Tag Archives: knitting

Cast On: Habitation Throw

Posted on by
7

I have been seeing Helen Stewart’s Habitation Throw show up everywhere this holiday season on all the social medias and podcasts. Everyone was making them with their advent mini skeins. That didn’t really feel like what I wanted to do. But I couldn’t get this pattern out of my mind even though I have a ton of WIPs to be working on.

Finally I had a light bulb, I could hold my fingering weight scraps together with the giant cone of Valley Yarns Franklin Natural that I have. It a sock weight yarn on a cone with 6,000+ yards I had intended for my Northeasterly blanket. The Northeasterly blanket has not gone anywhere but I liked the idea of an easier marled blanket reinvigorated my blanket mojo.

Essentially this is a marled DK weight blanket. I had a little trouble getting the I-cord cast one set up but I managed and now zooming. And I’m ADDICTED, I can’t put this down and it’s all I want to knit. It’s corner to corner construction so I am just knitting until I feel it’s wide enough and then decreasing then. So I’m hacking the pattern a bit.

I’m just pulling scraps from bin and knitting until they are gone. I am also spit splicing the yarns together so I won’t have any ends to weave in. There has been some effort on my part to manage the colors. I don’t have a plan but I am trying for “planned randomness” and that the adjacent colors don’t look hideous next to one another.

Happy Knitting!!

Boxing Day

Posted on by
7

I fell down a bit on Boxing Day. Now I live in the United States and it’s really not a thing here. But you know where it is a thing? The UK where the wonder dyer from the The Corner of Craft podcast Chromatic Yarns lives. And she had an unprecedented 20% off sale. And I was flush with Christmas money burning a hole in my pocket..

All of her yarns are Dungeons and Dragons themed. I have never played and know next to nothing about it. But what I do know is that I LOVE this purple speckle madness. I picked up three skeins of her Sturdy DK in the Eldritch Blast color.

And Hannah tucked in a small package of tea from Bird and Blend Tea Co. It was Dozy Girl, a chamomile bedtime blend and it was AMAZING.

As for the yarn it is going into my stash. I’m feeling like I want to track down a solid contrast color in DK and make striped sweater or shawl/blanket thing. For now I’m content to admire and pet the pretty skeins while feeling glad I supported an independent dyer who busts her butt to make a quality product.

Just curious, did anyone else score any kind of Boxing Day deals?

Cast On: Prism Break Hat

Posted on by
7

I got the “new project itch” and cast on a single fingering weight hat. My theory is that this is good meeting and movie knitting that is not a sock. I mean I have like 10 WIPs going but none of them are a hat. Seems sound logic, right?

This is a skein of fingering weight sock yarn from the Wichita Woolery I snagged last year at Winter Woolfest. My mom and I just went to Woolfest 2020 here this past weekend. So it also felt right to start using last year’s haul, lol. This color is called Prism Break. It is a grey semi-solid solid yarn with a rainbow that micro stripes throughout.

I have established the ribbing portion and I’m satisfied with how the rainbow is looking. It is somewhere between planned pooling and regular striping. I was prepared to rip back to add or subtract stitches to make the rainbow look pleasing. It’s kind of nice that karma worked out for once. This project now lives in my desk at work for self-care and conference call needs.

Happy Knitting!!!

HO Friday: Bullseye Vanilla Socks

Posted on by
9

I have a half finished object! I zoomed through the ribbing of my Bullseye Vanilla Socks and promptly inserted the afterthought heel.

I think despite any planning on my part, the heel fell perfectly in the stripe pattern. And the micro stripe worked out nicely inside the heel itself. And the icing on the cake? It fits nicely on my foot.

It is halfway between my shortie sock and my normal calf length sock. I’ll have to give these a few wearing to see how I like them in my boots and shoes. I’m hoping they stay on my heels well and don’t sag throughout the day.

I’m using my new Chia Goo Twist Shortie needles as an incentive to cast on the second sock. I think I’m going to use the shortest cord and smallest needles to test making the second sock!

Happy knitting!

Arya Colors

Posted on by
7

As promised, here is the second color section of my Arya Shawl. I have found this to be my “reward” knitting of late. It is busy season for this accountant at work so I come home pretty much wiped out. And so in the quiet of the evening I have been reaching for this project to work on. I may only have time for a few rows before I fall asleep but with DK weight yarn it shows the progress quickly. The shawl looks less thong like now.

I’m super late the party with the grellow color combination. But I’m really loving the grey and yellow contrast. But with this Chubbs and Squeak yarn also being a tweed yarn there is a consistent element flowing throughout. I’m still not 100% proficient on my CCD or centered double decreases and I have to fudge them sometimes to keep my stitch counts correct. But hey, this is garter stitch so it’s very forgiving!

