FO Friday: In The Light

I had the pleasure of attending a virtual professional women’s conference this week. It was 7 hours on zoom learning lots of cool things. But the upside of the virtual conference is that I got to knit all day. I decided to challenge myself to finish my In The Light. And you know what? It worked!

Pattern: In the Light by Casey Day-Crosier (Rav Link)

Needles: US 9s

Yarn: Cloudlover Fiber SW Merino Sock in the Mag Mel and Mojito colorways and One Twisted Tree Prime Fingering in the Forest Floor colorway

Mods; I added tassels to use up more of my skeins of yarn

I am super please with this project and how well all the yarns played together. The two Cloudlover skeins I used at the beginning and end were HIGHLY variagated and you know what? Holding them double really helped blend the yarn. The One Twisted Tree was more of a speckled tonal and gave a nice blend to the middle.

This patterns is addictive and uses SO MUCH SOCK YARN! With the modified tassles I used approximately 1,077 yards of yarn and most of each skein. I had the most left of the middle Forest Floor color. Now this is the simple version and it does use less yarn than the fringed version. I’m okay with that I like the simple elegance of this version.

I’m already itching to cast on a third In The Light in some lights/pinks. I can’t help myself when a pattern is this good and burns through so much sock yarn. Not to mention its helping me with those pesky “pretty” skeins of variegated yarn that I can’t help buying but never know what to do with.

Happy Friday and Happy Knitting!!

Going Green

My In The Light is really going green! I have progressed through the solid/tonal green section and I’ve added the third and last color.

I have been really pleased with how well these colors are marling together. It will end up a very light to dark fade. And this version is the plain version with no fringe. So this will be how the finished object will look.

I need to work a couple more rows of the garter and then I can start the lace section that finishes the shawl. If you spy carefully you will see the Corner of Craft bunny stitch marker. I’ve made a pretty good push on this since last I showed you guys.

I’m hoping to keep my focus and get this finished up soon. Not that I need a DK weight shawl in Kansas in May but I love the satisfaction of finishing a project! Happy Knitting!!

Progressing To Green

Arbitrary knitting rules be damned…I can’t quit my latest In The Light shawl.

The first color section is done and the first fade transition. I’m now in the second full section where I am holding C1 and C2. This was going to be my most pronounced transition but I’m happy with how well its actually blending.

I think I have a couple row more of this section before I start the second fade. After this second fade then I will be ready for a solid green middle chunk. This project is very squishy and warm.

I can tell this simple version is using less yarn than the fringed version, which is okay. I’ll have scraps for my scrappy project. And I shouldn’t be surprised as I’m knitting less stitches because there is no border. This project would work well for smaller put-ups or partial leftover skeins.

I will put this on pause to try and finish my Toxic Oreo Socks if I can ignore the “just one more row” urge. Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: In The Light

I was so thrilled with my Into The Light both for how much yarn it used up and how beautifully it turned out that I pulled yarn to make at least two more. And it was now that I realized I was using the wrong name for the project….its actually In The Light, lol.

@atangledyarn84

This version is going to be a green version. I pulled two skeins of Cloudlover Fiber sock yarn that I bought literally before Jellybean was born, so six years ago! They are the Mag Mell and Mojito colorways are going to be my beginning and end colors. To pull this project together I chose a golden skein of One Twisted Tree sock yarn in the Forest Floor colorway. One Twisted Tree is no longer dying so this is a special skein for me.

For this go around with the pattern I am going to do the plain version instead of the fringed version I did the first time. I am chugging through the first color section. Holding these highly variegated yarn double really smooths the colors out and makes a nicely evenly colored fabric.

I’m pretty excited to get to the next color to see how things blend! Happy Knitting!!

Ready For Garter Lace

I had some crazy good knitting mojo this week and I really cranking on my Into The Light shawl. I have added the third and last color and knit right up until I need to start the simple lace to finish the shawl body.

I am really really happy with my third color. The darker blips are fading in well. This last skein is some Twisted Owl Fiber Studio in the Razz-Ma-Tazz colorway it has lots of dark blues and greens.

