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I have not remembered to take photos, but I will do that soon! I have swatched for my next sweater but got sick and so was on a pause for a week or so so I haven't blocked the swatch or cast on the sweater. I have made a little progress on the scarf and the blanket though.

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Since Last March

I started a PhD program! And moved! And also finished the trellis top and didn't take a single photo because I gave it to my sister right away. She wears it all the time and she loves it, but I'm not putting picture of someone other than myself out on the big anonymous internet so I can't share images. I will say that I knit it in Nua Sport in "Sea Veggies" and cropped it a little, which turned out really nicely. I'm also a little less than halfway through the Escalator Scarf (things looked in March like I would really blow through the sweater and then with the aforementioned move and new PhD program it didn't get finished until October so the scarf didn't get started till October).

I did finish Mr. Pages, I'll try to remember to take photos of it this weekend and post them.

My current project queue is a bit unweildy, but I'm enjoying it. The scarf, as I mentioned, then Cecilia Campochiaro's Color Explosion Throw, which I've started and have knit just under 1/36 of the blanket. Then I'll make Erika Knight's Old Friend Pullover and Arne and Carlos's Valdres Pullover for two of my sisters. Plus I agreed to do a Christmas stocking for a family friend. My goal is to have all of this done this year and maybe even find time for some other projects. But if the blanket takes until next year, it's not a big deal.

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[image description: a circular lace shawl laid out on the ground. It is four shades of green.]

This shawl was a wedding present for a friend. The Pattern was Procrastination by MMarioDesigns (or MMario Knits). It was on Ravelry. I used Quince & Co. Finch--an American fingering-weight wool--in Boreal, Cypress, Parsley, and Spring Pea. These are all greens and they’re really nice; I like the range of colors that Quince & Co offers and while it’s been quite a while since I’ve bought a yarn I didn’t like or wouldn’t buy again, I would use this again. It’s sturdy and doesn’t have the softness of a Merino or Rambouillet, but I didn’t find it at all scratchy to work with and it’s a shawl; it’s not a right-against-the-skin kind of garment. I’d need to experiment before I could endorse this for like, a sweater that isn’t an overlayer, but it was great for this. 

The lace was . . . difficult. I enjoyed it and it definitely won’t be my last piece of substantial knit lace; I just like lace too much. But, it’s definitely nice not to move directly from lace project to lace project and even though I finished this back in September, I’m still not quite ready to do another one with this much elaborate lace. I’m on the lookout, though, once that is what I’m in the mood for/I’ve worked through some good portion of my pattern and project backlog..

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[Image Description: Three photos of a blanket; it is in multicolored blocks in green, navy, burgundy, and very pale purple in a variety of patterns and textures]

This is my finished Stepping Stone Throw by Ericka Knight, published in the MDK Field Guide Atlas. It was amazing to make and I’m so happy with it. I used the Bold colorway suggested by Modern Daily Knitting, which is their Atlas yarn (which is so nice; it might be my new favorite general worsted-weight wool for any application that would be appropriate for a soft wool) in Navy, Wintergreen, Merlot, Leek, and Whisper. It’s soft, cuddly, and appropriately bold to really be the focal point of our living room and I’ve gotten a ton of use out of it in the not-quite-two-months since I’ve finished it. It’s done in entrelac, and the modular (but seamless) construction is super fun and makes it good to pick up and put down.

It makes me want to make more blankets! But not yet. It took a really long time and I’m not ready for a new one yet

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Another Update

Wow! It has been A While since I put anything here! And not because I didn’t do things! We’re going to have a flurry of posts here. I finished the sweater and have worn it several times even though the sleeves are weirdly huge and I have somehow never gotten a photo. I should have a photo of the Hawthorn Tincture shawl somewhere; I completed Procrastination by MMario Designs for a friend and I have fallen in love with MDK’s Field Guide series. I’ve done the Stepping Stone Throw from Field Guide 20 Atlas, as well as the “Knight Hood” from the same. I’m also currently working on the Trellis Top from Refresh for my sister and will start the Escalator Scarf from Atlas for myself soon. Finally, I’ve started crocheting The Pigeon’s Nest’s Mr. Pages plushie and it is so cute!