My favorite of favorite parts so far? The mosaic slipped stitch color work portion that transitions between the two colors. it just makes my heart happy!

Happy knitting!!

Bullseye Progress

Posted on by
5

I haven’t made a tremendous amount of progress on my Bullseye Vanilla Socks. The bronchitis really kind of put a dent in my energy level. But I decided to pull them out and get a feel for where my heel is going to be. I am just finishing a micro stripe on the cuff. I need to understand how much more cuff to add, if any at all.

For my foot shape and length I usually insert my heel at seven inches from the toe. My afterthought heels usually add two to two and a half inches of sock length. Following that  formula my heel would fall in the middle of a speckle stripe. Which I think will be just right.

Looking at the sock as a whole, I think I will add just a smidge more ribbing. I think maybe three to four more rounds and then bind off in the speckle yarn. That should give me a nice finished look. Of course then I have to knit an entire second sock, but that’s a task for another day.

Happy Knitting!!

Planning For 2020

Posted on by
10

I’m a planner. I’m a color coding fool. I like to keep my thoughts and plans on paper. I get a thrill from making a list and crossing things off the list as they get done. In past years for my work life I have kept a planner that helped me from going insane or forgetting things. I think it has made me a better employee and project manager.

So this year I decided to add one for my personal life. So why wouldn’t it be knitting themed?? I did a lot of research on the internet and settled on The Knitters Planner after I saw how much Megan of the Stockinette Zombies used hers.

It was an investment for sure. There were many other options that would have been more inexpensive. But this one has space for personal tracking, knitting features and a few adds on to help my day to day crazy.

I’m only a few weeks in but I have been tracking my meal planning, downloading all of my to-dos onto paper so my brain has more space and just getting inspired for my 2020 knitting plans. I’m definitely not a full blown bullet journaler, with a full time job and two tiny humans I just don’t have the minutes in the day. And I may not get to all my goals and have to give myself some grace. But for right now I feel energized and more in control of my chaos.

What do you do to corral your chaos?

Over It

Posted on by
11

This cold and flu season has been brutal, I’m over it! My cough from before Christmas just held on and held on until I gave up and went to urgent care. After an hour and half wait I got a very tired but kind physician assistant who promptly diagnosed me with acute bronchitis. So I was sent on my way with a Z-pac, steroids and instructions to hydrate and rest.

But the good news is that I had my knitting and my ear buds to keep me company and I didn’t so much mind the wait. I listened to an entire podcast and started the ribbing on my Bullseye Vanilla socks. I had completed most of the foot watching Frozen 2 with Jellybean so I was jazzed to see I was at the cuff. I still need to go back and add the afterthought heel. But first…..medication and hot tea!

Happy Knitting!!

Wool and Waves Progress

Posted on by
3

Since re-configuring the order of my Cornbread and Honey mini skeins I have been encouraged to pick up my Wool and Waves more. I have now added in the second mini skein. I did make the executive decision to not finish the first full mini and to add the second mini at a strategic place in the pattern. I might save a little from each mini to add to my memory blanket…who knows! I also chose to fade in the color ala Andrea Mowry so that this first color change wouldn’t be so stark.

I did make one sobering realization after adding the second mini. Since I was adapting the pattern to fit my needs I hadn’t really read the pattern in detail. I am pretty sure after a more careful examination that this pattern calls for yarn held double. And I’m only using one strand so the yardage the pattern calls for might be wildly different from how I’m using it. Meaning, I possibly wont’ get through all my colors.

The shawl is still very pretty and I have decided to roll with it. I’m already adapting the pattern anyway I will just see where my yardage takes me and I will figure it out when I get there!

Happy Knitting!!

Teal Torch Knits 12 Days of Christmas

Posted on by
8

Man….January is getting away from me!  I opened a box on my office desk at home and saw the beauty that was my Teal Torch Knits 12 days of Christmas advent. I haven’t been able to put it away since opening the last box because I just love it so much!

This was my second “advent” calendar of 12 minis. I didn’t have the budget on hand this summer to buy a full 24 skein advent from any one dyer but I did manager to sleuth out two 12 skeins advents for less than price of a full one. And boy did this one not disappoint!I keep smelling the soak and having to hid the stitch marker from my children.

Teal Torch Knits dyed their 12 day advent to be a rainbow. And not just any rainbow but a rainbow with speckles!! I have zero ideas what to knit with this one. Someone recommended the Fuss Free Festival Shawl by Louise Tillbrook. But I think I need more time to marinate on this choice.

Any good pattern suggestions from out there in blog land?