2023:Wk of 3/19-25; WIP Updates

BUTTERCUP TEE

I’m very pleased with how this tee is turning out. The fit is going to be great. It is using up a lot of yarn so I may actually need more than I have with me to finish it off. I want it to be a tunic length so it needs to extend past my bottom. Fortunately a have more skeins at home back in Ohio. About 6″ below the armpit, I went up a needle size to provide a little more ease. I actually did wet blocked what I had knit after a few inches just to be sure I couldn’t see a line when I went up a needle size. I plan to decrease stitches as I create the sleeve cuff to create a bit of a puff sleeve. The tee will be a bit thick due to the aran weight yarn. The drape would be better with the DK weight yarn called for but I’m glad I was able to use up some stash yarn.

VIVALDI SPRING SOCKS

I’ve made some progress on my Vivaldi Spring socks. Just a couple more stripes and it will be time to knit the heels in the orange contrast yarn. Looks like I don’t have much yarn to knit the leg even of a shortie socks. Fortunately I have a grey mini with me to “extend” the leg.

FIXATION VANILLA SOCKS

I’ve started the second sock so that I have something to knit on my last few days of walking and knitting. The first sock is almost ready for the heel so it’s time to catch the second sock up.

HEADING HOME

We are down to our last few days in Florida. If I get some of the above projects finished this week I may “have” to cast-on the Sophie scarf for car knitting. But it’s likely I’ll be doing most of the driving. The highways will likely be clogged as many snowbirds go back north on the first of April. The activities at the condo complex pretty much grind to a halt by the mid April since more than half of the residents are snowbirds. I already have some coffee dates set up with some knitting friends once I get back to Ohio. I’m also looking forward to getting to sit with my kitty while I knit. I know my stepson has taken good care of her but I’m looking forward to her curling up beside me on the couch.

Hope you had a good week crafting.

This has been a Ravelry Year of Projects post. Bloggers are encouraged to share their fiber plans for the year and then post weekly updates. Sticking to the plan is not required. 🤣

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2023: Wk of 3/12-18; Yarn Store Visit and WIP Updates

TRUNK SHOW MEANS YARN ACQUISION

Some knitters that I meet with weekly while in Naples made a road trip yesterday to visit A Good Yarn, a yarn shop in Sarasota FL for a trunk show of Miss Babs yarns. It was fun to have a “girls trip” to shop for yarn and enjoy lunch together at a French cafe. We got to meet Miss Babs and definitely bought a lot of yarn. I did pretty good on my haul. Only 4 skeins. 3 skeins of mohair to go with yarn already in my stash to make projects I already had in mind (Promenade Blouse, Lace & Fade Boxy, Ranunculus). The “slurge” was a skein of cashmere/silk that I will use to knit the Sophie Scarf.

BUTTERCUP TEE

HahHa. Not surprisingly I didn’t do either thing I thought I would last week with this tee. The neck was indeed too big to just add a few garter rows so I frogged it. I was only 5 days into the project so not a lot of lost time.

Instead of moving to a pattern designed for my yarn I decided to give the Buttercup Tee one more go. This time I reduced the cast-on from 58 stitches to 38 stitches to match the reduction in the lace panel I did last time by eliminating one pattern repeat due to the thick yarn. This means I’m really winging it when it comes to how often to do raglan increases. I’ve measured the desired sleeve width and back/front widths so that I can make increases to get the needed measurements before splitting for sleeves. I do like the yarn and the colorway. (Butter Ball – not sure I like being a Butterball. I think Sweet Corn would be slightly more appealing.) It will be a wonderful summer top if I can figure out the sizing.

SOCKS GOT MINIMAL ATTENTION THIS WEEK

I do love the fall colorway of my Vivaldi Spring socks so I’m tickled I’m ending up with a pair of shorties from it. To prevent one sock syndrome, I force myself to knit both toes, then both feet, followed by both heels, both legs, and finally both cuffs. No finish a sock and start all over again with the second one hoping they match. Not much to see this week so I’m not going to post a picture. Similarly the Fixation socks got a little attention this week but not enough to justify photo.

FINISHING UP

Sadly our friends from Cincinnati just called to say they were headed back to Cininnati after driving all the way to Atlanta yesterday. They were supposed to join us here in Naples, FL for a week but the hubby experienced a medical issue last night. Nothing life threatening but best to go home for medical attention as needed. We head north on the 31st. I’m looking forward to spending an evening with my son and his wife in Gainesville, FL before heading to Charleston, SC to spend an evening with my daughter and her husband. Plus I’m already making plans to connect with knitting friends back in Cincinnati in April.

Hope you have had a good week and have fun things to look forward to in the coming week.

This has been a Ravelry Year of Projects post. Bloggers are encouraged to share their fiber plans for the year and then post weekly updates. Sticking to the plan is not required. 😉

2023: Wk of 3/5-11; New Cast-Ons

I finished the Deschain sweater this week. I did decide to add a few garter rows to create a cuff on the sleeves. I think the neck looks fine as is so I’m not picking up stitches and creating a collar as the pattern calls for. I also finished the vanilla socks. I’m ready for the trip to Charleston at the end of the month. I can have my daughter try on the Deschain and the Sea Glass Tee. She can keep them if she likes them and I’ll knit new ones for me. Or I can keep them and knit new ones for her based on modifications she would like. The socks are ready to gift to her friend.

