Tag Archives: WIP

Choosing Buttons

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I raided (with permission) my mom’s button stash in my sewing room for buttons for PB’s second sporty cardigan.

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I came out with two nice grey/black neutral options. My mom suggested putting them in the button holes to really get a feel for what they would look like. She’s pretty smart you know. The ones on the left have a nice two toned look that I dig. But the ones on the right have a little bit of smoothness and sheen. I’m letting myself sleep on it but I’m kinda leaning towards the ones on the left.

What do you think?

Whoosh Went The Sleeves

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I have been binge watching old 90s and 2000s television cop shows after the kids go to bed. And thanks to Psych and Diagnosis Murder I managed to knit the crap out of some sleeves!

I weighed my remaining yarn after finishing the button bands on PB’s second sporty cardigan. And I KNEW I didn’t have enough to make decent sleeves. So I considered my options and I decided to extend the garter ridges from the yoke into the sleeves. Then I took the remainder of my two colors and split them into two even sets by weight. One for each sleeve.

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I was kinda tired and just winging it. After six garter ridges with associated decreases I thought it looked good (and I was tired of purling, to be honest). This was of course not having any idea how far my striped colors would get me. So I knit the two colors until I ran out of each color. What resulted….well, elbow length sleeves at best.

I thought about ripping back and adding more garter ridges to make full sleeves but I honestly didn’t want to think about burning precious knitting time redoing it. This sweater will look perfectly adorable over long sleeves peaking out or just as elbow length sleeves. Kids get sleeves really grubby anyway…I’m just saving myself laundry duty!

Happy Knitting!!

Then Come The Button Bands

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In pretty quick succession I managed to add the button bands to PB’s second sporty cardigan.

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I was eminently pleased to finish both bands with a decent amount of the lighter color left. As a knitter I am still working on making my button bands better and perfect my picked up stitches. This sweater may not be my best outing. But it’s done and they match and PB will never ever notice.

Plus I’m kinda hoping blocking does me some good with this 1×1 rib by evening it out and stretching it so the sweater doesn’t pull in. I know from the first sweater that I have a decent shot at this. For this second sweater I made more button holes and put them closer together. I’m hoping this makes for more customization in this sweater on a growing wiggling baby.

The only thing is that that my top two button holes aren’t as evenly spaced as the rest. I’m going to call this an unintentional design feature and roll with it, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

 

WIP Wednesday: Easy Peasy Triangular Scarf

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Good Wednesday morning, I wanted to pop in and show you my Easy Peasy Triangular Scarf progress.

Knitting with the ramen yarn is still kinda kooky but I don’t mind it. And I have the pattern in my head now. I just have one stitch marker to remind me to work the faux icord edge thingy.

And with the growth I’m really starting to see the yarn colors start to play. I have progressed through the primarily pink and I’m getting oranges and purples popping in and out. The best part of this project is that Jellybean likes to sit with me and I let him help pull the yarn out of the sock blank. Very slowly and carefully of course! It delights him to no end that he can just go ‘riiiiiippp’ and mommy has yarn to knit with. This project will have good memories for sure!

Happy Knitting!!

A Whole New Knitting Level

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Warning: This post contains some ridiculous #momlife truth and sneaking knitting tricks….

One of my Big Bang Vanilla socks has a heel….despite a dastardly knot in the heel yarn. I put my big girl pants on and decided to cut the yarn and take out the knot and just have a couple more ends to weave in. I couldn’t bear the thought of feeling a knot or join on the heel of my sock. And it worked and I have a lovely contrasting heel complete!

Some of you are thinking….what about the mom truth and the sneaky knitting? Well as you might surmise from the photo backdrop….I knit the last of this heel in my master bathroom while PB slept. Yep….I legit sat on the lid of the toilet listening to a podcast and carving out some knitting time. The bathroom was close enough PB won’t cry from being left alone and it has light to see what I’m doing without waking up PB. It wasn’t super comfortable or my finest knitting moment…..but it was the self care time I needed and I have one finished sock! I am pretty sure this takes my knitting (and mothering) to a whole new level. But what mom hasn’t hidden from her kids in the bathroom a time or two??

