Tag Archives: WIP

Cast On: Daunt Cowl

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Jellybean had his nasal procedure this week. This was preceded by much anxiety and worry by me the mother. He took the whole mess like a champ and fingers crossed he will be able to breath much better going forward.

I knew we would be sitting around the surgery center for a minute or two so I cast on my Daunt Cowl and started stitching. I managed an inch in under and hour in the waiting room.

I used some leftover bits from my Mom’s Christmas socks for the provisional cast on. I worked two rounds before switching to my live yarn. I contacted Mary of KinoKnits to ask about the pattern. Without giving away the secret sauce, a portion of the cowl involved short rows. And full disclosure I have no problem with short rows. But with my scraps spanning the rainbow the matchy-matchy portion of my brain wanted the thing to be the same all the way around. Mary kindly replied that no problem I could make the modification I wanted and still have a beautiful object.

I also made a what I think is a smart decision. I am working from the outside of the massive cake I wound. For two reason, the first being that my colossal cake wouldn’t collapse halfway done. The second being that working from the outside meant I worked the long stretch of main color solid section first and saved the color changes for last. I fee like this will keep me more motivated in the long run.

Happy Knitting!

Cast On: Jay Jay Shawl

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After finishing Reyna I knew I needed another shawl on the needles. I pawed through my bag of prepped projects and pulled out the Jay Jay Shawl by Francesca Caricato. This is a DK weight shawl with garter and eyelets. My yarn was wound, pattern printed and needles ready to go so I cast on.


Jellybean had a doctors appointment and his flu shot which resulted in a very tired and grumpy three year old. He puppy dog eyed me and convinced me to stay home and snuggle him instead of going to daycare/work. And I managed to get a good chunk of the shawl started!

It’s crescent shaped and gorgeous. The yarn is some REALLY old stash that is Cascade Yarns Sunseeker. It’s grey with a fine thread of sparkle running though. It’s not the softest yarn but oh is it pretty!! I’ve got to two skeins and and I plan to use as much as possible. This might be my next obsession!

Happy Knitting!!

Uh Oh Froggie-O

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My Downpour Socks have been niggling at me from the back of my brain. While I was folding laundry downstairs this past weekend I pulled this WIP out of storage. And it hit me….I cast these on in the WRONG NUMBER OF STITCHES. I was in Colorado when I did it…I’m going to blame the altitude.

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So these beauties are headed to the frog pond. I guess the silver lining is that a) I’ll have socks that actually fit me and I won’t be forced to gift them and b) I can restart them and they will count for the #dcspigskinparty17 KAL.

Le Sigh….more knitting I guess!

WIP Wednesday: Reyna

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It’s confession time….I’m ADDICTED to this project. My Reyna is now over halfway done!

I literally wake up in the middle of the night and seriously consider knitting on this project. I’ve been knitting during meetings, over my lunch, every spare minute I’m not in charge of Jellybean. The pattern is just so intuitive and the fact that the pattern has neat little boxes to tick off your row progress is heaven. I just can’t wait to cross off more squares! I haven’t knit a stitch on anything else since I cast this on.

And *knock on wood* I haven’t made any serious mistakes that I couldn’t fix. All my eyelets are lining up and my center spine is straight! I’m hoping that maybe, just maybe I can finish this by Friday…..we’ll see!

Happy Knitting!!

HO Friday: Mom’s Christmas Socks

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With some personal perseverance and some Knitflixing, I finished the leg of the first sock for my Mom’s Christmas Socks!

I am using size 2 needles and my mom wears a size 8/8.5 US women’s shoe. I cast on and worked 66 stitches for the foot to get the circumference where I needed it. Right before the heel I decreased away two stitches to get the count to 64 to make the heel turn work. And then after the heel I went back to 66 stitches for the leg. And finally before the cuff I increased up to 68 stitches for both roominess and to make by 2×2 rib work. I’m just so please with this sock! I managed the whole sock in roughly a week and a week that involved a lot of sleep deprivation!

The sock fits me nicely as well. I’m a size longer than my mother but my foot is not a wide. So I feel like the fabric is very forgiving will conform to the foot very well. Now I just need to make sure I cast on the second sock and get a cooking. I’m hoping to get this finished so I can enter into the 12monthstoXmas KAL, the Pigskin Party KAL, and possibly the Double Dip KAL by the Bede Sisters Podcast.

Happy Knitting!!

