Tag Archives: Blocking

Kindness Unblocked

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I WON AT YARN CHICKEN! And here she is….my finished Kindness KAL 2019 shawl in all her unblocked glory!

I squeaked by with just the tiniest bit of blue yarn left without having to break into the second skein. I did have a more substantial ball of the Salty Tales grey color left. I’m using Hedgehog Fibers Merino DK by the way. The blue color is Ink. I even managed to weave in but not trim my ends from all the color changes.

As you read this my shawl has already been soaked and is drying on the blocking mats. Jellybean helped me and we broke out my blocking wires and really gave this shawl a good stretching. In doing this we found ONE dropped stitch. I calmly grabbed my double ended crochet hook and laddered it back up and then secured it with a piece of waste yarn on the wrong side of the work. No one but me will be the wiser!

Humidity has come to Kansas for summer and so I’m not sure how long this puppy will take to dry. Jellybean keeps checking at least every hour to see if it’s done. I think maybe I’ll set a fan on it to speed up the process for both our sakes!

A Block Away

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My Leksak is completely knitted and awaiting a good blocking!

I slept on my wonky button band issue and decided I couldn’t live with it. And I had the yarn to reknit the bands, so why not? So I pulled back the band and re-knit them being careful to count my stitches on each side. And they were equal. Well…..I think I picked up too many stitches on each side. So they now match…but they are kinda huge. But I’m definitely rolling with this one. I’m not doing that a third time! It’s good enough for and it’s good enough for PB, lol.

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As you can also see, I made the sleeves match. I started my round at the back of the sleeves so the job is only visible from the back. I kinda dig it. This baby is now soaking gently and I hope to have it dry for FO photos tomorrow!!

Happy Knitting!

Easy Blocking

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I made it! My Easy Goes It shawl is blocking!

I chickened out at 7 grams left and bound off. You can see my pattern additions along the right side of the photo. I did 14 or so garter bumps then two a single repeat of eyelets before binding off. I am supremely happy. And I even busted out my blocking wires and gave this puppy a good stretch! My inside curve needs work as it has a few scalloping bits. But a mother of two young children can not afford to be too fussy.

I’m hoping to grab some FO photos tonight if this thing is dry! Yay for Kansas summer heat!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Reyna 

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My Reyna is done and here she is in all her glory!

Pattern: Reyna by Noora Laivola

Needles: US 4

Yarn: Knit Picks Hawthorn Speckle in the Cosmic Speckle Colorway (I used almost an entire skein: 93 grams/332 yards)

Mods: I omitted the very last rows of eyelets to conserve yarn

I knit this project in basically a week or 7 days of active knitting. It FLEW off my needles and I just don’t understand/comprehend how obsessed with this project I was.

I was feeling so proud that I hadn’t made any mistakes during the knitting….and then hubris got me. I was on the second-to-last eyelet row and my eyelets got out of alignment. I had missed one teensy tiny stitch. So I carefully tinked back half a row and fixed it (took me 30 minutes). I then proceeded to re-knit that row and then almost the whole last row of eyelets and that knitter niggling started in my brain. I was definitely not going to have enough yarn. So I tinked back two and a half LONG rows to where I would omit the last RS and WS eyelet rows and the started the garter. I was basically back to where I had tinked back to the first time and this took me an hour. But I managed to finish the garter and bind off with just a small nugget of yarn to tuck into my memory blanket!

I washed and blocked this in just under two hours thanks to the late September Kansas heatwave and my husband’s fan. I don’t have blocking wires and you can see where I placed my pins. But I don’t care…it’s all mine now! I cannot wait for fall to when I can wear this beauty out and about! This project really has kicked my knitting mojo into high gear. On to the next thing!!!

Happy Knitting!

Fly Fingers Fly

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I’ve been staying up WAY too late at night but I’m determined to get my Cuff to Cuff sweater done by Christmas. I got through the final side and sleeve and got the sweater on the blocking boards!

  
(I measured carefully and blocked the back and fronts to the same length for seaming purposes.) After a good soak in Soak wool wash I put a fan on this overnight. And whoosh….it was dry!

