Dishcloths

WIP Wednesday: 12/52

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Happy Wednesday. It’s going to be 60 this afternoon, so it feels like spring is actually here. It’s not the weather that is feeling springy, so is my knitting. All of my projects are small – I’m not in the mood for a big, bulky project.

My knit while the kids play project is a pair of socks for Audrey. I’m about one inch from starting the toe on the first sock. These go fast when I actually take the time to work on them. They are just really boring, so I avoid working on them at all costs.20180328_1310381146532628.jpg

This is my first time working with this yarn, Sandnes Garn Sisu, and I like it. The yarn feels like it will hold up well, which is good, because I fully intend for both kids to eventually wear these socks. I love the color. It is such a bright blue, both kids seem happy with it.

I’m also making a hat for myself out of the South Dakota Yarn Co. I picked up at Fiberpalooza. The pattern, Diamond Girl, looks great with the yarn. I am using sport weight instead of DK weight, which will be good for a spring hat. I love how the hat is knitting up, but I am reminded why I haven’t knit lace in five years – you actually have to think about it. I’m not used to thinking about my knitting. 20180328_1311581281478462.jpg

In addition to the two real projects I’m working on, I’ve started keeping a dishcloth on the needles in the fruit bowl on my dining room table. Why? Because toddlers eat for a really long time. Each meal lasts about an hour. That makes for a lot of sitting at the table encouraging them to eat or be done with the meal. I’ve made two and a half dishcloths with this new technique over the past week. That is even more impressive when you realize I was gone for three days last week. I plan to keep a dishcloth going until I’ve replenished our dishcloth drawer (all of our dishcloths seemed to get holes at the same time).

Overall I’m not in much of a knitting mood lately. Or a reading mood. You would think I would be getting a lot of cleaning and organizing done, but you would be wrong. I’m mostly sitting around trying to figure out what to do with my downtime.

What do you like to do when you aren’t knitting?

WIP Wednesday

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Happy Wednesday! It finally feels like winter around here, so I have been daydreaming about casting on new, warmer, knitting projects. I’ve managed to hold off for now. I still have a lot of knitting to do before Christmas so I need to stay on track.

20171206_155431.jpgLet’s start with John’s Christmas socks. They have been sitting in my knitting bag since I started the heel yesterday. Why? Because I discovered that I dropped a stitch back at the end of the ribbing. I’m so annoyed I can’t even look at it. I hope I can face it tomorrow, because I really need to get moving on it if I’m going to finish them by Christmas.

I finished the socks for my Mom, but I haven’t blocked them yet. I love them. I hope she does too.

In addition to John’s socks I’m working on a few dishcloths for myself. Mine are starting to wear out, so I would like to have a few made before I have to throw out my old ones. I’m also working on a pair of monkey socks. I was going to make them for a friend, but she has narrow feet and the socks look like they would be too loose on her. So I’m going to keep them. I think.

I hope your Christmas knitting is going well!

WIP Wednesday

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I have big news: we finished the dishcloth project! My friends and I made over 140 dishcloths for the Des Moines YMCA Supportive Housing Complex. I’m so happy to be done with the project, as a lot of people are about to get some handmade goodness and I’m able to work on knitting projects that aren’t cotton based. I’m going to continue to knit one dishcloth a week for them, so there are always dishcloths available as new residents move in. 20170528_140905

After my Crafternoon meeting on Sunday where we met our goal, I felt a rush of joy thinking about how much knitting I was going to get done. I finished Mary-Claire’s socks, which I had not anticipated doing this week. I love the pattern (school pick up line socks), but I’m not a fan of the yarn – it is not sparkly enough.

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Last night I actually picked up my cardigan and worked on it for a bit. I finished the increases on the second sleeve. I should be able to finish the sleeve this week if I actually sit down and knit on it.

I’m about to cast on another pair of toddler socks for Audrey, this time in Knit Picks Felici in Soft Serve. I don’t really like the colorway, but I am bound and determined to work through some stash, and toddler socks are an instant gratification way to do that.

This week I hope to finish the second sleeve on the cardigan and finish one toddler sock. I am trying to get more done around the house now that the kids are old enough to play a bit without screaming too much, so my knitting will probably slow down a little for now (for the next week or so until I give up on having a clean house).

I hope you have a productive week. If you have any good excuses for not cleaning your house and knitting instead please let me know.

5 on Friday: Ending a Knitting Funk

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Happy Friday! I’ve been silent for a while over here. I have been busy planning a birthday party for Elliot, spending as much time as possible outside, and pouting about my knitting funk.

