Baby Knitting – Knitting Is So Fun

2022: FO, Cast-on and KNITTING PLAN REVIEW – Happy Dance!

January 1, 2023January 3, 2023 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Knit, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Project Bags, Shawls, Sock Knitting, Stephen West, Sweater Knitting

Before I get to my 2022 knitting plan review, I’m happy to share I ended the year with an FO. These socks are winging their way as a New Year’s surprise gift. Also I casted on a hat for my son with “his” Christmas yarn. I’ve only knit one other hat so fingers crossed.

2022 KNITTING PLAN REVIEW

I write my knitting plan on the calendar year so as 2022 comes to a close it’s also time to review my 2022 Knitting Plan and see what I’ve learned. My plan is a combination of specific projects I want to knit as well as knitting goals. I view my knitting plan as a guide rather than a strict schedule. I’m happy to replace patterns or projects based on special requests or circumstances. I like to review though at the end of the year to see if I can learn from the changes I made.

PROJECTS

2022 was the year of the sock/cowl. My goal was to knit a pair of socks or a cowl/shrug every month. I started the year planning to knit 8 pairs of socks, 6 sweaters/tees/shawls, 3 shrugs/cowls, 2 baby items, 2 miscellaneous projects, and 4 WIPs for a total of ~585,000 stitches. Here’s how it worked out:

*JAN 1*	*DEC 31*
SOCKS I planned on 8 pairs.	YES Completed 9 pairs!!! I did not knit the gift socks but knitted a new to me bamboo yarn and a pair of stash bust yoga socks. I also started a colorwork pair of socks which is now a ’23 WIP.
SWEATER/TEE/SHAWL I planned 6 including a brioche, colorwork, and advent mini project	YES Completed 6. Although only 2 were on the original plan! I did knit the Stephen West Spiraling Cable shawl I planned and hubby’s sweater. I’m happy with my changes to the original plan – a second Spiraling Cable shawl my stepdaughter requested, participating in a test knit for Anne Hanssen, and my first Ranunculus. I did not complete my brioche online class so that sweater has moved to 2023.
SHRUG/COWL I “planned” 3 although 2 were tentative.	YES Completed 3!! 2 were on the original list. I added the colorwork autumn cowl. That allowed me to meet a goal of knitting a colorwork project and I got to wear it a lot this fall.
BABY I “planned” 2 projects but both were tentative.	YES Completed 3!! I did knit a baby sweater as planned but replaced the knitted toy with a Christmas stocking and had to add a baby blanket.
MISC 2 were planned with 1 “tentative”.	NOPE I didn’t do the tentative Christmas ornament project nor did I do the advent mini project in 2022. Only thing I regret is still not doing an advent mini project so I’m really motived in 2023 to do one. I’m going to drown in minis if I don’t set some projects started!!
WIPS 4 2021 projects got carried into 2022	YES Completed all 4!! I had a top, 2 pairs of socks, and a baby blanket that had to be completed.

GOALS

I believe back in 2020 there was this idea in my knitting group to have a 20 goals for ’20. I decided to try the idea in 2022. While I like the idea of setting goals in addition to specific patterns/projects, 20 is way too many!!

