Tag: Cowl

Posted in Current Projects

My WIPs, Let Me Show You Them

Posted on by mslindz

I can’t believe how many WIPs I have right now. It’s more than usual since I typically try to limit myself to 4 at a time. For almost 2 months I’ve been resisting casting on every new project or KAL that comes along. Finally I decided to throw caution to the wind and just cast on some new things despite all the things I currently had on the needles.

I’m still working on the Bonnie & Clyde stripey socks. I’m past the heel on the first sock now.

Bonnie & Clyde Stripey Socks
Bad Amy Stripey Sock in Bonnie & Clyde

Shortly after finishing up Vonica, I cast on for another sweater. I wanted something basic with this black yarn, but Estelle didn’t work out. I spent some time looking at patterns that would fit the gauge I had. I knew I wanted a cardigan and that it should be primarily stockinette (after all, it’s black yarn). After searching on Ravelry, I decided on Shapely Boyfriend by Stefanie Japel. I’ve knit her patterns before and felt good about my choice for this yarn. So far the pattern is pretty simple and it’s shaping up to be exactly what I was looking for. I’m just past where you separate the sleeves.

Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan
Shapely Boyfriend Cardigan

In browsing the forums on Ravelry just before March began, I found myself looking at what KALs were coming up in the groups I’m part of. I was drawn to the KAL the Solid Socks group is doing for March. The color for the month is brown. I don’t often find myself knitting with brown, but I did have a skein I received as part of the Little Red Bicycle club that would work and I had no plans for. I noticed some people mentioned that they would be “double dipping” and knitting cables for the KAL that Sock Knitters Anonymous is doing. At first I was a little unsure about doing cables on socks because I usually get stalled out on them (so fiddly on small needles!). I browsed cabled sock patterns anyhow and actually found a few that I would like to knit that I didn’t think I’d get stalled out on. I settled on Stalagmite by Cookie A.. The yarn is Little Red Bicycle Tandem Sock in the colorway Them! THEM!!! THEM!!! I’s working up nicely with the pattern so far even though I haven’t made too much progress yet.

Stalagmite Sock
Stalagmite

Before committing to that double KAL, I had already commit to joining the KAL that Year of Stash Socks is doing for the Honey Badger socks (free pattern on Ravelry). I decided not to start until I had the Cadence Socks done, then realized I didn’t even have the right needle available. I picked one up last weekend at the LYS and started the Honey Badger socks using Stitches ‘n Rows Happy Soles Sock in the colorway Mai Tai. Loving this yarn and how it’s knitting up with this pattern!

Honey Badger
Honey Badger Socks

Speaking of the LYS… while I was there, they had Malabrigo Twist on sale for 25% off. I’d had my eye on this yarn every time I went there for a while now. Particularly the color Sealing Wax. I kept resisting the urge to get a sweaters worth. This time, I couldn’t resist. I had to have it and I finally knew what I was going to make with it: Rocky Coast Cardigan. I’d been itching to knit up this sweater, but didn’t have anything in stash that would work. The LYS had exactly the amount I needed – 6 skeins. I figured it was meant to come home with me, so I purchased it! I knit up a swatch right away, got gauge on the first shot, and started it on Tuesday of this week. I don’t have a progress picture yet. I’ve knit a few repeats of the chart and have made a few adjustments to the pattern after reading project notes on Ravelry. This yarn is SO squishy. It’s going to make an awesome cardigan!

Rocky Coast Cardigan
Getting ready to start the Rocky Coast Cardigan

This last WIP, I (partially) blame on Hillary. This week on Plurk she mentioned starting a Pretty Thing (Rav link), which has been in my queue forever. I decided to knit along with her and started my own today using Great Northern Yarn’s 70% mink/30% cashmere that I had leftover from when I knit Juneberry. I think it’s going to turn out really cozy and should be a pretty quick knit.

Pretty Thing
Getting ready to start Pretty Thing

What have you been working on lately? Even with all these projects going, I have plans for a few more. One that I want to get started on very soon. Seems like my list of things to knit is always a long one. 🙂

Posted in Completed Projects, Crochet

Almost August and a July FO

Posted on by mslindz

My how July has flown by! I can’t believe it’s been nearly a month since I last blogged. I had the best of intentions (as always), but I’ve been a bit lazy about photographing my WIPs and FOs and without pictures, I end up not blogging. The heat we’ve been having hasn’t helped much, either. The last thing I want to do when I get home is put on a handspun wool cowl and take pictures in the house on the 2nd floor which is all too often about the same temperature as outside. Heck, that makes me not want to even TAKE pictures most of the time. Sadly, that 2nd floor room with lots of light and white space is the best room to take photographs of yarn, WIPs and FOs. The 1st floor, with it’s lack of ceiling and natural lighting, makes good pictures difficult, so I end up not doing it. Definitely doesn’t help that Matt has been working a different schedule then usual (four 10 hour days vs five 8 hour days). Since he’s been working later, 2-3 times a week I’m going directly to the gym after work and getting home around the same time as he does. Time just seems scarce lately!

Anyhow… I have still been knitting, crocheting, and a little bit of spinning despite my lack of blogging about it.

