100 Days of Making: Day 25

#day25 of #100daysofmaking: I mostly worked in my new Kokamu sweater that I did decide to make despite not getting proper gauge but that's not going to make very interesting photos as it's going to be miles and miles of reverse stockinette. I also cast on this pretty Sweet Georgia in Pineapple, I think - more leg warmers for Will, since my new Knit Picks needles arrived. WARNING PEOPLE: Knit Picks latest needles are not as sharp as they used to be! 😭😖😢

100 Days of Making: Day 24

100 Days of Making: Day 23

#day23 of #100daysofmaking: I started an edged receiving blanket for my new nephew, @ames7475 asked me for one and picked this pattern from my stash of boy blankets. She also approved of my interesting choice of a mustard yellow to go with the vintagey look of the blanket, there isn't any yellow in the pattern but it matches well with the color palette. I am down to 2 boy and 2 girl blankets in my flannel stash... I need to order some more!

100 Days of Making: Day 22

#day22 of #100daysofmaking: so my sister @ames7475 is never going to post pictures of her new baby on social media, but here is the Baby Vertebrae that I made for him out of Snow Capped Yarns Latouche in Port Side Red and Stormy Seas. I don't think I ever posted a pic after I blocked it. I gifted it today since I was able to see my new nephew! Not much knitting was done today, a bit of ribbing on the Candy Hearts Vertebrae. I was too busy holding tiny babies.

100 Days of Making: Day 21

#day21 of #100daysofmaking: All I had time to do today was pick up stitches on my Baby Vertebrae. Not a lot of making today. By the way, picking up stitches takes a really long time- it took a whole episode of Game of Thrones to get all the way around the edges of the cardi.

100 Days of Making: Day 20

#day20 of #100daysofmaking: I have two sleeves! Now for the body ribbing. Right now it looks a bit wonky and the sleeves still look huge, I hope the ribbing smoothes things out.

100 Days of Making: Day 19

#day19 of #100daysofmaking: Geez. Only 19 days in? Y'all are gonna get tired of seeing my same projects over and over for 100 days. I mean, I have a lot of projects on the needles but still, I've already repeated several. Anywhoot, I'm finishing the first sleeve on the Baby Vertebrae by Kelly Brooker (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/baby-vertebrae) in @vividyarnstudio Candy Hearts Merino tencel. One more sleeve and the ribbing around the body. The sleeves were quite huge, I can put it all the way up on my arm. For a 12-18 month size. And it's working up bigger than one of my daughter's 18 month sweaters. Oh well, I'm not starting over, it will just be for next year. Or the year after that. Or for me. I did decreases on the sleeve which I marked a la @cuteknitter so I can keep track of what I did to repeat on sleeve two.

100 Days of Making: Day 18

#day18 of #100daysofmaking: I have a zillion things on the needles and I'm working on them today, but I don't want to. Im itching to cast on something new. I pulled this out of stash, it's Sweet Georgia from 2012 sock club in April, Pineapple Express colorway. I really loved this club even though I think I've only used one of the skeins. I still have a couple more that are so beautiful. I wanted to make some more leg warmers for my son. I may wind it today but I can't cast it on until I either free up some size 1 needles or buy more. I foresee a part 2 to this post involving a Knit Picks order.

100 Days of Making: Day 17

#day17 of #100daysofmaking: Back to my Manzanita Cowl by Kay Hopkins (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/manzanita-scarf-and-cowl) in Sweet Georgia merino silk fine in Midnight Garden. I still don't love either the pattern or the yarn. I finally have a good rhythm going with the pattern that I've memorized, even after not working on it for several days. I think I would like it better if the yarn wasn't so slippery on the metal needles - that silk content is super slidey! And the color. Still not my fav. And I feel like I haven't made any progress on it, which I really haven't since I ripped out half of it a while back. But I'm determined to make something with this gifted yarn because even though I don't prefer the colors, it is gorgeous (and very expensive!) yarn. So I will press on. #knittersdoweirdthings

100 Days of Making: Day 16

#day16 of #100daysofmaking: I finished Will's leg warmers! Steve made a face at them. What does he know about knit fashion for infants. Anyhow, they are just for naptime during the summer when he's wearing shorts so his legs don't get cold and no one will see that he's trying to bring 80's Fame fashion back. @hauteknityarn in Oil Slick.

100 Days of Making: Day 15

#day15 of #100daysofmaking: Yes, that is my daughter trying to steal my new stash of Must Stash yarn. I love this @muststashsheep yarn, it's gorgeous and so many stripes - plus you don't have throw internet elbows just to get some. She does sell out, but not in mere seconds like some highly sought after yarns. She had listings for a few days. I do not know how well it knits up because I can't bear to break any of my precious stash open despite the fact the I know now that it's not impossible to get more. These skeins are Everything Is Awesome and 10 Days of Fiesta. They are OCD skeins, so are two matched skeins so socks will stripe the same. Which means they are definitely destined for socks. For myself. And no one else.

