2023: Wk of Feb 19-25; Deschain Update, 37 Years

DESCHAIN SWEATER

The Deschain is proving to be a pretty easy and fast knit. I’ve knit the front and the back for a total of 6 repeats. I’ll be seaming the front and back together this week. I didn’t complete the hems as I plan to pin it together this afternoon so I can try it on before deciding if I should do one more repeat before the hem. I’m using Juniper Farms Zooey which is a DK instead of the called for aran weight yarn. As feared, the back gauge does not match the front gauge so I’m hoping I can seam it without puckers. We will see. The yarn in the picture looks tan but it’s actually a sage green. I made the gauge tighter than the pattern calls for because I wasn’t sure I wanted such on open fabric. Now I’m concerned the fabric is too dense. Oh well. I’ll finish it and see if my daughter likes it this way. If not I can always reknit it, especially since it’s such a fast knit. Or I’ll keep it for me and knit her a different one. Since it’s cotton/linen, I can wear it here in Florida.

COLORWORK SOCKS

I needed a break from the all stockinette knitting of the Deschain back piece and the Vanilla socks so I went back to one of my 2022 carryover WIPS. I finished the last few rows of the ribbed cuff and knit the first stripe. My intent is to make the stripes more “winter” than Christmas so that the socks can be worn all winter. I’m using the Advent 2019 sock pattern. If my daughter doesn’t want them, I’m pretty sure my stepdaughter will enjoy wearing them. They will be too hot for me to wear in Florida.

37 YEARS

Hubby and I “celebrated” our 37th anniversary this week. We celebrated by going to happy hour at a restaurant where I had gotten gift cards for winning the condo cookie exchange back in December. I’m tired of my husband complaining that he could have “made it better and made it for less” on the rare occasion that we go out to eat. With the increase in food prices and labor wages, it would be even worse this year. So I forced him to go out to use up the gift cards. He did make a wonderful chocolate babka, using the America’s Test Kitchen recipe, as our celebration dessert. It was delicious.

Considering our ages when we got married, mainly his, I definitely wasn’t convinced we would make it to this many years. We actually have a 50/50 chance of making it to 50 years based on the longevity calculator. Who knows!?

Wishing everyone a good week, knitting and otherwise.

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). YOP started it’s 12th year in July and I’m starting my third year in the group. You can find more detailed information about my projects on my project pages in Ravelry (MaureenHD).  I’ve been knitting for six years.

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2023: Wk of 2/12-18; Sea Glass Tee FO, Deschain Cast-on, and Socks WIP

SEA GLASS TEE FO!!

Happy dance. I think this is almost a record. Knit this tee in one month. Yes, I knit a tee last year in one month but that was for a test knit and I swore I’d never put that much pressure on myself. Being all stockinette certainly added to this being a quick knit. I didn’t have to keep checking a pattern or a chart. I just love it and I’m looking forward to knitting more. I do think I’ll try knitting it as stripes with alternating dark/light rows instead of stitches so that the fabric is not double thick. As is, it is going to be a very warm tee.

DESCHAIN SWEATER CAST-ON

Next up is the Deschain sweater. This project has been in my queue for years. It was recommended years ago at my LYS when I was starting to knit sweaters. As it turns out, not really a good first sweater in my opinion since it’s a pieced sweater. It was popular at the time which I think is why the salesperson recommended it. I didn’t realize it was pieced until I just reviewed the pattern. Ugh. I had planned to avoid pieced sweaters. Oh well. I’m going to give it a go since it’s for my daughter. I have to knit two sizes larger since I’m using DK instead of the called for Aran weight yarn. I hope to have it done by the end of March.

VANILLA SOCK WIP UPDATE

I’ve knit the heels in both socks so I’m back to easy stockinette knitting as I work up the legs. I forgot to switch to the contrast yarn for the heels. Oh well. I’m sure I’ll be able to use the remaining yarn for contrast toes in another pair of socks.

That’s it from sunny Florida. It was a quiet week. Wishing everyone a good week, knitting and otherwise.

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). YOP started it’s 12th year in July and I’m starting my third year in the group. You can find more detailed information about my projects on my project pages in Ravelry (MaureenHD).  I’ve been knitting for six years.

2023: Wk of Feb 5-11; WIPS and Beyond

KNITTING WIPS

Not a lot to report on this week knittingwise. Still plodding along on my Sea Glass Tee. Getting close but still not done. Fingers crossed I’ll get it finished this week.

Also I made progress on the socks. I’ve started the second sock but I’m still on the foot of both socks. I need to knit about 3 more stripes on each sock before starting the heels. The recipient has requested crew length so they will take a bit longer to complete than the ankle length I usually knit. On the other hand it will be nice to use up the yarn.

