Category Archives: WIPs

A Sock For A Giant

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Warning: Huuuuuuuge guage fail ahead!

  
Doesn’t my finished Active Vanilla sock look pretty?  

It’s pretty…..huge that is! Look at all that extra fabric. I should have listened to my instincts. This was 60 stitches in DK weight on US 3s. That’s apparently about 10 stitches too many. This would have fit my husband width wise!

  
I started sock #2 from the second ball with 50 stitches and I’m zooming right along. I’m almost to the heel. The first sock is sitting waiting to be ripped out and reknit. I guess this pair is going to require three knit socks to render a usuable pair!

Harrumph! I mean Happy Knitting!

Son Of A Swatch

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You know how I thought my swatch for the Aeon vest was weird? Well it is, it totally is!

  
This puppy was knit on US 9s because I’m a complete imbecile. The 6 was really an upside down 9 and my mommy brain couldn’t process it. Son of a swatch! I’ve now secured the requisite US 6 needles in Hiya Hiya 32 inch bamboo fixed circulars. I’ve also ripped out the above swatch. I’m hoping the swatch on the correct needles with the less slippery bamboo will do the trick.

I just have one more question….is it wine o’clock?

Mandrake Vanilla Socks

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I currently only have my Active Vanilla Socks on the needles. And that is just not enough!

  I pulled the Mandrake color way from String Theory Colorworks from my box of fingering weight yarn. This is a skein from my 2016 sock experiment and it’s a MCN. Gotta love merino/cashmere/nylon! I’ve divided the skein in half as close as I could while still being able to start with the same colored stripe. As an aside The dyer is fabulous and listed the stripe progression on the label for you!

These will be toe up vanilla socks quite perfect for my purse knitting vacancy. I’m not sure what kind of heel I’ll do yet. The sock will speak to me soon enough! The husband and I had a date night to Hail! Ceasar and I got some serious knitting in. How gorgeous are these stripes!?

  
And for anyone keeping score my husband hated the movie and likes the socks. I however thought the movie was amusing and I’m not sold on the purple stripe.

Happy Knitting!

Knitting Requests

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In all knitters lives there comes a time when you hear “can you knit (insert object here) for me?” Now I’m a pretty selfish knitter but there a few people who are knit worthy in my world. The first is my dearest friend from college, Mere. She texted me awhile back to let me know how much she loved a cowl I made her years ago and could she have another.

  
This is a cowl I free handed at least five years ago for craft fairs. It doesn’t even have a Ravelry page! I know it’s in Homespun but that’s about it. I had her send me some measurements and I pulled a skein of the requested black from my stash. Fingers crossed I can recreate this!

The next request came from my daycare provider. Whom I love and pretty sure Jellybean loves her more than me some days. Her 15 year old has been coveting Jellybean’s Dino Hat.

  
I pulled out the pattern and the hat and sat down to figure the mods. It shouldn’t be too bad to do and I still have the exact yarn colors in my stash. This one might require some ripping and redoing. But this 15 year old takes time out of her afternoon to play ukulele for Jellybean because he likes to help strum. So she pretty much has earned a Dino hat of her own!

Now I just need to find the time to knit all these things!

Happy Knitting  

WIP Wednesday: Active Vanilla Socks  

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I pulled some yarn from my 2016 Sock Experiment to start my next pair of socks! The winner was the Active 6-ply from Regia in eye searing hot pink! I wanted a thick and quick project (relatively speaking for socks).

  
I’m working on size 3US needles over 60 stitches for a toe up vanilla sock. I’ve never worked toe up socks on these large of needles with this heavy of yarn so I’m wary of my guage. I need to pull out one of my fingering weight socks and  measure the total width of the foot fabric. Just eyeballing this sock…it feels big. But we all know swatches and our eyes can lie! Along the same lines, I’m going to work a gusset heel instead of an afterthought heel because I don’t know how far one ball of yarn will go. I only have two balls! I’m sure it will be fine but better safe than sorry.

As for the yarn, it’s not the softest. It feels rather like rope to me. The caveat being that I’m also working on a cashmere/merino blend socks. So I’ll withhold texture judgment until they are done. 

Happy Knitting!

What Did I Get Myself Into 

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The yarn for my Aeon Vest is here! Now I’m being a good girl. I’ve knit a swatch…

  
I haven’t blocked it yet. But I did use the recommended size 6 needles and the fabric is very loose. I haven’t compared this to pattern guage because it’s not blocked and I’m not sure I like how this fabric feels. I want this vest not to grow when worn or be too loosey goosey.

Now before I did this swatch I had taken my measurements to find the appropriate pattern size. I then went about marking up the pattern after reading carefully. I like to white out all the directions that don’t apply to me and make notes/highlights to help me along the way. Now I’m not sure the size I marked is the one I’ll end up knitting based on my desired fabric guage…knitting fail.

  
Having done all that, I can’t help but think….what the hell did I get myself into!? This pattern is knit in one piece and has detailed directions. But it’s my first foray into a moderately shaped piece with lots of *at the same time*. I may well lose what little brains I have left. But  I know I will need to color coded the snot out of this to reduce my chance of screwing up.

Only time will tell! Happy Knitting!!

Vestuary

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The month of February has become known as Vestuary in the knitting world. I’m not sure who started it but it’s cute regardless. I’ve never played along but I got the itch this year. I’ve been eyeing the Aeon Vest by Hilary Smith Callis.

  
(Photo @hilarysmithcallis)

I want this vest like right now in this color in my greedy little paws. Jewel tones really go well with my eyes and skin tone. Not to mention that the open nature of this vest won’t emphasize my still there mom belly. And it’s got pockets!!

This is worked in worsted and I need over 1,000 yards. I can’t afford to break the bank but I really need this sweater!!! A friend had recently mentioned she used Mighty Stitch by Knit Picks for a sweater and found it really hard wearing yet soft. Perfect for my life where I get covered in Toddler “love” every day. It’s 20% SW and 80% acrylic with 208 yard skeins. At $3.49 per ball I could knit my vest for under $25. And you guys….they had that blue….

  
It’s “celestial” and just perfect. So then I might have gone right over and put in my order. I’m hoping the yarn gets here fast so I can at least start this in Vestuary!

So Close!!

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My Husbands Pats socks are soooooo close!

  
We took a last minute three day weekend not so long ago and I got some really good car knitting in. I finished the first sock and plowed through the second one. It’s Jan 30th and I have until Feb 7th (the Super Bowl) to get these done for the #dcspigskinparty2015 KAL.

Seriously it’s like 4 more inches of ribbing and done! Fingers crossed!!