Tag Archives: WIP

A Much Better Fit

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Sock number two is complete for my Active Vanilla Socks!

The fit is MUCH better. I used 50 stitches and changed the leg to 1×1 ribbing. Otherwise it’s the same toe up vanilla sock with gusset heel I intended to make in the first place.

This sock fabric is pretty thick and don’t fit in my dress boots. But they fit extremely well in my house shoes and snow boots. These will be excellent snuggly warm deep winter socks. And I should be able to find them in the dark they are so bright! Now I just need to start sock number three or re-do sock number one depending on how you look at it.

Happy Knitting!

Mandrake Vanilla Socks

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I currently only have my Active Vanilla Socks on the needles. And that is just not enough!

  I pulled the Mandrake color way from String Theory Colorworks from my box of fingering weight yarn. This is a skein from my 2016 sock experiment and it’s a MCN. Gotta love merino/cashmere/nylon! I’ve divided the skein in half as close as I could while still being able to start with the same colored stripe. As an aside The dyer is fabulous and listed the stripe progression on the label for you!

These will be toe up vanilla socks quite perfect for my purse knitting vacancy. I’m not sure what kind of heel I’ll do yet. The sock will speak to me soon enough! The husband and I had a date night to Hail! Ceasar and I got some serious knitting in. How gorgeous are these stripes!?

  
And for anyone keeping score my husband hated the movie and likes the socks. I however thought the movie was amusing and I’m not sold on the purple stripe.

Happy Knitting!

WIP Wednesday: Active Vanilla Socks  

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I pulled some yarn from my 2016 Sock Experiment to start my next pair of socks! The winner was the Active 6-ply from Regia in eye searing hot pink! I wanted a thick and quick project (relatively speaking for socks).

  
I’m working on size 3US needles over 60 stitches for a toe up vanilla sock. I’ve never worked toe up socks on these large of needles with this heavy of yarn so I’m wary of my guage. I need to pull out one of my fingering weight socks and  measure the total width of the foot fabric. Just eyeballing this sock…it feels big. But we all know swatches and our eyes can lie! Along the same lines, I’m going to work a gusset heel instead of an afterthought heel because I don’t know how far one ball of yarn will go. I only have two balls! I’m sure it will be fine but better safe than sorry.

As for the yarn, it’s not the softest. It feels rather like rope to me. The caveat being that I’m also working on a cashmere/merino blend socks. So I’ll withhold texture judgment until they are done. 

Happy Knitting!

Vestuary

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The month of February has become known as Vestuary in the knitting world. I’m not sure who started it but it’s cute regardless. I’ve never played along but I got the itch this year. I’ve been eyeing the Aeon Vest by Hilary Smith Callis.

  
(Photo @hilarysmithcallis)

I want this vest like right now in this color in my greedy little paws. Jewel tones really go well with my eyes and skin tone. Not to mention that the open nature of this vest won’t emphasize my still there mom belly. And it’s got pockets!!

This is worked in worsted and I need over 1,000 yards. I can’t afford to break the bank but I really need this sweater!!! A friend had recently mentioned she used Mighty Stitch by Knit Picks for a sweater and found it really hard wearing yet soft. Perfect for my life where I get covered in Toddler “love” every day. It’s 20% SW and 80% acrylic with 208 yard skeins. At $3.49 per ball I could knit my vest for under $25. And you guys….they had that blue….

  
It’s “celestial” and just perfect. So then I might have gone right over and put in my order. I’m hoping the yarn gets here fast so I can at least start this in Vestuary!

So Close!!

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My Husbands Pats socks are soooooo close!

  
We took a last minute three day weekend not so long ago and I got some really good car knitting in. I finished the first sock and plowed through the second one. It’s Jan 30th and I have until Feb 7th (the Super Bowl) to get these done for the #dcspigskinparty2015 KAL.

Seriously it’s like 4 more inches of ribbing and done! Fingers crossed!!

WIP Wednesday: Go Patriots! Socks 

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I have made progress on the Hubby’s Go Patriots! Socks but alas it’s become eminently clear that these won’t make the #dcspigskinparty2015 KAL deadline of the Super Bowl. But no worries I’ll still get a cute FO regardless!

  
As you can see I’m finished with the heel of the first sock. I had a brainstorm while working the foot that these are just the first few socks I’ve knit for the husband. (I have just finished the Heritage Vanilla socks for the hubby and they used a 60% afterthought heel.) Now I know what kinds of heels I like in my socks but the hubby doesn’t (and maybe won’t care). Anyhow I’ve decided to do a gusset heel for this pair. That way he has a pair of each and can tell me which is more comfortable after wearing for awhile.

We will see but for the time being I need to get knitting!

Casu Cowl Rebooted

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I managed to rip back my Casu Cowl blunder and start again with the correct pattern. 

  
I completed the set up and two pattern repeats. The patter is pretty straight forward and should be easy to memorize. The problem is that this yarn doesn’t sing to me. Therefore the project as a whole doesn’t get my mojo going. I don’t hate it….but given other options I always pick something else. I have a car trip coming up and the short back and forth rows should be good car knitting. I may just pack this project and only this project to get it off the needles.

This is definitely a case where I want the FO but I’m struggling with the actually knitting if it, lol.

Happy Knitting!

WIP Wednesday: Go Patriots! Socks

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Just a quick flyby up date on my Go Patriots! Socks.

  
This is A LOT of tiny stitches. I really want these to be done by the Super Bowl to count for the #dcspigskinparty2015. But I’m not sure I’ll get there. I don’t want rush so much that I stress myself out. This yarn from Berry Colorful Yarning is to die for! And the stripes are just so….stripey!

I’m still not sold on the black toes but my husband likes it. Pretty sure I will continue to complain about it until these are off my needles, lol. What’s a knitter to do but to keep knitting! 

Happy Knitting!

To Alpaca or Not To Alpaca….

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I was lured by the softness of alpaca yarn during my 2015 Central KS Yarn hop stop at Alpacas of Wildcat Hollow.

I love the softness but the drape the yarn has sort of limits its use for me. And I only had one skein of worsted weight in a pink/green colorway. I did some Ravelry perusing through my queue and a quick pattern search and I found the Casu Cowl by Galia Lael. A lovely worsted weight grafted cowl.

When I caked up this skein of yarn I found a lot of veg matter as that something accompanies small batch milled yarn such as this. I also found the yarn to be very loosely plied and quite a bit thinner than worsted weight in my opinion. In a fit of productivity I had this yarn paired with printed pattern and needles in a project bag ready to go a few weeks back.

I cast on according to the instruction and knit one pattern repeat. But it was looking nothing like the pattern page…and then it hit me. I had put the wrong printed instructions in this project bag and was in fact knitting an entirely different project…the The Darn Kinetic Cowl. Insert forehead smack here….

In a way I’m a little glad I found this mistake because I hated the yarn/pattern combo with the Kinetic cowl. So now I need to rip this out, print the correct instructions, and start knitting again.

Le sigh….