  
I’m going to seam up the sides tonight and get the collar/bands picked up. I’m going with the pick up 3 then skip one method for the edging. That will be just shy of 300 stitches on the needles. And then it’s just 5 inches of seed stitch between me and a FO. All in the next 8 days….ack!

Wish me luck!

Houston, We Have A Blanket

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I finished the last bit of Jellybean’s blanket and got the whole mess into a bath!!

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A CRAZY amount of lint came off this blanket. Not surprising as my lap was covered with lint as I knit. Now I have it stretched, flattened, and drying in the basement (with the help of a fan)! I’m hoping to begin crocheting the border tomorrow night!

Happy Knitting!

Swatch For Antrose

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Time out….time for a yarn substitution! I had swatched my original yarn choice, Knit Picks Brava Worsted in grey for my Antrose sweater. And I didn’t like it….like at all. So I pulled some Lion Brand Heartland (aran weight) in a light tan/brown and swatched to see if I could get gauge. I even washed and blocked them like a proper knitter. Here they are dry and ready to go!

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I was shocked that my gauge was actually closer with this aran weight (which is still 10 ply like worsted but still tends to be finer/smaller). I got both gauge going both directions!

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And just to be double sure….I knit one repeat of the pattern chart. There are chevrons that run up the middle of the sweater.

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Slightly looser gauge than stockinette, but I can mitigate that by keeping my “charted” stitches tighter as I switch back and forth between purls and knits.

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The color in my swatch pictures doesn’t really show the “true” color. So I trooped my swatches off to the husband’s bathroom (it has great light) and snapped a photo to give a better idea of the color.

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A couple of knitters/followers suggested using a contrast color for the chart/chevron portion. But after swatching…I find I like the simplicity of the monochromatic look. Now if I only could find the time to start the darn thing! My studies have just eaten up all my free time! All I feel like I have time for are small projects like hats and baby sweaters… #firstworldknittingproblems

Happy Knitting!

FO Friday….(err I mean Saturday): Abalone

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I did a bit of monogamous knitting the last couple of days. And so I actually have a FO to show you!

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Well it’s done…but despite my best math and knitting know how it’s not quite right. Don’t get me wrong, the pattern is great! It’s written for small size only with directions/percentages given to help you “upsize” your garment. I should have been more meticulous…

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Here it is anyway….

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I completed this sweater in a little under a month. I used 3 skeins of Knit Picks Brava worsted in Wine knit up on size US 8 needles. I simple adore the color! (In math terms I used 657 yards or 300 grams of yarn)

I did my calculations and cast on 80 stitches and increased up to 149 total for the body section. I then knit 17 inches of stockinette up to the arm holes. Then I separated and knit another 7 1/2 inches of height for arms shoulders.

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Now looking at the FO, here is what should have happened:

  1. Cast on 90 stitches (ish) and worked up to 159 stitches (ish)
  2. Knit 19 or 20 inches of stockinette before getting to the sleeves
  3. Knit 8 or 8 1/2 inches for the shoulders/arm holes
  4. Paid attention to the written directions and added increase at the corners of the knit border so it would curl.

This was supposed to have been a gift for a very lovely, elegantly tall, and slender friend. This sweater doesn’t have a snowballs chance in you know where of fitting the intended recipient in any flattering manner. So into my closet it will go after some additional aggressive blocking. I would like it to hit past my butt at least.

Instead my friend for her birthday shall get some local Kansas wine from grape vines that I helped to plant. That’s sort of like knitting her a sweater right? Sigh….

P.S. this is one of my last FO from my 2013 Stashbusting efforts! It’s #45 and I hope to have a post with my final year end stats soon!

FAL Project: Almost There!!!

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My FAL with Sage Yarn is almost done!!

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I finished the knitting portion on Aunt Martha’s Prayer blanket on our trip to Arkansas this past weekend, but didn’t get get it washed until Sunday night. Its amazing what you can accomplish with 8 hours if driving time! It’s currently blocked and drying on my guest bed to open up the eyelets and take some of the curl out.

This project started WAAAY back in May and it feels so good to be done. I used up three large skeins of yarn from my stash! I’m hoping it dries quickly and I can get it photographed for a FO Friday.

Happy Knitting!