My Knitting Life: 02

Welcome back for the next installment of "My Knitting Life". I am a wee bit late with this post as last Friday I left work thinking I had food poisoning, but as it turned out, I had the stomach flu. Ugh. Needless to say, I spent days in bed not feeling human at all. I went back to work on Tuesday, but in reality, I am still not 100%, but will get there.

So let's get on with my knitting update.

Finished Objects

Nope. Nada. None.

WIPs

#1: Saltwater Taffy Hermione's Everyday Socks
Started: February 25, 2017
Yarn: Three Irish Girls - Adorn Sock - Saltwater Taffy
Pattern: Hermione's Everyday Sock by Erica Lueder
Needles: HiyaHiya Sharps - Size 1 US

Last week I only had the beginning's of a sock. Just the cuff and a couple of rows into the leg. This week is a whole different story.

I have a HO and half of the second sock completed.

As soon as I finished the first sock, I weaved in the ends and immediately cast on for sock number two. No second sock syndrome here. I am pretty sure the next time you see this sock, it will be an FO!

#2: Goldfinch Shawl
Started: March 1, 2017
Yarn: O-Wool - Sport - Devil's Pool, Paw Paw and Watermill
Pattern: Goldfinch by Andrea Mowry
Needles: HiyaHiya Sharp Interchangeable - Size 6 US

One of my last purchases at Rhinebeck last year was this yarn from O-Wool:

In reality, both my sister and I purchased this yarn. As we walked by the O-Wool booth, we noticed a completed Goldfinch shawl on display. It was beautiful and was immediately decided we had to knit it in the exact same colors as the one on display. Luckily for us, they still had a few skeins of the colors we wanted. We both thought we would knit them together during the Christmas holidays, but that didn't happen and we didn't mention it to each other again.

Then on February 27 my sister posted a pic to her Instagram of the shawl she had just started. As soon as I saw it I said "You started WITHOUT me!" and immediately fell down and started to throw a temper tantrum. I kid, but I did pull out my yarn the next day and caked it up because I wanted to knit this baby with her and had some catching up to do.

This is as far as I had gotten before I got sick.

The setup and first two color sections were completed as of last Friday morning.

My goal is to have this shawl completed by the end of the month!

Stash Enhancement

#1: Orange Flower Yarn - Fingering BFL - Guava and Light Peach

I am planning on knitting "Find Your Fade" by Andrea Mowry and these two babies are the first I have selected for it. I am not sure what will be added to them to complete my fade. I love that the Guava contains these orange, red, brown specks. I will most likely pull in these colors more with my other yarn choices. Not sure.We shall see!

#2: Lamby Toes
Merino Moon Pie - Kitten's Choice

Sweet Pea Sport - Experiment 091

I am planning to knit the Sweet Pea Sport into "Hermione Hearts Ron" Hat by Christy Aylesworth for Inside Number 23's Harry Potter KAL.

So, this is where I leave my knitting with you for another week. While I am knitting away on these babies, I can't help letting my mind wander to all the other lovely things I want to knit. I also need to think about setting some knitting goals to deal with all my long standing WIPs and stash. Will share my thoughts over the next few weeks.

Until then, I hope you all have a lovely weekend! I'll be sitting here knitting all things warm in preparation for the snowstorm we are supposed to be getting on Tuesday. Winter is definitely trying to get it's last hurrah in for sure!

My Knitting Life: 01

I thought it would be fun to start a weekly post that talked all about my knitting during the previous week. I am thinking of it being like a knitting podcast, but in blog format instead of video. Maybe one day I will start a podcast as I love watching them and getting all excited over seeing that person's excitement for everything!

So here we go...

Finished Objects

This week I have three FO's to share, two of which have been long overdue in the sharing department.

#1: Men's Cashmere Scarf pattern from "Last-Minute Knitted Gifts" by Joelle Hoverson

The scarf was a special request from my nephew for Christmas. I was told the width/length desires and that it should be in a neutral color.

At Rhinebeck last year, I came across a sock gradient kit from Shelridge Farm and my sister thought it would be a good choice for the scarf.

