Wednesday, January 29, 2014

January Projects Update

My January project for my Year of Knitting Adventures has not gotten nearly as much attention as I would have liked to give it.  At this rate I will not have it done by the end of the year but I will definitely try to work on it more each month.  I will be picking smaller projects for the rest of the year so that I will have time to work on it more.


 I finished this pair of purple stripe boot socks on Monday night.  They are knit out of OnLinie Supersocke 6-fach on US size 3 (3.25mm) needles.


I finished this scarf at the beginning of the month.  The pattern is the Corrugated Baktus, which is a free pattern on Ravelry.  The pattern was written for a fingering weight yarn but I knit it out of Malabrigo Twist, which is a worsted weight yarn and I used US size 10 (6.00 mm) and I love how soft and squishy it turned out.


I knit this neck warmer for my sister who requested a cowl that would cover her nose and ears, so I whipped this out in one evening.  I made it out of Lion Brand Heartland held double on US size 11 (8.00 mm) 16 inch circular needles.  I cast on 52 stitches and worked a 2x2 rib for 10 inches and then bound off.  It was super easy and fast, I think it only took about 2 hours to finish.  This will be really nice for the sub-zero temps that she is experiencing up at Michigan Tech.


I finished these socks last week and they were my first pair of after though heel socks and I used the pattern AfterThought Heel Socks by Laura Linneman out of Peppermint Overload by Turtle Made on Etsy and then I used Brown Sheep Wildfoote in Vanilla for the heels and toes.  I used US size 2 (2.75mm) needles although I have realized that my knitting has loosened up and I will have do go down a size down for my socks from now on unless I am knitting with a heavier weight sock yarn but I love how the after thought heel fits my foot.


I just started the Turntable by Hilary Smith Callis out of Shubui Sock in Mulberry and Velvet on US size 6 (4.00mm) needles and I am really excited for this.  I have not gotten very far yet but I am loving working on it and can't wait to be able to wear it.


Friday, January 24, 2014

New Hand Dyed Yarns

This week I have been working on my dying and I managed to dye five skeins of self striping sock yarn.  It is a lot of work to get the yarn prepped for self striping but it is really worth the work for the finished product. 

This colorway is called Happy Time


 This one is Tequila Sunrise


This one is Cherry Sweetheart


This one is Springtime


This one is Delight


The last 4 skeins are listed in my Etsy shop for $25 each.  They are100 grams of 463 yards of 75% Superwash Merino/ 25% Nylon.

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

A Year of Knitting Adventures

As a year long project that is made up of many smaller projects, I have joined in the Year of Knitting Adventures in the Sock Yarn Round Robin group on Ravelry.  What the Year of Knitting Adventures are, are a selection of 14 different types of projects that you have to choose from and you only do 12 of them, one each month.  However, you can only do each one once and some projects may fall into multiple categories but you have to decide which one you want to use which ever project for.  The categories are:

1.Knit something from your Favorite listing (must have been added at least 6 months prior to starting it)
2.Knit something from your Queue listing (must have been added at least 6 months prior to starting it)
3.Knit something for yourself
4.Knit something for someone else
5.Knit something for Christmas
6.Knit something using a semi solid or solid yarn colour
7.Knit something using a variegated yarn colour
8.Knit something using a self-striping yarn
9.Knit something as a surprise (must be kept at a secret WIP until gifted-this includes finding or borrowing your own “secret WIP” picture)
10.Knit something using at least 2 colours of yarn
11.Knit something that includes some kind of lace patterning
12.Knit something with buttons, ties, beads or other embellishment
13.Knit something that challenges you when you knit it (the reason it challenges you must be listed in the project notes such as; working on this project for three years, hate the knitted on border)
14.Knit something for an event (the event must be listed in the project notes such as birthday gift for someone, baby arrival in April etc.)

For January I decided to do #3 which is to knit something for myself and I decided that I would knit The Name of the Doctor Double Knit Scarf , which may end up taking my until the end of the year but even that would be a huge accomplishment.  I am doing it in lace weight yarn on size 1 needles.  Here is what it should look like when it is done, I can only hope that mine will look as good as it is my first double knit project.

Dw_modeled_medium