2022:Wk of 7/24-30; Casting On!!

ALWAYS SOME SOCKS

FO – I did finish the Spiraling Cable Socks since only the cuffs were left. I’m moving on to knitting Dragonfly socks that I cast-on back in June. I’m knitting these 2 at a time since I don’t need them to be a small “travel” project. I had to modify the pattern slightly as I prefer 68 stitch socks. I added an extra row to extend the design the extra stitches. I also “flipped” the chart since I knit toe up.

Dragonfly Socks

I cast-on Yoga socks for my “travel” socks. They were perfect for knitting on the flight down to the Outer Banks. I’m using up leftover Fixation yarns. These should knit up quickly since there is no heel. I did bring more Fixation yarn “just in case” so that I always have a “walking socks” project. Hubby and I enjoy taking a walk along the beach every morning.

Yoga Socks

RANUNCULUS CAST-ON

I also cast-on my Ranunculus tee this week. I’m knitting the smaller neck version as I’m not a fan of the boat neck. Wow that neck was fiddly!! Plus I’m not used to knitting with such large (US 10) needles with fingering weight yarn! I’m really loving the fall colorway yarn and the 10% cashmere makes it sooo soft. I am enjoying the pattern now that I’m past the fiddly neck. I see a few more of this pattern and this yarn in my future.

Beginning Ranunculus

OUTER BANK

That’s it for knitting this week. Short post. We are enjoying beach time with our friends. We take turns making dinner each night. It’s always a very enjoyable vacation. I should get a lot of knitting done as I don’t have my laptop nor do much tv watching while at the beach.

Atlantic Ocean at Duck, NC

Hope you have a wonderful week of crafting. 

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 started it’s 12th year in July and I’m starting my third year in the group. I’ve been knitting for five years

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2022: Wk of 7/17-23; Shawl and Shrug FOs

FOs!!!!

Happy dance time!!! I finished both the Stephen West Spiraling Cables shawl for my stepdaughter and the Ladybird Shrug for me. I’m very happy with both.

The shrug color doesn’t go with the initial dress I was planning to wear it with but I think it looks nice with this dress. Now I just need an occasion to wear the dress. Probably Christmas Eve since the dress is velvet. The pattern calls for creating a ribbed border that would run around the neck, down the front sides, and across the lower back. I decided I liked it without the ribbed border.

WIPs

So that just leaves me with the Spiraling Lace socks. Need to finish the ribbed cuff on this one and the leg and cuff on the other. Should be done today or tomorrow. That will catch me up on a pair of socks or a shrug per month. (More happy dancing.)

NEXT…

Cast-on Time!! (Still more happy dancing. I know, I know, I should get back to knitting my hubby’s sweater.) I will cast on a Ranunculus for me this week. I’m using Emma’s Yarn in the 10 Questions Colorway. No idea why it’s called that. To me it is fall colors hence my desire to cast-on now.

This will give me both the Ranunculus and the pair of socks, Dragonfly, that I took on the schooner trip but didn’t knit on, for my trip to the Outer Banks in North Carolina the end of this week. I already have the toes knit. I think I’ll take some leftover Fixation yarn to make a pair of yoga socks as a third project. This trip will be the opposite of Maine – very hot. But the house is right on the beach so I’ll have the breeze while at the beach and air conditioning while at the house. No motion sickness! I’m looking forward to 10 days with our friends and their daughter and fiancé. They are getting married in September. We even get to be part of the taste testing of the wedding caterer. I’m giving my daughter a hard time, not really, because we didn’t get to be part of their wedding caterer taste testing (something about being a 10 hr drive away!!)

Hope you have a wonderful week of crafting. 

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 started it’s 12th year in July and I’m starting my third year in the group. I’ve been knitting for five years .

2022: Wk of 7/10-16; Schooner Sailing and Knitting

MAINE SCHOONER SAILING

The Schooner Sailing trip went well although truthfully it was probably the last time. No problems with flights getting to Maine. Sailing turned out to be extremely cold. Wind off the ocean made it too cold for me. Thank goodness my husband didn’t come as it was MUCH too cold for him.

There were only 14 passengers and 5 crew. Turns out we had 3 knitters on the sail; I and my friend’s wife plus a man knitting a cardigan for his wife. A mother and daughter knit but didn’t bring projects with them (what the heck 😖).

