On the WIP Side – 3.25.2020

Well, how are you? Holding up okay? I hope this short blog gives you some escape from whatever crazy life you are currently living. I hope you all are staying sane, healthy and safe. I missed last week’s On the WIP Side post, mostly because I only had 1 project, so I’m excited to fill you in on what I have been working on. Definitely check out my YouTube channel to see any projects “in person.”

Total: 6 WIPs (3 active)
Knitting: 4 projects – 1 pair of socks, 1 cowl, 1 shawl and 1 blanket
Crochet: 1 project – 1 blanket
Spinning: 1 project
Finished: 0 projects
2020 Total Finished: 7

2 Color Socks
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: 3/31/2020

Sock #1 is dun dun dun duuunnnnn. Woohoo! I probably finished sock 1 in time for my original goal, but I have decided to make a complete pair. Mostly because I am reversing the two colorways for sock 2. I think that will be fun. As this is a shop sample, the more colors I can use, the better.

This sock is definitely too large for me, but that’s fine. I normally do a 52 stitch count, but I am following the pattern completely. I LOVE the look of this sock. The stripes are so fun, the lace is pretty and the texture on the foot just changes it up a bit. I’m not sure if I mentioned this last time, but I never knit a heel flap and gusset. That is not changing in the future. I just don’t love the look (it reminds me of a flap on a baby’s onesie…?) nor do I love knitting it. I get that they have the best fit, but I’m just fine with the FLK heel fit.

I have moved onto sock #2 and am just starting the lace part (right after the stripes). Hopefully it’ll be done before the end of the month!

Drachenfels Shawl
Pattern: Drachenfels / Melanie Berg
Yarn: Suburban Stitcher / Single Sock / Darkest Hour, Clementine and Sweet Adeline
Needles: Size 4 Needles
Gauge: IDK
Cast on: 3/18/2020
Cast off goal: None

Last week, I took off from work on Wednesday. I needed to catch up on the shop and also take a breather day. I think it’s important right now for us all to take a break from all the media and everything right now. We need to take it seriously, but also rest and maintain happiness. Okay, so I took a day off, mostly an afternoon by the time the orders were all taken care of, and sat down to knit. I took out my sock to work on and thought “I really don’t want to knit on this.” It was the only project I really have been working on and I thought I deserved a cast on. You all know (and will know even more with an upcoming detailed post) that I want to use some of each skein in my stash this year. I don’t really keep much around because I like to buy yarn for a project and so I want to use up what I have.

I bought this yarn after winning a pattern for a three color shawl. I am not actually knitting that pattern, but that’s ok. I will be knitting the Drachenfels shawl, which is a squishy garter stitch shawl with 3 colors. The pattern calls for a sport weight, but I think using a fingering weight is fine. It’s such a large shawl that making it a bit smaller is fine by me. It’s an asymmetrical shawl where you start at one tip, increase to the point and then decrease back down. I’ve been making a lot of shawls in this shape because I love that the rows are more manageable.

I knit on the project while watching tv that afternoon. Since it’s mostly garter stitch, I plan to knit on it while reading. I’m hoping this will help me get back into reading again. For now, it means I didn’t really knit on it much.

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??

I spun again! Check out my spinning vlog on my YouTube channel this week. If you watch this week’s Day in the Life vlog that went up yesterday, you’ll see my spinning. I finished up the teal color I was working on and am very excited to start a new color, finally!

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. My shop is doing virtual sit and stitches, so I’m hoping to finish this up soon.
3. Northeasterly. I’ve been tired lazy.

What’s Next?
I’ve stalled on my shiftalong hat by Andrea Mowry planning because I’m not sure which color to use for the main color. TBD.
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.