Tag Archives: dk

Twisted Project Plans

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Alrighty….let’s talk some wishful knitting! I have had some time to think about my purchases from Twisted in Portland, OR and here is what I’m thinking….at least for now. I reserve the right to change my mind as many times as I want.

Hazel Knits Lively DK in Acquarius, Paisley and Sea of Tranquility

Chubbs & Squeak Tweed DK in Colonel Mustard and Scabbers:

This might be the next shawl on my needles because I literally lay in bed thinking about this beautiful tweed yarn. And how gorgeous it would be with a black or grey tunic top…

Knitted Wit Smarties in assorted colors: I picked these up to add to heels, toes and cuffs stash for my hand knit socks. I tried to get colors I didn’t have in my stash but that matched the color palette of my stash.

Twine. Sock in the Wild Abandon colorway:

Knitted Wit Sock in Unicorn Giggles. I think this will be just a fun pair of blueberry waffle or vanilla toe up socks for me. The rainbow colors just make me happy!

I have dutifully logged all these ideas on Ravelry and in my stash pages lest I forget. Do anyone of you have an patterns to suggest with these beauties? I’m always open to suggestions and falling down the rabbit hole that is Ravelry!

Happy Knitting!!

Dare I Crop?

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When I digging around in my yarn stash the other day I came across something unexpected and yet spectacular. I found three skeins of DK weight superwash yarn all from the same indie dyer. I had picked these up at different times from her over  the past year when I had the money saved up around the time of her updates.

The dyer is Moonstone Dyeworks out of Acadia California and she has an amazing podcast that enables me all the time. I realized that the skeins really blended and coordinated quite well as I stared at them in my drawer. Almost, dare I say, a really fantastic fade? From left to right they are Falling, Hard Cider and Wild Honey.

I did some pattern searching on Ravelry and found that I might be able to eek out a Party Top by AbbyeKnits in my size. I would JUST have enough yarn if I managed my fade very precisely. This is a cropped sweater and I’m not sure I’ll like it but I can’t put it out of my head. I can just feel this pattern wanting to jump on my needles. I even went so far to research the pattern comments on Ravelry and found a knitter who made a similar faded option in a bigger size than I.

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I literally have two other sweaters quantities wound up and ready to jump on my needles for a Weekender and a Radiate. Why am I so drawn to this when I haven’t even cast on either of those sweaters? My wishful knitting is just on overdrive lately!!

What is a knitter to do!?

Emotional Purchasing

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I am normally a pretty even keeled person and I can let stuff roll off my back fairly well. I really do have a very good life in the grand scheme of things. However, my work life has been more stress and less success lately. I had a professional opportunity get postponed at the last minute that left me kind of bummed. Jellybean got me flowers which made did make me feel better. But later that same evening I got an email notification that a local to me dyer was having a 40% off and free shipping sale. I caved like a house of cards….I succumbed to emotional purchasing.

The Treasure Goddess Yarn shop sucked me right in. I am feeling the sweater mojo here lately so I picked up five skeins of her DK Treasure yarn in the “Gunpowder” colorway. It is black without being all black so that I can’t see to knit with it. It is hand dyed yarn so I will have to alternate skeins not matter what pattern I pick. But I feel like this should make a staple wardrobe kind of sweater.

Now I find myself slowly cruising Ravelry to find my next sweater pattern….but I’ll save that rabbit hole for another day. Happy Knitting!!

(Re) Cast On: Dad’s 2019 Christmas Socks

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I put my big girl pants on and re-cast on my Dad’s christmas socks. This time I’m working a 64 stitch count sock.

The yarn is standing up well to re-knitting as I can barely even tell it has been kinked up. I’m finished with the toe increases and ready to zoom through the foot. I am still kicking myself that I have to re-knit this. Always listen to that voice that keeps telling you that something is off with your knitting, sigh….

I am slightly cheered by the fact I’m using my 19 stitches project bag. This project bag has been floating around in my purse for weeks and really has stood up well to a lot of abuse. I like that in a project bag!

Happy Knitting!!

A Heel For Dad

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I made really good progress on Dad’s socks while on vacation. I finished a good chunk of the leg and weighed my skein. I was already dangerously close to using 50% of the skein and I hadn’t put in the afterthought heel yet!

So in an effort to stave off knitting disaster I split the skein in half by weight and looked at my remaining ball for sock number one. It was tiny! So I broke the yarn and inserted the heel. I managed to finish the heel but I wasn’t going to have enough yarn to do a decently tall cuff.

I did a quick Ravely search of my stash and found a single skein of Berroco Vintage DK in my stash that would be about right. It was plain black and coordinately decently with this stripe colors. And it has a relatively close fiber content so the washing instructions would be the same. I am still periodically holding this sock up against previously knit socks that I know fit my dad. And this sock matches the measurements but it still looks to my eye to be crazy big.

