Benefits To Cleaning

Happy Monday to all! I was cleaning up and refilling some of my project bags and guess what I found tucked in a project bag pocket? Money!

Thanks past Rachelle for forgetting this to delight and reward future Rachelle for actually cleaning up after herself! Okay, yeah, it was only a dollar but it is one more dollar than I had before. And I totally found my really really good Chapstick that I thought I lost.

Not a bad way to start a Monday! Happy Knitting!!

An Almost FO: Marled Crochet Blanket

The crocheting is complete on my Marled Crochet Blanket. Thanks to binging some knitting podcasts and a glass of white wine…this monstrosity is complete. And as I feared yesterday, it still looks like a giant boob.

I turned this project in for points in the Pigskin Party KAL and promptly set it aside. My completely inept and total made up crochet increases made this blanket bubble in the middle in the red section. I texted some photos to crafty friends as to what I should do with this.

One friend suggested I stuff it and make a pillow or lounge pad. But as its square-ish and the gauge is really open I’m positive it would be impossible to seam and the stuff would just spill out. So I have two choices:

  1. Just throw in the towel and let my kids have this as a “play” blanket for their stuffies and dolls
  2. Call my seamstress mother to see if we could sew up custom pillow or fabric bean bag like item and then attach this to the top for humorous effect.

I’m going to mull my options and see how crazy wild I get this winter. This project may resurface….

Happy Crocheting!!

Interesting Color Choice

I stepped back to admire my Marled Crochet blanket and noticed an interesting design aesthetic that my color choice and marling is giving me……

You guys, I’m crocheting a giant nipple. I was shooting for sweet valentine pink/red theme. But nope this is one giant boob. And it doesn’t help that my increases in the red section got a little wonky and that bit sticks up. My husband even gave this blanket a raised eyebrow when I showed him.

But I’m too close to being done so I’m going to embrace this project and see where it takes me. I’m not ripping out close to 1,000 yards of crochet, lol. I have a white section to add tonight and then I will be done. Maybe I’ll have a FO to show tomorrow?

Happy Knitting!!

More Waiting….More Knitting

In true 2020 fashion, life continues to humble me. I had been struggling with eye and cheek pain for a couple of days. I tried to brush it off until my vision went blurry and it hurt to blink. So on went the mask and off the urgent care clinic I went. Long story short….I have an infected tear duct and that hurts and totally sucks.

My visit was long and not without anxiety. Even with all the COVID precautions I was NOT fond of being in a doctors office with the general public. And everything took FOREVER and the staff couldn’t have been kinder. I did manage to remember my ear buds and my knitting. So by the grace of my Knit Sky Socks and some true crime podcasts I waited out the over hour long wait.

This is sock number two and I’m really pretty far into the foot section given that I started this like two days ago. This is all progress from car line knitting and this doctor’s visit. I’m not mad at that rate of progress. I did get prescribed some eye medication that is helping a ton so I hate life a little less now. And I’m honestly going to be a little sad when this knit is over. I really really love the feel and colors of this yarn.

Happy Knitting!!

Ribbing Is Slow

I am still slowly working my way through my second attempt at my DK Ripple Bralet. I haven’t really been serious about this project and it’s only seeing progress on long Zoom meetings or family movie nights.

I’m learning lessons from my gauge errors on my first attempt. So therefore I know how much body I need to knit. And man….ribbing is slow. My default is 2×2 rib and this is not that so it “feels” weird to my fingers and I’m just naturally slower than I feel like should be.

I mean I know since my last post on these I have added a good three inches of ribbing. But it feels like I knit and it never grows. My rational brain knows that is not true but my pandemic brain is frustrated! I am pretty sure I need another three inches of ribbing before I start the strap portions.

I think this is my slow and steady “turtle” project so I am just going to breathe and keep knitting on this one. Happy Knitting!!

2020 Requires Patience

Thank you car line knitting for my Knit Sky Sock progress! I am now casting off the first sock tube of my pair of socks.

It was irrationally satisfying to watch these colors develop. KnitCircus is a genius yarn company when it comes to gradient yarns. I am really over the moon with both the speckles and the gradient nature of this yarn.