	Knitting Goals – 20 in ’23	Set less goals!! Max of 10.
1	Aver 1800+ stitches per day each month	No – I only ended up with an average of 1650/day. I love/hate the daily stitches goal. Meeting it creates a sense of satisfaction but missing it is disappointing. I don’t need that. I’m going to focus on an annual stitch goal instead of daily in ’23.
2	Make something Brioche (Newspaper)	Nope – but I do like this goal so it’s a carryover to ’23. I’ve already contacted my LYS and they have someone that can give me brioche lessons when I return in April.
3	Knit something Continential	Yes – While I can’t knit a whole item in Continential, I did knit most of hubby’s sweater Continential so I’m going to consider this met.
4	Yarn Out > Yarn In by 600 gr	Epic Fail!! – I ended up +1400g instead of down 600g! That 75% off sale last summer didn’t help. Also buying 3 advent calendars busted this goal although one is being saved for ’23 so does that yarn really count? Ending the year buying 700g of Fixation yarn because some colorways were being discontinued didn’t help.
5	Make something with colorwork (Clifton Crop)	Yes – I did complete my colorwork autumn cowl, just not the colorwork sweater I originally planned.
6	Review stash- queue into projects on hand	Yes – This was a good exercise just to appreciate how much yarn I already have on hand and how it will take me 6 years to knit it if I don’t buy any more yarn (hahaha).
7	Knit Baby Sweater	Yes – Actually did a test knit too!
8	Knit JoJi Pattern – new designer (Newspaper)’	Nope – I never finished the brioche online class hence I didn’t start the sweater. Still want to knit brioche and this sweater so it moves to a ’23 goal
9	Calc estimated stitches when start project	Kinda – not precise but an advantage of tracking my stitches per day by project is I have a lot better estimate of how many stitches it will take to knit a pair of socks, sweater, tee, etc. So while my original intention was to literally count the stitches following the pattern would require, I’m happy using an estimate.
10	Learn crochet – make baby blanket	Nope – wasn’t a high priority. I am working (minimally) on a crocheted prayer shawl instead.
11	Make Emma Pattern – new designer (Clifton Crop)	Nope – but I still want to knit this pattern so it’s on the ’23 plan.
12	Learn to knit without looking	Nope – I’m not going to set this as a goal in ’23 but I plan to still work on not looking at my knitting during my Florida morning walks.
13	Get mini Advent Calendar and knit Dec project??	Nope – Well, I got the “get mini Advent Calendar” part!! I bought 3!!! The knit a project with the minis will be on my ’23 plan.
14	Sew Charlie Harper Project Bag	Yes – I did finally use this fun material and I’m very happy with the little sock project bags I made with the fabric.
15	Knit animal toy??	Nope – this was questionable since my granddaughter is so young. I think this year will be a better age for a knitted toy so it’s on the ’23 plan.
16	Knit a pair of socks/shrug per month	Yes – I knit 9 pairs of socks and 3 shrug/cowls plus I completed 2 carryover WIP socks.
17	Make Stephen West Shawl- new designer (Spiraling Cables)	Yes – Actually made two.
18	Learn new technique – Portuguese Knitting	Nope – this wasn’t a high priority. Not sure at this time I need to set a “learn something new” goal. I’m still learning just from the projects I knit.
19	Track days worked on project	Yes – I modified my excel knitting plan so that I track the days worked on a project as well as the number of stitches I did on the project. This is working great to better understand how many days it takes me to complete a project and how many stitches the project entailed. I use this to set realistic expections for the following year’s knitting plan.
20	Make sweater by Petite Knits – new designer	Nope – I still want to knit a pattern by Petite Knits but it’s not really a goal.

I only met half my knitting goals. Clearly I have too many and the wrong ones. I need to focus on what’s most important. Even the important ones got missed as I took advantage of opportunities and special requests. I did learn that there are going to be days/weeks when I don’t get much knitting done. Thus I’m going to focus on the total year stitch goal in ’23 rather than a daily goal.

IN SUMMARY

I’m super happy with 2022. I basically met my planned projects although the actual pattern knit often changed. I got to take advantage of opportunities when they presented themselves. I wanted to do a test knit and I ended up doing 2. Now I know I don’t like the time pressure. I love the projects I added and have no major regrets for projects/goals I didn’t complete. The brioche sweater, colorwork sweater, and advent mini skein sweater will move to my 2023 plan as I still very much want to knit them.

A review of my stitches knit per month not surprisingly showed that the wedding months of May and September were low. Weddings will likely not be a factor in ’23. November and December were also low. In November a lot of time got spent in prepping for heading to Florida and having the house ready for our short Christmas return. December has been low as we settled into our condo and I picked up many more activities in our condo complex. Plus traveling home for Christmas.

I will set less “goals” in ’23 and try to focus on only ones I really want to meet. Tune in next week for my 2023 plan with specific projects and goals. I’m sure they will change over the course of 2023. Man plans, God laughs.

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 10/23 – 29; Christmas Stocking

October 30, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Christmas Knitting, Knit, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Sweater Knitting

Not a lot to share this week. Preparing for my nephew’s funeral used up a lot of my knitting time even though my role was simply to provide for the luncheon following the internment. It was wonderful to have my daughter and son-in-law stay with us for the weekend.