Dad will be here for a visit in a few days. I might break down and have him try this first sock on to see if it fits before I start the second sock. I risk having to re-knit the first sock but that is better than wasting a whole skein of perfectly good sock yarn that won’t get worn!

Happy Knitting!!

Coordinating Accessories

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My Kindness accessories are complete! Below you can see my Kindness KAL 2019 Shawl, my Kindness Mitts and my Kindness Double Brim Hat.  These beauties used three golden skeins of Hedgehog Fibers Merino DK from my stash.

This all started with my Mothers Day Cast on and I was addicted I couldn’t stop knitting this yarn! Now they all just need to be washed and tucked away for the 100+ degree Kansas summers and wait patiently for Fall.

Don’t you just love when a plan comes together! Plus they make my eyes look blue, lol. Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Kindness Double Brim Hat

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My Kindness Double Brim Hat is complete! And I won at yarn chicken!!

My Aunt Barb happened to be around when I finished it and she helped me snap some photos. Now she is probably one of the last people in the United States to have not used a smart phone. So our photos were….interesting. But we did manage the above photo. My hat is a decent size that fits comfortably around with just a touch of slouch.

Pattern: (Heavily Modified Version of) Double Thick Cuff Hat by Staci Perry

Yarn: Hedgehog Fibers Merino DK in Ink and Salty Tales

Needles: US 6s

Mods: I did not work the double cuff and I knit the hat portion according to how much yarn I had. I really just used this wonderful pattern for stitch counts and crown decreases

This hat consumed about 150 yards of DK weight yarn. And I only had the tiniest balls of yarn left above. Not too shabby if you ask me! I might tuck these away for potential knit repairs….or I may let Jellybean  have them for his “crafts”. All in all I’m super pleased to have used these golden skeins of Hedgehog fibers to make some super special accessories for me!

I had Aunt Barb take some photos of the complete set and I’ll share those next week! Happy Knitting!!

How Tall Should A Hat Be?

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Well, I finally settled on a plan for my Kindness Double Brim Hat. I went with coordinating two row stripes to match the Kindness KAL 2019 shawl. I put in six Salty Tales stripes before I decided it looked good enough. I have a tiny ball of yarn left but I think I’ll save that in case I need it to close up the hat.

What I really need to decide is how tall to make the hat! I have a pretty small ball of the Ink (blue) color left. And I am balancing between making a well fitting hat and playing yarn chicken again. I mean I could be bothered to get my scale out and weigh my yarn and track how much yarn each row is consuming. But that seems like a lot of work and I am trying to get this knit done after kiddos bedtimes. My brain is mush at that point!

I think I’ll knit another couple of straight rows and then start decreasing. I can always fudge a few extra decreases here and there if I start running out of yarn right? The husband said I should just quite and make it a messy bun hat. That would be genius but I don’t have enough hair for a messy bun!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Kindness Double Brim Hat

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Last week I finished my Kindness Mitts out of my last skein of Hedgehog Fibers Merino DK. And I have about 80 grams of yarn left between my two colors. So I did some pattern searching and I found pattern to start a hat. I am using Staci Perry’s Double Thick Brim Hat.

Now I’m just using this pattern as loose guide. I definitely don’t have enough yarn to knit a double thick brim or to make it exceedingly slouchy. But I like the stitch count and gauge enough I think I can modify it enough for my purposes.

I’ve completed about 3 inches (ish) of ribbing and I’m starting the stockinette portion. The next trick will be to decide how to work in the Salty Tales (grey speckle) color into my hat to maximize my hat size. I am deciding between small stripes to match my Kindness KAL 2019 shawl or one thick band/stripe just to be done faster.

Happy Knitting!

FO Friday: Kindness Mitts

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Here are my Kindness Mitts in all their unblocked glory! 

Pattern: Fingerless Mitts by Cheryl Goyer

Yarn: Hedgehog Fibers Merino DK in Ink

Needles: US 5s

Mods: I didn’t work the full thumb as prescribed in the pattern. I knit until it looked good enough and cast off.

 

 

As predicted the fit is pretty baggy. But they don’t fall off so I’m calling it a win. I used 125 yards or roughly 65 grams of yarn for these two mitts. I knit the first one to pattern measurements and then I knit the second one by counting the rows in the first one. I felt pretty smart doing that. They ended up almost identical!

What I’m really pleased about is that they will smashing with my Kindness KAL 2019 shawl as matching accessories. And I’m currently weighing my leftovers of this last skein of Ink and my Salty Tales to see if I have enough to eeek out a matching hat! Stay tuned….

Happy Knitting!!