Socks – Ms Lindz – My little corner of the internet

I’m Still Alive – A Post with an FO and WIPs

Posted on June 1, 2012 by mslindz

Has anyone seen May? No? Me either…. where did it go? I thought it was around here, but suddenly it’s just disappeared!

I had every intention to blog during May. Seems that the month just got away with me and things have been busier then usual with school, though school plus work are the new “usual” for me these days. Spring term has just 5 school days left for me (term ends June 18th) and I’ve already registered for summer term. It’ll be tough considering it’s only 6 weeks with 10 weeks worth of material crammed into a shorter amount of time. It’ll be interesting to say the least!

Per the usual, despite the lack of blogging, there has not been a lack of knitting. I even finished something last month!

The current KAL going on for SSK (which ends today) is to knit something designed or inspired by one of the hosts (Laura, Leslie, and Carin). I chose to double dip and knit LaLa’s Simple Shawl both for the SSK KAL and the KAL in LaLa’s group, LaLa Knits. The photographs don’t show it well (and two of them are from my iPhone, sorry!), but there’s sparkle in the yarn! I think it turned out great. 🙂

LaLa’s Simple Shawl

Pattern: LaLa’s Simple Shawl by Laura Linneman (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: April 20, 2012
Completed: May 10, 2012
Yarn: Another Crafty Girl Twinkle Sock in Lagoon, 1 skein
Needle: US 6, Signature Circular
Notes: I was able to knit a total of 5 pattern repeats. Very easy and well written pattern. Easy to make larger or smaller. I used a fingering weight yarn and smaller needles, which made it into more of a shawlette.

LaLa’s Simple Shawl

LaLa’s Simple Shawl – Worn

I’m still working on Thin Ice out of Cephalopod Yarns Skinny Bugga! in the Leafy Seadragon colorway. Not a lot of progress lately, but here’s a much better picture of it.

Thin Ice

I’ve made a bit of progress on Magrathea, which I’m using handspun for.

Handspun Magrathea

After receiving some new yarn, my fingers were itching to get it cast on, so I decided to get a head start on Christmas knitting and started the Foreign Correspondent’s Scarf (free pattern on Ravelry) out of Cephalopod Yarns Nautilace in the Rainbow Trout colorway.

Foreign Correspondent’s Scarf

I frogged the stripey Jaywalker socks because they were coming out too tight. Need to go up another needle size, I think to US 1.5, for those. For now, they’re frogged and the yarn is wound back onto it’s cake.

I knit to the leg of the second of the Bonnie and Clyde stripey socks, but then found it to be too tight. This was after knitting the heel nearly 3 times because the stripes weren’t lining up right! Turns out my gauge on the second sock had changed. Guess I was doing a little too much pulling on my yarn as I knit. Oops. Frogged the whole sock and it’s in time out utnil I figure out what I want to do. I think I’ll likely go up a needle size for the second sock and hope that fixes the gauge issue.

Since I frogged that sock and the Jaywalker sock, I had no socks on the needles! GASP! I needed something more portable and less complicated then anything else on the needles, so I started a new sock. I decided on the Georgia on my Mind pattern (free pattern on Ravelry) and pulled out the SweetGeorgia Yarn in Hard Candy that I had. Great pairing, right? Not so much. The yarn at 64 stiches was striping for me and I ultimately decided I didn’t like it, so I frogged it and will be knitting something else with it soon enough.

Georgia on my Mind pre frogging

So, I’m back to no socks on the needles! I figure Summer of Socks will be starting at the end of the month and I’ll cast on for a new pair then. In the mean time I’m focusing on my other WIPs. In fact, I’ve started back on a WIP that I was thinking I was going to frog – the Rocky Coast Cardigan.

I was going to frog this one because the skeins are not well matched. Ah, Malabrigo. How I love your softness, but dislike your non-matchy skeins. I think it’s getting better, but I got these on sale and while they all looked very similar and well matched when in the skeins, after I started knitting, I found that they were rather different from one another. Since I didn’t start out alternating skeins (because frankly I just don’t like to do that), I figured I had a few options: frog the whole thing and use it for something else, keep knitting despite the rather drastic and obvious changes in color and just live with it like that, or frog it all and over dye it to even things out, frog it and alternate between 3 skeins (I have 3 sets that match, so this would be the best way to even things out). I didn’t really like ANY of these options, but out of those, I thought frogging and using it for something else might be best. After that, I put it in the bag and set it aside until I could decided what it’s fate would be.

Then, as I was going through all my WIPs that are hibernating, I thought “What if I finish it, THEN dye it?” I hadn’t considered this option before and I’m still not sold on doing that, but I am working on the sweater again and ignoring the fact that the skeins aren’t all that well matched. Here is a terrible picture of the current state of it.