CHRISTMAS STOCKING

My granddaughter’s Christmas stocking got most of the knitting this week. I got the heel done and I’m working on the toe. I’ve created a chart so that I can double knit her name down the leg. I should have it done by later today. Then I need to sew a lining for it.

HUBBY’S SWEATER

My hubby is glad that I’ll be getting back to knitting his sweater. I had him try it on and of course, after knitting the next smaller size, now the sweater is a bit tight. I’ll have to block it out. Hubby isn’t as thin as he thinks he is. 🙂 Two more stripes and it will be time to separate for the sleeves. I should have some good progress to show next week.

BABY SWEATER

You may recall that I knit a baby sweater last March as a test knit. Turned out it was too big for my granddaughter then but it fits her well now. Here’s a picture of her in the sweater.

2022: Wk of 9/18-24; Socks, Sweaters, and More Favorite Things

September 25, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Knit, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

HUBBY’S SWEATER UPDATE

I do love knitting with this cotton/silk Berrocco Summer Silk yarn. Just so soft! Since it’s all stockinette for 17″, it’s a nice mindless knit for TV watching now that the network series are starting their new seasons.

AUTUMN SOCKS

These socks are getting the majority of my attention since it’s already autumn. I want to wear them NOW! I think the fit is going to be okay. I’m making them a little shorter than normal to help pull in the extra width at the ball of my foot. I love this yarn too. (Seems to be a pattern). I’m ready to start the heels today. Orange and black are also the colors of our local football team so hopefully they will get to be worn into the playoffs.

BABY BLANKET UPDATE

My great grandson’s baby blanket got a little knitting attention and is going to need to get a lot more. I’ll be traveling back to Indiana in four weeks for my granddaughter’s first birthday so I need to have the blanket done by then. Hubby’s sweater will have to take a back seat until I can get the blanket finished.

FAVORITE THINGS – CHRISTMAS IDEAS??

A few weeks ago I posted how I like clear containers for all things knitting so that I can see what’s inside my “tin”, notions pouch, yarn “bin”, and even knitting tote bag. Another thing I like to help make knitting more enjoyable is “fun” stitch markers/progress keepers. These can range from cheap to somewhat expensive. Here’s some ideas to put on your Christmas list or as a gift to a knitter you know.

I love using my colorful o-rings that come in lots of sizes on Amazon. I bought small ones for my sock needles, medium sized for my Size 4-6 needle knits, and large ones for my Size 8 and up needle knits. These are available via Amazon. I like to place them every 10 stitches when I’m casting on and every 20 stitches while knitting. I like to use these on big projects where I use one color for the front stitches, a second color for the back stitches, a third color for the right sleeve, and a fourth color for the left sleeve. I also recently bought stitch markers from Katrinkles that literally say front, back, and sleeve for added clarity on what the heck I’m knitting at the moment.

I have numbered stitch markers from Twice Sheared Sheep that I also like to use while casting on or tracking my stitch count while managing increases or decreases. I love my M1R/M1L sweater stitch markers for top down sweaters although for my bottom-up sweater I’ll be using my SSK/K2T sheep stitch markers. These are both from an Etsy seller. Sadly I have found that the black printing wears off too fast if you don’t put a drop of clear nail polish on them to protect the printing.

Finally, it’s fun to have seasonal or just cute charms for progress keepers. I made these from charms and lobster clasps I picked up at Hobby Lobby. Etsy also has lots of cute progress keepers. I like to put a “fun” pair of stitch markers in the center of the top side of each sock and a square stitch marker in the center of the sole side of each sock especially when knitting 2 at a time socks. Helps me keep track of which sock is the “first” one and which side gets the heel.

