Some FO's

 Well, I had Thursday through Sunday off from work and I was able to get a LOT of knitting done.

First, I finished my Fairy Maiden socks, free pattern from This Handmade Life.

That one came out so nicely!

The little texture pattern was fiddly for me, because I usually knit vanilla socks and had to actually pay attention to my work for once. But, well worth the effort I think now that they are complete. I've already worn them and I love the way they fit. The yarn was Urth Harvest Fingering in "Grape Leaf." 

The second project was another pair of socks, this one which had been on the needles since July 2018!!

In 2018, I had knit up to about the last brown stripe of the first sock when I suddenly put the project away. I believe the reason for putting it away was that I wasn't sure exactly how long to make the foot so that they would fit my brother. And I didn't want him to try them on because I wanted them to be a surprise so they simply sat. For years.

I knit the second sock in a day or two and they fit him perfectly. I even weaved in the ends.

I unfortunately don't have a record of what  yarn I used.

The final FO for this weekend is my second Habitat Caridagn. The free pattern is available here.

This sweater came out a little shorter than my first habitat cardigan, which is probably due to the difference in yarn. I didn't swatch for this project, as I figured it's such a loose fit that it would probably fit no matter what.

I really like the color of this one. It's Lion Brand Heartland in color "Badlands."

I'm looking forward to uploading my third episode of my podcast on 12/12/2021 and these projects will be featured along with... a couple other things I finished. Like, did I mention my mom's sweater?

I cast this one on and knit it in 2 days - charmed by the bulky yarn in color "Sage."

Wow- my hands have been busy.

Hope yours have been too and you're completing lots of projects :)
Happy Knitting!

When she falls, she falls hard

Ok you guys I fell off the Cold Sheep and I fell off hard.

 

It all started with this mauve Madelinetosh Twist Light.... I'll start at the beginning. I planned on making my coworker's baby a cardigan, right? So I found this amazing little yarn shop in Murphy's CA, called MaisieBlue. But instead of buying the baby a nice little neutral wool, I found the mauve Twist Light and it was calling my name! Loudly, too!

So I bought four hanks of it, and a pattern magazine and called it a day. CAST ON! I figured I would make a short sleeve top as four hanks only adds up to 1,680 yards. But.... the more I thought about it the more I knew I wanted an oversized full sleeve pullover. So I tried to do the right thing, I really did. I found another suitable color in my temporary stash (main stash is boxed up, remember?) and started a little colorwork down at the bottom of the pullover.

The contrast isn't great, I know. But why I tried hard to love it, and to tell myself it was all going to work out and I wasn't going to run out of the darker color. I talked to my husband, even, and I was like "Well, I can't just go back to the yarn shop for just one ball of yarn! I have to make this work." And he was like, "Just go get the other ball, Cecilia, you know you want to." And I was like OK OK OK....

But I didn't lie to my husband, and I can't just go for one more ball!!
And besides, I never picked up the skein for my coworker's baby sweater, right?

So another skein hopped into the basket.

 It's more Twist Light, in a One of a Kind colorway, a beautifully speckle natural just perfect for my friend Alex's soon-to-be-born baby. And what's further is that when I have left overs from my mauve cardigan, as I'm bound to, I can use it to add a little colorwork in the yoke of whatever design I choose. I plan to devote some serious time to pattern searching for the baby tonight.

But while I was standing there at the Madelinetosh, another yarn started calling my name. Oh dear.

Oh Cracker Jacks; I've really fallen now. Notice that again there were only 4 of the same colorway, but this time I thought ahead and picked some contrasting colors right away so I won't have any more of this heading back to the yarn shop "for one more ball" business. Progress!

And then maybe a couple skeins of sock yarn hopped in, too...

The offenders are: Katia Socks Jaipur, Lang Jawol, and Online SuperSocke Silk Color

 

On the brighter side I did immediately make loads of progress on my newest pullover.

 

Isn't she lovely???? And now my "temporary stash" is pretty sizeable and so I definitely don't have the fear of running out of yarn any time soon. But I'll have to stay back on the sheep at least until March, when Stitches West is finally here or else I won't have any extra cash to spend at the event!

In other news, Podcast 2 is up already because I had finished a project that was going to be gifted by December. Next podcast is due around Dec 5 and I do hope it will be less shoddy, but no promises.

