Tag Archives: grey

Wonky Monster

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I bit the bullet and finally worked my first magic loop project. I have been working on PB’s birthday monster, Baldwin the Bathroom Monster. The body is done and all I need is arms. But aside from the mis-matched feet I discussed last time….Baldwin is also a little wonky….

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This piece biased like crazy and twists sideways. I lost control of my magic loop at some point and just guessed about how to get my cord placement back in order. And the best I could tell it was fine. But I obviously moved where my decreases were and caused some biasing. Whoops.

But again I’m really getting closer and closer to PB’s birthday and I have decided that I like my monster with character! This Baldwin is super soft and just squishy enough for PB to chew on. So all I need to do is knit arms and I’M DONE!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Baldwin The Bathroom Monster

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I knit Jellybean a toy for his second birthday. And I got the crazy idea back over a month ago that PB needed a monster for her first birthday. So we went shopping and she helped me pick yarn. Well I finally got around to starting the silly monster. I had a silly mental block around the fact I would need to magic loop this toy. While I understood the mechanics I have never really use that technique. I finally put my big kid pants and just started.

I worked both feet and got the project started in the round. It was kinda fiddly and my cord on my interchangeable needles isn’t exactly ideally flexible but I’m making it work and figuring it out.

I did make a not so nice observation. My monster feet are two different sizes. One is noticeably smaller than the other because I must have forgot some rows somewhere. It’s less than three weeks until PB’s birthday party and I have decided I don’t care and all the cool monsters have mis-matched feet. I’m the boss of my knitting!!

Ps. This is living in my Bags by Awesome Grannie project bag and it’s making me soooo happy!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Faded Fingerless Mitts

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I may have fade on the brain lately. I finished my Free Your Fade last week and I was over the moon. But I still had a decent chunk of the grey and raspberry left and I decided to make a matching accessory to go with the shawl.

I cast on some DK weight fingerless mitts. Our house has had too many germs for relying on my brain to make a pattern so I found a great free pattern on Ravelry. I’m using Fingerless Mitts by Cheryl Goyer as a base and then just adding an Andrea Mowry fade.

I just flew by the seat of my pants with the grey yarn and JUST managed to eek out the perfect fade sequence in the first mitt right as I ran out of grey yarn. This one is done except for the afterthought thumb. Now I need to cross my fingers and start the second mitt to see if I can recreate this yarn usage and size…fingers crossed!?

Happy Knitting!!

Halfway Done With Sleeve Island

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This past weekend I managed to crank out a FO (finished object) that I will show you Friday. This finish really cranked my knitting mojo into high gear. It made me want to finish ALL THE THINGS. So I pulled out my Charlotte Winter sweater. I had been plodding slowly through the first sleeve trying to give my hands a break from turning a huge heavy sweater while sleeve knitting.

I was a good chunk through the decreases on sleeve one so I hunkered down and finished the sleeve. Purling in the round on huge US 13 dpns….NOT my favorite but I was committed.

I finished sleeve number one and immediately tried it on. It fits very nicely and snug. That’s pre-blocking of course. So I hope that means I won’t get a baggy sloppy fit after washing and blocking. I’m really hoping to get this done soon so I can get maybe one wear of this yet this extended winter.

Happy Knitting!!

Close But Not Quite Right

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I went stashdiving in my yarn and sadly did not come up with good white/tonal solutions for the sixth color of my Mini Solutions Scarf. On the right is the solid Cascade sock in white. And on the left is some Hue Loco Opal Sock in Cherry Blossum. They both are lovely but just not quite right.

The Opal Sock is nice tonal creamy white but has some subtle pinks and greens mixed in. Not to mention it is 50/50 silk merino and has a lovely sheen to it. That silk will stick out like a sore thumb against the more matte wool of my gradient set. Sigh…back to the drawing board.

I think I need to cull my stash for grey options again….

Happy knitting!!

PB Won’t Stop Growing Up

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When I was at Joanns picking up the needles I was missing, I might have fallen down in the chenille yarn section…

PB will be one year in May and I’d like to make a lovey for her birthday like I did for Jellybean when he turned one. I found the Premier Parfait Layers in the perfect grey and pink combo that matches PB’s layette. Man…she does not stop growing these days!

