64 Inch Feet

I just posted my new podcast episode, and the title of this blog post and the episode comes from a slip of the tongue that I had while talking about how I knit socks. Enjoy the video for this week, it's a little longer, and I think I'm a bit more charismatic in it.

This week I finished three blankets. Two for Project Linus, and one for Baby J that will be born in November, and who's baby shower isn't until September. So I am way ahead of schedule.

This is Baby J's blanket. It was made with Plymouth Dreambaby DK using the Walt Paint Chevron Baby Blanket by Danielle Romanetti that's a free pattern on Ravelry. I like how all the colors play together and the yarn is very soft. 

This blanket I just pieced together. I got the squares at a thrift store, and then used donated Red Heart Super Saver one pound skein to go around and make a border. I used almost the entire skein. I probably have 20-15 yards left. I used a size H hook, because that's the size that fit into the loops on the squares that were already made. I prefer to use a size J or I usually. 

This is a log cabin that I improvised that is just garter stitch worked in really bulky acrylic that is all discontinued now. It got a little stuffy working on it during the summer, but at least now it is finished. 

Then I have my WIPs that I am working on right now. There are three more blankets, a hat, two pairs of socks, and a shawl. 

This is Baby B's blanket. I'm working it using tunisian crochet honeycomb stitch in Plymouth Encore Worsted in lime green and navy. 

This is another knit blanket for Project Linus. It's being worked using the ballband dishcloth stitch pattern, and it works up quick and easy to to see progress. I like working with a variegated yarn in the background, I think it gives it more interest than just a plain color would. I'm working this blanket on size US 7 knitting needles. 

This is a ripple blanket from the 100 Colorful Ripple Stitches to Crochet by Leonie Morgan. I love this book. It has so many great stitch patterns in it, and the patterns are charted and the instructions are written out so it's super easy to figure out what the pattern is doing. I almost exclusively use the charts, but not everybody like charts so it's great that both are included. This is being made using scraps of Red Heart Super Saver, and I'm using a size J hook. 

These are the socks for G. I almost have one heel done, so I'm pretty much half way on them. I am using a contrasting color for the toes and heels and upper cuffs, just because there's not enough yarn to really go all the way, and heels and toes use up a fair bit of yarn. These are being worked on size 1 circular needles using the two at a time magic loop technique. 

This sock is from the Plymouth Happy Feet Splatter Dye. I'm working it on an 8" circular, US size 2. It goes really fast and there's no patterning to it, just plain stockinette stitch. I really like this yarn, it's soft and all the colors make it fun to work with. 

This hat is a modified sock head hat pattern, that's also a free pattern on Ravelry. I am making it out of Sausalito yarn by Crystal Palace Yarn. I wanted this to be my "summer" hat, but my mom keeps insisting that I don't need a hat in the summer, so all my hats are languishing, waiting for the weather to cool down so I can wear them again and not have a naked head. 

This is the Hippy Hippy Shawl by Gabrielle Vezina. I like how it's turning out so far. I'm just going to do the body until I run out of yarn in these two skeins, then I have a skein of Boboli Lace that I'm going to do a border on it. I'm making this out of mystery chocolate yarn from a consignment shop and Knitpicks Chroma, on size US 2 needles, Karbonz. 

Last but not least I have my spinning wheel still going, this time spinning chocolate colored alpaca fiber that I will ply with a single from Barefoot on the Farm, and hopefully get a DK weight, with enough to make a nice cowl or shawlette. 

Those are all my FOs and WIPs. My thought for the week was trying to encourage everyone to think of what they can do to give back to the community. I was working exclusively on Project Linus blankets for several days, working on them instead of whatever I wanted to work on to try and donate my time and talents that way. 

A New Podcast!

I decided, like today, that I would make a new podcast and publish it, and see how it turns out. I think that I did alright. I definitely need more practice though. I think that with time it will get much better and it will all turn out.