What’s a knitting funk? It is when you are depressed about what you are knitting. I’ve been working on the same projects for months and it’s bringing me down. Logically I know that things are moving slowly because I’m knitting so many dishcloths. That project is important to me, but it is tying up my precious knitting time on boring cotton squares. It’s just knitting the same dishcloth over and over again. I’m living Groundhog Day in knitting form.

So I’ve decided to shake off that funk and get back to enjoying knitting. I’ve come up with 5 things that will help me do that.

  1. Limit my dishcloth knitting. I will stick to making 5 a week instead of knitting more because I worry we will never finish the project. As of our meeting last Sunday we had knit 89 of 140 dishcloths. We’re making good progress. I don’t need to freak out about never finishing the project.
  2. Focus on finishing a pair of socks. I have two pairs of socks on the needles, one of which is slow going. I’m going to focus on the faster pair so I actually finish something. I finished the first sock yesterday and it felt wonderful to cast on something other than a dishcloth.
  3. Really focus on working on my cardigan. I am getting so close to finishing it. I just need to finish the second sleeve (I just started it), block it, and then pick up and knit the ribbing for the collar and bottom.
  4. Start daydreaming about what I’m going to knit next. I’m pretty sure it’s a sweater for Audrey, but it might be a cardigan for Elliot. If I daydream about future knitting enough it will almost feel like I’m actually starting a new project.
  5. Wind some yarn. I have several projects I want to knit this year, so I might as well get the yarn ready. I can pull out my ball winder and swift and wind up some yarn cakes. If I’m really motivated I might even start project bags for the yarn, I can include a copy of the pattern I intend to use as well as the needles. I will just need to stop myself from casting on a new project before I finish at least one of the projects already in progress.

Have you ever been in a craft funk? How did you get out of it?

WIP Wednesday: Dishcloth Vacation

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25 dishcloths done! I finished the 25th one on Friday and I have LOVED having more time to knit fun things. I made a lot of progress this week. I’m hoping I’m ready to dive back in to dishcloths when I start working on them again on Saturday. I’m going to try to knit another 25 before I take another vacation from them.

I am so close to finishing the left front panel of my cardigan. I thought it would be further along, but I was carried off in a sock fever.

I finally finished the terra cotta poop socks! I have had several people tell me they like the colors, but I can’t bring myself to gift hand knit acrylic/nylon socks. Hand knit socks should be lovely to wear, not hot and icky. I wore them today and confirmed that they to not breathe at all. They are really comfortable, so I’ll get over the sweaty feet issue and wear them around the house.

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I’m a big fan of Knit Picks Felici yarn. I love how the stripes work up. It is addictive to try to get to the next row. I started these socks on Monday, and they are flying. I’m almost done with the gusset. I’m going to have to remind myself how fast they are to knit when I restart them, because I’m about to frog this entire sock.
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Why? Because I thought I was so good at casting on I could start a sock while the kids ate lunch. I was wrong. I was distracted and cast on 60 stitches, not 65. I didn’t realize it until I was past the heel flap, so the sock is currently uneven. I can get the sock on, but it is too tight, so instead of just reworking the flap, turn, and gusset, I’m going to start over. I am going to have a nice glass of wine and tear it all out. I’m debating starting it again right away (after just one glass of wine – I don’t trust Wine Sarah to cast on socks) or just focusing on my cardigan.

Next week I hope to have completed 5 dishcloths, the never ending cardigan panel, and either restarted the striped socks or started a hat for Audrey that she picked out last weekend in Kansas City (more on that on Friday).

Have you ever made a dumb knitting mistake? How do you avoid making dumb mistakes?

 

WIP Wednesday: dishcloths galore

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I might be getting sick of dishcloths. I continue to make one a day, and every day I say I will stop when I finish that dishcloth. Then I decide I should just start the next days dishcloth. Then I just knit it for a little bit. Then I knit 1.75 dishcloths before I put down the cotton and pick up a project for me. I am close to 25 dishcloths, and when I get there I’m taking a week off from the dishcloth project to focus on knitting for myself.

I did get some work done on my Hermoine socks. I turned the second heel and started to work on the gusset. I hope to have it close to finished by next week. I’m probably going to knit a pair of self striping socks next, as I love knitting striped socks. I do not like the yarn I am using for my current socks, so I want to really love the yarn I use next. I don’t want to get so sick of socks that I burn myself out. The last time I did that I took a five year sock knitting hiatus.

I am about 1/3 of the way done with the left panel of my cardigan. It continues to be slow going, but I feel like I’m making progress. I thought it would fly because the yarn is bulky, but the moss stitch slows me down enough to counteract the huge yarn.

Next week I hope to be done with 25 dishcloths and focused on fun knitting. I would like to be close to the toe on my sock and on the first sleeve of my sweater. I would like to start having fun finished projects to share. I would also like to knit faster so I can get through my stash and buy new yarn without guilt.