Tag: SSK KAL

Posted in Completed Projects, Current Projects, Spinning

An Update with a FO

Posted on 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
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.

TGV
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!
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
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
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 & Clyde Sock
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
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
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?

Posted in Completed Projects

FOs: Socks, Hat, and a Blanket

Posted on 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
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
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 (front full)
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 (Folded)
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!

Posted in Completed Projects

Finished Objects and Stashing Down

Posted on by mslindz

Ever feel like you’ve made a blog post when you haven’t? I get that feeling sometimes when I’ve spent a number of days going over a blog post in my head only to realize I never actually made one. Turns out that thinking about blogging isn’t the same as actually blogging! Who knew? 😉

I’ve got a few FO’s to share today and one that I really need to share soon since I finished it mid-January. I can’t believe I took photos this past weekend and forgot to take one of the finished (and blocked!) Wussypillows beret. I admit I’m not all that thrilled with the finished beret because it’s a bit snug on my head. I should have knit the next size up. Ah well, it is finished and blocked at least! I’ll try to get a photo of it soon so I can do a proper FO post for it.

After finishing up the beret, I got to work on the monster for the SSK KAL #3 that features Rebecca Danger patterns. I ended up not using the brown I had in stash and instead used handspun that I had done a long while back from Zarzuela’s Fibers. I thought it went really well with the Crayon box from Gale’s Art that I had spun for the body. I love how Tony the Toy-Box Monster turned out! He now lives on my desk, so I suppose he’s more of a Desk Monster then a Toy-Box one. 🙂

Tony the Handspun Toy-Box Monster
Tony the Handspun Toy-Box Monster

Pattern: Tony the Toy-Box Monster by Rebecca Danger (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: January 22, 2012
Completed: January 27, 2012
Yarn: Handspun – Gale’s Art Merino in Crayon Box for the body and Zarzuela’s Fibers Merino in Emerald City for the limbs
Needle: US 10.5 bamboo DPNs
Notes: Followed the pattern as written. The directions were a little unclear about how to stuff the limbs. I put stuffing in the feet and stitched it shut at the bottom of the leg so it wouldn’t shift around. For the hands/arms, I didn’t do that, just let a little of the stuffing travel up the arms a bit. Overall I’m really happy with how it turned out!

Since finishing up Tony, I feel like I’ve started and frogged projects and not really made a whole lot of progress. I started the Guernsey Wrap, then decided I’d likely never wear it, so I frogged it. I started a pair of fingerless mitts out of handspun, but they were too big and the gauge was tighter then I liked, so those got frogged too. With two socks on the needles, a blanket and a sweater, I just felt like nothing was moving along. Then, Friday before last, Berroco sent out their usual Friday email and I saw the Greer Scarf. I’m not a frilly kind of person usually, but something about this scarf just begged me to make one. I went to the LYS near work, Hank, A Yarn Boutique, and picked up a skein of Berroco Lacey. That evening, I whipped it up in about an hour and a half. Pretty easy project and definitely one that qualifies for instant gratification in my book!

Matt is fancy wearing my Greer scarf!
Matt is fancy wearing my Greer Scarf

Pattern: Greer Scarf (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: February 3, 2012
Completed: February 3, 2012
Yarn: Berroco Lacey, White, 1/2 skein
Hook: 5.0 mm/H hook
Notes: This pattern can be done knit or crochet. Personally I think it is MUCH easier to do crochet because of the yarn used. Much less fiddly then knitting would be. If you wanted to use up the full skein of yarn, you could easily double the size. The first length of yarn that is cut scrunches up a lot when you do the border, so if you wanted a longer scarf, you would just adjust the size of that first/center piece of yarn.

Update on my attempt at stashing down: I can’t really say it’s going well! Mid-January, I discovered a lot of acrylic and a few random skeins of yarn I thought was accounted for weren’t actually accounted for. On top of that I fell down at two Wollmeise updates at The Loopy Ewe. Club yarn and my Color Affection Kits arrived, too.

In numbers January looks like this: +17,634.1 yards. New stash total: 113,089.3 yards/64.26 miles.

Well shoot. That’s sort of the wrong direction isn’t it? It wasn’t all bad, though. I did get 1,990.5 yards out of stash. Compared to the 19,624.6 yards that came in, that’s not so great, but it’s still something! If I were to adjust the total for the yarn that wasn’t accounted for at the beginning that I thought was actually accounted for, my starting total would be 104,329.8 yards/59.28 miles (for reference my beginning total was 95,455.2 yards/54.24 miles). So, with the adjustment I’d be up 8,759.5 yards instead of 19,624.6 yards. That all gets rather confusing for tracking, though. Instead I’m cutting my losses for not double checking my stash at the start and January just doesn’t look that good. Ah well, such is life sometimes.

So far in February, 8 skeins of yarn have found their way home to me and 1 skein of WM Lace is off to a new home very soon. Still leaves me up for the month, but I’ve got time to adjust that. I already have plans to start two projects that would use up 3 skeins of yarn and the club yarn that just arrived came with a pattern I’m planning on starting soon, too. Add in the projects I plan to finish this month and I think this month will be better then January for stashing down.

