Still hanging in there? Finding more time to craft or is everything completely turned upside down. Just know I’m thinking about everyone and hope you are all safe, healthy and happy. I’ve definitely been productive so I’m excited to fill you in on all of the projects. Definitely check out my YouTube channel to see any projects “in person.”
Total: 4 WIPs (4 active)
Knitting: 2 projects – 1 shawl and 1 blanket
Crochet: 1 project – 1 blanket
Spinning: 1 project
Finished: 4 projects (I know, right?)
2020 Total Finished: 11
2 Color Socks – DONE
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
Cast off: 3/28/2020
I rarely take a lazy weekend. Between my full time job, the shop, chores and life, I don’t necessarily ever have time to ‘binge’ on much. However, I did just that this weekend. My husband says I was still very productive, but I took the afternoons off and just knit. What this means is that I finished my 2nd Two Color Sock! I think on Saturday morning, I had just finished the heel flap and turn. I’m not sure if I was still doing gusset decreases, but you get the point. By the end of the night, that sock was complete, even the ends were all woven in. I actually have them soaking so that I can block them and take better pictures soon. Look out for them on an upcoming FO Friday post.
Escarpment Cowl – DONE
Pattern: Escarpment Cowl / Shireen Nadir
Yarn: Juniper Moon Farms in Cumulus Dappled / Colorway TBD
Needles: Size 7
Cast on: 1/26/2020
Cast off goal: None
Cast off: 3/29/2020
I attended my shop’s sit and stitch on Sunday – virtually, of course – and was able to finish up this cowl. It has traditionally been my sit and stitch project and after the two hours were up, I had just a few rows left. After sitting in front of the computer screen for 2 hours, I wanted to go for a walk and while I waited for my husband to be ready, I finished it up! I have to say, I’m pretty happy with this project. It’s a yarn I probably wouldn’t normally have leaned towards (cotton and thicker), but I’m so glad I purchased it and made this cowl. It’s a cute bandana style cowl, with just a little bit of knitting to connect it in the back. It’ll make a great spring/fall accessory. Again – stay tuned for a more in depth look at this project on an upcoming Friday. I would recommend both the pattern and the yarn.
Charity Preemie Hats: Hat 1 & Hat 2: DONE
Pattern: Scrappy Sock Yarn Preemie Hat / Greg Cohoon / KnittingDaddy
Yarn: Cascade Heritage Prints / Philadelphia and Hedgehog Fibres / Shiver
Needles: Size 3 (cascade) and Size 2 (HHF)
Gauge: IDK
Cast on: 3/29/2020
Cast off goal: 3/30/2020
If you’ve been reading this blog this year, you probably know that I am trying to knit up a lot of my leftovers. I will be doing a longer post about this on Saturday both here and on my YouTube channel. For skeins that I have used in the past, I’m trying to knit charity projects out of the leftovers. I had about 8 grams left of both the Cascade Heritage and the Hedgehog Fibres yarn and so I decided to knit some preemie hats. For those who don’t know, preemie hats are often knit out of leftovers because they do not take much yarn and it really means a lot for people in the NICU with their babies. I recommend checking out the pattern I used. It has a really lovely story about Greg’s premature baby and how he turned to knitting.
My plan is to donate these to a local hospital to help keep the babies warm and also bring a smile to their family’s faces. If you have suggestions about how to find a hospital in need, please let me know!
These hats took about an hour each. They really go quickly and are a fun little hat to make while watching an episode of something. I’m so happy I finally used up two skeins of yarn and have those leftovers out of the bag. I’ll do a charity recap as well to show you just how much I was able to get out of each skein.
Making preemie hats is something I want to keep up with. I was able to make the size Medium (for a ‘preemie’) out of 8 grams. For the cascade hat, I used size 3 needles, which is what the pattern called for. For the hedgehog fibres one, I went down to a 2 because the yarn is so thin. I want the hat to provide warmth for the babies and so I wanted a denser gauge than I would have gotten with the 3s. I wasn’t too concerned about gauge because the hat will find the right head and no baby is the same. Even lining it up perfectly to the measurements in the pattern doesn’t mean it’s the right size for all babies.
The pattern tells you to use DPNs, which I didn’t have in a size 3 so I knit them both magic loop. I then used stitch markers to mark where the DPNs would go, which was important for the crown decreases. Otherwise, very straightforward and an easy knit.
There’s a small and a large size as well, where the small is for micro preemies and the large is for newborn sizes. Keep in mind that babies can be in the NICU even at full size.
Let me know if you have favorite charity hat patterns that you use! This one is great and I will definitely be able to memorize it, but I’d also love to have some more in my back pocket.
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
THe Drachenfels shawl has certainly been a fun knit. I LOVE the colors I chose and even though I’m only using colors A and B (dark navy and the coral) they look SO GOOD TOGETHER. Navy and pink is my all time FAVORITE color pairing and seeing these two colors together brings me more joy than anything else right now. I’m not kidding. I don’t think I’ll ever want to cast this off unless all I do is knit navy and coral together for the rest of my life.
Ok. Well. That was something.
I might have mentioned this last week, but this pattern has become my reading project. I’m hoping to use it as a way to help me get back into reading and so far that is working really well. I’ve been having a quiet reading/knitting/coffee morning to wake up for about 30 minutes before doing anything else. I also found time to work on it and read while waiting for my husband to wrap up work last Friday. I find that the garter stitches makes it really easy to read while working on it.
At this point, I’ve finished so many WIPs that this is the only one I have to work on besides my Northeasterly blanket. That means that I did cheat and knit on it a bit while NOT reading, but what can I do? One of my goals for the day is to find a new project to work on. But, that’s a story for another post.
I really don’t have too much to say on this though. The yarn is soft, I obviously love the colors and the pattern itself is in cruise control at the moment. I did have a row or two of slipped stitches, but otherwise, it’s just increasing the rows and rows of garter stitch. If you don’t know the pattern, check it out! It’s a garter stitch shawl with three colors and there’s some striping in there. Overall, it will be an easy knit, but a fun squishy shawl to wear.
PS – if you do follow my Youtube channel, you would have seen all the nonsense I went through picking out the right needle size. I’m loving knitting it with Size 4 needles.
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 this week and am still working my way through the first half of the braid. I’m definitely getting faster in that I can get through more during my 15 min increments. I’m hopeful that I will finish this braid before the end of the quarantine??? Maybe that’s not saying much?
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. Northeasterly. Not completely inactive because I have knit on a few colors. I’ll plan to show an update soon.
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.
I’ve been talking a big game about casting on a Sock Arms sweater. I think this will also be on hold for now. It’s mostly stockinette and I’d like to keep that off the needles until I finish the Drachenfels shawl. I’m contemplating what will be next, but I think I want something complicated. Any suggestions? Let me know!!
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.