Happy Knitting!

Progress and News!!!

 Hello Lovelies!

I am excited to share with you all that I have decided to start a knitting podcast. It will be low quality compared to all the talented podcasters out there on the YouTube, but it will be from my heart.

The first episode will be live on my YouTube Channel hopefully within a few hours. 

In other news I have made some progress on my second Habitat Cardigan...

Look at how big it is!!! It's almost complete, the body of the piece. Now I'll just have to sew it up and start on the boring collar. One modification I plan on making this time around is I plan to KNIT the sleeves instead of crochet them. The last sweater, I crocheted one square for the sleeve, then sewed it onto the cardigan, then sewed up the tube... and that turned out OK but then when it was time to make the second sleeve I'm not entirely certain that they ended up the same size exactly? So I want to avoid having mismatched sleeves, for one thing. The second reason is that the half double crochet through the front loop only (or is it back loop only, either way) is fiddly for me and k2p2 rib has the same effect with less effort. The third reason is that I won't have to sew anything at all I'll just pick up and knit them down from the armhole!The only question is whether I can find some DPNs the right size in my current mess of a house...

I still haven't got to unpacking any of the craft room. That's the one room we have not even touched. The way the new house is laid out, we had a gigantic living room. So we put a wall up and hacked that second half of the living room into two: one room for my daughter and one room for the craft room (Yes the living room was that big). But the craft room hasn't been fully drywalled yet, and so it's still a work in progress, which means all my stash, my needles, my knitting books, my sewing machine, my fabric, all my crafty goodness is all tucked away in boxes seemingly never to see the light of day. It's very sad for me, especially as we get near to winter when it's prime knitting time. Does this mean I will find myself hopping to the yarn shop more frequently? Perhaps.

But Also , I'm quitting my current job so finances may be rough for a minute. When we moved from Stockton to Mokelumne Hill, I got out of the nice position I had down in Stockton because the commute was unrealistic. Well, I ended up getting an accounting job in Sonora, which is 70 minutes away from my house so the drive is still pretty unreal. I hate to admit it but it puts me to sleep, the drive, and so working in Sonora has got to stop. I've applied for a position closer to my home and I'm really hoping to get it... but it pays over $5 an hour less!! My husband and I talked about it and it's worth my life, but it sure is going to hurt when I can't afford all the yarn and amazon goodies I currently enjoy. So I'd better get unpacking, huh?

I hope you check out my YoutTube channel; there are a bunch of my original songs on there too from a long time ago too when I was a drunk and depressed youth. So that might be funny to check out too. But in the future I plan to upload more videos which are both knitting related and guitar ones too, mostly covers of Tom Petty which is what I've been playing a lot of lately. Hope you're finding happiness and music in your life too!

Happy Knitting!

Perfect Pockets Shawl

Apparently, I just start projects, work them nearly to completion and then set them down.

 

I found this practically completed shawl underneath my bed while I was cleaning my room. Did I continue to clean my room? No I did not. Did I finish the shawl? Also no. But it's nearly done.

All I have left to complete is one more pocket and the remaining tassels on the other side.

In addition to this nearly completed project I found another nearly completed project: a garter stitch scarf that only had about a quarter of a ball of yarn left to it. I did complete that.

I think something about getting nearer to Winter makes me want to bring out all my cozy knitwear. Too bad my house is in such disarray because I really want to go through all of the abandoned works in progress and photograph where I'm at with them and plan whether it is time to frog or finish. I know I have at least these:

1) A green sweater I've never blogged about

2) Akiko Cardigan

3) Habitat Cardigan #2

4) "Hugs & Kisses" baby cardigan for my daughter who has now very much outgrown it

5) Oslo mittens (only one is done)

6) Bear mittens (such an old project omg)

7) You Are Enough Shawl

8) Socks for my brother (1 nearly done)

9) Red fuzzy sweater

10) A pair of rainbow pants (YES THESE ARE STILL ON THE NEEDLES SOMEWHERE)

11) A sweater for Archie

12) A hat

13) The aforementioned perfect pockets shawl

14) A lavender sweater I never mentioned to the blog

15) A gray garter stitch scarf

16) A granny square bag

Oh dear oh dear oh dear. How many of these are actually salvageable? Perhaps it is time to get honest with oneself and just Get Rid of Them. So many tears.

