Te Whēnua

 Another one from the long overdue WIP pile. Late last summer, I thought it was a good idea to do 3 MKALs at the same time. I finished one of them, and then the others went into hibernation. 

When I pulled this one out, I found that I had only about 16 more rows and the bind off left. I mean, they were 400+ stitches in each row, but still. It seems silly that this sat unfinished for so long. Especially because the yarn and pattern are beautiful. I need to be better about finishing things.

Project Info:

Pattern: Te Whēnua by Francoise Danoy

Yarn: Lady Dye Yarns Superwash Fingering in Umbrella

Started: August 15, 2020

Finished: June 12, 2021

Rebel with a Cause kit

Got this pretty kit and started knitting right away, earlier this year before getting sidetracked. In my quest to clear out some space from my WIP basket and find all of my knitting needles, I got this one finished.

Project Info:

Pattern: Holly by Nancy Ricci

Yarn: Lady Dye Yarns Superwash Sock in Women's Suffragette

Started: Sometime in March 2021

Finished: June 13 2021

Digging out old WIPS

 Starting things is always a lot of fun. But then you end up with a basket (or 3) full of unfinished projects.  This weekend I decided it was a good time to go through some old projects and try to finish them up.  I bought this yarn maybe 2 years ago to make a hat as a special request.

I made the hat and then got frustrated with the design elements, so into the basket it went. When I pulled it out and looked at it with a less critical eye, I decided I was satisfied with the design and should just forge ahead. So, here is my finished hat:

 

Because, yes, I am an adult. 

Project info:

Pattern: Improvised

Yarn: Red Heart Reflective in Aran, Neon Yellow, Neon Pink, Peacock and Purple

Started: Unknown

Finished: June 13, 2021

Summer knitting

Started this top last summer, with no real plan, other than doing something similar to the Cancun Boxy Lace Top, which I had just finished. Got through 2 stitch patterns, pulled from my trusty stitch dictionary, before getting sidetracked by a mystery knit-along. Now that we had a few super hot days in a row, I felt inspired to finish a summery project.

       

Project Info:

Pattern: Improvised

Yarn: Tahki Yarns Skinny Jeans in Light Denim

Started: Aug 18, 2020

Finished: May 31, 2021

Knights Who Say Knit MKAL

 Another fun mystery knitalong from Lyrical Knits. I bought this gradient set at Rhinebeck in 2016, with no real plan. Mini-skeins! Am I right? They sat in stash waiting for the perfect project. When I heard there was going to be a Monty Python and the Holy Grail themed knit, this set seemed perfect. Of course, I didn't have any yarn to be the main color, so I had to buy more yarn. Whoops. I call this my "Strange women, lying in ponds, distributing swords is no basis for a system of government" kit.

Very much enjoyed the knitalong and my finished shawl is delightfully soft. I love how these colors turned out.

Project info:

Pattern: The Knights Who Say KNIT by Mary Annarella

Yarn: Fiber Optic Yarns Kashmir in Coastal Gradient and Dolphin

Started: April 19, 2021

Finished: May 28, 2021

Caladenia MKAL

For this mystery knitalong from Ambah O'Brien, I used 2 yarns that I had purchased at a Webs tent sale, and combined them them 2 yarns from a mystery grab bag.

This was a great pattern and I love how it all came together.

Project info

Pattern: Caladenia Shawl by Ambah O'Brien

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Methanol Blue and 3 unlabeled OOAK colors.

Started: Apr 13, 2021

Finished: May 9, 2021

Birdwatcher

 More stashbusting. Bought this yarn on sale last summer, with the intention of making a summer top. The colors are WAY out of my comfort range. So much so that I had to buy a dress because I didn't own anything that would actually work with it. Was concerned that the yellows would not do anything good for my complexion, but love how this turned out.

Project Info:

Pattern: The Birdwatcher by Casapinka

Yarn: Knitpicks Lindy Chain in Rouge, Blush, Conch, Tumeric and Honey

Started: Mar 30, 2021

Finished: Apr 26 2021

Swingy Poncho

 Saw a post about this pattern and it was so cute, and I just happened to have the perfect yarn for it. 

I rarely knit the same pattern twice, but am thinking about doing another one of these, but with a cable pattern in place of the seed stitch.

