mainly about a Stormborn Shawl

A blog post on a Thursday evening...a little out of the ordinary for me! Truthfully, I meant to write earlier today but then I took a nap... :) so you can clearly see my priorities.

I have been working on a lot of things over the past few weeks.

Dad's socks have heels! I am still decreasing the gussets but I am happy with my slow progress! Fingers crossed they'll be finished by Father's Day.

I cast on Sue's socks in one of the hand dyed skeins that I mentioned last week. I really like it! They are a nice, vanilla pair.

A project I haven't mentioned yet is the Game of Thrones Mystery KAL aka Stormborn Shawl by Kristen Ashbaugh-Helmreich!! I LOVE it!

Since it's a mystery knit along, only bits of the pattern are released at a time so no one knows what the end shawl will look like! This is the third MKAL I've participated in, and they are always so much fun!!

I am using Cascade sock in the color Citron, ooooh! 

I will switch to a longer cable, but here is one half stretched out and pinned:

This is my first time knitting a lace shawl. It is challenging; for this clue we worked from two separate charts for one single row! I've had to tink back several times because my stitch count has been off, but it is such a good kind of challenge. It's the reason I'm hooked on knitting.

These photos are all through Clue 2, and there will be six total clues. I can't wait to see how it will turn out!! It calls for about 800 yards of yarn, so it's going to be huge!

(I am obsessed with it. And with the show as well.)


I've been spinning on this:

It's from Sheep on a Spring. The roving is called Norma and is a blend of merino, angora, and alpaca! The colors are so vibrant and pretty, it's asking to be barber pole plied :)


I recently finished spinning this lovely:

It's from Moonrover. It started as a gorgeous batt full of yummy secret things, like soy silk, angelina, corriedale, and fire star (I'm not even sure what that is!)!

It made 202 yards of a fingering weight, 2-ply. Very pleased.

I also finished this shawl for my mom:

Pattern: Picabeau by Jennifer Dassau
Yarn: Knit Picks Gloss in Guava
Needles: US 6 circular
Modifications: none! I knit it to the pattern 

This is a wonderful pattern! The shape of the finished product is more of a scarf really, long and thin-ish. It seems like it would make for a nice layering option, like for colder mornings. It may have been the yarn that contributed to that, too. It was my first time using Knit Picks Gloss, and I enjoyed working with it! I won this yarn from My Sister's Knitter midway-Resolutions KAL.

One last thing, I am hosting a KAL! My dear friend, Dag, recently published her first Ravelry pattern and I want to help her celebrate!!

The pattern is called Enchanted Shorty Shrug and the KAL starts on Saturday, May 17!!! I want to knit so many of them, in all of the colors! A lot of the action is going to take place on Instagram and you can find more photos with the tags #enchantedshortyshrug and #enchantedshortyshrugkal. I hope you will join us! There is also a thread on Ravelry here.


Wishing you all a HAPPY FRIDAY tomorrow and hoping you can do what you love x

a little of everything

Good Sunday afternoon friends!

I'm going to start off with some hand dyeing that I did last week:

I am really excited about these and I have plans to dye up some more too. I received the acid dyes and some bare yarn for my birthday, and after reading Hand Dyeing Yarn and Fleece by Gail Callahan about five times, I finally worked up my nerve! (it is a really good resource, I highly recommend checking it out!)

soon to be socks!

A friend on Instagram and I have made a swap together; socks knit by me (I'm going to use the skein pictured above) in exchange for this yarn she sent me:

A pretty fantastic swap! I am so crazy for Crazy Zauberballs :)


As for WIPs, I have a new shawl on the needles:

 

The pattern is Picabeau by Jennifer Dassau and it is such a delight to knit! The pattern is super easy to memorize. And it's customizable to how much yarn you have; you start decreasing once you've used half of your yarn! I think that's so cool.

I am using yarn that I won from a My Sister's Knitter KAL. It's Knit Picks Gloss in Guava! It's a really pretty pink and with the yarn's silk content, it should be very cozy!

Right now I'm knitting a short pair of hiking socks for myself. I want to be able to wear nice, wool socks with shorts and hiking shoes this summer. I think these will do the trick.

