rose garden socks, finished

Well. That was kind of fun. String to socks in less than a week and they turned out looking very whimsical. I'm thinking of a cottage-y garden when I look at them, so I'll call them my rose garden socks. 

I did manage to find the second sock mostly relaxing and remembered the heel and gusset process with a minimal amount of looking things up. That feels like a win. Also using the removable stitch markers to count rows was extremely effective not only to help me keep track, but it introduced the potato chip knitting phenomenon - just one more row til I can place a kitty cat. Silly, but true. 

I mostly like how they fit. I might go down a few more stitches to 60 for the next sock since these at 64 are fine but I suspect they'll grow with wear. I could also go down a needle size but I already have these and there is another solution. I also suspect that using a "normal" sock yarn will change the fabric. This was, even for fingering weight, very thin yarn and it is a blend (acrylic/rayon/polyester) that might not grip on itself a lot. I am looking forward to wearing these in some shoes (rather than flopping around the house in them like I have) and seeing how I like it, if the heel behaves, and if they still fit. 

I am reserving judgement re: am I a sock knitter or not for the moment, but these were really fun. And I am proud that they took me a week and not a month. And I can imagine a few skeins of yarn I already have that would make lovely socks. Not getting ahead of myself here, because how many socks does one person need, but I think I hear my stash calling. 

something much less simple

It occurs to me that it's been a while since I started my Clint and I have not updated at all. This project is much more complicated than the shrug I just started, so I don't tend to pick it up unless I am craving focused knitting time. I have found a rhythm with it recently after it sat for a little bit while I worked on easier things. 

It's looking pretty good so far. I've made my peace with the fudging required to get the corners "close enough" to having pointy points (some slip stitches in the patterns make this less than automatic), and I'm ignoring the one intersection where I must have added a stitch or something because the alignment isn't particularly close. All that to say it's not joyful knitting right now, but it is pretty fun. I do find humor in the fact that I am knitting a quilt - that was in fact part of what drew me to this piece. I have just a few more additions to this middle panel, which will be two or three more good chunks of time I think, and then I believe things will simplify and start progressing at a speedier clip. My goal is to have this for a cozy fall. Around here there's no pressure on that until like November because we get some pretty hot weather in September and October (NOT at all great for this girl who loves cold crisp autumnal weather). So there's time. 

scarlet sophie scarf, finished

That took no time at all! I can totally see why so many folks have made multiples of these. The extremely simple design is a lovely canvas for a special skein of yarn. I could see featuring texture (like cashmere) or a pretty speckle or other interesting color feature. That is, if you're the kind of person that can rock a tiny scarf. I am one of those people. I have definitely been through phases of wearing small silk scarves, so this fits right into that aesthetic. Plus, my mom crocheted me one very similar to this, which is what inspired me to try it out in the first place. I love that one with a button down shirt. 

This one turned out great! It is a little wider than I imagined, so perhaps a reprise might not include as many increases. I did not use a dk weight yarn, instead I opted for a fingering weight, so I guess the "correct" version is even wider? Dunno. Would not want that. I do like the yarn I used both for its feel and its color. That red is going to be fun for the summer. It's a little orangier than it's turning out in the pictures, which is what drew me to the color in the first place, but it will still be a nice accessory for a patriotic vibe in July. 

I used up every last inch of the ball of Catona yesterday evening, which was very satisfying, though I ended up needing to fudge the second end because I was running out of yarn. It's a bit less pointy than the first end. I ripped back several times to get it looking right, and no one will know but me unless they look really closely. Which would be kind of awkward if I was wearing it, to be honest. I thought about, but did not rip all the way back to the midpoint. That just seemed like an overreaction. 

I enjoy the croissant form factor photos I've been seeing around the internet, so here is mine for good measure. I'm still chuckling that I was influenced by YouTubers and my mother to make this little guy, but it was an incredibly fun knit and I am going to really enjoy it. 

jumping on the bandwagon

I'm not really much of a joiner or a trend follower. However. This little scarf making the rounds of the knitting world has captured my attention despite initial resistance. What happened that finally convinced me is my mom made me a crochet version that I absolutely love, then I've been hearing about what a palette cleanser relaxing knit this version is. I just finished several large projects and am craving simple and fast before I hop into starting my next sweater. Enter the Sophie scarf. 

