2 FOs, Oh My

The Monkey socks were recently taken off the needles. I'm very happy to have them completed and I love the pattern. I can definitely see making more of these in the future.

Project Specs
Pattern: Monkey from Knitty
Yarn Used: Austermann Step sock yarn in color Melba color 10
Size needles: US 1.5 needles or (2.5 mm)
Project length: entirely too long (mid-January to May of this year)
Project modifications: none, knit pattern as written, although I didn't follow instructions for the heel flap. I knit my standard heel flap and worked the heel turn as for a round heel, which is my standard.

Oh, my the Chevron scarf was the scarf that would never end. While I like it mostly, I was happy to just be done with it. Knitting this on size 5 (US needles) needles felt like I never made any progress, but it was great to work on while taking the Light Rail to and from school.


Project Specs
Pattern: Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts
Yarn used: Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sport in Valentine and Desert Flower, 1 skein of each color
Size needles used: US 5
Project length: Approx. 2 months
Project modifications: none, the scarf ended up being 69 inches in length, although I still have a bit of yarn left, but not too much.


And lastly, this was a little sumthin-sumthin' I picked up last week. I adore these stitch markers. The shop vendor is Aija and her Etsy shop is, Zero. She sells the most beautiful stitch markers and will size the jump rings according to your needs, at no extra charge. The price is quite reasonable and I ended up picking up 3 sets and Aija dropped in a couple of single ones on a signature card. Quick service and great quality.



That's all for today.

WIP It Real Good

Hey knitfriends,
Life has not been too busy, but haven't really felt much like blogging. Not that life hasn't been busy, but no busier than normal, really.

I thought I'd mention all the projects that are on my needles, some of which haven't even made it to the blog yet. It felt nice to get rid of a couple of projects off the needles, but I still have more I'd like to see off. I feel like Jeni. She has a "Free The Needles" project, where she must finish projects on the needles before getting started with new projects.

First off, the Monkey socks, using Austermann Step. I love knitting with this yarn b/c it is so moisturizing, but I just finished the heel flap and am now on the decreases for the sock. I just feel like I'm knitting and knitting and getting nowhere, but that's not really the fault of the sock, b/c I've also been knitting here and there on the Opal "to go" socks in my car and those suckers will never end. I hope to finish these socks in the next 2 weeks, so I can be done with them.



Next up is a project that the blog hasn't even seen, it is my start to the Diamond Fantasy Shawl. I'm using some of the Hello Yarn I purchased earlier in the year in the color Staggering. I love how the pattern is working with this pattern. I haven't had much of a chance to work on it, although I cast on during my Spring Break mid-March. But as school is winding down, the classwork is not all done, so I haven't been able to sit down and concentrate on this one like I've wanted to for a few weeks. Hopefully soon it will get some love.



The Classic Elite Top-down Raglan Cardi is getting some attention again. I finally picked up the stitches to start working on sleeve #1. I wish it was done, but I've been working a lot on it. The sleeve is now at the elbow, so we're in the homestretch. I did think alot about the length of the cardi and if I needed to knit it longer. It's actually at a good length now, but I was thinking of a sweater I have at work and it's much longer. I compared the two sweaters and the "work" sweater is at least 5 1/2 inches longer. I don't think I want the top-down cardi to be that long. The work sweater is all about comfort and warmth as I freeze alot at work. The orange cardi won't be for work and I generally don't like them this long. After I finish the sleeves, I'll see if I want to make it longer. If I do, it would be maybe 2 inches longer. I think I have enough yarn to do this and that may happen. I'll keep you posted.




The last two projects are some baby raglan sweaters. Actually at this point, all pieces have been knitted and I'm in the process of sewing them up. Please remind me the next time I think about doing this pattern again how much I hate all the seaming. It's just way too much work for one little sweater. Top-down or bottom-up in the round from now on for baby knitting.




The last project that's being worked on is the Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts. I decided to spare you another picture. It's just getting longer, although I am getting bored with knitting it. I will definitely be stopping at the end of the skeins I'm using. I'm at about 50 inches now. I think once I reach my height in inches (64"), if I'm not out of yarn, I'll be stopping then. I really don't like terribly long scarves either.

Well, that's it for me today. Hopefully you'll see another post this week. Things may be scarce on the blogging front between now and May 5th, which is the end of my semester.

Finishing Frenzy

Wow, it's been a busy week. I thought I might have more time to post, but that just didn't happen like I thought. After my last post, I stated that I was getting bored with my knitting. As I thought about my last post, before typing, it dawned on me the reason I was getting bored was because I was knitting the same project (the baby hoodie sweater) and it felt like it was going nowhere and I wasn't getting the length I needed no matter how long I seemed to knit on this thing. The funny thing is that when I finally picked up the pattern again, I noticed two things, a)the size I chose to knit is a 4-6 size and the child I'm knitting for is currently 3.5 years old, but still this thing will probably be a bit large for now and 2)the measurement I was looking for was not under the shoulder but from the top of the shoulder. I need to have 15 1/2 inches from the top of the shoulder, but I was using the underarm measurement. When I measured from the right place, I have 20 1/2 inches, so a-rippin' we will go. Fun, not, but oh well. I decided it's time to put it away, although I will rip it back and finish the body with the side slits and perhaps work on the sleeves (in my spare time), so when I do pick it back up for the fall, I will either have just the hood to do, or the sleeves and the hood. Either way, that's not that much left to do on it. But it's gonna be put aside for a minute.