Addendum to day 14

An edged flannel receiving blanket in my favorite new edging pattern - I copied it from a blanket given to me for my daughter from a friend of my mother in law, it washes well and is pretty enough for girls but plain enough for boys. I used to get very fancy with these edges but I found that they shrink up when washed and dried (which for baby blankets is essential that you be able to do) and then all your hard work is hidden. Also when trying to swaddle the baby in them, a wide edging or big floppy motifs will get all up in their face and be in the way, so small and simple is best.

I actually wrote down what I did this time so I will publish the pattern soon. I need to proof read it first, it's been such a long time since I've done a lot of crochet that I don't really remember how pattern terminology is written so I need to go read a bunch of patterns so I can see how I need to write mine, haha. 

100 Days of Knitting: Day 14

#day14 of #100daysofmaking: The crochet edging is done! Ends woven in and everything! And it only took me 3 days! This is why I love crochet. I mean, I know it was just an edging, but still. Faster than knitting.

100 Days of Making: Day 13

#day13 of #100daysofmaking: I dug up a very old project today, it's a pair of socks in a handspun yarn (no, I don't spin, I do not need a wheel/spindle/fiber stash too, I got it on etsy). It's a beautiful spin and I would have bought more from her and did request some specific colors but never heard back. The pattern is Generic Toe Up Socks by Annie Bruno (http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/generic-toe-up-socks) and I'm past the heel turn on the first sock. I started these in 2012, and despite that being excessively old, it is not the oldest pair of unfinished socks I have on the needles. 😳

... With my son participating in the #operationsockdrawer spirit by taste testing shoes one might want to accessorize with hand knit socks.

100 Days of Making: Day 12

#day12 of #100daysofmaking: I put a few rows on my Opal sock today, mostly worked on the edges blanket but wanted to see these beautiful colors since I haven't worked on it in a while. It's in the Opal Potpourri series, Paradies colorway 8841. I really have a hard time not buying every single new Opal and Regia series that comes out every few months and I have about a dozen in older series favorited on Etsy and EBay. I won't tell you which ones so you won't snipe them 😜

The pattern is http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/vanilla-socks-toe-up--afterthought-heel by Carle' Dehning. I'm not sure that I like how wide and shallow the toe is, next time I would do a smaller number of cast on stitches but I don't want to rip out now. I chose this sock because the afterthought heel looked like it would be easy to modify the stitch count on since a 56 stitch sock is what fits me but most socks are written for 64 stitches and I don't have the skill or understanding to change the heel turn directions.

100 Days of Making: Day 11

#day11 of #100daysofmaking: Today's project isn't knitting, it's crochet! My first fiber love. I've been making these edged flannel receiving blankets since about 2001 for the millions of babies around me. I don't know how many of them get used, but they are just so pretty as a gift and I love giving hand made gifts. Back in the day, I could edge a blanket in two evenings but with children, it takes several days to complete one. I order these pre hemstitched flannel blankets on hemstitcher.com - they have hundreds of adorable prints and the prices are the best of the hemstitched sites I have seen. It's nice to have the holes prepunched for you - you can punch them yourself with the crochet hook but I found I was punching unevenly and it drove me nuts. Go look at this site! They have baby, junior and lap sized blankets in one or double thickness (I always get single thickness for the South where it's never super cold, plus single thickness is better for swaddling). They also have bibs, burps and hankies too.

Despite the fact that I am working on the Baby Vertebrae in Vivid Yarn Studios yarn for Amy's baby to be, I am going to two showers for her and will visit her in the hospital and want a handmade gift for each occasion so I decided to do this blanket for her first shower, the sweater for her second and a hat for the hospital. I am pretty sure I have a problem - with both casting on too many projects as well as an overgifter disease.


Sent from my iPhone

100 Days of Making: Day 10

#day10 of #100daysofmaking: So I didn't actually knit anything with this, I only worked some more on my Baby Vertebrae in @vividyarnstudio Candy Hearts, but LOOKLOOKLOOK!! More @muststashsheep yarn!! I am now the proud owner of TWO skeins of MustStash yarn in two different variants of the Dark Side of the Moon colorway, this is the extended play version that was apparently made famous (again) by the Yarn Harlot. She showed it to an astronaut or something? I dunno, I don't read her blog though I know I should, she sounds awesome.

100 Days of Making : Day 9

#day9 of #100daysofmaking: Very little progress on my Baby Vertebrae was made despite this being my day off. I discovered that it takes me 8 minutes to do one row while also wiping Emma's face, hands, bib and the table, getting her more yogurt, grabbing the knitting away from Will who was trying to pull it off the needles, then stopping Will from playing with the outlet and then getting back to finishing the row.

