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!