I think I have roughly 20 rows of garter lace and then I can start the fringed edge. I have never worked an attached fringe where I drop stitches. I’m honestly a little nervous but I’m going to trust the pattern and do what I’m told.

Happy Knitting!!

Ladder Down, Ladder Up

I am still cruising through my Into The Light shawl and I’m in the second color section. I have been noticing that if I get too distracted by my TV show or children that I don’t always get both strands of yarn that I’m using. So I’m getting mistakes in my garter.

They bother me so I have been laddering back down fixing them with my double ended crochet hook. Fixing garter takes a little more brain power than stockinette but I have missed enough strands that this project is giving me lots of practice.

And by the time I’m done you would never know there was a mistake.

I’m really crushing on this project. The color fade is beautiful and it’s really easy to work. I can’t wait to get the third and last color added to get the full effect.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Into The Light

The first thing to hit my needles after my winding party is the Into The Light shawl by Casey Day-Crosier.

I did end up swapping out one of my color choices for a last minute addition. My gut told me to do it so I just went with it. I decided my final combo would be Hue Loco Spun Sock in
“Skip With Me” (my first color), Twisted Owl Fiber Studio Super Sock 4 ply in “Razz-Ma-Tazz” and finally Into The Whirled Meridian Sock in “Scissors Lizard Spock”.

I have the tiniest of the tab of the beginning of the shawl. This project does have you hold the yarn double. My needles aren’t the sharpest so I have to be careful to make sure I grab both strands. But otherwise, I REALLY love this project. It eats yarn sooooooo fast and I can’t wait to get to the first color fade.

Happy Knitting!!

Knitting Poolside

We are in the middle of a long heat wave in the Midwest right along side big increases in COVID cases. So my family and I are doing our best to find ways to have fun and stay safe at home. This week’s adventure had water balloons, lots of driveway swimming pool time and me knitting in the shade.

Modified version of Helen Stewart’s Habitation Throw

This photo was taken 10 minutes before I dropped a stitch and made a huge hole in my Rainbow Habitation Throw. I literally spent the next hour tinking back two and a half rows to fix my mistake because it just wouldn’t ladder back down and back up again correctly. So that means I’m still in my fourth color of twelve.

But the good thing about knitting garter stitch is that you can just knit and knit and eventually you look down and a blanket has popped out of nowhere!

P.S. I completely see the irony of knitting a lap blanket during a heat wave. I’m a special kind of crazy!

Happy Knitting!!

Glacial Shawl Progress

I just can’t seem to find the motivation to work on my One Perfect Skein Shawl. I knit a row or two occasionally as I get pulled away to work on my sweater wips or my blanket. I really really love the yarn and the color is amazing.

I passed the first eyelet row and working towards the next one. The pattern is very well written and easy to memorize. There is no excuse for not making more progress but I’m going to keep this in my WIP bag and keep adding a little love here and there. It will eventually get done. I’m the boss of my own deadlines and knitting!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: DK Hibernation Throw

Spring is around the corner and I have a finished Hibernation Throw! Seems appropriate to be “coming out of hibernation” from winter and to have finished this project.

Pattern: Habitation Throw by Helen Stewart

Needles: US 10s

Yarn: Valley Yarns Franklin Natural coned sock yarn and all the fingering weight scraps from my stash

Mods: I modified this pattern for DK weight yarn (fingering held double) to make a scrappy marled version of this blanket.

This project just ticked all the boxes for me and I’m almost tempted to cast on another one! It was very to memorize and easy to read where I was when I put it down mid repeat. It used up a TON of scraps from my stash. When I weighed this behemoth it weighed 822 grams. Based on some maths I did based on the average sock yarn statistics….this blanket used rough 3,300 yards of yarn!

And I finished this in about a month and a half. That is lighting speed for me and a blanket. But I will fully admit that this became a knitting obsession and I didn’t really work on much else for that period. I did notice that when I was taking FO photos that my blanket is not perfectly square. I found that at multiple times I had to fudge my decreases on the last half because I didn’t have the right number of stitches. I’m pretty confident that this led to the last half being slightly bigger than the first half.

But I don’t care, I have a new snuggly blanket that is 100% mommy’s and no one else can use it without permission! Happy Knitting!!