Project Bags – 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 10/30 – 11/5; Hubby Sweater Update and another Charlie Harper Bag

November 6, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Christmas Knitting, Knit, Knitting, Knitting Plan, Project Bags, Sweater Knitting

HUBBY’S SWEATER UPDATE

Finished the body and now I’m knitting the sleeves. I forgot with bottom up that the sleeves are knit separately. I’ve never knit the cuffs first. Since I also knit socks toe up, this whole starting with ribbing from the cast-on was wonky for me. But it’s done and now it’s off to the races. Even knitting two sleeves at a time, each row is only a third of the number of stitches that the body had. This will definitely be my last bottom up sweater. I hate that I have to guess what stripe to start with to achieve the desired length. Yes I’ve measured the target garment and thus in theory the sleeve should be 17″ long. But I know only too well that estimated doesn’t equal target. Ripping out the cuff and adding a stripe doesn’t really work since the stockinette stitches would be in the wrong direction. Fingers crossed I’ve estimated correctly.

FINAL PHOTO – CHRISTMAS STOCKING

This time I mean it, last photo. I made an i-cord for the stocking hanger and duplicate stitched my granddaughter’s name. May I say how much I HATE duplicate stitch. Not a labor of love, just labor!! Used leftover bed sheet material from my Covid masking making days for the stocking lining. But it’s done and winging it’s way to Indiana. My stepdaughter has already requested stockings for her and her hubby. Something to put on next year’s knitting plan.

PROJECT BAG #2

Since I had to get out my sewing machine to make the lining for the Christmas stocking, I decided to sew the second project bag out of the Charlie Harper cardinal fabric I had. It was already cut and the interface fused to the fabric so it was a very quick sewing project. I do love these tiny bags which are perfect for a pair of socks. I may add a long strap to one bag so that I can wear it for my Florida “walking while knitting”. I already have nylon bags for this but the fabric is just so cute! Cardinals are year round birds here in Ohio. They give our dreary winters a spark of color.

NOVEMBER HAPPENINGS

I’m excited that my daughter and son-in-law will be back in Cincinnati this coming week to attend one of her high school friend’s wedding. A much happier reason for a hometown visit. It’s so weird that I’m seeing her 3 times in 4 weeks as we will stop for a day’s rest on our drive to Florida the end of the month. Normally I only get to see her twice a year; on our drive down to Florida and our drive back to Ohio. This year it’s 5 visits!! Not complaining. We will have a preholiday get together with my husband’s side Friday night and with my side on Sunday.

Hope your November is off to a wonderful start. The leaves have fallen off the trees here in Ohio. Everything looks like winter outside which fits with our coming holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Weird this year is that even most of the oak trees dropped their leaves. Maybe the drought fall we had?? We are having very unusually warm temperatures (after an unusually cold October). The air temperature feels like early summer. I’m wearing shorts and a t-shirt! We cut the grass one last time. Hubby is enjoying this warm weather before heading south.

2022: Wk of 9/4-10; Cast-ons!!!

September 10, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Knit, Knitting, Knitting Shows, Project Bags, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

SOCK CAST-ONS

Between finishing my Autumn cowl and my Dragonfly socks recently, it was time to cast-on more projects. With a week of beach knitting coming up, socks were a logical choice. Both are going to be vanilla socks. The first pair is going to use the leftover variegated yarn (Deep Dyed Yarns) from my Autumn cowl. I think a plain pattern is called for to let the yarn itself shine. Plus the matching cowl is mainly vanilla stockinette. I may do a stripe of the pumpkin colorwork on the leg portion. The second pair is more of my beloved Fixation DK yarn which is great for knitting while walking. Since the bride and her maid of honor (her sister) are VERY health/exercise conscience, there will be a 5K as part of the wedding festivities. Plus my husband and I enjoy starting our mornings at the beach with an hour walk.

