Category Archives: WIPs

Cast On: Reyna

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During my tomato madness last weekend I decided to pull a project from my Pigskin Party KAL prep. I cast on for the Reyna Shawl by Noora Laivola.

I had some beautiful speckled Hawthorn Speckle Handpaint in the Cosmic Speckle in my stash. This yarn told me it needed to be something squishy in garter stitch.  I’m loving how the pops of color are popping up!

This pattern is just so amazing. It’s a free pattern and has been knit over 5,000 times. I’m probably the last person on Ravelry to stumble on this one, lol. The pattern fits on one page, it’s well written, and you guys it has a row tracker check box thingy! With as much as I have to pick up and put down my knitting this is a life saver! I completed the cast on, one garter section and one lace section in one sitting.

I can quickly feel this project becoming addicting!! This yarn is just so yummy I can’t wait to see the finished product. I was thinking this was going to go into the gift box…but I may not be able to part with it!!

Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: Mom’s Christmas Socks

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As I mentioned before the hubby took Jellybean for the weekend this past weekend and I was FREE! I also happened to have a weekend get-together with some coworkers at a local vineyard winery. My coworkers know I’m weird and if they didn’t know….they do now! I took my Mom’s Christmas Socks with me because I had just literally turned the heel the night before. You guys….I got almost four inches of leg done despite partaking in Wine Slushes and generous sampling! It was just so amazingly soul restoring to laugh, knit and just enjoy the company of others. I definitely don’t do that enough!

My coworkers were so gobsmacked that I could knit without looking. And they thought I was counting and manually making the pattern appear. (I did break that illusion by showing them the yarn ball but they were still duly impressed.) These print yarns from Cascade Heritage are just my favorite go-to gift knit yarns. The patterns are amazing, the fabric is pleasing and they are easy care for non-knitters! I hoping to knock out the rest of the leg and cuff this week. Stay tuned!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Mom’s Christmas Socks

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During a recent visit to my parents, my Aunt Barb pulled me aside and said that my mom was bummed that she was the only one in our immediate family who hadn’t received any hand knit socks. Well, what knitter can resist the sirens call of that kind of request!

I pulled some Cascade Heritage Prints in the Christmas colorway from my stash and some size 2 needles and immediately cast on. Now she is roughly a size 7/7.5 US women’s shoe. So I’m pretty certain I’m going to work a 64 stitch sock but I’m not sure how much length she needs. I kind of want this to be a Christmas surprise so I need to find a way to steal a peak at her favorite shoes….


Happy Knitting!

Into Hibernation: Part Three

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Today I bring you the last installment of all the WIPs going into hibernation because of the Pigskin Party KAL.

Today we have Mitred Square Memory Blanket. These past couple of months I have really been able to bust out a lot of new squares. I’m happy that I purchased sharper metal tipped needles. The join still catches once in awhile but I can live with that. I really just can’t get over how crazy pretty the mix of all these yarns are. This will be the WIP I miss the most…

Into Hibernation: Part Two

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Today I bring you the second WIP going into hibernation due to the Pigskin Party KAL. These are my Vacation Vanilla socks. I finally made myself make a decision about where to place the cuff and finished the first sock.

I have to admit this project was created sort of on the fly. I was on vacation this summer and needed another project on the needles after finishing the one that I had packed. So I had the yarn shop wind this right up and I cast on a vanilla sock with the needles I had on hand. They are size 0s which are not what I usually make socks on. But this yarn seemed on the lighter side of fingering and I went up to 72 stitches to compensate. But as I was knitting those niggling thoughts kept creeping in that this sock looked very skinny for my big girl feet.

Well turns out I skated through by the skin of my teeth. The foot fits beautifully as does the heel. But the leg is a wee bit snug. These will not fall down for sure. I did increase three stitches every inch or so as I went up the leg. You can sort of see my increases in the photo above. I’m so glad I did and honestly it could have stood a couple more. The fabric is really stretched at the top of the leg and cuff.

