Afterthought Heel in Progress

It's WIP Wednesday and I am making progress on my 2nd sock. Today I picked up stitches along my waste yarn and then yanked out that waste yarn. It's as close to steeking as I have come and it's kind of thrilling!

I am still hoping to finish these by the 30th - which would have them completed in 1 month. Exciting!

WIP Wednesdays With Tami's Amis

Sock Progress

Knit for hours last night and made some progress on my sock. I am still on the first sock and researching like mad as I knit. I am thinking I will want to place the heel before I get too much further so I can try it on and get the toe just right. Would really like these socks to fit after the hours I have put into them already. ☺

Stay tuned!

Sock ♥

I guess I cannot kid myself anymore. I have become just a little bit bonkers for Sock Knitting. I knew it was just a matter of time before it happened. About two years ago I found myself going to the sock yarn display before any other section of the store. Flirting if you will. Balls started to find there way home with me. No big deal. You can knit sock yarn into things that are not socks. But soon I found myself spending hours on Ravelry looking at sock patterns. Flirty little half-assed attempts at slipper socks on bulky yarn started happening. And then finally, I cast on a pair of beginner socks.

My first attempt left a sinister taste in my mouth and I set them down for over a month after turning my first heel. Then something caused me to finish the first sock and plow through the second. 24 hours later I was casting on these socks. These are the AfterThought Heel Socks by Laura Linneman.  You pretty much knit a tube with some waste yarn in the heel position as a place holder. Then after you finish the sock you go back and pick up stitches on either side of the waste yarn, and add the heel. This makes so much sense to me as it's awfully close to how you make a mitten. 

So I have been working like a crazed squirrel on these socks. Last night I placed my heel  waste yarn and figured out how much further I needed to knit before decreasing for the toe. Knit knit knit!

 

For more details on this project go to my Ravelry project page. I need to go knit!

A hat for my brother

 I haven't had much time to knit lately, but when my mom got this yarn for me I knew I had to make something for my Brother toot sweet. My brother is a HUGE Green Bay Packer Fan and this yarn is perfect for making a Packer hat. The yarn is Red Heart Team Spirit and it's pretty rough acrylic. I have read it softens a bit when washed - so we will hope that is true.

I cast on after class this week and have been working on it in bed at night after I have studied to the point my brain is mush. Simple ribbing is really soothing to me right now. It feels like working worry beads. It's rhythmic and it's not real easy to screw up - A big bonus!

I like that the color changes every few rows. It keeps the boredom at bay a bit. I love a solid colored item - but I do get bored with the monotonous visual factor. So exciting when the yarn is about to change and you knit knit knit to get that color change onto your needle. I think I knit faster when there are color changes just because I need to see what is "next".

I don't think I will get it done for Christmas, but his B-day is in February and that is very do-able. The hat looks really small to me - but it IS ribbed so I guess it will really stretch. We will see.

i said a knit knot the knitty the knitty to the knitknit knot

 

I finished a little shawlette! It's the "Just Knit it!" pattern on Ravelry by Susan Ashcroft of Stitchnerd Designs. It was given out free during the Olympics and is now a pay pattern. Super cute. Super easy. And I got to stashbust on this (mostly) which is super awesome!

 

I knit this out of mochi and Sheep(ish). For the edge I ended up doing a row of single crochet all the way around the entire thing in gray. Then I went down to the lower two sides (not the neck side) and did a row of double crochet all the way across in the mochi (colored) yarn. I was going to go back and frame it all in with gray again - but I loved how it looked as is - so I stopped.

It is the perfect length and width. I can use it to wrap around my shoulders if I am wearing a dress - or wrap it around my neck like Emma is wearing it below with a jacket in the winter for super snowy day warmth. The mochi and the sheep(ish) went together like a dream and it is just squishy and so warm! I really enjoyed working on it!

 



Nice to have a WIP out of my Queue on Ravelry. I have had start-itis lately. Like RAGING start-itis. It's been killer. I am bored with items I have started already and want to do something New and exciting! Fickle knitter am I! So yay for getting something finished! Now on to the next!

Hello! I am still here!

I have been rather quite lately but I am still poking around here. My Grandma died last week and we had to travel a little for the funeral. My energy level has been rather low and blogging just didn't appeal much over the last two weeks. Am trying to get myself back into normal though, so I thought I would talk about the shawl I started at the end of the Olympic games.