I showed all my WIPS on the podcast, but here are pictures of a few of them.

The Royals crackerjack scarf that is coming right along and is clearly more blue than white and yellow, so the boys in blue are doing good! I don't know what I'm going to do with all the ends, since I didn't leave them long enough to weave in, they may just stay that way. It'll all be good.

Then this is my speckle dyed sock that I'm really excited to be working on. It's fun to see the colors pop up, even if it is just for a stitch or two, it keeps it interesting to work on. This is my second purse project, I probably shouldn't have cast it on, but I couldn't resist.

Then this is the other blanket for Project Linus. I think this stitch pattern is called the ball band dishcloth pattern. I like working this pattern it is a slip stitch pattern where you alternate the colors every row. It also keeps it interesting. I cast it on yesterday, because I didn't have anything else to work on at Project Linus once I had woven in the ends for the 15 blankets that I turned in!

This is the stack of blankets. 12 of them were just borders around polar fleece that had punched holes in them. Then there was a Ten-stitch tunisian crochet blanket that I did, and two corner-to-corner throw blankets. I was pleased with all of them, and hopefully I have another productive month.

This is the hippy hippy shawl. It is worked in stockinette stripes and it will be a crescent shawl. It's made out of Knitpicks Chroma fingering weight and a mystery acrylic brown that was purchased at Fabric Recycles, which is a consignment store for yarn and fabric.

This is a preemie blanket that I finished that will be given to Children's Mercy once it's blocked. It was worked from the center out, in stripes, with a diamond lace border and then a garter stitch border of six rows or so.This was acrylic yarn that my grandparents got for me at various garage sales. I will probably make another one similar just because this was fun to do and I still have quite a bit of yarn.

This is a diagonal striped blanket that I made from scraps from my most recent Project Linus blankets. This is my fourth or fifth blanket just like this, and I like how it turned out.  I will have to make more blankets to have more scraps to make another blanket or two like this one.

And this is my most recent spinning. I have been spinning it thick and then, so it is like art yarn, and I just have about an ounce and a half left of fiber to spin. This is an art batt that I got at the All MO Spin In. I'm not participating in Tour de Fleece this year, but seeing all the pictures on Instagram are really inspiring and have made me want to spin more.

WIP parade!

So it has been a while since I have been on here, but worry not, I have been quite busy! I didn't even remember what projects I had started and finished, or what projects were on the needles that are now off. I tried to take pictures of everything, but note to self: evening/dusk might as well be night time as far as light goes, and the flash tends to wash out all the colors. But I played with the filters on flickr, trying to get "true to life" colors, but take all pictures of this post with a grain of salt. First, my long term project that is FINALLY done, and has been sent off to be blocked. My 3-in-1 sweater! It's done! I'm not sure if it's the majestic finale that I was expecting, but it does fit, more or less, and it is done. All the ends have been woven in as well, but I didn't take a picture at that point. I'm waiting for it to be brought back from being blocked, so it's all good. 

Then I cast on and cast off a corner-to-corner crochet throw. It's super addicting, and just crochets up so fast. I think that diagonal blankets tend to go faster for me personally anyways. This was made with a size I/9 crochet hook, and I used some of the nicer acrylic in my stash. This blanket is going to be donated to Project Linus this month, along with the other corner-to-corner throw that I was working on last time. 

Similarly, I cast on about two days ago another diagonal blanket. This one is my own design, just working corner to corner, increasing at the end and beginning of every row until it is larger enough, and then decreasing and the beginning and end of every row until it goes back to a point. It's all just single crochet. And this blanket is just scraps of all my projects from the last couple months. I love, love, love working on blankets like this, and even though I rarely make a pattern twice I think this is my fourth or fifth blanket of this same theme. All have been donated to Project Linus, and this one will be too this month. I plan on finishing it either tonight or tomorrow. 

