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WIP Wednesday

mildlygranola, , , 1 Comment

I would really like summer to slow down a bit. It feels like I was just writing my WIP post last week. I am not looking forward to being stuck inside this winter, but this week has been so hot we have been stuck inside a few days.

This week I finished my first watermelon sock. As you can see, they look good enough to eat. I usually make tall socks, but opted for a short sock. I’m pretty happy with them, I think I would go crazy if I had to knit that much stockinette without a pattern.

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I’m still waiting on my knitting needles, so Audrey’s sweater is still hibernating. The cocoon cardigan continues to hibernate as well (I can’t bring myself to touch it when there is a heat advisory outside). My retirement cardigan is still tucked away in my closet waiting for me to find motivation to pull it out.

I’ve never had this many projects on the needles before. So what should I do? Cast on a Wonder Woman Wrap, obviously. I started two days ago and I’m making very slow progress. I think I’ll be working on this project for a long time. I got a few rows in while the kids napped yesterday, but usually it will be my evening project if I’m not watching a show that needs concentration. It feels good to be starting a new large project that I actually enjoy.

Next week I hope to get to the yellow in the Wonder Woman wrap and to the heel of the second watermelon sock. I hope you are able to resist the siren call of a new project before you finish a work in progress. Have a great week!

Socks for John

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Last week I finished some socks for John. They were knit with hand me down yarn from Ivy.

I wish I knew what kind of yarn these are knit with so I could never knit with it again. The individual plys were not wound together well  and I constantly had one flopping about. 

I am glad these are done. I picked up some sock yarn today to make him another pair. I might be using his appreciation of hand knit socks to justify buying more yarn. 

WIP Wednesday

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Happy Wednesday! This summer has been very busy for me, which has led to me forgetting to post for a few Wednesdays in a row. I’m still knitting, just not as much as I had been until summer hit.

I’m still waiting on my new size 8 needles to continue work on Audrey’s owl sweater. I ordered them from an outside vendor off of Amazon without checking the estimated shipping time. I have until August for them to arrive. That is a whole lot of waiting for needles. Lesson learned – sometimes you need to spring for expedited shipping.

I’m currently working on some watermelon inspired socks. I don’t have a pattern, so I’m making them up as I go along. I’m going to do a short row heel, which will be a change for me. I love a heel flap and gusset. I will post pictures next week.

I finished a pair of socks for John last night. As soon as I get pictures I’ll write a finished object post. He wore them today. I have a hand knit sock convert in the house. It is nice to have something to knit for him that he will wear regularly.

There you have it – my knitting in progress. It’s good for knitting to slow down when life gets crazy. I hope you are having a wonderful summer!

WIP Wednesday

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I’ve been knitting more than I expected. Audrey hasn’t been napping, so I’ve been spending nap time sitting as quietly as possible in hopes that the quiet will lull her to sleep. I haven’t had luck with that yet, but I have been productive with knitting.

Currently I have a pair of Simple SKYP socks in progress. I just sewed in the ends on sock one and plan to cast on sock two later this evening. It looks like I’m using two clashing balls of yarn for these socks, but it is actually one ball of Chroma in Confetti, a colorway I wouldn’t have picked out. The leg looks like a 70s afghan and the foot looks like it was inspired by a My Little Pony.  Despite the colors I kind of love this sock. It’s super cozy and colorful, two traits I like in socks. I’m going to live on the edge when I start the second sock – I’m not going to find the spot in the color repeat where I started the first sock. I always make my socks matching, but I’ve decided to go a little crazy with this pair. I’ll let you know next week how I’m feeling about it.

I haven’t gotten the cardigan out to seam this week because I’ve been busy in the evenings. I’m trying to be more social instead of staying at home drinking tea and watching HGTV alone. Don’t worry – by the time it is cold enough to wear the cardigan and cozy Chroma socks I will have finished both and I’ll be back to watching HGTV and sipping tea in my pajamas by 7:30 pm.

Have you been busy knitting? Do you usually make your socks match? What do you make, other than socks, that are mindless enough to pick up and put down several times throughout the day?

