Tag Archives: knitting

Completed Fronts

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I hit another milestone on my Worsted Boxy by Joji Locatelli. I completed both fronts and have the live stitches on holders.

It was pretty fast to zoom up the stockinette portion of the front. I did have to slow down and take my time to work the short rows in the shoulder shaping. But at least I wasn’t working with 300 plus stitches anymore!

Of course my mom addled brain put the cord in wonky when I put the second should on holders. My OCD can’t handle that it is twisted and won’t lay flat. So I’m off to fix that!

Happy Knitting!!

Mystery Box Surprise

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I really need to unsubscribe from my newsletters or a bit after my last purchase or two. I am a SUCKER for a yarn deal. Oh well, my bills are paid and my family is fed. I’ll just die in a well insulated craft room some day!!

KnitCircus yarns was having another mystery sale. This is where you get to pick a yardage amount and number of skeins but nothing else. And you get a super good deal because they are clearing out the discontinued colors, short skeins, skeins with knots, or happy dye accidents. I picked a 150 g skein plus a second skein that would be tonal or semi-solid. I ended up with these two beauties…

The first is a 150 gram skein of Trampoline gradient yarn in the Sherwood Forest color. This is a discontinued color on their fingering to light fingering base. This should make a really lovely and large shawl some day. Off the top of my head this might be a good use for the Vamping Shawl I tried and failed earlier.

Next up is a skein of worsted weight Ringmaster in a prototype autumnal color on a skein with knots. Orange isn’t usually my color but this should make a wonderful hat. Maybe a Barley by TinCan knits or a Quick Ombre Hat by Emily Dormier. I have been meaning to dip my toe into colorwork.

Have you ever bought mystery yarn?

Picking Sweater Colors

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I am down the rabbit hole and back from looking at DK/Sport weight sweaters for my recent stash enhancement. I was flipping through pages and pages of results when Joji Locatelli’s Radiate practically jumped off the screen at me. It’s a top down yoked sweater with a two color slipped stitch design in the yoke. I bought the patter on the spot.

Then I jumped to my stash and dug out all my superwash merino DK yarn to find a contrast color. I found three, a Treasure Goddess DK skein in a Merlot wine color, a Blueberry Chick yarn in a Lilac color and finally a Moonstone Dyeworks DK yarn in honey color.

Because I have been burned before, I pulled out my phone and took a black and white photo. Immediately this eliminated the wine color because it does not have enough contrast.

The lilac and honey both contrast nicely. But I’m left really having to decide if either of those two colors are really what I want. I don’t have a specific color in mind. I’m just not 100% sold that either of those two are “it”. I need to do some pondering….I really want this sweater to be SHARP.

I need to gauge swatch anyway. I might start swatching and work in both colors without cutting the yarn to see what they look like? Or I may pull up the pattern page and look at what others have done. Or both….bwhahahaha!

Happy knitting!!

Progressing To The Third Skein

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Thanks to labor day travels I made some teeny tiny progress on my Progression Shawl.

I’m through with the second mini skein (yellow-ish one) and on to the third one (blue green-ish). My mom saw me working on this and commented “oh my that is pretty”. I may see how this knit goes and make it a gift for her….

For sure, this Mad Hatter Tea Party mini skein set is going to make a statement piece. It’s an abstract rainbow with lots of black pops throughout. But I am really finding the garter soothing and easy to work. I have made some mistakes on the eyelets rows and my stitch count got off. But this pattern is easy enough to fudge that I don’t mind. And no one, not even a knitter, will ever find my eyelet mistakes. This yarn is just too busy!

Happy Knitting!!

Emotional Purchasing

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I am normally a pretty even keeled person and I can let stuff roll off my back fairly well. I really do have a very good life in the grand scheme of things. However, my work life has been more stress and less success lately. I had a professional opportunity get postponed at the last minute that left me kind of bummed. Jellybean got me flowers which made did make me feel better. But later that same evening I got an email notification that a local to me dyer was having a 40% off and free shipping sale. I caved like a house of cards….I succumbed to emotional purchasing.

