2015-Week 19 & 20 & 21

In week 19 & 20 & 21 of 2015 I start a bunch of stuff despite getting further behind on everything else.

First Steps

Recently I've been spending a lot of time trying to catch up on older projects so of course I feel the need to start a bunch of new stuff.

First is a beaded 1.5" wide piece of knit called the Dew Drops Lariat for K. I'm doing it in a very magenta yarn with sparkly thread twisted in and beaded with pink beads. I think that it will probably be a belt or wrap tie for a dress.

Next I cast-on the provisional edge of what will become a pillow with an adorable intarsia robot on the front in my nephews colors.

Then on Mothers Day I cast on a shawl just for myself, the Glenridge Shawl in some formerly de-stashed and recently acquired The Unique Sheep Sushi Sock in Candied Apple. Its a fairly simple patter and moving very quickly when I get the time to work on it.

Finally, I cast-on a preemie hat out of the leftover yarn from my mom's shawl.

Along the Path

I finished sock #1 and am still working on sock #2 for the My Cup of Green Tea socks and the beaded Dew Drops Lariat .

Final Destination

I can't show you any more than this teaser yet, since I'm so behind on gifting it but I finished my Mystic Cuppa shawl, all I need to do is block. So instead I'll show you a glamour shot of my Captain America shawl wet blocking by gravity following a triple washing due to bleeding in both the red and blue yarns (which made for the most beautiful unfortunate purple water).

2015-Week18

In week 18 of 2015 I spent time on the water, got some goodies in the mail and finished a nerdy shawl.

Packing my Bags

This weekend was the local Spring Festival at the Nature Center and in addition to all kinds of good educational nature fun, music, plant sale and nature walks the local association rents kayaks on the lake. I took one out for a hour of hard paddling interspersed with a few moments of nature appreciation. It was good to get out on the water and enjoy the nice day.

This week I received my Bar Maids Quarterly Subscription box in the Knitmore theme and in addition to some wonderful body products like their Lo-Lo Bar this box came with a skein of Abstract Fiber Super Sock in the Danger colorway and a complementary shawl pattern. I can see this becoming something fun for K, maybe socks or maybe this shawl, well see.

First Steps

Cast on some Kroy self-striping yarn for a pair of Fork in the Road socks to see if this style fits BF better than heel flap construction socks.

Along the Path

Still plugging away on the My Cup of Green Tea socks, and the Mystic Cuppa and Solar Flare Shawls. I'll post pictures when I get to the next yarn change or significant progress point

Final Destination

After several days of marathon sessions my Captain America Shawl was finished. It was done in time to wear it to opening night, but it wasn't blocked. Good thing the theater was dark and no one knew. I'll post more pics when its blocked but here it is posed over the steering wheel in my car, which was where I finished the bind off during lunch that afternoon. I loved doing this, both for the nerd factor and because of the new stitches I got to try.

2015-Week 17

In weeks 17 of 2015 I got some yarn, started a cardigan, worked shawls and socks and finished some gifts.

Packing my Bags

I got my second shipment of The Unplanned Peacock's Gemstone Yarn Club. This one was Jasper, a beautiful red with streaks of pinks, whites and other shades of red on their Kinky Sock single-ply fingerling base. It came with a lovely wire rapped stone necklace. I looked at this a potential socks for both BF and DD but then I started dreaming of using it for the upcoming Seeds to Flowers Shawl KAL so I picked up a few additional skeins to give me flexibility to make lots of great red things.

First Steps

Swatched for and cast on the first few rows of the Ferris Wheel cardigan for K in the bright pink/black/white/purple Hydrangea colorway in Abstract Fibers Calder yarn.

Also cast on the Sweet Viola Shawl in my Tinuvial colorway from Sheepy Time Knits Middle Earth Yarn Club in their All your Lace base. This was tricky to do in this yarn but as it starts to hit some stockinette sections it's starting to hold up better.

Along the Path

Finished the 1st shield pattern repeat and starting on the 2nd repeat in clue 3 of the Captain America inspired Shawl MKAL. I'm hoping to get this clue and the last clue finished in time to take the shawl with me to the opening night of the Avengers movie. It will be close but that's the plan. I know...NERD!