Hope you have a wonderful 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). 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 8/28-9/3; Autumn Cowl Plan B, Knitting by Candlelight, and Favorite Knitting Tools

September 4, 2022September 4, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Knit, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Knitting tools, Notions

HALLOWEEN/AUTUMN COWL

On to Plan B. After knitting a stripe of pumpkins and and the stripe of leaves (that I created by borrowing and modifying from a free chart I found on Ravelry), I realized that I did not like how the black background yarn of the stripes went with the variegated yarn I had used leading into the stripes. So I spent much of this week knitting the stripes, tinking back the stripes I had knitted, and reknitting stripes. I shortened the stripes so as to have less background and I didn’t like the green I had used as the pumpkin vine anyway. Now it’s just pumpkins. I had to redo the leaves chart to make it a shorter stripe. I added a section of variegated yarn between the colorwork stripes so that it would be less of a “block” of plain black background. I “oops” again figuring out when to start the leaves stripe so it’s a much bigger block of variegated yarn between the two stripes. I had planned to have a second stripe of pumpkins but that will make the cowl too long. I’m happy with it. It really shows off the variegated with the stripes playing a background role versus being the centerpiece of the cowl. Another change is that I decided to do a 3 row garter edge before a decorative picot bind-off. Unfortunately my colorwork is too tight (good lesson) so I can’t pull the cowl down onto my shoulders. Also not sure I love the picot border. I’m going to live with it a bit and then decide if I need to rip

I realized my next sock project is going to be using the leftover variegated yarn so that I have autumn socks to match my cowl!!

KNITTING DURING A POWER OUTAGE

Of course as I’m trying to pick back up the stitches from ripping out the colorwork stripes on the cowl, when the power went out this week!! On a beautiful day?? What the heck? Apparently there was a car accident that knocked out power from late afternoon until the next morning for our little area! So this is me knitting by candlelight since what the heck do you do at 9pm when you aren’t tired but have no power. Enjoyed listening to a podcast on my phone. Thankful I had my “brain dead” garter stitch baby blanket to work on. Perfect for a low light situation. Once again another reason I’m so thankful I learned to knit!! I’m about half way done with the blanket.

MY FAVORITE KNITTING THINGS

Not much else to share knitwise since I’m trying to be more monogamous-ish. Thought I’d include a bit on my favorite knitting tools as gift ideas for knitters. As you can see from my blog header photo of my knitting wall, I love clear containers for yarn and notions. Clear Cosmetic Zippered Bags (for Notions), Small Clear Bead “tins”(for specialty stitch markers), Clear Zipper Bags (Yarn storage), Clear Interchangeable Needle Case, and Clear Totes – Inexpensive. I love using clear “containers” so that I can quickly see what’s inside. I prefer clear “tins” to hold my stitch markers so I can quickly see which stitch markers are in which tin . Clear cosmetic bags to hold my notions so I can quickly find my snips or tape measure. Clear zippered “sheets” bags to hold my multi-skein projects, usually with the front page of the pattern I was at least initially planning to knit with the yarn. Even a clear tote to carry multiple project bags to knitting sessions with fellow knitters so that I can quickly find my notions pouch or the project I’m working on first.

2022: Wk of Aug 14-20; Sock and Baby Blanket WIPs

August 21, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

DRAGONFLY SOCKS

Wow, was I lucky!!! Seems I left my sock project bag at the Panera where my new knitting group met last week. It wasn’t until Monday when I went to work on them that I realized I’d left them. Fortunately a worker found the bag and stowed it under the cash register. Only knitters know that was about $50+ in yarn, needles, and bag. Didn’t get as far on them as I had hoped. Fingers crossed I’ll get them finished this week.

OOPS I DID IT AGAIN

You would think I would know by now it rip back if something isn’t quite right. I tried to cheat on my baby blanket when I ran out of yarn for on a stripe. Thought I could live with it. After 2 failed attempts to “fix it”, I ripped about 12 rows back. Then of course when I knit the second time I must have knit looser as I ran out of a different color’s yarn. Now each wider stripe gets one row of white before the fuzzy white stripe. It’s a “design element”. I’ve realized that I cast-on more stitches than I desired but it’s okay. The stripes will be vertical instead of the more typical horizontal. 37″ seems a bit wide but is perfect for the length I wanted.

