Tag: yarn

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Movie Socks

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I’m definitely an impulse knitter. Unlike sewing where I’ll plan and mostly execute, with knitting I’ll get started on a project and let it simmer for altogether too long until I marathon to the finish.

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These socks were started the night I saw Deadpool for the first time, probably a week after it’d been released in theaters (prime knitting in an empty theater time).

The first one has a bump, or rather a pattern miscalculation, near the toe from an unfortunate incident with a movie called “How to Be Single.” I was there for a friend’s birthday, but I couldn’t stand the movie, so I was the weirdo who pulled out spiky sock knitting during a friend’s birthday outing to a chick flick and then cupcakes (RIP Sugarland). These socks are old enough that the cupcake place has since closed.

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I would tinker with these at various movies, watching TV, passenger in long car trips for a while. Definitely some Star Wars was input. Possibly Spiderman Homecoming.

And at some point I finished the first sock. I should note here that I was basically making this pattern up as I went. I knew I wanted a small twist up the front, and a larger twist up the back leg, so that’s what I aimed to design. With mixed, but overall good success.

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I had taken moderately good notes on my self directed pattern, but second sock syndrome hit me hard. When I finally did start working on the second, I had accidentally deleted part of the notes… Whoops.

So the second sock is definitely more sister than twin, but I think that’s okay… Because it’s done!

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Over the holidays in 2018 I finished the sock during the super long drive.

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Victory! Till the next round of procrastination, at least.

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Gifts for a Yarn Crafter

Alright, next up in the gift guide lineup for the day is gifts to give yarncrafters! Anyone who knits or crochets, or generally lives covered in small amounts of alpaca fluff?

Gifts of time:

Accompany them to a local yarn store (LYS) without complaining or dream killing! Only use this at your own risk (if you’re anything like my brother who lives to kill dreams).

Gifts to make:

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Project bag. Your yarn loving friend is going to need somewhere to put their project while they take a break to eat chocolate! (See Monday’s post here, or you can buy the one pictured above here).

Gifts to buy:

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Yarn! Chances are your yarn lover’s stash is already chock full, so any yarn could do, but think about what they like to make and buy accordingly. However if they only knit sweaters, consider a gift certificate to a LYS.

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Fun yarn toy/tool! This mushroom cord tool was a gift from my aunt that I got as a child (before easy internet searching was a thing) and it was just a cute decoration for about a year before my mom and I figured out how to use it, and now it’s both adorable and functional!

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Replacements for some of the small yarn related things that are easily lost. For me it’s needle caps, yarn needles, and stitch holders. The only reason I had these to photograph is because of a really recent organization.

Cute or topical stitch markers. I don’t tend to use them, since I’m either hyper organized or winging it, but some of my friends love them!

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A yarn winder is amazing to have, if your crafter bought a lot of yarn before discovering the magic of caking them…

Anything else to add? Let me know in the comments!

Monday – Gifts for a New Sewist

Tuesday – Gifts for an Established Sewist

Thursday – Gifts for a Maker (people who like to make or craft or build)

Friday – Gifts to Make for Non-Crafty People (there’s always a few)

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Mustard Knit Wrap Sweater

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I’ve been wanting a “ballet sweater” for awhile… I’m not a ballet dancer, nor do babydoll styles seem to flatter me (meaning they don’t tend to make me feel great about my appearance), but I love the idea of a wrap sweater.

The idea was on my back burner for a long while.

2017 January saw me in Seattle for a conference, and I picked up two skeins of this lovely Royal Alpaca from Aslan Trends in a mustard gold color on sale. It’s supposed to be worsted, but it felt like a bit more than that as I knitted it up.

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I scoured Ravelry and discovered that none of the patterns fit my specifications (I guess I’m super picky?). So I knitted up a small swatch to get an approximate gauge, and then calculated out some general plans, then kind of threw them out the window and did it as I wanted. I know that I made the edging on purpose, and I made the i-cord edging first or concurrently to the making, and I went with kimono sleeves since they’re easy, and basically knit pretty much until I ran out of yarn.

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The yarn did shed on me so much (and everyone was so nice to not point out that it was shedding all over my black shirts…), and it still does to a (marginally) lesser degree, which I’ve seen from my google searches happens a lot.

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What I do know is that this sweater is warm! For a very open weave it is very cozy, so it’s going to make an excellent sweater in cool weather, which **fingers crossed** its going to stay now. I was getting cross with the 85*F October days.