I’ve finished the body and currently working on the collar. The color is not quite as bright as the photo suggests, but red is such a hard color to photograph, especially with my phone! Once I get finished with the collar, I just have the sleeves left. Shouldn’t take too long. After that, I plan on having my friend Karen dye up some of the leftover yarn (will probably swatch it first and have that dyed) to see if I want to dye it or not.

Next post, I’ll show you all some of the spinning I’m doing and talk a bit about my goal for Tour de Fleece which is coming up at the end of June.

Happy Friday everyone! Hope you all have a great weekend!

Completed Projects, Current Projects, Spinning

An Update with a FO

Posted on April 30, 2012 by mslindz

I can’t believe it’s the end of April already. It feels like it’s been longer and shorter then that since I last blogged early in the month. Two weeks ago I started taking two college courses in addition to working full time. Needless to say, that leaves me very little time to do much else aside from work, school, homework, and whatever household and family responsibilities I have to fit in in-beween those first three. I feel exhausted just talking about it!

I feel like I’ve started and abandoned (frogged) and set aside a bunch of knitting projects in that time, but I’m fairly certain it’s not that many. It’s just my brain playing tricks on me, I’m sure! Hmmm, lets see. *goes back and looks at previous posts to see where she left off*

I did spin up the bright colored Masham from BohoKnitterChic I mentioned my last post. Turns out I’m allergic to it. QUITE allergic, in fact. Yesterday I tried to photograph it and it made my throat feel very itchy until well after I put it in a ziplock bag! While I was spinning it, it made my throat feel itchy and swollen, which is the same reaction I’ve had to some of the more coarse and sheepy wools I’ve tried to knit with in the past (which I ended up giving away because there is plenty of other yarn that DOESN’T make me react that way). Needless to say it has to find a new home with someone else who isn’t allergic to it and The Sheep’s Company Masham will be finding a new home with a local friend of mine as soon as I can remember to give it to her. The Expand Your Spinning Horizons is definitely doing it’s job. Masham is a hairy and corse fiber. It was actually rather nice to spin up aside from the bad reaction I had to it. I’ll post a picture of the finished yarn when I get one. I like how it ended up just as bright as the fiber pre-spinning! Sad I’m allergic to it because I think it would make a great outerwear item. Ah well. I’ve had a new experience I likely wouldn’t have ever had thanks to this spin-a-long.

As for knitting… I managed to get one FO for the month of April! A pair of socks. 😀 I knit these as part of the Solid Socks KAL (colorway: yellow) and Sock Knitters Anonymous KAL (literary themed) for the month of April. This is the first sock group specific KAL I’ve finished in a while! Knitting with yellow was definitely out of my comfort zone. I can’t actually recall anything that I’ve knit in yellow, ever. It’s not a color that I wear much, if ever, so it was fun to knit something I wouldn’t normally knit.

Nemesis Socks

Pattern: Nemesis by Susan Dittrich (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: April 2, 2012
Completed: April 28, 2012
Yarn: The Copper Corgi Studio Fingering in the colorway Mac & Cheese, 2 skeins
Needle: US 1 (2.25mm) Knit Picks circular
Notes: When I started the foot of the sock after knitting the heel flap and picking up stitches, I misread the instructions and left out part of the chart on either side of the main pattern. When I got to the toe, I realized it wouldn’t line up to continue the patterning on the toe as instructed, so instead I knit a plain toe and did the second sock to match the mistakes in the first sock. Ah well, I still like how they came out!

I’ve been working on a number of different projects. I appologise in advance for having mostly iPhone pictures for this part of the post, but I figured if I waited until I got around to taking better pictures with my DSLR, most of these would be FOs and I wouldn’t have even talked about them here yet! (Much like the Nemesis socks above. Oops.) I have four shawls and two pairs of socks in progress. Some of them are now “hibernating” on Ravelry since I tend to only focus on 2-3 projects at a time.

Back in March, I cast on for TVG. I’m using Malabrigo Rios in Archangel. I haven’t made a whole lot of progress and it’s been hibernating since shortly after starting it, but it makes for a nice “mindless” project to pick up whenever.

TVG

The first week of April, I decided to cast on a shawl. I’d been itching to use some of the Cephalopod Yarns I’d purchased earlier in the year, so I cast on for Thin Ice. I’m using Skinny Bugga! in Leafy Seadragon. Here’s a picture of the yarn so you can get a better idea of the beautiful colors in this yarn since my iPhone picture really, really doesn’t show the colors well!

