A Finished Item

But not one of the WIPs. This was a quick project I made in August. I have been making an effort to work with yarn I have been given and this is a project I made with yarn my son gave me for my birthday. The yarn is Flicker by Berroco and is 87% alpaca, so very soft. Looking at Ravelry to see what other people had made with this yarn, I decided that a shoulder cozy would be a fun and useful item. I have made a couple of patterns by one designer and decided it was time to change it up so I purchased a pattern with a simple design from another designer. I ended up changing the pattern quite a bit but now I have basic pattern I can easily change because there are more in my future.

The pattern is Shoulder Cozy by Churchmouse Yarns and Teas. Their pattern is a simple garter stitch design using two stands of yarn held together. I used one strand of yarn and alternated rows of stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch, also I worked the decrease rows at different points in the pattern and worked a different cast on and off. But now I have a basic pattern for this type of garment? accessory? and I know there are more in my future.

WIPing Away

As I have written a few times, my ideal number of current projects (WIPs) and the actual number of projects rarely agree.

Tomorrow the third annual knit along for finishing WIPs starts in the Yarniacs group on Ravelry. The first year the aim was to finish projects that had been started for other knit alongs. Last year it was expanded to include all works in progress and I did very well in completing or frogging projects. Although looking back, many of the projects were small, but it did mean that I started 2019 with only four projects on the needles, three of which I had started on 1 December. I do not think I will be able to achieve that this year as I have many projects that are not very far along but I am going to try to work on one project until it is finished and then pick up another. (In all my counts of works in progress I am not included the mitred squares.)

I currently have ten WIPS. Here they are in one big bag; then laid out, from left to right, in order that they were started; and finally showing each project.





1. My oldest project was started in March 2018. I started it as I wanted to get my oldest yarn on the needles. It is a cardigan in worsted weight yarn so if I finished it by the end of the year I actually have a chance to wear it in our “cold” months.

2. Next is the Advent shawl I started last year. This needs to be frogged as I made a mistake and that made me check my yarn and I realized I would not have enough to finish. I haven’t frogged yet as I want to show it to my knitting friends.

3. My new year cast on – Viajante. This is a very easy but large knit. The only reason it isn’t finished is that it only gets worked on when I need an easy knit.

4. Socks. This is the second sock. The pattern is Monkey which I have knit before but three of us decided to all knit it. I agreed as long as there was not a deadline for finishing.

5. Pi shawl. I started this on Pi day in March and thought about finishing it on Pi day in July. When I knew there was no way that was going to happen, I made it into a year long knit. I work a few rows each week to keep up to date and will continue to do that through the WIP KAL.

6. A shawl I started on vacation in June. This particular vacation I only took new projects and I completed one. The yarn and pattern are lovely but I will likely save it for vacation knitting next year.

7. Another project to get yarn on the needles. In this photo I am showing projects but not yarn so you cannot see the two yarns I am using in this project. I wanted to tone down one of the yarns, and I have certainly achieved that.

8. My Palm Springs project. The variegated yarn is named Palm Springs and was dyed especially for Stitches SoCal 2018. So I had to wait until we were in the Nine Cities area to cast on. We were actually in Palm Springs in September so that was when it was started although I did not progress as much as I would usually as we had grandchildren with us. We will be returning before the end of the year so hope to get close to finishing.

9. This year I wanted to make an effort in using yarn that I had been given; so I always have a project with gifted yarn on the go. I finished one such project recently (final pictures still to be shown) so another project had to be cast on.

10. I haven’t crocheted anything for ages and I find it is a useful project when I am a car passenger. I have started and pulled out a number of hats this year. On the yarn crawl, stores are supposed to give out free a knit and a crochet pattern. I liked the crochet pattern from one store so much that I started it on a car journey last weekend. Although I love the yarn and pattern, which aren’t showing in this photo, this will be a long term project.

So there it is, all my WIPs. When I first thought about what I wanted to work on during this knit along (which goes through to the end of the year) I set a target of 5 projects. Which was very ambitious considering that most of the projects are not a quarter complete. Also there will be some cast ons during this period as I want to make Christmas presents and have an Advent cast on. Initially, I thought to start with the project closest to being finished (socks), then I thought I should start with the oldest project, but I have decided that the project to work on first, is my new year cast on. It is likely that I will want to start something new on 1 January 2020 so it would be a good idea to have finished the project I started on 1 January 2019. It is an easy knit but a big one.

Alpacas

I do have a finished item to show, but before I post photos of that, I thought it would be fun to show some pictures of animals that provide wool.

This weekend (Thursday to Sunday) is the San Diego Yarn Crawl. This is its seventh year and the fourth time I have participated. Unfortunately, shops have closed and moved so now it is a trek to get to more than one place. (You have to visit at least three locations to be eligible to win a prize basket.) My knitting partner in crime had entered a fastest knitter competition, so of course, that was one of our stops and she wanted to see alpacas so then we just added another shop on the route to ensure we got three stamps. Purchases were made at each place so we weren’t just going for the freebies.

The alpaca farm we went to, neither of us had visited before. It was not part of the crawl in the first year when we went to every location. We were not disappointed – where do I start – animals or products? Firstly, I have to say that alpaca fleece is not particularly suited for where I live as it is a very warm fiber; but, oh, is it soft! I resisted some fiber to spin myself; there are two more yarn events coming up before the end of the year; but next year? I did purchase two skeins of alpaca that were on sale as I thought they would make great mittens for my great-nieces in the UK. And they had jam, so I purchased a pot for my husband.

We were very lucky as a baby had been born the day before. I will post some photos but the baby and his mama were completely black and difficult to photograph.