Yarn Store Haul

Posted on by
4

While I was taking spinning lessons I took some stretch breaks to wonder around the yarn store and some goodies might have jumped in my cart 🙂

I snagged three skeins of yarn. From left to right I grabbed two skeins of 3 ply sport in an aqua and light yellow. These are my alma mater colors and I am envisioning some sort of striped or colorwork hat or cowl. And the last skein is a 2 ply DK called “baby blend”. It is superwash merino and faux cashmere. This skein was tooooooo soft to leave in the store. It needs to be a hat for my head!

I also grabbed some fiber to work with given my new spinning skills. The Shepherd’s Mill used to be a spinning mill in addition to a yarn shop so they had a large selection of roving. I grabbed some merino blends in teal, white and purple to play with.

The icing on the cake is that the owner gave me a super cool tote bag from her store as a bonus. It’s going to be the perfect spinning bag to hold my fiber next to my wheel. And it zips closed to keep small fingers out of my stuff!

Happy Spinning!!

In Person Spinning

Posted on by
3

I have been piddling around for over a year with both drop spindle and spinning wheels. I watched YouTube after YouTube video and nothing clicked. I read all the manuals on my wheel even! So I made some calls and found a yarn shop in Phillipsburg KS that I had been to with my mom and lo and behold they taught spinning!

So I arranged for the grandparents to watch the kiddos and I grabbed a cup of coffee at the crack of dawn and took off for my adventure.

The store was lovely and my spinning lessons went REALLY well. Having someone to correct my hand and feet was just the thing I needed. And she provided some reasons why I needed to do certain things and some super helpful background info. She was also super Zen about things and just made me feel so relaxed.

I managed to almost fill an entire bobbin and learn to correct some of the mistakes/hurdles I had been experiencing. Safe to say I’m hooked now 🙂

Happy Spinning!!

Wishful Knitting: Around Every Corner

Posted on by
3

I can’t remember where I saw this pattern but I was sucked in HARD by the Around Every Corner shawl pattern by Stephanie Lotven. The original was made in a solid grey with a gradient of reds. (Sorry I printed in grey scale to save ink).

My knitters brain knew I had the PERFECT yarn in my stash for this project. My wishful knitting shawl is going to have a green main color with a flower/tulip like gradient set from Bede Sisters Yarn Co. The solid green is just some Cascade sock yarn I had kicking around in my stash. I just have this mental picture of a garden inspired shawl.

I have the pattern printed and yarn all kitted up in a project bag. But what I don’t have is needles in the right size in the correct length. That and like five other active WIPs, lol. So I’m going to leave this in my project tote as a prize for getting some of my other WIPS off the needles.

Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: Garter Rainbow Wrap

Posted on by
4

I ended up staying home from work this past Monday with back pain. It’s hell getting old and out of shape. So after a trip to the chiropractor I settled myself into bed and spent ALL DAY KNITTING. I don’t appreciate the impetus but I’m not mad at the outcome.

I managed to add three full mini skeins to my Garter Rainbow Wrap. I started the day with teal, added the acid green and finished with the variegated green. When I finish this latest mini I will officially be halfway through my advent minis.

It’s becoming patently clear that I will run out of the white sock yarn. I’m going to dig around in my stash for other white scraps to see how far I can get without ordering yet more yarn, lo. Wish me luck!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Dad’s 2021 Christmas Socks

Posted on by
6

My sock needles were empty and my purse lacked travel knitting after I finished my Advent Socks #3 last week. I wanted some instant gratification so I decided to go for some sport weight socks rather than more fingering weight socks.

I pulled some Regia 6-ply from my deep stash in the every helpful color of “6974”. This has been marinating since 2017 and needs to turn into socks for my Dad. He makes a point to rave how warm his feet are when he is hunting in my hand knit socks.

I am doing the “sock recipe” I have for my dad. I cast on 18 stitches with a wedge toe and then increased to 68 stitches on US 2 needles. My dad has a 13 inch foot and I’ll do a toe up gusset heel. I just need to pay attention to when I get to halfway through the skein so I leave enough yarn for the second sock.

Happy Sock Knitting!!

New Yarn, Specific Purpose

Posted on by
2

I was tempted by the siren’s call of yarn again. I watching my normal YouTube podcast and just happened to catch the Tommi’s first Moonstone Dyeworks update after her maternity leave. I was powerless to resist a base that I have never tried before: yak sock.

The color is called Hecate and its a wonderful chocolatey brown. The skeins is 100 grams and 437 yards/399.6 meters so that is a pretty good put up. The fiber content is 70% superwash merino, 20% yak and 10% nylon. The yarn feels soft in my hand and I can detect the darker undertones that the yak brings to the blend.

This yarn has a specific purpose (aside from trying a new yarn blend) and that is to join the Musselburgh Hatt by Ysolda Teague. The whole world seems to be making them and LOVING them so I want to see what the fuss is all about.

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Advent Socks #3

Posted on by
4

My drought of FOs has been broken! My Advent Socks #3 are finally done, blocked and ready for my feet!

Pattern: My own 68 stitch toe up vanilla sock recipe with a gusset heel

Yarn: agirlandherwool 2020 advent mini skeins

Needle: US 1

Mods: None

I used roughly 84 grams of yarn to finish off these socks. And that equate to all but two yards of the very last mini skein from my advent calendar. I still have a good chunk of the full skein that came with the calendar but that is a bridge for another day. I am counting this as a win towards my goal of finishing off all my previous advent calendars before my 2021 calendars get here.

The socks fit fairly well and the BFL feel sturdy on my feet. I have already tucked these into my sock drawer to be ready for whenever fall decides to actually come to the Midwest, lol.

Happy Knitting!!!

Garter Peacefulness

Posted on by
3

My Garter Rainbow Wrap is swimming along nicely. I have three mini skeins completed and they look amazing!

The pink and purple sections have the increases and now I’m barreling down just straight garter knitting back and forth.

I am really digging the next few colors that are coming up. They are a series of cool blues and acidy greens. Since I am holding these mini skeins double with some white sock yarn the colors really do marl and blend pretty well.

Happy Knitting!!

Almost Done, Advent Cuffs

Posted on by
1

I am officially onto the last mini skein of my Advent Socks #3!

Last I took a photo of these I was just in the red/orange section of each sock. I powered through that color and the variegated pink that came next. My final mini is bright/hot pink that will finish out the minis portion of my 2020 Advent Calendar.

Bonus is that Agirlandherwool is a Pigskin Party KAL sponsor and this yarn will get me bonus points in the competition! Now I just need to finish them!

Happy Knitting!!

Yard Cardio

Posted on by
1

The kid’s playset has been a hot mess for awhile. We have tried twice to lay weed barrier and mulch to keep a clean space. It just doesn’t work as the weeds and invasive grass from the easement just vines out and over takes the mulch.

So we ripped out and bagged up the surface. We are going to put up an outdoor storage shed similar to our neighbors. And then do some tilling and plant grass in a few weeks to get some hopefully good fall growth. At this point I am willing to mow around the play set as it will be far less work.

My watch told me I busted my exercise/heart rate goal by double doing all that lifting, rolling, hauling and raking. Now I can’t wait to see our big plan coming to fruition!