HALLOWEEN KNIT

My next project will be a Halloween cowl. Hoping it gets cool enough in October to wear it. Too often I don’t even get to wear my Halloween sweater because it’s still too hot. But I wanted a fun colorwork project. I will not be knitting the orange/white/pink stripes. Instead I’m using a sparkle black and orange variegated sock yarn for those sections. I frogged the yarn from a pair of argyle socks I started a couple of years ago hoping to master intarsia in the round. Not. The sock yarn was black, orange, bright blue and yellow. They will be great for the colorwork section. (I do have some white for the ghosts.)

RANUNCULUS

A final photo of my finished Ranunculus. Turns out I don’t have to wear a top underneath. I’m very happy with the neck of this pattern versus the typical “boat neck”. I will be using this neck even on my Anne Hanssen and plan to knit again. I will also do some sleeve decreases to make a more fitted cap sleeve.

HUBBY’S SWEATER

The only acquisition this week was a V Neck Pattern, Broadview Pullover by KnitPicks, for my husband’s sweater. I had purchased a crew neck pattern but he said he’d prefer V Neck. I didn’t find many V Neck patterns on Ravelry so this is the one I ended up with.

2022: Wk of 8/7-13; Ranunculus update and New Cast-on

August 14, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Knit, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

RANUNCULUS

I did rip back the ribbing as I had made multiple mistakes. The ribbing in the pattern is a 1×1 Half Fisherman’s Rib. It is much more attractive than the 2×2 ribbing I did. The pattern calls for going down 2 needle sizes for the ribbing but I only went done 1 to allow for my tummy and hips. I have finished the body and should finish the sleeves today as I plan to make very short sleeves. I’ll only be adding about 8 rows to each sleeve before binding off.

I’m liking the fit and I love the collar. I love the yarn, 10 Questions colorway in Hella Hank by Emma’s Yarn, but it definitely hides the pattern in the yoke. I will be knitting another Ranunculus with a solid color yarn so as to show off the yoke pattern. I’m thinking of going down a needle size or two to get a tighter fabric that won’t require and a top underneath.

With the focus on the Ranunculus this week, very little got done on my Dragonfly socks. They should be an FO by next week so I’ll post a picture next week.

BABY BLANKET

We are going to be visiting my stepdaughter, our granddaughter, and new great grandson this coming Saturday. So while I won’t get a blanket done in a week, I did decide to start one for the new great grandson. Hoping I will have it done by Christmas. It will again use up some of the acrylic yarn I have. I am just knitting a basic garter stitch striped blanket so it doesn’t get any more “brain dead”. It will be a good project to take along for the trip since I don’t need a pattern.

IN LOCAL NEWS…

Still trying to start-up a monthly knitting group. There were only 3 of us yesterday as 2 folks cancelled at the last minute. Hoping for a bigger turn out in September.

It’s been a quiet week on the home front for which I’m grateful. We have caught a break from the heat so I’m hoping to spend some time outside on my deck knitting this week for a change. I’m looking forward to my sister and brother-in-law coming into town this coming weekend for an extended visit. We are going to meet up with my brother and father at a pizza joint we used to visit 50+ years ago when I was in high school to celebrate my brother’s birthday and retirement.

Hope you have a wonderful week of crafting.

2022: Wks of May 15-28; FO and Wedding

May 29, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Brioche, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Project Bags, Sock Knitting, Yarn

Turns out I got VERY little knitting done over the past two weeks. I even got the toes started on a second pair of socks before we left for the wedding week as I really thought I’d finish the pair I already had on needles and would need the second pair to fill my time. Plus I brought the yarn and needles to start a top. Sadly I did end up doing all of the driving to and from Charleston so that was 2 days of no knitting. I did get the heels done on the socks I already had going. Hopefully I will get them finished this week. I just love Lollipop Yarns self striping yarns so I’m looking forward to wearing them.

BABY BLANKET FO!!!

The baby blanket is now finished. I will be mailing it to my neice.

I do love the bright colors of 100% acrylic but can’t imagine wearing it. I need to find a way to let my daughter-in-law know that I would prefer other types of yarn for Christmas. I already have plenty of acrylic yarn for future baby blankets.

BRIOCHE CLASS

Uh, nothing to see here. Hopefully this week I’ll get back to working on my swatches and seeing if I can fix mistakes. That is definitely a skill I’ll need before starting a brioche sweater.