Cephalopod Yarns Skinny Bugga! in Leafy Seadragon

I’m working on the 5th stockinette section right now. I’ve been picking it up every so often and knitting a row or two on it. I think this is going to be a great shawl once it’s finished. This is really lovely yarn to work with! It’s been quite a while since I last worked with Bugga!, but man is it nice. 🙂

Thin Ice

That same first week in April, I cast on for another shawl. I must have had a bad case of startitus that week! The pattern is Magrathea and I’m using handspun. The fiber is from Zarzueal’s Fibers (Etsy & Artfire). The fiber is targhee and the colorway is Emeralds. This stuff is super squishy and very nice to knit with. I can’t wait to have this one done! It’s going to be great to wear, plus this pattern will allow me to use up as much yarn as possible. A better picture of the color can be found here – it’s the two on the right side. It’s not quite as “warm” as this picture makes it seem.

Magrathea

On April 21st, I finished the first Bonnie and Clyde sock. (Bad Amy 80/20 Stripey Sock in the Bonnie and Clyde colorway) These are hibernating for now. Needed the needles to start another sock with just a bit more patterning then plain vanilla.

Bonnie and Clyde Sock #1

The details of the SSK KAL #5 were announced on April 19th and I cast on shortly after that. I knew before the details were posted that the KAL would be featuring at least Laura (aka LaLa) of The Knit Girllls since she had mentioned it in her Ravelry group, LaLa Knits. Since there’s also a KAL going on in that group, I’m double dipping with this next shawl and knitting LaLa’s Simple Shawl. I’m using Another Crafty Girl Twinkle Sock in the Lagoon colorway. Sparkly! Pretty easy pattern which makes it easy for me to pick up and knit.

LaLa’s Simple Shawl

And last, but not least, here are the Jaywalker socks I started this weekend (the socks I needed my US 0’s for – for the cuff). I’m using Bad Amy Splendid Sock (MCN) in Violeta Stripe (brown & purple). Mmmmm MCN. I think I love MCN yarns, though I don’t knit with them nearly enough. Very nice to work with and I’m loving the stripes in this pattern. A lot more fun then just plain vanilla!

Jaywalker Socks

I think that sums up my April for knitting and spinning progress. We’ll talk about my stash “progress” another time. 😉 What fun things have you been working on lately?

Completed Projects

FOs: Socks, Hat, and a Blanket

Posted on April 6, 2012 by mslindz

It’s Friday which means it’s time to share some FO’s! I have a few of them to share since I didn’t blog much last month.

I finally have a picture of the socks I finished early March. The pattern was fairly easy, but did involve some shifting around of stitches for part of the leg. Aside from that it was a fairly quick knit when I actually worked on it and wasn’t distracted with other projects! haha 😉

Cadence Socks

Pattern: Cadence Socks (Ravelry link) by verybusymonkey (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: January 1, 2012
Completed: March 5, 2012
Yarn: Ogle Design Fiber Arts in Ruby, 1 skein
Needle: US 1 Knit Picks nickel circular
Notes: Followed the pattern exactly as written. Great free pattern! I think I’ll be knitting these again sometime so I have a pair of my own since these are a gift.

The 4th SSK KAL started in early March. I had just finished spinning Unwind Yarn Company Handdyed Moorit Shetland in the Midsummer Night’s Dream colorway. Since Unwind Yarn Company is also an SSK vendor, I decided I wanted to use the yarn I’d spun for the KAL. I had spun 126 yards of aran weight yarn (Navajo plied). One of the patterns for the KAL was the Robin’s Egg Blue hat, which I thought would be perfect for my handspun – right weight yarn and I thought the Shetland would make a good outerwear item. It knit up really quickly, but took me a few days to find a button, order it, receive it, then sew it on. I’m really happy with the finished hat and can’t wait to get some use out of it next winter.

Brown Egg Hat

Pattern: Robin’s Egg Blue Hat (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: March 9, 2012
Completed: March 12, 2012
Yarn: Unwind Yarn Company Handdyed Moorit Shetland in the Midsummer Night’s Dream colorway
Needle: US 10.5 Clover circular and DPNs
Notes: Added 1 inch to the “body” of the hat before doing the decreases to give it enough length to cover my ears well. I also sewed down the little button flap. Pattern didn’t call for this, but I thought it bug me if it weren’t secured. Seems more sturdy to me with it completely sewn down and I think it wears a little better (flap near where the button is sewn on doesn’t flare). The button came from Etsy from a shop called AskCheese.