The sticker on the kit said it contained six colors, but sadly it only had five. I didn't really discover this, or it didn't sink into my brain before I bought it or while I was caking it, until after I had already knitted the first four colors. It wouldn't of been bad except that I had already based my calculations for the finished length of the scarf for six colors.

There was nothing I could do at this point so I plunged ahead with it and hoped it would block out longer than what my finished measurement would be.

I finished knitting the scarf towards the end of January, but didn't get it off the needles and ends woven in until this past Monday. Sad, I know. Such a naughty aunt.

In the end I am happy how it turned out. The only thing I wish I did differently was fade from one color to the next, instead of an abrupt change in color. I haven't soaked/blocked it yet, so I don't know if I made it to my desired finished measurements.

#2: Blueberry Waffle Socks by Sandy Turner

Started: November 24, 2016
Finished: February 4, 2017

I had these sock finished for awhile, but didn't weave in the four measly ends until this past Monday. So therefore, I didn't feel I could share them as an FO until they were "officially" complete. Silly, I know.

The yarn was gifted to me from my mother a few Christmas's ago. It's from HauteKnitYarn in Bumble Rumble. I let it ferment in my stash for quite some time until I knew exactly what I wanted to knit with it.

I love how they turned out !

#3: Grinchmas Sock

Started: February 9, 2017
Finished: February 27, 2017
Yarn: NomadicYarns - Trusty Sock - Grinchmas
Pattern: My basic top-down vanilla sock pattern

You guys! I am so in love with my Grinchmas socks!!!!!

This yarn was a new-to-me yarn and OMG. It is so, so, SO wonderful to knit. The colors are a vibrant tonal and the feel of it is amazing. Slid so easily on my needles.

And, can I say just how shocked I am at how perfectly matched my stripes are between the two socks?

If you haven't knit with NomadicYarn's yet, I highly recommend it. The turn around time for dye-to-order is usually 4-5 weeks and totally worth the wait in my opinion.

These socks are also my first finished pair of socks for the BoxOSoxKAL2017 that Voolenvine Yarns is hosting in her Yarngasm Podcast Ravelry Group.

WIP's

I only have one current WIP to share this week.

Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Lueder 
Started: February 25

Since I had been knitting with some newly acquired sock yarn for my Grinchmas Socks, I decided I wanted to dig deep into my sock yarn stash vault for these. I came up with Three Irish Girls - Adorn Sock in Saltwater Taffy. I picked it because it reminded me of a beautiful sunrise/sunset at the beach!

The progress you see here was all I completed on Saturday into Sunday morning. I had cast on while meeting my dear friend Shameka (Mekamika Shop Podcast) for some lunch and afternoon knitting on Saturday. I only started them when I got to the heel flap on my Grinchmas Socks. I find when we get together, I need to only knit on items that don't need a ton of concentration because we are non-stop talkers when we get together.

Also, how adorable, and perfectly matched, is the owl progress keeper? Shameka also has an Etsy shop (MekaMika) where she makes/sells amazing stitch markers.

I'm also knitting these for the BoxOSoxKAL2017, but also for Inside Number 23's Harry Potter KAL she is hosting on her Ravelry group. I am totally blaming Shameka for getting me onto these KAL's. She is the queen of KAL participation and somehow I just got sucked into it! It's all good though, as it motivates me to knit more of my stash faster

Stash Enhancement

#1: Dragon Hoard Yarn - Superwash Sock Yarn in Japanese Cherry Blossoms

#2: Corda Bella Hand Dyed Yarns - Ultra Sock Yarn in Dancing Queen

#3 and #4: Feza - Gradient Baby Blanket Kits (Pink and Red)

I purchased these two kits from ImagiKnit after seeing Ellen's (The Ellen Report) gorgeous blanket being knit up on her Instagram and then again on her blog.

I have a close friend who is due with her second baby girl in May. I couldn't decide which color to knit for her, so I bought both colors. I figured I would knit the one I didn't choose for my friend down the road sometime.

The yarn is a mix of cotton and rayon and is totally scrumptious in person!

I ended up deciding to knit the pink blanket kit for my friend. It just called to me for her and of course this is the color Ellen is knitting so I've seen just how gorgeous it knits!