Worked on the leg pattern repeats and turned the heel on the My Cup of Green Tea socks. The longer I work these the more I like this pattern. I already had a recipient in mind for these so when I found out that they are too small for my foot it solidified my plan to knit them for her specifically.

Final Destination

Cast on and finished 2 different Tea Toters in some fun blue cotton dishcloth yarn inspired by Beginner's Knit Along mini KAL. These are gifts so I'll post more about them later but they are now my FOs# 19 &20 for the year.

2015-week 15 and 16

In weeks 15 and 16 of 2015 I knit more on socks and shawls and finish a tiny sweater.

First Steps

I cast on the first clue for Earth, of the first shawl in the Fiddle Knits Elements Series. I wont be able to keep up with this one but I'm looking forward adding the techniques and pattern to my closet eventually.

Along the Path

Still working on the striped cuff BF sock that I decided needed to be an experiment on fit. So I measured his foot and knit the appropriate length heel flap in the contrasting color. As you can see it IS ridiculously long and the gusset is going to be insane but that's what makes this fun.

I'm still plugging away on my Solar Flare. I'm loving the easy to memorize format and the knitting feels easy but the rounds just seem to take me longer than they should.

I finished clue 2 for Heidi Nick's called Enough Already, Mother Nature. Its a fun knit so far but all those chart markings were bluing together until I started to get the general pattern.

In my Captain America inspired shawl I've finished clue 2 and, as I expected I ran out of the red yarn early so the second set of stripes, and the rest of the shawl, is all blue. I love it and can't wait to see where the designer takes the next few clues.

Finally, I've also picked my Mystic Cuppa Shawl back up and started working on the 3rd repeats in Chart B. I'm hoping to get this done by Mothers Day but its going to take some dedicated knitting to make enough progress.

Final Destination

The Flax sweater for my nephew is now done and has become FO# 18 The last sleeve took almost as long as the whole sweater to knit but overall I can't recommend this pattern enough as both an easy learn-to-knit-sweaters experience and as a generally lovely and simplistic design. Even though its machine washable for the gifting, I washed it in some SOAK and let it dry and it looks lovey.

2015-Week 13 and 14

In weeks 13 and 14 of 2015 I embrace the energy of spring and start a bunch of stuff.

Packing my Bags

I literally packed my bags this week to take several short hikes around the neighborhood and surrounding parks. It's been nice getting back out and watching the trees go from bare to budding to full flower, hearing the birds and enjoying the sun, when its out. Indoors, I've been doing lots of cooking, yarn winding and organizing. I got in several orders of yarn for future sweaters, socks and birthday and holiday gifts.

This spring is bearing witness to the preparations for major change that is coming this summer; my daughter coming back from a year away at school and combining households with my significant other. I'm sorting through stuff, mental and physical, to decide what stays, what goes, what needs to find a different place to be and what I just need to accept. I'm looking at what things encourage my creativity, inspire me and promote healthy well-being and what is just holding me down or back or making me feel bad. Through all of this I'm still plugging away at my knitting projects. They, if nothing else, seem to keep me in balance.

First Steps

It seems like a lot of stuff, and it is but over the last two weeks I started the last of my March projects and several of my April Knit-A-Longs (KALs). I started the Sock Knitters Anonymous (SKA) March Mystery Sock in the Crave Yarn Summit in the Voice the Vision colorway, a deep rich teal and will be doing this for the SKA March MOCK challenge.

I cast on another simple BF sock, this one with blue stripes in the cuff and blue contrast heel toes. I'm going to try to get a better fit for this pair for his giant feet even if it means 4.5 inch heel flaps and miles of foot knitting because he's already wearing holes in the first pair I made him. I guess I should be flattered that he won't take the first pair off except to wash and put right back on but he's hard on his feet so I'm looking for a stronger yarn.