I did have a sort of bummer. No….those aren’t the new Flexi-Flip needles. They are horribly bent cheap aluminum needles from Joanns. This project went to work with me a few times and was in my backpack a time or two. Not real sure how they got bent but I’m guessing someone either stepped on them or sat on them. I’m not heartbroken as they are under $10 at Joanns and I have several sets of size 1 DPN needles anyway. I can just use the two remaining good needles from sock #1 and get this bad boy finished up. Fingers crossed…

Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: PB’s Sporty Cardigan #2

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Well even after my greatest attempt to screw this up, I made it through the raglan increases on PB’s second Sporty Cardigan.

With this second attempt I didn’t even count my stitches in the various sections when I divided for the sleeves. I just put all the stitches between the markers on holders and figured I can fudge any extra or missing stitches later. I’m the boss remember?  The Knit Picks Comfy sport is definitely a little rounder yarn than the Frabjous Fibers sport. But honestly I don’t care, this will be cute a sheep’s nose regardless!

I’ve started striping in the Frabjous Fibers yarns. I plan to knit the body to pattern and then add the button bands. The sleeves….well they will be determined by how yarn I have left in what colors, lol. But this should be a great satisfying “use up most of the yarn” kind of sweater!

Happy Knitting!!

Knots Are Not Cool

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I know it’s to be expected in commercial yarn….but darn it….knots are infuriating! I am working on the heels for my Big Bang Vanilla Socks and I hit a huge knot.

My heel yarn is some Deborah Norville Serenity Sock. It’s a nice soft workhorse yarn. A lot like Knit Picks Felici and the colors don’t bleed like some other commercial mainstream brands. I was knitting in bed last night (hence the bad flash photography on my comforter) and decided to put this WIP in a mini timeout until I decide how to deal with the knot.

Harrumph…..I mean Happy Knitting!!

Oh Yarn Balls

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You guys….baby brain and sleep deprivation are a real thing. I’m back to work (and I take PB with me) and I feel like I run ALL DAY LONG. I am happy with my choice but boy is it a different way to work. It definitely has it ups and downs. I have found myself doing the silliest things.

Case in point….PB’s Sporty Cardigan #2….I picked this up and merrily knitted during a nap. I thought I knew where where I was but that was a bald faced lie. I started doing my increases on the wrong side of the work. And after three garter bumps my issue became apparent. I literally exclaimed “Oh Yarn Balls” to the bewilderment of my hubby.

I took a deep breath and told myself I was the boss of my knitting. I knew that this would bother me and I really needed to fix it. So I pulled out some fingering waste yarn and put in a lifeline where the work was correct. And then….I ripped out the needles and frogged.

I was totally racing the clock of PB’s naptime. But I managed to get all the needles back in the stitches without too much headache before PB woke up.

I was quite pleased with myself and I know I’ll be happier with the finished product. I’m just mad I lost an ENTIRE nap time worths of progress on this baby sweater to a stupid sleep deprived mistake. I literally ended back right where I started. I guess the silver lining is that even when crazy tired I can still read my knitting….after a few row anyway, lol

Happy Knitting!!

 

Cast On: Easy Peasy Triangular Scarf

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I bit the bullet and decided to cast on one of my wishful knitting ideas.

I pulled out my Nickie’s Knots sparkle sock blank and after much deliberation decided to use the pattern for which this yarn was designed for. It’s called the Easy Peasy Triangular Scarf and the pattern is not listed on Ravelry. But I had a copy of the pattern from the dyer/designer. I initially started from the wrong end of the blank but I quickly remedied that.  The pattern is pretty easy to memorize and incorporates a faux i-cord edge on on side. Otherwise it’s all garter stitch and simple increases.

Working with ramen like yarn is a new experience but not altogether unpleasant. I’m a good chunk of the way into this and I don’t hate it, so I’m going to keep going. I really like the sparkle and how the subtle yarn variegation is showing up. It will be interesting to see how this crinkly looking project will look after a good bath when it relaxes into it’s new form.

Happy Knitting!!

Big Bang Tubes

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My bedtime knitting time has lead to some (almost) finished socks. My Big Bang Vanilla Socks are officially complete tubes!

I’m just beyond tickled pink that they match exactly. Turtlepurl yarns is a genious and an amazing dyer. I have some big box store solid red yarn on hand for the afterthought heels. I just need some good light and uninterrupted knitting time to get them started. But those two things are a precious commodity these days. Time will tell….

Happy Knitting!!