100 Days of Making: Day 8

#day8 of #100daysofmaking: This is my latest project. I decided to start a Baby Vertebrae that I need to finish in the next couple of weeks, and of course the best choice for a quickly needed knit is sock yarn. What's wrong with me. I did look for the thickest sock yarn I had in pretty colors. And then of course when I was winding this @vividyarnstudio merino tencel in Candy Hearts, with my two helpers, I got it into a terrible snarl in the last 30 or 40 yards. My swift is on the small side and when I get a larger skein, the last few rounds want to fall right off the swift and get all tangled. This is just how my week has been going, though... The washer is broken, hubby is out of town and then tonight after the kids baths, the cold tap on the tub breaks so now I can't even take a shower until I hunt down some vise grips to redneck jerry rig the faucet. Sigh sigh sigh.

I did untangle all of the snarl and finished winding though, the tencel blend made the yarn slippery enough that it was much easier to untangle than other yarns. I'm glad I am using this for a non sock project as I'm not sure this would make great socks, it's kind of inelastic. I didn't realize what the fiver blend was when I bought it, I just loved the colorway so much and had been stalking Julia's etsy shop for this color so when it popped up, I grabbed it without looking closely at the yarn itself. I will get another skein eventually in a better sock fiber blend so I can have some gorgeous socks in this color. I also did start the Baby Certevrae and it looks beautiful. I did a 12 month size on size 4 needles, because I knit tight and that's what I had. Size 12 month even though my coworkers baby will be born in June because her last baby grew quickly and I didn't want too small of a size. Too big is better, you can always just roll up the sleeves.

100 Days of Making: Day 7

#day7 of #100daysofmaking: the treadmill knitting edition. Started the second leg warmer for Will in @hauteknityarn BFL sock, Oil Slick colorway.

100 Days of Making: Day 6

#day6 of my #100daysofmaking or rather, my #100daysofripping. Sigh. If you peer closely, you can see that at some point, I messed up my stitch count and the lace is offset and also wider? I was missing a stitch or two at the end when I went back and checked the pattern but somehow it looks like I had more stitches despite having less. I'm talented. I'm still conflicted over this project, I don't love the colors in the yarn but I'm liking the pattern better, so I decided to rip back to the first mistake I made in the lace just a few rows in, despite having a good 8 inches done. If it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. Manzanita Cowl by Kay Hopkins in Sweet Georgia merino silk fine, midnight garden colorway.

100 Days of Making: Day 5

#day5 of my #100daysofmaking: back to my Honey Cowl by Antonia Shankland in MadTosh DK, Mansfield's Garden Party colorway. I'm almost done with one leg warmer for Will, just lacking the cuff but I needed something bright, pretty and different tonight after a long day at work. How can you be in a bad mood with this in your hands? Even the snot my kids smeared on it as they climbed over me didn't ruin the peace of mind this knit gives me.

100 Days of Making: Day 4

#day4 of my #100daysofmaking or should I say my #100daysofripping. I got several inches into a leg warmer in @hauteknityarn BFL sock in Oil Slick when I noticed it seemed a bit wide. I compared it to a pair I'm knitting for Emma and it is way huge. So I ripped back to the ribbing and started again with a tighter gauge. I had been working sort of loosely because the yarn felt finer than some sock yarns but now I think it feels about normal. This is what I get when I cast something on late in the evening. My judgment is suspect after 5:00.

100 Days of Making: Day 3

#day3 of #100daysofmaking: I cast on something new. I know I haven't bound off any projects this week but I DID have some empty needles, so that's pretty much the same thing. Anyhow, today I decided that I needed leg warmers for my son asap, it's getting warmer and he's starting to wear shorts - I have lots of hand knit leg warmers that I put on Emma during nap so her legs don't get cold when wearing shorts or dresses. I'm too lazy to put a whole other outfit on her and it's a great way to use my pretty sock yarns. But I haven't made any for Will yet, so I have to remedy that!

Haute Knit Yarn in BFL sock, Oil Slick colorway.


Sent from my iPhone

100 Days of Making: Day 2

Day 2 of #100daysofmaking: I put several rows on my Dangling Conversation in Misti Alpaca in Pico. I love the tiny rainbows that develop on my needles as I knit.

100 days of making: Day 1

Last night I saw people posting about #100daysofmaking project, doing something creative or new every day for 100 days. I know I already knit a lot but not every day, there are many days in the week that I don't have time to pick it up at all. But I have so many things I want to finish or start, so I am going to do this as a way to motivate myself to do even just a tiny bit every day. Yesterday I only got two rows on my #profusionkal cowl while lying in bed but it's a start. #day1

Profusion Cowl by Karen MaCall in MadTosh Sock in Baltic, Medieval and third color to be Coquette.