2023: Wk of 5/21-27; Ranunculus FO, Sea Glass Tee Cast-on, and Other Knitting News

RANUNCULUS FO

Final photo of this project. Very happy with how it turned out and that this pinkish yarn is now in a project that I’ll wear more often. Not thrilled with how mohair sheds but it’s kinda fun to be a “fluff ball”.

“SEA GLASS” TEE CAST-ON

Tee FO means it’s time to cast-on the next tee. I have so many I want to knit!! Sea Glass Tee won. I am using the Sea Glass Tee pattern but this time I’m switching between light and dark yarn every other row instead of every other stitch. The intent is so that the tee isn’t double thick as it is when you have to carry the yarn for every other stitch. I am using Figment by Deep Dyed Yarn in the Danger Danger colorway. I bought it at the local wool festival a year and a half ago. It’s a colorful variegated yarn with a metalic thread. I’ll use it for the dark color changing yarn. I’m using Berroco Quinoa in the Basmati colorway as the light color. It doesn’t change color but has an interesting texture. Too early to be sure but I think the alternating rows are working as I had hoped.

STITCH MARKER/PROGRESS KEEPER ACQUISTION

Big splurge! I went to Hobby Lobby and picked up some charms for a summer theme. Note the flower charms hanging from the stitch markers on my Sea Glass Tee. I had gotten those honeycomb stitch markers a while ago and never used them since they weren’t colorful. Now with the flower charms hanging from them, I’m loving them for this tee. Also, the honey bee progress keeper. It’s my goal to have seasonal stitch markers and progress keepers.

YARN OUT

I’m happy to share that this has been a very good year so far for Yarn Out. I was surprised to realize that I’ve had at least an FO every month and a tee FO every month except January. My yarn out has actually been twice that of my yarn acquisitions. This is good because my local yarn dying friend just announced yesterday that she will be doing an advent calendar this year afterall!!! (I had reached out to her a month or so ago and she said it wouldn’t be till 2024.) Thankfully I never ordered the advent calendars I was eyeing. I will definitely order hers. This will be in addition to the stitch marker/progress keeper advent calendar I bought. Now the question is, do I delay again the I yarn advent calendar I bought last year and not open it until 2024?? Three advent calendars does seem a bit excessive. But hey, they make cute Christmas decorations for our Florida condo rental. Since I do love my stash yarns, it’s been easy to focus on projects that use the yarns already in my stash. It is kinda my goal to reduce my “yarn wall” although I just love looking at all my colorful yarns on display along the kitchen counter that separates the kitchen for the living area.

“WINTER” COLORWORK SOCK

Got the heels done on both socks and working my way down the foot. Loving the self striping yarn I’m using (Lollipop Yarns) although there isn’t enough to finish the foot. I have another ball of leftover sock yarn that I’ll use to finish. I used Natalie Sheldon’s Advent Sock 2019 for the stripe patterns.

HEALTH UPDATE

Hubby and I are both recovered from Covid and back to our normal activities. Well, with the exception of acknowledging our age limitations for some household chores. For the first time we hired someone to power wash our wooden deck and pergola. Hubby tried climbing a ladder to power wash the overhead beams and quickly realized it was no longer a good idea for him. We did do the restaining of the wood ourselves. The person that did the power washing also does grass mowing so we are hiring him to cut the 1/4 mile (400m) of driveway we maintain (it’s a shared driveway so neighbors cut the parts that are by their property). It is very uneven ground and even with a “self propelled” lawn mower, it is getting too much for me. We will still cut the flatter lawn that surrounds our house.

Hope you have a wonderful week of crafting. This is a Ravelry YOP post. A fun group of bloggers that post once a week on our yearly crafting plan. Sticking to the plan is not required. 😉

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2023: Wk of 2/12-18; Sea Glass Tee FO, Deschain Cast-on, and Socks WIP

SEA GLASS TEE FO!!

Happy dance. I think this is almost a record. Knit this tee in one month. Yes, I knit a tee last year in one month but that was for a test knit and I swore I’d never put that much pressure on myself. Being all stockinette certainly added to this being a quick knit. I didn’t have to keep checking a pattern or a chart. I just love it and I’m looking forward to knitting more. I do think I’ll try knitting it as stripes with alternating dark/light rows instead of stitches so that the fabric is not double thick. As is, it is going to be a very warm tee.

DESCHAIN SWEATER CAST-ON

Next up is the Deschain sweater. This project has been in my queue for years. It was recommended years ago at my LYS when I was starting to knit sweaters. As it turns out, not really a good first sweater in my opinion since it’s a pieced sweater. It was popular at the time which I think is why the salesperson recommended it. I didn’t realize it was pieced until I just reviewed the pattern. Ugh. I had planned to avoid pieced sweaters. Oh well. I’m going to give it a go since it’s for my daughter. I have to knit two sizes larger since I’m using DK instead of the called for Aran weight yarn. I hope to have it done by the end of March.

VANILLA SOCK WIP UPDATE

I’ve knit the heels in both socks so I’m back to easy stockinette knitting as I work up the legs. I forgot to switch to the contrast yarn for the heels. Oh well. I’m sure I’ll be able to use the remaining yarn for contrast toes in another pair of socks.

That’s it from sunny Florida. It was a quiet week. Wishing everyone a good week, knitting and otherwise.

