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.

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.

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.

Huge Life Changes

So after so many years of being a college student, that phase of my life has come to an end.  I think that this is one of the most nerve wracking changes in my life that I have ever experienced.  A label that I have had for so much of my life has all of a sudden been taken away from me and unfortunately the university that I attended did not have the resources available to make a successful transition from being a student to an employed member of society.  I honestly did not realize how hard it would be to find a job with a Sociology degree.  However, in an attempt to earn an income before my student loans start coming due I have been using my crafting abilities to sell skirts out of re-purposed jeans.  I can only hope that I am able to make enough that I won't have to take a job that is meaningless and far below my education and skill set.

I have been knitting a lot since I have graduated and finished many projects as well as working on some very long term projects.  I have been working on the Beekeeper's Quilt and a scrap sock yarn blanket which are both projects that take a lot of time to complete.

 

Another long term project that I am working on is the My Year in Temperature Scarf which is a very interesting project that has to take a year if you are doing the current year, which is what I am doing but many other people that are making this scarf are doing a year which was significant to them such as the year that they were married or the year that they were born.  The very interesting thing about this project is that no two people will have the same scarf because of where they are located.

I have also been pushing my knitting ability by adding new skills.  I am currently learning to knit socks on one long circular needle, which I am like very much and am finding it very handy for the sock patterns that I have that are not easily divisible by four which had stopped my previously when I was using only dpns.  I am also learning to knit lace from charts.  I have used charts for small stitch patterns but never for something as large or complicated as lace shawls.  I have found that it is not nearly as complicated as I had once thought that it was.  I am going to continue to expand my knitting skills so that when I am able to open a yarn shop in the future I will have a wide range of skills and abilities.

Knitting Has Saved My Sanity

So I am now in my final semester of my college career (until I decide I want to go to grad school) and I am in that pre-graduation freak out about I'm not exactly sure what I want to do when I am done.  My way of combating that freak out is to basically spend any time that I am not doing homework, I have been knitting.  I also have been knitting while doing homework if I am reading something that will lie flat and doesn't need to be held open. 

What I have found so nice about knitting lately is that the act of knitting has been enough to quiet that worry.  This also means that I have been able to finish quite a few projects so far this year.  So far I have finished 28 different projects, 19 of those projects have been dishcloths and most of them with pictures in them.  I have also finished 9 hats, 5 of which are going to be sent to Wool-Aid which is a charitable organization that sends woolen items to children in poverty stricken, extremely cold climates.  It is a great way to put your wool scraps from other projects to a good use.

I have also finished a pair of boot socks, which unfortunately for me are too big and will be going to my sister who also just recently got the boot cuffs that I made.

But my current knitting addiction is baby items.  I love how fast they knit up and even though I don't need them, I am coming to the point in my life when my friends and cousins will be having babies and it is nice to have items on hand and not have to try to whip them up at the last minute.  Last weekend I was able to knit an adorable green baby vest in about 4 hours.

Today I started a new baby vest that is in Sock Yarn Studio called the Golden Lace Baby Cardigan, which is so cute.  Instead of knitting it in the tonal gold (or any tonal yarn) that they show it in, I am knitting it out of a yarn that looks like a tye-dye shirt and I love it so far.  The lace pattern looks so nice on the edge and is really easy to do.  I have a feeling that I will be knitting more than one of these because with a little variation it could also be a vest suitable for a little boy as well.

So now I need to either find a way to start my own yarn shop, which I have wanted to do for years, or get a job in a yarn shop, which could be problematic because I have a feeling that I wouldn't bring home much of a paycheck then.

New Year, New Goals

So this year I am going to make an effort to get back into making things for Esty. I have gotten lazy on adding new things to my page because I was rather disillusioned after an extremely bad craft show experience this past spring but I think that I am finally getting past that now and am actually getting the urge to get back into it.

I am also going to make an effort to make a dent in my stash of yarn and get it to a more manageable size, to where I don't feel guilty about buying more yarn. I have already succeeded in using a nice chunk of it for Christmas presents and need to continue at the same pace I am going to have any chance of reducing the size of my stash.

Getting Back in the Swing of Things

School has started again, fall is almost here, and it is time to start working on Christmas presents (well any that are going to be knitted). I don't know why it has been harder than normal to get back into my study mode, I feel like I am constantly trying to play catchup even though I'm just barely a month into the semester. Hopefully things will turn around soon.

Well on the knitting front things are moving along nicely. I have for the most part picked patterns that I can do while I am reading my text books, which means that with all of the time that I have been reading so far this semester I have gotten the majority of Mom's Christmas present done. I have to start over on Lexie's because she decided that she hated the color I was using. Dad's is done because I actually made two things for him last year and saved one to give him this year. I haven't figured out Nick's or Mike's yet, but I have Kira's done because I am not going to waste time and money making someone a present that won't appreciate the time and effort that went into it. I also have Caley's present done, unless I end up have some extra ambition and getting her socks done for Christmas rather than her birthday and then I'll just swap presents. I also still need to figure out what I am going to make for Grandma, that will be the toughest to figure out.

I have also joined a couple of swaps for this fall. One is a pincushion swap which is just coming to a close actually and the other is a longer swap that is for Halloween. I am actually about half way done with the knitted part and I have a good portion of the goodies but I am having a hard time finding the right yarn to include.