Tag Archives: WIP

Almost There

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By the grace of a three hour car trip with the hubby driving and a minivan with a DVD player….I have a finished hat! (It really did take me all of 2.5 hours to do crown decreases because the tiny humans kept demanding snacks, toys and other nonsense.) This is my Modified Barley I started for conference knitting last week. I took the tiny humans to see the grandparents and to attend my hometown Fall Fest. It worked out well for my knitting.

This blurry awkward car selfie is the best I have right now. I finished the decreases and it promptly got sorted to the bottom of my knitting bag. I’ll see if I can dig out some better FO photos this week.

I did snag a pretty awesome sunset knitting photo. I was working the last few decrease rounds as we rode off into the sunset. It’s fall harvest in Kansas so the air is full of dust and dirt. Makes it REAL hard on the allergies but the most gorgeous yellow and orange displays of mother nature.

Happy Knitting!!

Growing Zen

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I reached the next checkpoint in my Zen Yarn Garden Baby Blanket. I finished up the stripes and got into the solid red chunk that will be in the middle. I’m feeling pretty proud considering I had knit a partial blanket that was too small, ripped that back and started again, just to get back to the point I was at when I pulled it all back.

This bright pop of red is just SOOOO much and I love it. It really livens up the neutral quality of navy and black.

The semi-bad part is that I’m now solid on red section island. No stripe changes to keep my interest, its all just knitting until I run out of red yarn. We shall see how well this goes…..

Cast On: Modified Barley

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I recently attended an annual conference for one of the professional organizations I belong to. It was two solid days hanging out in ballrooms listening to speakers. I have been knitting a lot on large sweaters lately and didn’t have a ton of “grab and go” knitting available to me. I had to do some stash diving and get something going just for “travel” knitting.

The night before the conference I hand wound a skein of worsted weight yarn and grabbed a set of interchangeable needles. This was a recent purchase of Plymouth Yarn Worsted Merino Superwash in the Lipstick colorway. I managed to establish the ribbing before walking into the first day of lectures. And then I quietly knit in my lap or under the table and this was my progress at the end of two days! I used the basic stitch count and sizing of the Barley hat from Tin Can Knits and just omitted the garter section.

It’s kind of hard to see squished up under the conference table but that is two inches of ribbing and about five inches of hat. I had a new-ish coworker with me and she was duly impressed. I think just a few more evening of knitting time and I will have a hat for my gift stash!

I also attended Schmancy cocktail event on the first night. I couldn’t help but snag a photo of the most grown up thing I have done in a dozen fortnights. I got to enjoy a good glass of red coupled with tasty hor’dourves in a proper bar. And no one wiped their cocktail sauce on me or threw asparagus chunks at me. It was non-mom heaven!!

Happy Knitting!!

Dad’s Last Heel

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By the grace of the knitting gods I an FINALLY nearing the end of my Dad’s socks I planned for his Christmas present. I only started these in February….

The second sock leg is complete and I have started the afterthought heel. I think the last I wrote about this I had just put in waste yarn for the heel. That gave me some motivation to really get cranking. I’m 14 rounds from being done done done. Can you tell I’m a little excited??

One thing I was super pleased by was the clean color transitions at the heel. I managed to get the waste yarn exactly in between the stripe changes. And I managed to start the heel at a point in the color progression where no same colors will touch. My OCD was very pleased indeed.

I’m off to finish this sock, fingers crossed! Happy Knitting!!!

Back to Autumn

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I’m feeling the fall creeping in! The temperatures around Kansas have dipped below 85/90 degrees Fahrenheit and the leaves are turning. On a whim last night I pulled out my Autumn League Pullover and knit a few rounds while catching up old episodes of Squirrel Pie Productions podcast. All I have left to finish is the body and the hem but several inches of both.

It’s nights like these that I’m really missing my knitting buddy. Everyone around here has taken the loss of Dex really well, especially the tiny humans. But I find myself very melancholy at night when I sit down to knit and I can’t hear his snores. This project matched his fur color and it’s making it very hard to want to pick this WIP up.

But I’m choosing to continue this project in his honor and so that I can have a wonderfully cozy Dex colored sweater to keep me company.

Dusting Off The Memory Blanket

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After blocking my Progression Shawl I had enough scraps left of the various colors to knit a square into my memory blanket. And I just couldn’t resist doing it RIGHT away.

It’s kind of cut out of the photo but it’s the newest square towards the top right. This blanket is starting to cover a sizable amount of my king sized bead. And I still have a BUNCH of scraps to work through. I feel like cackling like an evil genius…..

Happy Knitting!!

Blocking My Progression

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I not only finished the knitting of the Progression shawl but I also got Jellybean to help me block it over the weekend! This thing turned out massively long. It barely fits on our guest bed. We affectionately call it “the Star Wars” bed after the quilt my mom made for my husband.

The eyelets opened up so nicely that I didn’t even pin it out. It was so massive to begin with that I just kind of pulled and patted it into shape. I am going to have to get a real tape measure to measure this object because none of my knitting tape measures a not long enough!!

If the kids let me I’m going to try to get FO pictures this week…fingers crossed.

 

Crafting In Chaos

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This is my life. Messy basement, five year old crowding me in my knitting chair, knitting podcast on TV, and knitting in my lap. Not the most ergonomic of positions but I can’t turn down a snuggle…now matter how much he pokes me with his elbow and makes me watch PBS Curious George games.

I’ve add the fifth and final color to my Progression Shawl. It’s the purple end of the fragmented rainbow. Jellybean tells me it’s his favorite. I have a TON of stitches on the needle now so the yarn is disappearing quickly now. I’m optimistic that I can finish this maybe this weekend?

That is unless snuggles get priority. Happy knitting!!

The Second Heel

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It’s October now and Christmas is looming. I need to get the lead out! My dad’s socks have been a rocky project this year but I think I have turned the corner. I just put in the waste yarn for the second heel.

I had the hubby try the first sock on because he has the same foot size as my dad. He thinks the ankle is a little baggy but the foot fits nicely. I’m torn between adding decreases to the second sock. I would then need to pull back and re-knit the first sock. I may just text my dad and ask what he would prefer. Knowing that he never complains about anything. He is probably going to say it’s fine, lol.

Why do I surround myself with such giant men who wear size 13 shoes? That’s just a lot of sock knitting!!

Happy Knitting!!

Zen Yarn Garden Do Over

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I might need to have my accountant card revoked. I had a terrible math fail. I had started my Zen Yarn Garden blanket awhile back and I had knit through three stripes. I was reading my pattern (like I should have done at the outset) and realized I have DOUBLE the yarn than the pattern calls for.

Now if I had kept going I would have a crazy skinny and incredibly long blanket on my hands. Not really what I was going for so I did some research on Ravelry. I found a couple of other projects where other knitters had close to my yardage. So based on their project notes and some math using my gauge, I ripped back my blanket and started over.

This time I cast on nine pattern repeats for a total of 144 stitches. I’m MUCH more happy with this version. Now I’m working through my navy and grey stripes until I use half of those colors by weight.

This squishy blanket just makes my happy and has been my therapy project when I sit down to knit after the kids go to bed. Usually I would snuggle and play with Dex and he would sleep near me while I knit. The nights have been hard for me now that he not with me. I find myself reaching for my knitting for comfort.

What would we do without knitting!?