Knitting tools – Knitting Is So Fun

2023: Wk of 1/8-14; Plan Changes Already!! and Lessons Learned

January 15, 2023 by knittingissofun, posted in Knit, Knitting, Knitting Hats, Knitting Plan, Knitting tools, Sweater Knitting, Yarn Advent Calendars

CAST-ON, FROG, RECAST-ON; SEA GLASS TEE

Well, that didn’t take long. I already changed my mind on the yarn to use on a project although so far so good on pattern choice. I knew I needed a light colored yarn to use with my minis and I planned a cream colored yarn that I had bought years ago for a tee. But since my advent calendar from Emma’s yarn had a lot of light colored yarns, I decided that I would use the light colored minis from the Emma’s Yarn calendar with the dark colored minis from A Girl And Her Wool advent calendar for my Sea Glass Tee. I’m actually thrilled to be using only advent minis for the tee. So this is a change I’m happy with. I also didn’t realize the Sea Glass Tee is a “colorwork” sweater so I’ll be knocking off that goal too by knitting this tee.

I’m knitting the “light/dark” colorwork version. I love it!! I can see making more of these tops for my daughters. Colorwork means the fabric is double thick so it’s going to be warm. But we get cool days in the spring and fall. (Or I’ll just crank up the AC!!) I was given the yarn ring below for Christmas. I’ve never used one before but it’s perfect for this 1×1 colorwork!!

Full confession – I’ve already frogged the sweater shown below. It is my fault. I used the ring to knit my swatch but was having trouble learning how to use it. Much of the tee was knit with one yarn in my right hand the second in my left. This resulted in a MUCH tighter gauge. It tried on the tee (LOVE top down) and it was going to be more of a turtleneck!! In addition to the gauge being too tight, I think I need to do the increases more frequently than the pattern calls for. I’m making a smaller neck opening so I think that’s causing the need for faster increases. I’m not upset. I see the first attempt as learning how to use the ring and figuring out the neck. I’ve already recast it on and I’m finding it much easier to use the ring. I’m doing increases every 2-3 rows instead of 6 as the pattern calls for.

MORE LESSONS LEARNED 😦

Starting my 2023 plan took a one week hit as I hated the hem on hubby’s sweater so I ripped out the ribbed hem and put in a garter hem. I learned that the yarn does not “unzip” when pulled from the “bottom”. Since it was a bottom up sweater, I ripped out the cast-on and thought I’d easily be able to “unzip the ribbed rows”. A one day project. Instead I had to “unpluck” almost stitch by stitch pulling the yarn through each stitch. So ripping out 2″ of hem took a week!! I should have removed the hem from the first stripe like I did when I lengthen the sleeves. Since it took a week, this is likely a lesson I won’t forget.

A second “lesson” comes from a review of last year’s stitches per day analysis (thanks Backstage Knits). Turns out Sundays are often when I get the most knitting done. Not too surprising as I tend to knit while watching football games. Fridays on the other hand are when I get the least knitting done. Friday evenings are usually spent enjoying a pizza dinner with my son and his girlfriend followed by an evening of card playing. I will cherish these evenings for as long as they last. I don’t plan to make any changes based on this analysis. It was just interesting.

FO – HAT

WOW, what a quick knit a hat is!! Finished the rainbow hat for my son early this week. It was a very basic ribbed hat that was a free pattern on Ravelry, RibaRoni. He loves it although it’s a bit too short so it doesn’t completely cover his ears. I have enough leftover yarn to knit a second longer hat.

DOUBLE HAT WIP

This is now my “brain dead” project for social knitting and walking knitting. Similar to the Musselburgh but it starts in the center with a provisional cast-on. I haven’t done the decreases yet as I’m waiting to make sure I like the length before closing off each end. It’s Christmas stripes on one half and a “winter” stripes on the other. Not sure who is going to be the recipient. Maybe it will be stashed away for a future Advent gift.

Well, the year has had some initial stumbling but I’m happy with the changes and learning to use the yarn ring. Hubby likes his sweater much better with the garter hem. I love the projects I’m working on. I hope your 2023 is also off to a good start.

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.

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 five years.

