YOP Update

ADVENT SOCK

Since I’ve decided to only knit the leg in colorwork, I no longer need to “do a stripe a month” for my advent socks. I knit the final leg stripe and I’m now just knitting a traditional heel, foot, and toe. The sock indeed is quite tight to get over my heel so I’m going to have to block it strongly (fingers crossed). Good lesson so that I knit the next colorwork sock more loosely. I already used a Size 2 needle instead of size 1 but the issue is the floats of course. Need to be more generous. Worse case, I rip out the foot and make them into fingerless mitts!!

SAILORMOON SWEATER

My Sailormoon sweater is coming along. I do love it. I’m almost ready to join the front and start knitting the body. I discovered I miss counted so I have to go back to the left front and add 10 more rows before joining.😣

WHAT I’M WATCHING/LISTENING TO

I’m always looking for podcasts to watch or listen to. I have been watching Grocery Girls, Patty Lyons, and Fruity Knitting regularly for over a year. I love it when I can catch Grocery Girls or Patty Lyons Live but enjoy that I can watch an episode later if I miss it. Andrea’s knitting skills are why beyond anything I aspire to so it’s harder for me to relate to Fruity Knitting episodes. Recently I have started listening to Very Pink as they have restarted their audio podcasting. I definitely don’t always agree with Staci but the episodes have been interesting. I have been enjoying Rox Knits the past few months, mainly her Casual Friday episodes of tidbits. I just discovered Fleece & Harmony video podcasts. I think I’ll go back and watch some of the old ones. I have found that I prefer “friends talking about their knitting” to lessons. I like more “background noise” versus a knitting lesson. What are your favorite video and audio podcasts?

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’21 YOP Week 11

This will be a quick update. I have started my Sailormoon sweater for me. I do love the Madelinetosh yarns I chose, Medieval and Found Pottery. I know I’m going to love wearing it. I need to pay a bit more attention to patterns I pick as this one has lots of picking up stitches and I hate picking up stitches. Oh well. Good practice and maybe I’ll change my mind. Glad this sweater is for me so that when I make it again for my daughter, fit issues should be figured out. Since it’s mostly stockinette, it should be a fairly quick knit even though it’s fingering weight (of course).

Sailormoon

This did result in my purchase of a second yarn butler. I found I really like using one with a large cake of yarn when pulling yarn from the outside. With this sweater, I’m switching between the two colors of yarn every 4 rows which made it a pain to constantly take the cakes off and on the one yarn butler I had. So I bought a second one so the cake can just stay on its butler. This is going quite well and leads to smooth unwinding of the yarn.

I did cast-on a pair of anklets with the leftover yarn from my AGirlAndHerWool sample sock knit and knit the toes. These anklets were not on my 2021 plan. We are down to our last week in Florida. Three months seem to have zoomed by. I can’t believe it’s already time to head back north. On the off chance I get to do any knitting on our drive back home I wanted a simple vanilla sock on needles. Juggling the two balls of yarn on yarn butlers for the Sailormoon sweater would not work in the car. I am usually the driver due to my husband’s health issues. Occasionally I get an hour or so break on our 10 hr/day drives. I am looking forward to spending the weekend with our daughter and her fiancé as a break in our 20 hr drive back to Ohio.

Toes of A Girl And Her Wool Anklets

I was excited to learn that our “local” wool gathering will indeed be held this year in September. My knitting friends and I have a day of shopping for yarns and gadgets to look forward to this fall. We are all trying to adhere to a “yarn fast” until September. But I did order some more Fixation yarn this week for anklets to use up leftover yarn and will be picking up yarn I bought from my Cincinnati LYS for hubby’s sweater once we return to Ohio. Funny how leftover yarn leads to more yarn purchased which leads to more leftover yarn, etc. How do you stop this endless cycle of leftover yarn leading to buying more yarn to use up the leftover which leads to more leftover yarn, and on and on?

This is a Year Of Projects (YOP) update. YOP is a Ravelry Group – make a plan for the year ahead for all your fiber activities, then update your blog every week. Plans can be calendar year (like mine) or mid-year start (like many). Following the plan is optional and creates some of the fun of posts. YOP is in it’s 10th year although I’m in my first in the group.

First FO of 2021!!