She's Done, Baby!

 

I'm so pleased to say my Habitat cardigan is complete! This is only the second adult-sized crochet garment I've ever made, and it definitely was an easy project. It took me about 2 weeks to complete.

There are a lot of things I like about this cardigan. I like how it looks on, and the stitch pattern of the main body. I like how the collar rolls around the neckline, and I like the length. But there are also some things I'm not so pleased with. Namely, the yarn itself is not incredibly cozy. The yarn was a closeout sale from Webs, Cloudborn fibers wool bulky naturals and it feels almost coarse. Like, I laid on my bed writing in my journal wearing it and it left an imprint of the stitches on my arms! Definitely never had that problem before.

Also, the fit isn't great. The shrug-like construction of the sweater leads to inhibited arm movement, and it also doesn't wrap all the way around the front of my body. Is it technically wearable? Yes. Am I going to wear it? Also yes. 

But it's not fantastic, and I'm definitely crocheting a new one in the softer acrylic I got at Michaels the other day.

It's really funny, like... As a knitter who used to be a yarn snob, here I am crocheting with acrylics. The heart wants what it wants, and my heart wants washable softness I guess.

Overall, I would recommend the pattern to someone who hasn't made a crochet garment before. It was very easy to complete, and I felt proud of myself when I was done. It's also very very cute. 

I hope you're making time for crafting in your life! Happy knitting !

Habitat Cardigan update

 I am so pleased that my Habitat cardigan is almost complete!

I think this cardigan worked up so fast, and it's extra snuggly and warm.

I may have purchased 6 balls of Lionbrand Hometown in colorway Badlands with the intention of making a second one in a more washable yarn.

This cardigan has been in my queue for YEARS, and I really have Kayla from Alt Knots to thank for encouraging me to crochet it. For some reason, even though I've made over 40 knitted sweaters, crochet garments intimidated me. But this one was so easy, and so much fun to work up. I definitely encourage everybody who has it in their queue to pick it up and try it out.

The body is perfect because it's not too boring, but it's just mindless enough. There's really no issue with gauge; I did not get gauge at all and it's still completely wearable. (Like, I think I literally have an extra 7" of fabric but you can't really tell.) I've actually worked up both the sleeves and woven in all the ends already; I just need to seam the one sleeve on and then take FO pictures. I can't wait to call this puppy done. 

And you know what??
I still have yarn leftover! Maybe I will make matching legwarmers or boot toppers <3

I hope you are enjoying whatever you are making time to create!

Habitat Cardigan - Work in Progress

 

The Habitat cardigan has always tempted me with it's oversized plush coziness and it's extra tush covering. Now that we are more settled into the new house I have had an opportunity to get working on it!

 

The stitch pattern is super easy, and the yarn I'm using (Cloudborn Fibers Bulky Wool Naturals) knits up like a dream. It's so cushy and cozy. I only worry that I might run out of yarn, as I only have 10 balls... and I may be crocheting at a much looser gauge than the pattern calls for. Like, I think I  have an excess of about 7" along the whole rectangle. Which means I may or may not end up actually ripping all this beautiful work out.

 

Which I don't want to do because it's awfully big already.

But yes, I just wanted to share that I'm making some progress and I'm loving it! Hope you are getting cozy with some crafty projects too, now that Fall is officially here!

Home Sweet Home

 We are slowly getting our new place in some kind of order. This was the hardest move I've ever taken part in. We moved from a home which had been in my husband's family since 1947. There was so much JUNK there; stuff that I would consider junk but which others of course would consider treasure. It all came with us. I haven't had a chance to knit or crochet, and I've been missing it. Yesterday I picked up my crochet hook for the first time during this whole move and worked up a little swatch.

I had purchased this yarn to knit up a Chalkney Cardigan, but I may in fact make a Habitat Cardigan instead. The two main reasons for the switch are that 1) it seems a lot easier and I haven't had a lot of time for complex work and 2) I have quite a few knit sweaters and only 1 crocheted

My gauge swatch is worked on 19 sts but I can't actually measure it because I'm in the middle of moving and everything is everywhere... I'd say it's probably about 6". It might be time to make a trip to Walmart and pick up a tape measure. (To add to my giant collection, once I find it)

Doggie Sweater

I've been working up this little crochet dog sweater.
No pattern, just half double crochet throughout. I've finished the back and now I'm starting on the front.

