Sorry
to have been so long in writing. As you’ll see, I’ve been quite busy
with my craft projects lately, and decided to be creating instead of
writing about what I’m creating. I would like to blog more often and
make my posts shorter, so I’ll try to get caught up as of today and
hopefully be able to keep up better after that. As I stated in my
last post, this has truly been the “Year of Buying,” and now I need to
be proactive in my making so that none of my fun and beautiful projects
gets lost in the mix.
To
start, I’m enamored with knit-alongs right now, so I am actively
participating in several this year. The one that started it all was the
Yarnhoarder (Amber Lindemann on
Ravelry) podcast, as she is doing a
year-long dishcloth challenge.
I
had a decent amount of solid-colored cotton in my stash from projects
over the years, so I thought it would be fun to use that up. I probably
had enough to make a few, but I went to
Hobby Lobby and found some of
their beautiful variegated I Love This Cotton and bought a few colors of
that. I also went to
JoAnn and found some great prices on colorful
variegated balls. I almost bought a whole cone (14 oz. or so) of Lily
Sugar ‘n Cream in Christmas colors, but I found individual red, white,
and green colors in the inexpensive cotton that I will try first. I
might end up buying the cone anyway, as I really want some Christmas
towels and dishcloths for my kitchen.
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| Hobby Lobby's I Love This Cotton |
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| More I Love This Cotton |
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| Premier Home from JoAnn |
I
have knitted several (my goal is one a week) and am on track for the
year, but I don’t have ends woven in on most of them, so I will post a
photo of them as I complete them. I am able to get 3-4 from each set of
colors, so I think I will gift them as sets for Mothers’ Day, Christmas,
etc. I considered using different stitches for each one, but found the
Gramma’s Favorite pattern to be pretty easy and mindless, for when I’m
watching a show or need to put it down to help little people at a
moment’s notice. I’ve paired together almost all of my cotton yarns, so
when I finish a batch, I just need to reach in my bag and pick the next
set and get started.
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| Pairings of different colors of cotton yarn |
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| My first finished dishcloth, in linen stitch |
I had the tiniest ball of cotton left from making kitchen towels, hot pads, and dish cloths years ago, so I used that and this
pattern to make a cover for my cast iron skillet. It works great!
I’ve
started watching other podcasts, namely
Hey Sister and
Grocery Girls,
and they both like to do knit-alongs as well. The Grocery Girls were
doing a shawl knit-along for the
Joji Locatelli shawls with their names,
and I thought the
Jodi shawl looked easy, interesting, and different
than anything I’ve done, so I completed it with 3 days left in the
knit-along. I spent about 5 days completing it (except for the ends—so
many ends!) and used stash yarn from last summer to complete it. I
enjoyed it so much, after I get this one blocked, I might even make it
again in another fun
Mandala yarn. I already bought the pattern, and I
have plenty of yarn, so I might as well. I’ve never knit a lace chart
before, and once I figured it out, this one was very easy to memorize
and work up.
Nearly
every podcast I have seen is doing a sock knit-along.
YarnGasm, Grocery
Girls, and Yarnhoarder are all doing one, and YarnGasm is initiating a
pair a month knit-along (KAL), called
Box o’ Sox. I definitely have enough
yarn to knit 12 pairs this year, although I don’t know if I’ll have the
time. I have been working on my first pair (I’m a little behind due to
the shawl, dishcloths, and blankets I did earlier this year), and have
made great progress, just this week. I’m almost ready to turn the heels,
and the rest is just knit in a crazy spiral until the ribbed cuff. They
are boring vanilla socks for my hubby, but I bought some beautiful
Cascade Heritage Prints
sock yarn, which is making it much more
interesting. I’m trying the
Fish Lips Kiss heel, and have the cardboard
cutouts for both his foot and mine. I'll post a photo when they're finished.
I
have bought quite a bit of sock yarn this year, trying to get to the 12
pair in fingering weight (required for Box o’ Sox entries), but I also
have some
merino wool left over from Blessing’s sweater,
Fishermen’s Wool left over from my
cousin’s sweater, and some
sport weight that I bought when I first started knitting and had no idea
what I was buying.