The yarn my mom used is Scheepjes Catona, a mercerized cotton yarn that is quite soft, cool to the touch, and has a lovely sheen to it. It's also easy to care for and kind to sensitive skin like mine that would resent wool close around my neck. I find the color options of this yarn at my LYS quite appealing in general, and I was quite drawn to this pretty poppy red. I have some lipstick in this color (which might be a bit much paired with it but fun to note) and it feels kind of retro and fun. I'm going to see if I can use up the whole skein. How fun would it be to have a project in mind where I could just pick up a little ball of yarn and use it all up whenever I wanted?! This could be a new habit. I imagine that is also some of the appeal for others, too.

 

Speaking of habit, this is quite a habit forming knit. I have already made quite a bit of progress in a short amount of time and I find myself picking it up to knit a repeat between chunks of tasks at work. It is a palette cleanser and mental floss all in one! 

an exciting start

I spent far too many of the wee hours on Sunday getting this project started. To be fair, I had Monday off so there were very few repercussions aside from a circadian rhythm blip and one less night of solid sleep. But! I cast on my Coloring Book Raglan. I have wanted to make one of these since I saw a favorite YouTuber talk about it this fall - the boxy look plus stripes was quite appealing to my current sense of style. I showed adult restraint, though, and finished up a few things (including a new project bag for it) before caking up the yarn. 

This will be my first time working on a top down sweater (just my fifth sweater) and I am looking forward to seeing if I prefer it to bottom up. I expect the bonus of being able to try on as you go is pretty significant given my dive in and ask questions about gauge later habits. The fit also looks like it would be very forgiving in the I-don't-like-to-swatch department.

I'm using a yarn I discovered (but did not purchase) on Bay Area Yarn Crawl last year. I can remember seeing a black version, which was gorgeous, picking it up and thinking "ooh that's really soft wool. I bet I could wear a sweater out of that". This shade of dusty robin's egg blue is just beautiful and I love working with the yarn so far. I'm about halfway through the raglan increases at this point, and then it's smooth sailing down the body. I'll be combining it with some alpaca for the stripes. I'm really looking forward to seeing if that works out. 

well that was quick

I cast on the project I saw this weekend on Monday evening and got a few inches done that first night. As predicted, it was quite a quick knit! The pattern is easy to memorize and as usual the striping makes it so easy to think "just one more row". The pattern is Washington Square, and I modified it to cast on fewer stitches and kept it one gauge instead of switching needles as I went for a more rectangle cowl vs the shaped one meant to go over shoulders. I also didn't reference how many rows to do - I decided I would just keep knitting until I rain out of my single skeins of yarn. (The sample at the shop said it was one skein each color, but when I looked at the pattern the "true" project turns out to require more.)
 

I actually had a pretty obsessive relationship with this one, though it was a bit limited by the fact that it was harder on my hands because of the chunkier yarn. Still, it didn't take very long for me to finish it up. I took it to Wednesday knit night - perfect project for chatting and catching up - and finished off the bind off when I got home. I'm not 100% pleased with the Icelandic bind off I chose, I think it's a little bit too loose and doesn't nip in the edge quite as nicely as the long tail cast on does. In the photo below you can tell which the bottom is just by the way it funnels out. I have half a mind to redo it, but I also kind of think no one will know but me? The jury is out. 