2022: Wk of Apr 10 – 16; Chaio Goo Needle Tip Set, Test Knit Update

April 17, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Knitting, Knitting tools, Yarn Advent Calendars

Chaio Goo Twist Needle Tip Set

I have wanted to get the Chaio Goo Shorties interchangeable needle set Size 0 – 3 for years. But I always felt they were too expensive. Sadly, they are even more expensive now. Well, despite my insisting not to be paid for walking my elderly friend’s dog in Florida, he gave me a going away card. He included cash knowing that if he used a check I wouldn’t cash it. So I figured the best way to meet his wishes was to buy something for myself that I wouldn’t normally splurge on. Since I knit almost exclusively fingering weight projects, these tips will get a lot of use. I plan to also purchase some longer cords. They came with only very short cords for socks and sleeves.

Tee Test Knit

The test knit tee is getting all my attention. As much as I say I don’t care if I don’t get it done by the end of the month, I still am trying to do my besting by focusing all my knitting time on it. That way I can say I did my best, I just can’t knit that many stitches in one month. When I started it, I didn’t count on how much my son and his girlfriend would want to play card games in the evenings once we got back to Ohio. Usually we only did this on Friday night but they have wanted to play an hour or two every evening. Sorry, but knitting will ALWAYS lose to spending time with humans, especially my kids.

One lesson I’ve learned is the value of creating a stitch count chart. Since I was already late starting the project I didn’t take the time to calculate the stitch count per row as I made the raglan increases. Big mistake. Sadly I can see that I have not always remembered to make the yo at the raglan increases. I’m not willing to frog back but will “wing it”. If the errors truly bother me, I’ll end up frogging the top.

Adding to the lack of time is now we are making a 11 hr trip (each way) to Minneapolis next weekend to attend a memorial service for my husband’s cousin. She was younger than me. She died from ALS or in America known as Lou Gehrig’s disease (showing my age that I know who he was). Since I have to do most of the driving, I won’t get much knitting done. The only positive is that we will stop and visit my step-daughter and our new granddaughter on our way back home from the memorial service. It’s the first time we will see the baby and she will be six months old.

ADVENT CALENDAR

I have been looking at yarn advent calendar’s for 2 years. I did buy a 12 day one in 2020 but wasn’t real happy with the colors of the mini (shades of grey mostly). A local knitting friend and I created a google spreadsheet of all the calendars we could find last year but I resisted buying one. I’m always afraid that I won’t like the colors the dyer comes up with and some of the prices are outrageous. Including “extras” that I don’t want doesn’t make the calendar more valuable to me. I’ve updated the spreadsheet for 2022 (who would believe you have to order them in April!!). My friend shared with me a yarn store in Indianapolis that is offering an advent calendar using minis of Emma’s yarn. That’s the yarn stocked in the yarn store I visited with my Florida knitting friends so I know I love her yarn and her colors. So I bought myself the advent calendar!!!! My plan is to knit the Sea Glass Tee as my New’s Year’s Day 2023 cast-on with the advent minis. I can’t wait!

Specking of holidays, I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend if you celebrate it. My 22 year old still likes me to make and hide an Easter basket for him, and one for his girlfriend. It’s a once a year treat of high quality chocolate cream eggs from Cincinnati’s best chocolate candy company. I make a basket for hubby and I to share as well. It’s a beautiful sunny day and we will enjoy a small family gathering with our 3 boys that live in Cincinnati.

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 Mar 20 – 27; Test Knit Completed, Circular Needle “Case”

March 27, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Knitting, Knitting tools, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

TEST KNIT BABY SWEATER FO

I finished!! Well, except to put the buttons on. I finished it last night and it’s currently blocked but still drying! I’ll be mailing it out to my stepdaughter in a few days.

Now I’m working like crazy to get the Rainbow speckle socks finished as I want to send them with the sweater. I’ll post a photo of the finished socks next week.

CIRCULAR NEEDLE HOLDER

I am so tickled with myself. I was looking at the Knit Pro circular needle holder online not loving the floral fabric of the case when I realized to could create my own “case”. I bought a fun fabric circular needle holder from Twisted Yarn and Fiber at the Wool Festival last September. It was great for bringing all my circular needles down to Florida with me. But anytime I wanted a needle, I had to dump them all out and then try to figure out what size the needles were. So I ordered these cute and colorful mesh bags from Amazon to hold the needles by size. I’m using wipeable stitch markers from Katrinkles so that I can write on the stitch marker what sized needles are in the bag. The mesh bags fit inside the original needle holder. Totally loving how compact and portable this is and how easy it will be to find the size needle I want.