HUBBY’S SWEATER CAST-ON

Ugh! The reason I hate swatching is that it takes me so long!! 5000+ stitches takes a lot of time. I’ve used this yarn before and have swatched but unfortunately that didn’t help. I started swatching with a size 8 based on my previous swatch but I’ll be knitting Continental since it’s all stockinette. I ended up with a size 5 and still didn’t match gauge. I’m just going to knit a size smaller. I like the fabric and I’m already worried I’ll be playing yarn chicken so I don’t want to go to a smaller needle size. I’ll check my gauge as I knit and adjust accordingly. It will be easy to add stitches if needed. The swatch did allow me to try out different stripe patterns so my hubby could pick – alternating stripes of light grey, dark grey, white, and red or split up the red stripe so that there is a small stripe of red between each stripe of light grey, dark grey, and white. He chose the small stripe of red between each stripe. I totally agree. I’m using Berroco Summer Silk, one of my favorite yarns.

This is my first bottom up sweater. I will do my best to never knit another one!!! I have ripped it out already because I find it nearly impossible to keep from twisting the 250 stitches as I try to knit the first few rows! I did learn a new cast on technique since I needed a stretchy cast on. I used Tillybuddy’s cast on. I have also reviewed jogless striping videos. Fingers crossed I am successful on the second attempt or hubby has already agreed I will switch to a top down crew neck pullover despite his preference for a V-neck.

PROJECT BAG

With all the new cast-ons, I needed a new small(er) project bag. The fat square material I had bought over a year ago limited how tall I could make the bag. This one “is fine” but I’d probably prefer not as wide. I will do that with the next bag I make. I can get away with a small bag on my sock projects. This bag could hold 2 skeins and a small notions pouch. It’s actually a good choice for colorwork socks where I need multiple balls of yarn. One of my goals for the year was to make a project bag with some fabric inspired by local artist Charlie Harper. I didn’t use that fabric since I’m out of practice making project bags. I’m glad I didn’t use it since I would indeed make the next project bag different. I’m going to consider this new bag as meeting my 2022 goal of making a project bag even if it isn’t the Charlie Harper fabric.

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 June 19-25; FO and Schooner WIPS

June 26, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Knit, Knitting, Project Bags, Sock Knitting, Yarn

SUMMER SHRUG

I did finish the shrug for my son’s girlfriend. We are both very happy with it. It will be perfect with a black dress she has that has similar color butterflies on the skirt portion. She says my son needs to take her out to dinner so she can wear it! This one really showed the benefit of wet blocking. Amazing how much more even my stitches look after blocking. I tried to only “aggressively” block the 2″ of lace trim so the shrug wouldn’t be too baggy. I suspect it will stretch during wear.

SCHOONER WIPS

I cast on a third WIP for my schooner trip. I wanted something on larger needles and an alternative to knitting socks. So I cast on a shrug for me. I just love this Madelinetosh single ply and this blue teal. It will be a lace pattern, Ladybird Shrug. It’s a free, easy pattern on Ravelry, only an 8 rows pattern (and the even rows are all purls). I think this will look nice with a summer dress I plan to wear to a friend’s daughter’s beach wedding in September. Also it should look nice with a wine color cami I never wear as I don’t like so much exposed skin on me. So hopefully I’ll get more wear out of the cami.

STEPHEN WEST SPIRALING CABLES SHAWL #2

Since my two sock WIPS and my shrug WIP are intended for schooner knitting, I needed to cast-on a project to work on for the next two weeks. Next up was either a Ranunculus for me or knitting a second Stephen West Spiraling Cables shawl that my step-daughter requested. I do want to make sure I have her shawl done by Oct 1 when it will start getting chilly here. Starting the Stephen West shawl won out. It is a fun knit so I’m happy to make a second. This time I’m using a very dark color for the cables. Sadly they don’t show as well. I do have some tan yarn that is closer to what I used for my shawl. But the dark yarn is much nicer alpaca yarn and will be much drapier so I really want to use it.

Having 5 WIPS would normally stress me out but since 3 were specifically cast-on for trip knitting I’m not stressing. I will definitely spend the time after the trip finishing any WIPS that didn’t get done as well as the Stephen West shawl before casting on any new projects.

ACQUISITIONS

I made it through the week without buying yarn!! Everybody seems to be doing summer sales but I am resisting. It helps that my new LYS owner told me she does a big sale starting July 1 with some yarns marked down 75%. I may have new yarn acquisitions in next week’s post. But I did end up buying more reusable project bag tags from Katrinkles. I really like having my bags labeled with what’s inside.

That’s it for this week. I 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. I’ve been knitting for five years.

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.