I decided it's time to get back to me, my favorite knitting subject. No, but I needed to put away some of the knitting for others down and work on some stuff for me. New projects have been cast on, but nothing to really show you. In order to start on some new stuff, I decided to also work on finishing some older items.

First off, I worked on finishing Fair Isle Jazz scarf, but no new pictures. It is currently blocking. I closed up the side seams and whipstitched the back so there is no "pocket" to the back of the scarf and wove in any remaining ends. I still have the tassels to do, but figured I should go ahead and do the major finishing on it.

I also finished weaving in the ends to the knitted tam, but I forgot to take pictures, so it will have to be for the next post. Sorry about that. I don't love it, but all of my hair fits into it, so that's something, right? Maybe not, moving on.

The first Monkey sock is done. Yay! And I cast on for two more socks, but neither one of them is the Monkey mate.



I got the urge to cast on for Monkey and while I will finish the second sock, I started a sock last summer or fall for some socks in Regia Stretch in a blue/brown colorway that is slightly similar to the STR Lucy Colorway, although the brown in my sock is much darker. Wendy of Wendy Knits knitted a pair of Lucy socks with a cat's paw lace insertion. I liked the cat's paw lace so much, I knitted one sock out of it, but then put never started the second sock. Partly because I was gearing up for some Christmas knitting and other projects. Before I finish the second Monkey sock, I want to finish the second cat's paw lace sock. The first finished sock looks lonely in my handknit socks drawer and when I finish that second sock, I'll have a new pair I can wear and then when I finish the second Monkey sock, I'll have another pair, whee!

Another project I'm not sure if I ever blogged about were some baby bibs from the Mason-Dixon knitting book. Last summer I binged on Sugar and Cream cotton (maybe 16-20, but eventually took some back so I have maybe 10-12 skeins of yarn). I used three skeins to make three bibs for a co-worker who recently had a baby girl. I thought these might be useful, along with a baby sweater I made last year that I never gave to its original recipient (it was a former co-worker who never kept in contact after I was laid off from my old job, so I didn't feel it necessary to track her down to give her a gift, plus I did give a gift, just not a handknit one). The baby bibs were very easy to do and I knit one each in one setting. I finished them quite awhile ago (maybe 2-3 weeks, but never got around to sewing on the buttons, but that occurred today).


Something that I did finish awhile ago, but the scarf never found its right home. I made this scarf out of Patons SWS yarn (soy and wool) and realized that it shed too much for me to wear the scarf, even though I loved it. I planned on gifting it this Christmas, but it never happened. I also wanted to knit a scarf for the Red Scarf Project and the pattern and the yarn I tried to use just didn't work out. Finally it dawned on me that I had a scarf laying on the back of the couch downstairs for months and it does have some red in it, but it's not really a unisex scarf, the colors are mostly girly. But I'm glad that I can still donate a scarf to the project. It's all packaged up now and ready to go in tomorrow's mail.




Lastly, my sister recently sent me some pictures of Chason modeling his hoodie sweater. He looked so cute, so although I didn't finish him, just the sweater, here are some modeled shots of the baby/toddler wearing his sweater.



Till later . . .

The Current Object of My Knitting Obsession

which has not been keeping me from blogging, but an old project lying around. Shortly after the beginning of the year, I really felt the urge to get this knit off of my plate. Fair Isle Jazz beckoned to me and I've been working on it at home in short bursts and finally last night, I finished the last of the striping sequence. I'm thrilled to be finished with the scarf, although I do wish the cabled section was a bit longer, but I was fearful of running out of the orange, which was the main color. And I would not have had enough if I wanted to do one more repeat. I am hoping that the scarf does block out a bit longer, but I'll be happy nonetheless with it. I do still have to sew up the side ends, work the tassels and block it. But I'm pretty happy to be done knitting with it.



I've been doing a lot of knitting, but hadn't felt too inspired to blog. Part of it is probably because I'm working on the second toddler hoodie sweater (1st one was for Chason) and although it's going, it's not very exciting to me. I decided the third sweater will wait until next fall and it will be a bigger size. I'll probably stop by the LYS this week and pick up an extra skein, so that I'll be sure to have enough yarn for the bigger size and thus ensure that I'll have the proper dyelot and so on.

I also started a new sock, Monkey from the latest Knitty and I have to say, I can see why Cookie A. calls it monkey. Once you start knitting it, you really can't get the monkey off your back. I love this pattern and the yarn I'm using (Austermann Step color: 10) in pinks/green



I started off the new year knitting a sock pattern instead of my standard stockinette socks, I was pretty pleased by this and that it is such an engaging pattern. It's really hard to be bored by this pattern. I hope the same is true for the second sock.

Lately I've been not too excited with my knitting, save for the Monkey sock. I've been wanting to cast on for a new sweater, but feel that I should finish the kid sweater first. But then I'm not really sure what the next sweater will be. Since I've been a bit bored and not finding something that is engaging me to that other level of knitting, I think it might be time for a bit of lace to enter the knitting line-up . . .

More to come later this week . . .