August 2021 – Knitting Is So Fun

YOP: Wk of 8/22-28 FO, New Beginnings, and Artwork

Heldig Tank – FO!!!!

I did indeed complete Caitlyn’s tank top. Fortunately there are still plenty of hot days left in August and September for her to get to wear it this year. My oldest stepson’s wife saw the picture I posted on Facebook and has requested a tank top as well! I’m happy to knit one for her and I already have yarn that I can use. But it will be the end of the year/early next year before I work on it as I already have two projects I want to do next.

New WIPs

With socks finished last week and the top finished this week, I got to cast-on a new sock project and a new sweater project. I shared the yarn’s I planned for these projects 2 weeks ago when I wound the yarn into cakes. I just love the colors so I’m enjoying both projects. The socks are for me. I am trying the Swirl E pattern although with the pattern reversed since I knit toe up. I think the colors are just gorgeous. So far I’m just swatching the yarn to make a repeat of the Sailormoon sweater. This one is for my daughter. The yarn is so soft!! What a delight it is going to be to knit with it. I need to get it done by Thanksgiving which should be very doable.

I am thankful that I have several people that want hand knitted garments. Hubby is still waiting on his sweater.

Out and About

This week was quite the social week. I finally got to see my brother and father in person after almost 2 years (Christmas ’19). My niece was in country (from Austria – she studied abroad and decided to stay) so it was great to catch up with her. We met at a local brewery that also serves great BBQ. A friend invited me to a talk on Cincinnati cuisine which was very fun. A nasty cold kept me from being able to join a group of knitters on Friday morning but a trip to the doctor to confirm it wasn’t Covid and the antibiotics prescribed put me back right pretty quickly. Saturday morning was my usual group of weekly knitters over coffee.

New/Old Artwork

Saturday night was getting to see old friends that we haven’t seen in probably 25 years. They live in Michigan. Tat is an artist and painted all the paintings hanging in my house (besides the kid’s school pictures displayed on the bedroom hallway walls). She did a set of season’s paintings 25 years ago and it turns out 2 of my kids want them after I take up residence on the dirt side of the grass. So I commissioned a second set of paintings which I will now hang and let age. The plan is for each kid to get 2 of the original paintings and 2 of the new paintings. I think she did an amazing job of replicating them from photos I took with my phone camera. She will return in 6 months to varnish the new ones and then I can get them framed.

As you can see I like abstract art. Here are the other two paintings of hers that hang in our house.

While it was great to see everyone this past week, I am looking forward to a quiet week this coming week.

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 each 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 11th year. It’s my second in the group.

YOP: Wk of 8/15-21; Nerd & Knitting Updates

August 22, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Knitting tools, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

NERD ALERT

Ok, I confess. I’m a spreadsheet nerd. After seeing Tasha’s post about her etsy shop that does custom t-shirts, I ordered one I REALLY wanted printed; “Knitting – I Have a Spreadsheet For That”. I was inspired by Kath of Backstage Knits blog last weekend on her stitch tracking with excel. She was the one that inspired me to track stitches in addition to projects. My knitting almost exclusively with fingering weight yarn puts me at a disadvantage for completing FOs so stitch count is a better measure for me. My knitting calendar is excel based. I use Ravelry for my “knitting journal” where I record gauge/yarn used/pattern notes/etc. Digital works best for me so that I can continually modify it. In this case I’ve added a line under the month title that lets me know how many stitches I’ve knit for the month so far. To the left I have a running total of the cumulative stitches for the year. Kath’s goal is a million stitches. I’m no where near her pace.

Then I added an “Analysis” tab following the Dec tab. There I have graphs of my stitches by the day of the week for each month as well as a graph of total stitches by month. Not much to be gleened other than there is no pattern for day of the week I tend to knit more or less. Not surprisingly May and June are my lowest stitch count months due to increased lawn and garden care. August is looking like a big month thanks to working on Caitlyn’s tank top.

Heldig Tank Update

Well, I ended up blocking Caitlyn’s tank top to give it it’s best chance to fit. It does fit ok. I’m going to finish it although I’m not as pleased with how it looks as other tops I’ve made. The ribbing is not neat rows. I’m hoping washing and wearing will help get rid of the wonkiness. It should be an FO next week. Probably won’t knit this pattern again. Too many others to try. I still have a top worth of the Daisy yarn in a reddish coral color that I plan to knit up for me.

Christmas Socks FO!!!!

James’ Christmas socks got extra attention as I took a break from working on Caitlyn’s top this past week. They are done!!! Turns out my son likes them too. Fortunately I have enough leftover to make another pair anklet length, especially if I use contrast toes. Another project to add to my plan!

Year of Projects ’21 – Wk of Aug 8-14

August 15, 2021August 15, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

Heldig Tank

Being a fairly monogamous knitter means this is going to be a fairly boring post this week. Lots of “progress” on Caitlyn’s Heldig Tank. Unfortunately I’m not sure I did the waist and bust shaping right. I’ve never done it before and I’m not sure it’s hanging right. I’ll be able to have her try it on today, Sunday. I may be ripping it out back down to the hem to eliminate my attempt at shaping. Oh well. Fingers crossed.

Yarn Winding

I did spend Friday morning winding the yarn for my daughter’s Sailormoon sweater which is the next project on the list. I think the blue is absolutely gorgeous and the speckles will add some fun. The yarn is spun by a local young lady I know who is running a yarn business Coates & Co Fiber. I also wound the yarn for my next sock, Redbird Yarn Studio an Ohio yarn dyer. I used my friend’s very nice ball winder. The Grocery Girls have talked about it (they have the electric one) and Andrea Mowry just mentioned it in her episode 22 of “I’ll knit if I want to” video. It’s quite expensive but after wasting over an hour trying to wind a skein of yarn on my cheap ball winder, I think I’ll be buying one for myself. The Harvest themed self striping sock yarn is gorgeous so I can’t wait to start on these socks for me.

