New WIPS

Having shown off the projects I started the year with it seemed right, this Wednesday, to show the new projects. On 1 January, I cast on four projects as planned. There were the Advent socks, my year long project. Both cuffs have been completed for Day One. Although it would be tempting to continue, I have put them aside until the beginning of next month. 

 

I cast on a project with donated yarn that I have already finished and shown so another project that does not need to be considered until next month.

I needed an easy project and I wanted to ensure I started the yarn I had frogged at the end of the year. (In 2020 I only used one of the yarns I had frogged at the end of 2019.) I cast on Vertices Unite. I am loving how the striping of two yarns makes them very different than when they are separate. 

 

Next was a cardigan, Baileys Irish Cream by Thea Coleman. Currently this has taken over as my easy project as you start with the sleeves and after 16 rows of lace pattern it is all stocking stitch.

 

Started and Finished in 2021

When you’re working the smallest size in an easy pattern and it’s a hat. It is not hard to finish a project in a few days.

This was the project from leftover/donated yarn. I started with something small and simple in a nice yarn. It was a partial skein and I had wanted to use up all the yarn but I also did not want to run out so I chose a baby size. I had plenty of yarn, so I failed in using up yarn but it looks like there is enough to work the ribbing on another baby hat. Also as I was getting close to the shaping I thought this looke very like a pattern I already own. Not a big deal as this pattern was free but a reminder to search patterns I own before a more general search.

The yarn is Madison by Prism in the Avocado colorway; the pattern is Beloved Aran by Solenn Couix-Loarer and my project used about 36 grams.

First Completed Sewing Projects

 

A friend introduced me to Aneela Hoey and I was able to get her book Stitched Sewing Organizers from the library. The last time I checked it out, due to the pandemic, I was able to keep it for longer than usual.

One of the pattern pages showed three bags/folios that all fit nicely into one bag. I had been given a piece of fabric that I decided would work very well for the exterior of all the bags and I could use leftovers for the linings and pockets. I don’t usually prep sewing projects in advance in case I change my mind but in this case I cut out the fabric for all the bags and ironed on interfacing so that they would be ready when I wanted to sew.

The first project was the folio with the vinyl pocket which I think I made in September. The large bag and the other folio except for the binding were sewn on a long weekend of Zoom sewing at the end of October. The binding was finished last week and I sewed the two pouches. I know I said that the bags were going to be the last of my sewing WIPs to be finished but as I knew they were going to be relatively quick to finish I decided to get them done. I am glad I did as they make me happy. Not because they are especially well made – they’re not – many mistakes – or I’ve used fancy fabric – just good old JoAnn’s – but because they are different from things I have made. And having made mistakes and know where I can improve techniques, I really feel I could make some as gifts. Plus there are at least a couple of other patterns in the book that I wish to try.

 

 

WIPing Wednesday

I am not going to make this a regular feature as there will not be enough change each week to make it interesting but I thought as it is the first Wednesday of the new year I would show the projects that were on the needles (hook) at the beginning of the year.

The oldest project is a crochet project which was not worked on frequently for a couple of reasons. Firstly I could not get a good flow with this project. I think it was a combination of the hook I was using and the pattern. It is not a hard pattern but it felt like I was looking at it for every stitch. Eventually I wrote out the pattern, which was very simple, and tried different hooks until I found the one that worked the best. The other reason for not working on this often was that it became the project to work on on car journeys and 2020 was not the year for that.

I purchased the yarn in September 2019 on the San Diego Yarn Crawl because I liked the pattern and started it on 14 September. This photo shows progress to date and how much (little?) of the first skein is left.

 

                                                                                                                                                         

The next project is an Advent knit that I started on 30 November 2019. I knew this would not be a quick knit and as it requires a lot of concentration it has been put aside at various times. I am not quite half-way through it.

 

The final project I started on 13 March 2020. It was the next project using yarn I had purchased in the sale. I worked the rib and then decided to put it aside. I can’t remember my reasoning but I think it had something to do with all the lace projects I had on the needles at that time and feeling it was wiser to finish those before starting new ones. Not much to show in this photo.