I started another mystery KAL, this one by Heidi Nick called "Enough Already, Mother Nature". I'm doing it out of some Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in Marine Heather colorway. This one triple  dips in Heidi's April KAL, SKA's April designer challenge, and is the feature April/May Mystery pattern in the Solid Sock group.

I'm also doing another sock for SKA's April theme challenge: food/drink that will also qualify for the Solid Sock April theme: Green. This one is called My Cup of Tea, and I'm knitting it out of Knit Picks Stroll Solids in Green Heather. I started this cast on but I already think I'm going to have to change needles and restart as its so big.

Next on the needles is a just for fun, gift project for my nephew Henry, a Tin Can Knits Flax sweater in Loops and Threads Impeccable Solids yarn in True Grey colorway.It's such a quick project, I finished the body and have stared on the first sleeve already. I'm knitting it in the 1-2 year size but he's a big boy so I'm not going to wait for his birthday or fall to send it to him in case it will be too snug. This will also help me gauge sizing the next few projects I want to make for him if my sister will give me feedback of the current and future fit. When I finish it I'm going to take as is and stretched measurements for comparison to photos and her feedback.

Finally, the last project I cast on is also my current favorite, a Captain America inspired shawl for the Tales of Suspense MKAL. I decided to use stash yarn and pulled out my KnitCircus Thrilling gradient skein in the Edge of Night colorway that goes from blue to grey and use up the last of the Abstract Fiber O'Keefe in Solid Red to get a very classic red and blue stars and stripes. I know the red will run out before I finish clue two but the designer indicated that solid will look good too so my will be a hybrid. The duration of this MKAL is timed to take us up to the release of the next Marvel movie so I'm really going to try to keep up with the clue releases so I can wear it to opening night. I know...I'm such a geek but I love it.

Along the Path 

In addition to all the new stuff I've started I'm also still working on all my March KAL projects and some older stuff too. Here is a round up of where I'm at with the stuff that's already in progress.

I'm still knitting on my Inconceivable socks from the Buttercups Hero's pattern that was part of the February/March Solid Sock Mystery. I'm doing both socks at the same time on separate dpns and have gotten through half of clue 2 on the cuff.

I added a few rows to the second Alohomora sock, from Sock Madness 9, round 1. Since I didn't finish in time, there is no pressure to finish this but I would like to wear the pair sometime this year so I'm continuing to work on it when I feel like it.

I've also been working hard on my Solar Flare Shawl for the Eco Chic MKAL. I'm still really loving this gradient yarn from The Unique Sheep and it feels like I should be getting further than I am since its surprisingly easy to memorize each new row repeat and there are only 9 of them. However, despite my progress I'm still woefully behind and still making my way through the rows above 58.

I ripped back to the beginning and started over on the Goddess Knits Anniversary MKAL Shawl because I found a mistake in the beginning of the pattern and it was faster to re-do it than to tink back and fix it.  I'm really happy with the pattern now and ready to start clue 2 when i get the time.

I pulled out my first shawl project, the Waterspout by Ana Dalvi, that I'm making for K and put on a few more rows. Also still making slow progress on the Guinevere Shawl for the March Mega-KAL monthly Shawl KAL.

Final Destination

Unfortunately, I haven't actually finished anything in the last two weeks. I was hoping to get the Flax sweater done but those little sleeves are deceptive. Maybe I'll have better luck in the next few weeks.

2015-Week 12

In week 12 of 2015 I finish a pair of socks and start my Solar Flare Shawl while pretending that its Spring even if the weather doesn't want to let it start yet.

Packing my Bags

FYI-in case you missed it through the snow, this week saw the first days of spring. It wasn't the best start but it warmed up a bit on the weekend, enough to get out for a brisk walk and to trigger a bout of spring cleaning so I haven't been up to much knitting.

First Steps

The start of spring also signaled the start of Eco Chic's Solar Flare MKAL so earlier in the week I wound up my set of 6 gradient shades into balls and did a quick swatch of a few rows of each ball to see how the colors would blend. I am truly loving this colorway and the way it carries the tones and shades across the different balls.  I also got to cast it on but didn't get much mileage done as the weekend was too nice to do too much indoors.