WEDDING

Instead of knitting, the past two weeks were filled with picking people up and taking them back to the airport, wedding festivities and socializing. I can’t complain. Hubby did a fantastic job with the beach houses he rented for our week stay. We had an amazing view right on the ocean and our 3 bedroom unit was the meeting place for evening dinners for our “kids” and friends. The wedding was perfect. It was outdoor with the reception under a huge white tent. Afternoon thunderstorms had me in a panic. Rain on your wedding day is supposed to be good luck so apparently they are going to have fantastic luck!! But the skies cleared and everything was perfect by the time of the wedding ceremony and reception. It all went off flawlessly and most important my daughter and her husband had a wonderful time at their wedding.

HOME AGAIN

I’m happy to be back home and back to my kitty and knitting. So far I have managed to resist “sales” of yarn but I did acquire 2 more “walking” project bags. These are extremely lightweight nylon bags with a cross body strap that is perfect for carrying a sock project while taking my daily walk in Florida. I only had one bag and could not find any more with my internet searching. I wanted another in case I lost the only one I have. I contacted the yarn store where I orginally bought the bags years ago. Bless it if the owner didn’t find them!! Now I have blue, green and purple bags. They will be perfect for sock projects to take on my schooner trip in July. Lightweight and taking up very little space.

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 in it’s 11th year. It’s my second in the group.

2022: Wk of May 8-14; Baby Blanket, Brioche, and Beach Knitting

May 15, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Brioche, Knitting, Knitting Plan

BABY BLANKET

I’m almost done with the baby blanket. I will definitely finish by the end of the month. This week I was able to add three more colored stripes (with it’s matching white stripe). The blanket is probably big enough already but I plan to add one or two more color strips then bind off. I’ll be glad to have this done so I can start the next big project. I’d like to start a summer tee considering that hot weather seems to be already here. Maybe the Ranunculus.

BRIOCHE

Sadly, I did not make as much progress as I had hoped on brioche classes and swatching. Happily we had friends over for dinner twice this week but it did reduce my knitting time. I’m finding that figuring out how to read a brioche pattern is taking quite a bit of concentration so I can only work on brioche when I’m not going to be interrupted by hubby. I’ve already made a mistake in my swatch so I’ll be getting to practice how to fix it. Fingers crossed. I will certainly be using lifelines when I knit my sweater. Probably every 5 rows!!!

Guess I’m showing my age. The class posted a “live” on May 13 and May 27. I thought this meant Patty Lyons would have a Zoom session on those nights. Turns out “live” simply meant the videos would be available at 8PM on those days. Snooze.

BEACH KNITTING

Time to pack my knitting for my week in Charleston for my daughter’s wedding. I’m thinking positive and hoping to get in a fair amount of knitting done. Hopefully my hubby will have a “good” day so that I don’t have to do all the driving. I hope to finish the socks I already have on needles. I plan to get another pair on needles Monday so that I have a second pair to work on. Maybe I’ll start the Ranunculus too.

RECONNECT/DISCONNECT

I was happy to reconnect with some of my local knitting friends back at the coffee shop we used to meet at weekly. It’s sad that the group has fallen apart but it was wonderful to catch up with two of my knitting friends.

I also visited my LYS as I had a 25% off birthday coupon. Sadly I left the store empty handed!!! The owner is a sewist not a knitter. I appreciate that she is a fiber craft shop rather than a yarn shop. I only knit so I have no interest in the fabrics she sells. She has cut back on the yarns she offers as she has expanded to offer needlepoint and weaving items. Fortunately for me there is a yarn store I haven’t visited about the same distance from my house that I will now be checking out. I’m hoping to join some in-person knit nights in the hopes of meeting more knitters.

I’m off to go fishing again with my son. We did have a lovely Mother’s Day dinner of fried fish last Sunday. Hoping we have another successful fishing trip today. Wishing everyone a wonderful week of crafting.

