Another Wednesday here, which means it’s time to air out the WIPs. As with last week, I’ve been pretty monogamous and finishing up projects! I’ve been trying to complete some shop samples, but I’m making good progress there, so there will be some fun cast ons soon. Definitely check out my YouTube channel to see any projects “in person.”
Total: 5 WIPs (2 active)
Knitting: 3 projects – 1 pair of socks, 1 cowl and 1 blanket
Crochet: 1 project – 1 blanket
Spinning: 1 project
Finished: 2 projects
2020 Total Finished: 7
January DVD Socks – DONE!
Pattern: None featuring Fish Lips Kiss heel (Sox Therapist)
Yarn: Desert Vista Dyeworks / Vista / Silver Linings Playbook
Valley Yarns / Huntington / 50 Black
Needles: Size 0
Gauge: 8 st per 1 inch
Cast on: 1/1/2020
Cast off goal: None
Cast off: 3/6/2020
They are done!!! Finally! I don’t know why these socks took as long as they did. I was working on them a lot during the movies, but they just dragged on for so long. I think even when I bring socks to the movies normally, I end up working on them in between as well which makes them go faster. I’ve had a lot of other projects I’ve wanted to work on and so these never got that extra time. They are done though, so that’s great.
In general, I knit these toe up, two at a time. I did a contrast heel and cuff to prolong the life of the yarn. I used leftovers from a pair I made for my husband to make these. I ended up doing a full 2 inch cuff to also make them a bit longer and hopefully help with the fit. I’ll post a FO Friday post about these socks soon, so look for more details there!
Graffiti 103 Hat – DONE
Pattern: 103 Hat / Jennifer Lassonde / BostonJen
Yarn: agirlandherwool / DK / Graffiti
Needles: Size 4 (hem – see I learn) and Size 6 (body)
Gauge: IDK
Cast on: 3/5/2020
Cast off goal: 3/8/2020
Cast off date: 3/7/2020
A note from last week’s post: “That’s right. I hope to cast this off in just a few days. I’ve been pretty monogamous and a hat in a 4 day period seems reasonable? Am I crazy??”
No, Lauren, you were not crazy. If anything, I cast it off a day sooner than my original crazy goal. This pattern is so addicting that I’m not surprised it went so quickly. I really didn’t knit on it for that much time, so if you are looking for an interesting hat pattern, I’d definitely check it out! I’ve knit another of Jen’s hat designs and I found that hat went extremely quickly too.
I think it shows off the yarn really well, which is good, because it will be a sample. I will say that I didn’t take the hat off all night after finishing it. The combination of the soft DK yarn with the scrunchy pattern really was so comfortable to wear.
2 Color Socks – NEW!
Pattern: 2 Color Socks / Joji Locatelli
Yarn: agirlandherwool / base coming soon 🙂 / Pebbles in the River and Love at First Sight
Needles: Size 0 DPNs
Gauge: IDK
Cast on: 3/9/2020
Cast off goal: 3/21/2020 (now I’m just getting cocky)
So look at that. I cast on a pair of socks. I have to say, I have a couple of thoughts on this:
1. They’re on dpns, which makes me so happy.
2. It’s for a shop sample that I think everyone will really love
3. I’ve never done 2 colored socks (excluding heels/cuffs/toes) and so this is different
4. The cuff has already dragged on for way too long.
I started these socks on the train yesterday during my morning commute. I decided that since it’s a shop sample, I wouldn’t butcher the pattern like I typically do with my socks and knit it as is. This means I am doing it cuff down (weird – I’ve forgotten how long my long tail needs to be. Casting on 10 stitches is way easier), I’m going to do the heel it asks for (unless I really don’t like the look, which happens with heel flaps. I can’t remember what kind of heel it is) and I’m knitting the stitch count as is. Because I have my limits, I did go down to a size 0 needle instead of a size 1 because of my inability to knit at a normal gauge.
When I use DPNs and go cuff down, which this is probably the 2nd time I’ve done it this way, I cast on using magic loop. I love my dpns but I will never subject myself to wrangling those things into a circle while being careful not to twist my stitches. Side note – I find it mildly entertaining that all designers add this warning in this exact wording. Like we’ll go after them if it happens. Back to the point – It’s a lot to ask for on dpns and so I stick with the safe magic loop until the untwisted stitches are happily joined in a circle.
So yeah, I’m working my way down the cuff and merrily on my way. The colors are working beautifully together. I’m also knitting this on my soon to be released new base and you are going to love this! You’ll hear more soon!
Spinning
Fiber: Created by Elsie B/ BFL and Seacell / Niagara Falls (OOAK)
General Plan: Fractal Spin / 2 ply
Spin on: (is there a term for this??) Sometime in early 2019.
Cast off goal: Before I die??
Hey people! Look! I spun this week! I really did. I really really really did so much that I recorded a vlog about it. I think mentioned last week that I did, but I re-recorded it so it counts here too. You’ll get to hear/see all about this project and also how I got into spinning. Check it out on my YouTube Channel, probably this weekend.
I spun a couple of times and actually made decent progress for me. I made it through one of the nests I have set up. This is kind of meaningless in words, but that’s what I did! Aren’t you proud! I’m working through the first half of the braid (ie, the first ply). I’m actually thinking I might actually get through this. Recording the vlog and talking through everything really motivated me to want to keep moving forward on it. Expect more updates!
Inactive
1. Neat Ripple – This is on hold until I finish up the charity items with the colors that I have used so far.
2. Escarpment cowl. This is my sit and stitch project, but I wasn’t able to make it this week :/
3. Northeasterly. I’ve been tired lazy.
What’s Next?
I still plan on knitting the shiftalong hat by Andrea Mowry after finishing up these socks.
After shop samples, I plan to cast on the Sock Arms sweater!
Shop
The shop is full of lots of fun ready to ship skeins. Check it out here. There are some great kits for shawls and socks along with good pairings for sweaters. Let me know if you need help with some color selections.
There will be a lot of fun announcements coming soon. Keep an eye out for the details.
I’m curious, what do you call what you have holding your InProgress sock? It looks like a needle keeper, but different?
I normally call it a needle minder or dpn cozy. I’m curious what looks different about it? I don’t own too many so I’m wondering what other styles are out there.
The ones I’ve seen are usually rolled and hold many pairs rather than having a project actually on the needles. I think yours is pretty useful!
Oh gotcha!! Yeah, this is to hold a work in progress so you don’t have to worry about the stitches falling off the needles. I love it! That one is from thescrappythread on Etsy, but you can find a lot on there as she can sell out.