 

The problem with each of these projects is that I cannot do anything else while I am working on them. I do want the finished items but I do not want to be working on them forever. I am going to work one row of the Advent shawl and two rows of the other projects each day. If I can keep to this they will all be finished by the end of the year. There is some leeway built into this to allow for days when I cannot work on them. Working just a few rows each day also alleviates the boredom factor that I was finding when I had to work on these projects.

Finishing Off 2020

These are the two projects finished in December that I had not photographed. One is my “Palm Springs” project and the other is one I had no right to cast on.

The Palm Springs project is so called as the colorway of one of the yarns is Palm Springs – I purchased it at the Stiches SoCal in 2018 and decided it would be appropriate to start when I was in Palm Springs. Thereafter I decided it would be my Palm Springs/Nine Cities knitting. There were just two problems with that - Advent and COVID. The next trip after cast on was in December 2019 when I worked on my Advent yarn and the next trip after that was cancelled. So I didn’t get to work on it again until November. I was really beginning to think I would never finish but another trip at the beginning of December, with minimal Advent knitting, enabled me to finish. The pattern is First Light and the yarn is from Destination Yarn. I used up both skeins of yarn but have not blocked it and don’t know if I will.

 

The other project is a shawl I started this year because I had finished an old WIP and then cast on something new by the same designer. The pattern is Gotha and the yarn is Plush from Blarney Yarn ( a gift) and Alegria from Manos del Uruguay (stash give away). The Alegria was not a full skein and I ran out a few rows from the end so I added in yarn from Three Irish Girls which I had used in the first pattern I knitted from this designer. I blocked this one but did not add tassels. 

 

 

2021

The good news is that I am starting the year off with far fewer WIPs than last year. I have three WIPs and they are all require concentration projects. The “bad” news is that I did not knit all the sale yarn last year. I still have yarn left to make three garments and a large shawl. One of the garments is a WIP from last year and is an all over lace pattern so will not be finished anytime soon. I plan to cast on one of the other garments this month.

I do not plan to knit specific items for a specific charity. I have mostly used all the yarn I was using for hats and rather than buy more I am going to knit from my left overs and yarn that I was given. Each month I will choose the yarn I want to knit and a pattern to go with it. The resultant item may be for charity or future gift. I will be starting off with a small hat as I have plenty of plans for new projects this month.

I am going to knit some Advent socks but rather than knit them in December I am going to knit a section each month.

In addition to casting on a garment, I will start a project using the yarn I frogged last month. The pattern is garter stitch and will be my easy project, I hope.

On the sewing front, I have two quilt tops to finish. I will finish the smaller one first. It needs to be sandwiched and I need to decide if I am going to use fabric in my stash for backing or purchase new fabric. Then I must no longer put off quilting my big quilt which has been pinned for a very long time.

After that I have a couple of bags to finish. They won’t take long once I sit down and do them. Then use fabric purchased for garments.

My plans this year are more specific than previous years’ knit what I want, when I want, using yarn from stash. But I am quite happy about that.

2020 Is Over

I know this should have been yesterday’s post but I wanted to post the Virus projects first. I still have two other projects from last year to show off but that will have to wait for better photos.

The pandemic made a difference to my crafting this year in three ways - knitting groups met on line, no in person yarn shopping, specific virus projects.

Not being able to yarn shop was not a burden as I had purchased so much yarn in a sale last year and I wanted to use that. Not to say there wasn’t any yarn purchases. Another yarn store closed down and I asked a friend to purchase some yarn for me plus some needle tips, I purchased a skein of yarn as part of a fund raiser, purchased some neutrals to support small dyers and bought a kit to knit a gnome. Oh, and don’t forget the lights. In addition to my purchases, I was given lot of yarn that was given to a knitting friend and then she gave a load to me. (My first virus project was crocheted with just this yarn which seemed appropriate.)