Other than that nagging detail I just love it. The color combination is stellar. The warm neutral, while difficult to coordinate with any other gray in my wardrobe, sets off the gorgeous variegated yarn so well. And apparently I was pretty smart when I got this skein of Lotus even though it sat around in my stash for so long. It is such a beautiful combination of some of my very favorite colors. I especially like the squares where the purple and blues combine, it's very reminiscent of clouds at dusk. I am very pleased with it (as you can tell from the "ta da it's finished" photo below) and have already worn it to work today! 

new year, new project

Celebrated this evening with a new year’s cast on. I did end up binding off my striped sweater last night - happy to have won yarn chicken on new year’s eve - but I don’t like the way the neckline turned out so I need to consider my options before that will be done. Bummer, but I’m not going to let it get me down. Instead I treated myself to the next project, one I’ve had in my mental queue for a bit. This will be the third time I’ve knitted this particular hat pattern, so I know it will turn out great. I’m really enjoying the color and the quick progress. What a lovely treat!

mossy sweater reclaimed

I wandered off to work on some other projects, but I have also been making steady progress on this sweater for my dad. After having to frog back nearly the whole thing, the body re-knit pretty quickly and I have worked my way up the back yoke and armhole shaping all the way to the neckline. 

I think it's looking pretty weird at this point. I've taken measurements and all looks proportional and okay, but this is definitely a faith in knitting stage right now. Next up is the front, and then I have two sleeves to tackle. Onward!

stripes ahoy

I've been making great progress on both sweaters so far this fall. Right now I've found myself drawn to the stripey fingering weight project. There are so. many. short rows. As I worked I remembered that the first time I knit this pattern I couldn't wait to be done with the short rows. It's similar this time. I felt myself itching to get to the easy in-the-round part not because of the counting, but because of the purls!

At long last I did finally finish them (complaints aside, they really do make for quite a cool hemline) and I got to my first stripe! At this point it's potato chips - when can I get to the next stripe?! It's been going pretty quickly. I must thank my past self for taking such good notes in the pattern with respect to row counts, when stripes started, etc. There has been minimal thinking required this time because of that. 

I should probably return to the sweater that needs to be done by Christmas soon, but just look at those stripes!

 

two weeks of moss

I have been making great progress on the mossy green sweater. It has been so wonderful knitting with worsted weight yarn that I have found all the nooks and crannies of time to work on it. I am especially enjoying that I have a colleague at work who also knits, so we've been comparing projects. I started my third ball of wool yesterday, and am already nearly done with it today. Fourth ball start by tomorrow, I am sure. 

This is about 10 inches worth of sweater done already, which is pretty great considering I feel like I just started! It's been easy going with just one row of increases so far and otherwise basically stockinette in the round with a few ribbing stitches at the side seams. I snapped this photo below to send to the parents (it's for my dad) joking that I am just about finished with my tube top.... how itchy that would be! 

second sweater start

Am I crazy? I started a second sweater last week. Granted, part of the intention is to get a few projects going past the fiddly cast on/first few rows stage, but still. Do I bite off more than I can chew? There may even be a third sweater coming. Such hubris! 

This will be my second go-round with this particular pattern so I have some great notes in my margins. I am being cavalier and not gauge swatching despite using a different yarn. Part of me feels like it's an awful lot of work to do without checking first, but I also feel like having made this before I have a decent intuition of how the finished garment will behave and it's pretty forgiving. I may be learning some hard lessons about gauge this fall, but I am going to take what the universe gives me and either declare victory or be grateful for the "now I know better" moment(s). 

I have already made my way through the bottom band and much of the front short row shaping. Once that's done, it is on to the back short row shaping. If I didn't like the hem on this so much I would complain more, but here's my little vent. It isn't the short rows themselves, and wraps are fun and magical. It's the PURLING. Nothing makes my hands hurt more than purling. Ok maybe 1x1 rib, but it's up there on my least favorite maneuvers to do with sticks and string. This pattern is a heartbreaker because the band is garter stitch in the round which means loooots of purls to start with. When you're done, ordinarily that would mean flying through a stockinette body knitting in the round. But with short rows, one must turn. And when one must turn, one must purl. I'm enjoying working on this, but it does have a time limit because my hands start to ache. That will change once I get done with this hem shaping though! May it be soon. 

Ah and also the rest of the yarn for my dad's sweater came in the mail today. Just look at this pile! I will not consider how many stitches that represents.... oh boy. Here we go!

mossy green sweater start

Well, here I go on a sweater adventure! Just cast on Tuesday evening and have struggled my way through the first few inches. I quite dislike doing ribbing, especially when it is 1x1 ribbing, but in this case the magic of the tubular cast on looking so amazingly neat down there at the bottom was the consolation prize. It is wizardry, I tell you.