I have used an Eye of the Partridge heel flap... I think it's the prettiest. The yarn is Patons Kroy in Celestial Colors on 2.25 mm needles. I have been keeping this sock in my purse and surprisingly, I've been able to knit on it a lot while running errands.


Progress on my Once Upon a Time sampler:

I've finished April in time for May, yay!! So sweet, isn't it?

But you can see that I still have a few blocks to fill in :) You can find the pattern here.



Guess what? I finished a pair of socks! Only, I have a few ends to weave in.

heheh :) My goal today is to finish weaving them in. I have one sock's ends woven in, but had to take a break. I really don't mind weaving ends in. I've decided that it looks much neater on the right side than a Russian join. For some reason, I always get a little bump with Russian joins.


Enjoy your week! x

baby knits

I did all of that baby knit grumbling for nothing :) I enjoyed knitting these wee little things so much.

Pattern: Barley by tincanknits and I used this flower pattern 
Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Superwash in Chocolate and Marina

This was my first time knitting Barley and it's adorable!! I want to knit one for me...badly! 

Pattern: Magic Coffee Baby hat by Tracey Kay and with the same flower pattern as Barley
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish in Dove Heather, Carnation, and Rogue (the flower)

Pattern: Spring Baby Headband by Amy Andersen 
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish in Dove Heather, Carnation, and Rogue
 

These are being mailed today xx and I really hope they fit!


One more photo of wee things:

We are preparing!!!! What are you planting in your garden this year?

Happy Wednesday, my friends!!! xx
Jesse

Star Trails socks

Hi friends!

this is the Easter cake my mom made!

I hope everyone had a Happy Easter! We spent the day cleaning the house and then had dinner with our families together. I couldn't resist dyeing eggs at the last moment...actually it was more like I decided to dye them right after Scott suggested we clean the house... :) I used food coloring and Kool-aid because I hadn't purchased any egg dye. The Kool-aid worked ok, except I found it makes the egg also taste like Kool-aid! Just a PSA for anyone who thinks they might want to dye eggs with Kool-aid in the future... (I haven't eaten one dyed with food coloring yet)

I finished these socks:

Pattern: Honey Badgers by Irishgirlieknits
my Ravelry project page  --  April 10 - April 22
Yarn: Lynai in Star Trails
Needles: US 1 - 2.25 mm
Modifications: the pattern has two charts; one to be worked on the leg and one for the foot. The difference between the two charts is the number of rows between eyelets. I decided to knit from just one chart so the pattern would be the same. I believe I used the foot chart. I also used a Fish Lips Kiss heel rather than the pattern's heel.

This is pair ten of thirteen! I think when I reach thirteen pairs I will change my goal. Maybe I'll aim for twenty pairs...

FLK heel

I really like the pattern! It is easy to memorize and adds just enough interest that the socks aren't completely mindless but still fun to knit if you are concentrating just on socks and nothing else.

In other news, I have started selling yarn on eBay. It started as an eBay promo but it was so exciting when the first yarn sold that I listed more. The yarn is from my stash that I will most likely never ever knit. I am still going through my stash and will likely add more things as I find them. It is kind of hard to part with yarn, especially if it had a purpose at one point. But it is much more appealing to me to reclaim that space. Anyway. If you are interested, my listings are here. I have Knit Picks Telemark listed at the moment. If you are not interested, thanks for indulging me for a minute :)


I really can't believe it's Wednesday already, hurray!! I hope everyone has a fabulous week!!! x

sock wips and a confession

Happy Sunday! Though it's only about 36 degrees F, it is incredibly sunny! I tried knitting outdoors but the wind was just a little too spring-filled yet. So I'm typing this while sitting on the floor, my feet in a bright sun beam. It's an okay compromise :)

Today I invested in a retirement plan. It feels good even though I really don't like to think about money. So I am looking forward to the day I can retire, though it seems so far away, but I am more than enjoying my days right now. Anyway, enough about that.

I've been knitting nothing but socks lately!

This is the pair for my dad. They are meant for his birthday (in May) but my brother wants us all to go in on a big present for him. That means, I have until June (!!!) to finish these instead for Father's Day :) I am overjoyed by that news!

