My Current State

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Hey guess what? The laundry from yesterday is still there. I decided it was a good idea to delegate the folding to my hubby since I washed and dried it all. But he has a different world view on how quickly these kinds of things should be done. I’m curious to see how long it will take to get put away? For now, I’m just dressing Jellybean and PB from the baskets, lol.

But for now I have comfy yoga pants and my Weekender Sweater. The ladders are still there no matter what I try so I’m hoping that the blog advice that they will block out and even out when its done is true. So far I’m really pleased with the even colors I’m getting with the helical knitting. I have almost put one complete ball of the Malabrigo Rios into this sweater. Here’s hoping the next balls fades in nicely as well!

Happy Knitting!!

Blocking Arya

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Welcome to my newest creative blocking solution. And forgive the three baskets of clean laundry to fold. I honestly said screw it and picked up my knitting instead! The Arya shawl did not disappoint when it came to blocking. I would say it opened up nicely…I mean it covers the entire back of my sofa!

I didn’t use any pins or wires on this one. Honestly, it was 9 pm and night and I just wanted to be done. But also, it grew just fine by pulling and stretching it by hand that I didn’t really need it any bigger. And my couches are scotch guarded (hello two small kids) and it dried over night just fine!

I just need to clip the last of the ends and take some FO shots of this beauty! Happy Knitting!!

Ready for Blocking

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My memory was better than we thought. I was correct in assuming I was in the decrease section of the Arya shawl last we spoke. And I have since zoomed through the last of the pattern. The pattern was really nicely done by Ambah O’brien as it always was giving me stitch counts on either side of the CDD. This really helped me from letting my spine wander back and forth when I inevitably made errors.

All my ends are woven in and she’s ready for her bath. It looks quite small just scrunched up on my floor. But based on how I can stretch and pull the fabric I can really see this growing with wet blocking. I may have to get creative with blocking mats with as long as skinny as this is…

Happy Knitting!!

A Purple Present

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I have been mum about this but I recently received a promotion at my job. It’s been in the works for a couple of months and I didn’t want to count my chickens until they hatched but its official now. I went from a staff level accounting to a manager of accounting operations. I have four direct reports and new boss who is….challenging…to say the least. It’s been a ton of work and I have a lot to learn. But I’m excited to have gotten this opportunity. I’m 35 years old and this is my first promotion ever.

My husband decided to get me a little congratulatory gift. He asked for yarn suggestions and I said anything from KnitCircus. So he and Jellybean made an order. And shocker, since Jellybean helped its ALL PURPLES. That is Jellybean’s go to color. I don’t mind because they made beautiful choices.

The top skein is a Trampoline base in the Dream a Little Dream colorway. It’s 440 yards of a light fingering weight and the same kind of yarn I made my Sherwood Forest Wrap with. The bottom two skeins are the Greatest of Ease base in two matching 25 gram gradient sock skeins in the Knit Sky colorway.

My favorite part of these yarns? They are already wound up and ready to use! I like when that less than fun part is done for me. KnitCircus may be in my top five favorite dyers. Do you have a favorite dyer?

Arya Shawl Update

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My Arya shawl has been seeing progress in fits and spurts. I am through the third slip stitch color change. And if memory serves this is where the shawl starts getting smaller? I am going to challenge myself to keep working on this so I can have a new shawl before spring gets here!

This fabric I’m creating has a lot of stretch to it so I can see where I might end up with a lovely and huge squishy shawl. I’m going to have more than enough yarn in each color to finish. But I don’t think I have enough leftover to do much of a second project. I just love how these yarns are playing together. I am really hoping this becomes a wardrobe staple for me.

Happy Knitting!!

Darn Counting Anyway

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I am an accountant and I have the degrees and fancy certificate to prove it. But oh man, did I have a fail at counting. I have been religiously knitting away on my Hibernation Throw. And last night I looked down and swore a little. (Okay, a lot)

I had knit right past where I was supposed to add the next eyelet row. I failed to count to where I had five garter bumps. I was watching TV and the show must have really captured me because I was on auto-pilot. I do have the pattern memorized….I just lost count. I had added two extra garter bumps in my delirium.

I think I’m going to grab some smaller needles and thread in a lifeline to rip back. I just randomly grabbed US 10s when I hastily cast on this blanket. The fabric seems nice so I’m glad I made a lucky guess. But I think I’ll find some US 3s or 4s to thread in and see if I can rescue this without tinking two yarns held together.

I’m still over the moon with project because I love to see all the stripes forming AND seeing my scrap bin shrinking and shrinking. I just wish I could have remember to count, darn it!!

Happy Knitting!!

Knitting Nest

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We have this microwave/TV cart that we have been carting around since our first apartment in 2007. I think this was even handed down from my Aunt back then who used it for many years before I got it. It has been a bedside table, microwave holder, toy storage and book storage. But during a recent shuffle of the upstairs of our home…it found itself empty.

Very quickly and organically it filled up with knitting. I didn’t even plan it on purpose. It lives behind the couch out the way of sticky little kid fingers. And in the evening I can pull it out and put beside the recliner in our living room. Then put it away when I’m done. It has all the essentials: wine, ear buds for podcasts, snacks and three WIPs.

I have my Weekender in the purple sheep bag, the Arya shawl in the gold polka dot bag, and the long languishing Party Top in the dark brown polka dot bag. My hubby has dubbed this my “Knitting Nest” and I kinda like it! It’s my knitting spot…only mobile!