2022: Wk of Feb 27 – Mar 5; Cast-ons and Winning Ways Continue

March 6, 2022 by knittingissofun, posted in Baby Knitting, Knitting, Project Bags, Sock Knitting, Yarn

PODCAST GIVEAWAYS

I shared 2 weeks ago that I had won a giveaway from a podcast, MC Knitting Adventures. The really cute project bag arrived this week. I would call it a 2 skein sized bag. Bigger than a sock project bag but smaller than an adult sweater project bag. I’m going to use it for a baby sweater project.

Seems my winning ways are continuing. This past week I won another project bag from a podcast, Frivolous and Frugal!!! This time for my Stephen West shawl I just finished. I’m very excited because the bag is combination cute fabric and clear plastic. I love being able to see what’s inside. I use clear cosmetic bags as my notions bags so I can see exactly where everything is. I use clear pill containers for my stitch markers so again I can see what markers are in what portion. I use clear zippered bags to hold my yarn in my “yarn wall” so I can see all the pretty yarns I own. I like that the project bag will show off the pretty yarn inside.

Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket??!!

BABY SWEATER TEST KNIT

My good luck just keeps on. An opportunity to test knit a baby sweater for Anne B Hanssen popped up in my Facebook feed. Knitting a baby sweater is on my goals for this year. I thought the pattern was cute and since I’ve been “gifted” quite a few skeins of baby yarn here in Florida I “applied” to test knit. I’m very excited that I got selected to knit a 9 month size. My granddaughter is currently wearing 6-9 months so it’s perfect timing. This will be a bit stressful as it has to be finished by the end of the month but since it’s small, I should be able to do it.

TEST KNIT VS TECH EDIT

Ironically I had just watched Andrea Mowry’s “I’ll Knit If I Want To Episode 50th” this week and it included her thoughts on tech editing vs test knitting vs sample knitting. I thought it was great. I think too many new designers “abuse” their test knitters by expecting them to be free tech editors. I agree with Andrea that if you find more than 1 or 2 errors or poorly written instructions, the pattern is not ready to be test knit. Guess I’ll get to see how it goes with Anne Hanssen. Test knitters are already finding a lot of errors in her pattern. I had to print out the pattern versus use Knit Companion so I could make all the corrections. I’m sure glad there are plenty of knitters ahead of me finding these errors.

FOs and Cast-ons

I did finish both pairs of socks this week. So techincally I have completed a pair of socks for February and for March, My goal of a pair of socks per month is looking good!! My Starry Night socks were a bit of an experiment as I knit 64 stitches instead of my usual 68 stitches (US 0 needle). Turns out 64 is too tight for my foot. I can wear them but prefer the 68 size. I was worried that I had made the foot to long but that fortunately wasn’t the case. I’m going to see if they fit my daughter better as I believe she has a narrower foot. If not, I can wear them but in the future I’ll go back to 68 stitches. I also did ribbing on the arch for a tighter fit. Again I don’t think I’ll do that again.

So I got to cast-on a new pair of socks!! I brought some fun yarn that I really want to knit but it seemed silly to create more “scrap” yarn as I know I don’t need all 100g to make a pair of shortie socks. So I decided to cast-on the leftover rainbow speckle yarn and it’s lime green and orange minis for toes and heels. The contrast toe is a bit long but I want to use up all the yarn. I have found that I can use fingering weight yarn for “walking” socks as long as it’s light colored so I can see it (I do have to wear my reading glasses). The Starry Night socks just had too much dark blue to knit while walking. The Swirl E pattern is very simple and I love it with this yarn.

**AlwaysBeKind yarn in Swirl E Pattern**

Secondly, I cast-on the baby sweater test knit which will dominate most of my knitting this month. I did swatch and found I could not get gauge with the yellow DK baby yarn I had intended to use. Going down a needle size made it hard to knit and no way did I want to knit something while fighting the yarn the whole way. Fortunately I had also been gifted some Sport weight baby yarn (the yarn weight called for in the pattern). It’s actually much nicer yarn as it is wool and 12% cashmere instead of acrylic. But it is dark grey, not exactly a spring color. I’ll just have to get cute spring buttons and maybe add some duplicate stitch. The yarn has a tight twist which will really help show off the lace pattern. I had to go up a needle size to get gauge but what a surprise – after knitting a few rows of the sweater I thought it looked a little big. I checked the circumference of the sweater and found the sweater was knitting up larger than it was supposed to be. So I’ve dropped down a needle size. I’m not supposed to share photos until the pattern releases but at this point there’s not much to see so I will.