Project Info:
Pattern: Swingy Poncho by Casapinka
Yarn: Knitpicks City Tweed HW in Jacquard
Started: Mar 10, 2021
Finished: Apr 30, 2021

Savage Gardens

 First pattern from this year's Miss Babs Book Club. The first yarn/pattern combo was inspired by Mycroft and Sherlock by Kareen Abdul-Jabbar. The yarn color was called Tobacco and came with this cute magnifying glass.

Loved how this turned out, but this was definitely a project I had to pay attention to. Normally I am pretty good at reading my knitting, but I had to refer to the chart on every row or I would get totally lost. Totally worth it, though.

Project Info

Pattern: Savage Gardens Scarf by Michael Harrigan

Yarn: Miss Babs Killington in Tobacco

Started: March 21, 2021

Finished: Apr 3, 2021

Jack O'Lantern

My work is having a pumpkin decorating contest, and I thought I'd make a pumpkin out of yarn. Only when I started looking for patterns, I couldn't find anything that quite matched what I wanted the end result to be. I wanted the shape to be roundish, and for it to have cutouts for the mouth and eyes so a fake tea light or candle could be placed inside. Here's what I came up with.

It only took about 2 hours to complete. I bought a color changing light to use with it, and just watching it makes me laugh.  

Jack O’Lantern

Materials

Yarn weight: Bulky

Yardage: Color A: 212 yds

Color B : 25 yds

(sample used Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick &

Quick in color Pumpkin & Grass)

Hook: G (4.5 mm)

Abbreviations

st - stitch

ch – chain

hdc – half double crochet

bpdc – back post double crochet

ss – slip stitch

hdc inc – 2 hdc in same stitch

dec dc - decrease double crochet - [(yo, insert hook in next st, yo, draw yarn through st, yo,

draw through 1st two loops) 2 times, yo, draw through all 3 loops]

dc3tog - double crochet 3 together decrease - [yo, insert hook in next st, yo, draw yarn through

st, yo, draw through 1st two loops) 3 times, yo draw through all 4 loops]

Pumpkin

Round 1: ch 3, 7 hdc into 3 rd ch from hook (first 2 ch count at first st). Join with a ss to top stitch of ch2.

(8)

Round 2: ch 2 (counts as first hdc throughout pattern), hdc in 1 st st, *hdc inc in next 7 sts, join with slst to

top of ch2 (16)

Round 3: ch 2, hdc in next 2 st, (hdc inc in next st, hdc in next st) 7 times, join with slst to top of ch2 (24)

Round 4: ch 2, hdc in next 3 st, (hdc inc in next st, hdc in next 2 st) 7 times, join with slst to top of ch2

(32)

Round 5: ch 2, hdc in next st, bpdc in next st, hdc in next 2 st, (hdc inc in next st, bpdc in next st, hdc in

next 2 st) 7 times, join with slst to top of ch2 (40)

Round 6: ch 2, hdc in next st, bpdc in next st, hdc in next 3 st, (hdc inc in next st, bpdc in next st, hdc in

next 3 st) 7 times, join with slst to top of ch2 (48)

Round 7-10: continue increasing in pattern, 8 st per round. (80)

Round 12-14: ch 2, (bpdc, hdc in next 10 st) 7 times, bpdc, hdc in next 9 st, join with slst to top of ch2

Round 15: ch 3, (bpdc, dc in next 10 st) 3 times, bpdc, dc, sc, slst next 17 st, sc, (dc, bpdc, dc in next 9 st)

3 times, join with slst to top of ch3

Round 16: ch 3, (bpdc, dc in next 10 st) 3 times, bpdc, dc, ch 19, (dc, bpdc, dc in next 9 st) 3 times, join

with slst to top of ch3

Round 17: ch 3, (bpdc, dc in next 10 st) 3 times, bpdc, dc, dc in next 19 ch, (dc, bpdc, dc in next 9 st) 3

times, join with slst to top of ch3 (80)

Round 18: ch 3, (bpdc, dc in next 11 st) 7 times, bpdc, dc in next 10 st, join with slst to top of ch3

Round 19: ch 3, (bpdc, dc in next 9 st, dec dc) 7 times, bpdc, dc in next 8 st, dec dc, join with sl st to top

of ch3 (72)

Round 20: ch 3, (bpdc, dc in next 10 st) 3 times, bdc, dc in next 3 st, ch 10, sk next 4 st, dc in next 2 st,

bpdc, dc in next 2 st, ch 10, sk next 4 st, dc in next 2 st, (dc, bpdc, dc in next 9 st) 3 times.