Along the Path 

Still working on my Guinivere shawl and I'm planing to make time to rip out my Goddess Knits Shawl and start over, this time with stitch markers to keep the extra stitch on the end of the right side row from moving on me and messing up my pattern.

Final Destination

I finished FO#17 my basic white socks and entered them as my entry to the Solid Socks monthly challenge. These started out as socks for my BF but once I got to the instep I realized that knitting an average mens pattern as is would still be WAY too small for his foot. I decided to reclaim the sock instead of rip out and re-knit almost the entire sock.

2015-Week 11

In week 11 of 2015 I power through a big project, work on Sock Madness and start a bunch of shawls.

First Steps

This week I cast on two shawls and am actively planning for the start of a third. First I cast on the Goddess Knits Anniversary 2015 Mystery Shawl by Renee Leverington. This MKAL is for a lace weight shawl and I think I already made a mistake that I think I'll have to rip back before I start clue 2.


I also finally wound and then cast on for this month's Mega-KAL project, the Guinevere Shawl by Anne Podlesak. This is a nice pi shawl. It called for using the disappearing (invisible) loop cast on so I followed this video and found that, while it is a bit fiddly until you get a few rows knit, its no more difficult that any other method and I quite like it compared to other things I've seen.


Finally, I'm counting down the days to the start of EcoChic's Solar Flare Shawl MKAL which I'll be doing in a beautiful Unique Sheep Cotton and Bamboo Gradient yarn in a beta version of the Sunset Road colorway. I'm getting really excited to start this.

Along the Path

I didn't make it onto a team for Sock Madness 9. I let myself get so distracted by all the shiny objects I finished last week and in finally finishing up the wrap that even with a solid stretch of knitting at the end, I was only able to finish one sock. Luckily, that's all I need to get the rest of the patterns and knit along with the group if I want too. Otherwise I'll save these for later in the year when I don't have 20 other projects competing for my time. The Alohomora did turn out nice and I have every intention of finishing the second and adding them to my sock drawer someday soon.

Final Destination

I've had this big honking thing on my needles for a long time and this week I finally decided that no matter what I wanted to finish the edging and consider it done.  I actually got into the rhythm and started to see the pattern emerge but it was slow going and at the end it was barely able to keep my eyes open through the bind off.  I'm not sure how I feel about it now and after looking at the other edge being raw, I might decide to go back at some point and add the second edging on but for now I'm calling this FO #16 and walking away

2015-Week10

In week 10 of 2015 I get inspired by snow, get the finishing bug to knock out a few hats and re-purpose some unloved legwarmers into gloves.

Packing my Bags

I stopped off at Michael's this week to pick up some much needed 19" cables to fill a few size gaps in my collection that have made knitting hat's harder than it needed to be and while I was there I stocked up on some more of the acrylic yarn BF likes for his warm thick socks in a few more colors. I also got some cotton in fun colors for washcloths. All in all, I spent too much but now I don't have to figure out where my dpns are and swap them between projects when I want to knit hats.

First Steps

With predictions of over 8 inches of snow on the forecast I planned ahead and grabbed a variety of projects to have on hand in case work got canceled by the snow in.  As luck had it I had two days plus a stay-at-home type of weekend to make a lot of progress on projects. Even though I finished or got close to finishing a bunch of stuff I did manage to start a few things too.  It seems that snow was definitely on my mind as the two projects I started were both in white, The first, another simple top-down socks for my BF, this one was the Lion Brand, Men's Grey Socks pattern. Hopefully I can make the adjustments as I go to get this one to fit better than the last one,  The second cast on was for my hat #3 of Meagheen Ryan 12 Hats in 12 Weeks, an ear flap beanie with some basic fair isle colorwork that I'll do in grey.

Along the Path

I'm making slow progress on my first sock for Sock Madness, the Alohomora pattern in my Unplanned Peacock Purple Hydrangea sock madness special colorway. I also resumed progress on the edging for my ALS Keep Warm wrap.