MALS

Just thought I’d share some MALS I’ve found. I know you aren’t surprised that I’ve added MALS tracking to my knitting plan/calendar/spreadsheet. It’s just a simple list in a spare space on the calendar so I can be reminded of what MALS I might be able to participate in that month. There’s the monthly sock MALS of Grocery Girls and GotWIPS. AGirlAndHerWool is also doing a sock KAL over the spring months of Apr-Jun. Since she is a yarn dyer, she is doing a twist on sock knitting by focusing on doing speckle yarn one month, self striping another, and verigated another with the idea of commenting on what you learn as you use different color styles to make socks. Whereas Grocery Girls and GotWIPS require the socks be started and finished within the month, AGirl can be done anytime and any order although you are limited to one FO per month. Then M1Yarns is doing a spring tee/tank MAL. My knitting plan is blowing up (surprise surprise) as I move projects around to fit MALs. Fortunately I am already knitting a speckle sock and had planned to knit a self striping sock and AGirl verigated sock so it’s just a matter of moving them up on the schedule. It’s all part of the planning fun (or funniness of a “plan”). I had already planned to knit a tee this spring. Poor hubby’s sweater is getting delayed even more.

THIS WEEK’S KNITTING PLANS

Now that I’ve finished the test knit and will soon have the socks finished, I can look forward to what’s next. I also have to consider that we start our trip back north this week. I do want to put the next pair of socks on needles. That will be the self-stripping sock yarn that I brought to Florida but will be my trip home knit. My neice’s baby blanket will get attention as well.

IN OTHER GOOD NEWS

Since my daughter is getting married in Charleston, SC in May, we have rented several beach front/near homes for all the out of town children as well as ourselves to stay in. My sister has also rented a beach house with her “kids”. So I wanted to get at least one beach canopy. What a pleasent surprise that we found a use one being sold at the “garage” sale the condo complex held yesterday. It’s a huge canopy (12’x12′) that the owner used to sell her wares at art shows. It even has 4 side panels if I want to create more shade. It’s can be 2-3′ taller than this picture. They had lowered the legs. I got it for $50!!! She cut the price in half when I said I needed it for my daughter’s wedding.

HEADING NORTH

Well, we head north Friday. I’m looking forward to spending Saturday with my daughter and son-in-law. (I’ll get to drop off the beach canopy!!) Sunday we head over to the Biltmore Estate for two nights, a Christmas present from several of our kids. The gardens should be amazing.

I hope everyone has a great crafting week. I’m thankful I have much to look forward to as I sadly say good-bye to Florida friends.

2021: Wk of 11/21-27; WIPs, Thanksgiving, and Christmas In The Air

November 29, 2021November 29, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Christmas Knitting, Knitting, Knitting tools, Notions, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

HELDIG TANK #2

Completed the hems and have joined for the body. This is a simple knit although the Daisy yarn is a bit fiddly. Thus this will not be a car knit project. It will get worked on possibly the day of rest at my daughter’s or once we get to Florida.

MARY MAXIM CHRISTMAS SOCKS

I’ve decided to continue the Christmas socks. My husband might like them as house socks in December. Blocking (twice) helped some. They are in the car just in case I get a break from driving.🤞

KNITTER CHRISTMAS

My friends did like their “12 Day” Advent set. Hopefully they will still like the eclectic mix of yarns after they open them all. One of my friends gave me these thoughtful knitting aids – a foldable ruler and a magnetic dish to hold my stitch markers. I have 2 sock rulers, and I like them, but they are too long to fit into my sock project bags. This foldable ruler will be more useful since I can keep it in my sock project bag. The magnetic dish is great! I have a magnetic necklace but found that I accidently end up knocking the stick markers off it so I don’t use it. The dish has a much stronger magnet so even if you knock it off a table, the stitch markers won’t fly off. If you have a metal tray table, like I’ve been using from IKEA, there is no way that dish can even get knocked off!! Then another knitting friend made us all these adorable knitting basket ornaments.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

We had a wonderful time for Thanksgiving. Just 3 of our boys on Thanksgiving. Then the same boys with my dad, brother (and SIL), and nephew yesterday for a delayed Thanksgiving. I just love Thanksgiving foods!! My diet took quite the hit this week but I know I’ll get back to more moderate eating once we are in Florida.

We did not visit my step-daughter and her baby just prior to Thanksgiving. Enough said. As my son who still lives with us while attending college said, “I never want to get on your bad side”.