 

 

The Shawl is called "Just Knit It" by Susan Ashcroft of Stitchnerd Designs on Ravelry. It was offered free during the Olympics, but is now a pay pattern on Ravelry. I am really enjoying the shawl! I am knitting it out of Sheep(ish) I had left over in my stash in the color Gun Metal(ish) and some Mochi Plus I had in my stash and another ball I hunted down at a LYS. I love the colors and find this a very relaxing knit. I had about 5 hours of knitting time in the car the day of the funeral, and then I also brought this with to work on at my Brothers house when we went "Up North" for a visit last weekend.

 

I hit the point in the shawl where I am thinking about the edging. This is going to be more of a shawlette for me - I want to wear it wrapped around my neck this winter with my coats, so I don't want it to get too much larger. I really want to do a crochet edge, so I thought I would practice first. I went through my scrap projects in my craft room and found a shawl that I had abandoned years ago. Perfect for practice!

 

I did a single crochet around the entire shawl and then I practiced a shell stitch on either side. I did a 5 stitch shell on one side and a 7 stitch shell on the other. I like the 7 stitch shell better than the 5 - but am not in love with either. I am going to rip out all the shell stitching and try a few other things.

 

I have been chewing on this a lot this week, and this morning I decided to stop forcing stitch design and asked myself what I really wanted for an edge? Changing my focus from "Will this stitch work? Ok , how about this one?" to "what do I want my shawl to look like?" really  excited me and gave me all kinds of ideas. My crochet ability is not huge, but I think I found something that will work! I will be giving it a go on the practice shawl first to see if I can execute it, but I am excited. Hopefully I will have some happy finished shots to show off soon.

Progress resumes on my West Knits KAL

Now that the Olympic Games are over and the shawl I knit during them is complete, I am going back to work on my WestKnits Rockefeller Shawl. I am about half way through Clue 2 and it is pretty slow going. The work isn't hard - but it's just not fast for me. I think the strings of color work slow me down, and then of course weaving in the ends every time I finish adding in one of the rays of plum color takes time too. I just have to tell myself to go at my own pace and to enjoy the process.

I find it interesting the way the Noro yarn is unfolding in the pattern. It feels like the Noro "knows" when I am getting ready to do a purple strand and that it wants to be purple then too. Perhaps Noro has nanotechnology and it is becoming sentient? I would not be surprised.

Anyway, I am happy to be back to work on this and am anxious to get to Clue three and Clue Four!

Day 10 Ravelenic Games Progress Report

My shawl is coming along very well now. I am very happy I ripped it out the first time and redid it. I am learning a lot this past month with my knitting. I feel as though I have really stretched and grown as a knitter and am very proud of myself and my work. Nice feeling that!

I am over half way through the yellow "lace" section of the shawl. Once this section is over it's a simple couple rows of knit on the edge and then I can block it out and I will be done! I am hoping the gray doesn't bleed into the yellow when I soak it. That would be sad.

In other news, I have pulled my first couple tomato's out of my garden and a few cucumbers as well. It's always exciting to pull out that first produce.

My hubby and I went out for a bike ride yesterday and I was shocked at how easy a 5-6 mile ride was. Nice to see progress on the health front.

Not much else to report. Knitting, watching the Olympics and the usual chores are filling my days.

Day 4 of the Ravellenic Games

PROGRESS! I am making it! I have hopes of finishing this gray panel tonight (knock on wood!) and then I will be onto the yellow lace portion again. I spent some quality time in my jammies watching the Men's gymnastics last night and knitting away. Uffda. USA really struggled on that pommel horse and the vault.

Ok - Less typing! More knitting!

Day 3 of the Ravellenic Games

I had to RIP! The further I got in my shawl the more I realized it just wasn't looking right. I tried to rip out just the yellow lace work - pulled it all out and picked back up all the stitches (not fun), but upon closed inspection I realized there were some mistakes in the first section as well, and since I was already ripping....

I recast on and saw that I had missed the Knit 3 rows line at the very beginning of the pattern which would have prevented the neck from rolling. So already I am happy that I ripped the whole thing out and am starting over. (I wondered why the neck was so unstructured! DOH!) I think my next go at this will be much better!