The theme of my stash enhancement this week seems to be pink! It's definitely one of my most favorite colors.

So, that's it for this past week of my knitting life. My goal going forward is to hopefully have this post up every Monday and it will cover all my knitting from the previous Monday to Sunday.

Hope you like it and please share with me all that you are working on in the comments. I always love hearing what everyone is up to in the crafty world!

Decisions, Decisions

With having finished my Blueberry Waffle Socks over the weekend (FO post to come), I am itching to cast on another pair. Mostly likely will be a plain vanilla sock.

A few nights ago, I decided to pull out some of my sock yarn stash (old and new stuff) to see if anything tickled me fancy.

Here's a look at it all pulled out together:

So many pretty yarns to choose from. Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe!

Let's take a closer look at these lovelies shall we?

Here is some (I say some because I already knit a skein that was in the original haul) of my sock yarn haul from Rhinebeck 2015:

Then I looked over some of my haul from Rhinebeck 2016:

Finally, I perused all the yarn I purchased during December:

Don't you love my little getting in on the action?

Her choice was the Molly Girl Yarn which she let me know by licking it! Unfortunately, it didn't make the final cut this time.

Finally, I narrowed my choices down to these three:

I chose one from each Rhinebeck year and one from my December purchases.

From left to right:

Socks That Rock Lightweight (Rhinebeck '15) - Gnome of the Range
Socks That Rock Lightweight (Rhinebeck '16) - Splendor in the Trees
Nomadic Yarns Trusty Sock - Grinchmas (self-striping)

Now, I am left with the decision of which one to cast on with next. Tough decision I tell ya!

Progress Made

Great progress has been made with my Blueberry Waffle socks!

In my last post about what was on my needles, I mentioned that I hoped to finish sock number one and cast on sock number two.

Well this is what they looked like at the end of January:

Yup, I indeed finished the first sock and as of January 31st, I was at the gusset decreases on the second sock.

I am now working my way down the foot and hope to have the sock completed by the end of this upcoming weekend.

After I get this baby off my needles, it will be time to peruse my sock stash and get another pair going. It is my hope that I can knit one pair of socks per month this year. I have so much loveliness in my stash that I really want to put a dent in it.

My little "helper" thinks some of my sock yarn stash is pretty awesome, especially when she started licking it!

On My Needles

It's been awhile since I've talked about my knitting. Towards the end of 2016 I regained some steam with my knitting and actually finished some stuff I had started earlier in the year and even started and finished a new item within 2 weeks!

Instead of talking about the past stuff I've knitted (and completed), I want to share what is currently on my needles.

After two years of knitting socks for my nephew for Christmas, this past year he had a new request. A scarf in neutral colors. My sister was visiting this past October when she delivered this information to me and since we were attending the NY Sheep and Wool Festival, I knew I needed to find the yarn to knit this for him.

I ended up purchasing a fingering weight gradient kit from Shelridge Farm. Living in a southern state, he didn't need anything worsted or heavier.

A few weeks later I cast on the scarf and dutifully knitted away on it. I made excellent progress, but due to a lack of proper brain function, I wasn't able to knit on it in December. Thus meaning I suck as an aunt and wasn't able to finish it in time for Christmas.

Alas, let's fast forward to this past week where I finally felt like a normal functioning human again and I finished adding the last two color changes to the scarf.

All that is left for me to do is bind off (so it's technically still on my needles) and weave in all the pesky little ends from the color changes. After that, it will get a little bath/blocking and will be on it's merry way to it's owner. I'm calling this a win because it's still winter so he should still get some use out of it!

I have another WIP on my needles and this time it's a pair of socks for me!

In November I was on a sock knitting roll and managed to finish two pairs. I wanted to keep the good sock knitting vibes rolling so I immediately picked out yarn from my stash (HauteKnitYarn Sparkle: Bumble Rumble) that had been fermenting for a couple of years and cast on the Blueberry Waffles Socks by Sandy Turner.

This is what the sock looked like on November 27th:

Compared to what it looks like today:

I am at the toe shaping and hope to get the second sock on my needles before the end of January. Totally doable!

Tell me what's on your knitting needles right now?

