2023: Wk of 9/17-23; Flax Cast-on, Cowl FO, & Sock Update

I did block my Autumn Promenade and determined I need at least another 3 mini skeins to make it as long as I’d like. It ended up only being on hold for a week as the new set of minis arrived Friday!!

So yesterday I got it back on the needles and I’m happily adding a few more stripes. I’m guessing I’ll be able to finish it this week!! I’m going to do a garter hem and I’m planning to make it a colorful hem by using 5-6 of the minis in 2 row stripes. I’ll probably do the same for the cuffs. I will still have lots of autumn yarns left over so someone will be getting an autumn themed striped sweater someday.

While I was waiting this week, I got to finish my cowl, cast-on a new project, and make a little progress on my Yamadori socks.

FLAX SWEATER CAST-ON

I decided to use up some stash yarn to knit a sweater for my little granddaughter for her birthday next month. It turns out I’m using the leftover yarn from when I knit her mom, my stepdaughter, the Stephen West Twisted Cables shawl. I’m striping the fall colors yarn with some white yarn I had. The pattern says it’s 2T -4T which seems like a big range to me. I figure if it’s too big, she can wear it next year. Flax is a really simple raglan pattern so this should be a quick knit. An extra treat is getting to use the new project bag I just bought.

SOJOURN COWL FO

It was nice to have some time to knit this super soft yarn. It was the perfect project for a knit night at a local brewery. I like the cowl and hopefully will get to wear it occassionally if it gets cold in November. I may end up gifting it to my daughter so that it gets worn more frequently.`

YAMADORI SOCK UPDATE

As I’ve said before, this pattern requires some thought from me. I’m sure there are those that could memorize the 6 row repeat but not me. So I have a little “cheater card” with the 6 rows written down instead of carrying around the whole pattern. I also find the left leaning cable somewhat hard to knit so it takes concentration. Maybe I’ll master the stitch and the repeat as I continue to knit the socks. It irritates (embarrasses) me that I have finally had to put stitch markers every 3 stitches. It’s a freaking 3 stitch pattern but I kept getting off resulting in a wobbly slip stitch stripe. The socks are for me so I’m not ripping back. I like the pattern but I probably won’t knit it again. I don’t like the pattern enough for the effort I have to put in to knit it. It’s not like I don’t have a long list of sock patterns I’d like to try. At least I am enjoying getting to knit from my new little quilted bag. It’s just sooo cute.

Well that it’s from sunny SW Ohio. I couldn’t ask for better weather. Fingers crossed we get some rain soon. We are going to have to buy more water for our cistern. We have had to buy water three times already this summer which is HIGHLY unusual. I decided it was time to refresh the hanging baskets on my “knitting nook” deck. I hadn’t done a good job of watering the baskets so the flowers died during our lack of rain. I bought some “Halloween” pansies – orange and “black”. The “black” ones are super dark purple. I love autumn in Ohio. The weather should be very nice for the next two months. By the end of November it will start to get cold but I’ll be heading south!!

I hope you had a fun week of crafting and are looking forward to the week ahead. This has been a YOP post for the Ravelry group of bloggers. An encouraging group of crafters that share our crafting plans and post weekly updates on our progress.

2023: Wk of 9/10-16; Autumn Promenade and Wool Festival

AUTUMN PROMENADE

This week my Autumn Promenade got all my knitting attention. I’ve knit the sleeves and the body to the point where I need to wait for the new mini set to arrive before I can knit more. I’m blocking the sweater today so that I can more accurately determine how many more stripes are needed before I bind off. I’m so close to being done with the sweater so it’s sad to have to wait on the extra minis to arrive. I do believe that I won’t need to order more mohair. On the other hand, I’m looking foward to knitting on other projects this coming week. I’m really thinking about casting on a Flax sweater for my granddaughter to use up some of my stash yarn. I mean it’s not like I don’t have 2 other projects already on needles.

WOOL FESTIVAL

I had a fun time at our “local” wool festival. I ended up meeting with my friend that I went on the schooner trip last year. She came down with 2 other Detroit knitting friends. It was fun helping my friend find a yarn that matched some of her stash so she could knit a sweater. The weather was fantastic, not as hot as many years. I was surprised that the show actually had quite a few less venders than last year. Fortunately my favorites were there.

I did pretty good at the festival. I went in with a plan to buy one skein of self striping sock yarn, an embroidered t-shirt with a cute “saying”, and maybe a project bag (even though I don’t need one). I indeed bought all three but at the very last both was a really interesting ponco that had used the technique of assigned pooling where you make “flowers” (I’ll need to learn that stitch) when you reached colored sections. My friend had knit a similar scarf that way and loves it so she was really encouraging me to try the technique and get the yarn. I finally buckled and bought 2 skeins so I could make a tee. A Rocket Tee was on display and I’ll likely buy that pattern to go with the yarn when I get around to knitting it. It’s currently #41 on my queue. Uh, I think that means maybe in 3-4 years?!!

I had to chuckle this week. When hubby and I were in our 50s, we went to free dinners sponsored by financial planners that wanted to manage our investments. This week hubby and I attended our first free lunch sponsored by a senior living center. We are showing our age. 🙂 WOW are they expensive!!

I hope you had a fun week of crafting and are looking forward to the week ahead. This has been a YOP post for the Ravelry group of bloggers. An encouraging group of crafters that share our knitting plans and post weekly updates on our progress.