This year, I made three pairs of socks, one gnome, 11 hat, one pair of adult mitts, one skirt, two cardigans, a Christmas decoration, a blanket and 11 shawls or shawl type items. I started the year with nine projects on the needles and have completed all but two of them. I undid two finished projects that I never wear but wanted to reclaim the yarn for something else. I completed two mitred squares. All together my completed projects totaled 13635 metres of knitting and 888 metres of crochet. This is 65% more than last year and way more than yarn came in. So glad that yarn out has exceed yarn in and I have enjoyed what I have been making.

There really has been very little sewing this year. I finished four quilts of various sizes (only one started and finished this year), and made another quilt top and made one child’s dress. I made a few masks for family members at the start of the pandemic but found them to be rather fiddly. I also made a couple of bags, nearly finished another and have cut fabric for two more. These are all designed to go together so I have not posted photos yet.

All My Virus Projects

I really wanted to write and post this yesterday. I could have done if I’d written some of this in advance but I was feeling rather superstitious about doing that as I was working on finishing the last project. 

When the lockdowns first started and we weren’t able to meet in person, myself and my two knitting friends decided we needed a knitalong project, especially one that was appropriate to the situation. This is how we came across a crochet pattern named virus. I think it is an old crochet pattern that someone had written notes for, it was hard to follow at first but once you worked out it was a four row repeat, the crochet went easier. I used entirely yarn that I was given from someone else’s stash that came to me via one of the aforementioned friends.

I had no plans at outset what yarn I was going to use but it turned out very well and a decent size.

 

 

The pattern is Virus Shawl and the yarns are all Sunday Knits Nirvana3-ply. The yarn is labeled 90% merino. 10% cashmere but it did not feel like that when I was working with it but does feel nice in the finished project.

While this CAL was going on I came across another project related to the virus. Designers Arne and Carlos produced a square design each day starting in the middle of March although I didn’t start until near the end of the month. But more on this project later as it was the last one I finished.

After I finished the virus shawl, I had a hankering to make something else COVID/Pandemic/virus related. I chose a hat pattern which featured the virus shape. The pattern had originally been published as a MKAL and as I am not consciously searching for knitalongs anymore I had not noticed its release. I used leftover yarns – some old Red Heart Soft to start the hat and then Plymouth Encore in white and light green for the pattern. 

 

All three projects used yarn either from my leftovers or from the yarn I had been given from someone else's stash. the blanket was a great stash buster in that respect.

Back to the squares. I do not know if Arne and Carlos had a plan when they started publishing the patterns. It was labeled as a MKAL and they did not state how many squares would be published. Also during this time they both became sick from COVID, especially Carlos and I do not know if this made a difference to their plans. They stopped producing patterns after 27 and then showed how to sew them into nine-patch cushion covers. I did not want cushion covers but 27 squares would not fit into any sort of realistic shape for a blanket. At the end of May they produced three more square patterns for a total of 30. A much better number which could be sewn into a 5x6 rectangle. There was still a problem with this, I did not feel like sewing the squares together and it still wasn’t very big. I finished the last square on 21 August and did not pick them up again until 29 October. I am glad I waited all that time because I am very happy with the end result. I decided to place the squares in the order that the patterns were published to save angst of arranging and rearranging the squares into an order that everyone could agree on. I picked up stitches along the side of each square (except the outside edges), worked garter stitch for four ridges and then joined to the next square by picking up stitches and binding off. The strips were then joined in the same way. And then I picked up stitches all around to work a border. I had enough of the blue to work two garter ridges, after that I worked four garter ridges. When it came to bind off, I wanted something decorative but not picot.  A quick Google search came up with the knotted K2tog bind off. It was perfect. No angst about a too tight or sloppy bind off. The opposite really as it is a loose finish which doesn’t show on the blanket but if I was going to do it again, I would work the proceeding row in a size smaller needle.

I really wanted to finish this by the end of the year and I achieved that yesterday morning. I had sewn in the ends and blocked each square when I finished it so I was left with sewing in the ends from the borders when I had not been able to weave them in as I went.

I made a change to just one square. The square that says All Together, was designed as Alone Together. Although that was a popular sentiment at outset I did not want that in perpetuity.

This is a photo of it finished but also a photo of the border in progress with the cat claiming it as her own.