Christmas Knitting – Page 2 – Knitting Is So Fun

YOP Wk 10/31-11/6; FOs, Advent Calendar, This and That

November 7, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn Advent Calendars

COZIES

I did finish the 2 Cozies for my seatmates. I will be giving them this afternoon at our final soccer match. Uh, yeah, I used leftover yarn requiring some mixing.

12 DAY ADVENT CALENDAR

I am making advent calendars again this year for my local knitting friends. This year though I’m only doing 12 Days. We all have too many minis so truthfully we were all avoiding a yarn advent. Hoping they won’t mind too much. This year it’s a very eclectic mix. Some worsted weight, some mohair, and some fingering. Again purchased from our local yarn dying friend. Hoping they find uses in hats, mitts, or cowls. I’ve thrown in a couple stitch markers/ progress keepers for a 13th day. I’m using advent calendar drawings my children’s book illustrator niece drew a few years ago. I printed them on sticker paper to adorn the tops of the gold boxes. This year no fancy wooden box for the gold boxes since these are intended to be “refills”.

SAILORMOON SWEATER FINISHED !!!

YEA!! Got my daughter’s Sailormoon finished!! Still need to weave in some ends and block it. Fingers crossed it will fit like I envisioned. Not sure if I should mail it down to her so she can let me know if it fits or if I should just wait until we see her in 3 weeks. I hate to trust even FedEx and certainly not the postal system. I’m thinking I’ll just bring the yarns with me as well. (I have enough to knit another sweater!!) If major adjustments are needed, I’ll have to do them in Florida and mail it back to her.

BABY NEWS

My niece had a gender reveal party yesterday. She is having a girl. They didn’t know either. Apparently they gave permission for a friend to be informed. She took care of getting the pink desserts and the pink “cannons”. It was so nice to a) have an excuse to get together as an extended family, and b) share in her and her husband’s excitement over becoming parents. As I have mentioned previously, a baby blanket is now on my 2022 knitting plan. I gave them two children’s books illustrated by my other niece (Megan Higgins). (The one that drew the advent calendar drawings.)

HOME IMPROVEMENTS

Fortunately not all our home improvement projects ended in disaster. We replaced our roof in June. The siding that was ordered back in May finally arrived, supply chain issues, and was being installed this week. After 28 years, the old siding had faded to a chalky grey. Now it’s back to it’s original “Colonial Blue”. This photo was taken early in the week. They are almost done. Still need some trim completed and the gutters put back on.

We also splurged on a “swim spa”. My husband is an avid swimmer. A “swim spa” in kinda like a treadmill for swimmers. You swim against water jets so you swim in place. We had one for years but it “died” about 10 years ago. Once we retired, hubby chose to swim laps at the YMCA but he is frustrated with the times swim lanes are available. Now that we only have one car, that’s really a problem. Again due to supply chain issues it won’t be delivered till May/June ’22. But by ordering it now we get a 2021 price which will be at least 10% below 2022 prices. Kinda like yarn …. did someone say “Sale”?!

COMING ATTRACTIONS

Now I get to focus on finishing my Advent 2019 socks. Then I’ll be getting out my new ball winder and wind the yarns for my next sweater CAST-ON!! I will also wind any skeins that I plan to take to Florida. I did update my preliminary 2022 Knitting Plan so that I know what projects I want to work on while in Florida. I know I’ll take more than I can finish but I enjoy wishful thinking. Wishing you a great crafting week.

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.

YOP Wk of 10/10-16: WIP Updates and Mail

October 17, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

Sailormoon Update

I did indeed finish the body striping and I’ve also completed 2 sets of the bottom lace. The pattern only calls for 2 sets but I did 3 on my Sailormoon and I prefer the 3 sets. This week will be sleeve island. End of October finish looking good!!