Final Destination

I pulled out hat #3 of the 12 Hats in 12 Weeks MKAL form Meagheen Ryan.It was a cabled tam style that I had started in an soft grey acrylic yarn. I only had the ribbing done and I didn't have the right circular needles so I made some adjustments and just did the best I could. I made a mistake in the cable crosses on one round but since it comes at the bend in the tam its almost unnoticeable. I finished it up the next morning and now its FO #13. 

FO #14 started out as about 6 inches of a pair of legwarmers that I started for my DD in 2010. They've been sitting in a bag for the past 5 years during which time I lost interest and she stopped wearing legwarmers. In my fit of finish-itis I decided that they needed to be done one way or another. I though about re-using them for my nephew but they were sized too wide for baby legs. In fact, as I was testing them out they fit easily over my forearms. This gave me the idea to modify them into some longish ribbed cuffs for a pair of gloves. I used Ravelry pattern search to look for inspiration and decided on a Tin Can Knits Simple Collection pattern called Maize. I did a few decreases to make the stitch counts match where the cuff ended and the hand began and adjusted the patterning detail along the outside of the hand to match the existing cuff rib pattern and just followed the pattern from there. I was following the largest pattern in stitch count and overall diameter but I decided I wanted less fabric at the palm so I shortened the distance past the thumb gussets to the measurements for a smaller size. For something I really wasn't loving, these turned out better than I could have hoped for.

FO #15 is the February Mini Hat from Meagheen Ryan's 12 Months of Mini Hats. These are challenging to work in smaller needles but also fun and relatively quick. 

Back Porch

I'm missing having a garden and all the planning, gathering, and sprouting that happens at this time of year. I've also been reading back through my blog posts and remembering all the good, healthy food I used to bring into my house and the creativity that developed by participating in the local food culture and challenges like the Dark Days and One Local Summer. Now that I'm cooking again and trying to re-develop my preserving skills I've naturally started to yearn for the days past when I sourced my meals first from my CSA share and then to the farmers market stands before picking up a very few convenience items at the neighborhood grocery store. I started researching CSA options a few weeks ago and while its a good time to join up and there are more options than ever I wasn't finding something that had all the factors I was looking for. Over the years I've followed several regional bloggers who, like I did, posted about their CSA shares, experiences and the resulting meals. I started reading back through their archives and I came across a few options I hadn't already considered, one of which I've decided to try.
Lancaster Farm Fresh is offering a pro-rated option to join in on their 13 week winter share season on week 9, giving you 5 weeks of vegetables as well as the option to add-on any of the egg, meat, yogurt, bread, pantry, tofu, or cheese shares individually  or join the omnivore or vegan value shares. They are also taking signups for the summer season but I don't have the funds to join up yet so I decided to essentially sample the last 5 weeks of winter and see if the co-op, pickup location, communication, quantity and quality add up to a reasonable value for me or if I should keep looking and rely heavily on the farmers market and occasional u-pick farms for this year.  
I'll start posting more CSA stuff when I start getting my share toward the end of the month.

2015-Week 7

Packing my Bags

Received my order of yarns from Blue Moon Fiber Arts this week. I ordered Targhee Worsted in Haida, a mostly black worsted with bits of greys, for my His Golden Lair dragon wings shawl and Silky Victoria in Aubergenius, a paleish figgy-plum 85% wool, 15% silk sport weight yarn for a sweater. I hand wound the Targhee into 1 giant ball so I could start on it as soon as I finished 1 full project.

I like hand winding yarn, especially the hand spun, hand dyed types. Yes, it can be a pain both in mental and physical aspects and yes, it takes a while and can at times be frustrating but I find that its worth it. I like connecting with my fiber and I've learned over time to appreciate the materials I'm using. And what better way to get a feel for the yarn, inspect it for imperfections, understand the coloring and impart it with positive energy than by running it through your hands while winding it.  I like to use the time to meditate on the intended project, feel the energy of the twist (the physical kind, not the woo-woo kind of energy) and how it behaves off the skein. I feel how it moves across my hand and through my fingers and it gives me a chance to really appreciate the skill of the spinner or dyer who are responsible for the product in my hand. I also like to think that by touching the material and thinking an intention to it as I wind it, I'm imparting some positive energy (here I mean the woo-woo kind) into the project, a pre-blessing to the energy that I'll put into it when I actually knit something with it.  And sometimes I'll decide, like I did with my Crave Yarns Filigree, that the yarn didn't suit my purpose in some way and find a better home for it before I spend too much time learning the yarn as I knit and then have to either live with it or rip it out and start over.