GIFT YARN FINDS A HOME

Thank you for all the suggestions on what to do with my unwanted “gift” yarn. A suggestion to look on Facebook for a local “Buy Nothing” group was a huge success. Had no idea there would be so much interest in free yarn. I was able to get rid of all the yarn I didn’t want in less than a day. I think hubby was disappointed I gave so much away but I still have PLENTY to make at least four summer tops plus LOTS of baby yarn in addition to a sweater’s worth of wool tweed a Cincinnati friend wants. I also kept some dark charcoal alpaca yarn as my stepdaughter wants me to make the Stephen West Spiraling Cables shawl for her. I have plenty of the autumn colored yarn but will do the cables in dark charcoal instead of tan like mine.

It was a great week!! Hope yours was great as well.

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.

Year of Projects – Wk 7/11-17

July 18, 2021July 18, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Knitting, Project Bags, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

Another FO – Anklets

I did finish my Fixation anklets this week. They are very summery so I like them. The yarn is cotton so they are very comfortable to wear.

New Knitting

I haven’t done a lot of knitting this week. Not too surprised as I needed to catch up a bit following vacation. I started a pair of Christmas socks 3 times but I kept dropping a stitch or make a mistake so I end up starting over again. Hopefully this 3rd time is the charm. I am going back to my preferred method of 2 at a time magic loop. I really didn’t like 9″ circulars. But I still want to try 9″ when I knit my colorwork Advent sock. The experiment was a mixed bag in my little knitting group. Some liked 9″, some are returning to magic loop.

I have started my son’s girlfriend’s top. It’s the Heldig tank. I have to concentrate, at least in this beginning knitting until I get the two hems joined in the round. Then it will be lots of stockinette knitting. I’m not really sure if I like the needle size I’m using and not sure of the fit. I’ll knit a few inches to make sure the weave isn’t too open and make sure it fits her hips. Then I should be able to relax into knitting it.

New Project Bag

One of my knitting friends made all of us this cute sock bag. We are all participating in The Crazy Sock Lady’s summer sock camp KAL. She wanted to make a project bag for herself but since she had so much material, she made a bag for all 5 of us!! It’s so cute and the perfect size for a sock project.

Poems of Color

I was intrigued about Bohus knitting after watching the latest Fruity Knitting episode. The book from 1995 is no longer printed ($125 on Amazon) but I was able to get a copy from the library. I’d love to make this sweater.

Not a lot to share this week. It’s nice to be home again even if it means more errands and housework to do instead of knitting. It was nice to join my local knitting friends for coffee again. I will be knitting at a local micro brewery with another friend this afternoon. A great 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 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 11th year. I’m in my second in the group.

Week 9: New Knitting “Toy” and Project Updates

March 7, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Knitting, Knitting Plan, Knitting tools, Project Bags, Social Knitting, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting

FO??? – Sample Knit Sock

I finished my sample knit sock. Knitting a sample knit wasn’t on my original plan but I was happy to accept the opportunity. I finished the sock in one week which is a first for me. I was monogamous as I wanted to return the sock as soon as possible even though I had till the end of March as my deadline. It was just a plain vanilla pattern so it was easy to knit. But it means I should be able to knit a pair of socks in two weeks instead of the usual month it takes me to get a pair done. Usually I’m also knitting a sweater at the same time I’m knitting the socks so that I can have some variety in my knitting. I’m hoping I’ll get another opportunity to knit more sample socks.

I’m back to knitting on my daughter’s Bisquit top. I weighed how many grams of yarn it takes to make one row (1.5g) to make sure I know how many rows I can make with the yarn I have left. I would prefer to reduce the number of stockinette rows if I need to instead of the bottom lace. I did cast on another pair of Fixation yarn socks. These are not on my 2021 plan but are just to have a small project that I can easily carry with me.