Round 21: ch 3, (bpdc, dc in next 10 st) 3 times, bdc, dc in next 3 st, sl st in 4 st from hook, slst in next ch,

sk next 3 ch, dc in next 2 st, bpdc, dc in next 2 st, sl st in 4 st from hook, slst in next ch, sk next 3 ch, dc in

next 2 st, (dc, bpdc, dc in next 9 st) 3 times

Round 22: ch 3, (bpdc, dc in next 8 st, dec dc) 7 times, bpdc, dc in next 7 st, dec dc, join with sl st to top

of ch 3 (64)

Round 23: ch 3, (bpdc, dc in next 7 st, dec dc) 7 times, bpdc, dc in next 6 st, dec dc, join with sl st to top

of ch 3 (56)

Round 24 - 29: cont decreasing in pattern (8 st), cut color A

Teeth 

With Color A: Use standing double crochet stitch attach new yarn to the mouth where the tooth will be placed, dc in next stitch, cut yarn, and weave in ends.

Stem:

Join color B with sl st to top of ch 3 in previous round, leaving a long tail in front.

Round 1: Ch 3, (dec dc) 2 times, dc3tog, join with sl st to top of ch 3 (4 st)

Round 2-3: Ch 3, hdc in next 3 st, join with sl st to top of ch 3, cut color B, leaving a long tail.

Pull tail down through center of stem and out to the front between the dc at bottom of the stem.

Leaf

Round 1: Using color B, ch 4, 7 hdc in 4 ch from hook. (8)

Round 2: 2 Hdc in ea st around. (16)

Round 3: sl st in next 2 st, *(Sc, hdc, dc) in next st, (dc in next st, ch 1, sl st in ch, ch 3, sl st in same st)*

two times; (sc,hdc) in next st, (2 dc, tr) in next st, ch 1, sl st in ch, (tr, 2 dc) in next st, (hdc, sc) in next st;

*(sl st in next st, ch 4, sl st in 1st ch from hook, dc in same st), (dc, hdc, sc) in next st* two times; sl st in

next 1 sts,

Leaf stem - worked back and forth

Row 1-7: ch 1, sc in next 2 st, cut yarn leaving a long tail.

Attach leaf to pumpkin by pull tail through stitches at the bottom of the stem, leaving the tail in front.

Vines

Using tail from Color B used in stem, make a sl st near base of stem, ch 10-15, pull yarn through and cut

close to end of chain, curl near base of stem. Repeat with other tails from stem and leaf.

A present for mom

A couple of years ago, I made both my mom and my sister new hats and matching scarves for Christmas. About a month ago, my sister asked me to make her a new one, as she had misplaced hers and it was her favorite hat.

There are few people in the world who could lose an item I made for them, ask for a replacement, and get it. But for my big sister? I said, of course.

Even though I was in the middle of recovering from a neck injury and going to physical therapy and not doing any knitting or crocheting, I looked in my stash and found that I still had enough of the yarn from the original hat/scarf set to make a new hat for my sister, so I got to work. A hat pattern that typically takes me 2 hours took me 3 days to complete, as I could only work on it sporadically before I was in too much pain.

Then, shortly after I finished the hat, I got a call from my mother. Asking for a new hat. Because the one she had was dark red, and she just got a new hat and scarf that were purple. I wasn't ready to start on it right away, but spent some time going through my stash, looking for yarn that might work. I didn't have any. (I know, surprising, right?)  I thought about buying some, and then I remembered I had some undyed worsted yarn in my stash. And I had recently done some other dyeing and was in the mood. 

Had fun mixing up the colors and I think it worked out pretty well.

And I was able to finish the new hat in my usual timeframe, which was great.  Now I can finally send out the last of my "Christmas" presents.

I'm making this up as I go along

I recently learned how to make a crocodile stitch. Then, because I hate to do anything the way that I've been taught, I adapted it to work in the round to make several pairs of mittens:

For my next project, I wanted to do a cowl, but I had in my head the idea of making the crocodile stitches taller, to resemble feathers. I had this yarn that I had bought with the intention of making a shawl, though what pattern I had in mind has escaped me.