TIS THE SEASON

I adore Advent season. Christmas lights and decorations. It will be interesting to see how I feel spending Advent in Florida but I think it will be fine since I know I get to spend Christmas in Ohio. There is a multi-street neighborhood near where we rent that does the whole “Christmas With the Kranks” thing so I will definitely be touring the neighborhood. I will miss my northern friends but look forward to seeing my southern ones.

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 9/19-25: Fiber Artist Supply Co Ball Winder Review and Updates

September 26, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Knitting, Knitting tools, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

Fiber Artist Supply Co Ball Winder Review

Got to use my new ball winder this week!! I love it! Much better than my Loops & Threads cheap one from Michaels. Makes beautiful cakes and the yarn doesn’t end up winding on the rod both above or below the cake like my cheap one. Now the only issue is my umbrella swift. I’m having to rewind the cake a second time. This is what Very Pink Knits recommends as a general rule. Note: she uses an umbrella swift. My initial cake is much tighter then when I used my friend’s tabletop swift and ball winder hence I believe it’s the swift. My swift is pretty so I think I’ll stick with it since my knitting wall is now in our living room. I’ll just plan to wind balls twice so that the yarn isn’t wound too tight.

Sailormoon #2

The Sailormoon for my daughter is coming along. I just adore the yarn and the colors. I have enough of the Cinnamon colorway to make another sweater if I combine it with another contrast skein, which I have in my stash. Now I need to find a pattern that uses 3 skeins of MC and 1 skein of CC. Course I could always do a 3 row/1 row stripe. This sweater is also helping on one of my 2021 knitting goals – knit something with Continental. I am doing all the knit stitches in Continental but I’m still doing the purls with English. I think this is actually helping keep my tension even. Only the yoke is knit flat so once I join the body it will be all Continental knit stitches.

Advent 2019 Socks

Got both cuffs done for my Advent 2019 socks. Now to start the fun stuff – the colorwork stripes. Hope to have a stripe or two to share next week since the Sailormoon will still get the majority of attention.

Oops, I Did It Again

You would think I know by now that all stockinette curls. So I’m going to have to pullout the cast-on and add a few rows of garter so that my tumbler cozy doesn’t roll. This project is letting me work on another goal…not looking at every stitch as I knit it since it’s simple stockinette.

It’s beautiful fall here. I know for many of you blue skies is not unusual, but for the midwest of the USA, our winters are GRAY!!! I’ve been informed by my son’s girlfriend that while Alaska has very short days in the winter, what little time the sun is out in the winter, the sky is blue. So fall is just a wonderful time of year. The temperature is perfect (70s F/low 20s C), low humidity. Trees have started to turn but full color is about 2 weeks away. Hope you are enjoying your fall.

YOP Wk of 9/12-18: Wool Festival Purchases, an FO, and New WIPs

September 19, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Knitting, Knitting Shows, Knitting tools, Notions, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, wool festival, Yarn

Wool Gathering – Yellow Springs, OH

It was soooo nice to get to attend a yarn festival again. Not that I have much experience. My first was this one 2 years ago. I can’t afford to attend very many – too much temptation. More than the Vogue Live Marketplace I visited once when it was in Columbus, OH, a festival like this really makes you feel you are helping small businesses. The festival is held at a family run dairy instead of a downtown hotel like the Vogue Live Events. Can you tell I’m not a fan of Vogue Live and have no intention of attending another one??

That means 462 grams of yarn got added to my stash. Not looking good for ending the year with a net minus in my stash. And it’s not even like it’s email alerts to sales that are my downfall. It was a knitting friend letting me know a yarn I like was on 50% sale at a LYS, a yarn swap with my knitting friends, and this festival for the most part. Hmmm, I need to add to my knitting tracking calendar where I bought/got the yarn if I ever really want to get a handle on decreasing my stash.

I went to the festival knowing of 4 venders I wanted to buy from and indeed I bought from all four. Deep Dyed Yarns out of Nicholasville, KY makes the most vibrant yarns with a glittery metallic thread woven through. One skein, Starry Night, I’m splitting with a friend. While one skein is called Black Hills, it’s perfect as a Halloween sock yarn – again with glittery thread. The third is just gorgeous fallish colors.