My final FO from March is the Munchkin Blanket. This is a gift to a friend who has a baby on the way. I went with fun colors for this blanket and absolutely love how it turned out. If I were to knit it again, I’d likely choose a yarn that comes in smaller skeins so I don’t have so much leftover yarn. The construction of this blanket was great. Kept me interested and didn’t feel like a slog to get through. I spent last week working on this project. It went from one triangle and the start of the second, to a finished blanket!

Munchkin Blanket

Pattern: Munchkin Blanket by Amy Swenson (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: March 11, 2012
Completed: March 31, 2012
Yarn: Cascade 220 – 1.25 skeins in 1911 (blue), 1.35 skeins in 802 (green), 1.35 skeins in 1969 (purple), and 1.25 skeins in 821 (yellow)
Needle: US 8 ChiaoGoo Red Lace circular
Notes: Pattern instructions could have been more clear and next time I would take out that first WS row completely, but aside from that, I would knit it again. Actually thinking of knitting 4 and sewing them together to create a big blanket, then knit a border around the 4 squares. See on my project page for more detailed notes.

Munchkin Blanket – Mmmm squishy garter stitch!

What have you finished up recently or hoping to get finished soon? Looking at finished items from others often gives me inspiration to focus on one particular thing I’m working on and finish it up. Many other times it makes me want to queue and cast on more things! haha 😛

Have a good weekend everyone!

Current Projects, Knit Ramblings

Progress… or something.

Posted on April 4, 2012 by mslindz

March flew right on by. I can’t believe it’s April already! I feel so behind with my blogging. I was off work last week (stayed home, just took some time off) and had planned to blog, but instead I mostly stayed off the computer and spent time knitting, watching TV, hanging out with Matt, and trying out recipes from America’s Test Kitchen’s Pasta Revolution. Ah well, it was a nice week off from work and I managed to get in quite a bit of knitting time. 🙂

Stashing down: I posted my stash totals for the first quarter and I wish I could say I did a little better. Speaking of which, I totally forgot to post my stash totals for February, so here’s an update on how it’s going in numbers.

February 2012: -950 yards. Total yards out – 6,965. Total yards in – 6,015. New Stash Total – 112,139.3 yards/63.72 miles

March 2012: +2,374 yards. Yards out – 1,540, Yards in – 3,914, New Stash Total – 114,513.3 yards/65.06 miles

For the quarter I’m up. I’m not shocked by this because initially I had a bunch of acrylic that I thought was entered into my stash, but actually wasn’t. Then I bought yarn. Wollmeise Lace (lots of yardage), other various skeins, club yarns, and yarn for a gift project that I didn’t have yarn for in stash. Plus I spun some yarn, too, which added to my totals.

First Quarter 2012: +19,058.1 yards/10.83 miles. Beginning total: 95,455.2 yards/54.24 miles. Ending total: 114,513.3 yards/65.06 miles

I think I’m going the wrong way!! Haha. Ah well. In looking at my stash, overall there’s not really anything I want to destash at the moment. That can change and has over the years, but I’m pretty happy with my stash right now. The thing I’ve tried to focus on the most is using stash yarn FIRST and really thinking about new purchases (Will I use it right away? do I have a plan for it? Will it just sit until I figure out something to do with it? etc). I’ve definitely seen some changes in my buying habits since the beginning of the year. For me, that’s progress! 🙂

————————————–

I spent most of last week working on a blanket, which I will show when I post my March FO’s. Made a lot of progress on that, but since finishing the blanket, I seem to be going backwards in terms of progress (and stash looking at the above totals!). This week I picked my Rocky Coast Cardigan back up.

Rocky Coast Cardigan in Malabrigo Twist

But… there’s a problem. Since that picture was taken, I’ve had to join a new skein of yarn. I’ve tried multiple times, but every new skein doesn’t match up very well with the last skein used and creates a visible line right at the most unflattering part – the bust. Sigh. I really didn’t want to alternate skeins every two rows. Looks like I definitely need to, so I will be ripping it all out and starting over. 😦 I know I’ll be so much happier with it by doing this, but it makes me sad to have to rip it out and start over!

Seems like I’m on a roll with ripping things out this week because I ripped out something else, too.

Honey Badger Sock

After getting part of the way down the foot of the sock, I tried it on and decided it was coming out too tight for my liking. Bummer! I do like the yarn and pattern combo, though, so I’ll be restarting it on a larger needle at some point.

I hope to update on spinning and other WIPs soon. So much I want to share and never enough time! Until next time… happy knitting!

Current Projects

My WIPs, Let Me Show You Them

Posted on March 8, 2012 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.

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

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

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 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!

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.