I have found a lovely new YouTube channel to watch with a very creative woman who makes beautiful quilts and things. Her voice, accent, and mannerisms are so relaxing and her aesthetic so charming that I find myself feeling quite cozy and peaceful. Between that and my favorite gardening channel, I have been feeling quite domestic in the little nook on this couch! I got a little over half way through the ribbing that first night and finished the final bit over lunch yesterday having decided that 2.5 inches was close enough instead of the 3 inches it called for. One more row and there would have been mutiny. My hands are a bit angry.

It was a delight to get to the stockinette rows, and I can tell this may go by pretty quickly if I can find the time for it. Worsted weight wool is so quick to work with! I'm a little nervous about gauge since I am using a needle size down. I did do a gauge swatch (well a few rows anyway), but did not block it so I am still guessing, but it seemed to be a good educated guess. I would hate for this to end up hilariously large, and this wool is so springy and tight right now I suspect it may grow in the blocking process. Though, of course as I am knitting in the round now I suspect my gauge is a bit tighter than the flat swatch I did... I may go for it and switch back to the recommended needle size. I don't think this first inch will end up looking weird if I do that, and given the finished measurements cited for the size I chose and the intended ease I may be overthinking this. Glad to have thought that out through my fingers here, good talk! 

I am enjoying the color very much and have already nearly finished one cake of yarn. I have another, but the rest is still on order so I may pause here until I can get the rest of the skeins to see if the dye lots are significantly different. In that case I'll figure out how to mix in this other ball with the rest so I don't end up with a weird color block at the bottom of the garment. I'll be calling the shop today or tomorrow to see if they've arrived. 

brambles, finished

Monday's photoshoot also included this lovely finish. I've mentioned the story before, but to recap, I started this piece as a simple (mostly) garter stitch project that I could take to knit night at my local yarn store, figuring I could split my attention between talking and this with little consequence. The yarn is a gray wool I got at the King's Mountain Art Fair at some point and a beautiful variegated cotton that I got from my brother's family for a birthday (along with the cake that turned into my North Sea Ombre wrap. The variegated yarn was over 1000 yards and demanded a great project to showcase the shades. 

I chose a Melanie Berg design from her book Colorwork Shawls that made use of two gradient yarns and just decided the gray was enough as it was. Soooo glad I did! The pattern was perfect for this combination. Well, nearly. I was hoping to use up every last bit of the gradient yarn cake but I have a bit of the darkest purple left. I did consider doing an extra repeat of the lace edge but just couldn't face more lace by the time I was done with the repeats as written. 

I chose not to block it - I don't think it needs it. I'm loving that it's mostly cotton which gives the fabric a great drape and weight and will mean I can likely wear this without itching too much. I do love to knit and wear shawls but so often I end up with red and irritated skin on my neck. It's got quite a wingspan. I have not measured my piece, but the pattern states 7.5 feet along the edge and just about 3 feet deep. I'd say I have that here, and these wonderfully big sizes are a hallmark of all of the Melanie Berg patterns I have made. They take me a long time but end up being such wonderfully architectural pieces that I find it rewarding to finish and I get a kick every time I pull one out to wear. 

Pattern: Grellow is a State of Mind, by Melanie Berg (my Ravelry page) 

Needle: US 3

Yarn: Scheepjes Whirl in 'brambleberry' and Serendipidye King's Mountain Sock in 'smoke' 

shift cowl, finished

I got some great photos of my mom's Shift cowl today. The bright colors were a pleasure to work with through the winter and spring and are now popping in the summer garden. Mom has always had a knack for choosing great colors. We bought these on her trip out here in November. I took her to the local yarn store, which was I think my first time meeting the new owner Kristi who is delightful. In fact much of this was stitched at the Wednesday evening knit group at the shop that I took a leap and started going to this winter - a fun and encouraging group of ladies! I digress. Mom and I saw a sample worked up at the shop and the construction plus the combination of variegated yarns caught both of our eyes.