The cuff of this sock turned really blue really quickly! I just adore how that pop of blue is going to look coming out of my shoes. And it’s really getting cool here now and its consistently in the 40s now. I can’t wait to put these on my feet.

My next step is cast on sock number two and get the tube completely knit. At that point I will go back and knit in both afterthought heels. I’m just jamming on the round and round stockinette zone of this vanilla sock. It’s my comfort knitting this week.

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Big Comfy Chunky Hat

Tah dah!! I have a finished super speedy bulky knit hat. I completed my Big Comfy Chunky Hat in own hand dyed Feast yarn by Nomad Yarns.

Pattern: Big Comfy Chunky Hat by Erica Kempf Broughton

Yarn: Feast by Nomad Yarn in the color Spice Box

Needles: US 11s

Mods: I added some extra rows to the crown decreases to use up the whole skein.

This hat turns out to be reversible because it is essentially all ribbed stitch. Which I think is kind of a sweet design feature. I very carefully wove in the ends so I could fully turn this both ways.

This hat really worked up quickly as promised. I think I finished in two sittings over two days. So maybe roughly 3 hours? I had some tension issues with the crown as I chose to magic loop it instead of getting off my rear to find double pointed needles. But in the finished hat it does not show.

It is a little small for my noggin (which is larger than most) but Jellybean has proclaimed it to be perfect for his head. So this will be one of the hats for our winter hat box by the front door. I need to sew a name tag into it before it leaves the house…you just in case the six year old set it down somewhere, lol.

Happy Knitting and Happy Halloween Eve!!

Zoom Went The Hat

This is one sitting’s worth of knitting on my Big Comfy Chunky Hat. I managed to find US11 needles and a decent length enough cord to knit this hat in the round. So I took off and got to knitting last night.

I blasted through the brim ribbing and I’m into the main hat body ribbing. It is really nice intuitive knit that is great for TV watching. I’m also loving how the colors are stacking up with this hand dyed yarn at this gauge. It is very fall appropriate.

I really think that if I buckle down that I can finish this hat in one more sitting. The hubby is in charge of bedtime tonight so I’m hoping to get some dedicated time tonight. But 2020 seems to laugh at my plans this year. Though this is a fairly short term goal so I’m hoping I can squeeze through, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Knitting Through Challenge

I did something this week I had never done before. I presented on an accounting topic for a virtual conference put on by a state wide governmental association. I have a theatre background so I never really mind talking to large groups. But this time I was saying my own words instead of someone else’s. I prepared, I took notes, I cleaned a corner of my dining room so as to look like a professional even thought my house is a disaster….and I brought knitting to be used out of Zoom frame. (P.S. That blue box is FULL of yarny stuff and made the perfect laptop stand, lol.)

I knit on my Knit Sky socks while the other presenters spoke. We had WAY too much material for a 60 minute Zoom so we had to rush at the end. But it was a really good step for my career and way to get my face out there. And the audience seemed receptive and I was the panelist, out of three, to get a question. We will get survey scores at the end of the month to rate our performance. I’m not sure I WANT to know the feedback but I feel like it will be good to tweak my approach for any future knitting.

My knitting kept me calm and focused on the process, which was nice. And I think I knit about an inch of sock tube in a 60 minute span. So all in all, it was a good day for my career and a good day for knitting!!

Happy Knitting!!

A Quick Hat

I’m already digging into my retreat yarn I recently procured. Kansas saw its first snowfall of the year just yesterday. It was more or less “snowy” depending on how far west you were but flakes fell nonetheless. It really got me thinking about hat and glove weater.

I pulled the skein of Feast yarn from Nomad Yarns. The best analog I can give is this feels and has roughly the same put up as Malabrigo Rasta. This colorway is called Spice Box and is autumn in its full glory.

I plan to cast this on and finish this week at least I hope too, fingers crossed. I chose a pattern from the same designer that dyed the yarn. It is the Big Chunky Comfy Hat by Erica Kempf Broughton. I was promised this was a three to four hour project at most. It’s a free pattern on Ravelry with good reviews and over 2,200 projects completed.

Stay tuned for a finished hat! Happy Knitting!!