Yarn

WIP Wednesday: 48/52

mildlygranola, , 8 Comments

Happy Wednesday! Good news on the sweater front: the buttons don’t look as bad when the sweater is on. That is great news, as I have reached my limit for button sewing for the year. 

I finished the first Up All Night sock in the Elliot colorway. I think I’ll get a lot of use out of this pair (when I eventually finish them, probably months from now).

I took the advice from your comments, and started candy cane socks. I love how fast self striping yarn works up. The socks are looking a little more Waldo than peppermint, but that is fine with me.

I also started the Project Peace 2018 cowl. Project Peace runs until December 21, ending on World-Wide Knit for Peace Day. I love the idea of the project. I don’t love the pattern. It just isn’t something I want to wear. The pattern calls for sport weight, but I’m knitting it with DK from my stash without any adjustments. I didn’t do a gauge swatch – it’s a cowl, what is the worst that will happen?

I’m thinking about casting on a bulky weight hat. I’m meeting my brother at the Kansas City Zoo this weekend. I think that if he will hang out at the zoo with me when it is below freezing he deserves a hat. Just because he deserves one might not be enough to get me working on it however, it all depends on how the rest of the week goes.

Have a great week! I hope you are productive!

Date Day

mildlygranola8 Comments

Today John and I dropped the kids of at his parents and headed out of town. We spent the day in Winterset, about 45 minutes out of town. Winterset is a cute little down with shops on the square surrounding the courthouse. We spent the day getting a shocking amount of Christmas shopping done in the little shops. 

We picked up a few things for our nephew.


I picked up some candy cigarettes too. I’m not sure who they are for yet. I just feel that when you see candy cigarettes, you should buy them. 

The primary purpose of our trip was a visit to Heartland Fiber Co.  This cute shop, which also puts on fiberpalooza, is one of my favorite yarn shops. They have a hypoallergenic shop cat. I’m allergic to cats, so petting a cat is normally out of the question. I had no reaction to the cat and now I want one which is something I never thought I would say.

For our anniversary this year John gave me a trip to a yarn shop (7 years is the wool anniversary. Why can’t it be every year?).  I settled on three skeins for my gift. 

The first yarn I picked was some self striping sock yarn. I have been wanting a pair of Christmas socks. The red and white reminds me of a candy cane.

I also picked up some Biscotte Yarns self striping sock yarn. I love self striping yarn. This colorway reminds me of Wonder Woman. John thinks I’m crazy and says it looks more like a circus. 

I also picked out yarn for a hat for Elliot. Elliot loves camels. His favorite stuffed animal is a camel. He likes to visit the camels at the zoo. I picked up some camel yarn (78% camel fiber, 22% nylon). I plan to make him a hat with the yarn. I think I’ll do a simple ribbed brim and a stockinette hat. I should be able to chart a simple camel outline and stitch it into the hat. The yarn is very soft; I am looking forward to kitting it up.

It was nice to spend a day with John away from the kids. 

The big question: Do I put my Elliot socks even further to the side so I can make a pair of peppermint socks before Christmas?

WIP Wednesday: 47/52

mildlygranola, , 3 Comments

Happy Wednesday! It’s cold here, so naturally we spent the morning at the zoo.  I love the zoo in winter. The animals are active, so they are more fun to watch. We are usually the only people there when the temperature is below freezing, which means the kids can run around without running into people. I don’t know why more people don’t visit in the cold, but I suspect it may have to do with their lack of fleece lined jeans.

I really enjoy the start of winter. I like sipping hot tea and knitting whenever possible. 

This week I almost finished Elliot’s Christmas sweater. It is currently blocking (please excuse the bad photo, in the winter I block in the basement). I still have to sew the pockets on and weave in the ends. The pockets look awful right now, so I’m hoping that sewing them on will fix them. If not, this sweater might not have pockets after all. I am hoping the buttons get here next week.

I’m working on the toe of my first sock. I am almost ready to start working on socks again.

I’m about to cast on my next project. I’m making the everyday shawl. Instead of using a gradient kit I’m using Shibori-dyed yarn. I’m going to alternate skeins. 

This is what the yarn looks like in hanks.


And this is what it looks like in cakes.

Once I wound the yarn it became obvious that the are too different to knit one skein at a time. 

Other than the shawl, I’m thinking I might knit up some mittens for the kids or slipper socks for my mother-in-law. I usually make her some felted slippers, but I really don’t like felting projects and I don’t think I have it in me this year.

Are you knitting any Christmas gifts this year?

WIP Wednesday: 45/52

mildlygranola, , 7 Comments

I’ve had a busy week with knitting! I finished another hat, this one for myself. I’m happy to be done with hats for now.

The pattern is Sitka Spruce from Tin Can Knits. I like the look of it, but I found the stitching a little fiddley. I don’t know if that is because it was a difficult knit or because I have a cold making it hard to concentrate. I suspect it is the latter.

Now that I’m done with the hat I’m making a pair of matching mittens. I hope to finish the mittens quickly and move on to a sweater for Elliot.20181114_1335402546653718165785768.jpgA note on the yarn I’m using for this: yes, it is that bright. I don’t know why I bought fluorescent green yarn, but I think it is safe to assume I was either buying yarn on-line after two glasses of wine or it looked less bright on the website. I don’t hate the color, but I would normally not pick it. I keep losing hats, so I’m using this yarn (if I’m going to lose another hat I don’t want it to be made from yarn I adore).

Happy knitting!

 

Predictable

mildlygranola, , 8 Comments

A few weeks ago I told you how predictable I am when it comes to picking out colors for sweaters. It is even worse than I thought.

Here’s the sweater I just finished:20181103_0930262049686524622183208.jpgHere’s the Dove sweater I finished last year: 20181103_0930396852435809362364307.jpg

I have two sweaters that are the same color. Both are knit bottom up. Both have raglan sleeves. Both were Craftsy kits. Both yarns were selected because “the color is so bright and unlike any of my other sweaters.”20181103_093053450888782327311164.jpgSo help me, if I buy yarn this color for another sweater I am going to give up knitting.

WIP Wednesday: 37/52

mildlygranola, 5 Comments

Happy Wednesday! I’ve been knitting away this week, making progress on most projects. I haven’t touched my sock project at all. It feels weird to not be working on socks, but I’m just not feeling them.

I’m getting so close on my sweater. I’m actually to the point where I’m excited to be working on it because I’m so close to having a new sweater for fall. I just need to finish up the second sleeve.20180919_1242287837708890853937678.jpg

I started a stocking last week and made a 10 rows a day goal. I’ve been sticking pretty close to that, with the exception of yesterday when I did 10 rows and the heel. Doing 10 rows a day is perfect for me, as I don’t love colorwork and this breaks the project out. 20180919_1238243756778440712550706.jpgThis is the fifth stocking I’ve made from this collection. It is the first time I’ve made the heel as written without any issues. It was actually pretty simple and now I’m wondering why I ever had trouble with it. Has that ever happened to you?