Day 2 of the Ravellenic Games

I have been working away on my Collonade Shawl for the Ravellenic Games. This yarn feels very large after working in lace weight for two weeks! I am very happy with my progress and love the yarn and the look of my product. I am not enjoying this yellow section as much as the gray - but perhaps when I get the rhythm down a little more it will feel better. I think because my stitch count was a little off going into this I feel like I have been fighting the pattern a little. I believe I got that all worked out with the first pattern repeat and hopefully it will be smoother sailing now!

Westknits Mystery Shawl KAL Progress Report

I feel like this KAL has kind of taken over my life - and I am pretty happy about it! Clue 1 was waiting for me when I got home from work last Friday and I cast on and dove right in. I started this in

Sun Valley Fibers MCN Lace in the colors "Plum Crazy" and "Autumn". I swatched and had the needle I wanted - a Size 4 - which is probably one of the smallest needles I have done a project on! By Sunday I had 9 "wedges" complete and was kind of at a stand still. My short rows were pretty ugly and I was just not happy with how the project looked. My knitting was not pretty. Add to this my hubby asking if I "would really wear a shawl in THOSE colors?" which turned this from looking like an Autumnal shawl to Witchy-poo socks in my head in a hot second. Suddenly I was feeling kind of sad about the shawl.

After going through all my stash options (a process that took a couple hours! Must organize stash!) we ended up going to The Yarn Garage where I picked up some Noro Taiyo Sock yarn. When I got back home I did a practice test of German Short Rows on some acrylic and when I was satisfied I started over with renewed vigor! Am so happy I started over! Normally it kills me to "knit over" but it was a really good move this time!

The Noro is a three ply and the Sun Valley Fibers is a 2 ply - so my new project is coming up just a tiny bit larger than my old. Here is a comparison of the two projects side by side - the difference in the 9 wedges is just about an inch in length. I can't feel the difference and the way it is working up I feel like this was a good choice to make. I have more than enough yardage so I know I will be fine on that end as well.

The new Clue was unleashed yesterday and I cannot wait to dig in. I finished knitting up my Clue one  today and will be heading in to Two-ville as soon as I get some chores done.

This is my first Westknits pattern I have worked up and I am really happy I am doing this with a huge crew of people in this KAL. There are many things I am doing in this project that are new to me and the support in the Ravelry Forums has been amazing! Enough talk! Time to Knit!

Saturday! Yay for Weekend!

Its Saturday and that means so many things to me. Saturday is the one day a week I sleep in without worry. If I sleep in on Sunday too late (which I often do!) I have a really hard time going to sleep Sunday night and Monday morning is pretty yucky. Monday already sucks without being exhausted to boot! It's also weight in day. I love that too as any sins I committed the week before (Like that donut that accidentally fell in my mouth last Thursday, eh hem) are washed away and I am reborn with shiny new points to start the week off with. I am still bouncing with the weight. Lost two pounds two weigh-in's ago, last week I gained almost as much back, this week I lost almost a pound despite the donut incident.

I had another really busy week, with much garden work and much knitting. Managed three Zumba work-outs this week. I had to skip my Thursday night Zumba as I finally went in and got my hair did! I am kind of blond now. Not true blond - but we really went light for me with the foil work this time. It's taking a little to get used to it, but I think it looks like summer fun. Makes me want to be tan - which is pretty much a no-no, so maybe it's time for some of that fake tan lotion.

I also made some really good progress on my KAL shawl. I know it was supposed to be done in a week (insert derisive snort here) but two months is apparently more my speed. I finished all the knit portion and am now up to the crochet portion. I am really happy with how it's looking. Here is a shot just after I did a Russian Join (which I LOVE!) and bound off all the stitches. It's 22 inches along the center spine and the top is 50 inches across.

Naturally anything I lay out is just a place for Emma to place her furry little butt, so right after I snapped that picture I snapped this one.

She is so helpful with the holding projects down so they don't run off. That's always a bummer when you spend two months knitting something and then it escapes out the fence. Her services are invaluable.

And then there is this. I am still not sure if I am going to make this into a felted pillow or a large bag? When I told Tom I was thinking about making it into a pillow he stared at me and said why? That center bit is scratchy as hell since it's mohair - so I guess a bag would make more sense. This is one of those projects that is sort of getting away from me and I still work on it but I can't see it's final outcome. Huh. We shall see what it turns into.