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. 🙂

Current Projects, Spinning

WIPs and Spinning

Posted on February 17, 2012 by mslindz

I think I’m a little backwards this week. Wednesday I posted finished projects and today (Friday) I’m posting works-in-progress! Not that I really keep up with WIP Wednesday or FO Friday. At any rate… today’s post is all about WIPs! (And spinning, too. 😉 )

I’ve been keeping up with the Vonica KAL at Lambikin’s Hideaway, though I think I may be a bit ahead of everyone else since I’ve worked on it quite a bit in-between the meetings for it. This past Sunday, I did the bind off for the body. Just the sleeves left now! I took this before going to the KAL on Sunday. I didn’t think I’d get quite that far along while at the shop, but happy with the progress I’ve made on it. I’ve been just a little worried about fit. Right now it seems a bit big, but I’m putting trust in my swatch that the sweater will shrink up when I wash it.

Vonica

A few weeks ago when we went out with friends, I realized none of the projects I was working on were that portable for knitting in public and I had no plain vanilla socks on my needles. I pulled out my skein of Bad Amy Stripey Sock in Bonnie & Clyde (December club shipment) and cast on. I love this colorway and how it’s knitting up!

Plain vanilla sock using Bad Amy in Bonnie & Clyde

I’ve been working on the Cadence sock here and there. I got a little stalled on the foot. It felt like it was taking FOREVER to finish! I picked it up earlier this week, determined to finish it. Tuesday I finished the first sock. Don’t have a good picture of the first one, so here’s where I was on Sunday, nearly to where I started the toe.

Cadence Sock

Ever feel like you’re not really making progress on your current projects? I’ve been feeling that way lately and despite my recent FO’s, I wanted something that would work up a little faster. I went to my 12 in 2012 box looking for something that would work up fairly quickly. Sitting right on top was a skein of Malabrigo Rios in Archangel along with the Nouveau Bohemia pattern. This colorway is gorgeous and I’ve wanted to knit this hat/beret (option for both in the pattern) since it came out. Hats always seem to go quickly for me, so it seemed like a good choice for a quick project. I’ve got the ribbing and one repeat of the pattern done. The yarn is great to work with and the pattern is well written. I think this may actually be a beret I’ll wear quite a bit! That’s saying something since I rarely wear hats of any kind. 🙂

Nouveau Bohemia Beret

I did quite a bit of spinning in January after not touching my wheel for most of 2011. I finished up two bumps of fiber and started on my club shipment from Zarzuela’s Fibers (BFL/Silk in the colorway January Haze). Last week I finished spinning the second half of the club shipment and did my first ever Navajo ply. My singles weren’t as even as I hoped they were. For some reason I had a hard time getting in a good rhythm with my wheel for this fiber and ended up with a few thicker spots in the finished yarn. I’m still quite happy with how it turned out, though. It still needs to be washed, then I’ll figure out my yardage and WPI. Planning on knitting a cowl with it – hope I’ll have enough!

Zarzuela’s Fibers January Club Shipment
75% BFL/25% Silk in January Haze

The Knit Girllls are doing a spin-a-long this year called Expand Your Horizons which focuses on a different fiber every other month. You can find all the info for the spin-a-long in The Knit Girllls Ravelry group. I thought this would be a great way to try out fibers I might not otherwise spin, plus I’m learning more about the fiber through the SAL then I likely would have just trying the various fibers on my own. February’s fiber is Shetland, so I purchased 3.9 oz of Moorit Shetland in Midsummer Night’s Dream from Unwind Yarn Company. Here’s the fiber before I started spinning it (some of it has been pre-drafted).

Unwind Yarn Company Moorit Shetland in Midsummer Night’s Dream

Last night I started spinning it up. This is my first time spinning with Shetland and it’s a bit different then other fibers I’ve tried. Seems a bit more coarse, but it drafts very well and I think it’s pretty easy to spin with. Not sure yet how (or if) I’ll ply it or what I’ll do with it once it’s done. I like the subtle colors of the dye on the darker fiber.

That’s everything that I’ve been spinning the last few weeks. Not a whole lot since I’ve been knitting more then spinning recently, but I’m having fun working through the fiber in my stash and the new fiber as well. I think once I’ve finished the Shetland I’ll spin up one of my fiber club shipments from Hello Yarn.

Looking forward to my upcoming mini-vacation. Matt and I have the next four days off work! No real plans to do much, just looking forward to a few days off together. 🙂 Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Completed Projects, Current Projects

Turn A Square and WIPs

Posted on January 12, 2012 by mslindz

Saturday I was able to finish up the hat for Matt’s brother, Drew. This yarn is SO soft to work with. I want to make a scarf and/or sweater with it sometime! This is my first finished project for 12 in 2012. One down, 11 to go!