Return to Knitting

I haven't touched my knitting needles since December and my plans to return to knitting during the Memorial Day weekend didn't happen. I'm not going to focus on the reasons why I haven't knitted in over 6 months. I'm going to focus on that I am finally spending some quality time with my yarn again.

On Sunday, I decided to spend a little time knitting. Mid-morning I claimed our favorite armchair in the corner of our living room right by the window and got reacquainted with a pair of socks I needed to get finished.

This is what it looked like when little Miss Shana discovered the yarn bowl in the middle of the floor:

I had to laugh because whenever something in the house changes, she freaks out a little and stalks whatever it is that has changed.

The last time she did this was when I changed out her food bowl to a new one. You don't realize just how much a little thing like that can affect a cat.

After the yarn bowl was thoroughly investigated and then relocated to my lap, I spent a few hours turning the heel flap and began progress on the foot.

By mid-afternoon I took a little break to focus on some scrapbooking and after dinner resumed knitting on the couch. This is what Shana thought of that...

After attacking my yarn a few times, Manny was so kind in trying to distract her for me.

Eventually she gave up when she realized she wasn't going to win this battle.

On Monday, I decided I was going to bring my knitting to work with me again and knit during my lunch break. By the end of my break, I think I had made some decent progress.

As of today, I'm an 1.5" away from starting the toe. My plan is to complete it by the end of this weekend and immediately start on it's mate.

Going forward I am going to focus on balance. I have too many hobbies and not enough time. I need to find a balance where I feel I am able to spend time doing each of the things I love.

Right now I think I have figured out my new balance.

Hobby #1 - Reading: I am an avid reader and love to spend copious amounts of time getting lost in my books. Right now I am reading during my subway commute to and from work and then 10-15 minutes at bedtime. While I am not devouring my books like I used to, I am happy I am still getting time to read.

Hobby #2 - Scrapbooking: You guys know that this is where I have been focusing all of my creative juices. After not being able to scrapbook for over two years, once I got my new crafty space setup I tried to make up for lost time with a hobby I hadn't been able to do for so long. I've got myself more organized during the past few months and therefore I feel can be more productive with the time I am spending scrapbooking. I am currently scrapbooking a little each day on the weekends and occasionally during the week after work when I am not too tired.

Hobby #3 - Knitting: My hopes going forward is that I will spend one morning on the weekends getting in some action with my knitting and as long as my project remains portable, I will continue to bring it to work with me to knit during my lunch break.

I have one more hobby, sewing, to eventually work into the rotation. Don't know when I will make that happen and right now I am choosing to focus on the new balance I've just started.

So tell me, am I alone in this? Do you guys have more than one hobby and struggle with finding the perfect balance between them all?

Revisiting the Old

After completing the Antarktis shawl, I decided it was high time I revisited some of my old unfinished knits.

I didn't want to dig through all my bags (yes plural) containing all the UFO's, so I just grabbed for the first little project bag on top. Fortunately for me, it contained a sock, Yes!!! My thoughts were, "I can finish this one quickly!"

After completing my first two pairs of socks within the first 2 months of this year, I had immediately started the TTL Mystery Sock 2015, which isn't a mystery anymore as the last clue came out in, ohhhh February!

I first mentioned the sock here at the end of January and revisited my progress here in March. You can even see in the March post that I had casted on for Mr. Second Sock!

Then we totally went off the grid with these babies! MIA. Send out a search party ASAP!

While I knew there was no way I would be completing these socks during the actual knit along, I had hoped they would of been done back in April.

I had been cruising towards completedville very nicely until I hit a little snag. It was a second sock issue. I completely messed up the leg chart and had to rip back. When I made the mistake my focus was elsewhere and I didn't realize it until the next time I sat down to knit.

I only had to rip back 8 rows of 64 stitches each. Really it wasn't that much. I could of completed that in a short amount of time. However, for whatever reason, I didn't.

So let's fast forward 4 months shall we?

Today Mr. Second Sock looks a little like this...

I worked on this over a 2 day period during my lunch breaks. First knitting session was to rip it and the second was to put back what I ripped.

