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!!

sock darning

Happy weekend friends! I am doubly enjoying it because I have an extra long, four day weekend :) So far it feels very productive; I crossed off a resolution!

I have a pair of beautiful (purchased) Fair Isle socks that I haven't worn for a few years because I wore the heels thin. Besides the heels and toes, the socks are in good condition and I could never bring myself to throw them away! For a long time they sat in my sock drawer waiting to be fixed. Finally at the beginning of this year I decided they must be repaired, and moved them to my knitting shelf. One of the reasons I kept putting off fixing these socks was because I didn't have a darning egg. And the last time I went to my LYS they were out. There are always a lot of reasons not to do something, huh? ;)

The ultimate push was reading Hannah's superb tutorial on sock darning.

  

I used scrap yarn to darn, and I lucked out finding some that matched the socks! (the pink scraps I mean, I ended up not using the brown) But really, I wouldn't mind if the darned part mismatched the socks.

In lieu of a darning egg, I found a light bulb. I remember reading somewhere of someone using one... I also considered using a hard boiled egg, haha! It would work I think :) 

I'll post photos of my process, but you really should visit Hannah's blog for the tutorial.

so actually, this was the only process photo I took LOL

I am pretty pleased with my darning. I think gram would be too :) 

And the toes received a little love too.

Now I just wait for my hand knit socks to show signs.....


ETA: looks like I'll be needing to find a new "darning egg" as Scott used mine to replace the garage light. haha!

Spring is here!

these daffodils were only $1.99 and they spent the week slowly blooming :) they are so cheerful to have in the kitchen... money well spent! And I just returned from having my taxes filed...whew! I am so glad to have that done.

That little bunny nugget is knit from my handspun!! He turned out kind of big actually, because the yarn ended up being bulky! They are so much more squishable at this size :) he is being sent to my swap partner, along with this shawl:

The swap was organized on Instagram and is called I Yarn, U Stitch (or #yarnstitchswap). The idea is you knit or crochet for someone, and then you receive a sewn item (or vice versa, depending on your handicraft). Swappers aren't necessarily paired up with the same people they are making for, so it's very exciting!! My partner said she would like a scarf and that her favorite color is purple.

My Ravelry page has this named Once Upon a Time because I marathoned a season and a half of the show Once Upon a Time while knitting it :) and the color plus lace...it's kind of fairy tale-ish, right? :)

Pattern: Definitely Diagonal Scarf by Kris Basta

Yarn: Berroco Vintage

Needles: US 10 circular

Modifications: none! 

The drape is lovely and the worsted weight yarn makes for such a cozy and squishy shawl... I really want one for myself now!! This pattern is very easy to memorize and knitting went quickly. The rows become pretty long, but that is the only negative thing I have to say :)

I also finished a pair of socks:

These are the Monster Socks. I used about 252 yards of socks scraps! That's a pretty rough estimate. I know each stripe used about six yards of yarn because I measured and cut them to size (all except the last two stripes because I ran out of magic ball!)

Do you track your yardage through knitmeter.com? I am obsessed lately with knowing how much I've knit! So far this year, I have knit 1.5 miles!!

I used Hermione's Everyday Socks for the pattern and incorporated a Fish Lips Kiss Heel too.

Very pleased with them! They are pair 8/13.


Let's see, ongoing projects... I am eager to finish this gift:

It's a Hitchhiker knit in Knit Picks Glimmer, colorway Peacock. I love knitting with glitter yarn! This is another one that will be hard to part with... 

I also have a plain vanilla sock on the needles:

It's in Knit Picks Felici, colorway High Tide. It will have an afterthought heel.

I just realized it looks like a sushi roll when I do this... hehe

One last thing. I bought a Sock Sack and it's too cute:

Michelle from StudioInTheGreen sewed it.... I had to have it because of the kitties. But when it arrived, I fell in love with the mice too!

Midway through this post I remembered I've been soaking hand knit socks for about two hours... oops! Better take care of them.

I hope everyone has a joyful weekend xx

Monster socks and spinning

Hello everyone! Sorry for a little absence. I celebrated my birthday a few weeks ago, and I never quite know how to talk about it! My birthday is February 29 and it never came this year, so that in itself is kind of strange! I spent several days with family and friends to celebrate, and it was really nice. I have to share this story: Scott gave me yarn but hid it all around the house. When I came home from work, I found skeins in my slippers, in the coffee mugs, under my pillow...they were everywhere! It was really sweet :)

Ok, things to share. You might remember I started a cross stitch sampler of fairy tales; here is my progress:

I finished February! It is a very cute project to work on but it takes a lot more concentration than knitting.


I am also working on a pair of Monster socks:

I meant to blog about them sooner!! The socks are part of a KAL with Sheralynn from the Fibre Pigeonhole Podcast (it runs the month of March and it's not too late to join the KAL!)

Katie has already finished her pair and they look awesome! I am partial to purple so I loved them right away :):)

Monster socks are basically socks made from your yarn scraps. I decided to limit myself to six different leftovers, and made a magic ball:

I used the Russian join method and I have to say it works very well.

The pattern I am using are Hermione's Everyday socks and a Fish Lips Kiss heel. I considered using an afterthought heel...maybe the next pair. And yes, I have ideas for another pair of monster socks using self striping yarn!

I also cast on March socks, but I am feeling a little iffy on them:

The pattern is Shur'tugal; it's nice but a little challenging! I am on the fence about the yarn choice however. The pattern is not standing out so far (I have knit about another inch further than this, and it still seems unremarkable). For those of you who have knit this pattern, did the twisted stitches stand out right away or did it take several pattern repeats to notice them? I might frog this and find another pattern for this yarn!


I did finish a pair of socks:

The yarn is Zwerger Garn Opal Vincent Van Gogh in the Red Vineyards at Arles colorway. I like 64 stitches on 2.25 mm needles, and I used a modified Eye of the Partridge heel, which I also really like. This formula seems to fit me so well, so I use it all the time :) I am pretty happy that this is my seventh pair so far!


Ok, how about some spinning?

I purchased the Rambouillet roving from Dag and recently spun it up.... aren't the colors amazing?! It was my first time Navajo-plying and I really enjoyed it!

I also started spinning a batt from Moonrover:

It is a really fun assortment of fibers and I am enjoying every bit of it.


I hope everyone has a relaxing and happy weekend :)