But if anyone is that close to my foot so as to notice that detail of the fabric they are going to get a foot to the face, lol. As with my Drunken Watermelon socks I did go ahead and cast on the toe of the second sock and get started in the round. These will be my “emergency movie theatre or spontaneous car trip knitting” if I happen to need an easy vanilla project.

Happy Knitting!!

Into Hibernation: Part One

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The Down Cellar Studio Pigskin Party KAL is here and sadly WIPs don’t count. I tried like the dickens to finish up all my WIPs before the knit-a-long started but alas I was not successful. So a few of my projects are going to have to go into hibernation.

First up is my, Strands of Drunken Watermelon socks….

As you can see I finished the first sock. I think it looks beautiful with this combination of yarn and pattern. I was feeling the time crunch and really just wanted to be done so I worked the pattern a few time for the leg and added the cuff. I’m usually disappointed when I make decisions like these. But I think the sock fits great and it’s really an okay length. And I only had a small ball of yarn left…I promise.

The sock has 72 stitches which is big even for my size 9/10 US feet. But the slipped stitch fabric really pulls in and tightens up the sock. The gusset heel also fits nicely around my big girl feet. I haven’t tried a short row heel yet but the gusset heel fits the best out of all the others I have tried so far.

I did cast on and establish the pattern for sock number two before putting these into hibernation. Well hibernation might be an overstatement. These went back into my desk drawer for “back up emergency conference call and webinar knitting”. They will probably get worked on here and there but won’t receive any concerted focus until after the KAL ends.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Knitted Knockers

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The Down Cellar Studio Pigskin Party KAL is here! And on the first day I wanted to get a quick victory and clear out some old stash. I have two skeins of Cascade Ultra Pima in my stash from 2012 that never found the right project. Well, it is in fact once of the approved yarn for Knitted Knockers so both skeins are destined to become boobs!

To make sure I could wrap my head around the construction and get used to the size 8 DPN needles, I made an A cup size first. The first of the pair flew off my needles in one evening!

Un-stuffed it looks like a weird pyramid, lol. But other than some slight laddering between the needles I’m quite pleased. I remembered halfway through how I need to tighten the stitches after switching needles to discourage laddering. So the second one will be better. 

The charity accepts them in this state (un-stuffed). But I want to see what they look like filled so I think I will stuff this pair just to see. My plan is to sprinkle in some knitted knockers among my other KAL projects to get a fast win here an there but also to do some good for women healing from a mastectomy.

Happy Knitting!!

Cuff Decision

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I had been working my Vacation Vanilla Socks from a single wound skein. Normally I split my yarn into two equal cakes for matching socks so I don’t have to guess or measure during the knitting. I was far enough with the first sock that I weighed and pulled out enough yarn to get half and then cut.


I had a quite a large ball of yarn left to finish this first sock. I kept going up the leg and ball didn’t shrink much. I’m at decision point….keep going up the leg or start the cuff.


I need to measure with a ruler. My eyeballs say “that’s far enough” but arguably they aren’t always reliable, lol. I hate making decisions when I feel the pull of “just get this project done”. This project needs to percolate a bit I think.

Happy Knitting!!

So Easy To Get Offcourse

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My Strands of Drunken Watermelon have a very easy slip stitch pattern. And now I’m working the pattern all the way around the sock. So it’s easy to get off course.


The slipped stitches are worked worked with the yarn held in front. And the bars created in this process are offset/alternated by two stitches every other pattern row (if that makes any sense). This is not captivating TV show or late night knitting. I lose the ability to count to two and my bars go all wonky. I tried working on this late into the evening Labor Day weekend and I ended up tinking more than I knit.

Lesson learned…

Knit-us Interruptus

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My scrap blanket hit a speed bump this past holiday weekend…



This is Harper the ball of fluff my parents are fostering. Not only does he not understand knitting isn’t for licking, he doesn’t understand why I can’t spend all my free time throwing his toys for fetching. This little pup is the energizer bunny of playing fetch. You will tire out before he does. If you don’t throw the toy in a timely manner he WILL yap loudly at you. 

I finished exactly one and a half squares in a long weekend because my large blanket was very tempting for puppy cuddling!

Happy Knitting!!