First Steps

So since I finished my project (see Final Destination below) I got to cast on one of my two first step ready projects. Since the His Golden Lair is the February pattern the Mega-KAL in which we do 1 pattern a month and it's the first KAL I decided to do and since everyone who is ahead of me on it has been commenting that its a fairly quick knit for its size I decided to cast it on. Since its done in worsted weight yarn and since it's mostly a reverse stockinette design with a bunch of right side only twisted stitches that I can do without cabling (which means I knit across the back side and only purl occasionally on the front but its interrupted by the fast moving pattern) it really does move quickly. There are a bunch of charts but there are total stitch count grids for each row and the pattern is really logical and easy to memorize each row so that it knits up intuitively. I got through the first few charts in one sitting and have a feeling that as soon as I catch up on my February solid sock I'll finish this up quickly.

Morning Stroll

My No Purl Monkeys socks, the deep red socks I'm knitting up as my entry to the Solid Sock February Theme Challenge-Fire, are coming along nicely. I've just about finished the first one and the second should be easy enough now that I've figured the pattern rhythm out.  My only concern is that this pattern, while written for a medium women's foot, is coming out rather loose on my size 9.5 feet. The heel is very roomy. To be honest, I don't know that its the pattern, it could just be that I'm a loose knitter and need to go down a needle size or two. I don't think they will be too big to wear around the house but I'm prepared with a back up plan to gift them if they don't fit well in the end after washing and blocking. This might be a good reason to try the pattern again with different yarn and on different needles to see where I need to make my adjustments. I might also start experimenting with different kinds of heels and toes to see which style I like best.

Uphill Path

Last week's stroll turn into this weeks up hill slog along with a couple of other things, mostly due to me charging ahead with my assumptions and not really absorbing the full details of some of the more advanced pattern elements, ending up with me having to really examine my work hard, tink back, and re-do a lot of stuff. The SolidSock Mystery KAL sock, Buttercup's Heros, moved to the next clue which reduced the cuff cables into a six stranded cable pattern. Since I failed to read it properly I mis-judged a three stitch cable for a 4 twist cable and that threw my whole pattern off. Luckily I was able to figure it out and go back before I got all the way through the 1st row but it took me way longer than it should to figure out what I was doing wrong.  Then I kept making similar mistakes in my V-Day scarf end pattern and my ALS Keep Warm wrap on the edging fringe lace.  The silver lining was that with each mistake I was able to see what I did wrong and how I can avoid it in the future and with all this practice, I'm getting better at dropping down to fix stitches, re-twisting things and working backwards on complicated patters. I'll take it as a sign that I'm growing as a knitter that mistakes like these don't have me throwing in the towel or ripping all the way back as much as they might have before.

Final Destination

So I finished FO #10 for 2015. These are my first pair of socks finished just in time to gift them to my BF for Valentines Day. He had been watching me knit them and even commented on how quickly they were going from cast on to finished sock in between times he looked over at what I was doing. They aren't a perfect fit but with washing and blocking they should loosen up a bit and now at least I know where to plan in some extra stitches to make the next pair fit better. I'm just so happy to finally finish a whole pair without tossing in the towel. It was the perfect time to give them too as the weather has gotten really cold and he wore them all weekend and said they kept his feet nice and warm..

Back Porch

I took some time this weekend to organize and move my yarn stash off of the floor and look back through it and see how its changed in the time since I've picked up a lot of hand dyed yarns. No real revelations, though I got a few ideas for some things I should do. But it was still nice to get it cleaned up and organized in a way that is semi-visible but no so obtrusive.