Tag Archives: cast on

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!!

Slowest Knitting Ever

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I got a wild hair this past week and decided to make a Ripple Brawlet DK in some precious Chromatic Yarns DK from my stash. I bought the pattern, skein-ed my yarn, kitted up a project bag and accessories. I was full of enthusiasm and cast-on-itis so I jumped right into the pattern. I then came to a screeching halt as the pattern called for an Old Norwegian Cast on. I don’t know how to do that one and after an hour on YouTube and complete concentration in a kid free environment…I had five stinking stitches.

I used many tutorials including the “slow” version by Very Pink Knits YouTube channel. I just couldn’t make it click with my brain and my hands. I really want to start this project so I think I’m going to use an alternate cast on that is also stretchy. I will learn the Old Norwegian Cast on someday….today is just not that day!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Radiate

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I finished my Weekend and dove right in to my Radiate pullover by Joji Locatelli. It helps that yarn was already caked up and I had swatched. I am knitting the XL size and in pretty much two sittings I had progressed to where I am incorporating the second color.

This pattern utilized slipped stitches to create visual interest and the line, as the pattern suggests, radiate down from the yoke. My camera is kind of blowing out the Hedgehog Fibers blue color but I am loving it. I was worried the highly variagated yarn would too much but so far I think it looks fantastic.

The best part is that the pattern isn’t overly complicated and I can read my knitting enough that I can just knit knit knit and it doesn’t take too much brain space. This project is definitely my addictive project right now, its kind of the only thing I want to work on!

Happy Knitting!!

A Blanket Itch

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I have been using my DK Habitation Throw in the evenings a lot. I made it from scraps earlier this year and it was so fun. I have been fighting the itch to cast on another one. I finally tipped over the edge when I found my Teal Torch Knits minis from last Christmas’ advent calendar.

They came in a full spectrum rainbow in 12 minis, so I used my swift and ball winder to wind them into two equal cakes of six colors. I used a loose knot to connect the colors but I will russian join them when I get to the actual knitting. I also spied some leftover Suri Alpaca that I might work into the blanket. I’m considering using it a separation between the rainbow colors OR holding it double with the sock yarn on just the eyelet rows to provide some visual interest. I have some thinking to do on that one.

This project is living in my Cherry Pie Cottage project bag that is the most perfect summer theme of mermaids and ocean creatures. Probably going to be as close as I get to the beach this year!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Retro Rainbow Vanilla Socks

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As promised, after I finished my Antagonist Vanilla Socks I put some needles right back on the needles. I remembered that I still had the MustStash sock yarn wound up from my winding frenzy and so I got to work on another vanilla toe up sock.

I’m just doing a 72 stitch toe up sock on US0 needles. Nothing super fancy, I’m just going to let the yarn sing. I did notice that thanks to my winding I will be working one sock from the inside of the cake and the other from the outside to make them match. Whoops!

This is the Retro Rainbow color from Stacey at MustStash and it’s brilliant. I haven’t even finished the full six color repeat and I’m already in love. Self striping sock yarn is the most perfect kind of magic.

These socks are the perfect pick me up to tuck in my purse to wait in social distancing lines and drive thrus. Thank goodness for knitting!!

2020 Mother’s Day Cast On

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Every year on Mother’s Day I take some time for myself and cast on a new project with full delight and wild abandon. WIPs be damned….it is incredibly satisfying to have a little treat just for myself and let myself do as the mood strikes. This Mother’s Day kind of snuck up on me given the current state of our world. So I found myself on the eve of Mother’s day with no real plan.

I searched my brain and I remember that I had a skein of KnitCircus Trampoline in the Dream a Little Dream colorway that came already caked up. It’s a gorgeous gradient that felt right for Mother’s Day. I did some pattern searching on Ravelry and came up with the One Perfect Skein Shawl by Fredi Baker.

This pattern is specifically designed to use up the whole skein of yarn and would showcase the gradient nicely. Bonus points were that it was garter stitches and eyelets, which is kind of my jam right now. Though it has a picot edge, not sure how I feel about that but I can always modify that

I can’t wait to see how this purple fade plays out. I didn’t get very far on Mother’s Day as PB asked to take me on a bike ride on the local park trail. I of course said yes as I needed to burn off breakfast in bed feast of pancakes and bacon. This means I neglected to get my customary photo of my babies with my project cast on. Oh well, maybe I’ll wait until it’s finished and get my group photo then.

Happy Knitting!!