wip: The Great Devourer

Last week, I was browsing scrap yarn blanket patterns after looking at the overfull yarn basket in my room (as you do), and found just the thing I wanted to try out for myself—Joan L. Hamer’s Mindless Knitting, TV Watching, Scrap-User Upper Afghan.
I didn’t have a needle large or long enough, and I certainly didn’t have enough scraps lying around for an entire blanket. But I casted on. It took 20 minutes to do it, but I casted on and just got started. Since then, this project has really grown!

This project has been really difficult to put down, so at one point I’ve had to lock it in a different room so I can get other projects finished on time. But we are quickly becoming very good friends though! He is—or more accurately, they are, since this project contains MULTITUDES—always here for me during reading time, and is always happy to eat up whatever worsted weight bits and scraps I dig up while doing my cleaning. Which is why I’m going to name my new pet GD, short for Great Devourer.
As of today, GD is about 8” tall and easily at least 85” around (He’s a big ol’ tube shape for now). I’m looking forward to how much GD will grow when I next post about them.

How about you? Do you have a scrap busting project on standby for what’s left of your primary projects? Any plans for one soon? Do tell in the comment section!

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.

feature: simple seed stitch coasters projects

It's been a real pleasure to see what people can do with my little Seed Stitch Coaster pattern! It's about as simple as a knitting pattern can possibly get, but the excitement is enough to hopefully offset any anxiety about publishing more complex ones in the future.

Here are some projects recently finished using my Simple Seed Stitch Coaster design from last year.

This photo belongs to Freshwind on Ravelry. Freshwind's idea for making a coaster for both her mug and her Chemex was a great one. The orange yarn color complements the brewer's wooden feature really well! Here's her project page here.

This photo belongs to Rumbleforth on Ravelry. I love that Rumbleforth made a set with colors that coordinate really well together. This looks like the pattern served its purpose well as a stash-busting opportunity here. You can find more information on her project here in her project page.

This photo belongs to Amyupnorth on Ravelry. These coasters here were made with two strands of Brooklyn Tweed held together, and with a needle size down for a slightly smaller gaauge. I think this made for a really pretty effect! You can see more photos for yourself on her project page here. I look forward to seeing more little projects popping up on my design's page in the future! If you have some worsted (or even fingering) weight scraps lying around, why don't you bust them with this quick knit?

wip: lassie socks + YOH day 1

In the beginning: how did you get into the craft?

My best friend in the 8th grade taught me how to purl using a pair of size 5 aluminum straights and some red heart yarn. After getting a hang of it I purled miles of garter stitch scarves in that size 5 gauge. I remember getting in trouble with some of my teachers while knitting in class because of the threatening look of those needles too. With some experimenting I figured out the knit stitch (which I later learned was actually the twisted knit stitch), and a really really tight bind-off method that didn’t involve knitting a stitch before pulling it over the next one. I don’t think I have any of my knit pieces from then anymore—they were all given away as gifts or to charities. I was the complete opposite of a selfish knitter back in the day!

After some time, I got into other hobbies and the knitting fell by the way side. It wasn’t until the summer of 2012 that I took an interest in it again after uncovering the stash in my closet. I pulled up a Youtube tutorial, learned about Ravelry, made this blog, and got right to it busting the old acrylic stash from middle school.

I’m glad I got into this craft the way that I did. The rediscovery of knitting came during a very difficult part of my life, offering a sort of therapy. Since picking up those needles again I learned a lot more about the process of learning and how to accept it. While it’s still a struggle to really let the mindset encompass the rest of my life, the importance of just getting to work is clear to me when I have a hat being knit in my hands. Any and every project, no matter how daunting, is done just one step(or stitch) at a time. And that blanket (or to take it further than that, portfolio, weight loss, or  song on the viola) just requires a little bit of time every day to see it done.

Speaking of projects—I finally picked what I wanted to see that Kroy sock yarn turn into. I made a point of looking only at my ravelry queue too to be good, and chose Lassie by Jennifer Beever. If you remember, in my previous post I was going to choose the Mr. Pitt’s Socks, but after doing a dozen or so rows of the cuff I realised that this was going to have to be adjusted to fit my smaller foot and ankle circumference (the pattern’s intended for a larger size) and just frogged the whole thing to start on Lassie. After getting as involved as I was about sizing and mods for Jason’s socks, all I want to do is follow a pattern and enjoy another person’s design decisions for a change. And so far it’s been a pleasure to see this pattern progress.

I mean, it may just be the fact that you actually see a motif appearing after a few rows but I feel like these are progressing much faster than the last ones did. When working on an all stockinette sock (even if it is in a self striping or variegated yarn) it feels like the damn thing is never going to get done sometimes. I think Lassie is just the thing I need right now and I think I might try to finish it within this month.

This post is part of Rebecca Bee Designs’ Year of Handmade. Click through to learn more and participate!