Advent 2019 Sock Update

Uhh, turns out that my ivy stripe from last week was still wrong as the berry row was incorrect. So tinked back a 3rd time and reknit it. I think I’m finally done with it. This week I got the purple stripe completed and will be starting the heels. I’m using leftover self striping sock for the heel and foot as I plan to wear the socks so a) I don’t need the bulk of colorwork stripes in my shoes and b) who is going to see colorwork on the foot since I’ll be wearing shoes. I’ve dropped down from US 4 needles for the colorwork to US 2 for a better fitting foot.

You Got Mail

This week’s mail brought me the Christmas sock yarn and a bamboo based sock yarn I ordered. Mary Maxim offered me free shipping and at $7 a skein, how could I resist?! Turns out I’m doing better than I thought on my Yarn In/Yarn Out. Even with this purchase I still have more yarn going out of my stash. And I haven’t added the Sailormoon or Advent 2019 socks I’m currently about to finish to my “yarn out” tally. So I’m looking good for meeting my goal of more yarn out than in. I’m optimistic that I’ll meet it in 2022 as well.

Autumn Is Here

Well, a cold front finally came through Friday night and lowered the temperature to more normal fall weather. It is so nice to be able to wear my sweaters before we head to the summer temperatures in SW Florida. I had to bundle up to watch FCC lose their home match. Ironically the trees still haven’t really taken on their fall colors by now. Guess the unusually warm weather kept the leaves green. Although sometimes the fall isn’t very pretty here with the leaves going from green to brown. I’m hoping we get some reds, oranges, and yellows in the coming week. We always joke that Cincinnati actually only has two seasons, winter and summer. It seems like we frequently stay cold in the spring and then shot up to summer temperatures and likewise stay warm in the fall before dropping down to winter temperatures. Wishing everyone a great week.

YOP – Wk of 9/26 – 10/2

October 3, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Knitting tools, Notions, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

Sailormoon Update

This week I was able to complete the yoke and combine the front and back. Now it’s 12″ of stockinette (Continental) striping before making the lace bottom panel and sleeves. Looking good to be done by Thanksgiving. Maybe I can get another top/sweater in before the end of the year??!!

Does anyone else have trouble with their swatch matching their garment gauge?? Really drives me nuts!! Turns out my garment is a good 10% tighter than my swatch predicted! Sure hope it still fits my daughter. Oh, and in case you are interested …. I sent my frustration/question to Andrea Mowry this week and guess what question got picked to be answered in this week’s podcast (#30)?? Yep – that’s mine at 9:11 with the 28 stitches instead of 25.5 predicted by my swatch. Maybe the problem is this pattern has both flat and in the round and I only swatched in the round. But her suggestion to block it now is probably worth doing.

Advent Sock 2019

Making these colorwork stripes is so fun. This is going to be a crazy pair of socks as I plan to use leftover Christmas sock yarns for the feet. But I will have fun wearing them.

This Week’s Mail

The spending seems to never end but that’s my fault. I ordered more wipeable project bag tags from Katrinkles. That gives me 6 which would definitely be my limit of projects on needles. But this will let me put my winter projects into bags for taking to Florida since I won’t have my “yarn wall”. I also ordered her wipeable stitch markers. That will let me leave “notes” to myself or mark special stitches such as psso. By the way, I hate her silver chains so I went on Amazon and got myself 100 colorful chains for $7. Let me know if you need chains. 🙂

Planning Ahead – 2022 Anyone??

My brother kids me about my need to plan ahead – really, who doesn’t plan holiday family gatherings 4+ months ahead?? So it should come as no surprise that I have already started my 2022 Knitting Plan and Knitting Goals. Not really hard since part of my monthly digital Knitting Plan/Calendar includes an area to record future project and goal ideas. I already own the yarn for every project (well, I’ve committed to but haven’t bought the Christmas sock yarn) so in theory I shouldn’t buy ANY yarn in 2022. Yeah, that’s not happening.