The other project you can see in this photo is the new house; it needs flooring. So there's not a lot of time for knitting or crochet but I'm still trying to work on some stuff here and there.

WIPs: Perfect Pockets Shawl, a sweater, and a dog sweater

 Back in 2018, my niece Alysson showed me this photo by Sonja Hood:

It was October and she was wondering if I could knit it up for her in time for Christmas. I told her that it's crochet, and that I had already made her Christmas gift (it was a pair of socks) so she would have to wait. Shortly thereafter, I started the Perfect Pockets Shawl for her. I worked up the first section quickly, and started the middle portion- the main body of the shawl. I got about 9 rows in and then set it down to work on other things. And so it sat in my closet, for years.

I finally decided to pick it up and continue working on it and now I've gotten the main body portion done.

See the ball of yarn in the photo? It wasn't enough to complete the shawl, and now I've run out of yarn. I know I bought two giant balls of yarn for this shawl (of course I don't remember the brand) but I'm sure the second ball has been packed up and is now in storage awaiting our move. So this project is doomed to remain a work in progress a little bit longer.

Another project I've been working on is just a simple stockinette stitch sweater. I'm using Buttercream Angel Hair solids in this beautiful red color. The fiber content is 50% acrylic, 28% nylon and 22% wool. 

I'm usually not a fan of fun fur and fluffy yarn, but this stuff is sooo soft, and it was on clearance. The only color available was red- I would much rather have had a black fluffy sweater. But, the softness is exquisite and I told myself I could make a holiday sweater. So I've started it, knitting along with The Witcher series on Netflix. 

I'm about ready to cast on for the sleeves, but I've run out of episodes. Now I'll have to find something else to entertain me while I work swathes of stockinette.

One final WIP is a sweater I'm crocheting for my dog. Again in Impeccable, this time their tweedy version.

It's just a simple half double crochet rectangle that I'm shaping to his body. I'll be making another piece for the under belly area and then sew it up leaving holes for the front legs. Not sure how this one will turn out, but it's perfect for working on when I'm bored of knitting.

Hope you've got lots of projects on the go, too!

Happy Knitting!

MOSTLY Finished Object! Spoopy Cardigan

Well, I bit the bullet and unraveled my ribbed edging of my Spoopy cardigan. At first I tried to talk myself into leaving it how it was, but who was I kidding: it was just not big enough to go around my body. So, I added two extra squares onto each front, plus I made a little triangle shaped wedge to create a sort of V-neck.

On one hand I kind of feel like it looks like a bikini top now, but on the other hand I am SO DONE working with these garish colors. So I am calling it good; I'm not even going to bother picking up and knitting a bottom border I am just setting it aside for a cold day.

All in all I'm really happy with:

1. the sleeves

2. the ugly colors

3. the snuggly warmth

My mom was a big fan of this sweater. She told me it doesn't look Halloween-y, though, that it just looks like an "outdoor sweater."

Before Halloween arrives, I might still pick up and knit the bottom border if I feel like it. After that it just needs patches, and possibly buttons. The patches I bought on Etsy are slowly starting to arrive, but I'm not sure yet how I intend to adhere them to the cardigan. I'd like them to be removable so I might use safety pins. For the buttons, I would have to do the kind that fasten with a loop because I didn't add buttonholes to the ribbing. I'm not sure whether it really needs buttons though. I like it how it is and for now it is "finished" enough.

My goal was to finish this by Friday and here we are on Thursday night. Now I can get back to work on some other projects! Tomorrow I should be getting a nice little package of yarn so I look forward to sharing that.

Happy knitting!

Another Spoopy Update

 Sometimes, I am a monogamous knitter. Even though I might have several projects on the needles, there is one that takes favor and I'll work on it until it's complete. I think that will be the case with my Spoopy Cardigan. It's quite fun to work on, because of all the colors and also because of the variety of ways to work on it. If I get bored of making squares I can start crocheting around them in black. If I get bored of crocheting around in black, I can weave in ends. If I don't feel like weaving in ends, I can seam. And by then, crocheting squares sounds fun again!