Turn A Square

Pattern: Turn A Square by Jared Flood (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: January 3, 2012
Completed: January 7, 2012
Yarn: Classic Elite Yarns Liberty Wool in 7846 (blue – 1/2 skein) and 7813 (black – 1 skein)
Needle: US 5 Boye DPNs, US 7 Clover bamboo circular and DPNs
Notes: Used a total of 183 yards on this hat. I made the brim just over 3″ before starting the stripes. I changed the stripes to be 3 rows each instead of the 2 rows CC and 3 rows MC. I probably could have knit another inch on the brim with the black and done the last 2 rows in blue instead of black to fully use up the black skein.

Turn A Square – Flat

Recently, I’ve really enjoyed working on smaller projects. I was thinking about what to start after finishing the hat when I found a skein of yarn I thought had gone missing. This yarn has tried to be many things since I got it and none of them worked out. The yarn is from the Bigmouth Yarns sock club I was part of a while back. When I found it, I recalled the Wussypillows beret and mitts (is it just me, or is that a not so great name for a pattern?) that I had seen not long ago and thought it would be a nice color and yarn to use for it. I cast on for the beret on Sunday. I’m a little further then the picture shows. Currently working on the chart with the decreases.

Wussypillows Beret

I like how this yarn is working up in the pattern. Thought it might pool like it did in other projects I started with it, but glad it hasn’t on the beret. I should have enough yarn for mitts, but I think I’ll make them shorter then the pattern calls for just to be on the safe side.

I haven’t touched the Endpaper Mitts for a while now, but I have been making progress on the Cadence Socks! Currently working on the heel flap of the first sock.

Cadence Socks

Loving this yarn! The color is just gorgeous. I’ll be sad to give these up, but I know my mom will love them.

This Sunday a Knit-a-Long for Vonica is starting at my LYS, Lambikin’s Hideaway. I decided to join in on this one. I’ll be using Rowan Felted Tweed, which I’ve never used before. I like the way the swatch knitted up and I think it’ll make a nice sweater once it’s done. I’ve knit my swatch and I’m ready to cast on!

Yarn for Vonica

What have you been working on this week? 🙂

Completed Projects, Current Projects

Finished Mittens and Current Projects

Posted on January 6, 2012 by mslindz

It’s Friday and I have my first FO of 2012 to share!

Wood Hollow Mittens

Pattern: Wood Hollow Mittensl by Kristen Kapur (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: December 19, 2011
Completed: January 2, 2012
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Cozy in Violet, 1 skein (220 yards)
Needle: US 5 Boye DPNs
Notes: Followed the pattern and made no changes. Well written pattern that I enjoyed knitting. Especially enjoyed the yarn!

Wood Hollow Mittens

I really need to do a post of my current projects, but I feel like every time I want to blog, I end up not getting to it, then the projects all look different or I’m working on different things that I don’t have pictures of. Doesn’t help that it’s difficult to get photographs of my current projects because it’s dark out by the time I get home.

This week I’ve mostly been working on a hat for Matt’s brother, Andrew. Around Christmas he asked me if I could make him a hat in dark colors. How could I say no? I went out to the LYS as soon as I could to get a nice washable wool in dark colors. Once the Wood Hollow mittens were finished, I cast on for Turn A Square by Jared Flood. I lengthened the ribbing, but thinking I should have made it even longer so it could fold over. I was a bit worried about having enough yarn, so I stopped after 20 rows. Now I feel like it definitely needs more ribbing and I will be ripping back tonight and adding more ribbing. If I run out, I’ll just use more blue at the top. I’m using Liberty Wool from Classic Elite. It’s really soft! I’d knit a sweater out of this if I didn’t have multiple sweater sets in my stash to get through first.

Turn A Square

I’ve been working on a pair of Endpaper Mitts on and off since December. They require a lot of concentration when I work on them, so they’re progressing very slowly, but I do love the colors I’m using. The yarn is Yarntini from the semi-soild sock club she did a while back. I though the purple and green made a great combination for these.

Endpaper Mitts

I ripped out the Legwarmer Socks again and will be restarting them in 2×2 ribbing. I didn’t like the 1×1 rib and how stretched out it looked. The Cadence Socks are moving along nicely, but have been set aside for the moment so I can get the hat done. Here’s a not so great phone picture of my progress on them. I’m a little further along then the picture shows. I think I have one more repeat of Chart C before I start the heel.

Cadence Socks

I think it’s been a while since I mentioned Estelle. After finishing the first sleeve and half of the second, I’ve decided to frog it. The sleeves are just too narrow for my liking and I really don’t think that blocking will fix this. Planning on frogging it this weekend and will be casting on for Aereon sometime soon. Here’s what it looks like currently.

