This is a week late, but I still wanted to give it it's own post. This is episode 13, and it was shot at the lake. The lighting is a little funny, but I still manage to talk about my different projects. There weren't any FO's, but I did manage to make some pretty good progress on some projects.
Before I get to the project photos, which are phenomenal, I have to give a shout out to my brother, the one I am making the epic cable sweater for, who caught a pretty good sized fish, and I snapped a quick photo of him.
Another shout out has to go to my mother who was also crafting at the lake. She was making quilts for Project Linus, a charity that donates blankets to children that have experienced trauma, whether they are in the hospital, or are in other trauma. I just thought it was fun for how she could transform the kitchen table into a miniature crafting area.
Then I went on a photo shoot, the next morning, it was pretty epic, all on the back deck of my parent's house down at the lake. I have first my not-quite vanilla socks that are almost ready to turn the heel on.
Then I have the short row shawl that I am completely making up the pattern on, and it was almost ready for a lace border on it.
Then I have my cowl that I started, that I am putting in different fair isle patterns on from a pattern book from the library. I am thinking that I will need to buy this book in order to complete the project. This is all being done in Knit picks Palette Fingering weight, on US size 2 needles, 16 inch circular Karbonz needles.
Then there are the two Project Linus blankets that I am working on. There is the orange tiger striped blanket that is turning out more "Halloween" than I hoped for. It is tunisian crochet, and I am making up the pattern.
Then lastly there is the mitered square blanket that I am making out of left over acrylic yarn and I am working it on US size 10 needles. I added 7 more squares this week.
Thanks for coming on my adventure at the lake. I hope you enjoyed this little look into a different aspect of my life. Join me next week when I will be at home, and it will be my birthday.
This week I posted a new podcast, with the same title as this blog post. I hope that you can check it out!
I went to the lake this past weekend with my family. It was an alright time. I couldn't sleep Friday night, so I ended up working a lot on my brother's sweater, which I will show you a little later. I walked over to my grandparents' house early Saturday morning, and I saw a really huge spider web that I took a picture of. It was at least two and a half feet across. It was pretty massive. I saw others on the way, but this was by far the largest.
There was a lot to talk about on this episode, but I'm afraid I may have rushed through some of it. So, to solve that problem, I thought I would elaborate a bit on here about the different things that I talked about. So first up are my FOs. I finished the Sockhead hat that I had dug out from forever ago and finally finished. I think that it turned out nice, and here it is, all the ends are woven in and everything! I finished it while I was at the lake. I worked in on my 16" Karbonz, US size 2.
Then I finished the first sock of the speckled socks that I am making out of Plymouth Happy Feet 100 Splash which is a heavy fingering weight yarn. I am working them on my Addi Turbo Sock needles that are 8" around and are size US 2. I really like how these are turning out, and I have an awesome idea for my next socks that I am going to make on these needles. I got the idea off of Instagram, and basically you make stripes with two different self striping sock yarns, and the two sock yarns play together to create an even more interesting striping pattern. I think it will be really fun to work on, and it might help me use up some sock yarn that I've gotten bored by.
That's all for my Finished Objects. Next off I have WIPs. There are two blankets, a shawl, and a sweater, and that's all that I showed on the podcast. I managed to work a bit on G's socks, but I forgot to show them on the podcast, so I will just wait until next week, when they will be nearing completion. I finished both heels, and have about 2" done on the cuffs or so. The ballband dishcloth blanket is about a third of the way through, and I have been working on it off and on. It's been made out of Red Heart Super Saver in the Primary colorway and Red Heart with Love in the Lettuce colorway. I'm almost through the first skein of both of those, so it's coming right along. I'm working it on US size 7 needles.
I am also working on baby B's blanket. It is more than half way done. I am working it with size I/9 US Tunisian crochet hook. I am working a honeycomb Tunisian crochet stitch and switching the colors every other row, which gives it a houndstooth appearance. It is worked in Plymouth Encore Worsted in Lime Green and Navy Blue. I want to put a border on it in cream or grey or something, but my grandmother and mother insist that I use either lime green or navy. Which if that is the case I am inclined to do a thick border of lime green and then a small border of navy around it.
The night that I couldn't sleep at all- Friday night, I stayed up and watched the movie Robots three times, once in English, once in French, and once in Spanish. I don't think I will be wanting to watch that movie for a while. I also worked on my brother's sweater's sleeve. Uninterrupted for nearly 5 hours. So I am now almost half way through the sleeve, maybe half way. I'm not really sure. I like how the pattern is turning out. It's a Hedge Fence Pullover by Elinor Brown. It's a paid for pattern on Ravelry. I am working it in Plymouth Encore Worsted Tweed in a natural colorway. I'm working it on size US 7 needles, from my Hiya Hiya interchangeable set. I really like them. Unfortunately, my size 2 needles broke, and I need to investigate about sending them back for a replacement, or what I need to do with them. I will figure it out though.
Then I also worked on the Hippy Hippy Shawl by Gabrielle Vezina, which is a free pattern on Ravelry. Only I'm modifying it because it was written for a DK weight yarn, and I'm using fingering, so I'm working it on US size 2 needles, and I am using a mystery fingering weight in a chocolate brown and Knitpicks Chroma, but I'm not sure which Chroma colorway I'm using. I like it though, and am excited for the end product. At the end I'll have a feather and fan border using Boboli Lace yarn.