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). YOP started it’s 12th year in July and I’m starting my third year in the group. You can find more detailed information about my projects on my project pages in Ravelry (MaureenHD).  I’ve been knitting for six years.

2023: Jan Review, Welcome Feb

“Borrowing” an idea from Backstage Knits, I plan to do a brief “end of the month” review – what projects were on my needles at the beginning of the month, what projects came off, and what projects got cast-on.

JANUARY

JANUARY 1 ON MY NEEDLES To start the month I had 3ish carryover projects from 2022 on my needles.

1. a hat for my son using “rainbow” yarn he had given me for Christmas
2. a reversible hat that uses leftover Christmas stripe yarn for one side and leftover “dark” stripe yarns for the other with a ivory brim yarn in the middle
3. a pair of colorwork socks.
4. “ish” Wasn’t on my needles but decided to put my hubby’s sweater back on my needles so I could redo the hem.

The colorwork socks are “low priority” so they will likely be “on my needles” for many months.

JANUARY CAST-ONS I cast-on 3 new projects.

1. Sea Glass Tee – consistent with my knitting plan, I started the year off with a new sweater/tee cast-on. I’m loving this tee but learned I need to alternate with other knitting so as to not overstress my thumb and cause it to hurt.
2. Second “Rainbow” Hat – turns out the first hat I knit was too small for my son’s head. I was afraid of that since I’d never knit him a hat before so I just followed the instructions for a large sized hat. This project wasn’t on my ’23 knitting plan but I wanted to get a replacement hat to my son as soon as possible. He is enjoying the bigger hat and his girlfriend gets to wear the first one.
3. Vanilla Socks – the hats were my “walking” projects so I needed a new “brain dead” project for my daily morning walk. I love the self striping yarn I’m using and since it’s planned as a gift, I get a lot of joy out of knitting it.

JANUARY OFF MY NEEDLES 3 FOs for Jan

Both “rainbow” hats were completed in January. And I finished the reversible hat which one of my stepsons is enjoying. I did tink the ribbed hem of my hubby’s sweater and replace it with a garter hem. So it was kinda on my needles and off my needles in January.

Rainbow Hats

Reversible Hat – Christmas Stripes

Three FOs in one month is highly unusual for me. The fact that they were hats and 2 were already started prior to the month is a big reason that 3 got finished. I will not likely have that many FOs in future months.

YARN IN/OUT -182g

Three FOs really helped my yarn out even though they were only hats. So 180 grs out and none in. Course getting a lot of yarn in December helped control my desire to buy more. 🙂

STITCHES – 68,489

I got a lot of knitting done this month. It’s winter (even though it feels like summer in Florida) so no gardening or traveling taking up my time.

2023 is off to a great start!!

FEBRUARY – ON MY NEEDLES

Heading into February I still have 3 projects on my needles.

1. Sea Glass Tee
2. Vanilla Socks
3. The ’22 carryover colorwork socks is low priority. Does that make it a UFO instead of a WIP??

A goal will be to finish the Seas Glass Tee in February.

SEA GLASS TEE UPDATE

I decided to do an icord bindoff for the sleeves instead of the sewn bindoff the pattern calls for. I just think an icord looks so much better. I did have to rip out the cuff as even though I used the same needle size as the collar it was still too big. I’m noticing that my tee sleeves are all too loose. I wanted it to fit fairly tightly on my arm. I’m always afraid my tees are going to be too tight but instead they are too big. I think I need to drop down needle sizes as I work down the body so they are less “boxy”.

VANILLA SOCK

The sock is coming along fairly quickly although the Sea Glass it’s getting most of my knitting time. I did start the second sock but ripped it out when I wasn’t satisfied with the toe. I’m pretty confident I will have the socks done by the end of March so that I can give them to my daughter’s friend.

Wishing everyone a good week, knitting and otherwise.

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. You can find more detailed information about my projects on my Project Pages in Ravelry (MaureenHD).  I’ve been knitting for six years.

2023: Wk of 1/15-21; Hat FO and Sea Glass Tee

MORE 2023 PLAN CHANGES 😉

I knew it wouldn’t take long but really??? Two weeks??? So I’ve already added a project to my 2023 plan that wasn’t there are the start of the year. Not a big deal. Made another hat for my son since the carryover WIP one turned out to be a bit too small. I had hoped to get it to him before another snowstorm hits Cincinnati but they got 6″ today. Oh well, for the next one.

SEA GLASS TEE

I was having so much fun knitting my Sea Glass tee and using the yarn ring last Sunday that apparently I stressed out the thumb on my right hand. Didn’t hurt while knitting but boy if I moved it a certain way – Yipes. I guess for me, if you are going to knit all day, do it over multiple projects. I’ve been massaging my thumb and hand and it’s doing much better. I think it’s because I’m knitting the tee continental when I’m usually an English style knitter. Anyway, it seems to be helping that I’m knitting my hat projects English while knitting the tee continental and making sure not to knit on the tee all day. The tee is a bit of slow go as it’s 400 stitches per row and the alternating colorwork also slows it down. I’m still enjoying it.

REVERSIBLE HAT

With the focus on getting my son’s hat done and making progress on the Sea Glass Tee, the reversible hat didn’t see a lot of knitting this week. This is definitely going to be a gift for one of my Cincinnati stepsons and I see knitting more or these Christmas/winter hats as gifts.

And that’s it for this week’s knitting. Wishing all a good week.

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.