Misc

No soccer game this week but I made some progress on James’ Christmas socks while waiting on hubby’s biopsy (no cancer – yea!!) Not enough progress for a photo.

Only other news this week is that the babies are starting to pop in the family. In addition to my step-daughter’s baby arriving in late October, my niece just let everyone know she is due in March. So my 2022 knitting plan will definitely have a baby item on it. Probably another rainbow striped blanket.

YOP: Wk of 8/1-7 Knitting Updates and Mimosa Tree

August 8, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Knitting tools, Notions, Patterns, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

This year I have been using my digital knitting plan as my blog’s featured image. This is to keep my plan front and center in my mind. I will also makes it easy to compare what I planned versus what I’m doing. I update my plan as I change it over the year. So this week I decided my featured image would be where I’m at versus what my plan was back in Jan. Plus it’s more colorful due to noting changes. 🙂

Heldig Tank

Caitlyn’s tank top is coming along. It’s a pretty boring knit since it’s a stockinette body with very basic K1P1 ribbing as the side “seam” detail. But that makes it great for TV or social knitting. I’m happy with the waist shaping but now it’s time to put the stitches back on for bust shaping. Couple more inches and I start the “yoke”. Almost to 3rd ball of yarn.

James’ Christmas Socks

James’ Christmas socks got a little love this week. I realized that 72 stitches was probably too many even with a size 0 needle so I reduced the stitches to 68 over the foot. Since I want the socks to match I decided to start the second sock and knit the foot to the same decreases as the first sock. I know myself that leaving a note in the project bag would get lost. Hence, again my preference for 2 at a time socks but the 9″ circular single sock is indeed nice for grocery shopping/soccer matches (hometown team tied Saturday night).

Resistance is Futile

Arg. I know better. Knowing that I hope to buy Christmas sock yarn at the Wool Festival in September but being afraid there wouldn’t be any (that happened in 2019), I made the mistake of looking on Etsy for Christmas Sock yarn. While not really what I was looking for, I found this cute “holiday lights” yarn that is really just a rainbow speckle on white yarn from AlwaysBeKindYarn. This is a fun yarn that I could wear all year, not just at Christmas. So I bought it. My yarn “diet” only lasted 3 months!! Plus I know I’ll be buying yarn at the festival!!

Speaking of Etsy, this week arrived some cute reusable project bag tags that I ordered from Katrinkles. This way I don’t have to remember what project is inside the bag. The marker can be removed with rubbing alcohol and then the tag reused. We will see if I’m sorry that I only ordered 3.

Mimosa Tree

On a final note. I am so tickled with myself for planting a mimosa tree near our deck. After 3 failed attempts at getting a tree to grow so close to our woods but along our decking, I finally went with a “weed” tree. Personally I love the mimosa tree but I’ve seen it sprout up along the highway exits in the Carolinas. Hence I figured it had a better chance of surviving in my desired location. It has turned out even better than I expected. I adore the fuzzy pink blooms. And seeing the blooming tree through our deck door and windows is stunning. We have already enjoyed blooms for the past month and they seem to still be going strong!

YOP: Wk of 7/25 – 7/31 Tank Top Knitting and Bohus Pattern

August 1, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Project Bags, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

BOHUS KNITTING – WILD APPLE PULLOVER

I mentioned before that I got intriged about Bohus knitting patterns after seeing them on the Fruity Knitting podcast. I don’t intend to be a Bohus purist so I’m not going to worry about exactly (or even remotely) matching the yarn colors or yarns used in the original sweaters from the ’40s. For those that do want the exact colors and yarns, kits can be purchased from angoragarnet.com at about $400 per sweater kit. I’m not a good enough knitter to spend that much money on a sweater. But I did get the 1995 book by Wendy Keele that includes many of the patterns. The yarn she used is no longer available. My favorite from the book is The Wild Apple. There is a pattern available to purchase on Ravelry. But I spent a day rewriting the pattern in the book into a style that I can follow and translating the chart into an excel sheet with the colors more clearly labeled. Who knows if I’ll ever knit the sweater, but I have a pattern and a chart should I decide to try. I hope to get a better feel for what a 50% merino/50% angora sport weight yarn should look and feel like before buying any yarn. A 2022 project goal??

Heldig Tank Top

Caitlyn’s tank top is coming right along. I did have her try it on and it fits much better this time. Still a little loose despite being over gauge (should make it tighter) and knitting the S size. She wears her clothes very tight so this top will be baggier than what she is used to wearing. I’ve almost finished the first ball of yarn. It’s supposed to take 3 so a third of the way done? On track for finishing by mid-August.

Sewing – Project Bag Handles

I added handles to 2 of my project bags. The sock sized bags I made don’t need handles but these two are larger; 2-3 skein size. I think the handles will make them more useful. Certainly made them more colorful. I’m loving the dog/cat bag for holding the Heldig Tanki project.

Christmas Socks

The Christmas socks for my son-in-law are getting a little love. I’m knitting my variation on the Hermione sock which is a simple P on the first of four stitches of R1 and then P on the third of four stiches on R3. I’ve added P on the second of four on R5 and the fourth of four on R7. Another MLS Soccer game meant a few rows before the game, during halftime, and especially waiting for traffic to clear after the game. My knitting turned out to be the highlight of the evening as once again the hometown team failed to win.