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!