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This is my “why are my downstairs neighbors so loud” face…
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Diving Deep Shawl

This might be one of the quickest yarn-buying to final project finishes that I’ve had so far…

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I bought the yarn in January from Me & Ewe in Austin TX as part of my “buy yarn/fabric as souvenirs” initiative to help me stop buying stupid trinkets I don’t need and instead come out with things I’ll treasure. My backpack from last year’s fabric purchase is most definitely my most used item in my life.

It’s a fine single ply yarn that is a merino wool and silk blend from a spinner in Texas. The colors remind me of a tropical ocean under moonlight, or rather what I think that would look like.

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Then I got into a stage of my home life (at the time) where I realized that I couldn’t accommodate nearly every craft I’m fond of in my tiny hole of a room (only slightly bigger than a walk in closet) except for yarncrafts, which had easily accessible supplies and very little footprint.

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So I got to searching Ravelry, bought this excellent pattern called Pearla Beaded Lace Shawl (though I chose not to bead it) from ByTheLilyPond.com, though I did purchase it on Ravelry.

I found it a pretty quick knit, and very intuitive to knit after a bit. I knit it all from looking at a computer, moving a rectangle around in Adobe Acrobat and scribbling a small key on the page so I wouldn’t have to continually scroll up and down, which made it easy to knit wherever I was. I’d most definitely make this shawl again, and I’ll consider it for the next time I go to a new place and buy yarn!

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And I finished in early April. Between it and my NOLA Shawl I can wear a shawl with pretty much any item of clothing. Which is great! I love unusual accessories!

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NOLA Shawl

A while ago I told you about my fabric I bought in Seattle, and how that was going to be a thing when I traveled.

I’ve not yet done anything with the Seattle yarn, but I was lucky enough to go on a road trip with some friends last March and bought some lovely tencel yarn in a gorgeous colorway.

We visited four cities on this epic road trip, but New Orleans was the one that hooked me on the trip. I study hurricanes in my real life, so I am fascinated in part because of the geological conditions, but the fact that I hear a lot about it from my favorite food blogger who moved there, and see pieces of it (even if they might be fake) in shows like NCIS NOLA, I was pretty interested. So even though this colorway is not quite indicative of the NOLA people know, it is definitely more my style and wearable in my life. Though I did waffle over some Mardi Gras colorways.

This is not the first time I fell in love with these particular colors together. A few years ago when I was beading as much as I breathed I bought a bunch of beads in that colorway with the intention of making a necklace for myself, which has still not come to pass. Maybe soon? But I consider this colorway Van Gogh colors, since they really remind me of Van Gogh’s sunflower painting.

Officially this is yarn from the brand Prism, and its called Delicato, 100% Tencel, and this is the colorway named Sierra.

Back to the shawl.

The yarn was so soft and I was looking for a low key distraction at the time, so I decided to use it right away. I looked at a bunch of patterns, and ultimately decided on the Good Day Sunshine shawlette pattern from Knitty by Amanda Bjørge.

I really liked the pattern. I didn’t take notes as I went (story of my life), but I seem to remember having to fudge some parts of rows to get it lined up, but I don’t know if that was a careless mistake on my part or if it was the pattern (probably the former). Overall, easy to knit up and the lace kept things interesting!

And then I knit for a month or two. I finished the shawl just before a wedding I attended in early March, but because I had made an outfit with sleeves for that I didn’t need a shawl that night. Until a week or two ago, I haven’t really worn it, but that is not without precedent.

A few years ago I made the Knitty Wavedeck shawl from Kate Atherly which gets worn occasionally, but not enough to be called often. It doesn’t help that with the DK yarn weight it feels more like winter, but we haven’t gotten much winter weather, and that it ended up being more of a shawlette. And shawls are less conducive as scarfs when biking when they need to be attached to something to prevent them from falling off. I’m debating keeping safety pins with the Wavedeck shawl so I can pin it to my clothes before I start bike riding.

With this fingering weight one it’ll get more fall and spring wear, and has already proven so! I wore it three times this week, which was great. I wish the weather agreed with me wearing it though…

Shawls are so pretty, but I need to get more in the practice of wearing them. Especially since I love knitting them!

This was finished in very early summer, and other than a project I started knitting and abandoned for time, I haven’t really been knitting. I got a little bit of a start when I saw Blade Runner 2049 (so pretty) with these socks that I’ve been knitting since I saw Deadpool in theaters. I think I’m calling them my movie socks, since they’ve seen me through about 6 movies, both ugh and awesome!

What are you all knitting up right now?

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Green Gable Hat

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My main reason for naming this was because it was green… and cables rhyme with gable.

Do you remember this hat? Fluffy looking and blue where you couldn’t see the design or shape?

