Tag Archives: knitting

The Third Block

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I did manage to get my skein of Apothefaery Fibers suri alpaca in Snowdrift skeined up with no major issues. I need to pay homage to the knitting gods for giving me good luck with floofy yarn….before I am struck down with tangled yarn.

I have also officially ran out of of the last the original skein of suri alpaca and now just added the snowdrift skein. The plus side of floofy yarn is that I can spit splice EXTREMELY easily! You really can see the first two of the three color blocks. I am intrigued to see how the third lines out.

My next decision point is to decide how slouchy to make this hat? I have a recipient in mind and she hard gorgeous natural big beautiful hair so I need to noodle through how to best fit for that. In the meantime…..lots of glorious round and round stockinette to soothe my trouble away.

What is soothing your troubles these days?

Yarn Mystery Box

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I have been listening to the Nomad Yarns podcast for a couple of years now. It is a married couple who ran a yarn shop turned into yarn truck as well as dye independent label yarn. They have small children and pretty much speak my life. In this time of cancelled events and social distancing they advertised mystery boxes. You pick your price level and give them some suggestions of colors, weights of yarn, etc and they put together a surprise.

You guys….this was so worth it! It was a happy mail day indeed. My box was bursting at the seams and full of goodies!

I received two skeins of West Yorkshire Spinners Aire Valley DK in a nice blue, a skein of Nomad Yarn Twisted Branch sock yarn, a custom needle gauge, two mini skeins of Nomad Yarns Pallete, a set of Carbonyz Size 2 double pointed needles, a set of Knitters Pride stitch markers, and some waste yarn.

I loved everything in my box and it was neat to not know what I was getting. I have zero idea what to do with any of this and my stash is already at SABLE but this was a good investment. I supported a small business and I got to have the joy of new to me goodies.

Would you every order a mystery box?

An Antagonist Heel

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And just like that, I have a heel in my Antagonist socks!

I worked the toe up gusset heel ala Wendy D Johnson and I’m started up the leg. I haven’t decided what kind length of socks these want to grow up to be. I really do need more shorties in my drawer but this is really nice auto pilot knitting. I may not be ready to start the toe of the second sock….

I think I will sleep on it for a couple of days. Happy Knitting!!

More Floof

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I have been steadily cranking on my Fluffy Sockhead Hat made my Apothefaery Fibers and I very quickly realized I was going to run out of suri alpaca. I had some funds laying around that I had earmarked for the (cancelled) Knitting in the Heartland Event. So I decided to get more suri alpaca and support an indie dyer at the same time.

I hit up Apothefaery Luxury fibers and added four skeins to my cart.

I purchased two skeins of Snowdrift (white) and two skeins of Sterling Silver (grey) thinking that this will be nice solid colors to have in my stash to work up with the perfect future project, no matter the other yarn color. In the meantime I am going to skein up one of the snowdrift skeins and add to my aforementioned Fluffy Sockhead hat. It will be lighter than the original suri alpaca skein but will end up adding a third color block section to the hat.

I’m just going to consider it an unintentional design feature! Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: Antagonist Socks

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Thanks to many (read: MANY) conference calls and video meetings I have made pretty good progress on my Antagonist Socks! The toe increases are done and the foot is one inch shy of starting the heel.

I’m really enjoying the yarn! There are flecks and pops of mossy green, burnt orange and a some other colors I can’t quite describe that keep me interested. The finished fabric is not merino soft but feels like imagined the BFL content would turn out. It is still soft but feels firm like it won’t pill or wear as easily.

I’m pretty sure I am going to do a toe up gusset heel by Wendy D Johnson for these socks. I have that almost memorized and it fits my foot quite nicely. My next hurdle will be to see if I can turn the heel while knitting out of video call frame….

Stay tuned and happy knitting!!