Estelle

I feel like I’m fighting casting on new things left and right lately. I try to limit my WIPs to 4-5, which means I won’t cast on anything new until something is finished or frogged. Just seems like there’s so many new patterns and KALs begging to be started! What are you working on this week? Start something new? Finish something up? Always curious what others are working on even though it often makes my queue grow. 🙂

Have a good weekend all!

Current Projects

Stashing Down and Other Goals

Posted on January 4, 2012 by mslindz

I gave the Dover Castle Shawl to the lady I work with yesterday and she LOVED it. I’m really glad it was a hit! 🙂

In an effort to keep me going with reducing the stash this year, I’ve joined a number of Ravelry groups. I’m sure there will be times that I can use all the encouragement I can get and I find that Ravelry groups can be really good for that!

One group I’ve joined is Year of Stash Socks (aka YOSS). They are doing a “Slash & Smash Your Stash” challenge for 2012 this year. I’m not sure how many KAL’s I’ll join in on in that group as last year I think I dropped out of it because there weren’t many Knit-A-Longs (KAL’s) I was interested in and always had some other project I was working on instead. One of the KAL’s they’re doing this month is the Leg Warmer Socks. I have some stash yarn that would work well for these and I’m sure they’d be great to have around the house since I seem to always be freezing lately! I’m using 3 colors of Cascade 220 Superwash in white, red, and grey. Initially I was going to do grey stripes in the leg of the sock, but after knitting one stripe, I didn’t really care for it so I decided I would knit the foot with grey and red stripes instead. Here’s a picture with the stripe in it. I’ve ripped back and removed it, but have knit back to about this point now.

Leg Warmer Socks

Another group I’ve joined is the 12 in 2012 group. This group isn’t project based (as in you have to knit a specific type of project), but can be any projects you want to knit. I’ve picked out 20 projects total and tagged them in my queue on Ravelry. Not sure I’ll get through all of them this year, but it’ll give me a decent list to pick from to get at LEAST 12 projects done from stash this year. I only put a few sock patterns that I wanted to start in the month of January on that list. I figure I’ll be knitting socks all year like I usually do, so I figured I’d keep that mostly separate from the 12 in 2012 projects. To help keep me organized and on track with knitting projects off this list, I took time to pull out all of the yarn from stash and bag it with the pattern (if I had the pattern already, there’s a few that I don’t have yet). I thought this would be a great way for me to just go to this bin and pull something out when I want to start a new project. No more project indecision!

12 (okay, 20!) in 2012 Bin

You may notice a sweater in there. It’s my February Lady Sweater. It no longer fits, but I really love the yarn I used. My plan is to reclaim the yarn and knit a Fitted February Lady Pullover with it as one of my projects for this year. I don’t know if I’ll end up counting it for the 12 in 2012 since it’s really reclaimed yarn and not something in stash that hasn’t been knit. Figured I’d throw it in there as a reminder that it’s something I want to do.

I’m part of a few groups for socks on Ravelry: Year of Stash Socks (which I mentioned above), Solid Socks, Sock Knitters, and the big one Sock Knitters Anonymous (SKA). Solid Socks I’ve been part of for a while and I’ve been a member of SKA previously. It’s SUCH a busy group that I don’t really get too involved there most of the time, but occasionally I do like joining in the KAL’s. I figure between all of those groups, I’ll keep busy with KAL’s or other sock knitting during the year! I do have a few small sock goals: knit the Stained Glass Bubble Socks, knit socks from stash since I have a lot of sock yarn already, and knit at least two pairs of socks for my mom.

I’m already on my way with a combination of goals: knitting from stash and knitting socks for my mom. Monday I started a pair of Cadence Socks using Ogle Design Fiber Arts in Ruby which I picked up at the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival in 2010.

Cadence Socks

Reduce stash, knit socks from stash (hoping for 12!), knit 12 projects… those are my main goals for this year. I’d like to get back into the habit of spinning since my fiber stash has grown, but I’ve barely been spinning, so I think I will add in a goal of spinning at least an hour a week, which can be broken up over days or done all at once. I think those are all goals I can accomplish this year! We’ll see how I do! 🙂

Current Projects

All the FO’s

Posted on December 27, 2011 by mslindz

Wow, it’s nearly the end of December! I can hardly believe how fast this month has gone by. Considering all the holiday things going on this month, I’m not really surprised that it’s gone by so quick since we’ve been rather busy most of the month. Just hard to believe December and 2011 is nearly over!