Got to see harbor seals which I hadn’t seen before as well as Atlantic puffins. Also sheep on Nash Island that are sheared to make yarn (starcroft yarns). The landscape was certainly beautiful. But the trip reinforced I’m just not a traveler as the experience rarely matches the anticipation. Truthfully I was bored after a few days. One day the sea was rough on a long day of sailing leaving everyone, including most of the crew, queasy and sadly a few folks quite seasick. Thankful for ginger candies and tea!!!

I did buy 2 skeins of Maine yarn to knit a tee as a souvenir.

Maine Yarn

SPIRAL SOCKS

I got a lot done on my spiral socks as not needing a pattern was the way to go while sailing. Got the foot and heels done so I’ll be knitting the legs on the flights home. Hoping blocking will make this lace look better.

SHRUG

I made some progress on my shrug as well. Definitely need to block to open up the lace pattern. I was glad to be able to trade off between the 2 projects. I didn’t need the 3rd project I brought. Not a huge surprise that I over packed knitting and under packed warm clothes!

I have a week and a half home before we head to the Outer Banks for 10 days. Quite the opposite of Maine sailing as it will be hot and humid there. But we stay at a friend’s beach house and enjoy great meals together and card games in the evening. Very thankful they invite us every summer for a beach vacation. I think I’ll be able to finish the Spiral Socks and shrug before we head to the beach catching me up on my goal of a pair of socks or shrug every month.

2022: Wk of July 3-9; Shawl and Sailing WIPs

SPIRALING CABLES SHAWL #2

So close but not quite finished. I have a little more rows of trellis to knit and then to knit the roughly 1″ of border. This will have to wait until I return from my trip. I’m super happy with how it looks. Blocking will stretch it out very nicely to better show off the stripes and the trellis section.

SPIRAL SOCKS

Apparently I’m into spiraling at the moment. My Simple Spiral Socks got a lot of attention on my flights to Maine. The pattern is a very simple lace pattern that I could easily memorize and follow making it perfect for knitting during my long day of flying to Maine.

I also plan to get a lot done on my Ladybird Shrug. The schooner has a beautiful table in the middle of the deck under a shade canopy which will be perfect for knitting!!

LETTING GO

I definitely suffer from sunk cost syndrome or “if I bought it, I need to use it”. 3 years ago I liked Patty Lyon’s Roselle Tee so I bought the pattern, bought the yarn, and put it in my Ravelry Queue. Now I have to admit there’s a reason I never got around to knitting it; I don’t like it so much. I want to wear more fitted tees. The yarn is not “wasted”. I already have ideas for the basic cream color yarn I bought. It would be great paired with colorful minis for the Sea Glass Tee I want to knit or by itself in the Breakwater Tee. So I need to let go of my despair for buying a pattern I probably won’t knit. I need to be okay with buying a new pattern that I’m happier with. Rip the band-aid off. I deleted the project from my queue!

MAINE

I’m “schoonering” this week. I arrived safely Saturday afternoon with no major flight delays. I got to enjoy my first lobster roll with my friend and his wife. I’m sending this post with my phone Sunday morning. My friend’s wife is a knitter so we are visiting a local yarn shop before we board the schooner tonight and depart Monday morning. MUCH cooler here than Cincinnati so a nice break from the heat. I’ll be getting to wear some of my hand knit sweaters and socks!! Feels weird to be without my hubby but he would not be able to tolerate Maine’s colder temperature. It got chilly while we ate our dinner outside and he would have been in pain. Absence makes the heart grow fonder right!?

Ladona (stock photo)

Hope you have a wonderful week of crafting. 

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 starting it’s 12th year. I’ve been knitting for five years and I’m starting my third year in the group.

2022: Wk of June 26-July 2; MidYear Review & Shawl Update

1/2 YEAR REVIEW – PROJECTS

I do a calendar year plan but I still like to check at the midpoint to see how I’m going. Always good for a chuckle.