John’s socks

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After 5 years of marriage and 2 kids together I finally made John a pair of socks. He is already a fan and wearing them even though it is ridiculously hot out. 

I love how the stripes turned out. I went with a ribbed leg, and the socks actually stay up on John’s chicken legs. 

WIP Wednesday

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Happy Wednesday! I feel like so much has happened knit-wise for me to discuss with you this week, but that might be because I met a running buddy for wine so I am super chatty.

The cardigan is mid seaming! I’ve done the shoulder seams, sewn the arms in, and sewn one side seam. I really thought I would get it out and seam it and it would feel great and I would just get it all done in one evening. HA! It turns out the cardigan is not like the dorky girl in a teen comedy where you take her glasses off and she’s stunning. Nope. I still hate working on the cardigan.

The really annoying thing is I can now see that it is going to be great next winter and I’ll wear it a lot. I’m sorry if I see you IRL while wearing the cardigan and tell you about how much I hated working on it. In fact, if you mention that you understand how I hated the color, or you can see how ugly it was to work on I will immediately hate you. Just tell me it’s pretty, OK?

I’m pretty close to finishing John’s first sock. I need him to try it on, because I think it is long enough to start decreasing for the toe. He insists on finishing dinner before trying it on, and I think that if you are a grown man eating Kraft Mac & Cheese at 9:30 at night you can pause a moment to try on a flipping sock.

But if he forgets to try on the sock tonight I still have a project to work on, as I cast on a pair of simple skyp socks with some Knit Picks Chroma I got in a $10 grab bag. They are fun, and look great in the yarn. I have better sock yarn to work with in my stash, but I didn’t need to wind the Chroma. I don’t plan on spending a lot of time working on these socks until John’s socks are done.

I mentioned last week that I was hesitant to cast on a new pair of socks until I started Audrey’s Owl Sweater. Well, I started it this week, and worked the yoke until the sleeves are put on waste yarn. I would love to be working on it instead of the Chroma socks, but I didn’t realize until I was cast on that I do not own a 16″ size 8 needle. I ordered one and it has shipped, but will not arrive until the end of the month.

This week I hope to finish sock 1 for John and be at the heel of sock 2. I hope to finish the seaming of the cardigan. I do not expect to pick up all of the stitches for the collar for a week or two. As soon as my new size 8 arrives I plan on getting Audrey’s cardigan finished.

I hope you’re having a great week and are getting things done!

WIP Wednesday

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Happy Wednesday! John and I are headed to a movie tonight, so I am writing this update earlier in the day than usual. It feels weird to write when the sun is still up.

This week I got much more progress done than I anticipated. I actually finished Audrey’s socks. Socks for a 2-year-old are such a quick knit I regret not making her socks before now. I hated the yarn in the skein, but love how it knit up.

After I finished Audrey’s socks I started on a slouchy sparkly hat for my sister Kathleen and a pair of socks for John.

I’m almost done with the hat. I hated how the yarn looked in the skein, and questioned using it, but I really like how it looks knit. Maybe the phrase should be don’t judge a yarn by its skein instead of don’t judge a book by its cover.

I’ve only finished about 3/4 of an inch of John’s socks. I had about an inch and a half done before I made him try them on for the second time because I just kept feeling there was something off. He said they fit, but he really had to work to put them on. I gave him a lecture about sock fit (what can I say, I’m super helpful), frogged it, and started again. I’m working with Regia for the first time, and I really like the yarn. It feels rugged, which will be perfect for him.

The biggest news on the knitting front is the cardigan. I actually finished the second sleeve. Now I need to seam it and pick up the collar and bottom ribbing. Every night that I’m home (not often this week) I plan to work on it for an hour. I think that if I put a time limit on it I’ll be more likely to work on it. It’s such a big, clunky project I think I would avoid it if I knew I was going to work on it all night.

I’m debating casting on a pair of Simply SKYP socks for me in some Knit Picks Chroma. I think it would be good to have a project in my car in case an emergency knitting situation arises. My concern is that I would just knit on those socks, make no progress on my cardigan, and not start to make the next sweater in queue for Audrey until she is too big for it. Sigh. The life of a knitter is so hard.

Have a great week!