100 Days of Making: Day 94

#day94 of #100daysofmaking: I bought this gorgeous sock yarn blank from @galesart and only had it a week or so before I had to cast it on. I wanted socks but since I'm mostly into short ankle socks right now, I looked for something that would use the whole blank and not waste any of this gorgeous color. Cast on @strickmich Easy shawl. Simple knit that lets the yarn shine.

100 Days of Making: Day 93

#day93 of #100daysofmaking: My first shipment of the Indie Yarn Carnival club from @erinlanebags arrived today! Buffalo Wool yarn. Not as soft as I was expecting but maybe it softens with washing. I'm not sure if I will make the included shawl pattern or something different... I may cast it on soon, I have a bad case of cast-on-itis, I cast on my @pluckyknitter Primo fingering last night and tonight was searching for a brioche pattern to cast on but was interrupted by mundane things like making dinner and bathing children. Pish posh.

100 Days of Making: Day 92

#day92 of #100daysofmaking: So I am one row from the end of my Secret Garden shawl by #alanadakos @nevernotknitting I only have enough yarn to finish half a row (I know, I tried to make it). I freaked out and went to #littleskein site and searched for the Western Sky Knits yarn and she was selling single skeins but there were no green skeins left, only pink. So I messaged Anne @annielightknits and asked if there would be future listings or if I could get a custom order. She messaged back quickly and said she actually had one skein in Wick left that she didn't sell because it was a bit more yellow than the other greens but that I was welcome to that one or that she would help me contact Western Sky Knits for a custom skein. Since I only have one row and the bind off to finish, even if the color is very different, I won't mind it being a little contrasty. So I popped over to her store where she had listed the skein (marked for me!) and purchased it. Can't wait to finish this shawl, I've worked harder on this shawl than I have any projects for myself in years! #knittersarethenicestpeople

100 Days of Making: Day 91

#day91 of #100daysofmaking: Made a pair of leg warmers for my niece's birthday. Got them done a few days before her party but didn't actually get them mailed until a few days after her birthday 😳

100 Days of Making: Day 88

Day #88 of #100daysofmaking: Bought into Martina Behm's club for next year. I haven't actually knit any @strickmich patterns yet though I have several in my queue. When I discovered she had a club I was intrigued, when I saw one of the yarns will be Wollmeise I was excited and when I saw how low the Euro exchange is right now, I was convinced!! Now I just have to wait till February for my first installment! 😅

100 Days of Making: Day 87

#day87 of #100daysofmaking: I made a Newborn Vertebrae by Kelly Brooker for a coworker's baby shower. I decided last minute (as always) to make something and had less than a week to get it done so I searched my stash for yarn and found my boy colored yarns are sorely lacking. This yarn is from a yarn club I joined on etsy in 2012. I found it by doing a random search for yarn clubs and though I did look at reviews, I won't try a yarn dyer that hasn't been recommended by other sources because I was not terribly happy with this club - at the time because after three months, I had three lots of brown yarns. While I don't mind getting colors out of my comfort zone in random clubs, I think even if I had lived brown yarn that three months of a three month club in the same color is a bit repetitive and unimaginative. I filed them away and haven't given them much thought until I needed boy colored yarn. I then encountered problem number two with this yarn: after an hour of working with it, my hands were turning pink from leaking dye! I hemmed and hawed about what to do because I was actually really loving the color, it's a tonal reddish brown with almost black mixed in and it looks great knit up. Also I didn't really have time to start over with another yarn. So I kept on, hoping I would find a way to fix the bleeding once it was done. I soaked a bit of the yarn in water and it bled - I dried it and I soaked it and it bled - and on. So washing it a time or two was not going to help. So I looked up Jasmin and Gigi's citric acid fix, made a stop by Whole Foods to get the citric acid, and when I was done with the knitting (in record time, 2 1/2 days!) I soaked it in acid water. I knew it was going to work because from the second I dropped it in there, there was no bleeding. I microwaved it too though to set it and still no bleeding after I rinsed it. Success! The yarn softened up considerably with washing and feels very nice. I had no trouble with the newborn vertebrae pattern (I previously have had issues with the fingering weight versions of the baby vertebrae - the sleeves end up way too wide) though I did make the sleeves longer than called for in the pattern because 9 cm seemed too short. I gave it to my coworker today and she liked it!