WIPS – Complete the 4 carryover WIPS	😁DONE!!
SOCKS/SHRUGS/COWLS – Complete 1 per month I have 4 socks and 1 shrug done with 2 socks and 1 shrug on needles. I’m betting by the end of July I’ll be ahead of the game with 6 socks and 2 shrugs.	🙂CLOSE – 5/12
SWEATERS/SHAWLS/TEES – Complete 5 Surprise, surprise. I’m a bit behind. I have one tee and one shawl completed. But as discussed below, I will likely finish a shawl this month putting me back on track.	🙂CLOSE – 2/5
BABY KNITTING – 0 I didn’t set a goal for this year but I did knit a baby sweater for my new granddaughter. Helps explain why I’m a bit behind on my sweater goal as the fingering weight baby sweater took a lot of time to knit.	😁AHEAD!!
MISCELLANEOUS – 1 I wanted to do an advent calendar project since I already have minis from 2 advent calendars and I’ve ordered 3 more!! I do have yarn “packaged” up for a striped sweater using advent minis but truthfully there is a Halloween cowl I want to knit that’s a higher priority to me. Hubby’s sweater also has to be finished before starting an “advent” sweater.	😝BEHIND – 0/1

So not bad. I’m okay with where I’m at the year midpoint.

1/2 YEAR REVIEW – GOALS

Average 1800 stitches per day each month Not surprisingly I missed this in May due to gardening and my daughter’s wedding. I barely met the goal in June. I am still averaging 1800 stitches per day for the year.	🙂CLOSE
Make something Brioche Still struggling with this. I will go back and review the online Brioche class I bought from Patty Lyons before starting the Newspaper sweater. This goal will likely move to 2023.	😝NOPE
Knit Continential I continue to work on this. I can do rows of knits and purls but struggle when the knitting has increases and decreases like a lace pattern.	🙂PROGRESSING
Yarn Out > Yarn In 3 advent calendars will do that to you. Plus finding a new LYS. And a 75% off sale.	😵EPIC FAIL!!
Make something colorwork I am planning a Halloween cowl and maybe some advent socks.	😉PLANNED
Review Stash – Queue Was humbled by how long it will take me to knit my stash. I’m fast approaching SABLE. Sadly being aware of how much yarn I already have has not slowed my yarn acquisitions.	😁DONE
Knit “new to me” Designer/SPECIFICALLY JOJI, EMMA, STEPHEN WEST, PETITE KNITS Knit several “new to me” designers so far – Stephen West, shrugs and sock patterns. Joji (Brioche) and Emma (colorwork) sweaters likely to move to 2023 plan.	🙂KINDA DONE
Learn to Crochet Not a priority. Thought it would help make blankets quicker but blanket making is not a priority for me. Someday…	😝NOPE
Learn to Knit without Looking Still a work in progress. Only can do with all knit rows and DK or thicker yarns.	🙂PROGRESSING
Track Days Worked on Project Yes I have added to my knitting plan spreadsheet. I also now track the number of stitches I knit on each project so that I can better estimate how many stitches a project will take and thus estimate how many projects I can get done in a year.	😁DONE!
Sew a project bag with Charlie Harper fabric Sadly this is a low priority project as I already have plenty of project bags. The fabric is so cute but would just be another bag that I have to figure out where to store. I won 3 project bags this year in giveaways. Now I need to giveaway project bags.	😝NOPE
Knit an Animal Toy I still want to do this but probably will wait two or three years to make one for my granddaughter.	😝NOPE

Definitely not doing as well on my goals as I am on my projects. But I don’t mind changing my mind as the year progresses. Actually I expect it. It’s not a big surprise learning to crochet didn’t turn out to be a big desire. Not a big fan of crochet so I don’t want to use my “good” yarn on crochet projects. Also things happen making sewing a project bag not needed – no matter how cute the fabric. It will get done someday….

SPIRALING CABLES SHAWL #2

Made a lot of progress this week on my stepdaughter’s Stephen West shawl. She is happy with the black yarn instead of the tan I used on my shawl. I’m playing a bit of yarn chicken so I’ll be aggressively blocking it to make sure it’s big enough. I’m a little over halfway done as I’ve started the trellis half. The trellis pattern is much more complicated cabling so I have to follow the pattern more closely. It’s too complicated for me to memorize. Fingers crossed I can get it done this week but I’ll probably be finishing it when I get back from Maine.

YARN ACQUSITION

Really??! I’m supposed to resist a 75% sale on yarn. I bought 6 skeins for only $30. That’s 2 tees. Love the spring/summer colors and the shine that the 15% silk adds. I said I wanted to make a second Anne Hanssen Structured Top with a solid color so that’s the plan for the new spring green yarn. Seeing Eyelet to Eyelet is my pattern planned for the orangish sunflower yarn. So my queue is well into 7 years!!

Hope you have a wonderful week of crafting. 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 starting it’s 12th year. I’ve been knitting for five years and I’m starting my third year in the group.