This morning will be spent watering my plants, then an hour of Zumba. Not sure yet what this weekend will bring, but hopefully some good stuff. I really want to finish my shawl this weekend - so hopefully I will have some pictures of it all finished in the very near future.

Have a wonderful weekend all!

KAL is over...sort of?

Well, the KAL I am part of is officially over. I think a little crack was smoked when the time line was decided. Seriously - I think only a couple people finished on time AND people started early! I spent all of last Sunday knitting (seriously - that is all I did! I took a break and showered and put on fresh lounge clothes and ate - otherwise Knit Knit Knit!) and I only JUST got to the end of the first of four skeins! Oy.

So here is what my shawl looks like with one skein of yarn. I love the color and it's pretty, but man. Kind of boring. I am hoping to get another inch on it tonight when I am being lazy in front of the TV.

I forgot to mention that on our Anniversary (04/05/1997!) Tom and I went out for a fancy dinner and then we went and saw The Hunger Games! It is the first movie we have been to in YEARS. And it was really fun! I told him we have to get gussied up and go out for a nice dinner and a movie more often. Every couple of years is just not enough! (I think the last movie we saw was Indiana Jones and the depressing Adventure of the Crystal LaBeouf.)

The movie was really good - although I wasn't prepared for the Shaky Blair Witch filming. Ugh. Hate that.

What's the last movie YOU saw in a theater and did you have a good time?

Fugly Blanket Progress Report

I have had a challenging week this week. Insomnia Monday. Leave work early Tuesday after throwing up my lunch. Yeah. So I have spent a bit of time lounging in bed and working on my Fugly Blanket. I find it amazing how easy it is to lay in bed and watch several episodes of Biggest Loser (I am watching Season 3 on Netflix) while hooking away on my Fugly. Bonus that it is now big enough that I can throw it over me for a little warmth while I hook. I love the weight of this blanket and it makes me think I will want to crochet more blankets in the future. I am realizing too that this blanket would have been a lot more attractive if I had just done stripes rather than this crazed patch work thing I got going on. **shrugs** C'est la vie!

I stretched it out on my dining room table this morning and took a few snap shots of it. Terrible light but I think it captures the eye searing color combinations pretty well.  I have a fondness for multi colored wash cloth yarn. Knitting a plain color I found really dull unless I was following a pattern or something. Still. Yawn. I prefer bold and loud. That does make anything I Frankenstein together out of the scraps a bit loud and obnoxious.

Still, I am really having fun throwing stuff at this and watching it grow. Rather like being fascinated by a fungus or mold I suspect. Yeah. It's like a giant mushroom you find growing under a tree in the yard and you just keep watching it grow in kind of horrified fascination - wondering how big that thing will get and if it's toxic or maybe a rare culinary wonder?

Things are getting done!

About a month ago I started the Figurehead Shawl by Alexis Winslow. The body was very easy to work but the border was a real challenge. That's a knit scallop edge! The design is really really clever - but I hated working on the border. Of course now that it is finished I am in love with it and thinking about other colors and yarns I would like to work this in. It's really cute!

I worked my version in Brown Sheep Prairie Silk yarn - Which is now discontinued. I really love Brown Sheep Yarns. I used just over 1 skein of each color - a lavender and a grey. REALLY love the results! I originally wasn't going to put a button on the project, but after I blocked this out I got more length I found that I could. The way I am wearing it in the picture below is with it buttoned under my chin and tucked under the bulk of the shawl. It was really windy when I took these pictures and the shawlette really kept my neck from feeling the wind!

I have been wearing headbands a lot lately and have been looking for simple headbands to knit. I found this pattern on Ravelry called "Cool Cotton Headband". I knit it up and it took 27 yards (15 grams) of cotton! A perfect use for those left over balls of yarn from knitting washcloths. This is a free pattern on Ravelry and I was able to knit it up in about an hour. (I think it took a little longer than that but I was surfing the net and drinking coffee....) It's still a little thicker than I would like for everyday wear - but I think it would be a perfect headband to throw in my make-up caddy for wearing at night when I wash my face. Would make a great instant gift or stocking stuffer too. I knit this with Debbie Bliss Pure Cotton. (I could make three of these out of one skein and still have a little left over yarn!)