100 Days of Making: Day 85

#day85 of #100daysofmaking: I have finished 6 of 11 repeats of the Secret Garden Shawl by #alanadakos in Western Sky Knits yarn in Wick. Although it is a prey involved pattern that I can't usually do with the kids around for fear of losing my spot or my cable needle, I get into a rhythm of it and it flows nicely. The rows get longer and longer as it grows - it takes almost half an hour to do one row now, which means by the time I get to the 11th repeat, it might take a couple hours to do a row! 😮

100 Days of Making: Day 84

#day84 of #100daysofmaking: Knitting on my #rosecityrollers in @dana_of_unwind Luxe Sock in Wildflowers during a really painful CEU course. Had hoped to learn something but although the instructor had a lot of experience and knowledge, she rambled too much. Also I felt like I could only knit during breaks because she claimed to be very distractible and I was in the front row of a very small group. 😖 Oh well. I did get all my CEUs for the year and I finished sock number one once I got home.

100 Days of Making: Day 83

#day83 of #100daysofmaking: My nieces have requested scarves for Christmas and as I am a dutiful aunt, I comply. Elle demanded blue and purple and I found this I Love This Chunky at Hobby Lobby that is mostly purple and blue (and green). Just going to do simple garter stitch scarf that will be about as tall as she is. That is, if @ames7475 can tell me how tall she is. May need another ball, this is eating up yarn quickly.

100 Days of Making: Day 82

#day82 of #100daysofmaking: Finally making some progress on my Slates and Balustrades hat by Aurelie Colas. I made a pink one for my daughter and blue for my son, got this MadTosh in Medieval so I could make a matching hat for myself and it may actually be done in time for cold weather. I'm to the cabled decreases at the crown which isn't as fiddly as the cabled brim with twisted rib and provisional cast on but not quite as easy breezy as the waffle patterned body. The only problem with these matching hats is that I can't find my son's blue one! 😩

100 Days of Making: Day 81

#day 81 of #100daysofmaking: two repeats done out of 11 for my Secret Garden shawl by @nevernotknitting in Western Sky Knits MCN in Wick. Loving it! It's not a quick and easy knit, you have to be paying close attention to the pattern, there are cables and lots of increases that are fiddly with this soft yarn but it is going to be sooooo gorgeous!

100 Days of Making: Day 80

#day80 of #100daysofmaking: I resisted the last several Little Skein kits despite how cute they were but I couldn't resist this one. Though I've never actually managed to make it all the way through the book, I love the story of The Secret Garden and have liked the movies and musical of it. Plus @nevernotknitting designed the pattern. Which is totally amazing. This is not an inexpensive kit - I don't think I've ever spent so much on one cohesive yarn collective but it has many parts - a hand made bag with fabric designed just for this kit, beautiful merino/cashmere/nylon yarn, stitch markers, the original pattern which will be exclusive to the kit initially, plus an add on skein of sock yarn in a gorgeous colorway. Everything superbly well done. I am glad she doesn't do these kits more often, or my bank account would really suffer. I cast on within minutes of opening the box ☺️

100 Days of Making: Day 79

#day79 of #100daysofmaking: Finished my second pair of #rosecityrollers in @muststashsheep #thedarksideofthemoon colorway. Love them! I still think I could have made the toe a little bit longer next time though. Now to pick out my next delicious yarn for a third pair!! In the meantime, I'm making good progress on my Hakomu cardigan, I'm halfway done with the fronts/neckline piece and then it's just making the ties and seaming it all together!

100 Days of Making: Day 79

100 Days of Making: Day 78

#day78 of#100daysofmaking: Finished sock number one of @muststashsheep #thedarksideofthemoon yarn and cast on for the next. Used 18 grams and have 31 left which could be an almost full sized sock maybe. Or maybe I'll make socks for one of my littles. So many options.

