Tag Archives: WIP

Warming Up My Crochet Muscles

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After my craft project purge, I found the inspiration to keep picking up this long languishing blanket project.

I am having to warm up my crochet muscles a bit. This is super bulky yarn and a big hook so I have to take breaks to avoid soreness and injury. But so far I have crocheted through the first skein of Bernat Blanket and I’m starting the second.

I’m having a little trouble maintaining good edges. One side is okay and the other is a bit wonky. But I’m going to keep moving forward and it will be blanket-like in the end. I have no recipient in mind, I’m just enjoying getting this yarn out of my stash and having a “new to me” project to work on.

Happy Crafting!!

Long Languishing Blanket

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This was a blanket that Ravelry tells me I started in May 2016 and frogged in September 2017. But I didn’t actually rip it out so I’m just going to keep going. I unearthed it during my craft room organization. This makes this project older than PB….

Back in 2016/2017 I was big into crocheting these super bulky blankets for gifts and presents. They are quick to work up and make nice cozy blankets. If memory serves this was going to be for my friend’s baby boy but I didn’t get it done in time so he just got a onsie and some diapers. So the blanket didn’t have a deadline anymore and was resigned to the long term storage tote. I then promptly forgot about it.

I think I am going to see if I can finish this blanket to put in my gift bin or perhaps let PB and Jellybean have it for their dolls and monsters to swaddle them?

Happy Crafting!!

Radiate Ribbing

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Can I get a hallelujah and an amen? I have finished the body of my Radiate and i’m starting the hem ribbing.

I added an extra inch and a half to the body length than the pattern asked for. I know I want to block the body out a bit wider for a nice sweatshirt style fit. So that means I am going to eat into the length a bit even with super wash yarn that is likely to grow. I want my finished sweater to fall at my hip line

One other modification I made is to turn the hem into a split hem. Being a women with robust hips and waist I really like how the split hem allows a garment to stretch and lay nicely on my body. I think I am close to finishing the back hem. My plan is to knit the front hem to be a bit shorter to create a mild high/low effect.

Fingers crossed this goes quickly! Happy Knitting!!

A Half Finished Rainbow

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Thanks to slow and steady progress I have my first finished Retro Rainbow vanilla socks made from MustStash self striping yarn.

I finished the afterthought heel. I have a pretty deep instep so I modify the afterthought heel to fit. If anyone is interested the recipe I use is on this Ravelry page. This go around wasn’t my neatest pick up and some of the stitches are stretched pretty hard. I may have to do some rearranging or reinforcing after I block these socks.

I avoided second sock syndrome my immediately casting on the second one. I knit about three or four stripes on the winery date with my husband. So I have a good start on the second sock.

Starting Over

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Even with my decreased knitting mojo, I have been making decent progress on my DK Ripple Bralet. I completed the body and the shaping for the first strap. The pattern specifically tells you to knit with negative ease. So I chose an appropriate pattern size for my bust measurement BUT I didn’t gauge swatch. That was a poor choice.

When I slipped this sweater on to see how long I needed the straps to be….it was beyond sausage casing tight. It was completely unwearable. Even my husband could tell and raised an eyebrow at me, sigh.

Cue the sad violins…because this is what my bralet looks like now. I ripped that sucker right out. The good news was that I hadn’t gotten far enough to wear I needed to cut the yarn. So I still have one full complete skein.

I did measure my gauge before ripping so now I know I need to go up two full pattern sizes to get a fitting garment. So I’m choosing to think of that first attempt as a REALLY complicated swatch. I haven’t gotten around to re-casting on again. I hope that isn’t a bad sign. Maybe this project just needed a good cooling off period?

Happy Knitting!!

Date Knitting

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The COVID situation isn’t really getting any better in my region of Kansas so my family and I are really limited in what we feel safe doing. And that has led us all to feel a little cooped up and grumpy. But I was able to find a great babysitter inside our “bubble” and I convinced the hubby to drive me out to my favorite local winery, Prairie Fire Winery, for our first outside the house date in 6 months.

The owners are extremely careful with sanitation and social distancing so I feel safe there. And on weekends they have live music outdoors. We grabbed our masks, my knitting and had some wine in the shade while we listened to a couple of very talented local musicians. I tasted some very yummy Traminette and a semi dry Vignoles varietal.

There was something very soothing about watching the prairie grass wave in the wind and knit round and round on my Retro Rainbow vanilla sock. Also, the hubby got pooped on by a bird….twice…I couldn’t stop laughing. May have lost some wife points over that one, oh well!

Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: DK Ripple Bralet

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My DK Ripple Bralet grows apace. I have completed the main body section and working what I think will become the top band?

I have to be honest, I only skimmed through the pattern before starting. So I really don’t know what is happening. I’m just blissfully doing what the pattern tells me. And right now that is 1.5 inches two different kinds of ribbing, one for the front and one for the back.

Surely this will end well right?

A Retro Rainbow Heel

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I’ve been plugging away at my Retro Rainbow socks as my go-to “waiting” project. I finally got a tube tall enough that I decided to thread in some needles for my afterthought heel.

I’m going to use yarn from the inside of the cake to make the heel. I want to see how much yarn I have left the cuff after that point. I want to make good sized socks. But I’m not going to lie…I also want this beautiful MustStash yarn in my memories blanket. So it’s all about yarn management over here!

Happy Knitting

P.S. This is the Retro Rainbow colorway on MustStash standard sock 😉

Office Upgrades and Sweater Progress

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I am back to working some days from home every week and school is gearing up to start in a Phase II capacity which means at least three days of home school for Jellybean. And I have been in a bit of a rut. So I decided to ask the hubby to help me rearrange my home office. I ordered an ergonomic keyboard and mouse and moved the monitors around to the center of the desk. It feels much more “officey” this way and it made me feel more engaged. And I made space for Jellybean to work on the backside of my monitors in his own “school space”.

My go-to conference call knitting right now is the body of my Radiate pullover by Joji Locatelli. The pattern tells me I need 14 inches of body but I feel more comfortable usually in the 17 inch range. So I’m doing that. But that means I still have a ways to go and lots of round and round in stockinette.

I did slip this on to my try-it-on tubing to get a feel for length. This is mainly superwash yarn so I know it will grow but I still have a great deal of knitting to do. Not to mention sleeve island….

Happy Knitting!!

Any Tape Measure Will Do

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My knitting mojo has seen a little hiccup as I have been busting out home improvement projects lately. I’m still working on my DK Ripple Bralet as a wind down before bed project.

I did not end up using the Old Norwegian Cast on. Instead I found Tillybuddy’s Very Stretchy Cast-on for Double and Single Ribbing. It was much easier on my brain and seems to be sufficiently stretchy.

I am through 1×1 twisted rib and into the ribbed body. I needed to determine how far I was into the body but I didn’t have a knitting tape measure. But luckily my home improvement jag had a real deal tape measure laying around. Any tape measure will do right?

Happy Knitting!!