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Updates (No photos today)

Wow, it’s been months since I’ve put anything here and it sure hasn’t been because I haven’t been crafting! Right after finishing my array of cabled hats I made a couple patternless scarves using super jumbo acrylic left over from knitting a blanket. I held it double with some leftover Lion Brand Homespun in either a green or gold colorway (I don’t remember the names or have the ball bands anymore) and knitted it in double stockinette. It was So Fast--like, knit the whole scarf in an evening while watching TV even though the double stockinette meant that it took twice as long to get length as it otherwise would fast. I also, in September, cast on a sweater using the Cabled Crew Neck free pattern from Patton’s Classic Wool (I’m using undyed Wool of the Andes from Knitpicks though). I’m done with the front and back and working, slowly on the sleeves. It’s fun and elaborate and I’m really enjoying it even though it’s taken me a thousand years. I’m a little worried about the sizing--the pattern’s recommended size for me is way bigger than I usually wear and the stated finished measurements for the smallest size are larger than my measurements. My gauge was also a tiny bit too big, so I figured that since I don’t like things with like 8 inches of ease, I’d make the small and hope that mine turns out just a tiny bit bigger than the projected measurements, still giving me a substantial amount of ease in the finished garment. Looking at the back and front pieces, I think I’m right about that, but we won’t know for sure until it’s done and I’ve seamed it all up!

Since the cables of that are a bit tiring sometimes, in January I also cast on a shawl--Hawthorn Tincture by TheCrimsonStitchery, which I’m doing in Brooklyn Tweed Shelter in Almanac. That’s been absolutely gorgeous and I’m really enjoying knitting it in between bits of the sweater. It’s easy and breezy and elegant with lots of garter stitch but enough fun texture to be appealing. I’m almost at the end of that, but, since it’s a triangular shawl, those last 24 rows or so will probably take as long as the whole first section. I look forward to showing these off once they become FOs (and to finishing some of the other, smaller, projects I’ve had going--a doily that’s been sitting almost done for months and a cross-stitch project that always progresses less quickly than I expect). Hopefully I’ll have photos and things fairly soon! 

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[image descriptions: four photos of a white man, two in each of two cabled hats. Three photos of the hats on a black background]

I finished some cabled hats as part of my summer project aiming to level up my skills! The red and gray one is a modified version of Purl SoHo’s Traveling Cable Hat and the solid-colored hat is the Cable Hat by Lucia Castellanos. Both were super fun to work up and both were done in worsted weight wool so they’re super warm and soft. I’m really proud of these projects and looking forward to getting started on a cabled sweater for myself once it’s cooled off a little here.

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[Description: Two photos of an in-progress scarf on the floor, red, with gray squares inside the red field]

So, in my last post I mentioned that this summer I’m leveling up some skills! I’ve been really excited about trying and learning new techniques to make cool new sorts of projects, and I also wanted to use up some of my various yarn leftovers, so the first endeavor was a scarf in intarsia. I’ve really been enjoying it; it isn’t that hard to keep track of and it’s fun to twist the two colors around each other to make the floating blocks of gray. This will probably (given that this is being done with leftover yarn) end up being about 3 feet long as a child-size scarf, at which point, I just need to find someone to take it once it’s done!

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[Two photos of handknit sweaters on the floor]

Well, there goes my efforts to blog-as-I-go! I just finished this sweater for my sister and my god does the color not show up, so I will have to get photos of her in it *outside* once I weave in the ends and give it to her. It’s TinCanKnits’ Flax sweater in KnitPicks’ Twill in Black Cherry Heather--which you’d never know from these photos is a truly gorgeous dark purply red. The sweater is a yoke sweater with raglan sleeves knitted in the round, in worsted weight yarn, and it was just dream to knit up--I highly recommend this pattern for a first sweater (and the pattern is free! and unisex! and comes in sizes from Child 0-6 months to Adult 6 XL, so there are lots of options depending on your needs!) I have some other projects in the works, which I’ll likely post about soon (maybe later tonight, maybe later this week, depends on my mood.) But this is going to be the summer and fall of leveling up my skills!

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Meant to reblog this with the update here!

[image descriptions: Three pictures of a white man outside in a red hat and multi-colored mask. Each photo shows the hat from a different angle to show off the combination of garter stitch and stockinette stich in the hat. Two pictures of a red mitten with ribbing and reverse stockinette on the body and stockinette on the thumb.]

