I have a tight gauge to keep the stuffing on the inside. I chose US 7s and this handspun is worsted to bulky weight.

This is a lot of my early handspun that is pretty thick and thin. The dark brown is unknown wool and the lighter is romney. We will see how this knits up. I still need to track down some yellow and red accent for the beak and comb.

Happy Knitting!!

Two Autumn Gold Sleeves

The sleeves of Autumn Gold are complete and happily matching.

I ended the second sleeves with just one tiny nub of yarn left from the skein. Both sleeves knit nicely from one skein of yarn. I will have more than enough to finish this sweater based on what I have caked up.

Now I am just on the forever knitting of the body and adding the ribbed side details. So I have to pay attention on every other round. I wonder how many times I will get that wrong?

Happy Knitting!!

Conference Hat Brim

It’s been a hot minute since I last touched my Conference 2025 Hat. I had some downtime getting my windshield repaired so I got the brim folded and attached.

It feels like riding a bike as I have been on a sweater kick lately and returning to my hat knitting. I have zero plans for this hat, just a slow and steady knit that runs around with me in my work bag.

A few more inches of hat body and I will be ready for decreases! Happy Hat Knitting!!

Wishful Knitting: Cozy Classic Raglan

My knitting plans are absolutely out of sync with my actual time available to knit. I have now a fourth sweater that I am putting in my wishful knitting category.

This time it is the Cozy Classic Raglan by Jessie Maed Designs. I have five skeins of a grey tweed DK from my a 2020 virtual yarn retreat that I went to. And DK has been my preferred yarn weight for finished garments as I am warm but not to warm. And I have not yet developed the mental stamina to do a fingering weight sweater.

I have this yarn wound, pattern printed and bag ready to go. I just need to swatch to chose final needle size. One downside of all this fit of creativity is that most of these sweater need US 7 or US 8 needles and I only have one interchangeable set and not a lot of singular fixed needles in this size.

I am torn between sourcing some additional in this size and just waiting for those needles to come open. I want to keep the mojo going but don’t want to amass too many needles, lol.

Happy Wishful Knitting!!

Winding Marathon

I have so many wishful knitting projects here and here and here. That I decided to break out my ball winder and swift to do some serious winding. I don’t normally cake my yarn and tend to hand wind my yarn.

So after several hours and more tangles that I like….I wound three sweaters worth of yarn and got caked up. I do have another sweater lot that the skein is too large for my swift and I will definitely have to hand wind those.

This swift is handmade by a family member and it works great. But an umbrella swift would be more beneficial. I am considering put one of those on my wish list. And my bigger wish list is a craft room where I could have all my tools set up and I don’t have to put them away after each use 🙂

Happy Winding!!