FALL

I’ll end with a photo of fall here along our driveway. The leaves are turning yellow and the driveway is filling up with fallen leaves. Another week or two and it will be golden yellow with reds and oranges. (Our driveway is 1 km long so I get a nice walk in just picking up the mail everyday). Wishing everyone a great week and “see” you next Sunday.

YOP: Wk of 8/15-21; Nerd & Knitting Updates

August 22, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Knitting tools, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

NERD ALERT

Ok, I confess. I’m a spreadsheet nerd. After seeing Tasha’s post about her etsy shop that does custom t-shirts, I ordered one I REALLY wanted printed; “Knitting – I Have a Spreadsheet For That”. I was inspired by Kath of Backstage Knits blog last weekend on her stitch tracking with excel. She was the one that inspired me to track stitches in addition to projects. My knitting almost exclusively with fingering weight yarn puts me at a disadvantage for completing FOs so stitch count is a better measure for me. My knitting calendar is excel based. I use Ravelry for my “knitting journal” where I record gauge/yarn used/pattern notes/etc. Digital works best for me so that I can continually modify it. In this case I’ve added a line under the month title that lets me know how many stitches I’ve knit for the month so far. To the left I have a running total of the cumulative stitches for the year. Kath’s goal is a million stitches. I’m no where near her pace.

Then I added an “Analysis” tab following the Dec tab. There I have graphs of my stitches by the day of the week for each month as well as a graph of total stitches by month. Not much to be gleened other than there is no pattern for day of the week I tend to knit more or less. Not surprisingly May and June are my lowest stitch count months due to increased lawn and garden care. August is looking like a big month thanks to working on Caitlyn’s tank top.

Heldig Tank Update

Well, I ended up blocking Caitlyn’s tank top to give it it’s best chance to fit. It does fit ok. I’m going to finish it although I’m not as pleased with how it looks as other tops I’ve made. The ribbing is not neat rows. I’m hoping washing and wearing will help get rid of the wonkiness. It should be an FO next week. Probably won’t knit this pattern again. Too many others to try. I still have a top worth of the Daisy yarn in a reddish coral color that I plan to knit up for me.

Christmas Socks FO!!!!

James’ Christmas socks got extra attention as I took a break from working on Caitlyn’s top this past week. They are done!!! Turns out my son likes them too. Fortunately I have enough leftover to make another pair anklet length, especially if I use contrast toes. Another project to add to my plan!

YOP: Wk of 8/1-7 Knitting Updates and Mimosa Tree

August 8, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Knitting tools, Notions, Patterns, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

This year I have been using my digital knitting plan as my blog’s featured image. This is to keep my plan front and center in my mind. I will also makes it easy to compare what I planned versus what I’m doing. I update my plan as I change it over the year. So this week I decided my featured image would be where I’m at versus what my plan was back in Jan. Plus it’s more colorful due to noting changes. 🙂

Heldig Tank

Caitlyn’s tank top is coming along. It’s a pretty boring knit since it’s a stockinette body with very basic K1P1 ribbing as the side “seam” detail. But that makes it great for TV or social knitting. I’m happy with the waist shaping but now it’s time to put the stitches back on for bust shaping. Couple more inches and I start the “yoke”. Almost to 3rd ball of yarn.

James’ Christmas Socks

James’ Christmas socks got a little love this week. I realized that 72 stitches was probably too many even with a size 0 needle so I reduced the stitches to 68 over the foot. Since I want the socks to match I decided to start the second sock and knit the foot to the same decreases as the first sock. I know myself that leaving a note in the project bag would get lost. Hence, again my preference for 2 at a time socks but the 9″ circular single sock is indeed nice for grocery shopping/soccer matches (hometown team tied Saturday night).