Mom chose just one variegated yarn, which actually had its own surprise way of working up here. It started out with a lot of fuchsia and turquoise and morphed into that bright blue you see down at the end. So interesting! The other two colors she picked were solids, a bright lime green and a soft toned light purple. They ended up looking quite eye catching together, even if the light purple gets a little lost in the photos. It shows up in person, promise. 

The construction on this piece was pretty creative. It's worked diagonally from a tiny start to a long finish and then seamed up the back to make kind of a bandana shape. You pop it over your head and voila, instant wrapped scarf look without the pesky ends and without worrying about it coming undone as you move about your day. Honestly the seam wasn't that stellar on mine, there was a bit of fudging, but it turned out looking fine. 

We picked out all cotton yarns and I have to say I really like the weight that gives the piece. It will also mean it won't be itchy, and perhaps may even be wearable in the warmer months in Chicago. I could definitely see this peeking out of a winter coat as a fun accessory. 

Pattern: The Shift, by Andrea Mowry (my Ravelry page) 

Yarn: Berroco Modern Cotton DK in 'bristol' (lavender) and '1659' (lime green) and Urth Uneek Cotton in 1074 (purple and blue variegated) 

Needle: US 5 (3.75 mm)

blocking shift

Some of the sections felt like they would never end, but it's finally off the needles! 

I am blocking it to the measurements in the pattern, which looks a bit long in the point to me, but I'm going to not deviate from what I'm told. It should all work out in the end. Given the cotton yarn, I don't think doing the seam up after this is dry is going to be too much trouble. I think the pattern even tells you what technique to use, which is a bonus. 

Now to wait for it to dry!

glamour shots to catch up

While I was out photographing my North Sea wrap yesterday, I decided to take advantage of the beautiful day and great lighting to take pictures of some knit pieces that I have finished since 2021 (and also a way better picture of my Shetland shawl than I had).

Shetland shawl August 2017 - June 2019. Literally one of my favorite things I've ever made and I never took very good photos of it. It's 6 feet square, so that's a challenge. It's folded in half here the way I've been wearing it. 

Phoenix started week 22 of pandemic, according to blog post titles (August 2020) and finished Aug 16 2021which is the day after I went back to work.

This is a pattern out of my Colorwork Shawls book by Melanie Berg and made with some beautifully hand dyed wool and silk yarn from a woman I met at Stitches West the one time I went. The stripes between the green and blue yarn didn't workout quite as well as I imagined, but the wash of color against the bright orange is still pretty and you can still see the interesting geometry of the sideways construction. 

Scarf of my own design Feb 20 - Mar 27 2022. Very cozy yarn from Monarch Knitting in Monterey. I can remember purposely choosing a combination of colors that I don't normally wear. 

Unlike many of the wool-based knits I make, this one feels good on my skin and doesn't seem to irritate it if I wear it a long time. It's extremely soft, and I wonder if I'd ever be brave enough to knit a sweater with it. 

This crochet blanket was a fun thing I made in April of 2022. I can't remember how, where, or why I got this yarn but I suspect the pattern may have been something from the label. 

I made the blanket shorter than was called for and got to play with making some wonderfully dense pompoms to add onto the ends using the rest of the yarn. It's a great blanket for the couch, and those pompoms never get old. 

Fractured is a cowl that Dave picked colors out for a while back on one of our trips down to Monterey. It's Brooklyn Tweed yarn from Monarch Knitting, and I finally cast it on this past year and worked on it sporadically from January to December.

I started it in January intending to have it done for his birthday in February, but it was slower going than I hoped. I blocked it out over the holidays and am amazed at how much everything evened out. It looks great and I'm hoping it suits his oceanside lifestyle.

week twenty two

 I’ve been wanting to knit lately. That’s somewhat strange given the fact that it’s so incredibly hot outside - in the 100s! - but there it is. I should say that I also did finish a couple more hexagons for my tree skirt this week and picked out a layout, but that’s for another post when I actually have it done... sometime before Christmas. Back to yarn. Current mood: use things in the stash.