Next time I’ll show you all the WIPs and spinning I’ve been working on. 🙂 Happy knitting/crocheting/spinning all!

Posted in Completed Projects, Crochet, Current Projects, Spinning

NYAN!! and Other Things

Posted on by mslindz

Ever have one of those days where you feel like there’s a lot you want to share, but aren’t sure where to start? I’m feeling like that as I try to write this blog post today! I’ve been busy organizing my stash, figuring out what projects to work on, knitting, crocheting, and spinning. How about I start with an FO?

I hadn’t mentioned it here as a WIP at all because I wanted it to be a surprise. I knew I couldn’t upload photos to Flickr or Ravelry as I knew the recipient would see! It was hard to keep it a secret and I kept wanting to share it. Now I finally can!

I started this scarf back in December, hoping to get it done as a Christmas present, but it didn’t end up getting finished. January hit and I started working on other things, then decided to finish it up just in time to be a birthday gift. I made this for Jen, aka piddleloop on Ravelry and part of the Piddleloop Sewing Team. A while back she saw the Amigurumi Pop Tart Cat Scarf pattern and went crazy for it. I knew I had to make this for her since she said she can’t really crochet. This has to be one of most fun things I’ve made!

Nyan!! <3
Jen and the Nyan Cat Scarf
Photo from Jen

Pattern: Amigurumi Pop Tart Cat Scarf by Mevlinn Gusick (My Ravelry project page.)
Started: December 4, 2011
Completed: January 16, 2012
Yarn: I Love This Yarn, Caron Simply Soft, and Vanna’s Choice Solids (see Ravelry page for details on colors)
Hook: 4.5 mm and 5.0 mm (H)
Notes: Added a few extra stitches to make the scarf a bit longer. Added a mouth, nose, and cheeks. Followed the rest of the pattern as written.

Nyan Cat Scarf
Nyan Cat Scarf

Before I mailed it off to Jen, Matt was nice enough to let me take some photos of him wearing it. I think this one was my favorite of the bunch, though this one was a close second!

Tasty pop tart? (Nyan)
Tasty Nyan Cat!

This year I wanted to get back to spinning and hoped to get in at least an hour a week with my spinning wheel. Recently, my friend Karen learned to spin, which really motivated me to finish what I had on the wheel and do some spinning for the current SSK KAL. The top one is from Stitches ‘n Rows. It’s Falkland in the colorway Silver Age Joker. It was great to spin and I LOVE the colors. It ended up being heavy fingering weight, though I haven’t figured out the yardage on it yet. I’m planning to knit a pair of fingerless gloves with it.

Handspun!
Handspun!

The bottom one is from Gale’s Art. I bought this a few years ago when I went to MDSW. It’s merino in the Crayon Box colorway. I tried to get a worsted weight with it, but ended up bulky. I’m currently knitting up a Tony the Toy-Box Monster for the SSK KAL #3, which features Rebecca Danger patterns. Since I don’t have enough for the entire monster because the yarn ended up bulkier then I planned, I’ll be using some stash yarn in a chocolate brown color for the arms and legs.

Last night I realized that there was quite a bit of yarn, mostly acrylics, that I didn’t have in my Ravelry stash. I thought I had at least most, if not all, of it in my stash at the beginning of the year. I realized I needed to go through and double check everything yesterday when I noticed a non-acrylic yarn missing from my Ravelry stash that I knew was there. This added quite a bit of yardage to my total – roughly 8,000 yards! Last night I took the time to photograph it all and today I made stash entries for everything. I’ll have to adjust it just a bit later on because not all of them are full skeins. It sure does feel good to have EVERYTHING on there now, though, and have a solid total on everything.

In an effort to use up some of my stash, especially the acrylics I purchased for various home things (blanket, pillows, etc), I started a Moderne Log Cabin blanket using the colors below.

Moderne Log Cabin Blanket
Moderne Log Cabin

I’ve been wanting a knitted blanket for myself for a long time, but couldn’t bring myself to commit to it. I attempted to make a rippled afghan using the blue and pink from the photo above, but just got tired of it. Crocheting doesn’t allow me to watch TV while doing it because I have to look at my work constantly, so I frogged it. Since I can watch TV or read while knitting, I thought this would make a good TV/movie project since it’s all garter stitch. I’m about a 1/3 through the first big square right now and will mostly work on it while TV or movie watching, so it’s more of a long term project. I will admit it’s a bit addicting to knit garter stitch and I find myself wanting to work on it quit a bit. I think the bright colors I’m using are giving me motivation to finish it because I really want the finished blanket!

Oh! I gave Matt’s brother his hat and I think he liked it. 🙂

What are you working on this week? I feel like I still want to start ALL THE THINGS lately, but refraining until I get other things finished first so that I don’t get overwhelmed with WIPs. Tough when I see so many beautiful projects from everyone! I did finish the Wussypillows beret, but haven’t blocked it, so no photos of that yet. Of course there are other WIPs I’m working on, though I don’t have photos of them right now, so I’ll share them next time.

Happy crafting! 🙂