A Cuff That Never Ends

I have to admit, this sock feels like its never going to end. I keep knitting and the leg is crazy tall….but the cake of yarn is not ending!!

I started the cuff of my Purple Rain socks and worked through one color but I believe there is still TWO MORE COLORS. These legitimately might end up being knee high. Or so tall they don’t fit my calves….

I still love these socks….but I am ready to move on to #2. I may just add a little more pink to the cuff and cut my losses….

Happy Knitting!!

A Purple Rain Heel

Purse knitting for the win! I have reached the heel on my first Purple Rain Vanilla Sock

This yarn is turning out less gradient and more color blocky. But I am considering that a pleasant surprise. I am still struggling to make sure I don’t split the plies on this yarn but as long as I pay attention, its not horrible. My plan is to just knit up the leg until I get the last color block and then add the cuff. And I will make the cuff until I run out of yarn!

My one bummer is that in one of the darker purple sections had a ply break. And that run away play wound it backwards on to the previous yarn. So now I have a line. The dark line is where I have three plies of yarn that is immediately followed by a lighter section of just one ply. This could potentially be a week section of the sock. For this reason I won’t gift these socks. I figure if something goes wrong then I can always mend or patch what blows out.

But it has been good for my knitting mojo to have this project showing such good progress. It makes me feel accomplished even though I can’t seem to find big blocks of time for knitting!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Mom’s Bonus Hat

I have 48 grams of my Shepherd’s Mill 2 ply DK yarn left from my Mom’s 2021 Christmas Hat. I decided to dive right back in and cast on a second hat for my mom. With the idea that I will use up this skein of yarn and give her both ends of the gradient.

I made a couple of tweaks to try and set myself up for success. First, I took the stitch count down to 88 total for the cast on. This will hopefully increase the height I can achieve given I have less yarn for the second. Second I think I am going to forgo standard/typical crown decreases. I am going to knit until I run out of yarn and the Kitchener the top closed in a “square”.

This could end in a fail or in a quirky project. I don’t think my mom will care as long as its warm and her ears don’t hurt when she takes her dogs outside in the winter, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Knitting In The Wild (Safely)

I have been slowly and safely dipping my toe back into “normal”. Not going to lie it causes me a lot of anxiety after the last year and I still stay 6 feet away and wear my mask. But so far this week alone I have played volleyball, took Jellybean to his favorite park and took myself out for a beer tasting (during non-busy hours). I feel lucky to be fully vaccinated as are many around me and have hope that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Along for the trips this week was my Mom’s Christmas Hat. I have gotten past the brim ribbing and into the hat. I am flicking this to make the process faster and to keep building my muscle memory.

And for my beer tasting, for those interested, I tried three new to me beers at my local brewery The Happy Basset. From left to right I had a Mango Sour, Belly Rub Red Ale and a Kolsch. All three were good but my favorite was the sour and I took home a to go container of that one!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Purple Rain Socks

My sock needles/project bag were getting lonely and cold so I decided to cast on a new pair of toe up vanilla socks after I had finished my Toxic Oreo Vanilla Socks.

I went downstairs to my sock yarn stash and rooted around. Being too lazy to get out my swift and ball winder….I selfishly pulled some already caked sock yarn to start my next project.

This is the KFI Collection Painted Sock I picked up on my accidental yarn crawl a few months back. And this yarn has the bonus of already being split for socks. My plan is to knit toe up vanilla socks with gusset heels and just let the gradient fall where it may.

I haven’t knit with this yarn before and I’m not sure how the guage will work out. These could be shorty socks rather than mid-calf socks. But the great benefit of toe up socks is that you can literally work until you run our of yarn!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Pardon Me, Sir Hat

I couldn’t leave this project alone. I think I knit this over three nights? But I’m just getting around to taking good photos of it. I present to you my My Pardon Me, Sir Hat!

Pattern: A “vanilla” knit beanie knit with 90 stitches (Rav link)

Yarn: KnitCircus Ringmaster in the Pardon Me, Sir colorwa

Needles: US8s

I couldn’t bear not to use every inch of this beautiful gradient. Thus I ended up with a super long and super slouch hat. But I don’t mind because the brim folds up nicely.

The 90 stitches make a nice loose hat on me and a decently firm hat on my husband’s larger head. But the fabric is a nice medium density that keeps out the wind. I am definitely keeping this one for me and it pairs beautifully with my navy blue coat.

Feels really good to have my first FO of 2021. And even better that this gorgeous yarn didn’t languish in my stash very long either. Win win!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Pardon Me Sir Hat

Y’all, tomorrow is a new year and I have cast-on-itis. I pulled a skein of KnitCircus worsted weight yarn in the Pardon Me, Sir colorway and cast on a hat last night. After binging some of my favorite TV comedies I have a GOOD start on a hat.

I worked completely through the brim yesterday morning and by the evening I am a fair ways into the hat portion. I’m going full skein with this project. I am not using a pattern. I cast on 90 stitches and I’m making it up as I go. I want to use up as much of this yarn as possible to capture the wonderful gradient.

I think why I like this project so much is that these are my high school alma mater colors. And it will coordinate with my winter coat. This hat will most definitely be for me. The colors are sublime and the yarn extra extra soft. I can’t wait to finish this one!

Happy New Year and Happy Knitting!!

More Waiting….More Knitting

In true 2020 fashion, life continues to humble me. I had been struggling with eye and cheek pain for a couple of days. I tried to brush it off until my vision went blurry and it hurt to blink. So on went the mask and off the urgent care clinic I went. Long story short….I have an infected tear duct and that hurts and totally sucks.

My visit was long and not without anxiety. Even with all the COVID precautions I was NOT fond of being in a doctors office with the general public. And everything took FOREVER and the staff couldn’t have been kinder. I did manage to remember my ear buds and my knitting. So by the grace of my Knit Sky Socks and some true crime podcasts I waited out the over hour long wait.

This is sock number two and I’m really pretty far into the foot section given that I started this like two days ago. This is all progress from car line knitting and this doctor’s visit. I’m not mad at that rate of progress. I did get prescribed some eye medication that is helping a ton so I hate life a little less now. And I’m honestly going to be a little sad when this knit is over. I really really love the feel and colors of this yarn.

Happy Knitting!!

2020 Requires Patience

Thank you car line knitting for my Knit Sky Sock progress! I am now casting off the first sock tube of my pair of socks.

It was irrationally satisfying to watch these colors develop. KnitCircus is a genius yarn company when it comes to gradient yarns. I am really over the moon with both the speckles and the gradient nature of this yarn.

The cuff of this sock turned really blue really quickly! I just adore how that pop of blue is going to look coming out of my shoes. And it’s really getting cool here now and its consistently in the 40s now. I can’t wait to put these on my feet.

My next step is cast on sock number two and get the tube completely knit. At that point I will go back and knit in both afterthought heels. I’m just jamming on the round and round stockinette zone of this vanilla sock. It’s my comfort knitting this week.

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!!