wips: lassie and GD + stash addition

The Lass socks are still happening. I thiiink I might not be much of a lace person right now, as I'm a little too nonchalant to make sure the pattern's made as intended. It's just too comforting a think to know that the sock will still be perfectly wearable, even if a yarn-over is off by a couple stitches, or some diamonds don't line up perfectly.

Blanket update! GD's been growing quite a bit! They're at 30cm now (about 12in). I've run out of worsted yarn, so the smaller quantities of fingering weight have been held double for some of the more recent stripes. I've been making a lot of works for shop for the sole purpose of using the leftover yarn in the blanket, so many things are in stock and ready to ship when ordered!

If you have any yarn scraps (anywhere between 1-25m) sitting around your home that you want to get rid of, don’t hesitate to let me know! I’d be happy to repay the cost of postage to you as thanks. At the rate I’m knitting regular projects with my tiny stash, this blanket might not be done for another...decade, so I’d love to help take care of your yarn stash too! Acrylics are preferred but I won’t say no to animal fibers or wool-blends. GD’s already a healthy mix of both so I won’t mind at all. Just no cotton please!

Speaking of stash yarn, I went out and bought a pair of skeins for my first shawl pattern. I’ve been thinking a lot about which yarn to use for a shawl I intend to wear often, and while the fine wools at our LYS’s would be a joy to knit, dryer-ability would have to be the key for me. Heartland seemed like the best bet for now. I’m planning to use the Stingray pattern by Evan Plevinski. This pattern's been sitting in my queue for months now and am excited to start on this once Lassie’s finished (let’s just disregard the existence of my Regia Handpainted sock for now…I'm still trying to forgive its frustrating splitty yarn after all this time).

So this concludes my personal knitting update for now. It has really been one hell of a stashbusting month for me. I’ve been piling up some charity knits from the more obnoxious looking yarns people have been donating to me over time, expect a update about those once I’ve successfully eliminated that stash.

Linking up with KCCO at FrontierDreams!

fo: bapsi's first pullover

This has been such an indecisive project for me toward the end. Picking the pattern and yarn was a breeze. getting the knitting done? that hardly took a month to (mostly-will explain later) complete. But photographing it? Declaring it truly done? That’s been a completely different story.

pattern : Ladies Classic Raglan Pullover

yarn : Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool in Nature’s Brown

needle : US 7, 8 [4.5 mm, 5.0 mm]

size : 44"

I finished this sweater in late 2013. Yep. Twenty. THIRTEEN. In November. I hadn’t taken any FO photos, so Jason and I decided to just have a small forest hike/photoshoot while I was over in England. We did hike, yes. We saw miles of forest. We were just a 20 minute walk (if that) away from the woods on any given day. I stayed there for 6 whole months. Still no photoshoot, still no post about this being finished.

The reason for that is tiny, but a nagging one—

I couldn’t decide how long I really wanted these sleeves, so I left that bit of yarn hanging..

just in case. Over a year and about 12,000 miles of travel later, I decided to just relax and finally make the decision. The sleeves are absolutely fine, and I’ll just let them be. World, Bapsi’s first pullover. Bapsi’s first pullover, world.

BFP was a joy to knit if I remember it well. I felt very proud to have such a large WIP in my lap for those three or so weeks. I did have to redo the very beginning bit several times before getting it just right, but it was to be expected since I’d never made a sweater before. The rest was absolutely simple—just one big stockinette tube after another, with very gentle shaping around the waist and sleeves.

It lead me to learn about just how not-a-big-deal sweaters and larger garments really are at their core. It’s the same concept we do with hats and socks and the like. You increase sometimes, you decrease sometimes, you pick up stitches every now and then. The only difference between this and a hat is that you’re working with a much larger stitch count. And maybe you’re seaming a lot more than you might be used to (this particular pullover was seamless—thanks Jane Richmond!), but the core of it's really simple.

If you’ve never knit anything like this before, I highly recommend Jane Richmond’s pullover pattern. The way she’s handled sizing is super approachable and easy to read. I even printed copies of the worksheet well in advance because I’m confident I will knit from this pattern again and again in the future.

As for the Lassie sock, it's practically knitting itself! There are some parts that I completely ruin the pretty lace pattern but I'm just gonna accept those little mess-ups and move on. It's amazing enough for me to see a sock happening in my hands. I can't wait to see these done and in action. Already thinking about which yarn to knit with next.

fo: jason's domino socks

I've got just one word to sum up this project--FINALLY. The gradation is just beautiful. I hope these fit him. For the time I spent frogging and re-doing, I really really hope these fit him considering the distance this pair of socks will have to travel to get to him.

pattern : How I Make My Socks by Susan B. Anderson

yarn : Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball in Domino

needle : US 1[2.25 mm] 

size : 10

Have I mentioned the gradation is just gorgeous? I'm glad I didn't fuss over making sure they match for identical socks. These socks individually work great as brothers, rather than not-quite-perfect twins.This second picture offers colors that are a little bit more true-to-life.

I also made another addition to the personal stash. This is Patons Kroy Socks in the Flax colorway. I knew they were my shade the moment I saw them. I'm thinking of something with a simple and reliable look, like the Mr. Pitt's Socks by Kaitlyn Wong. I may have been down due to the nerve injury, but I'm certainly not out. I'm going to get my full drawer of hand-knit socks sooner or later.

What about you? Got any goals for sock-knitting? Knitting in general?

Hello 2015

An update, after all this time! I made a little mistake reading from my vanilla socks pattern—The row count for the sock was sized for my size instead of Jason’s, so after binding off the toe and trying it on I was both pleased and saddened to know that they fit perfectly. It spent a good week waiting in the project bag to be frogged and reworked, I needed to muster up the strength in me to make sure I wasn’t going to keep this pair and just make him some plain grey ones instead.

Up top you’ll find a condyle order I’m knitting for Bapsicrafts—this one’s gonna be on its way to the East Coast this Friday. Oh, and a bar of handmade soap by Daffodil Gems, a local seller I met during a show this past fall. Keeping handmade soaps in my project bags was a good idea. My knits smell amazing.

A lot of things have gone on between my last post and now—I made some effort to connect with more old friends and improve my health, and all knitting that wasn’t for Bapsicrafts orders fell off the map. I didn’t make nearly as much progress as I hoped I would for Jason’s Domino socks, but he seems okay with it not making it in his hands by Christmas (for a pair of painstakingly hand-knit gift socks, he better be okay with it).

My yarn stash isn’t shrinking at the rate I initially wanted, but I’ve taken the time to really enjoy other aspects of the crafting process. Things like fine-tuning the knit-object washing/maintenance process, handling tool storage, and even design. It’s helping me deepen my love for the craft, and I’m looking forward to what 2015 will bring.

By the way: NaJoWriMo is right around the corner and I’m planning to participate. If you’ve heard of NaNoWriMo, you may have a gist of what it’s about. NaJoWriMo is a month-long challenge for you to journal every day. The goals and limits are all up to you. You can click here to learn more about the challenge, and maybe join me this January if you’re up for it! Linking up with KCCO at Frontierdreams.