December 2022 – Knitting Is So Fun

2022: Wk of 12/18-24; Yarn Acquistions

December 26, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Knitting

I know I’m a day late posting. I orginally wasn’t going to write a post for this holiday week as I got almost no knitting done. But what I did do was aquire A LOT of yarn!! I blew my 2022 goal of having more yarn go out than got brought in big time. Oh well, let’s move on and just enjoy all the new yarn.

CHRISTMAS/END OF THE YEAR YARN ACQUISIONS

First off I bought a bunch of Fixation yarn that I love to use for knitting socks. This yarn is great when I’m not sure about the foot size of the recipient since it has spandex in it. It’s DK weight so it makes a great yarn to use for “walking” or riding in the car (ha ha, like I ever get to do that). My 2023 plan has me knitting socks for some male friends of my daughter as thank yous so I needed some yarn for them. Two colorways that I wanted were being discontinued so I had to buy them right!? So here’s my Fixation haul.

Then while online shopping on WEBS, I couldn’t resist this self striping West Yorkshire Spinner yarn that was on sale too. Did I mention I got free shipping with my order!?

Then for Christmas my son gave me yarn that I could use to make him a hat. That was very sweet of him. It’s a rainbow striped yarn which he knows I love. It’s acrylic but very soft so perfect for a hat. I think I’ll put the hat I currently started on hold so that I can make him a hat with “his” yarn before winter ends.

I also gave my hubby Lollipop yarn to give me Christmas morning. This will be a fun yarn to knit into socks.

ADVENT YARN CALENDARS

Here’s the complete reveal of my advent yarn calendars.

This is the final AGirlAndHerWool advent calendar. I love the colorful minis. While I like the tonal brown contrast yarn, I would not like to use it with the mini as I feel it would make the sweater too dark. I’m glad I brought along a cream yarn to pair with the minis for a Sea Glass tee that I will start on New Year’s Day. This is the end for AGirlAndHerWool as she has decided to stop dying yarn.

This is the Emma’s yarn advent calendar.

I hope you had a wonderful holiday and are looking forward to the new year. This was me during our visit back north. I have never been so cold!! Had to keep all skin covered or risk frostbite while clearing the driveway. It’s still quite nippy even in Florida but will be back in the 70s by Wednesday.

This is a year of projects (YOP12) 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 six years.

2022: Wk of 12/11-17; Hubby Sweater Save!! and Cropped Ranunculus FO

December 18, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Knit, Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn, Yarn Advent Calendars

HUBBY SWEATER SAVE!!!

Well, I intended to put my hubby’s sweater in time-out but I couldn’t resist trying a few things. So I went ahead and knit the collar. It really helped make the sweater look better!! Then I decided to lengthen the sleeve. I had hubby try it on again with the changes. Good enough. Sleeve could be longer and is definitely tighter than I like. I will try to stretch it more during blocking. “Dry” blocking helped stretch the body so it doesn’t look too tight. He likes it long although I think it’d like it better about 2 stripes shorter. Neither of us are a fan of the excess material at the underarm but it’s livable. (NEVER again bottom-up/cuff-up). This way he has a sweater to wear on the flight home where we are having an artic freeze. The temperature will be well below freezing when we land and again when we leave. I will give him the black undershirt I got him to wear under it before we fly out on Wednesday. He is hiding the second arm because I still need to lengthen that one. Not a great sweater but fine for around the house wear.

MOHAIR RANUNCULUS

This was a quick knit, especially since I didn’t have that much yarn. I think it makes a cute outfit when I combine it with a tank top and leggings. It’s funny how different this one is from my first one. I never would have guessed that going from a US 10 to a US 11 and adding lace weight mohair would increase the gauge so much. But it’s loose and fluffy just like I had imaged. Since I cropped it, I made a garter hem rather than a ribbed hem. I wanted the hem to hang straight vs a ribbed hem that tucks in. Fingers crossed I like the feel of mohair.

ADVENT CALENDAR MINIS

I am enjoying my advent calendars and looking forward to starting a Sea Glass tee come January with the mini set on the left. It has a lot of darker colors which will be perfect paired with the lighter color MC I plan to use. In this week’s Grocery Girls podcast Jodi mentioned a stitch marker advent calendar, Ocean Loops Studio. I think it would be a good idea for next year. Especially since I already purchased a yarn advent calendar to be opened in Advent ’23. Here’s the minis I’ve opened so far. One more week.

Wishing everyone a wonder filled last week of advent and a very Merry Christmas. You will have to let me know if my blog pictures are better. Hubby couldn’t resist buying us new phones for Christmas.