I knit more on my swap socks. I think I will start the heel soon. This really is one of my favorite sock knitting methods!!

And I cast on a new pair. The super sweet Vanessa of Lynai Yarns sent me a special anniversary skein. This colorway is based off of a photo I submitted for her one year anniversary colorway contest, and is called Star Trails. As soon as I had a pair of socks off the needles, these went on.

That pattern is Honey Badger by Irishgirlieknits, and I will use a Fish Lips Kiss heel. This pattern is obscured a bit by the colors, but I think once it's on the foot and stretched a little it will show better. It is a great pattern and I am obsessed with knitting on these!!


I mentioned a finished pair:

Yay! The yarn is Knit Picks Felici in High Tide. This is my ninth pair this year... however, they are too big for me! I had a feeling they might be, but kept knitting anyway. Instead of frogging the toes and part of the foot, I am going to gift them to my sister-in-law. She's not going to read this but someone else who knows her might ... (Abbey, shhhhh!!!)


I've been happily and feverishly knitting on socks because in just a little bit a box of yarn is going to arrive, and then I will have to change gears and knit baby things. On this blog, I try very hard to be neutral on topics that I know are controversial, or I don't even voice my opinion. That said, I know I am going to receive backlash by the following statement, but I don't care. Here it is:

I don't like knitting baby things!!!!!!!

hehe. I think baby things are cute; teeny tiny cardis and lacy little dresses make me squee. And I know knitters who primarily knit baby things and that is wonderful. But it's so difficult for me to justify time it takes to knit the item versus time worn. The practical woman in me almost always wins. With that, I have about four expecting women in my life, and I can't not knit them something. The usual bypass to my baby knitting problem is to make blankets. Those I am on board with. However, there is no way I can knit four baby blankets in the following months. I have a few other ideas instead. As soon as the yarn arrives I will start and then share my projects :)


I hope everyone has a fabulous week ahead xx

I clinched it!

I am so excited about my recent finished object!

It's Clincher by Ash Kearns, and was part of an Instagram KAL. I used Black Market Wool in H2Go and some pink scrap yarn (I think it might be Mad Tosh).

I love that it clinches on itself and stays put, it's genius! Sometimes when I'm running around work my scarf tails are in the way or I find the whole thing starting to slide. I can see already how perfect this pattern is :)

I found it to be very well written and super easy to knit; great for tv or book knitting. 

The technical bits: I made no modifications. I knit to 102 stitches because I was afraid I would run out of yarn by the time I reached 112 stitches (the pattern has you finish on a number divisible by 10, plus 2).

I love it!!!


I also finished a Kindle cozy for my mom.

Hmmm.. I've been knitting a lot of green things lately, haven't I? :) We gave my mom a Paperwhite for her birthday and she was so excited. It still bemuses me that my parents are entering the technological age; my dad has an iPod and mom has a Kindle.

This is my favorite cozy pattern. I've knit it a few times before. It's called Cable Kindling by Rachel Ack. It's great except......... for some reason I knit it on US 4 instead of US 5!!! I have no idea why I did it and when I realized they were size fours I couldn't believe it. The thing is teeny but it does fit, thank goodness! I did a three needle bind off and it looks a lot neater than the Kitchener one I did on Scott's mom's cozy, so I have to remember that for the future.


As far as WIPs go, I have two:

  

One is a pair of afterthought heels in Knit Picks Felici, colorway High Tide. The second pair is for my dad, in Knit Picks Stroll Sport, colorway Stream Heather. His birthday is May 3 and I would love to give them to him then. I am super worried it will take me longer though, mainly because the first pair I knit him took me about two years. Yikes. Sheralynn suggested I knit his pair in tandem with a pair for me, and so far it's been working wonderfully. I make sure to knit on his before working on mine.

In other news, we acquired an electric pencil sharpener, so I had to buy real pencils. And I love it :) I like the ultra sharp tips and I like the smell. We are so in business for crosswords now (we usually fill them out in pen but then it sucks when you make a mistake...)


I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!!! We've been invited to a BYOM barbeque party tonight.... Bring Your Own Meat........ LOL when Scott told me that I said ewww! and he said that's exactly what someone else said in response. Yep.

:) bye!!