I sat down the other day and realized how close my 2020 Advent Socks were to being done. I had finished both heels and scooted right up the leg.
So I have connected the eighth and final mini skein from my 2020 Christmas Advent calendar. I will finish off these socks with some 2×2 ribbing until I run out of this mini. Overall, I’m digging the mix of colors in these calendar. They do look very scrappy but intentional.
Now if you do the math….I have used 8 mini skeins out of 24 so there are 16 left to do something with. If I follow the same “recipe” I could make two more pairs of scrappy socks. Which I may very well do, but not right away. Or maybe I let these percolate for a bit?
My sock drawer is starting to get very fully. I may need to start knitting socks for other people again!
In full honesty, this is done but not washed or blocked. My hat knitting mojo is strong and I think I want to crank out a bunch of hats for knitting practice and to give out as gifts throughout the year. I will do one massive block and wash once I have a few piled up, fingers crossed anyway.
Pattern: None, just an 88 stitch beanie with decreases made up on the fly
Needles: US 8s
Yarn: Lilliput Yarn Woof Worsted in Chasing Cars colorway
Mods: none because I just made this up.
I knit this thing thing in basically four evenings over nine days. It was super quick especially with worsted weight yarn and teaching myself to flick. I used up 81 grams of yarn or roughly 176 yards. I have a decent nugget leftover for my leftovers pile.
The variegated yarn played really well with the overall stitch count but also with the decreases. I never saw one peek of flashing or pooling. I would absolutely get and use more of this yarn in the future. It was great to knit with and makes a beautiful finished product.
My hat mojo is staying strong this week. I have plowed through several inches of hat this week and I’m now ready for the crown decreases on my Learning to Flick Hat.
I think there might be something to this flicking thing making me a faster knitting with the knit stitch. I think I knocked out about five inches of hat in two evenings worth of bedtime knitting.
I’m using the super scientific eyeball method to determine when to start the decreases. This is paired with looking my ball of yarn and trying to decide if I have enough to get to the end, lol. But mostly when I fold up the brim it looks like I have really decent warm hat that will fit the average adult.
Maybe if I get some decent knitting time tonight I can have a FO tomorrow?
Oops, I also went on an accidental yarn crawl this weekend while with my mom. My mom needed to pick up her BOM (block of the month) quilt packs from a quilt shop that is sponsoring a remote quilt along. Not only did this fabric store carry yarn….there was a full fledge yarn shop on the way to the fabric shop.
Our first stop was Stitch and Chatter in Stockton KS. It was an bright and fun little shop with a small yarn selection in the back. I ended up coming away with two vegan pompoms, some KFI painted sock and six KFI minis for heels, toes and cuffs. Everyone was masked it was nice to peruse the almost empty shop because we got there right at opening.
Next up was the Shepherd’s Mill in Phillipsburg KS. This is a yarn shop AND working mill. They mill custom yarns for their shop as well as mill yarn for other fiber producers. There are long windows so you can see the mill working even. Of course we were there on a Saturday and they only mill during the week.
But I came away with quite the yarn haul. Starting in the top left I got some Lanaloft worsted weight in a camo colored single for another stockinette hat. Then I picked up a 2 ply fingering weight yarn that has mohair blended with wool, alpaca and nylon (grey). Next up are two skeins worsted weight for more beanie hats. The red/purple one is a 3 ply marled worsted while the teal skeins is a 2 ply tonal worsted.
Next up, at the bottom, are some custom gradients. The dark blue/purple is a 2 ply fingering gradient with alpaca, rayon, wool and nylon. And the pink skein, which my mom picked out for a hat, is a 2 ply DK yarn made of wool and nylon.
I really want to go back to this shop when we have more time. They offer classes and aren’t a bad distance from my parents house. I want to take some in person spinning classes after my vaccine and while I have childcare. I’m so excited I almost can’t wait!
The super slouch Hat for Dad is done, washed and ready to head out the door. I made a left turn after I finished this hat. It’s not going to be for my dad. It’s going to my daycare provider as she is starting 18 weeks of chemo and going to lose all her hair. She needs this worse than my dad and I just want to wrap her in wooly hugs.
Pattern: None, just a basic 88 stitch worsted weight beanie
Yarn: Lilliput Yarn in Woof Worsted in the Man’s Best Friend Colorway
Needles: US 8s
Mods: None because I made up the hat as I went, lol.
This hat turned out to be a SUPER slouch when used with single brim. But is a nice beanie with the brim folded double. I ended with 11 gram leftover, so a nice sized ball. The hat only took 89 grams or 194 yards. So my prediction was correct…winging it made me have a decent chunk of yarn leftover, lol.
I’m still proud of this hat and I’m itching to get another one on the needles. I have a second skein of this Lilliput yarn in the Chasing Cars colorway that I think will be next up on the needles.
I am into the fifth color on my 2020 Advent Socks and I am SUPER happy that I am doing these in tandem. It’s going to feel so good to cast off the cuffs and have a finished pair of socks!
I have the first heel finished all the way and I’m into the decreases on the second sock. I think I should be able to fit about three more minis into these socks before the cuff. Who knows….maybe I will go crazy and make tall socks. Who am I kidding, it likely depend on how tired I am by the time I finish the legs.
Dad’s hat is swimming right along. This has been great knit night knitting and zoom meeting knitting.
I am not following any kind of pattern. I have 88 stitches and I’m just knitting what feels good. No clue how many inches of ribbing, no clue how long I’ll make the hat portion and no pre-plan for the crown decreases. I’ve been knitting long enough that I’m comfortable with just winging it.
The only thing I do want to try to do is use as much yarn as possible. But I feel like that is a chuckle waiting to happen since I’m winging it. I firmly believe I will either be wildly over or under and either run out or have a ton left. Time will tell, lol.
My sock yarn memory blanket has seen some recent daylight. It if officially “squared off” again as I just completed a full row.
I counted and I officially have 165 squares! It fits comfortably across my lap with lots of fabric to spare on either side. I still think I will make it wider but for now I’m going to focus on length.
Some of my more recent square additions include yarn from my Into the Light and Retro Rainbow Vanilla socks. I am still sort of planning my squares. I don’t put self striping next to self striping or solid next to solid. But it’s getting harder and hard to do that the bigger this thing gets. The good news is that it really doesn’t matter as their is enough color in this blanket that it all kind of blends.
I finished turning the heel on my Zoom meeting project. My first Toxic Oreo sock now has a heel!
I’m really happy with how evenly the speckles spread out as I increased the number of stitches in the heel. And I’m now I’m set up to just keep working up the leg. This is now PERFECT meeting knitting. And the Lemonade Shop yarn is just the perfect bright pick-me-up to the winter grey and gloom.
I needed some easy peasy no concentration knitting after I finished my Into The Light shawl. I decided to cast on a generic worsted weight beanie for my dad.
I cast on 88 stitches in the round on a US 8 needle and started 2×2 ribbed brim. I will work the brim until it looks good enough and then switch to stockinette. I think I want a decent amount of ribbing so the brim can be folded double for extra warmth.
The yarn is some recently obtained Lilliput Yarn in her Woof Worsted. This blue color is her Man’s Best Friend colorway. I’m really pleased with the variagation and subtle tones that are playing out as this knits up. We will see if I get any pooling or flashing as I keep going.
My Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventures 