A new skill learned and more yarn.

 I have been wanting to learn colorwork for years and seeing that celtic blanket kind of got me fired up again. I learned how to cast on with two different color yarns as a test.

I finished the cast on, then did the first row until I discovered a mistake. Dangit! Oh well, I did enough of the cast on to sort of have it in my muscle memory. It was a variation of the long tail cast on so half the memory was there already.

I then went looking in my stash boxes for smaller yarn to try and do a test swatch and found this.

To say it was yarn barf is being kind. I thought it was a single ball of Kroy Socks FX  yarn but once again it may be so old that it's discontinued. It might be something else and why oh why is it orange and browns? Those are not in my color palette. Obviously I never got to it and I think the other ball is somewhere in storage. Don't remember whether I bought one or two. They may have been on sale or something and I took pity on them.

So I think I've gotten large yarn projects out of my system and want to go back to socks again and maybe incorporate colorwork into them. I'm crazy of course but need to keep my hands busy somehow. I'm almost done with the second purple/green slipper at least, finishing up the cuff now.

Speaking of orange. I went rummaging through the container of yarn and looking at all the Tofutsie balls looking for two that would coordinate. What did I end up with? Orange and a variegated that works with it. Oh well. Hoping I can finish them in time for summer.

Right.

Have been busy with other things.

 It's been raining, my phone died completely, errors on a catastrophic level getting a replacement shipped to me and still waiting.

But other than that, not much new on the needles other than a test swatch and slippers.

So I was wanting to knit a pair of slippers for me and my honey and was considering all manner of things. The blue/brown version is still unfinished but then I found the old pattern for 'super simple slippers'. It turns out a lot like a ballet style slipper which, for these old feet, will not do. I happened to have a cake of purple super saver and started knitting. I suspect this was meant for the average female foot because it's almost too small. Definitely too short as the sides barely get to my ankles. 

Here's the pattern:

Standard worsted weight yarn 

Size 7 needles

Gauge 9 sts = 2 inches

CO 31 sts and leave at least an 8 inch tail

Work in Garter Stitch for 5-5 1/2 inches (slip the first stitch of every row to make edge neater)

After reaching desired length change to 1x1 ribbing.

Continue  ribbing until you are one inch less than the length of the foot. If you like it a bit roomier or have wide feet, go the length of your foot.

Next row: K1, *k2 together, k1 continue to the end

Next row: K2 tog all the way across end k1

Cut yarn with about 20 inch tail for sewing up.

Use yarn needle and thread yarn through stitches on the needle pull up and fasten the yarn then sew the ribbing section until you get to the garter stitch, secure end and weave in.

Use the cast on tail to sew up the heel seam and weave in end.

Now, here's where I got creative.

I got a softer worsted weight yarn, I think it was Homestead?? Much softer type of yarn and the point is to make it look like it's a sock coming out of the slipper ( I am actually wearing a sock when I tried it on and it was nice and toasty). I started at the heel seam and picked up stitches all the way around the leg opening. The front seam was rather tricky and not the neatest job will try and do better with the second one. You should end up with 51 stitches. It's rather tight knitting until you get to the top portion, use magic loop or two circulars for this.

K1, P1 rib for however long you want, about three or four inches is good for short 'sock'.

Loosely bind off, weave in the ends and you're done. Now go do a second one. I dare you.

So that's a first, going to try and do the same thing with the brown and blue 'Jeans' yarn instead of the disaster of a slipper I was making.

Also still no progress on the sock, frogged back the velvet blanket and am kniting a shrug cuff to cuff with that. Now on to the big project.

 I saw someone else's project somewhere that was a multi color 'Lego' style brick blanket pattern. Knitted, not crocheted. I immediately thought of my daughter and sent her the picture. She's all in for me making a lego blanket and will buy the yarn for it.

It uses bobble stitch which I have not done a lot before. That's a bad picture but it's my first swatch test for the blocks. That's a size 7 needle with the Cotton Ease yarn. As soon as the purple is off my needles I'll be practicing with that next.

Another thing is the only knitted pattern anywhere is made by a lady in Britain, it's a paid pattern AND it's intarsia (where you keep bobbins of the different colors and knit across the rows and connect them as you go),

 

So it can get 'quite fiddly' as some knitters say. It's another challenge and the only other option is to do all the blocks separately and sew them together. I am not a hand quilter thank you.

And since this will have bobbles, there's going to be dimples on all the pieces so it's going to look a bit messy on the back and am considering IF I do this blanket, then it will need a back.

Will see what happens.

Either that or a temperature blanket. Neither are good options for 'short attention span knitters' like me.

So lots of rain, no phone and therefore not much to do inside but knit. Or be on the computer. Sighing over yarn and patterns.

This would be my color palette for a temperature blanket. Next year. Maybe.

Regress and Progress...

 

This sock has been on hold since October due to Christmas gift knitting, I decided that I may not have enough yarn to do two socks so........... I pulled it off the needles and wound it up again. I then...silly me, decided that a more accurate ball was needed so I started a new ball from that. Thought I would just wind until the two balls were the same size and then see about making some fingerless gloves. Decided not to.

I thought I had taken a picture of the velvet yarn blanket I was working on but I guess I just stared at it long enough I thought I had. The pooling of the colors was wonderful argyle criss cross and you could barely see the stitch pattern. I frogged it all as well. I started that lap/baby blanket years ago also because I loved the color combination. Teal, medium and dark brown and caramel color just speaks to me on a deep level for some reason.

I was doing a 'brick' stitch of 6x6 knit and purl blocks then was going to pick up the edges and knit a border but then thought, I really, really need a snuggly warm bed sweater. Soooooo, I pulled all of that out and balled it up and am now writing my own pattern. The yarn is discontinued but what I know is it is the Bernat Velvet yarn from the contest they had a few years ago. I am sure I have the ball band still somewhere as it had a code on the inside to check if you won (which obviously I didn't). When I finish the pattern I'll post it here.

As for progress, still working on the blue shawl when I want to sit and knit one row in a half hour.

And the dorm boot is now into the home stretch with the ribbing cuff. Still haven't decided how to do the sole on the bottom other than following the instructions which are kind of lame and given the size I have might not be big enough. It's a test and will try it out on my feet first before making another set for my partner.

It is getting very cold at night, down to frost/freezing temps so I need layers to stay warm. Yes I could have used a lap blanket but a sweater for the morning and evening is more needed. Looking forward to finishing that sweater. 

I had an urge to start yet another shawl from a pattern one of the group had posted. I remembered i had this really thin yarn and I feel very proud I did not cast on for another project. I first wanted to see what the stitch count was like and what other people had made with it. I discovered most everyone that had used this had knitted it doubled. I toyed with the idea of using the blue paired with the lavender I also have which would be an amazing combination. Haven't done a swatch with that yet. I was doing a test swatch on size 1 needles held single and it was a good solid fabric, like machine knit weight, which is not really what you want for a shawl. So since my 2s are in use and I don't have a cable long enough to do a shawl, the yarn goes back in the box under the bed.

My phone died so can't upload a picture of the top down turtleneck 'dicky' I have as well. Another one from the Bernat Deco yarn. That's for next time and hopefully will have further progress on everything else.

I do more knitting in winter and more gardening in the summer, because that's what you do.

 

 

Progress and temptation

 The 'Dorm Boot' is finally making progress after having to knit back about three or four rows. I discovered a gap between the two decreases and at first thought, 'I'll just use some yarn and pull it closed'. I then realized I would have more ends to weave in and it would likely not work well. So knitting back happened.

Where it was and where I ended up. Turned out I think just didn't pull the yarn tight between them or doubled back maybe, doesn't matter, it's fixed.

After fixing and where I am now. Technically that bottom edge gets sewn together so only half the brown would show on the sides. I'm considering looking for slipper soles or knitting across to leave that much showing. I like it that way.

Still progressing on my Shawl in a Ball eyelet shawl. Averaging about a row or two a day so slow going now considering there's almost 300 stitches now. If I had to use this yarn again I would cake it on a winder first. 

I love the colorway and it's turning out really well but the variations in the yarn thickness and composition is a bit aggravating. Thick and fuzzy then thin and stringy, I'm looking at other options for lace weight yarn for another project now, hence the temptation part.

I've seen the Hobbii ads (they're based in Denmark of all places) and they have some good deals on yarn but want to find something closer to home in a long gradation coloring like this. I then realized I have a bout eight balls of the blue green sock yarn. The current sock I'm knitting is okay but isn't turning out the size I thought. 

I'm using a fern leaf lace inset and I think that's what made a difference. There's no negative ease on it so either I wash it and see if it shrinks or do something else.

I'm going to do something else but not right away. I have no needles long enough of a size I need to do a huge shawl. Besides, what I really need is a bed jacket/sweater, not a shawl.

I was looking at AFW (Arcane Fibre Works) and Hobbii, doing a comparison and AFW has some gorgeous yarns that I would need to order two skeins for free shipping or Hobbii and get one cake that has all the yardage I would need and likely cost about the same. So given that I have more than enough yarn to do something I will stop looking at the sites and make do with what I have.

The best bet is a sparkly yellow acrylic I was going to make a rectangle shawl out of or a sweater (can't remember) so that is what I will be using to make a bed sweater out of. It's worsted weight which I have plenty of size needles for and just have to find a good top down pattern at hand to start it.

No cables, maybe a lace pattern, shawl collar, all done in one piece. Best place to find a pattern like that is in a book in storage somewhere. Dangit. Off to Ravelry to see if there's a good pattern there.

That's all I have for knitting this week, lots of things on the needles so progress as it happens.

A pattern found and rainy weather

 It is finally rainy, cold winter weather here so the fingerless gloves are being used every night now while at the computer. I'm going to be making another pair in a slightly different pattern due to quirks discovered in the way I did this one. The thumb hole is not offset from the back so the cable pattern gets pulled to the side. I don't like the way the seed stitch bind off is a bit tight around my knuckles and the cable pattern is not the same for both. I was just winging it on the pattern but they keep my hands and wrists warm. It really makes a difference.

I found the pattern for the eyelet shawl surprisingly! I had to remember how long ago I started it and then chanced looking in dropbox. There it was. Well part of it, I had found the pattern in either a book I have or a book that was at the store and took a picture of the main part of the pattern instructions. Luckily had named it 'eyelet shawl'. Hahaha! so that is in progress again, there's over 200 stitches in a row right now and need to get up to 300 something so I do one row a day at this rate, juggling that with my other project. 

I started a pair of slippers. The idea in my head was to use the Lion Brand Jeans yarn I have, in the Topstitch and New Blue (I think?). I frogged a scarf that I had started and it's been languishing. I was thinking of having the brown color as the bottom of the slipper making it look like a shoe and the blue would be the sock part on the top. Yeah, no such pattern that I could find. The pattern I found that is close is 'Men's Dorm Boots' from  Needle Beetle. That is the picture from the pattern and this is what I have so far:

 

It is an entirely funky way of doing a slipper bottom and for whatever reason, I screwed it up. Working in a circle, the cast on edge is going to be sewn together on the bottom of the sole. Well about six rounds in I couldn't figure out why it felt odd. I looked at it, looked at what I was doing and suddenly realized I was knitting counter clockwise. 

I pondered for a good several minutes on whether to rip it back or not then when I got to the beginning of the round I just reversed direction. When I got to the beginning again I picked up a thread from below and knitted it together with the next stitch. It's the back of the slipper, integrity of the structure isn't compromised and the intended person will never know. 

So you can see the cast on edge is nice and neat, slightly pulled in. Well after I started that blue I got all tangled up and again came to the realization I had somehow flipped it inside out. ::smh:: 

HOW IS THIS SO DIFFICULT!? I've done top down sweaters, socks, hats and never had this issue. And I discovered this mistake AFTER I cut the brown yarn free and had twisted the two colors together. Luckily I was only two rows in so I knit those back, untangled everything, switched it around and took a deep breath. Wow. 

Now, my idea for the next one (or pair) is to do the Turkish cast on and see how that works. Since the rows are alternating knit and purl to get the knit look I'll have to be careful with the first rounds. This will also eliminate the need for stitching up the bottom and creating a seam that might cause a lump.

Okay and now on to the frustration and anger that ensued when I was searching for a pattern to do the slipper. No pictures because it doesn't do any good. I was searching for 'toe up slippers' just on google and that got me very few leads. I then smacked my head and went to the Ravelry search. That got me even fewer that were free patterns of a style that I was looking for and then saw patterns for 'Cottage Socks', 'Cottage Slippers', 'Dorm Socks' and then finally 'Dorm Slippers'. Most all of the boot socks and anything with socks in the name either was using worsted held together or sock yarn.