These are my most recent projects! So much for “blog as you craft.” But I made myself a matching hat and mitten set from TinCanKnits’ Simple Collection. The hat is “Barley” and the mittens are “Maize.” These patterns are part of a really excellent collection of free simple and easy patterns that come with detailed learn-to-knit tutorials if you’re looking to level up a particular skill. I also made my boyfried a pair of mittens and am working on a hat. I used KnitPicks Swish worsted in Garnet Heather for mine and Marble Heather for his (I don’t have photos of his). I’m still working on the doily–it’s slow going and I had to do some ripping out that made me slow to pick it back up and have picked up another cross stitch project (also a kit from Dimensions), but tose are going well and I’m planning to soon staart my first sweater in the next few months.

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[image descriptions: Three pictures of a white man outside in a red hat and multi-colored mask. Each photo shows the hat from a different angle to show off the combination of garter stitch and stockinette stich in the hat. Two pictures of a red mitten with ribbing and reverse stockinette on the body and stockinette on the thumb.]

These are my most recent projects! So much for “blog as you craft.” But I made myself a matching hat and mitten set from TinCanKnits’ Simple Collection. The hat is “Barley” and the mittens are “Maize.” These patterns are part of a really excellent collection of free simple and easy patterns that come with detailed learn-to-knit tutorials if you’re looking to level up a particular skill. I also made my boyfried a pair of mittens and am working on a hat. I used KnitPicks Swish worsted in Garnet Heather for mine and Marble Heather for his (I don’t have photos of his). I’m still working on the doily--it’s slow going and I had to do some ripping out that made me slow to pick it back up and have picked up another cross stitch project (also a kit from Dimensions), but tose are going well and I’m planning to soon staart my first sweater in the next few months.

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My first even finished cross stitch project! This was done from a kit by Dimensions (their Autumn wall-hanging kit), though my project has a few errors that I noticed too late to pick out and ended up adjusting for slightly, so it isn’t perfectly identical to the pattern provided. It was super fun to work on and the kit was really convenient because it came with all the thread I needed. No guessing which color was meant or how much to buy or anything like that.

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Sorry to double post! I forgot to tag this!

My current project-in-progress! I’m making a knitted crazy quilt out of scrap yearn from previous projects. It’s a sort of variation on a basketweave stitch and each square works up really fast! (Meaning that I can do other things in the middle without worrying about occupying my needles for too long or leaving something unfinished on the needles).

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My current project-in-progress! I’m making a knitted crazy quilt out of scrap yearn from previous projects. It’s a sort of variation on a basketweave stitch and each square works up really fast! (Meaning that I can do other things in the middle without worrying about occupying my needles for too long or leaving something unfinished on the needles).

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Here are the shawls I was talking about. Both shawls are “Tryst,” by Melanie Berg (Marilynd) and available on Ravelry. It’s way easier than it looks--that beautiful diamond pattern is done with slipped stitches of the accent color and is so easy to keep track of. The top photo is about a year old and is of me blocking the shawl I made for my mother. She is very much a fall, so I went with a variegated autumn-toned wool/silk blend for the body of the shawl and contrasted with a gold wool/silk for the colorwork pattern. The bottom picture is more recent and is of the one I made for myself--this time using a llama/silk blend for the body and a silk for silver. It’s a really versatile pattern and Berg’s work is always gorgeous. I definitely recommend checking it out.

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Surprises, An Update, and An Apology

In spite of the order of the title, let’s get the apology out of the way first. I don’t have any photos of my most recent litle knitting projects, which are also the same lovely dishcloth pattern that I blogged about a few months ago. The reason I don’t have any photos and can’t take any photos is that I have already mailed them to several friends! I used a set of Lion brand bonbons (they’re a set of tiny skeins of yarn) in a cotton natural color array to produce 3-4 in squares by just transposing that pattern into the smaller yarn on size US 3 needles. They turned out really cute and will be great for use as a cloth coaster or to wash dishes with. So they’re the surprises of the title. The update is that I’m hoping to have some exciting additional posting for here soon. I have finished the shawl I’ve been working on in my spare time for over a year (which is Melanie Rawl’s “Tryst” pattern, findable on Ravelry); I’m almost done with the exciting large doily project and some trial coaster-sized pieces of lace for my own designs; and I’ve picked up cross-stich! So hopefully I’ll engage in more blog-as-I-go crafting now that I have more different projects and thus know that if I wait until I finish things I’ll never post anything. So keep your eyes peeled for more posts soon!

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Kind of a terrible photo, but this is the “Arches” doily that I was working on. I’ve moved on to a pattern I like better, but it’s not that far along.