100 Days of Making: Day 77

#day77 of #100daysofmaking: Making good progress with my #rosecityrollers! This photo is actually from yesterday, I forgot to post it, but I haven't gotten much further, just a few rows at the park today. This @muststashsheep yarn in #thedarksideofthemoon colorway is looking really great. Even my husband is interested when I shove it under his nose for his perusal. Side note: when I show him other yarn, he says "does it have something to do with Pink Floyd?" And if the answer is no, he exclaims "Not Interested!" I have three of the four MustStash Pink Floyd colorways, I guess I need to get Wish You Were Here to complete the collection!

100 Days of Making: Day 76

#day76 of #100daysofmaking: I finished my #rosecityrollers in @vividyarnstudio Emily and I totally love them. I'll make the toe a little longer next time but they fit ok. I was so excited about my shorty socks that I immediately wound and cast on my next pair in @muststashsheep in the Dark Side of the Moon colorway. Loving the yarn... Indie dyers are the best! #operationsockdrawer

09-07-15

Ms. Vaughn: Black eyed peas are awful, they taste like dirt smells.
If I get a sore, you all are gonna hear from me. I got that damn disease here and I ain't gettin' anything else.

100 Days of Making: Day 75

#day75 Of #100daysofmaking: Made some serious progress on my #rosecityrollers- I love shorty socks, they work up so fast! Also car knitting to the lake and porch knitting at the lake got me through the first sock, yay! On to number two! #operationsockdrawer

100 Days of Making: Day 74

#day74 of #100daysofmaking: I couldn't stop myself from winding my new @vividyarnstudio yarn (Emily) and casting it on. I know I have a billion projects that are not finished including two billion socks but I totally need more. Decided to cast on #rosecityrollers and jump on that bandwagon since I think I might actually wear shorty socks - I wear ankle socks to work - and I never wear the long socks I make. Here's to hoping I actually wear something I make. If I finish them, that is. #operationsockdrawer

100 Days of Making: Day 73

#day73 of #100daysofmaking: I started a Slates and Balustrades hat for myself to match the pink and blue ones I knit for my kids. I'm using this MadTosh in Medieval to make a Profusion cowl and I wanted to maximize the usage of the skein but wanted to have enough left over for this hat. So I stopped working on the cowl and cast this hat on from the center of the ball, when I'm done- the rest will be for the cowl! This hat edge is extremely intense and I'm not a fan of it, it's taken me several days to get this far - some days I only get one round done, with all the cables and ktbl on size 1 needles, it's a lot of work, but worth it in the end.

100 Days of Making: Day 72

#day72 of #100daysofmaking: Some delicious yarn arrived... @vividyarnstudio in Emily - I just couldn't stop myself. I'm so obsessed with speckled yarns and/or yarn with this rusty color! Maybe I'll make some #rosecityrollers with this for #operationsockdrawer.

100 Days of Making: Day 70

#day71 of #100daysofmaking: Car/beach knitting - this was just a toe when we started to the beach and I'm well past the waste yarn for the afterthought heel. This is Opal Paradies, sock number two. My friends at the beach asked who the socks were for (me) and if I wear them (no). Then why do I make them?? I have this fantasy that once my #operationsockdrawer is completely full that I'll start wearing them but I don't have enough yet to start wearing them. .... I know, it's insane. I have a problem.

100 Days of Making: Day 70

#day70 of #100daysofmaking: I've been knitting most days lately but just neglecting to take pictures. I finished the first sock with my @desertvistadyeworks Little Shop of Zombody but it caused me a lot of grief along the way. After I put in the waste yarn for the afterthought heel and was into the leg, I realized I had knitted too much before the decrease and had to tink back many rows. Then several inches later, I saw I had been knitting very loosely and it looked all sloppy and so I ripped it back again. Then comparing the leg to the foot, my gauge was quite a bit tighter in the leg but I didn't want to rip yet again so I just left it be. Well after finishing the leg and putting the heel in, the whole sock is too long! 😓 if I pull it tight, there's 1/2" of slack at the heel. If I pull it down it seems mildly loose on my foot but wearable. Maybe it will shrink a little with washing. Now the question is, do I try to make the second sock match the first one or do I make it correctly?