Sigh..okay let's try pinterest.  Bad idea. Very bad, not good. There was a picture of a two needle pattern for a slipper that looked great... it was repinned in a few places so the issue was that the original site is not to be found. The page that posted it was for crochet patterns. That one didn't show at all. Okay two hours later of looking and I finally see that it's some pattern in Turkish. Very broken Turkish considering I took a gyazo picture of it then converted to an image and then isolated the text and plugged that into google translate. Wow. And it turned out to be less than helpful. 

It was a very frustrating two days chasing down patterns that looked great but ran into dead ends every time. When I found this one, I had to save the blog page with the pattern in my bookmarks and then select just the text and copy it to Pages and convert to a pdf. 

It's exhausting just recounting it now. It was just so aggravating that people will just repost a picture or pattern image just for the clicks to a different website. I wasn't the only one, there were people in the comments of the pin saying they wanted the pattern and how the site didn't match the picture at all. So it's not just me.

If I had another set of size 2 circs I'd be starting another set of gloves using sock yarn. I also discovered that a grandchild loves socks and that will be yet another project to start for them hopefully finish a pair by October for their birthday. 

Finishing projects is my main goal for this year. But there's so much pretty yarn to make things with!

New year and new blog entries.

 I forgot I had this blog for knitting that started in 2009. A lot has happened since then and for a while I wasn't doing any knitting due to circumstances and stuff. Well I'm back to knitting again but most of my things are still in storage. First off some pictures (since I know how to do that now and have the capability to upload pictures).

Just a few things I've accomplished in the past three months. Wrist warmers/fingerless gloves for me out of Touch of Alpaca from Lion Brand (now discontinued). Two hats (plus about four more that were duds and will be frogged) for the grandboys for Christmas and finished a scarf and gave that to my other grandkid.  

I'm very accomplished at hat making now and figured out that the top down pattern is not for me. None of the ones I started like that turned out well and it's not so much the pattern as the yarns I had on hand to do it. The two hats that succeeded were a 3x3 rib pattern and both hats are from the same ball of Mandala yarn (I think this is Chimera colorway which is also discontinued I think). Plenty of yarn left to do more hats or a scarf from just that ball. The scarf is shorter than it should be and unknown yarn. Possibly Landscapes, but it's not as slick and silky as landscapes. I used a staggered fern pattern and it turned out much prettier in person. 

I have two or three shawls that are in bags, one of which I just untangled and rewound the yarn into a ball. Progress pictures of the winding process.

Final result. Most of the yarn was just caught on itself. The yarn is Shawl In A Ball and the shawl pattern is a really easy quatrifoil(?) eyelet pattern. I must have gotten it out of one of my books somewhere but searches on Ravelry in my library came up with nothing.

I am accomplished enough to figure out the pattern but will take a while and possibly ripping out a row to double check the pattern. My goal for 2024 is to finish or frog most of my projects I have currently handy. I want to make a pair of slippers for my sweetie (yes I found someone to spend the rest of my life with) and use what yarn I have as much as possible.

In other news, there is a new independent yarn dyer that showed up on my feed a few weeks back and the yarns are stunning. Good news is, it's not that expensive initially, bad news is, he is in Canada.

Yarn company is Arcane Fibre Works and he does four different yarn bases from sock to chunky and they are all the same price. He has posted videos with and without narration on the dyeing process which is fascinating and more instructional for people that do their own dyeing. So far I have seen ten colorways I want.  He finds pictures on the internet for inspiration and then comes as close as possible to the colors in the image. Conversion for the cost works out to be $27 USD but then there's the taxes and customs and shipping so it works out to be about $35 per skein but there's no shipping on two or more skeins. So, not in my budget at this time but wonderful to look at and drool over.

That's my catch up post for now. Between this, my garden blog and my personal blog, I will likely be posting this one about once a week maybe once a month depending on how my projects go. Gardening is my first hobby at this point so that gets posts at least every other day. 

So yay for the feeling of progress! Happy New Year Knitting!