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I almost don’t since I can’t actually find it.

I made that pattern again, the Aran Tam from 101 One Skein Wonders, but this time in wool so I could block it. And it came out so much better!

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Unfortunately it is a bit small, and I couldn’t make it grow bigger at the end, since you start with the brim and work inwards, so it’s a little small on me. But I like it, and if I’m going to wear a hat, I’ve got to like it!

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Now if only the weather hadn’t suddenly realized it was spring, and not the time for warm hats!

Next year, this hat and I will get along well!

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Cornflower Shawl

Guess what’s off my needles! (Hint: It’s in the title.)

I finished the shawl!

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So the full details:

This is the Wavedeck Shawl by Kate Atherly in Knitty Winter 2014.

I did get a little impatient, and I skipped a few rows of edging and zig zags, but it’s the first non-sock pattern that I didn’t end up making big changes to! Normally I don’t like the way that its bound, or I’m too impatient for long sleeves, etc. But not this time… partially because I would have no idea what to do in order to change things, but mostly because I love it just the way it is.

This was Christmas yarn from over 3 years ago… I picked it out when we moved my brother into college as a freshman, and my parents kept it for me until Christmas. The yarn is Debbie Bliss Prima, which is now discontinued I’m afraid, but its a nice thick DK or thin worsted, as it almost worked out for me. Part bamboo and part merino, so its just warm enough, but not overly warm.

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It felt like it took forever, but I think it was a February and February alone project, which is nifty. I like finishing projects within a month of starting them, and bonus points for actually getting pictures and posting about it.

I was going to take a picture with my coat on, ready to go to school, but when I went outside to take these and a few other sets of pictures, I realized that it was too warm to do that. Despite all the melting snow that I cropped out of these pictures, it was quite warm.

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But the way that I’ve already fallen in love with wearing it is with my shawl pin. So woot! A use for my shawl pin!

 

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What’s on My Needles Wednesday – New Socks and Shawl

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I’ve been working with yarn more this year than ever before, and not just because 2/3 of the Christmas presents I gave were knitted.

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So I’m going to be sharing pics of what I’m working on. Most of the posts will have minimal wording, unless I’ve finished something.

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For instance these orange socks are done, made up with the Water to Sky Anklet pattern, which worked up beautifully in this alarmingly bright orange sock yarn. And look at the cool pattern they left on my feet (likely due to a snug shoe, so don’t be alarmed)!

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The wrap has a long way to go…

 

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Hybrid

Do you remember when I made a wristband out of this nice minty aqua yarn? I still love that thing. I told you that I had plans for the rest of the ball, but if I remember correctly I told you my plans were top secret… or something like that.

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Ta da! I present my knit and sewn hybrid!

I had most of the knit part finished before I posted about the wristband, but I was really more interested in figuring out how to attach it to the part of the knit fabric I had previously cut off a dress.

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The story of the dress: I got this dress in Germany on a visit with my aunt, who I rarely get to see. It was love at first sight with this dress. It was also about seven years ago. The dress didn’t fit well by today, and I would always have a serious case of panty lines. And who wants that. So I cut the skirt off to make this shirt, which is well cropped at just hitting the waistband of my jeans, so better with high waisted bottoms, and I had this leftover fabric. I had been planning to make it into a color blocked shirt with a yoke.

But then I saw how close this yarn was in color. Match made in heaven.

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I used my wristband as a pseudo swatch and just cast on a bunch of stitches. Throughout the entire make I waffled on construction details and sizing and how much yarn I would need. mostly the latter, as I had a finite amount to work with. Because of this I used stockinette stitch with a small openwork pattern, mostly for the yarn conservation reasons. I was banking on the idea that the sewn part would flatten the stockinette stitch roll. It mostly works.

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I measured how far apart the straps would need to be, then I realized I just how little yarn I had. Racerback it would be then! Once I got to a reasonable back length, I bound off and used the remaining yarn to cast on for i-cord. And that’s how I finished the ball. Originally I used a bit of some peaches and cream top add some length to the i-cord and more “seamlessly” connect the segments. I wore it for a day, but by the end of the day the back had stretched out way too much… Waaaaay too much.

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So I procrastinated for a month. And now I’ve finished it. Took out the peaches and cream and used a different attachment method for the i-cord which helped to shorten it. And I used elastic to keep the top corners of the yoke tight. And it fits nicely and is cute, and because the seasons are changing probably won’t get much wear this year, but next year! Except now that I’m looking at photos the back falls below my bra strap… Any suggestions? I might need to get more creative with elastic.

Lesson of the post – I-cord is super duper stretchy.