And I finished my Sari to Drop-In Scarf knit out of Frabjous Fibers Millefiori yarn. (The recycled Sari yarn.) The pattern I used was Barb Bettegnies Drop-In Scarf pattern from Creative Knitting, Fall 2010: Accessorize with Style. I had made this scarf a couple years back in ribbon yarn and loved the pattern. It's really fast and easy and the results are quite pretty! This was another stash buster for me and I am very pleased with my results!

Not much progress on my vest this week. I have had a lot of insomnia and I won't work on that project when I am tired or lacking focus. I don't want to mess it up!

In other news - We are breaking records for our warmth here this weekend. It is just amazing out! Yesterday it was 67F  - our normal average high for this time of year is 37F! That's a huge difference! I saw kids biking outside the house in shorts and t-shirts! Amazing! I will be out in that garden before I know it!

A Swatch of ill repute

So I have finished blocking out my swatch and it's measuring about 19 stitches over 4 inches on size 7 needles. Sadly this yarn is STILL harsh! So I am leaning toward mittens (with a liner) and bags. If I had a loom I would make this into wool rugs in a heartbeat as I think this would be excellent rug yarn. It's REALLY scratchy. So I guess that's good to know.

I have been making progress on my Well Named Vest over the last week. I am a quarter of the way through the color work on the bust area. I love how it's turning out and I love that it's looking like an actual vest! I am still praying it fits when I am done. I have discovered that I can only work a chart when I am focused. That ripping back color work is poopy. And that as big of a pain as it is - I don't like the look of long floats on the back of a project. My first row of this has long floats and I almost ripped it back and re-did it. But lazy won and I just kept going with floats only carrying over 2 or 3 stitches for the rest of the color work. You can see some of this peeking out from the inside of the vest. I am not sure what proper carrying technique is for carrying floats in color work - I am not very experienced with Fair Isle or Intarsia. I just know what works for me.

In other news - it got into the 60's here today. That is INSANELY warm for us. After my workout today I went outside to fill our bird feeders in my t-shirt and Capri's (work out gear) and felt really comfortable! It's just so crazy! LOVE IT! I think I am destined for a warmer climate when I get older. I love Minnesota - but man the winters here really get me down!

Leap Day, Bad Weather and a Vest

It's Leap Day and I have to say it got off to a pretty rocky start. Our dog Emma freaks out about high wind, thunderstorms, rain, snow, sleet.... and is VERY reluctant to go out and do her business in the morning if any of these conditions are happening. This morning we happened to have most of these conditions all rolled into one. So I (still in my pajamas with garden gnomes, glasses on, and hair flying in 17 directions) throw on my husbands giant boots, tuck my gnome pajamas into the boots, put on a wool coat and cap and start the "Come On Em! Let's GO OUTSIDE! WEEEE" Game. This resulted in me standing out in a couple inches of slush, at 4:45 in the morning, with sleet/rain/snow pelting me and soaking my gnomes, while Emma circled the yard looking for some magic spot to go potty. This is how my day started.

Next I got to drive my car in this crap to work. This also sucked donkey balls. Seriously. Every time one of those trucks would drive by me on the freeway it was like someone opened a dump truck up on top of my car of slush. It was terrible. My hands and shoulders just ached from the tension of holding the car on the road with my mighty knitter hands by the time I got to work. My 30 minute commute took just over an hour. YUCK. AWFUL!

I really feel like I shouldn't complain either. We have had one of the mildest winters I can remember. Still. YUCK! Blessedly the drive home was MUCH better. YAY!

I have made a little progress on my vest. I am into the color work portion now and am anxious to keep going. I am still finding the pattern REALLY annoying. When I got to the point where I was able to join in the round I was finally given a stitch count. I was supposed to have 162 but I actually had 186. I reread the pattern to see if I could see where I picked up so many extra stitches - but I am at a loss. So I decided that I would knit a few stitches together to bring my count down to 180 which would put me one size up from where I wanted to be. Since this is the chest area and I am pretty busty, I think this will work out. Also, I know if I rip this thing out and start over I will not start over - so I am now in the "Winging it" portion of the vest.