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| Sport weight yarn for a hat and fingerless mitts |
The
thing that set me off on my next adventure was a prize that I won from
Amber for all my sweaters last year! I submitted my 5
sweaters in
her Rhinebeck sweater KAL, and she drew my number for a prize around
Christmas, so I won a beautiful skein of
Fire Opal Fibers fingering
weight variegated yarn, and the day it arrived in the mail, I knew I
needed to find something to go with it. It is too pretty for socks! So I
went to the local
yarn shop and found 2 skeins that match it
perfectly. Now all I need is the perfect
pattern, which I think I’ve
found. I already bought it, when it was first released and on sale, and
it looks interesting and beautiful. I’m excited to try it with my new
yarns!
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| Cascade Silk (gray); Fire Opal Fibers (variegated); Cascade Heritage (purple) |
I
also decided that, like the wonderful podcasters, I deserved to try
some beautiful hand-dyed indie yarns, so I have purchased several skeins
recently from
Hedgehog Fibres,
Sweet Georgia yarns, and
Lolodidit. They
are all sock weight, but I don’t know if I’ll make socks or a sock
weight hat out of them. I know the lolodidit yarns will be socks. I
bought a matching mini skein to make heels with, that matches both
skeins. One skein will be my Christmas socks this year (I plan to have
them completed around Thanksgiving), and the other is sparkly! The Sweet
Georgia is so pretty, and colors I wouldn’t normally have bought for
myself, but if they’re in a sock, it won’t matter what I’m wearing with
them too much. The Hedgehog Fibres is probably going to be a hat, but I
don’t know for sure. It’ll make beautiful socks too.
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| Hedgehog Fibres (left); Sweet Georgia (right) |
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| Lolodidit: Hippo for Christmas, Lucky mini, What I Want (sparkle!) |
I
am itching to knit myself a sweater, and one of the Hey Sister podcasts
highlighted this beautiful
Malabrigo Rios yarn in a deep red, perfect
for fall. I have a top that I think looks very good on me in a similar
color, so I thought that a sweater made out of this would be perfect. I
bought 8 skeins on sale, and I finally found the perfect
pattern,
based closely on a sweater I have that I absolutely love, which I have
outgrown. I am hoping I can knit it in a smaller size, but I have enough
yarn to make the largest size. I would love to make a matching hat or
fingerless mitts out of any leftovers.
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| Malabrigo Rios in Cumparsita |
I
follow Madeline Tosh on
instagram, and a couple of weeks ago, she was
posting some of her new colors. This
one caught my eye, and I couldn’t
stop thinking about it! I immediately added it to my cart, then
proceeded to look and wait for several more days before I finally bought
it. I also found a sale on some Tosh Mohair yarn, and it was less
expensive than some of the other yarns, so I bought a sweater’s quantity
of it and am planning to knit this
cardigan this fall. The mini
skein is just a beautiful color I couldn’t justify buying a whole skein
of, but loved.
Last
but not least, I was looking into
Brooklyn Tweed, per the Hey Sister
podcast’s recommendation. I found that a
yarn store about an hour
away carries it, so instead of ordering it and possibly not liking it, I
drove out there this week to feel it and see it in person. The owner
was a very sweet lady and was very gracious about the raucous 3 little
people I trapped in a car for an hour and dragged around a yarn store.
Let
me start by saying Brooklyn Tweed is not at all what I expected. I have
felt worsted wool before (
Fishermen’s Wool is a perfect example), but
this yarn felt light as air. I literally felt like I was holding nothing
when I picked up a full skein of it. It is not as soft as I had hoped,
but the lightness of it makes up for that. I was originally looking for a
purplish color (seems to be my color lately), but after seeing it in
person, I fell in love with two darker colors, and with the help of my
little people, I picked this darker color that I will definitely be
making a hat with. I can’t wait to try it on, it’ll be so light! The
process is called woolen spun, which means that it has more loft to it,
and stays warmer.
After
finding the Brooklyn Tweed, I asked her what the softest yarn she’s
ever worked with was, and she pointed me in the direction of this
a.m.a.z.i.n.g. yarn. It is truly the softest fiber I’ve ever
touched. It’s called Road to China from the
Fibre Co. and it’s made from
alpaca, silk, camel, and cashmere, and I believe it was spun by angels.