New Project Tote – Clear

I’ve written before how I like to use clear bags for my “projects in waiting” and accessory bags. So I was thinking that I might enjoy having a clear tote to carry around my WIP project(s) and accessory bags when I get together for “knit sessions”. My WIPs are kept in cute fabric project bags. I often carry a sock project and a sweater project when I get together with other knitters so that I can switch projects if I develop a problem or need a simpler project while talking. I have been using quilted totes which I like very much but does lead to “digging around” to find my accessory bag, sock ruler, etc. I’m hoping the clear tote makes it easier to find the item I’m looking for. The clear tote was not expensive so if I don’t end up liking it I didn’t waste much money. Plus I could use it for attending professional sports matches. I have a season ticket to our MLS (soccer) team and clear totes are requested for security reasons.

It was cloudy and cool here in SW Florida today so I got to wear my new “non” shellseeker sweater this evening. I know I’ll have plenty of opportunities to wear it once we get back to Cincinnati in a few weeks. I’m anxious to get back to Cincinnati so I can sign up for the Covid vaccine. I am so looking forward to getting together again with my knitting friends at our local coffee shop once we all have our vaccines.

That’s it for this week. Probably going to be a broken record each week as I focus on getting my daughter’s top finished.

Big Week in 2021 YOP Update

February 21, 2021 by knittingissofun, posted in Knitting, Knitting Plan, Knitting tools, Project Bags, Sock Knitting, Sweater Knitting, Yarn

This has been a week of lots of small things. First off – my first FO!!!!! Gee, only took 6 weeks into 2021 to finally get a FO! It turned out to be finishing a 2020 carryover WIP. But I’m still taking the win. I had a pair of vanilla socks with Fixation yarn on my needles as my “brain dead” project. I love the colors in the yarn – purple, lavender, bright orange, and pale orange.

Part of my motivation to finish the socks was I needed the excess yarn to darn a pair of Fixation footies that had developed a hole in the heel. They are also brightly colored so the patch “kinda” matches. I don’t care since the patch is on the bottom and they are for me. So this week was accomplishing a new “technique” – darning. I actually did two darning techniques. For my freshly finished socks, I reenforced the heel bottom by using duplicate stitches. For my pair that already had a hole, I used the patch technique. Both methods are shown on The Woolery site. https://woolery.com/blog/how-to-darn-socks-3-ways/

A second technique I started this week was colorwork. Yes, I’ve been knitting for 4+ years and still hadn’t tried colorwork beyond the stripes in my sweater. As discussed in previous blogs, on my plan for this year is a pair of “advent” socks. The plan is to make a stripe or two of colorwork each month so that the socks are finished by advent come December. I had made the cuff but had put aside the socks until I realized I was “behind”. Oh goodness. Now I get it. Colorwork is indeed fun!! In only 10-11 rows you have a pattern come alive. I am loving my stripes so far. The next stripe will be red background with pink poinsettias. It took till the 3rd stripe to start getting the hang of keep the pattern yarn in my left hand and the background yarn in my right hand. I know that fit can be an issue with colorwork socks so here’s hoping I’ll be able to get them on. I think I’m going to keep the leg fairly short to help with getting them on. If they don’t fit they will be Christmas decorations in my knitting nook.

And yes, I was back to buying a knitting need. I like colorful but clear plastic bags for my accessory bags and project-in-waiting bags. For accessory bags, I want to be able to see what’s inside without having to dump out the bag or rout around. For project bags, I want to be reminded visually what yarn I have waiting to be knit. I had a set of small cosmetic bags I bought probably 2 years ago but the zipper broke off again this week. Plus the bags didn’t close all the way so some small items could fall out of my accessory bag. I ordered some new ones that zipped close completely. I would have liked to get the slightly larger size but they weren’t available in the multiple colors (I didn’t want 5 blue ones). The size is perfectly fine for my accessory bag which was the original purpose. They are also fine for sock projects-in-waiting. One is even perfect for all the small balls of yarn generated by ripping out my striped sweater. We will see how they wear but they weren’t expensive and the colors are fun.

Finally, I’m getting soooo close on finishing my “non” shellseeker sweater. I’m sure it will be an FO by next week’s update. The body is completely done. I have about 5 more stripes to knit on the sleeves before binding off.

Then it will be back to knitting on my daughter’s Bisquit top. I did wet block what I had knit on her top and indeed the gauge does not match the wet block gauge of my swatch. So I’m going to go down a needle size for the remainder of the body and hope the top lace panel isn’t too wide for her shoulders.