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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#37. MORE Marker Usage

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Again, more tidbits on stitch marker use.  This is a shawl border of over 300 stitches.  It has a repeat pattern of 24 stitches which is made up of 2 12 stitch patterns.  HELP!!  Stitch markers to the rescue.

Sooo, each repeat is it’s own color.  Thank goodness I have so many colors of stitch markers.  LOVING those colored ring markers I got on Amazon.  Then I added a matching colored pin to the second marker ring to differentiate between the first half of the pattern and the second half.  In the picture above a gold ring marks the start of a new repeat.  The gold ring with a gold pin marks the second half of the repeat.  To the right you can see another repeat that used pink ring markers and a pink pin.

Course that’s not all on this pattern!!  It’s hard to see in the photo but I needed a different type of marker to identify the mid point of the shawl border.  I’m using a beautiful marker that my sister gave me for Christmas.  The big blue ring markers show where stitches are being added around the mid point and aren’t part of the 24 stitch repeats (which was causing major errors till I figured this out.😡)

 

#36. Fish Lips Kiss Heel and Stitch Marker Queen

As I’ve written in the past, I’m a BIG stitch marker user.  So even though the pattern doesn’t call for stitch markers, I use them anyway.

This is an example.  I love how easy the Fish Lips Kiss heel pattern is.  But I like to put a stitch marker after EVERY twin stitch I make.  By using the same color, I can even easily see if I’m on the knit side or the purl side if I stop knitting before the heel is completed.  If there isn’t a matching set of markers, I’m on the purl side.

Yes, I should be able to recognize the twin stitch before I get to it so as to know where to make the next twin stitch.  But a marker makes it idiot proof.  I like big red flags!!20190731_111047

I’m happy to have found a system that works for me.  I find heels stressful enough so anything that makes knitting a heel easier is welcome.