She definitely approved and was thematic for her outfit that day!! (PS…that’s 18 month sized clothing on my 9 month old….)

I already own Rebecca Dangers’ Big Book of Knitted Monsters and there is one written for super bulky. So I think PB is getting Baldwin the Bathroom Monster.

I fully recognize that I made my life harder by choosing chenille yarn. It’s not my favorite to knit with but PB has an affinity for super soft things and I’m a total sucker. I’m thinking I’ll make the big monster and then crochet the leftovers into a little monster sized blanket.

Deadline knitting and I don’t always mesh…so we will see how this goes! Happy Knitting!!

Body Complete

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 I finally finished the body of my Charlotte Winter!

Bulky yarn on this cord length really bunches up the work. It can be deceiving. I might have measured on or four times…

That my friends is 16.5 inches of bulky garter stitch! And now I’m off to bind off and try it on and have my my husband double check it is an appropriate length.

Fingers crossed!!

 

Cast On: Charlotte Winter

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Over the Christmas Holiday we spent several days at my parents house and off of work. Hooray! For this I had a goal, I wanted to work on something for myself in the day leading up to Christmas. I had my birthday yarn all wound up and waiting. And I had also swatched and done my sweater math for the Charlotte Winter. THIS was going to be my “my parents can babysit so I can breathe and knit a bit” project.

This was the first day’s progress. Gotta love bulky weight yarn and big needles right? I worked out my color work plan started cruising through the raglan increases. I had a bit of trouble keeping track of right side and wrong side since I wanted the “wrong” side of the garter ridges to show. And I may have made a few mistakes but garter stitch is very forgiving and no one will ever know.

Stay tuned for more progress tomorrow!

Happy Knitting

Technology Can Be Cool

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I’m every so close to finishing my Rainbow Pop Sockhead Slouch! I’m at 10 inches and ready to start decreasing. I’ve decided that’s enough slouch for me!

I also recently updated my iPhone to the lastest iOS and I got a new tool downloaded. It’s a measuring ap that uses your camera. So I took it for a spin.

I laid down a traditional tape measure for reference and played with the ap. I did manage to get it to come out to the right answer. But I also got several attempts where it was .5 inches on either side. So it’s close but I wouldn’t use it for anything exacting. I would use it if I was just wanting a ball park and stuck without a tape measure.t

img_5980I’m really happy with how the colors are coming out. I know it will change when I start the crown decreases. For sure there will be some pooling and changes in the color blips. But such is the way of this yarn and I’m at peace with it. I just REALLY want this hat for winter!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Rainbow Sockhead Slouch

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I’ve been procrastinating on casting on my next “easy bedtime” knitting project. The Big Bang Vanilla Socks have been done for awhile and I knew exactly what I wanted it next…a Sockhead Slouch from my Lemonade Shop Stormy Day yarn. Why  the procrastination? Well, I have this vision for the fabric that I know I want my hat to have. I want the rainbow blips of color to distribute without stacking, pooling or flashing.

I finally decided to take the plunge…I did some Ravelry research on this pattern and this yarn to get a feel for what happens at different stitch counts and gauges. I decided to cast on the pattern recommended 144 stitches on US 1 needles. This was the result…

It was very clear even at this short amount of knitting that I was going to get total pooling. So I ripped it out and tried 144 stitches on US 2 needles….

This attempt was better and I made the pooling stop.  But now the color blips were stacking and making sort of flashing stripes. While this is a totally cool effect…it’s not what I wanted deep in my knitterly heart. So once again I ripped the whole thing out. For the third attempt I used 164 stitches on US 2 needles.

Much better!! The colors are still touching a bit but for the most part are randomizing and dispersing nicely around the hat. It’s not 100% what I was looking for but its really close. And given how much knitting time I get and how many brain cells I have left after two kids…..its close enough for now.

The caveat….I have no clue how this will fit! I am just working to get a fabric I like. The Sockhead Slouch is an easy pattern and I plan to knit several inches of hat and then try on the ribbing portion to see how things go. Fingers crossed….worst case scenario is that I rip out again and start over. Darn, more time time knitting this beautiful yarn!

P.S. This Lemonade Shop yarn really stood up to ripping and re-knitting!!

Happy Knitting!!