Yesterday I completed the other half of the front, and then picked up all the stitches around the front to make a ribbed border. 

It came out soft and squishy and lovely and I think I'm going to rip it all out.

The problem is that the fronts don't come around my body as much as I would like. Which, I knew this going into the project. I knew it wasn't going to close and I thought I was fine with it. After all, Kayla's sweater doesn't close! But unfortunately Kayla is skinnier than I am and could make a potato sack look good. Enjoy this still from the video:

Meanwhile, I've gained a bunch of quarantine weight and the small front just seems to highlight my belly.

So I think what I'm destined to do is rip out the ribbing and crochet two more full squares for each side, plus a half square to put in as a sort of V-neck shaping. Then of course pick up and re-knit the border. I think it will make it a much more wearable garment for me, and will be worth the time put in.

But before I do that, I have the second sleeve to finish. So far I have about 4 out of 9 squares for the sleeve. With any luck I can still finish this by Friday, when my next order of yarn arrives!

Happy knitting (or crocheting!)

Spoopy Update!

 On Monday evenings I do a Big Book reading with one of my friends from Alcoholics Anonymous, and so I didn't get to work on my cardigan for very long yesterday.

But I did manage to finish the first sleeve and tell you what, I am in LOVE.

In order to get the bell sleeve effect what I ended up doing was crocheting around the wrist, doing one entire row of just sc2tog, and then I planned on doing crochet ribbing to finish it off. Unfortunately I'm still pretty new at crochet and I didn't have a locking stitch marker on me, and so my wrist kept getting smaller and smaller and smaller- and trying to do the rib stitch in crochet wasn't easy either. I re-did the wrist twice before giving up. Finally, I ended up ripping it out and doing the ribbing by knitting them on double pointed needles. I ended the cuff with a sewn bind-off and it's just perfect. To get the other sleeve to match I'll have to decrease down to 22 stitches.

So now I have one half of the cardigan almost complete! 

You can see that the fronts aren't going to close all the way, even after I add the ribbing. Which, I'm also going to do the ribbing around the fronts on my knitting needles instead of a crochet hook as well. It will just be a lot easier for me, and I think it will give a really cool effect having both crafts in one garment.

I'm loving the way it is turning out. I joke that I feel like someone's grandpa, but truly I adore it.

I went ahead and bought some patches off of Etsy, and once those arrive I'll be adhering them to various squares on the garment as well. Here are the ones I chose:

I'm seriously so psyched about this project.

1) it's my first adult crochet garment

2) Halloween spookiness

3) the sleeves!!!

4) the colors <3

Cannot wait to share the finished object with you guys.

I hope you're working on something you love just as much!

The Spoopy Cardigan: Work in Progress

So excited to share my newest project with you guys! The  Spoopy cardigan!

I'm following along with Kayla from Alt Knots to create this patchwork style cardigan.

Since it's nearing the end of July it is obviously time for Halloween decor and all things spoopy, and so I'm using classic Halloween colors: Black, Orange, Purple, & Green. Check out some of the patches.

For some reason, on my computer and phone the orange seems to look very reddish, but in person it is quite the pumpkin color. The yarn is Impeccable from Michaels' Loops & Threads line. It's 100% acrylic which is great for being machine washable and it's quite soft as well even before washing. I'm using a 6.5 mm hook so each square is worked up pretty quickly. I should have a total of 38 squares in order to complete the cardigan: 9 for each sleeve, 12 for the back, and 4 each for the fronts. So far, I've got the back and one front completed.

I am loving how much this sweater is going to make me feel like somebody's Grandpa. It's so outrageously ugly that I'm enamored with it.

My best friend said it looks like the kind of vest you put on someone who has a tendency to run off so that you'll never lose them. They don't see the glorious outcome I foresee, however. I've purchased a bunch of Halloween patches to decorate this thing with, and it is going to be so amazing. I can see myself never wanting to take it off because it's going to be like a big comfy blanket.

What do you think? Outrageously ugly? Or potentially a really rad Halloween sweater?

