October 2021 – Knitting Is So Fun

YOP Wk 10/24-30: WIPs

October 31, 2021November 1, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Knitting, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

I’m sorry to say not much happened on the knitting front this week. Here’s a brief review.

SAILORMOON UPDATE

Sleeve island is going SO SLOW!! Part of the problem is that I realized I had decreased too quickly making the arm too narrow. So I ripped out most of the sleeve and am decreasing more slowly. First sleeve done. PIcking up stitches for second this afternoon. So I’m not going to get done by the end of the month afterall. Since I also have the neckline to do, hoping for one week but guessing two more weeks till done.

ADVENT 2019 SOCKS

I did a little knitting on the Advent Socks. The designer has put out a pattern the past two years so I’m hoping she puts one out this year. I’d love to have more stripe designs to work with. I can definitely see knitting more of these colorwork socks.

TUMBLER COZIES

Further slowing me down, I’ve decided to knit tumbler cozies for the 2 couples that sit next to me at our MLS soccer games. I am not renewing my season tickets for next year. They have been so nice and friendly to this single ticket lady (that LOVES soccer). It truly has been fun cheering the team on with them. Knit cozies will be a nice reminder of the little old lady that would knit before and after the game. There is only one home game remaining. I have a week to get the cozies done. They will be shorter than the ones I’ve knit for my husband and I.

YARN (CHRISTMAS FOR ME) SHOPPING

One of my favorite sweater yarns is Summer Silk by Berroco. It’s being discontinued so it’s on half price sale. I resisted for several weeks but Liz mentioned in her blog post last week that she’s looking to make Ship Shape. That’s the pattern I’d want to make with Summer Silk (even though no one else has used this yarn for it). So I ordered the cream and pale blue yarns. I’ve already advised my husband that he has bought me yarn for Christmas. I will wrap the yarn when it gets here and put it under the Christmas tree. KAL anyone?? I also ordered a skein of Halloween themed yarn from one of my favorite local dyers (I bought 3 skeins from her at the Wool Festival last month). Seems she has had some unexcepted home repair bills so could use some extra sales. I was only too happy to help. Again, this will be wrapped and placed under the Christmas tree.

FALL COLORS ARE HERE

It’s going to get cold here in SW Ohio so great knitting weather. I’ve put away the umbrella and bug screen from my outdoor deck until next spring. Frost is expected at the end of the week. The result of our destroyed pool is that we are seeking to fill it in and then creating a firepit area and raised bed gardens. Going to be quite the project next spring/summer. Gives hubby something to design over the winter months. Hope you all have a good crafting 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 10/17-23: WIPs Update

October 24, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Knitting, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

Sailormoon Update

I did finish the lace bottom but I still need to pick up the stitches for the sleeves so I didn’t get as much done this week as I had hoped. Where does the time go??? Some of the delay was I didn’t like the way the lace looked so I blocked it to be sure it was okay. I am happy with it after blocking. Today I’ll be picking up the sleeve stitches. I’m not real happy with where I picked up stitches on the back to start the striping but I’m hoping blocking will help. At least I’ve learned about being more consistent when picking up stitches in the future. I know my daughter won’t mind.

Cozy FO and Cast-ons

Finished the second cozy. Longer than I intended but it did use up all the yarn. Looks better than the old sock my hubby was using. I’ve cast-on two more which should use up my stock of scrap Fixation yarn.

Advent 2019 Socks

Got the heels in my Advent 2019 socks. Now to the mindless knitting of the foot and toe. Not enough progress for a photo. I dropped from a US 4 needle for the colorwork leg to a US 2 for the heel. I’m still worried that the fabric is not as tight as I like for socks so I’m going to drop to a US 1 for the foot. I’m also probably going to reenforce the heels by duplicate stitching.

Baby News

Granddaughter made an early entrance to the world. She was due Oct 28 but decided to arrive the 19th. Sophia and her mom are doing just great. We hope to get in a visit the end of next month before we head to Florida for the winter.

Autumn Update

Turns out I speculated correctly…. the warm fall we have had will reduce our normal fall color display. Not going to be a pretty year for pictures although the yellows are coming through. The temperatures are indeed falling. Hubby is ready to go to Florida NOW. I will definitely get a chance to wear my sweaters for the next five weeks.

YOP Wk of 10/10-16: WIP Updates and Mail

October 17, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

Sailormoon Update

I did indeed finish the body striping and I’ve also completed 2 sets of the bottom lace. The pattern only calls for 2 sets but I did 3 on my Sailormoon and I prefer the 3 sets. This week will be sleeve island. End of October finish looking good!!

Advent 2019 Sock Update

Uhh, turns out that my ivy stripe from last week was still wrong as the berry row was incorrect. So tinked back a 3rd time and reknit it. I think I’m finally done with it. This week I got the purple stripe completed and will be starting the heels. I’m using leftover self striping sock for the heel and foot as I plan to wear the socks so a) I don’t need the bulk of colorwork stripes in my shoes and b) who is going to see colorwork on the foot since I’ll be wearing shoes. I’ve dropped down from US 4 needles for the colorwork to US 2 for a better fitting foot.