Resistance is Futile

Arg. I know better. Knowing that I hope to buy Christmas sock yarn at the Wool Festival in September but being afraid there wouldn’t be any (that happened in 2019), I made the mistake of looking on Etsy for Christmas Sock yarn. While not really what I was looking for, I found this cute “holiday lights” yarn that is really just a rainbow speckle on white yarn from AlwaysBeKindYarn. This is a fun yarn that I could wear all year, not just at Christmas. So I bought it. My yarn “diet” only lasted 3 months!! Plus I know I’ll be buying yarn at the festival!!

Speaking of Etsy, this week arrived some cute reusable project bag tags that I ordered from Katrinkles. This way I don’t have to remember what project is inside the bag. The marker can be removed with rubbing alcohol and then the tag reused. We will see if I’m sorry that I only ordered 3.

Mimosa Tree

On a final note. I am so tickled with myself for planting a mimosa tree near our deck. After 3 failed attempts at getting a tree to grow so close to our woods but along our decking, I finally went with a “weed” tree. Personally I love the mimosa tree but I’ve seen it sprout up along the highway exits in the Carolinas. Hence I figured it had a better chance of surviving in my desired location. It has turned out even better than I expected. I adore the fuzzy pink blooms. And seeing the blooming tree through our deck door and windows is stunning. We have already enjoyed blooms for the past month and they seem to still be going strong!

YOP: Wk of 7/25 – 7/31 Tank Top Knitting and Bohus Pattern

August 1, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Project Bags, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

BOHUS KNITTING – WILD APPLE PULLOVER

I mentioned before that I got intriged about Bohus knitting patterns after seeing them on the Fruity Knitting podcast. I don’t intend to be a Bohus purist so I’m not going to worry about exactly (or even remotely) matching the yarn colors or yarns used in the original sweaters from the ’40s. For those that do want the exact colors and yarns, kits can be purchased from angoragarnet.com at about $400 per sweater kit. I’m not a good enough knitter to spend that much money on a sweater. But I did get the 1995 book by Wendy Keele that includes many of the patterns. The yarn she used is no longer available. My favorite from the book is The Wild Apple. There is a pattern available to purchase on Ravelry. But I spent a day rewriting the pattern in the book into a style that I can follow and translating the chart into an excel sheet with the colors more clearly labeled. Who knows if I’ll ever knit the sweater, but I have a pattern and a chart should I decide to try. I hope to get a better feel for what a 50% merino/50% angora sport weight yarn should look and feel like before buying any yarn. A 2022 project goal??

Heldig Tank Top

Caitlyn’s tank top is coming right along. I did have her try it on and it fits much better this time. Still a little loose despite being over gauge (should make it tighter) and knitting the S size. She wears her clothes very tight so this top will be baggier than what she is used to wearing. I’ve almost finished the first ball of yarn. It’s supposed to take 3 so a third of the way done? On track for finishing by mid-August.

Sewing – Project Bag Handles

I added handles to 2 of my project bags. The sock sized bags I made don’t need handles but these two are larger; 2-3 skein size. I think the handles will make them more useful. Certainly made them more colorful. I’m loving the dog/cat bag for holding the Heldig Tanki project.

Christmas Socks

The Christmas socks for my son-in-law are getting a little love. I’m knitting my variation on the Hermione sock which is a simple P on the first of four stitches of R1 and then P on the third of four stiches on R3. I’ve added P on the second of four on R5 and the fourth of four on R7. Another MLS Soccer game meant a few rows before the game, during halftime, and especially waiting for traffic to clear after the game. My knitting turned out to be the highlight of the evening as once again the hometown team failed to win.

YOP Update – 7/18-7/24

July 25, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

SOCK UPDATE

Well, despite my saying I wouldn’t knit anymore socks on 9″, I did transfer my son-in-law’s Christmas socks to 9″ so that I could have a tiny project to take with me to the grocery store and then to the soccer game. I got to the game about an hour early so got in a few rounds. Then I sat in the parking garage for 20+ minutes waiting for traffic to clear out and got in some more rounds. It’s so nice to be retired and not have to get to work the next morning. Knitting makes waiting fun instead of frustrating. Maybe if I had knit while still working, I’d have gotten to meetings on time. Would have made those god-awful safety and department meetings much more bearable.