The Treasure Goddess Yarn shop sucked me right in. I am feeling the sweater mojo here lately so I picked up five skeins of her DK Treasure yarn in the “Gunpowder” colorway. It is black without being all black so that I can’t see to knit with it. It is hand dyed yarn so I will have to alternate skeins not matter what pattern I pick. But I feel like this should make a staple wardrobe kind of sweater.

Now I find myself slowly cruising Ravelry to find my next sweater pattern….but I’ll save that rabbit hole for another day. Happy Knitting!!

Temporarily a A Crop Sweater

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I took some time this weekend to crank out the collar of my Autumn League Pullover. And its done and looks pretty darn good (despite my dismal ability to properly pick up stitches) and it inspired me to try it on.

Thanks to try it on tubing (I have this kind) I managed to slip on this sweater to get a feel for the fit. Now…it’s basically a boob cozy or crop top at this point. But I wanted to see how the neck and sleeves felt.

It definitely has positive ease in the sleeves and the body. Yet I don’t think it looks sloppy. I can totally tell this yarn is an acrylic yarn. It doesn’t have the drape that wool does but it will still make suitable sweater. And the yarn will be gone from my stash.

As I look at my sweater I think I might alter this pattern for a split seam on the ribbing and if I have enough yarn then I will make the back ribbing a little longer than the front. I’m ready to go full cozy sweatshirt on this project. Bring on winter!!

Happy Knitting!!

Two Sleeves!

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I win at sleeves!! The second sleeves of my Autumn League Pullover is complete.

It was pretty easy to count rows and decreases to make sure my second sleeve matches the first. They may be a row off or a stitch or two different depending on how close you compare them. I copied the cuff “mistake” on the second sleeve by keeping the larger needles. They may be wrong…but darn it they match! I’m just so happy to have them both done.

In a fit of productivity I even picked up the neck band (in the correct sized needle I may add) and got the working yarn attached. I’m hoping to bang out the collar pretty quickly. Happy Knitting!!

A Knot Of A Problem

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I started the second sleeve of my Autumn League Pullover this week and I encountered a small problem. (P.S. Don’t you just love and hate my obnoxious mom yoga pants? My husband does and I wear them in public on purpose…bwahahahaha!)

A knot in my skein! This is commercial yarn and I know up to two to three knots in a skein is considered normal. But I still hate them. If I knit them in I always seem to get the knot in a spot where I feel it or it works it way to right side of the work where everyone can see.

I pulled out my took kit and decided to fix the problem. I cut the knot out and then loosened the four plys on each end of the yarn. I then cut two of the four plys off each side and used my tapestry needled to do a Russian join.

It looks kind of wonky here but once I get it knit into the fabric you likely won’t be able to tell at all!

I really really really want to get off sleeve island on this sweater. Wish me luck!

One Autumnal Sleeve

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I finished the first sleeve on my Autumn League Pullover. I did get kind of bored on sleeve island and therefore I did quit at 3/4 length sleeves. Before blocking and without the neckband they hit midway from my elbow to my wrist. It might shorten up when I add the neck ribbing, we will just have to see.

The only thing that bugs me is that I got engrossed in Amy Florence’s latest Stranded podcast and didn’t switch to smaller needles for the ribbing. The ribbing still pulls in nicely and I don’t think anyone will notice. But I purposely left the ends unwoven in case I want to add length or tighten up the ribbing.

I accidentally took the next photo but I think it’s ethereal and pretty. My dog and my sweater kind of match!

Happy Knitting!!

Progressing To The Second Color

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So after showing you AAAALLLLL kinds of neutral beige looking sweaters all week I had to show you the crazy color progression on my Progression Shawl. I just added the second color.

This mini set takes me right from a berry pink color to a highlighter yellow and black color. These two mini skeins are the starkest of contrast in the set. So I hemmed and hawed and then decided to “fade” them as I added the second color. With this shawl being garter it worked out pretty well. And I guessed pretty well with yardage and only have a tiny tiny ball of pink left over.

I’m not sure how much work this will see now that I have both my sweaters either at the sleeves or separated for the sleeves. I feel like if I can give them some good love that I could have two finished sweaters really soon. Not to mention the Pigskin Party 2019 is coming right around the corner and WIPs don’t count for those imaginary point…

Happy Knitting!!