I still liked how the colors looked together though, so I went back to the drawing board to figure out how to make the stitches look the way I pictures. After a few tries, I got the first two rows of my feather stitch completed. It was suggested at this point that maybe I was making a Kermit the Frog costume.

But I forged ahead anyway, confident that eventually it would start to look the way I envisioned.

This project took about 2 weeks (the feather/crocodile stitches take a long time and use a LOT of yarn), but it is finally finished. Yay!  

The perils of workplace knitting

I bring my knitting to work, where it mostly sits on my desk all day because I am too busy to knit, but I bring it to lunch and use that time to decompress.  My co-workers mostly think I am weird.  Except for the ones that want me to knit things for them.

Recently one of my co-workers came to work wearing a simple hand knit shawl that fastened with a button, and my boss asked if I would make one for her.  Seemed easy enough.  She picked out and bought the yarn.  Her one concern was that the model on which I was basing my project was knit in stockinette, and curled at the edges, and she wanted hers to lay flat.

In my infinite wisdom, I decided that I would knit the shawl in seed stitch.  Which was fine, for the first 1/3 or so of the project...and then, it got incredibly boring.  Brilliant move!  I finally made a serious push to finish this after it had languished in my wips for 3 weeks, and knit half of it in 3 days.  Go me!

And I have to admit, it came out really nice. Soft, squishy and warm.  And my boss is happy, which can't be a bad thing, right?

The making of a sweater coat

About a year ago, my mother asked me if I would knit her a sweater. She told me she wanted it to be super colorful.  She told me she wanted other people to look at her and wonder what the hell she was wearing. She told me she wouldn't care, because she could wear what she wanted, and what she wanted was a "coat of many colors."

Foolishly, I agreed.

My original idea was for a sort of patchwork effect. So I started by making up a chart for myself:


This worked out okay, and I liked the overall look of it, but had tension issues, resulting in some gaps between the colors, which I wasn't happy with.



Also, I needed to invest in some bobbins, because this got old, real quick.


I tried doing some stripes, instead, but that did not appeal to me and I didn't even take any pictures of that step.

I wanted a more random looking color pattern, than what I was seeing with the stripes, so I took the lengths of yarn that I had from the first incarnation of the sweater and russian joined them together, until I had a nice ball of yarn and then started knitting.  When I ran out of yarn, I would put together another magic ball, and then knit some more. This was time consuming, but I was very happy with the end product:


Also, clearly, matching buttons was not going to work, so I went out and bought 7 different sets of buttons, and used 1 of each.





Perfect.

This was definitely a labor of love, that I am unlikely to repeat, but it was worth it when I got this picture of my mom, wearing her sweater.

She tells me all of friends want to know where they can get one, and she tells them they can't. Unless they have a crazy knitting daughter.

Can we fix it?

I've started cross stitching again, and what better way to return to the craft than by charting and stitching a snarky sampler for a friend? Weirdly, tiny hammers were easier to find than tiny liquor bottles, so I had to make do with martini stickers, but I'm pleased with the overall look.

Color Affection

So, summer has barely begun, but I am looking forward to the fall, so I can wear my Color Affection Shawl.
I knit this in Lotus Forest Dew, an angora, merino, tencel and cashmere blend yarn, which was so wonderful to knit, and I did something that fell between the laceweight and fingering weight version to get the size I wanted.
I definitely understand why people are in love with this pattern, it is both simple and beautiful and has a ton of possibilities.  I may even knit another one.

I can take a hint

A few weeks ago, I got a text message from my niece which said something to the effect of, "I just bought this dress for the baby. It looks like it would be easy to make. Don't you think it would look cute in candy cane stripes for Christmas?"

HINT HINT HINT

I couldn't find a pattern that I liked, and after playing around for a little while, I eventually came up with this:



New skill learned: pleats.  I couldn't find any patterns for making pleats on a top down garment, so I figured it out myself.  I think I will make them more pronounced next time, but I am still proud of myself.  Overall, I like the way this came out and can't wait to see my great-niece in it.

Citron

Still unblocked, but I love the colors and it is soft and light as a cloud.

Took a few days off work last week. I really needed the "me" time and it was nice to get up to the studio and play. Since we are heading out of "scarf and hat" season, I thought it might be good to make up some other items. Made up some cute dishcloths and bath scrubbies.