Then there are a couple other old projects. I started a hat way back in about February or March, with the intent that I would wear hats all year round, and this would be my "summer" hat. Silly me, I forgot that it's about a MILLION degrees in Missouri during the summer. So, so much for that idea. but I like how this yarn is knitting up. It's a fingering weight, knit up on size 2 needles. 

Another fingering weight project that I am working on is a preemie blanket for Children's Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. I like working a blanket from the center out. I was experimenting with a center out blanket with both stripes and lace. You can't really see the lace, but it's a diamond lace pattern stolen from a blanket pattern from the 101 Lace One Skein Wonders book. This blanket is also being worked on size 2 needles. 

A third sock weight project is a second pair of socks for G. He really liked and appreciated his first pair, and so I thought I would use the rest of the second skein with doing coordinating heels and toes, and I think that I will have enough yarn. finding the second skein was an adventure in itself. I made the whole sock, and it was going to be like an ankle sock, so I went back to the yarn store, and the yarn was discontinued. So they looked up in the computer who else had bought a similar kind of yarn, and they brought a skein back to the store, and I bought it from them. It was quite the production to get everyone coordinated! So now, I have coordinating dark green yarn for the toes, heels, and cuffs, and have my fingers crossed that I will have enough yarn left to make them a decent length!

Almost off the needles is the baby blanket for my baby cousin J. He is due in November, and his baby shower is in September, so I am WAAAY ahead of schedule. I like how this blanket has turned out, but it was written for worsted weight yarn, and this was worked on size 5 needles in Dreambaby DK, so even though I cast on more stitches, it still ended up being a little narrower than I would have liked. I am happy over all though, and it has a really nice hand to it. 

Since I am making a blanket for baby J, I also need to make one for baby B (who was born about two months ago- so I am a bit behind with him, OOPS). I am tunisian crocheting, with lime green and navy Plymouth Encore, size I/9 hook, and it's a worsted weight yarn. It also has a nice hand, and I am liking the new technique, because I got the new double ended hook, with a cable connecting the two ends. It's pretty exciting how long I can make my rows now!

On the other end of the spectrum is another blanket for Project Linus made out of bulky yarn, that is being knit on size 11 needles. I am just having a hard time getting into this project. The needles are too big and they honestly hurt my hands, after knitting on such a small scale for so long, it's just too big of a transition. The yarn was donated to me after a Make-A-Blanket day about a year ago, so it is high time that I actually finished this project though. The blanket has only been on the needles about a month or so though. 

Last but not least I have been spinning as well. I'm not really participating in Tour de Fleece, but everyone else posting their beautiful pictures to Instagram has inspired me to sit at the wheel a couple times during the last week, so I am making slow, but steady process on a braid that I got at the All MO Spin-In that was held in Chillicothe, MO that was a ton of fun. The colors are way funky, and I tried to correct them with flickr filters, but I don't think it worked very well. They are pretty muted and almost muddy in real life, I am going to ply them with a dark brown alpaca and have a really interesting yarn for a cowl or something of that nature. 

And in upcoming news, I have my next project planned. Granted, there are a few projects hibernating, and several that I've blogged about in this post that are almost done, so I don't really feel like I am being to crazy here. I am wanting to make a crescent shawl- I haven't finalized the pattern yet, but I am really looking towards something that I can have stripes on. I am really digging stripes right now, and just don't have enough of them in my life. So I picked out a skein of Boboli Lace that was on sale at the yarn store, and paired in with a skein of Knit Picks Chroma fingering, and a skein of mystery fingering weight brown yarn from a consignment yarn store. I am really excited about watching them all play together, and I think it will make a lovely shawl. I've never made a crescent shawl, so I am excited to see how the construction varies from just a regular triangle shawl. 

I will try to post some time in the next few days and get back into a schedule with my posts. I'm really tempted to start a podcast, just because I think it would be fun, but I think I need to be more disciplined with releasing different blogs and whatnot before I actually invest into that kind of equipment and such.