2023: Wk of 9/3-9; Autumn Promenade and Yamadori Sock Update

Still not getting as much knitting done as I’d like as I continue to deal with my dad. He is happy to be back home but that means my brother and I have to get him to doctor’s appointments and make sure he can live safely in his house. Plus I get to fight with the insurance company because they are already rejecting bills.

This past week was ridiculously hot but now a cold front has come through so I’m enjoying getting to wear my knits. Looks like it’s going to feel like fall for at least the next few weeks. The leaves are already changing. I’m hoping to get some time to enjoy my outdoor knitting “nook”.

AUTUMN PROMENADE BLOUSE

I’ve gone as far as I can on the body until my next set of autumn minis arrive. Sadly that won’t be until the end of the month. I am using up what I have left of the first set of minis to knit the sleeves. I’m not as far as I had hoped because I had to rip out 2 stripes on the body and reknit them this week. Despite my best efforts to remind myself to change needles at each stripe, the mohair is knit with US 7 and the wool is knit with US 4, I got them backwards. 😦 It was quite obvious so I had to tink them. I’m adding increases to the body because I want it very loose and flowy over my hips. The pattern is a straight boxy design.

YAMADORI SOCKS

This is a new sock pattern for me. I had to learn a new stitch, the left leaning cable. Earthtones Girl has a fantastic video. I’m liking the way it looks but it is a lot of effort to make the LLC. Ironically, socks are usually my “braindead” knitting project but this pattern requires me to be very focused with it’s six row repeat and LLC. Not a good TV or social knitting project. My sweater and cowl are my “braindead” projects.

TEMPTATION COMING

This coming weekend is the big wool festival in my area. Wish me luck in resisting yarn purchases. I’m hoping to limit myself to knitting notions and/or a knitting themed t-shirt. Maybe a skein of self-striping sock yarn since I still owe a pair of socks to my daughter’s friend that officiated her wedding.

I hope you have a fun week of crafting. This is a YOP Ravelry post – a group of crafting bloggers that create an annual crafting plan and then share our progress each week. Sticking to the plan is not required. 🙂

2023:Wk of 8/27-9/2; More Promenade Blouse Progress and Fall Frolic Sock Set

AUTUMN PROMENADE BLOUSE

I’ve separated for the sleeves and I’m working down the body. I did order another autumn mini skein set as I’m pretty sure what I have won’t be enough. I want the sweater to be a “flowy” tunic length with long sleeves. I still think I have enough mohair but I have checked again that Miss Babs has more if I need to order a skein. So I’ll wait a little longer before ordering more mohair.

SOJOURN COWL

I’m much happier using my cashmere yarn with this cowl pattern, Copilot. I’ll be sad when I run out of yarn. I may just have to order another skein of cashmere from Miss Babs if I end up ordering more mohair. The cowl is not getting a lot of attention since I prefer to finish my Promenade.

FALL FROLICS SOCK SET

A while back I ordered the Fall Frolics Sock Set from AlwaysBeKind yarn dyer. It was a treat since I love fall colors and I really like to support this dyer. I simply cannot imagine surviving the death of a child so I appreciate her advocacy to prevent suicide. I am usually afraid to buy kits because folks like to include “goodies” that I don’t want and thus the kit isn’t worth the cost to me. AlwaysBeKind really did an amazing job!!! In addition to the skein of 85% merino wool self striping yarn with colors I love ($32) plus 2 contrast mini skeins I also love ($10), the kit included cute fall themed needle protectors ($3), and 5 leaf/acorn progress keepers/stitch markers. So at this point it has been well worth the cost of the box. The extras of her Diamond Heel sock pattern for self striping socks ($3), the 3 herbal tea packets (which I will enjoy), the fall critters slap bracelet that I can use as a ball band, the fall stickers (I decorate each month of my big paper calendar that hangs on the side of the refrigerator with seasonal stickers), and the Hershey kisses may be things that I could have lived without, but they are fun little extras that I will indeed use/eat. So the kit was well worth to me.

I already have a pair of socks on my needles so I’m planning to delay knitting up this sock yarn. The pattern I’d really like to use is Bakery Bears Fairground Sock. I’ll take the yarn with me to Florida as a project to knit for my weekly knitting sessions at Panera. It wasn’t too risky that I’d like the yarn from a fall themed sock set. Truthfully other seasons would be much riskier.

PERSONAL UPDATE

Not too surprising. I didn’t get a lot of knitting done this week. Somehow the time at the hospital got filled with talking to my siblings, nieces, and medical staff. My sister and her daughter are back in Texas and my other niece is back in Austria. My poor brother really did the lion’s share as he was usually the one there early in the morning when the doctor would make his/her rounds. As you know, I’m a planner. Thus I would try to anticipate what we should do to be prepared for future steps. We ended up wasting time researching best skilled nursing care centers only to find that his insurance wouldn’t cover those centers. In the end he got transferred to a well rated center near his home, and my brother’s, where he is now building back his capabilities to once again live alone in his house. He is doing terrific! I think Dad’s going for the record on living the longest! No one could believe someone as alert as he is could be 94.

Happy to report that hubby seems to finally be on the mend after 4 weeks of battling a cough and cold. Maybe now we can try to reschedule our visit with my stepdaughter and granddaughter. Also happy to report my son is loving his teaching job and enjoying his students.

I hope you have a great week of crafting. This has been a Year Of Projects post. A Ravelry group where we each create an annual fiber project plan and then post weekly on how it’s going.