More day 69

Park knitting @desertvistadyeworks Little Shop of Zombody with my new @willowrose0816 RainStorm Studios bag. #100daysofmaking #leslies100daysofmaking

100 Days of Making: Day 69

#day69 of #100daysofmaking: I'm so exited! I got my very first real project bag from @willowrose0816 RainStorm Studios!! I can now graduate at least one of my projects from the gallon ziploc bags I normally keep them in 😳 I love this RainStorm bag because of the window so I can see my project still - also the fabric is so cute and it's so well made. Thanks Kristine!!

100 Days of Making: Day 68

#day68 of #100daysofmaking: I finished my Sockhead hat!! Done in @theflyingkettle Huggin' Molly. I did 8" of body instead of 9" because it was seeming huge, otherwise I followed the pattern as written. I'm not a hat wearer and I've never worn a slouchy hat so we shall see if I ever end up wearing this, but it turned out ok. The colors are awesome and the yarn was great to knit with.

100 Days of Making: Day 68

#day68 of #100daysofmaking: I finished my Sockhead hat!! Done in @theflyingkettle Huggin' Molly. I did 8" of body instead of 9" because it was seeming huge, otherwise I followed the pattern as written. I'm not a gar pesos and I've never worn a slouchy hat so we shall see if I ever end up wearing this, but it turned out ok. The colors are awesome and the yarn was great to knit with.

100 Days of Making: Day 67

#day67 of #100daysofmaking: I actually finished these baby leggings a few weeks ago but never got around to photographing and posting them. They are another pair for my daughter in @hauteknityarn Pampered Sock in Peacock. It's an MCN blend, because every baby needs cashmere leg warmers, right?

100 Days of Making: Day 66

#day66 of #100daysofmaking: Not my most interesting project to knit or photograph but I really want a finished sweater and I hope this Kakomu is going to be awesome. In Knit Picks Lindy Chain which is a linen cotton blend, it will be good year round, if I can just get it off the needles. I finished the back today and started sleeve one. Just a zillion miles more of reverse stockinette to go!

100 Days of Making; Day 65

#day65 of #100daysofmaking: I made a Calorimetry headband like thing for my nanny's birthday from a yarn my MIL bought in Croatia while cruising. It's an Italian yarn called Boing. 😂

100 Days of Making: Day 64

#day64 of #100daysofmaking: I think the end date of this challenge has passed/is coming up quickly, but since I've been posting sporadically I'm a bit behind. I was not knitting every day on purpose for a while but lately, I've been knitting most days but just not bothering to post about it. Partly because I'm not knitting a lot and my progress on everything is very slow but also because I'm lazy. This is my Misti Alpaca Sock that I ripped and restarted the Dangling Conversation with since I had been doing the pattern completely wrong. There's not much progress on it so I'm just showing you the pretty cake of yarn.

100 Days of Making: Day 63

#day63 of #100daysmaking: I finished Will's Pineapple Express socks (Sweet Georgia yarn) and they look pretty good on. A bit big but that's good so that it will hopefully fit for a while.

100 Days of Making: Day 62

#day62 of #100daysofmaking: Finished the first of the socks for my son. I decided to go with a heel turn sock instead of a tube sock since this yarn is a bit thick and if it's a little bunchy on top as a tube, it may not fit inside his shoes. It's a tiny bit big so there's room to grow. It worked up super fast so I guess I can always make more when he outgrows this one.

100 Days of Making: Day 61

#day61 of #100daysofmaking: I started a sock for my son with the left overs of the Sweet Georgia Pineapple Express from his leg warmers. He has fat little feet that are about as long as big sisters. This is a 40 stitch sock and it looks like it will fit well. I made a very short toe because his chubby foot is also pretty squared off. I am contemplating whether I should make it a tube sock so it will fit longer or making a heel so that it fits better...