WIP Wednesday: Mom’s Christmas Socks

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As I mentioned before the hubby took Jellybean for the weekend this past weekend and I was FREE! I also happened to have a weekend get-together with some coworkers at a local vineyard winery. My coworkers know I’m weird and if they didn’t know….they do now! I took my Mom’s Christmas Socks with me because I had just literally turned the heel the night before. You guys….I got almost four inches of leg done despite partaking in Wine Slushes and generous sampling! It was just so amazingly soul restoring to laugh, knit and just enjoy the company of others. I definitely don’t do that enough!

My coworkers were so gobsmacked that I could knit without looking. And they thought I was counting and manually making the pattern appear. (I did break that illusion by showing them the yarn ball but they were still duly impressed.) These print yarns from Cascade Heritage are just my favorite go-to gift knit yarns. The patterns are amazing, the fabric is pleasing and they are easy care for non-knitters! I hoping to knock out the rest of the leg and cuff this week. Stay tuned!

Happy Knitting!!

Into Hibernation: Part Three

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Today I bring you the last installment of all the WIPs going into hibernation because of the Pigskin Party KAL.

Today we have Mitred Square Memory Blanket. These past couple of months I have really been able to bust out a lot of new squares. I’m happy that I purchased sharper metal tipped needles. The join still catches once in awhile but I can live with that. I really just can’t get over how crazy pretty the mix of all these yarns are. This will be the WIP I miss the most…

Into Hibernation: Part Two

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Today I bring you the second WIP going into hibernation due to the Pigskin Party KAL. These are my Vacation Vanilla socks. I finally made myself make a decision about where to place the cuff and finished the first sock.

I have to admit this project was created sort of on the fly. I was on vacation this summer and needed another project on the needles after finishing the one that I had packed. So I had the yarn shop wind this right up and I cast on a vanilla sock with the needles I had on hand. They are size 0s which are not what I usually make socks on. But this yarn seemed on the lighter side of fingering and I went up to 72 stitches to compensate. But as I was knitting those niggling thoughts kept creeping in that this sock looked very skinny for my big girl feet.

Well turns out I skated through by the skin of my teeth. The foot fits beautifully as does the heel. But the leg is a wee bit snug. These will not fall down for sure. I did increase three stitches every inch or so as I went up the leg. You can sort of see my increases in the photo above. I’m so glad I did and honestly it could have stood a couple more. The fabric is really stretched at the top of the leg and cuff.

But if anyone is that close to my foot so as to notice that detail of the fabric they are going to get a foot to the face, lol. As with my Drunken Watermelon socks I did go ahead and cast on the toe of the second sock and get started in the round. These will be my “emergency movie theatre or spontaneous car trip knitting” if I happen to need an easy vanilla project.

Happy Knitting!!

Into Hibernation: Part One

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The Down Cellar Studio Pigskin Party KAL is here and sadly WIPs don’t count. I tried like the dickens to finish up all my WIPs before the knit-a-long started but alas I was not successful. So a few of my projects are going to have to go into hibernation.

First up is my, Strands of Drunken Watermelon socks….

As you can see I finished the first sock. I think it looks beautiful with this combination of yarn and pattern. I was feeling the time crunch and really just wanted to be done so I worked the pattern a few time for the leg and added the cuff. I’m usually disappointed when I make decisions like these. But I think the sock fits great and it’s really an okay length. And I only had a small ball of yarn left…I promise.

The sock has 72 stitches which is big even for my size 9/10 US feet. But the slipped stitch fabric really pulls in and tightens up the sock. The gusset heel also fits nicely around my big girl feet. I haven’t tried a short row heel yet but the gusset heel fits the best out of all the others I have tried so far.

I did cast on and establish the pattern for sock number two before putting these into hibernation. Well hibernation might be an overstatement. These went back into my desk drawer for “back up emergency conference call and webinar knitting”. They will probably get worked on here and there but won’t receive any concerted focus until after the KAL ends.

Happy Knitting!!

Cuff Decision

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I had been working my Vacation Vanilla Socks from a single wound skein. Normally I split my yarn into two equal cakes for matching socks so I don’t have to guess or measure during the knitting. I was far enough with the first sock that I weighed and pulled out enough yarn to get half and then cut.


I had a quite a large ball of yarn left to finish this first sock. I kept going up the leg and ball didn’t shrink much. I’m at decision point….keep going up the leg or start the cuff.


I need to measure with a ruler. My eyeballs say “that’s far enough” but arguably they aren’t always reliable, lol. I hate making decisions when I feel the pull of “just get this project done”. This project needs to percolate a bit I think.

Happy Knitting!!