2022: Wk 0f May 1 – 7; Tank Repair and WIP Updates

May 8, 2022May 8, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Brioche, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

IT’S A NEW MONTH

One of the things I love about this Ravelry blogger group is all the new things I learn. Again I’m adding tracking ideas from BackstageKatKnits. I like her idea of tracking what WIPs start the month and how the month looks at the end. I’m starting off the month of MAY with 4 WIPs. One is the repair of what I thought back in January was an FO but it turned out not to fit properly. Another WIP is my husband’s sweater which is hybernating indefinitely (does this count as a WIP since I never should have cast-on the collar??) While he wears sweaters now, he is not upset that it constantly falls to the bottom of the list as I want to make other items. I do hope to finish the other 2 WIPs this month so that I can a) maintain my goal of a pair of socks per month, and b) get that baby blanket DONE!!! Here’s a screenshot of the excel sheet I use to track what project(s) I knit on each day and how many stitches I knit.

PATTY LYONS BRIOCHE CLASS

I have watched all the intro videos. The swatch videos launched Friday night and I will start working on my swatches tomorrow. The class has 4 patterns; hat, fingerless mitts, and two scarfs, but I don’t plan to complete any of them. Hence I will not add them to my “WIPs”. The patterns are simply additional “swatches” to work on skills. The brioche swatch making will certainly slow down my ability to finish WIPS this month but I want to be ready for my next sweater, Newspaper by Joji Locatelli, which will be brioche.

WIP Update

So I’ve finished lengthening my daughter-in-laws Heldig tank. I’m hoping blocking will help blend the lengthened yoke with the rest of the body. I will be seeing her in a few weeks at my daughter’s wedding so I’ll be able to return it to her. It will be perfect to wear at the beach as we all are taking a week to enjoy Charleston, SC.

I’ve made a little progress on the baby blanket. I really don’t enjoy blankets as they simply take too long to knit. I saw my neice, and her baby, this weekend due attending the funeral of her grandfather, so it’s a shame I still don’t have it done. Fingers crossed I’ll be able to mail it to her by the end of the month.

MOTHERS DAY

It’s Mothers Day here in America. What a wonderful Mothers Weekend I’m having. Friday my son’s girlfriend gave me the potted plant (it was the craft for the preschool class she was helping in). Friday night a surprise delivery turned out to be flowers from my son and his wife in Florida with some yummy champaigne flavored gummies. Saturday brought another flower delivery from my stepdaughter. This afternoon I’m going fishing with my youngest son and his girlfriend. I haven’t been fishing in 50+ years. (My hubby has steaks thawing in case we don’t catch any/enough fish for dinner).

This week it should finally feel like spring finally or in more classic Cincinnati weather – skipping straight to summer. The cold April weather has been brutal for my husband. I’m looking forward to finally getting to start putting out deck pots of flowers and herbs. I hope all the mothers in the group had a wonderful Mothers Day. Wishing everyone a wonderful week of crafting.

2022: Wk of Mar 27 – Apr 2; Socks FO and Cast-on, Test Knits!!!

April 4, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Knitting, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

Short and sweet this week as I’m currently at the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina, a Christmas present from some of my kids.

Baby Sweater Test Knit

I got a very pleasent surprise for my test knit. I thought the “payment” would be the baby sweater pattern. Instead Anne Hanssen provided every knitter with a free pattern of their choice from her portfolio as well as the baby sweater pattern. I chose the Lavendar Garden tee pattern. I have some beautiful lavender yarn in my stash that I will use to knit the pattern.

ANOTHER TEST KNIT!!!

Call me crazy.😵 Anne Hanssen immediately sent out a request for test knitters for a tee she will release next month. It is a more fitted tee, 0-2″ of ease. It has 3 sections of pattern and a stockinette yoke. It was appealing to me as I usually select more ease and lace bottom patterns. I had the yarn with me so I signed up. I’ll be casting it on tomorrow during some down time.

Socks FO

I did finish the socks for my stepdaughter and they were mailed with the baby sweater.

Sock Cast-On

I did cast-on a new pair of socks to knit while driving to and visiting my daughter. Fortunately hubby did drive a little so I got to work on them a bit. I’m doing the woven stitch for the front pattern side. I really like it. The yarn is the Quirky colorway from Lollipop Yarns.

1st Quarter Update

I’ll do my 1st Quarter Review next week when I’m home. Doing this post on my phone is pretty difficult!😖