Hope everyone has had a good holiday season. For those who celebrate gift giving holidays this time of year, I hope you got all the knitting/crochet/fibery things you asked for! 🙂

Turns out that since I haven’t blogged for nearly a month, I have a number of FO’s to show (five. FIVE?!). I know I showed this first one previously and promised better pictures, but since he’s been wearing it, I’m not sure when that will happen, so I’ll go ahead and give the details with the picture from last time. (Forgive me, it’s been tough to take pictures this month with all our dreary weather!).

Matt’s Striped Scarf

Pattern: 1×1 rib scarf, switching colors every 2 rows (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: November 17, 2009
Completed: November 29, 2011
Yarn: 1 skein each of Dye Dreams Luster Sock in Shades of Ireland and Malabrigo Sock Yarn in Negro
Needle: US 5 birch straights
Notes: The pattern is the Noro Striped scarf using non-striping yarns. Really easy, but really boring which is why it took me 2 years to complete! He loves it, though, and I’m glad I finally got it off the needles.

A friend of mine, Jessie (who is a knitter), asked me to knit a sock monkey hat for her soon to be born son and I was happy to do it. How could I resist knitting something so cute? Initially I knit the larger size (baby) and it looked way too big for a tiny baby, but since I’d already knit it and had enough yarn, I finished it and sent it along with the newborn sized one. She said she loves how they turned out. Now the little one just needs to decide to make an appearance so he can wear it!

Sock Monkey Hat – Baby/Toddler Size

Pattern: Sock Monkey Ear Flap Hats for the Whole Family – Baby size (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: December 5, 2011
Completed: December 14, 2011
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in Really Read, Charcoal, and Aran
Needle: US 5 bamboo DPNs
Notes: Modifications I made were to use felt for the eyes instead of buttons and I knit i-cord instead of doing the braid which I thought was way too bulky. I used a 3 3/8″ Clover Pom Pom maker for the pom pom.

Pattern: Sock Monkey Ear Flap Hats for the Whole Family – Newborn size (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: December 10, 2011
Completed: December 14, 2011
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in Really Read, Charcoal, and Aran
Needle: US 5 bamboo DPNs
Notes: This is the newborn size one. Modifications I made were to use felt for the eyes instead of buttons and I knit i-cord instead of doing the braid which I thought was way too bulky. I used a 2 1/2″ Clover Pom Pom maker for the pom pom.

Sock Monkey Hats

Originally I was going to keep these socks for myself, but ended up deciding my mom could use another pair and I finished them in time to gift them to her for Christmas. She loved them and kept saying “NO, these are MINE.” hehehe 🙂

Embossed Leaves

Pattern: Embossed Leaves by Mona Schmidt (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: September 22, 2011
Completed: December 17, 2011
Yarn: Alchemy Juniper in Autumn Ecstasy, 2 skeins
Needle: US 1 (2.25 mm) Knit Picks circular
Notes: I made a small modification to the heel flap. Instead of knitting 3 stitches on each end, I slipped the first stitch of each row creating 2 garter stitches on each side instead of 3. This made it easier to pick up the stitches on either end. I didn’t cut my yarn after finishing the heel and picking up stitches along the flap – there’s really no reason to do that unless you like weaving in ends!

I started these socks for Matt after knitting myself a pair of sport weight socks from this yarn in a different color. He knew I was working on them, but I finished the second sock just before Christmas and decided to package them with the other gifts I gave him. He’s up to 3 pairs of winter house socks now! I think these are the squashiest of the 3 pairs. There’s only one sock pictured here, but trust me, they are done and they both look the same! 🙂

Matt’s Ribbed Socks

Pattern: 50 stitch toe-up 3×2 ribbed sock (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: November 29, 2011
Completed: December 19, 2011
Yarn: MadelineTosh Tosh Sport in Boxwood, 1 skein
Needle: US 2.5 (3.00 mm) Knit Picks circular
Notes: Basic 50 stitch toe-up sock with slipped stich heel. Did a k3, p2 rib for a snug fit. Squishy! This just might be my favorite sport weight yarn for socks. Not that I’ve knit many pairs, but I do love how it knits up.

I think these will be the last FO’s of 2011, but there’s a small chance I may get the shawl or mittens I’m working on done before the year ends.

With this year nearly over, have you been thinking much about knitting/crocheting/spinning goals for 2012? I certainly have. There’s so many things I want to knit and work on next year, but I’m still working on some strategy to complete the goals I have in mind. If you have knitting/crocheting/spinning goals for 2012, what are they?

Next time I’ll share some of my WIPs! Until then, happy knitting all. 🙂

	Peggy (maggyruth on… on NYAN!! and Other Things
	stitchingmystressawa… on Stashing Down and Other G…
	Michelle on Stashing Down and Other G…
	laura on End of 2011, Beginning of…
	laura on All the FO’s