100 Days of Making: Day 60

#day60 of #100daysofmaking: I'm not doing too well keeping up with my posting. I am back to more sporadic knitting, some days almost none and my hands seem more normal. I've gotten a bit more done on the left front of my Kingscot cardigan by Norah Gaughn in Lorna's Laces Greenline. Though the stitch count isn't high, it's all cabley and bobbley which takes time. And child free time at that. I really want to finish a whole sweater one day but it seems like it's impossible and it will never happen... How do people finish multiple sweaters every year!?

100 Days of Making: Day 59

#day59 of #100daysofmaking: I finished Will's leg warmers in Sweet Georgia Pineapple Express yesterday in the car and wove in the ends today. I made some more progress on my Sock Head Hat then left it at the Lakehouse so I'll have to retrieve that from my mom next month. And today the actual knitting I did was on my daughter's leg warmers in @hauteknityarn.

100 Days of Making: Day 58

#day58 of #100daysofmaking: My nephew said what are you doing? I'm knitting leg warmers for my son. Do you think they fit me? Don't know, try them on. They do! They fit! Do you like them? Yeah, they look good.

100 Days of Making: Day 57

#day57 of #100daysofmaking: Made some good progress on my Sock Head Hat in @theflyingkettle in Huggin' Molly on the way to the Lakehouse. Miraculously, I did not have carsickness today and was able to knit the whole drive!

100 Days of Making: Day 56

#day56 of #100daysofmaking: I have made almost no progress on this sock but it was the only knitting that I've worked on in the past couple of days. My sweet hubby got me an iPad mini for my motherbirthversary present and I've started reading a book on it. I thought I'd be able to read a kindle book and knit at the same time, which I have discovered, I can. I'm slower reading and knitting but it does satisfy my desire to do at least two things at once. Now if only I could watch a podcast, read and knit, that would be the ultimate multitasking!

100 Days of Making: Day 55

#day55 of #100daysofmaking: whipped this cutie up last night - I'm the queen of last minute projects. I love this Yarn Bee yarn, its First Love in the Engaging colorway. I used the Basic Baby Beanie pattern by Janaya Chouinard. I made the 6-12 month size hat but added 4 increases in a round as one more row of increases because without that, the hat was the same size as Emma's baby hat that she wore when she was 2 months old and she had a tiny tiny head. So for this hat to fit a 6 month old on a normal size head, I needed it to be bigger. Added ear flaps because it makes the hat so cute. Delivered it to my friend at the hospital today. 😍🍼🎁

100 Days of Making: Day 54

#day54 of #100daysofmaking: So I got about a dozen more rows on this cardigan plus a little bit on Wil's leg warmers before my gym class. The purple yarn is Lorna's Laces Green Line, which is discontinued.

100 Days of Making: Day 53

#day53 of #100daysofmaking: Saw some people using the hashtag #howfastdoyouknit and was curious about my speed. 1 min 25 sec for 64 stitches on magic loop while walking on the treadmill. I was trying to go quickly but not trying to speed knit and I got hung up on a stitch or two, the way I usually do, missing a stitch or splitting the yarn occasionally. I lied about resting on my work days, I knit several rows on my Kingscot Cardigan last night and my hand was a little sore this morning. I worked on this Sweet Georgia leg warmer while at the gym and put a few more rows on the Kingscot, but needed to run errands while the kids napped instead of having a couple hours to knit. (Hubby was working from home today, I don't leave the kids at home while I shop 😜)

100 Days of Making: Day 52

#day52 of #100daysofmaking: I know I overdid the knitting by several hours today but I felt so deprived I couldn't help myself. My hand actually was hurting even and I wouldn't stop, just took a few breaks and went back to it. Not good I know. I decided I should not knit on my work days and knit on my days off, that's 4 knitting days and three break days which is close to what I probably was doing before I started this push to knit every single day. So I wanted to get something accomplished since I won't knit tomorrow. In this pic I've almost finished the ribbing on the left front of my Kingscot Cardigan and I got about 15 rows into the body pattern but I think I need to rip about 4 rows, I may have added too many rest rows because the cable isn't traveling right. Tomorrow is strict rest. Except maybe for ripping those rows so it doesn't keep bothering me in the back of my mind?