Redbird Yarn Studio from Columbus, OH had a much more limited supply of yarn this year although she promised to have more Christmas colorways on her website in October. So I left the Christmas skein for another customer and bought a skein with beautiful browns, golds/oranges, and grey which I think my son will like with a bright orange contrast for the toes/heels. Indeed she was almost sold out of self striping yarns by lunchtime Saturday.

I have several project bags from Twisted Yarn and Fibers. She has the cutest fabrics!! I managed to resist buying more bags but did find a circular needle holder that I want for transporting my circular needles and cords to Florida in a few months.

I did end up buying the ball winder that I’ve had my eye on for 2 years. I can’t wait to wind the remaining skeins I need for Sara’s Sailormoon and to split the skein of Starry Night I just bought.

The final purchase was a cute t-shirt that is embroidered instead of printed. I love the reddish color of the t-shirt and the saying fits me well (my son loved it).

Swirl E Socks Got Finished!!

I did get my Redbird Harvest yarn socks finished in time to wear and show the shop owner. I got several compliments on the Swirl E pattern as well as the beautiful striped yarn.

NEW WIPs

Finished FO means it’s time for casting on!!! I cast-on for the third time my Advent 2019 colorwork socks. I had finished one cuff before I realized I should have gone down a needle size. So since it was only the cuff I frogged it and am now half way through the first cuff.

We have a bunch of thermal tumblers which are perfect for summer and Florida. They do get hot in the heat so I’ve been saying it would be easy for me to knit cozies for them. Well, I finally have gotten started on one. It’s the perfect project to take to the soccer game for before, halftime, and after game knitting since it’s straight stockinette. My leftover Fixation yarn is perfect for making cozies since it’s cotton and spandex.

I did get the swatch for Sara’s Sailormoon blocked so I’m ready to start her sweater. My priority for the coming weeks will be her sweater and the Advent 2019 socks. That’s a lot of happy knitting.

YOP: Wk of 9/5-11; Frogging and Socks

September 12, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Brioche, Knitting, Knitting Shows, Knitting tools, Notions, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

Sailormoon Redo

Thankful the light bulb finally went off before I went much further on my daughter’s Sailormoon sweater. I wasn’t sure she would like the hot pink speckles so I sent her a picture of the stripes. Indeed she admitted she probably wouldn’t wear the sweater a lot because of them. So I frogged her sweater and I’m restarting with some Madelinetosh Light in Cinnamon Dolce and Silver Lining that I had in my stash for a sweater for me. She loves the new colors.

I will use the blue and hot pink speckled yarn for a sweater for me. I’m really loving Joji Locatelli’s Newspaper brioche sweater. This will definitely be on my 2022 plan.

Swirl E Socks

I’m in the home stretch on my Swirl E socks as I’ve completed the foot and heels and just have to do the legs. While I still want them to be short, I’ve learned I need to make the leg a bit longer if I want the stripes to show above my sneakers.

I want to have them done by Saturday so I can wear them to the Wool Festival and show them off to the vender that I bought the yarn from 2 years ago (Redbird Yarn Studio). She has been “missing in action” the past year due to “life stuff” so I’m thrilled that she did not give up on yarn making.

New Row Counters

I love the row counters from Twice Sheared Sheep and I already have several (uhh 4 to be exact). I have wanted both a shorter counter for things like 4 row sock patterns and a counter set for flat work (one counter is only odd numbers – usually the pattern rows – and the other is only even numbers – usually the purl row). Dawn offered a sale last weekend so I finally bought them. I was so close to free shipping that adding the cute (honeycomb, carbon ring if you are a chemist like me) markers in essence only cost me $3. I love using those cheap 7 day pill holders for my knitting notions. This one only holds row counters. I have others to hold my multiple sizes and colors of 0-ring stitch markers.

Looking Forward

The coming week is exciting. I will have yarn to share next week as I will attend the Wool Gathering festival next Saturday. I already have three venders that I’m committed to buying some skeins of yarn. I have too many sweater projects waiting for me to knit them so I’ll be buying fun sock yarns. I have plenty of people that will be happy with a sock gift as well as socks for me. I will also likely be buying a high end ball winder as I wasted an evening winding a ball on my cheap plastic one. I usually visit my friend that owns the expensive one but I thought “I only need to wind one ball to restart the Sailormoon sweater”. A whole evening spent just getting one ball wound!! Grrr. But it’s a lot of money to spend when my friend is only too happy to let me come over to wind yarn.

I hope you have an exciting week coming up as well.

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!