Crafting In Chaos

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This is my life. Messy basement, five year old crowding me in my knitting chair, knitting podcast on TV, and knitting in my lap. Not the most ergonomic of positions but I can’t turn down a snuggle…now matter how much he pokes me with his elbow and makes me watch PBS Curious George games.

I’ve add the fifth and final color to my Progression Shawl. It’s the purple end of the fragmented rainbow. Jellybean tells me it’s his favorite. I have a TON of stitches on the needle now so the yarn is disappearing quickly now. I’m optimistic that I can finish this maybe this weekend?

That is unless snuggles get priority. Happy knitting!!

The Second Heel

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It’s October now and Christmas is looming. I need to get the lead out! My dad’s socks have been a rocky project this year but I think I have turned the corner. I just put in the waste yarn for the second heel.

I had the hubby try the first sock on because he has the same foot size as my dad. He thinks the ankle is a little baggy but the foot fits nicely. I’m torn between adding decreases to the second sock. I would then need to pull back and re-knit the first sock. I may just text my dad and ask what he would prefer. Knowing that he never complains about anything. He is probably going to say it’s fine, lol.

Why do I surround myself with such giant men who wear size 13 shoes? That’s just a lot of sock knitting!!

Happy Knitting!!

Zen Yarn Garden Do Over

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I might need to have my accountant card revoked. I had a terrible math fail. I had started my Zen Yarn Garden blanket awhile back and I had knit through three stripes. I was reading my pattern (like I should have done at the outset) and realized I have DOUBLE the yarn than the pattern calls for.

Now if I had kept going I would have a crazy skinny and incredibly long blanket on my hands. Not really what I was going for so I did some research on Ravelry. I found a couple of other projects where other knitters had close to my yardage. So based on their project notes and some math using my gauge, I ripped back my blanket and started over.

This time I cast on nine pattern repeats for a total of 144 stitches. I’m MUCH more happy with this version. Now I’m working through my navy and grey stripes until I use half of those colors by weight.

This squishy blanket just makes my happy and has been my therapy project when I sit down to knit after the kids go to bed. Usually I would snuggle and play with Dex and he would sleep near me while I knit. The nights have been hard for me now that he not with me. I find myself reaching for my knitting for comfort.

What would we do without knitting!?

The Day Has Come

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Seven years and about 1,500 posts and it finally happened….I ran out of free space on WordPress. Like a dunce I couldn’t figure out why my posts and media was failing to upload…..for like two whole days.

This blog has been a source of therapy, community, and joy over the years. And I’m not about to quit now. So I ponied up and paid for extra space and my own domain. Now I’m an accountant and not an IT person (that’s my hubby) so pardon me if my blog has a few kinks in the next weeks.

I think in celebration of this milestone I want to have a giveaway. What sounds better….a free pattern on Ravelry or some yarn from my yarn cave?

 

Progressing To The Fourth Color

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I found my lost knitting bag!! Some helpful little hands had put it inside an empty cardboard box in the basement. But the knitting was not disturbed in any way so I chose to let it slide this time. But momma will be watching from now on!!

Once I found it I realized I was super close to fading in the fourth color of the set of five. So I powered through the last few rows and got the next color added in. This new mini is very teal and Elsa blue. I even spied some purple speckles mixed in.

This is going to be one very electric rainbow in a deconstructed way. My mom has eyed this project several times while she was recuperating from her surgery at my house. (She is healing quite nicely by the way. She had some rough day initially but I think she has turned the corner to feeling more like herself.) So I’m torn between keeping this project or putting it in my Christmas box for presents.

Happy Knitting!!

Cake By Jellybean

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Jellybean from time to time likes to bake and cook with me. Sp during his birthday shenanigans we made a birthday cake. We made the cake together and then I added the base coat of chocolate frosting.

He then went to town with every color of frosting, every decorating frosting tip I could round up, and literally every variety of sprinkle we own. He wanted to make it look like “trash” and not the derogatory kind. He was thinking a la Oscar the Grouch. I think he nailed it!

Then he proceeded to grab my phone and take “beautiful” photos of it.  He concentrated SUPER and hard and I stood off to the side laughing till I cried. My kid is something else and I wouldn’t trade him for anything. So I’ll just leave you with a few of his cake glamour shots….

P.S. it was also delicious!

Hot Socks

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Supposedly it is fall in Kansas. I sure can’t tell by the 90+ degree days and 80% humidity. I took a walk around the capital building on my lunch this week and I melted!

I had my Cheery Vanilla Socks with me while I strolled. I was so sweaty that the yarn was sticking to my fingers like CRAZY. In a 40 minute walk I only managed five rounds of knitting because I kept having to futz with my tension and yarn.

I guess it’s five more rounds than I had before, and a couple thousand steps added to my daily goal. But I’m really pulling for sock weather to make an appearance!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Zen Yarn Garden Chevron Baby Blanket

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The 2019 Pigskin Party KAL hosted by the Down Cellar Studio podcast is in full swing now. I wasn’t able to do as much pre-planning this year as I have done for years past. I realized I had three major projects that were already on the needles that I don’t want to put into hibernation because WIPs don’t count for points. So I may not be as gung ho this year.

But at the very least I tried to get into the spirit of the competition by casting on a new WIP. I had been craving a big chunky blanket knit after I finished the Westport Blanket. So I went stash diving and found roughly 990 yards of Knit Picks Brava Bulky kicking around. The colors really do play well together with the true red, navy and grey.

I used the advanced search in Ravelry to look for bulky blanket patterns that used this yardage amount and that were completely garter. I wanted a nice BIG auto pilot project. I came up with the Zen Yarn Garden Chevron Baby Blanket by  Staci Perry of the VeryPink podcast and YouTube channel. I love listening to her every week so I went all in!

I cast on and quickly got to the second color. I think I will be true to the pattern and alternate the navy and grey with a solid chunk of red in the middle. This pairs nicely with the fact that I have three full skeins of the navy and grey and only one and a half skeins of the red.

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My hands do get tired working on this large of needle and yarn. So I will probably work this one in bits and pieces to avoid injury. But I’m really pleased with the pattern so far and how the yarn is knitting up! And it’s been awhile since I had to work a chevron. It’s been nice dusting that off!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Worsted Boxy

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Y’all….I made a thing and it is done! My Worsted Boxy is off the blocking mats and ready for fall.

Pattern: Worsted Boxy by Joji Locatelli

Yarn: Berroco Vintage in Mushroom. I used 437 grams or 948 yards of yarn.

Needles: US 7 and US 9

Mods: Omitted rolled stockinette collar and used a single crochet edging

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I realized as I was packing away my supplies from this project that I might have made an oops. I’m pretty sure I knit the body of this sweater on US7s instead of US 9s. Between that and the fact that I picked a pattern size to purposely have less positive ease I have probably four to five inches of positive ease instead of ten as called for in the pattern. And the sleeves hit me above the elbow instead of below as shown in the pattern.

I am still happy with this project. The fabric I created is nice and dense enough that I don’t need a tank underneath. It’s definitely boxy shaped and I think hangs nicely on my frame. And I only had 70 grams of yarn left so I probably could not have made the next size up. I don’t know, maybe with the larger needles I would have not used as much yarn? I might go back and add another row of single crochets around the neckline. Simply to add more stability and make it look like a formal neckline.

I’m not sure I would knit this particular sweater again. I could possibly be tempted to do a fingering weight boxy or the v-neck boxy?

P.s. the hem totally stopped rolling after blocking! I win!!!

Happy Knitting!!