wip: gd, slide, scrapsocks

I haven't posted about GD in a little while, and it's mostly been because I work on it extremely infrequently. I'm extremely grateful to the two kind ravelers who sent me their scraps, because therapy-knitting them these last few weeks (last week especially) had been a simple process. GD has grown to be 53in(~135cm) thanks to all your yarn scraps! That's about underarm height for 5'9" me, so I've still got a ways to go before it reaches a good enough length.

I'm only a tiny bit anxious to see this bound off, but it's for three little reasons here:

• it's getting cold, and a trusty blanket we already use has had to be retired because it's disintegrating

• the wealth of interestingstashprojects out there to cast-on

• I think I might be a product knitter

If it doesn't happen for another while, I won't sweat it. It's entirely gratifying to see how little stash I have to my name now (not counting planned-and-spoken-for stash). I've been unravelling the less relevant Bapsicrafts items (remember Ipod sleeves?!) to free up that kind of room. Also, needless to say, I broke my No Cotton rule eons ago, so this thing is gonna be interesting to see out of the dryer.

Updates of my other WIPs: (I know, I'm a bad non-monogamous knitter right now)

My scrap pair #1's done and has been bound off! I didn't weave in those ends yet, because one of the socks needs to be re-bound with something a little more stretchy. This is my remaining fingering-weight yarn (minus the 78 yards of my eggplant Regia), which will transform into my next scrap pair once the WIP-count's gone down a bit.

That last photo of my NaKniSweMo project here was completely frogged! I thought I would luck-out without swatching but I absolutely didn't. When I tried that WIP on over my shoulders to gauge how far I'd gone, the sweater fell through to the floor--it was absolutely massive. So after frogging the thing, I swatched like a good knitter, and sized down to a 5mm needle. Today marks finally reaching un-crinkly, brand new yarn, so it might be smooth sailing from here on out.

The Slide socks have unfortunately been ignored. I reached the heel flap on the first sock, and might not really attend to it until I'm on-schedule again with this sweater project.

With the holidays around the corner, I might consider going for a hand-knit round of gifts for my loved ones. An example: my Cocoon hat knit in time for Canada turned out to be too thick for comfortable on-ear headphone use for me, but will definitely be perfect for a friend of mine who lives somewhere cold (and prefers in-ears!)

I'll have to see how I'll handle other gifts, but I'm looking forward to joining the rest of the knitting community in a rush for midnight Christmas.

wip: nakniswemo2016, slide + knitpicks stash acquisition!

Happy November! I recently made a big yarn purchase from

Knitpicks

for this special winter month, and now that they've arrived, I can finally show you. But first, a sock WIP update--

The Slide socks by Cookie A are a dream to knit up. I had seen a lot of her designs around ravelry and on various blogs and have wondered why her work has been so popular (besides the gorgeous designs, that is). If this pattern is enough to go by, she's got a way of making simple knitting stitches and conventions into impressive designs, and of explaining them clearly and flawlessly for even an uncertain beginner to comfortably follow along. I might have to queue up those ever-popular

Monkey Socks

sometime soon.

As for the Zen Garden yarn--it's easily the softest sock yarn I've had the privilege of working with to date, but I think the colorway shifts too aggressively for the purpose of this design. I'll likely keep knitting it, but another go at this project with a softly solid MadelineTosh might be in order in the future.

I'm participating in NaKniSweMo for a second year! This year's choice is

Ease

, a gorgeous pattern that has been sitting in my queue for a long time. I chose Knitpicks' Wool of the Andes Superwash in Mineral Heather, which looks even better in person.

The colors are faaar more accurate in this photo than in the previous.

I'm happy to know that it's not nearly as rough for me as commenters on the Ravelry yarn profile complained. It feels great in my hands, and I expect it to soften up even more after its first post-bind-off soak. Full disclosure, though: I didn't swatch at all for this. We'll see whether I get out of this in one piece or end up cursing all the way back to the yarn winder after frogging an entire sweater. Living on the EDGE.

This lovely but kinda garish set of Brava Sport is another new addition. I bit the bait

hard

and shelled out the ~whopping (not) $25 for a Rainbow Hue Shift kit from Knitpicks. This is gonna be my first afghan project (well, one that isn't

a sausage project

anyway).

Suffice it to say I got bitten by the knitting bug this fall/winter and I'm happily letting myself head where the line leads me, even if it means breaking my Big Rule of WIP Monogamy. See you all soon with photos of these projects!

fo: garden TAATs

pattern : my own

yarn : Schachenmayr Regia Design Line by Arne & Carlos in Garden

needle : US 1 [2.25mm]

size : 10"

Another sock down! I'm excited for this project to finally be done. I'm also taking this opportunity here to feature the new wooden sock blockers by The Loopy Ewe!

I've wanted a pair of wooden sock blockers for a while and the little cut-out sheep design won me over instantly when I saw them. It also helps me share FO news, because it's no longer a requirement to model these things and take awkward selfies to make blog posts happen.

I had the bright idea to not only go for a 3-to-1 rib leg, but also to try to knit until all of the yarn ran out. This thing bored me to death. My slide socks currently in progress are doing great work of keeping my interest as a contrast.

Unrelated but very exciting-- I've committed to two big knitting things for myself beginning this fall/winter. Last week, I ordered not only a sweater quantity of yarn for my NaKniSweMo project (more info on this next time), but I've also purchased my kit for a Hue Shift Afghan, which is gonna be a lot of fun to sink my teeth into! I've never knit a mitered square before, so I expect to really level up in knitting those things by the time that blanket's finished.

Do you have any challenging/exciting fibercraft things going on this season? Big NaKniSwemo plans? Stashbusting projects?

wip: slide & perfect fit short socks

After completing the Garden TAATs, I made it my mission this Socktober to cast-on two projects: an ankle sock scrapbusting project series, and a more involved sock project from my queue.

I've made it an idle goal for a long time to own only hand made socks a long time ago (with the exception of Muji's adorable recycled yarn ones), but it hurt my soul to go running or working out with precious merino cabled ones. The solution presented itself the moment I took a detailed inventory of my Ravelry stash. Working on these toe-ups with the help of ArtDesign1's pattern, I intend to find a straightforward and fun method that will comfortably fit. I've enjoyed the nostalgia of knitting up yarns from past projects, and am excited to see how they clash together (though my current one looks pretty deliberate in color scheme).

As for the second list item, I went for Slide by Cookie A. Those socks look absolutely gorgeous and will definitely give this product knitter something to chew on and learn some patience. With these cooling(?!) southern California months, I've really been chomping on the bit for more wool and more FOs, so here's to slowing down and taking it one stitch at a time.

This post is part of Ginny Sheller's Yarn-Along. Click on the image above and share what you're working on!