In addition to all the knitting that I've gotten done, I've also done a ton of spinning. I've been using spinning to calm down my anxiety and help me get through the day. I finished two skeins, one from the Apothefairy is a gradient. All her braids are one-offs, so there is no colorway name to speak of. I chain plied it, and I'm not real happy about the even-ness of my plying, there seem to be some spots where it's tighter and others where it's looser, so we'll have to see how it knits up. I got 154 yards. I think I want to make a cowl out of it. Then I also finished playing the Barefoot on the Farm Isabelle colorway with the chocolate alpaca fiber, and I got 214 yards. I am not sure what exactly I want to make out of it yet.
I am currently spinning on some wool/mohair 50/50 blend to be plied with the rest of the Barefoot on the Farm top. I think the colors will play nicely together, and there's only 2 ounces of the mohair/wool blend. I am spinning it on my Turkish spindle that I got in a swap. I have a ways to go on this one, since I don't spin as fast on my spindle as I do on my wheel, and I have a lot of projects going.
I am also spinning some alpaca roving that is cream/white/turquoise and I think I am going to ply it on to itself and make a nice hat- hopefully I can get enough yardage.
Finally, this week I also talked about my Etsy store briefly and showed off the hats that I've made and put up on there. So that was this week. It was pretty jam packed full of a lot of stuff in a short amount of time. Maybe if I get more comfortable I'll be able to ramble a bit more, but I doubt that I will ever do a two hour podcast by myself like the Dancing Geek does. Anywho, that's all for this week, and hopefully next week I will be able to show you some more finished objects, and maybe some new projects on the needles.
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.
Today I'm going to talk about different needles that I am using and have used in making the color work hats that I am going to sell on Etsy, but first, let's have a quick look at the projects that I finished yesterday, shall we?
These are five little pocket bags that I finished up yesterday. They are approximately 3.5" by 5" by 7". The wider striped ones are going to be priced more because I pieced the base fabric for the bag, almost all of them have different sizes of black and white polka dots as the pocket lining. How the bags are made the inside of the bags are the same as the outside. It's a pretty neat little design, not a lot of cutting, just quite a bit of folding.
This is another blanket for Project Linus, it's crochet, the stitch is a Catherine Wheel, with three colors, and then borders to make it big enough, since I ran out of yarn before it was big enough. Then I did a shell edge, just to tie it all together.
And now for the needles. In this picture you can see a colorwork hat, made on size US 2 needles, with Knitpicks palette yarn, for almost all of it, the grey is sockweight yarn that was white and I dyed it and ended up with a tonal grey. The three types of needles in this picture are an unknown brand set of double points, size US 2, bamboo. Then there are the Hiya Hiya interchangeables with a 24" cable and size US 2 tips. Finally there are a set of Knitter's Pride Karbonz in size US 2 with a 16" cable.
First, the double pointed needles, they are probably the most traditional. I have done quite a few socks exclusively on double points, and once you get the hang of them they are really pretty slick and I don't find them excessively fiddly. Now I usually only use DPNs for finishing the top of hats where the circumference of the knitting prohibits it working on a flexible cabled needle. I have an issue with using bamboo, I use bamboo over metal because it is less slick and I don't have to worry about stitches falling off, which has been an issue for me in the past. (There was one time I was working on socks on US 00 DPNs on a back country road at the lake, and we hit a bump and half of my stitches on a short row heel, half way through it, fell off, and I literally screamed and held my breath while I worked on getting the stitches back on the needles. The finished project ended up being very stiff, as the gauge was too small for the yarn, and the heel just did not fit right. I only finished the one as it was a bit of a disaster).
OK, back to the review. This Christmas I made approximately 18 hats for all they guys at the church group that I go to. 15 were done with sock yarn, and the Hiya Hiya interchangeables that are pictured above. I like the join between the tips and the cable, it's a screw attachment, and I find it secure and stable. I also like that the interchangeables go down to a size US 2, since most interchangeable sets that I have seen usually only go down to the size US 4, which just isn't small enough for me personally. The only problem that I am finding with these needles is that because I work a little tensely, and at the tip of the needle, I have been sharpening the needle to the point that it stabs me in the pointer finger on my right hand. I realize that this is probably not a common problem, and I don't think that what I have done with these needles should be considered "normal use", but it is something that I have noticed.
The last set of needles is the Knitter's Pride Karbonz needles. They have metal tips with carbon fiber shafts, and metal joins to the plastic cable. The 16" cable is really nice for me, because of the hats that I am making the stitches fit better on that size of cable, but that is not really a critique of the needles. The carbon fiber shaft feels a little funny, but they don't snag stitches at all, and the joins are very smooth, and I am finding that I can knit very fast on these needles with minimal stabbing, since the points are not blunt but rounded so my finger is not suffering.
So there you go, I really think it comes down to personal preference. At this point I prefer the Knitter's Pride Karbonz, but I am not everyone so I think there is a lot of wiggle room about which needles will work for you!
