Tag Archives: cast on

Cast On: Carbon Sprinkles Vanilla Socks

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My sock needles were screaming for another sock project after I had finished my Knit Sky Socks last month. So I pulled a “golden skein” of mudpunch self striping sock yarn that I have been hoarding all fall. This is a super cool skein that no only has solid grey stripes but really cook speckled stripes. I am in awe of how hard this must have been to create.

I am working my normal 68 stitch toe up vanilla sock “recipe” that I have developed over the years to fit my foot. I got the toe started one night after bedtime but now this project lives in my purse for school pickup/drop-off and other assorted car knitting.

My love for self striping knows no bounds. And I SUPER love this yarn as there are three different grey stripes each separated by the yummy speckled stripe. This colorway was named Carbon Sprinkles and it is extremely fitting. 10 out of 10 would recommend this yarn and I will buy from this dyer again!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Peace Blanket

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I needed a project to redeem myself from my less than stellar Marled Crochet Blanket (aka the boob blanket). So I pulled my next lot of bulky yarn from my stash and cast on another blanket. I decided to call this one my Peace Blanket because I’m going to try and craft some peace in to my life.

This blanket is going to be all the odds and ends of Knit Picks Biggo I have kicking around in my stash. Years ago I had knit several baby sweater and at least one baby blanket out of this yarn. I, like many crafters, had gone overboard with my first couple of knit picks orders so I have a blanket quantity still left.

I found a mix of colors that look okay to nice together. I think if this blanket turns out the size I think it will, that this blanket will be a Christmas gift for my grandma. This will be a washable and wooly lap blanket for her to have the car this winter. She is in her 80s and has to travel at least an hour for many of her doctors appointments. I think a little cozy blanket would be just perfect for her to comfortable and for her driver not to have a heat stroke with the heat on full blast, lol.

Casting On Another Hurricane

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After finishing the Hurricane Hat for Jellybean I decided I had enough yarn left to make second and maybe slightly bigger hat for me or the hubby. So during an early morning and unseasonably warm trip to the local park (before anyone else got there) the kids played and I cast on another Hurricane Hat.

Alas, as most times of being a mom are….I didn’t get much peace. There was a lot of pushing the two year old on a swing and kissing boo boos as each child crashed their respective bike and/or scooter. I managed all of 20 cast on stiches before we melted down in tantrums and packed up to go home.

My coffee was on point though and you bet your behind I finished that at least!!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Dreaming of Spring Fingerless Mitts

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I had the itch for a quick project with a tweedy yarn. And in the spirit of using stash I hopped on Ravelry and compared my pattern library to my stash and came up with a wonderful idea. A sport weight pair of fingerless mitts for my Jellybean’s Kindergarten teacher!

I picked the Dreaming of Fingerless Mittens by Joelle Hoverson (Rav link) from my book More Last-Minute Knitted Gifts. I pulled my Good for Eve Claddagh which is a sport weight tweedy black yarn with rainbow pops.

I’m working on US 4s and 5s so this is going pretty quick using my nine inch circular. I’ve already completed the cuff and started the hand portion with the thumb increases. I’m hoping to power through this and get these wrapped up by Thanksgiving. I have a Christmas checklist and I need to get going!!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Hurricane Hat

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Jellybean was side eyeing PB’s recently finished sweater and made the comment that I hadn’t made him anything in awhile. So we sat and talked about what did he think he wanted? He muddled it for a bit and decided a hat. So we went to my stash and I showed him some yarns to pick from. He ended up picking my West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley DK.

And then he promptly went off to play. I did make him come back and feel the yarn to make sure it was soft enough. This yarn has a little tooth to it and it’s definitely not merino soft. He still said yes this is what he wanted. So I took off to Ravelry and found an easy but yet cute hat.

I chose to hold this yarn double to get aran weight and knit the Hurricane Hat by Andrea Guldin (ravelry link). I’ve obviously made it super far into the ribbing, lol. But Jellybean seems delighted just to see have started. Eventually this hat will have a purl bump that spirals up the body of the hat ending nicely in the decrease. Or it will if I can correctly follow the pattern!

Happy Knitting!!