2022: Wk of 12/4-10; Hubby Sweater Time Out, Starting another Ranunculus

December 11, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Knit, Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn Advent Calendars

HUBBY SWEATER

Hubby’s sweater was almost done except for the collar so I could finally have him try it on. YUCK!!! Hate it so many ways. What a disappointment after 84,000 stitches and 2 months of knitting. 1) The stripes just don’t look right. I like it when it’s just laying on the table but it just doesn’t look good on. 2) Could be because it’s a little too tight. He usually wears looser sweaters. 3) The length is too long. I wanted more a mid-hip length. 4) The V is WAY too deep. I would need to rip back to where the sleeves are joined and knit several inches before starting the V. 5) The sleeves are indeed too short. Fortunately the too short sleeves and the too long body are not a big issue since I knitted stripes. I could just remove the cuffs/hem and add length/shorten before kitchenering them back on. I’m putting the sweater in timeout for a bit before finishing the collar and attempting the lengthen/shortening. If I still don’t like it after aggressive blocking then I will frog it and hopefully reuse the yarn in another striped sweater. This time top down!!

RANUNCULUS #2

Well, the only way to handle the disappointment of my hubby’s sweater is either retail shopping (nope – already have too much yarn and I have my advent calendars. Also have plenty of project bags and knitting “toys”) or cast on a fun project. I’ve been going back and forth between a Ranunculus and a Love Note with this yarn but finally decided to go with the Ranunculus. I only have 58g of yarn so I need to make a very cropped top that will be worn over a sleeveless top/camy. It’s my first time to knit with mohair as well. I’m loving knitting with mohair. It’s definitely the right “feel good” project to finish off the year.

ADVENT CALENDAR UPDATE

Here’s this week’s advent calendar minis. I’ll post a “group” shot after I’ve opened them all. I think a Sea Glass Tea will definitely be my New Year’s Day Cast-on with the Girl And Her Wool minis (left picture).

I hope you are enjoying the holiday season. While it doesn’t “feel” like Christmas here in south Florida, hubby and I went to a Christmas Dinner and Dance at the condo complex. We love to dance and I got to wear a long dress that I haven’t worn in 15+ years.

2022: Wk of 11/27-12/3; Blogging 5 Yr Anniversary and Advent Calendars Begin!!!

December 4, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Knitting, Knitting Plan, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn Advent Calendars

I started knitting 6 years ago and started a knitting blog 5 years ago last week. In the beginning my blogging was erratic and was meant more as a personal journal of what I was learning. It’s fun to see how my project bags for example have changed over the years as I find what I really like to use. (I have ~10 mesh bags from Michaels that I need to give away.) I have enjoyed the past few years of writing weekly blogs with the YOP Ravelry group. Thank you to everyone that comments and encourages me as well as all the inspiration I get from reading your blogs.

WEEK’S KNITTING

I didn’t get much knitting done this week since it was primarily a travel week from Ohio to Florida. It was a great trip. The weather was good and indeed I did do 80+% of the driving so very little knitting. But I did get to watch the US men’s soccer team beat Iran and a fun evening out with our daughter and son-in-law. We visited a “sippin santa” bar. The company Sippin Santa takes over a bar and fills it with Christmas decorations. Our daughter knows how much I love Christmas lights so this was definitely a treat for me to have a cocktail surrounded by Christmas lights. The next day it was off to our son’s and a fun game of parcheesi. Our daughter-in-law had a really neat 3D game set she got on Etsy.

I have already gotten to reconnect with one of my Florida knitting groups. This is the one that’s residents of the condo complex where we rent. It’s pretty casual with at least half that only know how to crochet blankets. But I just enjoy being with them each week. Ginette runs the group and is a highly skilled knitter so she’s a great resource for me. I got a few rows done on hubby’s sweater. This coming week I will reconnect with my other group. They all are knitters and have made sweaters and shawls so we do more pattern sharing/discussing.

I’ve restarted my “walking socks”. Taking a morning walk each day is definitely a treat of being in Florida. It is not easy to do in our “no sidewalks” and hills home in Ohio.

ADVENT CALENDARS

I brought 2 advent calendars to Florida to enjoy. The one with Emma’s Yarn 20g minis is shaped in a wreath with red and green bags. The bags aren’t numbered so everyone that bought one will have a different order as they chose which ones to open. The second one is 10g minis from AGirlAndHerWool with a full 100g skein of “contrast”. It came in a box with the each mini wrapped in tissue paper and numbered. I decided to make a twine clothesline and bought mini clothespins so that I could hang the wrapped minis under the TV as a decoration with a tiny strand of LED lights. Our Christmas decorations are a bit scant at our Florida rental so I’m happy to add some yarny decorations.

Here’s the mini’s I’ve opened so far for Days 1-4 for each. I’m really happy with the rich colors from AGirlAndHerWool.

Hope you have a wonderful week. I’m hoping to get some serious knitting done this week now that packing and driving is in the past. Gotta get hubby’s darn sweater done in 2 1/2 wks so it’s done by Christmas!!