You Got Mail

This week’s mail brought me the Christmas sock yarn and a bamboo based sock yarn I ordered. Mary Maxim offered me free shipping and at $7 a skein, how could I resist?! Turns out I’m doing better than I thought on my Yarn In/Yarn Out. Even with this purchase I still have more yarn going out of my stash. And I haven’t added the Sailormoon or Advent 2019 socks I’m currently about to finish to my “yarn out” tally. So I’m looking good for meeting my goal of more yarn out than in. I’m optimistic that I’ll meet it in 2022 as well.

Autumn Is Here

Well, a cold front finally came through Friday night and lowered the temperature to more normal fall weather. It is so nice to be able to wear my sweaters before we head to the summer temperatures in SW Florida. I had to bundle up to watch FCC lose their home match. Ironically the trees still haven’t really taken on their fall colors by now. Guess the unusually warm weather kept the leaves green. Although sometimes the fall isn’t very pretty here with the leaves going from green to brown. I’m hoping we get some reds, oranges, and yellows in the coming week. We always joke that Cincinnati actually only has two seasons, winter and summer. It seems like we frequently stay cold in the spring and then shot up to summer temperatures and likewise stay warm in the fall before dropping down to winter temperatures. Wishing everyone a great week.

YOP Wk 10/3-9; WIPs Progress

October 10, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Knitting, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

Sailormoon Continues to Grow

My second Sailormoon sweater continues to grow. I’ve made good progress on the body. Only 2 more sets of stripes before I start the lace bottom. Maybe today while watching football!!?? It is such a pleasure to knit. I will definitely get it done this month!

Advent 2019 Socks – Or how many mistakes can you make in one stripe!

I added 2 more stripes to my Advent 2019 socks. I’m not knitting them in the order of the pattern but picking and choosing stripes that I like. I basically knit the holly stripe twice. Mistake #1 – got cocky and thought I knew the pattern. Uh no, not always 3 green stitches followed by 2 white. Frog two rows. Mistake #2 – happily finished stripe when, huh – why does my ivy look like propeller blades instead of ivy?? Seems I turned the pattern upside down halfway through knitting it!! Frogged back to the red berries and reknit the upper leaves. The gold centers of poinsettia stripe didn’t show up well so I’m going to duplicate stitch them. Two more stripes and then time for the heel.

Tumbler Cozies

I continue to make slow progress on my second tumbler cozy. No rush on this project. Berroco Fixation yarn is perfect for these cozies, 98% cotton and 2% spandex.

Autumn ’21 Update

Continues to be summerlike in SW Ohio. We are 5C/10F above normal and will be for the next week. Great for hubby’s bladder pain issues. Not much color change in the trees although lots more leaves on the driveway!! I’ve already cleared the leaves earlier this week too! Got to have a lovely get together with my dad and brother’s family at a nano brewery where they all live. Roasted pumpkin porter – YUM!! It was so nice to enjoy being together. Wishing you a wonderful autumn week.

YOP – Wk of 9/26 – 10/2

October 3, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Knitting tools, Notions, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

Sailormoon Update

This week I was able to complete the yoke and combine the front and back. Now it’s 12″ of stockinette (Continental) striping before making the lace bottom panel and sleeves. Looking good to be done by Thanksgiving. Maybe I can get another top/sweater in before the end of the year??!!

Does anyone else have trouble with their swatch matching their garment gauge?? Really drives me nuts!! Turns out my garment is a good 10% tighter than my swatch predicted! Sure hope it still fits my daughter. Oh, and in case you are interested …. I sent my frustration/question to Andrea Mowry this week and guess what question got picked to be answered in this week’s podcast (#30)?? Yep – that’s mine at 9:11 with the 28 stitches instead of 25.5 predicted by my swatch. Maybe the problem is this pattern has both flat and in the round and I only swatched in the round. But her suggestion to block it now is probably worth doing.

Advent Sock 2019

Making these colorwork stripes is so fun. This is going to be a crazy pair of socks as I plan to use leftover Christmas sock yarns for the feet. But I will have fun wearing them.

This Week’s Mail

The spending seems to never end but that’s my fault. I ordered more wipeable project bag tags from Katrinkles. That gives me 6 which would definitely be my limit of projects on needles. But this will let me put my winter projects into bags for taking to Florida since I won’t have my “yarn wall”. I also ordered her wipeable stitch markers. That will let me leave “notes” to myself or mark special stitches such as psso. By the way, I hate her silver chains so I went on Amazon and got myself 100 colorful chains for $7. Let me know if you need chains. 🙂

Planning Ahead – 2022 Anyone??

My brother kids me about my need to plan ahead – really, who doesn’t plan holiday family gatherings 4+ months ahead?? So it should come as no surprise that I have already started my 2022 Knitting Plan and Knitting Goals. Not really hard since part of my monthly digital Knitting Plan/Calendar includes an area to record future project and goal ideas. I already own the yarn for every project (well, I’ve committed to but haven’t bought the Christmas sock yarn) so in theory I shouldn’t buy ANY yarn in 2022. Yeah, that’s not happening.

FALL

I’ll end with a photo of fall here along our driveway. The leaves are turning yellow and the driveway is filling up with fallen leaves. Another week or two and it will be golden yellow with reds and oranges. (Our driveway is 1 km long so I get a nice walk in just picking up the mail everyday). Wishing everyone a great week and “see” you next Sunday.