Engineering Christmas Knee Highs

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Christmas is approaching and I have a sock snake waiting for me in my stash. I had the Hippo For Christmas color from lolodidit yarns just chilling in my stash. I thought this snake would be a good way to earn points for the Pigskin Party KAL and get a pair of knee highs into my sock drawer.

This is one half of my sock snake tube. I’ve got live stitches on end. My next step is to rip back and re-knit a toe on the end with the live stitches. I know that my generous calves will NOT fit into the other end of the tube. This means also ripping back the other side and knitting in some increases and/or ribbing. I just haven’t done the measuring or math to figure out how far that means.

But I think I would benefit from adding the afterthought heel in-between finishing the toe and starting the ribbing. I feel like I will better know to to engineer the sock to make the best fitting knee high.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: The Knit Sky Socks

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I have cast-on-itis and it’s running full bore. In addition to casting on a sweater for PB and redoing my DK Ripple Bralet I have also cast on some more vanilla socks for my purse project. Because I couldn’t be bothered to get my swift out, I chose some KnitCircus sock gradient cakes that were already wound. They are 25 grams each so to make full socks I also grabbed some Cascade heritage in solid purple for heels toes and cuffs.

I managed to get the solid purple toe cast on and have now attached the gradient. I chose to work from the outside of the cake so that the purple end of the gradient would line up nicely with the solid purple. I just thought that starting with the blue would be jarring.

This is my own recipe for a toe up sock worked over 68 stitches on a US1 needle. I am pretty invested in this project as it’s really satisfying to watch the gradient work up and change. And these will for sure be for my sock drawer so I’m relishing the project.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Crocheted Rainbow

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After my disappointing turn with PB’s crochet blanket I decided to work on one that I know will be more successful. Thanks to my tossing of the stash I found that I had almost a perfect rainbow in bulky acrylic yarn. This yarn is DEEP stash from 2013-ish consisting of some Premier Chunky Solids and Loops and Threads Charisma. Both are an 100% acrylic 2-ply yarn with roughly 100 yards per skein.

I did cheat and buy the yellow and sage green from Micheal’s to fill out my rainbow that I was missing from stash. Thank you curbside pickup! My only disappointment was that there was no orange available in my stash or in the store. But this is a stash busting project so I’m plowing ahead!

I pulled my N or 10 MM hook and a tote bag from Chelsea yarns and kitted up this project. I really finding that I enjoy the really large scale crochet. It is really easy to see where my hook needs to go and the projects go SUPER fast. So I get that quick win of a finished object. And this project will clear roughly 1,100 yards of deep stash from my bins.

Happy Crochet!

Redoing PB’s Blanket

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After finishing that blue baby blanket last week I got itch to pick up PB’s Baby Blanket. I tried continuing to crochet but I ultimately decided I hated smaller crochet hook and the gauge I was getting. So I ripped it out.

Then I got a wild hair to re-cast it on and started just a simple knit garter stitch baby blanket. I sat one evening and worked back to where I had used all the yarn I had pulled out. It is a lot stitches bunched up on a needle and doesn’t look like much.

What I can’t decide is if I like this any better! Chenille yarn is super hard to knit with as it is very grabby and hard to get any needle that is not super sharp into the stitch. I really prefer to crochet with chenille but hated my first attempt. But I’m determined to use this yarn. I have two big cakes of this Caron cake yarn of it that I would like out of my stash!

I may move this project to time out until I can figure out what I want to do next. In the times that are 2020 I really find that I can’t work on a project that doesn’t excite me. Or at the very least I can’t touch projects that make me grumpy. In the meantime I have a different crochet blanket floating around in my head. What is this craziness!? Where is all this crochet mojo coming from?

Happy Crocheting

Recasting On DK Ripple Bralet

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I got over my disappointment for my first attempt at the DK Ripple bralet and re-cast on. I went up two whole pattern sizes this time to account for my gauge in the first go around.

I managed to complete the stretchy cast on again and get working in the round for the 1×1 twisted rib. Twisted rib is not my favorite but it doesn’t last long for this project. I think I may sit this one aside for a bit until I can finish the sleeves on my Radiate pullover. I really feel like I need another FO win to boost my mojo.

So for now, I think I’ll stick to one sweater a time! Happy Knitting!!