FO Friday: Sally Hat

My crafting fervor has been growing as the temperatures are dropping. I swear I started this Sally Hat and then looked down and it was done!

Pattern: My own 88 stitch beanie “recipe”

Needles: US 8s

Yarn: Geektastic Fibers Star Worsted in the Sally colorway

I really don’t measure these hats anymore. I just eyeball the height or slip it on my head to see how far down it comes past my ears. And then I start the decreases. I am getting fairly predictable where I use 75% of the skein. This one was 76 grams or 145 yards.

I did use a folded brim. But with the self-striping yarn, it’s hard to see. And these stripes were fascinating as they were definitely micro stripes. The colors were always changing and maybe that is why this knit so fast?

Let’s talk about this pom pom. The ladies vending Geektastic at SSK really upsold me on this. I didn’t really look to buy it but it looks GREAT with this hat. It adds whimsy to the chaos. It just ties in with strings so I can remove as necessary very easily.

As for this new to me yarn, I would 10 out of 10 knit with again! Happy Knitting!!

Neon Yellow

My Prism Socks have progressed to the Y in the ROYGBIV sequence. Doing them in tandem is definitely working when I am working self striping yarn.

This is String Theory Colorworks Inertia base so it is nice and round and full. I can fully see all nice neat V stitches. These have been living in my work back pack for work and car knitting. So they grow slowly but growing nonetheless.

I do think these wooden needles are on their last legs but they should have a few pairs left in them! Happy Knitting!!

Sock Planning

I finished my Leftover Advent Socks last week and my Sport Ankle Socks are super close to done as well. This meant I felt compelled to dig further into my yarn stash for my next sock projects!

I kind of dig the process of having both a self striping sock on the needles and a variegated sock on the needles. In this stash dive, I pulled a rainbow strip from String Theory Colorworks in their Inertia base. I’ll cast on my standard 68 stitch toe up sock tube with afterthought heel.

For the GingerSnap skein I think I will do contrasting toes and cuffs and the main sock in a toe up sock with gusset heel. I am going to pay attention and recalibrate the foot from my Ankle sock mis-measurement. Now I just need some free time to wind these skeins!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: 2023 Leftover Advent Socks

Happy Friday!! I have some shiny new socks!

Pattern: My own 68 stitch “recipe” for toe up sock tubes and afterthought heel

Needles: US 1s

Yarn: The Cozy Knitter 2023 advent skein and Knitted Wit Smartie in Carbon

Working these toe up means I have used up every last inch of this beautiful self striping. And I got the full rainbow in before casting off. The ribbing could have been started soon but it’s close enough.

In total with the self striping and the contrast heel, the socks weigh 75 grams and used about 280 yards of yarn. The mini skein had a teeny tiny ball left but was almost completely used up.

It took me way to long to finish these but I’m happy to start beefing up my shortie sock stash in my drawer for next winter!

Happy Knitting!!

Tubes On The Go

My leftover socks got some windshield time during a recent spring break vacation. We took the kiddos skiing for the first time and they had fun and I discovered I am SUPER out of shape for skiing.

These will definitely be shorties. I have 4-5 stripes left before I run out of yarn. After some quick math, I will do one more round of plain stockinette and then finish the rest of the yarn in ribbing. I do like working these in tandem so that I avoid second sock syndrome!

I still haven’t done any stash diving to find heel yarn. The plan is to cut in afterthought heels with a contrast. The original advent socks used white but I will see what I have in stash that is comparable to this base.

Happy Knitting!!

Teeny Toe

I have been focused on my 2023 Christmas Eve cast on socks, but my Advent Leftover Socks saw a little daylight this week thanks to an evening work meeting.

I think I added two color stripes during the 2 hour meeting? I did have to do some typing and working depending on the topic. I am keeping my socks from tangling by using skein sleeve aka ball sacks. This really helps to keep things tidy when these just get tossed into my backpack.

It’s been SUPER cold this month and I have been using lots of wool socks. I have found a flaw in my current sock mix. I have been wearing more skinny jeans and leggings and I don’t have nearly enough short wool socks to pair with them. My mid calf socks kinda ruin the vibe. So these socks will definitely be knit as shorties!

Happy Knitting!!

2023 KirbyWirby Friends Advent Socks

May I present my 2023 KirbyWirby Friends Advent Socks as a delightful FO! They are toasty my tootsies by a roaring fire.

Pattern: My own 72 stitch toe up vanilla sock “recipe” with afterthought heel

Yarn: KirbyWirby Old Faithful Sock in 2023 Friends Advent

Needles: US1s

Mods: I upped my stitch count from 68 to 72 and probably didn’t need to. There is very little negative ease and the heels came out loose/big. But they are serviceable enough.

These came out as ankle socks instead of calf high socks. Which is fine as it adds variety to my sock drawer. The finished object used 62 grams or 280 yards of this yarn kit. That is for both contrast color and self striping. I completely used up the contrast but I may 1.5 repeats of the stripes left? With how I wound my original skeins to be able to start with the same color I am left with one large-ish ball and two small balls.

I don’t think I will attempt to make another matching pair of socks. They would be VERY short. I might think about putting these in my scrap blanket or maybe a pair of mitts? I’ll let that idea marinate for awhile. For now I’m going to snuggle with my new socks!

Happy Knitting!!

To The Finish Line

I made it to Christmas Eve and all 24 stripes on each of my advent socks. I was smart and worked ahead and added the heels a few days before Christmas. Now they just need cuffs!

The KirbyWirby Friends Advent is on the left. I had the teensiest ball of the teal contrast left. So I unwound it, found both ends and doubled it over to find the middle. I wanted to take what scraps I had left and split them evenly across the two socks. The stripes on this dyer are smaller therefore resulted in shorter socks

The CozyKnitter 2023 advent is on the right. These produced much taller socks and more normal for my sock drawer. I have plenty of the cream contrast so I don’t need to split the remainder.

Due to how I chose to construct these, I will have a ton of ends to weave in. I’ll have to muster up a glass of wine and plow through those when my cuffs are done….

Happy Knitting!!

2023 Advent Update

A little toasty update to my 2023 advent socks!

The pair on the left are my Cozy Knitter advent and are for sure coming out in a rainbow. Its beyond gorgeous but sometimes late in the evening the subtle fade is hard to detect. Still so happy with it and wouldn’t change a thing!

The pair on the right are my KirbyWirby advent and its Friends themed. These stripes are random but still cohesive. These stripes are smaller than the other advent and will result in shorter socks. And that’s okay, I’m fine with executing the dyers vision

I will try to sneak in one more update before Christmas on these. I’m so stoked to have two new socks for the season!