Now I am thinking of when I can realistically finish it. After consulting the calendar, counting days, taking my other crafty adventures into consideration, looking at the full moon, I am reaching for completion on or before, September 15th.

While giving myself a little over 3 weeks is a wee bit generous for my knitting speed, I'd rather put a little extra time in there so I don't put a huge amount of pressure on myself to get it done in a short period of time. There is nothing worse than doing that to yourself and then not succeeding. Knitting depressionville is where I would be headed!

So that's it! I am throwing down the gauntlet. I'm going to get 'em done!

FO Chronicles: Antarktis

I knew for my Summer Swap package I wanted to knit a simple, one skein shawl for my partner. I had the perfect skein of sock yarn in hand, but needed to find the perfect pattern for it.

After much Ravelry research, I decided to knit Antarktis. I chose this pattern because not only would it be a quick knit, but it would surely be great for someone that may not like lace shawls. As this was going in my swap package, I wanted to make sure it would be something that would be used.

After several false starts...

...this was number three,  I finally managed to really get past my prior issues and move forward with the shawl.

It took me only a couple weeks of inconsistent knitting to complete it after that.

Finding time to wet block it was another story. But I managed:

It's not pretty and I can tell my blocking techniques are rusty, but I am really happy with how it turned out in the end.

While I have seen some shawls on Ravelry that blocked out rather large (they used the same yarn and amount as I did), mine turned out to be more of a small shawlette. It's still pretty, useable and I am happy to have another finished knit for the year.

FO Details

Pattern: Antarktis by Janina Kallio
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock Yarn (Impressionist Sky); 1 skein
Needles: US Size 5
Started: May 30, 2015
Finished: July 6, 2015

Now I am in the process of analyzing all the projects I have currently on my needles. I definitely need to get more off, before I put more on!

Tell me, what is on your needles right now? Anything you really want to finish that's been hanging around a tad too long?

WWKIP Day

Since I took the past couple of months off from blogging, there were a few items from that time period away that I really wanted to share with you. My last couple of posts have been just that. First my wedding, then my knitting swap partner experience, but now I want to add another one, WWKIP day!

Every year this day comes and goes without me remembering. I always hear the chatter leading up to the day, but then I forget all about it until after the fact.

Well this year was different. My dear sweet friend reminded me of it by asking me to come and hang out with all the other knitters in Bryant Park. I remembered my goal of wanting new crafty friends, so I didn't hesitate to say yes.

On June 13, I arrived to Bryant Park promptly at 2:30pm and received a text from my dear sweet friend basically letting me know she was going to be late. Oh boo!

After walking around and snapping some pictures:

I set about my quest of trying to find her knitting friends while seeing if I could find the one person I was to know. Let me tell you, I circled the huge group of knitters like I was a starving piranha trying to find a face I recognized. I can only hope everyone was so absorbed with their knitting and socializing to have not noticed me at all!

After 15 minutes of circling and not seeing the one person I should know, I gave up and found a bench on the outside of the group festivities while I waited for my dear sweet friend to arrive. I must tell you I felt like a school kid that wasn't allowed in the cool kids group to play. I quickly got over myself and set about to my own knitting.

After my dear sweet friend's arrival, she promptly found her knitting buddies (minus the one I was supposed to know as she didn't come after all) and we squeezed into the group to sit down for an afternoon of fun filled knitting!

There was lots of chatter, tons of "ooo's" and "ahh's" during the parade of knits, some singing entertainment and of course big smiles all around.

The project I brought with me was the Antarktis Shawl that I had previously been having issues with, which included starting, ripping out, starting again, ripping out again.

While I was in seclusion waiting for my dear sweet friend to arrive, I managed to start the shawl again and I meticulously wrote down the stitch count after every row as I went. I finally experienced sweet, sweet victory as I managed to to get the correct stitch count at the end of the first pattern section. On all of my earlier attempts I always had one stitch too many.

By the end of the event I had progressed nicely into the second pattern section.

Guess I just needed to be surrounded by lots of positive knitting vibes to move past my knitter problems!

While the day was incredibly hot, I enjoyed myself tremendously. I look forward to attending again next year for sure! Thanks to my dear sweet friend for thinking of me!