BUTTERCUP TEE

I cast-on Heidi Kirrmaier’s Buttercup Tee. I’m loving this yellow Rowan Tweed yarn. The silk/cotton yarn is perfect for a spring project. It’s a bit thick since it is aran weight yarn so my gauge is way off. I’m following the instructions for the smallest size but I think it’s still too big. The neck opening is way larger than I planned. I’m going to knit it till I separate for sleeves and knit some of the body so I can try it on. I’ll probably pick-up stitches around the neck and add extra rows of garter. Then if I still don’t like it, I’ll frog it and knit a pattern designed for aran weight yarn.

NEW SOCKS

Since I finished the vanilla socks this week, I needed a new pair cast-on for walks and social knitting. The Buttercup Tee is not a good project for walking knitting and needs too much concentration at this point thus is not good for social knitting sessions. I’m tired of knitting only vanilla so I’m finally knitting one of the “seasons” from the Vivaldi Sock Pattern. This has been in my queue for over a year. The sock actually incorporates 4 patterns, one for each season. I found from a previous multiple pattern sock I knit that I prefer using just one pattern on a sock. Plus this will be a shortie sock so definitely not enough rows for 4 patterns. I’m using up the leftover yarn from the vanilla socks I just made. I’ll be playing yarn chicken.

Even though the pattern is fairly simple, it’s not really a good “walking” project. I had some Fixation yarn here in Florida so I cast-on a vanilla sock. The Fixation yarn is perfect for walking knitting since it’s DK and the cotton yarn does better than wool in Florida’s humidity. I don’t love the colorway, Holidaze, so the socks will be for me. The “Christmas colors” are very muted. The colorway reminds me more of pink and red carnations or wild roses. I have a fun red “I knit so I don’t kill people” t-shirt which will pair nicely with the socks.

That’s it on the knitting front. It has been a wonderful week here in Florida. I’ve enjoyed knitting on the lanai and sipping coffee. We are winding down and trying to clear out the frig and freezer as we prepare to return to Ohio. Seems like the time went fast but then all time seems to zip by quickly. We have finalized all paperwork for our rental next winter so we have that to look forward to. Fortunately we also have lots to look forward to once we get back to Cincinnati as well.

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: Feb Review and Almost FOs

FEBRUARY REVIEW

WOW, Another month “gone”. Time flies!! Welcome Spring, my favorite time of year. I adore when the trees start budding and the bulbs pop through the ground and bloom. But first, a quick review of what projects started February and what projects finished.

STARTING OFF – 3 Project On Needles

I started the month with a pair of vanilla socks, a pair of colorwork socks that are a carryover project from 2022, and a my Sea Glass Tee.

ENDING – 3 Project On Needles

The vanilla socks and the carryover colorwork socks are still on their needles. The Sea Glass Tee got finished so the Deschain sweater got cast-on.

STASH MANAGEMENT – 250g Out

I ended up with 40g in but does that really count? I didn’t ask for the yarn. I did a yarn swap with a fellow Ravelry knitter and she include 2 mini skeins as a thank you. So I have successfully resisted yarn purchasing in 2023! Before I toot my horn though, I am going to a Miss Babs trunk show with my Naples knitting friends in March and I know I’ll buy some yarn so that has fueled my resistance. I finished my Sea Glass Tee so that was ~250g out. Yea!!

DESCHAIN – Almost FO

Well, I’ve seamed the pieces together. On the positive side, I’m learning. 🙂 I am not particularly happy with the seam made by the mattress stitch for joining the front and back pieces. The thick seam runs atop my shoulder from the neck down the arm. If it bothers me too much, I’ll remove the seam by picking out the cast-on stitches that need to be seamed to create live stitches that can then be kitchenered. If I knit this pattern again, I will use a combination of a provisional cast-on for those stitches that need to be kitchenered together and a regular cast-on for those stitches that make the neck opening. I also now know to knit the first 6″ of the front and back panels and then join them in the round and avoid needing to do side seaming as well. I definitely will avoid seamed sweaters in the future.

I’m nearly done as my daughter likes it as a tee so I don’t need to knit the sleeves. The pattern only calls for one repeat of the hem but I’m going to knit a second repeat before binding off. While it is cropped, the yarn is linen/cotten so it will likely grow a little. Any other changes will wait until she can try it on in a few weeks. I’m thinking about picking up stitches on the sleeves and then doing one repeat of the hem pattern.

VANILLA SOCKS – Almost FO

I have completed the legs on the socks and have started the ribbed cuffs. These will be finished today or tomorrow, definitely in time to gift at the beginning of April.

COLORWORK SOCKS

I was playing around with stripes for these socks. Not sure I like the stripe pattern I “created”. The yarn is white with bright rainbow speckles. I decided to purl all speckle stitches to create a random textured pattern. I think I will incorporate purl stitches into the next stripe so that it also “puffy”. Then the stripes will alternate between “flat” colorwork and “puffy” colorwork. This is a case where knitting one at a time is good in case I decide I don’t like my “puffy” colorwork stripes and rip the sock back to the first stripe.

WHAT’S NEXT

The Deschain and vanilla socks should be off the needles in the next day or two. I really want to knit another Sea Glass Tee/Sweater but I’m going to resist until I have my daughter try mine on to see if she a) likes it, b) needs size modifications, and c) wants a tee or sweater length sleeves. Also, I want to knit an alternating single row of stripe with the Sea Glass pattern but the colored yarn I want to use is back in Ohio so I have to wait until next month to start it. Next in my queue is to knit the Buttercup Tee by Heidi Kirrmeier. That will get cast-on this week.

I think I’m going to knit myself a pair of shortie socks with the yarn leftover from the vanilla sock above. By using contrast yarn for the toes, heels, and cuffs I should have enough for a pair of shorties.

That’s it for the week. Hope your year is going well and you had a great week of crafting.

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.