Category Archives: WIPs

Steel Heels

Posted on by
2

It took a hot minute but I finally I decided on and found a heel color for my 2023 Leftover Advent socks. During my 2019 trip to Oregon, I have a stash of Knitted Wit smarties and it was perfect.

This photo of the actual socks is older from my camera roll but the only one with the mini skein in it. I think the dark neutral will work nicely as the heel color. It’s not a color that exists anywhere in the skein.

The tubes are done and ready for the afterthought heels to be inserted. Should only be a couple more hours and I will have finished socks!

Yarn On The Slopes

Posted on by
Reply

We took the kiddos for a little fun and the first time skiing. I had to tuck some knitting into my ski bag. So my ankle socks got a little mountain time! This is the toe of the second sock as I finished the first one last week. The weather was warm enough to knit without gloves for the most part. But alas, keeping track of two kids on the family slope didn’t give me much free time.

And sometimes, I got lost in the views. It really was a nice trip and a break from work stress. Though, at almost 40….I am not as in shape as I need to be for downhill skiing, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Tubes On The Go

Posted on by
2

My leftover socks got some windshield time during a recent spring break vacation. We took the kiddos skiing for the first time and they had fun and I discovered I am SUPER out of shape for skiing.

These will definitely be shorties. I have 4-5 stripes left before I run out of yarn. After some quick math, I will do one more round of plain stockinette and then finish the rest of the yarn in ribbing. I do like working these in tandem so that I avoid second sock syndrome!

I still haven’t done any stash diving to find heel yarn. The plan is to cut in afterthought heels with a contrast. The original advent socks used white but I will see what I have in stash that is comparable to this base.

Happy Knitting!!

Coffee And A Wee Toe

Posted on by
3

It’s a Friday morning after a long week. I needed to recenter so I set out my Ankle socks and my favorite coffee.

I did end up deciding to go up to 64 stitches on these US 2 needles because 60 just looked too small of a circumference. As is my normal operating procedure, these will be toe up vanilla socks….just ankle length this time.

I have also started adding unflavored collagen powder to my coffee for a little protein and hair/nail boost to my morning. I realized that I don’t always get enough protein so I am going to work on some ways to beef up that part of my diet. Did you know that Sams Club makes the most BOMBTASTIC grilled chicken? I could eat that at any time of the day, hot or cold.

Happy Knitting!!

Gotta Catch Up

Posted on by
3

My advent leftover socks got a little lopsided this past week. I got so caught up in the conversation I was having that the one on the right got much farther.

I think the red one is stripe 14 so that sock is halfway and the other is just shy. I still really enjoy this yarn and this knitting project lives in my work bag for meetings and doctor’s appointments.

I am making these over 68 stitches instead of 72 like my December advent socks. My other socks fit but have neutral ease instead of negative ease. I don’t feel time pressure with this project so I just let it ebb and flow.

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Mom’s In The Light

Posted on by
3

The wooden coaster turned tassel maker works just fine. I got my tassels finished and temporarily on my Mom’s In The Light. We even got to see that yellow ball in the sky that was the sun for some good photos.

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

Yarn: Laneras Barefoot (100% Polworth) held double with yellow and green

Needles: US 8s

Mods: Omitted the lace section to conserve yarn as I only had two skeins.

I tried to style this shawl on my necklace holder. This photo was before it’s wash and blocking so it’s a little scrunchy. But I think it still looks nice. My mom is coming this week so I can get her input on the tassels before I do final touches.

I used every bit of each 400 yard skein for a total of 800 yards used. So this was a nice bang for my buck getting yarn out of my stash. And it will be nice and toasty with the fingering held double.

Halfway (Ish)

Posted on by
4

My blanket mojo is making it hard to work on other projects but my Mom really wants this shawl so I am making sure it gets some love as well.

This is In The Light and I have made it three times before so I am very comfortable with this pattern. Normally this would call for fading but I skipped this to use the yarn my Mom bought. I may be playing yarn chicken…so I am keeping track of my balls of yarn and where I am in the pattern. The edging starts at like 180 stiches and I am at 90 something.

I probably won’t be able to knit the full pattern but I should be able to knit to a stitch count that fits the multiple needed and still add the edging. This will just mean it will be a tid bit smaller, which won’t affect its warmth at all. I just need to keep knitting!!

Happy Knitting!!

Moody Blues

Posted on by
1

Progress is slow on these socks for the second go around of this yarn. But I have reached the moody/blue section of the fade.

I got a little irked as I found a dropped stich on one these back in the greens. I had knit SO FAR past it that I could not possibly ladder it back up. I slipped a stich marker on it and during a lunch hour I dropped down the row next to it to fix it. I combined that dropped stitch with a good stitch and then laddered back up. And on the next round I just increased one where I lost that stitch.

One stitch won’t affect the overall fit. Just a little mad that I didn’t notice. I will give myself grace that these live loose-ish in my purse and take a lot of abuse. They are faring well considering all that!

Happy Knitting!!

That’s More Shawl Like

Posted on by
2

After some dedicated knitting time, my shawl has progressed past thong phase and into baby shawl phase.

As with my other In The Lights, I find myself splitting the strands or not getting both picked up. I mostly catch and fix these as I work the next row. But there are quite a few oopsies in this fabric. I am just thinking of them as character.

This was my gung ho project until I started my granny stripe blanket and I want to work on nothing else but that blanket. So I made an internal deal to work at least four rows on this a day before I can pick up my blanket. We will see how long that lasts. I’m just glad my mojo is back!

Happy Knitting

A Crochet Cast On

Posted on by
4

I have been sitting on a 2021 advent calendar from Queen City Yarn circa 2021. I tried and failed to make a shawl with it. It has been sitting in a closet ever since. I have been full of new year energy, new project ideas and an idea of granny stripes WILL NOT GET OUT OF MY HEAD.

I have never made a granny square or granny stitch before. But I sat down in front of a warm fire and turned on YouTube and taught myself. I went down the Ravelry rabbit hole and found the Sock Scraps Granny Stripe Blanket from Leila McCullough (Rav link) to use as a pattern base.

I mostly used the pattern for gauge and stitch count. I am not 100% following it’s granny stitch instructions as I found the YouTube videos more helpful and intuitive for my crochet skill level. I started with the full 100 gram skein and worked a couple of rows and now I’m adding the first day of advent.

I will continue in this pattern of full skein skinny stripes in between each day’s color. Unsure how this will look in the end but it’s the only way I could contemplate using this full skein in this blanket in a meaningful way.

Happy Crochet!