Finished Object! Skully Sweater

 Gotta love that bulky yarn! This project was done sooo quickly. I started it on Wednesday July 21st and completed it on Saturday July 24th. It was so great to look forward to my knitting every day while at the office. I was so eager to work on it, I knit on it in my car during my lunch breaks!

The yarn was Knit Picks Biggo and I used a size 10.5 (6.5 mm) needle just as the pattern called for. The pattern, Skully, was from the first Stitch n Bitch book by Debbie Stoller and the pattern itself was written by Samantha Bliss. I had planned on making 2 modifications: to taper the sleeves and to sew the shoulders together with mattress stitch instead of doing a 3-needle bind off. I ended up making neither of those modifications in the end, but I did change the sleeves to have ribbing instead of garter stitch at the ends.

The fit is actually spot on, which is great because for a moment there I thought the armscye seemed a bit shallow. I thought I was going to have to knit a gusset for the armpit, but luckily when I seamed it to try it on I had no issues. 

One thing that didn't turn out the way I had hoped was the neckline. Usually I would have picked up the stitches with a circular needle and knit a ribbed neckband. However, due to the move and all my knitting supplies being in storage, I didn't have a circular needle. Instead, I crocheted a border around the neck and it ends up almost like a boatneck, which I wasn't really hoping for.

But ultimately it doesn't really bother me and I may not even bother to fix it when I get all my stuff unpacked. I think it looks fine and it certainly fits fine. It's 100% superwash wool so it's certainly very warm, and I can always pair it with a scarf.

So enough said, here is the finished object!

Thank you for tuning in!

I also have been vlogging my adventures on Odysee and you can follow those here.

Happy Knitting!

Skully Progress

 I really cranked out a lot of knitting yesterday!

This was about how much I was expecting to get done:

A little more than halfway down the back. (Yes my photo is upside down. Apologies.)

But, though my hands began to ache, I kept knitting! Of course, I stretched my wrists and fingers and shook out my hands every so often because ergonomics. But I'm really impressed with how much knitting I got done from the point I got off work until about midnight. I managed to complete the front on my lunch break and so I knitted the entire back AND got the shoulders together by the time I went to bed.

It's not much to look at yet, and I am a little worried that it is going to be a little smaller than I had intended. I cast on for the Medium 42" size, but I'm thinking since I wanted oversize I maybe should have gone for the 44." Thanks to the pandemic and my own laziness I am perhaps no longer a medium.

One possible fix I have considered is, after finishing the sleeves, going ahead and crocheting a side panel in. I just haven't decided how exactly I would do it since obviously I would want both sides to match, and I'm considering adding in a gusset to give my armpits a little more wiggle room. Either that, or deal with it being a tighter fitting sweater than I had really intended or worse ripping the whole thing out and starting over. The yarn, however, doesn't seem to rip out too nicely. A little bit sticky.

The way this sweater is constructed is kind of irritating: you pick up and knit the sleeves right onto the garment. I picked up the first sleeve last night and knit about an inch of stockinette before starting the chart. This is how the sleeve looks currently:

So far I haven't made any changes to the pattern. I was planning on binding off the sweater's shoulders and then seaming the tops together, but my seaming wasn't looking so pretty thanks to the weird needle I was using combined with the bulky yarn. So I ended up ripping out my bind off and doing as the pattern says: doing a 3-needle bind off to knit the shoulders together. 

The sleeves are much smaller to knit than the front and back and so I definitely plan on finishing the first sleeve today. I haven't decided yet if I plan on tapering the sleeves or just decreasing sharply right before the ribbing. Because it is going to be ribbing although the pattern calls for a garter stitch edge.

In other crafty news, I discovered a new-to-me channel on YouTuber who I have absolutely fallen in love with. Her name is Kayla and she is a goth crocheter. Absolutely adorable. Her website is here and her channel is here. After I finish my Skully sweater, my You Are Enough Shawl, my Fairy Maiden socks, and actually finish moving and get to unpacking all my yarn I absolutely want to try my hand at one of her spooky designs.

OH SHOOT I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION!!!!! I shared my progress pic on Facebook and the guy I gave my 2nd Skully sweater to commented. He said "Built to last! I still wear mine!" You have to keep in mind- I made and gifted this sweater to him well over 12 years ago, so that really warmed my heart. <3

Happy Knitting!