I can’t even begin to describe how much I enjoy it. I bought 5
different colors (and would have bought more!) but I thought I should be
able to make a shawl with that much and wear it close to my face all
the time. I think I will take my time knitting this and will wear it
every chance I have. It is just gorgeous! It will also be the most
expensive article of clothing I own...
Blessing
kept picking up green skeins of yarn, so I looked for some more
affordable yarn to make him a hat with, and I found this chunky soft
alpaca in green, red, and blue. I figured I could either make all 3 boys
hats, or make sweaters for the Chipmunks! It is soft as well, although
nothing will ever compare to the Road to China yarn.
While
I was there, I figured I would ask her about every interesting project I
could think of, and one that has been on my mind for a while is
thrummed mittens. I need roving (unspun wool) and worsted wool,
so I asked her to direct me. I found a beautiful purple (again!) and
green, and found coordinating Cascade 220 worsted heathers to knit with.
I thought all of these colors would go together great, and my hubby is
probably going to claim the purple pair, but I’ll put some accent colors
with the green in as well, so they look like a set.
I
needed to spend a certain amount to get a discount on my purchase, and I
was very close, so I decided to either buy another sweater’s quantity
and make it to the highest level, or just get a couple more skeins and
make something smaller, so I went to the clearance section and picked
out some beautiful lavender (of course) cashmere. I don’t know what I’ll
make with it yet (maybe a cowl, since I’ll be wearing the world’s
softest shawl all the time!), but it is very soft as well. I felt very
preppy buying cashmere, something I never would have dreamed of when I
started knitting.
One
of the most fun things I bought recently is a set of cotton yarns from
Hobby Lobby to make a sock monkey. I love making stuffed animals for my
kids, and they love carting them around, and the idea of a sock monkey
intrigues me. It has a pattern on the label, so all I need to do is knit
the socks and go from there.
I
bought a kit from Craftsy around this time last year (along with
many other yarns) for a crochet bear, and finally got around to making
it over Christmas. I had most of the pieces complete and just needed to
stuff and sew it, so of course I procrastinated on all that. I did
finally bite the bullet, and I’m so pleased with the results. It is
soft, snuggly, and just the right size for my little Blessing to cart
around on his shoulder. Instead of crocheting the little sweater, I
decided it was faster to knit and be done with it. I should still pick
up some stitches around the bottom and knit some ribbing, but it works
the way it is. I also want to redo the muzzle, as the ends are poking
out already, but it is functional and the little people aren’t
complaining. Seeing how they treat their stuffed animals makes me want
to knit them more, and in fact, besides the sock monkey, I have a few
other animals in the
queue for them.
A few days late for Christmas this past year, I finished a knitted Christmas ball for our tree. I then completed one for this year (I knit the year on each one), and started on gifts for family. I hope to make them for all the family every year. They're very easy and fun, and quick! I will use up the colors I have and maybe do green or blue or other colors in subsequent years.
I also had an opportunity to gift a set that I made several years ago with some beautiful acrylic yarn I liked. I made the scarf, loved the colors, made a matching hat, and had enough of the yarn to make something else, but not enough to finish it. I ordered an additional skein from someone on Etsy, and was able to finish the fingerless gloves. I gave this set to my aunt for her birthday in January, and she has told me so many times how much she loves wearing them all! I was glad to find a good home for something that I wasn't sure I needed to keep.
I
think that covers all of my recent purchases. I have so much to work on
and so much in my possession right now. I am pretty sure I have enough
yarn to last me at least the next 2 years, so I made a vow to my hubby
that I would not buy more yarn for 2 more years, unless it is for a
specific event or Etsy orders.
Speaking
of
Etsy, I also made a
Viking hat and beard this month. I will be
posting more updates about my shop in the coming months, so be on the
lookout! A couple of changes and a special are coming up!
That
is a lot of yarn, a lot of yarn photos, and very little
knitting/crocheting to show, but thank you for reading to here if you
have. I have three other projects on hiatus right now, 2 blankets and a
set of slippers that I might talk about occasionally, but there is not a
lot to speak of right now on them. I will post more often, as I am all
caught up now and just need to update with new projects and progress on
the ones mentioned above.
Until then, happy crafting!