BEYOND KNITTING

That’s it on the knitting front. This was more of a social week which is good too. I had a wonderful day on Wednesday going birding with another couple and the man that used to run a bimonthly birding group at our condo complex. Sadly he can’t walk very much any more so we aren’t having the birding sessions this year. We went birding mostly from the car and the parking lot of a bird sanctuary but saw lots of wonderful birds. Then we took him to lunch to celebrate his 81st birthday. Thursday night was the Valentine’s dinner and dance at the condo complex. My husband and I love to ballroom dance so we enjoyed the evening. Saturday we met up with some of my old college roommates that also winter in Naples, FL. for lunch by the water. Today it’s watch the Super Bowl and indulge in lots of snacks.

RAVELRY

Also this week I ended up doing a yarn swap via the mail. Someone on Ravelry reached out to me to see if I planned to use the full skein that was part of my AGirlAndHerWool advent calendar. She had also bought the calendar and was making a shawl with the yarns but needed more of the large skein as her main color. I had no plans for the brown tonal skein and truthfully it wasn’t a colorway I would have bought. She offered another skein that she had purchased from AGirlAndHerWool, a brown and gold skein. That yarn will be perfect for the pair of socks I want to knit for my daughter’s friend who served as the officiant at her wedding last year. So our skeins are in the mail and should arrive to their new homes this week.

Wishing everyone a good week, knitting and otherwise.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). YOP started it’s 12th year in July and I’m starting my third year in the group. You can find more detailed information about my projects on my project pages in Ravelry (MaureenHD).  I’ve been knitting for six years.

2023: Jan Review, Welcome Feb

“Borrowing” an idea from Backstage Knits, I plan to do a brief “end of the month” review – what projects were on my needles at the beginning of the month, what projects came off, and what projects got cast-on.

JANUARY

JANUARY 1 ON MY NEEDLES To start the month I had 3ish carryover projects from 2022 on my needles.

1. a hat for my son using “rainbow” yarn he had given me for Christmas
2. a reversible hat that uses leftover Christmas stripe yarn for one side and leftover “dark” stripe yarns for the other with a ivory brim yarn in the middle
3. a pair of colorwork socks.
4. “ish” Wasn’t on my needles but decided to put my hubby’s sweater back on my needles so I could redo the hem.

The colorwork socks are “low priority” so they will likely be “on my needles” for many months.

JANUARY CAST-ONS I cast-on 3 new projects.

1. Sea Glass Tee – consistent with my knitting plan, I started the year off with a new sweater/tee cast-on. I’m loving this tee but learned I need to alternate with other knitting so as to not overstress my thumb and cause it to hurt.
2. Second “Rainbow” Hat – turns out the first hat I knit was too small for my son’s head. I was afraid of that since I’d never knit him a hat before so I just followed the instructions for a large sized hat. This project wasn’t on my ’23 knitting plan but I wanted to get a replacement hat to my son as soon as possible. He is enjoying the bigger hat and his girlfriend gets to wear the first one.
3. Vanilla Socks – the hats were my “walking” projects so I needed a new “brain dead” project for my daily morning walk. I love the self striping yarn I’m using and since it’s planned as a gift, I get a lot of joy out of knitting it.

JANUARY OFF MY NEEDLES 3 FOs for Jan

Both “rainbow” hats were completed in January. And I finished the reversible hat which one of my stepsons is enjoying. I did tink the ribbed hem of my hubby’s sweater and replace it with a garter hem. So it was kinda on my needles and off my needles in January.

Rainbow Hats

Reversible Hat – Christmas Stripes

Three FOs in one month is highly unusual for me. The fact that they were hats and 2 were already started prior to the month is a big reason that 3 got finished. I will not likely have that many FOs in future months.

YARN IN/OUT -182g

Three FOs really helped my yarn out even though they were only hats. So 180 grs out and none in. Course getting a lot of yarn in December helped control my desire to buy more. 🙂

STITCHES – 68,489

I got a lot of knitting done this month. It’s winter (even though it feels like summer in Florida) so no gardening or traveling taking up my time.

2023 is off to a great start!!

FEBRUARY – ON MY NEEDLES

Heading into February I still have 3 projects on my needles.

1. Sea Glass Tee
2. Vanilla Socks
3. The ’22 carryover colorwork socks is low priority. Does that make it a UFO instead of a WIP??

A goal will be to finish the Seas Glass Tee in February.

SEA GLASS TEE UPDATE

I decided to do an icord bindoff for the sleeves instead of the sewn bindoff the pattern calls for. I just think an icord looks so much better. I did have to rip out the cuff as even though I used the same needle size as the collar it was still too big. I’m noticing that my tee sleeves are all too loose. I wanted it to fit fairly tightly on my arm. I’m always afraid my tees are going to be too tight but instead they are too big. I think I need to drop down needle sizes as I work down the body so they are less “boxy”.

VANILLA SOCK

The sock is coming along fairly quickly although the Sea Glass it’s getting most of my knitting time. I did start the second sock but ripped it out when I wasn’t satisfied with the toe. I’m pretty confident I will have the socks done by the end of March so that I can give them to my daughter’s friend.

Wishing everyone a good week, knitting and otherwise.

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. You can find more detailed information about my projects on my Project Pages in Ravelry (MaureenHD).  I’ve been knitting for six years.