These three lovelies are from my Honey Girl Farms Outlander Yarn Club that I was in for a while. I was accumulating too many skeins without using them so I paused it. The colors are so nice and I really like the silky yarn base, so maybe someday if she’s still got it going I’ll start up again. Along comes an itch to make another large shawl and boom, three skeins will get used. It’s a somewhat unusual combination, but that is just what I was going for. This piece will have narrow stripes and panels of lace. In theory the stripes could be very contrast-y, but I am curious to see how the blue and green mottled yarns play together. I think once the fabric gets larger the stripes will become apparent. It’s reminding me of a dragon’s scales or a phoenix feather right now. Such pretty colors.

The pattern is out of a book I got down at a new-to-me shop in Monterey sometime before the pandemic - The Before Time. It’s going to be an asymmetrical sideways chevron which is a new construction for me. It should be really interesting! 

Lost in the Woods

I’ve really got that whole winter hat thing taken care of this year. Not that I didn’t already have enough as it was.... but in this case I used up some leftover yarn from making my Aslan cowl to try out a matching hat. I apparently can’t wait for cold weather this year. 

It’s a relatively straightforward pattern without too much difficulty. In fact the hardest part was just finding the right size circular needle in my drawer. I made the brim longer so I can fold it up to wear as a fitted beanie. It looks good as a slouchy hat too, but I like the beanie best. I like this colorway a lot; it reminds me of a piney forest on a gray day. The song “Lost in the Woods” from Frozen 2 makes me chuckle, so the moniker stuck to this one when I was searching my brain. Who doesn’t love a good 80s rock ballad?

Pattern: Squarshy Hat (my Ravelry page)

Yarn: madelinetosh chunky in ‘plaid blanket’

Needle: US 10 (6 mm) and US 8 (5 mm)

Cloud Dweller

Well, I’ve got that winter hat problem all taken care of. It was obviously super important that I start and finish a chunky winter hat in the midst of the summer. Just in case? Regardless, I made a hat and I’m pretty pleased with how it turned out. 

I’ve had this yarn in my stash for a while now. I picked it up at Knit, Purl in Portland on a Thanksgiving trip we took in 2015 simply because I couldn’t pass up the color. I just love the combination of sky blue and dusty purple. I would totally make myself a big comfy sweater out of this stuff. The cables pop out perfectly and the overall heft of the hat is really satisfying. 

The other satisfying part? This pom pom. Of course I had to make a nice big pom pom to top it all off. I used my 3 3/8” gadget and wrapped generously to end up with this really dense beautiful ball of fluff. I attached it through a button on the inside of the hat hoping that will help it to stand up a bit better instead of sagging off the hat under its own weight. I used up almost as much yarn on the pom pom as I did for the hat! Totally worth it. 

Pattern: Illume, free on Ravelry (my Ravelry page) 

Yarn: madelinetosh chunky in ‘cloud dweller’

Needle: US 10 (6 mm), US 8 (5 mm)

week nineteen

I'm about four weeks on from the last time I posted any knitting projects. It's been a summer of sewing for the most part, but that doesn't mean that I haven't sat down a bit with needles and yarn. I have only a couple of small projects on the needles and a pretty empty mental queue at this point, which seems about right if I'm going to try making any knitted things as holiday gifts this year. 

I've been enjoying the chunky texture of this hat as it comes to be. I love the subtle peeks of purple in the otherwise sky blue base. It should work up to be an interesting looking fabric that I think will match my dusty purple winter coat really nicely. While I really like the driftwood Lykke needles I'm using, I'm finding that I wish I had a circular needle of the appropriate size instead because of the cabling. It gets a little bit fiddly, and this is supposed to be my easy project!

And speaking of fiddly, I have finished the body of one fingerless glove so far and have a start on the second. I will leave the thumbs (my least favorite part) until last. I am very happy with the way the colors are looking with the pattern, and super impressed that some of the complicated looking details are so easy once you know how it's done. I'm solving some knitting mysteries here, people. I've really enjoyed working on these so far, but I definitely needed to switch over to the chunky hat or risk stopping knitting forever! That's a (slight) exaggeration, but my hands and my brain really craved a simpler more mindless piece to break up the counting and yarn wrangling this pattern requires.