In the back of my head a little voice tells me it's ok if it ends up too big because it's all knit in wool and if it's too fugly I can always felt it a little to shrink it up a bit. I have not yet decided if this little internal voice is a white hat or a black hat. We shall see!

Izzi snoozing the afternoon away.

Does anyone have any Leap Day Traditions? It didn't occur to me to do this until the day was pretty underway, but I thought I would see if anyone had any that they did on this "Extra Day" every year. Wouldn't it be wonderful to have it be a "me" day where you slept in, gave yourself (or went and got) a pedicure/manicure, maybe a massage if you like that thing.... I see possibilities here!

Let's Get it Started!

I have begun my George Sand Vest! I had been avoiding it a little bit and once I realized that I was a bit afraid to start I kind of had to jump in and go! I re-read the pattern cover to cover twice, gathered all my supplies and started. For the record, this is knit with Cascade 220 and the color work will be with Noro Silk Garden.

I find that I am having a hard time understanding what the writer of the pattern wants me to do rather than the actual execution of the pattern. (The stitching is the easy part  - the reading the pattern is the hard part!) The Vest is a top-down construction and it is knit flat and then joined to work the body. The pattern does not give a stitch count through any of this top part. It also has you do increases by saying things like 'Do 2 (4,6,8,10,12,14,16,18) neck increases.' (numbers were made up by me for example purposes) and then of course - no stitch count to verify you are on track.  So I feel like I am on track with the pattern - but I have no way of knowing if I really am or not. I REALLY get frustrated with patterns that you pay for that you have to spend all your time trying to figure out what the author wants you to do. The stitch execution on this has been really easy - but the pattern itself could be better written in my opinion. All that being said - this is really the first complex item I have knit so some struggle is expected.

As you can see I just got the arm holes created. That was kind of exciting. :) I could finally hold it up to my hubby and say "See! Vest!" and have him not look at me like "Crazy lady waving yarn! Crazy lady waving yarn! Back away slowly!" So that was nice too. :)

I have spent about 6-8 hours knitting on this so far. Would LOVE to stay home all week and just knock this guy out. I have to say it's pretty exciting to knit something that is NOT a hat or scarf! :) I can see how people might get kind of hooked on knitting sweaters and vests!

Plop Plop Fizz Fizz - How delish a baktus is!

I HAVE FINISHED MY BAKTUS!

I worked on this on and very off and then on again. It took me 11 months to finish. Argh. Not that the pattern is a burden or anything - it's a very simple pattern and it's wonderful. This is actually my third time making this and I love each one. I wear them all the time. They are super simple and they show off a yarn wonderfully. Just love them! Here is a link to the first one I made and a link to the second one I made. So it looks like I have made this three times in the last year. It's just such a wonderful pattern and a great way to bust your stash as it will work on pretty much any gauge. I just love it. Here is the Ravelry link to the pattern if anyone is interested. This pattern is to me as Toast is to Knitting Nix. (Although I suspect she has made more Toast than I have made Baktus. She wips out amazing Toast on a regular basis!)

When Tom and I went to the alpaca fiber festival in November I spotted someone wearing a striped Baktus and Tom thought it was quite the thing - so I am tempted to make my next Baktus striped. I have no doubt there will be another baktus in my future. I don't knit socks you see, and yet I can't stop buying sock yarn! It's just so flipping awesome! So this is a great use of it.

I know it looks like I took my poor dog and kind of forced her onto this in a posed manner. Not true! Any fabric  - knit item. towel or blanket - that I throw on the deck she immediately comes over to and sits on. It's crazy. She was snuffling in my hair and walking all over this thing as I was taking pictures. I think she is all hunched because it's still kind of cold out. We have been in one of our few cold snaps this weekend and it's tough on Emma. She loves it outside but is pretty much bald in her girly regions. Huh. Maybe that's why she is always sitting on my knitting....

So at the widest part my Baktus measures 12" and the length comes in at 82". Almost Seven Feet long! I am 63 inches tall (5'3") so you can tell how long this is on me. BUT - Because its sock yarn it's really light and because its so long I can wrap it around my neck a bunch - so I think it will be a really "Go to" item.

Also - This is so girly Pink that it really looks awesome with my black leather jacket!

Am very pleased with my newest FO!