100 Days of Making: Day 51

#day51 of #100daysofmaking: I went to look and see if I could repurchase the pattern to The Phoenix and the Carpet since my printout is long gone and the original clues to this mystery KAL had been emailed to me 4 years ago and I don't even know which past computer that was on. Well the pattern is available on Rav but was $10, a bit pricey for something I had already bought pattern and kit - so I emailed the designer, Janine Le Cras and asked if she might give me a discount on buying it again. She said that was ridiculous and she would gift me the pattern to my Rav library right then. And she did. #knittersareawesome. I put about 8 rows on it today. I will only be able to do this during kids naps, every row is different and there is beading involved. It's not very complicated but it definitely requires focused attention. Even though it's been out for years, it's still working up like a mystery shawl to me, I'm using the written directions because in general I find them easier to keep my place in than charts.

100 Days of Making: Day 50

#day50 if #100daysofmaking: I technically didn't do any making today. I did yesterday but forgot to take a picture so I didn't post. I worked for about an hour and a half on my son's Sweet Georgia Pineapple Express leg warmers and over did it, my third day in a row of knitting. My hand started to hurt and this morning when I woke, it was a little bit weak and sore. So today is a rest day but in a search for some yarn that someone on Rav asked for, I found three missing WIPs! My Kingscot Cardigan by Norah Gaughn (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/kingscot) and my Phoenix and the Carpet by Janine Le Cras(http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/the-phoenix-and-the-carpet), both circa 2011, plus my Scylla socks by Fiona Bennett (http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Katandia/scylla) which I started a few months ago and lost track of. I had thought I lost all of these projects but they were in the bottom of a yarn bin. My two old projects have all the yarn, needles and (beads) together but I have no clue where the patterns are. Not a problem for Kingscot, it's in my Rav library and I simple re downloaded it. The Phoenix Shawl was a mystery KAL from The Unique Sheep and I'm sure the pattern clues were received by email on an old computer that is long gone. I went to just repurchase the pattern and it's quite pricey, $10 - which is a lot for a pattern I paid for once. I emailed the designer and asked if she might give me a discount on repurchasing the pattern, she can see from my page that I bought the kit from the company during the actual KAL, you can't fake the date I originally began the project page. If she doesn't give me a discount, I guess I will just have to buy it but may not for some time as I have plenty to work on right now.

100 Days of Making: day 49

100 Days of Making: Day 48

#day48 of #100daysofmaking: I've been on a break with knitting for 6 days and I couldn't stand it any longer. Plus my hands feel better, not weak during the day and also I finished my book which was my substitute making project. (Mini review of Gone Girl is "eh". Not as shockingly twisty as everyone claimed, I anticipated most of the plot and not one character was truly likable. I kept turning pages but at the end I just felt bleh about it.) I allowed myself to start back today with less than an hour of knitting - I recast on my Dangling Conversation by Mindy Ross which I had previously ripped out because I was doing it all wrong. I think I was reading the chart backwards and doing the increases on the wrong sides. Plus I didn't stop to watch how to do the purl 2 through the back loop, just winged it and I did watch the video this time and whaddyaknow I was doing it wrong. So it should be turning out correct now. It's got a crazy little swirly curl to it now. Cute. Yay knitting!

100 Days of Making: Day 47

#day47 of #100daysofmaking: I've been taking a break from knitting due to weakness in my hands and it does seem to be getting better, so I think the increase in knitting is what exacerbated the weakness. I am still not sure what caused it - just muscle fatigue or some sort of nerve problem, but I guess I need to just use moderation with my hand crafting. When we got home from the lake today, this was in the mail from the ever sweet @colleenzaharakes! Thanks girl! You know I do (love big balls)!

100 Days of Making: Day 43 - out of order some more!

100 Days of Making: Day 41 - out of order

#day41 of #100daysofmaking: My Honey Cowl in MadTosh DK in Mansfield Garden while baby boy has a fit in the background. Toddler life.