I’m happy to say that I finished my daughter’s Bisquit top!! I’ve blocked it as best I can since I don’t have my blocking wires or blocking mats. While I’ve bound off the top I haven’t “cut the cord”. I still have the yarn attached in case I need to lengthen it once my daughter tries it on. I have never knit a picot bind-off before so another first. I’m not a babble fan but I do like this babble bind-off.

New Project – Sailormoon Sweater

So that means I get to cast on another project. I’ve decided to cast on a sweater for me even though I’m heading into summer. It’s another striped pattern, Sailormoon, although it has a lace bottom and the stripes aren’t straight across in the yoke. Swatching is not a quick activity for me. I spent yesterday and today just knitting this. It’s still drying so that I can measure the wet block gauge before I decide if I need to try different needles. Fortunately the main color and contrast color are the same yarn so I’m not planning to swatch both colors. The solid color is a deep purple with a beige speckles yarn as the contrast.

Advent Sock

I also added a strip to my Advent sock. I’m starting to think that I may only do colorwork strips on the leg. It seems a waste to do colorwork stripes on the foot. I don’t wear just socks around the house. So I’m thinking about making the foot just stripes of red, green, and white. Or maybe all white with a contrast heel and toe with the purple I have on the cuff. I want to do one more stripe of Christmas trees on the leg and then I’ll start the heel.

This is a year of projects (YOP) update. YOP is a Ravelry Group – make a plan for the year ahead for all your fiber activities, then update your blog every week. Plans can be calendar year (like mine) or mid-year start (like many). Following the plan is optional and creates some of the fun of posts. YOP is in it’s 10th year although I’m in my first in the group.

Week 9: New Knitting “Toy” and Project Updates

FO??? – Sample Knit Sock

I finished my sample knit sock. Knitting a sample knit wasn’t on my original plan but I was happy to accept the opportunity. I finished the sock in one week which is a first for me. I was monogamous as I wanted to return the sock as soon as possible even though I had till the end of March as my deadline. It was just a plain vanilla pattern so it was easy to knit. But it means I should be able to knit a pair of socks in two weeks instead of the usual month it takes me to get a pair done. Usually I’m also knitting a sweater at the same time I’m knitting the socks so that I can have some variety in my knitting. I’m hoping I’ll get another opportunity to knit more sample socks.

Sample Knit – A Girl And Her Wool

I’m back to knitting on my daughter’s Bisquit top. I weighed how many grams of yarn it takes to make one row (1.5g) to make sure I know how many rows I can make with the yarn I have left. I would prefer to reduce the number of stockinette rows if I need to instead of the bottom lace. I did cast on another pair of Fixation yarn socks. These are not on my 2021 plan but are just to have a small project that I can easily carry with me.

Bisquit Top

New Project Tote – Clear

I’ve written before how I like to use clear bags for my “projects in waiting” and accessory bags. So I was thinking that I might enjoy having a clear tote to carry around my WIP project(s) and accessory bags when I get together for “knit sessions”. My WIPs are kept in cute fabric project bags. I often carry a sock project and a sweater project when I get together with other knitters so that I can switch projects if I develop a problem or need a simpler project while talking. I have been using quilted totes which I like very much but does lead to “digging around” to find my accessory bag, sock ruler, etc. I’m hoping the clear tote makes it easier to find the item I’m looking for. The clear tote was not expensive so if I don’t end up liking it I didn’t waste much money. Plus I could use it for attending professional sports matches. I have a season ticket to our MLS (soccer) team and clear totes are requested for security reasons.

Clear Knitting Tote

It was cloudy and cool here in SW Florida today so I got to wear my new “non” shellseeker sweater this evening. I know I’ll have plenty of opportunities to wear it once we get back to Cincinnati in a few weeks. I’m anxious to get back to Cincinnati so I can sign up for the Covid vaccine. I am so looking forward to getting together again with my knitting friends at our local coffee shop once we all have our vaccines.

That’s it for this week. Probably going to be a broken record each week as I focus on getting my daughter’s top finished.

This is a year of projects (YOP) update. YOP is a Ravelry Group – make a plan for the year ahead for all your fiber activities, then update your blog every week. Plans can be calendar year (like mine) or mid-year start (like many). Following the plan is optional and creates some of the fun of posts. YOP is in it’s 10th year although I’m in my first in the group.