Do you have a knitting spot?

 

Bill Engvall and Knitting

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I live and work in Topeka, KS and luckily enough have access to see shows at the Topeka Performing Arts Center. I saw that Bill Engvall, the comedian, was coming to town in January. So I managed to snag some balcony level seats for my dad, the husband and I. He’s a down to earth comic with a mostly clean act and puts on an enjoyable show.

I got all dressed up with full makeup, non kid mess smeared clothes AND jewelry. It was a stormy weekend but we managed to make it there as did Bill. I also packed the start of my second Bullseye Vanilla Sock. I will admit that I had a couple of beers throughout the two hour show. And every once in awhile I could feel some mistakes with my fingers.

I considered just putting it away but then I would have nothing to do with my hands during the show! After careful consideration, I figured I could always ladder down to fix the booboos and just kept going. You guys….it was bad.

I had some how slipped and carried stitches up? Note: This is a plain stockinette vanilla sock. There should be zero slipping.

I had created inadvertent eyelets and holes and my split SO MANY STITCHES. Now the yarn can be to blame for some of this. It doesn’t have a tight twist and the plies have a tendency to separate as I work especially with my needles being very pointy.

Its honestly bad enough that I’m just going to grab extra needles and rip back the two hours of comedy show knitting and start from clean stitches. I don’t mind, just more knitting for me! And proof that Bill Engvall is funny enough to make you laugh so hard you mess up your knitting!

Happy Knitting (and less frogging than me)!

Cast On: Habitation Throw

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I have been seeing Helen Stewart’s Habitation Throw show up everywhere this holiday season on all the social medias and podcasts. Everyone was making them with their advent mini skeins. That didn’t really feel like what I wanted to do. But I couldn’t get this pattern out of my mind even though I have a ton of WIPs to be working on.

Finally I had a light bulb, I could hold my fingering weight scraps together with the giant cone of Valley Yarns Franklin Natural that I have. It a sock weight yarn on a cone with 6,000+ yards I had intended for my Northeasterly blanket. The Northeasterly blanket has not gone anywhere but I liked the idea of an easier marled blanket reinvigorated my blanket mojo.

Essentially this is a marled DK weight blanket. I had a little trouble getting the I-cord cast one set up but I managed and now zooming. And I’m ADDICTED, I can’t put this down and it’s all I want to knit. It’s corner to corner construction so I am just knitting until I feel it’s wide enough and then decreasing then. So I’m hacking the pattern a bit.

I’m just pulling scraps from bin and knitting until they are gone. I am also spit splicing the yarns together so I won’t have any ends to weave in. There has been some effort on my part to manage the colors. I don’t have a plan but I am trying for “planned randomness” and that the adjacent colors don’t look hideous next to one another.

Happy Knitting!!

Winter Woolfest 2020

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Another Winter Woolfest in Wamego, KS is in the books. I kind of dig all the alliteration that happens when you say that, lol. It was a lovely day but it wasn’t without it’s hiccups and bumps.

I ended up offering a ride to my Grandmother’s cousin who lives near me. All of her friends had backed out on her last minute and she wasn’t going to go alone. I did this because it was the right thing to do and she is a lovely women to spend time with. But I was a little bummed as I was looking forward to having some “alone” time in the car after a busy week with kids and work.

But we made it there and met up with my Mom and her quilt shop friends. There were record crowds at the event and the vendors were stocked and ready to go. I took a lap around the show to see what caught my eye. I brought my budget in cash so I could be held accountable. And I think I did pretty well!

Above is the spoils of the day. Working clockwise from the bottom left, I picked up two 1 oz bundles of merino fiber from a vendor that had a lot of miscellenous spinning and needle felting items. I didn’t catch her name. But I digress, I now have a spinning wheel (another post for another day) and will be taking a drop spindle class in April so I thought I would like to have some fiber to play with. Then from Apothefaery Luxury Fibers I picked up a skein of Brushed Suri Alpaca laveweight and coordinating sock yarn set. I didn’t really need the coordinating mini as I want to hold the Suri alpaca double and make some sort of hat or cowl but she wasn’t carrying any sock yarn without coordinating mini. I’ll just add it to one of my blankets!

Next up are two alpaca or llama stuffed toys for Jellybean and PB. One of the alpaca vendors was going out of business so I picked up those toys for 30% off and they were a BIG hit! Not to mention that both are washable. Then I got sucked into the Wichita Woolery booth and fell down and picked up a sweaters quantity of their DK weight. This is a dark grey base with rainbow speckles aka their Graffiti colorway. They dyer was awesome and helped me open up the skeins to find the four that best fit together.

Lastly I picked up a T-Shirt from the Treasure Goddessbecause who doesn’t need more yarn T-Shirts. And on top of that shirt is some tiny wooden stitch markers from Th’Red Head booth. There are four tiny round sheep markers and one tiny 1 inch ruler marker. I just loved how light they felt in my hand and would be great for my shawl and lighter weight yarn projects where I don’t want a ton of weight on my hands.

After the market rush, our whole group at lunch at a local bakery/restaurant. It was delicious and I came home with two cinnamon rolls. Then we tried to go to a quilt shop but it was closed so we settled for some antique and thrift shops. The cousin and I then peeled off from my mom’s group and headed home. I was feeling tired and ready to be done. Turns out I was coming down with PB’s upper respiratory virus….again.

But I’ll take solace in all of my goodies while I take tylenol and drink my lemon and ginger tea. Happy Knitting!!