TANK TOP UPDATE

Ugh. Ripped out my son’s GF’s tank last night. It was way too big despite knitting the size S and she is at least a M. I don’t really mind since it’s bottom up so I had only knit the front and back hems and then about 15 rows of body. I hated the hem because the stitches were too large. I dropped the hem needle size by 2 and the body by 1. I’m now knitting the body with same size needle as I did my daughter’s top last summer so I know I like the gauge/fabric. I will again have her try on the hem/body to make sure it’s not still too large or now too small. I’d like to get it done by mid August which is only 3 weeks away!! I think it’s a pretty easy pattern and the stitches decrease as you get the yoke/neck. Still that means focusing on my knitting instead of spending too much time on the internet.

That’s it. Two WIPs. I really don’t like to have a lot of WIPs. I prefer to be a more monogamous knitter. I want to get the tank done so that I can cast-on my Advent 2019 colorwork socks. Once I get a few stripes finished I’ll cast on my daughter’s Sailormoon as I want to get that done by Thanksgiving. So focus is the key!!

YOP Update – Wk #17 – an FO!!!

May 2, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Sweater Knitting

FO #4!!!

I finished my Christmas mitts. I’ve very happy with how they turned out. It wouldn’t be me unless I needed a rip out. I bound off the mitts only to realized that the finger part should have been ribbed so that it fits more tightly at the fingers. I, of course, had already woven in the ends. Got the ends dug back out and added some ribbed rows. Washed and ready to be put away until next winter when my son’s girlfriend will be able to put them to good use during our Ohio winter. The stripes are Advent Sock 2019. The cable on the back of the hand is Mitt Envy. Both are free patterns on Ravelry. The evergreen tree stripe right before the hand is my pattern. I’m happy to share if interested. I still want to make a pair of socks with the Christmas stripes.

Barbara’s German Hat

My friend Barbara asked me to recreate a hat that was made for her by some cousins in Germany. I’ve never knit a hat before but fortunately the hat was knit with thick yarn (bulky?) so it’s pretty easy to see the stitches. Looks like it’s 3 parts, the headband, a simple cable mid section that gets sewn onto the headband, and then the cap. Like a dimwit, I bought black yarn. I’m holding some silver with sequin lace with the black velvet yarn to help see the stitches. I think she will be disappointed that you can’t see the stitches. Oh well. I’m plodding forward to at least create the pattern instructions. So far I’m on my third attempt. I’m not that familiar with acrylic yarn so I’m struggling with it’s lack of elasticity. I cast on what I though was the right amount of stitches but after about 7 rows, it was clear that the headband was too large. Dropping a needle size also resulted in a too large headband. I think the 3rd try is ok with dropping another needle size and dropping 12 (out of the original 72) stitches. If this doesn’t work, I’m going to have to buy some bulky wool yarn.

Sailormoon Update

I’m back on track with my Sailormoon. I ripped out the lace rows to fix the purl bump. I love how the lace pattern causes the edge shape to look scalloped. I may make the lace a little longer than the pattern calls for. I’ll be trying it on to decide how long to make the body. I should be on sleeve island in next week’s update.

Personal Note

On a personal note…. my stepdaughter found out this week that she is having a girl the end of October. This will be the first granddaughter. (I have 4 grandsons – all in their 20s) Despite being a “geriatric” mother (I hate that term – I was a “geriatric” mother), the baby is 100% fine (as were all 3 of my “geriatric” babies). I better get to work on that baby blanket!! I have a rainbow striped blanket that started as a prayer blanket which will now need some dedicated attention. She and her husband live 4 hours away but it can still be a day trip.

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 every 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 10th year although I’m in my first in the group.