Let’s see. Tour de Fleece is over and I ended up barely participating. I did get some spinning done in the early days of the tour, but I haven’t photographed what I’ve been spinning to share that with you (totally forgot to!). A few days in, the fiber prep and spinning started bothering my wrists and shoulders, so I set it aside and sadly didn’t really get back to it before I realized the tour was over! To be honest, I was having a hard time getting into it this year for some reason. Probably because of other things I’ve been working on that have been holding my interest more. Ah well. There’s always next year! 😉

Since I last updated, I finished my Granny Square cowl. I did end up getting 24 squares from the yarn and ran out of yarn while crocheting the squares together. Thankfully I had some other handspun in a similar color to use to finish crocheting everything together. I like how it turned out! It’s going to be squishy and warm to wear this winter.

Granny Square Cowl
Granny Square Cowl

Pattern: Granny Square Cowl (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: June 27, 2011
Completed: July 9, 2011
Yarn: Handspun, Zarzuela’s Fibers Hand Dyed Corriedale in the “Tour de Fleece” colorway
Hook: H/5.0 mm
Notes: This was inspired by Mary-Heather’s Granny Square Cowl. No real pattern other then granny squares. I crocheted 24 squares total, then randomly placed them together. Pretty easy to do and man are those squares addictive!

Granny Square Cowl
Granny Square Cowl (Worn)

Lots of other WIPs on the needles, though I think that will be a whole post or two for another day. I think I’ll be able to make one of those WIPs into an FO before July is out. Here’s hoping!

For those of you that are Westknits fans, you probably already know about the Mystery Shawl KAL he’s doing starting August 1st (Ravelry link), right? I heard about it right after the pattern went up on Ravelry and knew right away that, despite all the other things I’m working on including the one that is more or less deadline knitting, I wanted to join. I had a tough time picking out three colors for the shawl, but I knew I wanted it to be something I had in stash that I could use up. After a lot of pondering, I decided on using this color combo for it.

Westknits Mystery KAL Yarn
Westknits Mystery KAL Yarn

This is Yarntini Merino/Nylon Sock in Concord (top), Capirinha (bottom left), and Summer Sunset (bottom right). Not sure what color will be A, B, or C in the pattern yet. I’ll probably decided this weekend when I wind up my yarn or you can suggest which one should be my “main” color (C) in the comments! 🙂 If you’re doing this Mystery KAL, what colors and yarn are you using? Decided on which will be A, B, and C?

All of you suffering through this heatwave, stay cool and drink lots of water! All those that aren’t and are in cooler climates, man am I jealous – can I come stay with you until winter? 😀

Posted in Crochet, Current Projects

Granny Cowl, Socks, and Tour de Fleece

Posted on by mslindz

It seems like I’ve done a pretty good job of clearing off my needles recently, which left me with not a lot to work on. Okay, that’s not entirely true. I do have Matt’s scarf, the High Seas shawl which I haven’t even photographed yet, and that crochet scarf. They weren’t really holding my interest (either scarf) or weren’t good portable knitting (I’m looking at you High Seas shawl with your charting on every row). So… I started some new things!

A while back I saw Mary-Heather’s granny squares cowl. I knew right away that I wanted to make one! I’m terrible about being random in color choices when it comes to knitting or crocheting and I didn’t much care for weaving in a lot of extra ends from having two colors, so I decided on using my handspun from last year’s Tour de Fleece that had enough color differences to make them a little more random. The Corriedale fiber was from Zarzuela’s Fibers in a special colorway for TdF last year. I have 16 squares so far (aiming for 24) and I like how they’re turning out!

Handspun Granny Cowl
Handspun Granny Squares

With the Gush socks off the needles, I figured I should pick out another sock pattern to knit considering it IS the Summer of Socks. After all the previous failed attempts, I decided I was going to get this Summer Spirals pattern to work for me. 54 stitches were still not enough and 64 stitches were still too much, so I figured out a way to add just the right amount of stitches. I cast on 60 stitches, adding in one purl stitch in each purl section. Now I’m basically following the 54 stitch sock with the addition of one purl stitch in each section. I think it’s working out pretty good so far. Just a few more rounds until I start the heel.

Summer Spirals
Summer Spirals Socks

Starting one new pair of socks just wasn’t enough for me! I decided to join in on the CSI: Most Wanted KAL and after a week or more of debating which sock to start with, I finally settled on Dawn Gnot using Plucky Knitter Primo in Sassy Sprout. I’ve done the toe and two repeats of the chart so far. The yarn is really nice to work with – soft MCN blend with a tight twist. Definitely need some more when I can manage to snag some!

Dawn Gnot
Dawn Gnot Socks

This past weekend was not only a holiday weekend, but the start of the Tour de France and for the fiber spinners out there, it was also the start of Tour de Fleece! I made the decision to participate fairly close to the start of Tour de Fleece, so my only goal was to “do some spinning.” Now, I have to admit, this may have been some poor planning on my part. For some reason I knew that it started July 2nd and still thought that it must surely start later in July then that. On top of that, this past weekend ended up being a pretty busy one. I have to hang my head in shame and admit that I haven’t done a single bit of spinning yet. 😦 I suppose it’s a good thing I only joined the Lantern Rogue team, where you know you won’t be able to spin every day, since I figured there’d be a few days that I couldn’t do any spinning. I just didn’t think I’d start out with no spinning the first weekend, a holiday one at that with 3 whole days off! I plan on getting my wheel out and doing some spinning tonight. With the gym, having to grocery shop tonight, find time to make dinner, and Matt working a different summer schedule then normal, I don’t know that it’ll be that much time. Some time is better then no time, though!

Anyone else doing the Tour de Fleece this year? If you’ve set goals for yourself, how are the going so far? If not, have you done much spinning yet? So far I’m not doing so hot, but there’s still time to make up for that! Hoping to have some spinning progress to share next time. 🙂