Cast On: Fluffy Sockhead Slouch

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After last week’s less than spectacular execution of the Everyday Slouchy Beanie I decided to get right back on the horse. I had more than half the sock yarn plus the coordinating mini. but I have less than half of the suri alpaca laceweight. So I’m taking a gamble on another hat…

I used the coordinating (and darker) mini and cast on the brim. I upped my stitch count and left the needles the same so as to avoid my previous situation. I worked the brim for as long as I thought looked good and then added the main yarn for the body of hat. I think it’s almost fade mixed color block kind of strategy.

This is a very stretchy hat at this gauge and stitch count. So there’s no way this hat will be too small, in fact it might almost to big! D’oh!! But I have a coworker who might need a pandemic pick me up and she has glorious natural big hair that a large hat would be well suited for.

I am starting to play yarn chicken with the suri alpaca and I’m not sure I’ll be able to finish the hat. But I think I may use some of my other suri/silk yarn in my stash to continue the hat in a third fade color at the top. I might marinate on this one for a day or two.

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Everyday (Not So) Slouchy Beanie

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I have another FO this week! My Everyday Slouchy Beanie is complete and I’m now re-naming it Everyday (not so) Slouchy Beanie because gauge matters, for real.

Pattern: Everyday Sloubhy Beanie by Dragon Hoard Designs

Yarn: Apothefaery Fabrications Middle of the Road Sock and Halo Brushed Suri Alpaca

Needles: US 1 and US 4

Mods: Because of my gauge issues, I didn’t knit the full slouch so I could save some yarn for a second hat.

This hat fits my kids SUPER well. I can get it on my head but it’s REALLY tight. I blindly followed the pattern and made the medium size without checking gauge. Silver lining, the hat is very very warm. I’m not sure I’m going to trust my children with a hat made with indie dyed yarn. But I’m not sure I’m going to wear this either. So I am going to let this FO marinate in my cedar chest for the summer to see how I feel about it later.

The yarn is delightful! You can see the halo of the suri alpaca and the colors are very rich. I might have been drowning my canceled fiber show blue by popping over to Apothefaery Fabrications to buy more of her Halo Brushed Suri in some neutral colors. I want to try some more projects with this yarn!

Happy Knitting!!

A Second F Bomb

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In an attempt deal with my current load of stress..I’m knitting more F Bombs! My second one is off the needles!

I really think my duplicate stitch needs work but is improving. This time I held the red yarn held double double to see if I can improve the coverage and making the F more pronounced. I think I like how the stitches stick out, but I think I can make the stitches more cohesive.

I’m giving myself a break considering I’ve been a supervisor for 60 days and a worldwide pandemic has hit in the meantime. I’m going to keep knitting through adversary and strife! I think I’m going to start a third F Bomb…..

Happy Knitting!!

Prism Progress

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Hallelujah…I have finally reached the recommended four inches of 2×2 ribbing for my Prism Break Hat!

I’m loosely following the Sockhead Slouch by Kelly McClure. This has been my go-to conference call and zoom meeting knitting. I find that I can keep easy knitting in my lap and knit while I listen and it’s impossible for anyone to tell.

I’m just now starting the plain stockinette part of the hat. So just a ton of round and round for miles. And I’m not mad about it. It’s the perfect easy knitting in a fun yarn to make this time and please a little easier to handle.

What is making your life happy?

Cast On: Antagonist Vanilla Socks

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I was feeling the pull of socks again after I finished my Dark Side Vanilla Socks. I pulled out some of the sock yarn I wound up during my winding frenzy and just cast on. This is the BFL/Nylon sock blend from Stranded Dyeworks and it felt like some basic toe socks were a great pattern match.

This is my own “vanilla” recipe of a 68 stitch toe up vanilla sock on US 1s. A whole lot of round and round in soothing stockinette. Working from home and having all my meetings being virtual….I have made great time on this sock! I’m planning on a toe up gusset heel from Wendy D Johnson’s pattern. I almost have that heel memorized and it fits my foot really well.

This yarn is making a really nice fabric. It’s not merino soft but its soft in a sturdy way. The BFL really makes this feel like a sock that should wear really well. I can’t wait to get these finished and into my drawer. I really want to see how these work out. I might need to add more BFL sock yarn to my stash!

Happy Knitting