A Series of Photos Culminating in a Shawl

I could say I had no plans to make this pattern but that would be stupid because it was only released at the very end of July this year. Really what happened is that it was discussed at knitting group as it is a design by a friend - who has now moved. And as I had an upcoming vacation and I hadn't planned my knitting this seemed perfect plus I knew which two yarns in my stash I would use.

Looking at my blog posts from last year, I have not mentioned these yarns - how remiss - they were purchased at the Vista Fiber Arts Fiesta. (As of the time of writing I hope to be able to attend this year's Fiesta.)

Anyway, these are the two yarns I chose.



The dyer is Squirrel Stash, who, sadly, is no longer dying. I bought four skeins of yarn (and a stitch marker) at the Fiesta and this was the only booth where I bought two skeins. Unfortunately it meant another vendor missed out as I was limiting myself to four skeins.



When I chose these skeins I chose them individually, in fact I had a hard time just choosing two, but as I was paying for them someone mentioned how well they went together. This must have stuck in the back of my mind as at no time since purchase have I considered them for socks.

I think you will agree they work well together in this pattern. Unfortunately, for my "out" numbers I cannot record balls out as the pattern does not use full skeins of yarn. I used 85 grams of the blue and 65 grams of the cream. I contemplated making the last section longer to use more of the blue and maybe if I had been at home I would have done. This was a perfect vacation knit as I started and finished it while I was away and just had to block it when I got home. As you will see from the photos that was not so easy.

Time For An Update

After the last post with three different completed projects it's time to assess where I am with all my WIPs. Back in May I had ten projects in progress. I am going to amend that number to nine as one of those projects was a charity project which when finished was replaced with another project for charity.

I had two shawls, two socks, two cardigans, one toy and two long term projects on the go and I am pleased to report that of those projects I have one cardigan and the two long term projects still in progress. (I was going to write not finished but that sounded negative.) My original plan was to concentrate on two of these WIPs at a time but as none of them come under the easy category, I will work on just one. Also one of the long term projects will be worked on at next year's summer concerts.

I was really pleased to have only three projects left but then my dear husband asked how many other projects I had started. That number is really good too. Since my post in May I have started two new projects. One of those was a pair of socks that is now finished and the other is the Pi shawl I started on 22 July and is a deliberate long term project. (I'm excluding hats for charity.)

After I finished the second pair of socks I picked up the remaining cardigan to work on and I was actually excited to be knitting on it again. This was a project I started in April 2015 and completely undid and restarted in April 2016. I am hoping the excitement will continue and I will actually finish this.

Four Socks and a Hat

Yes that is the completed number of finished objects in August. Although that's not really true as two of the socks were finished in prior months. But I can show off two pairs of socks and a hat knitted for charity.

As I am (trying to) knitting a hat every month for charity I have joined another group on Ravelry - Hat of the Month - for ideas. This was the hat for July. A little lonely cable by Joji Locatelli; a free pattern on Ravelry. Yarn is Red Heart Soft. I wasn't sure if I'd have enough of the black for an entire hat so originally planned to add blue somewhere. After adding the first stripe and I decided to make this a striped hat. Of course, now I have small amounts of both colours left.



These were the second socks started but the first finished. Originally cast on for the June challenge where we could make a previously knit pattern. I was upset that the Pomatomus socks I knitted in 2006 quickly developed a hole in the heel. (After a couple of wearings.) So that was the pattern I knit; I didn't quite finish both socks by the end of July so carried on with them in August. The yarn is ModeSock from ModeKnit and with the bamboo and nylon content I am hoping they will last longer than my original pair.




The other pair of socks I started in March. The challenge for that month was cables and these socks do have a cable pattern between the pattern repeats. I did not enjoy knitting these: they were fiddly to knit and the pattern was not very well written. The August challenge was really the impetus for finishing these. The pattern is Downton Farewell and the yarn is Birch Medium Twist Fingering by Mosaic Moon. It is a rich tonal brown, which I am not sure shows up too well in photos.

What's the WIP Status?

In May I had seven projects on the go. I have just blocked the second shawl which means I have now completed five of the seven WIPS mentioned in my 16 May post. How nice it would be if I just had a pair of socks and a cardigan left to knit. OK, plus the three v. slow projects. But I cast on a pair of socks for the June challenge and I started a new shawl on 22 July - 22/7 - pi day. So now my projects are back up to seven. Sock Knitters Anonymous August challenge is to finish pairs of socks that were started before 1 July and my plan is to finish both pairs of socks before the end of August. The shawl is a long-term project to be finished on March 14 2017. I hope that means I can work on the cardigan WIP in September.

Here is the finished shawl.



This is the shawl that I had to redo the border when I had nearly finished it as I had worked it on the wrong side because I had added an odd number of rows. The yarn is MerGoat Lace by Indigodragonfly; yarn that I had originally bought to knit a hat until I came to my senses that I didn't want to knit an adult man's hat in fingering weight yarn and doubling it would have likely muddied the colours. The pattern is Duchess of Devonshire. I added a few extra rows as I wanted to use all my yarn. The yarn used in the original design is heavier than the yarn I used so my shawl is not very deep but is plenty wide enough. My son's GF styled it before taking photos.

Two Hats

As I have said many times, I like to have a project for charity on the go at all times and usually it is my handbag project and usually it is a hat. I have been making hats (and some scarves) for Operation Gratitude since January 2014 and I try to make one item a month. This year some projects have taken time to complete - the down side of having projects earmarked as handbag projects - and to date I have completed 6 projects. These are the latest two to be completed.

The group on Ravelry set up for people knitting for Operation Gratitude suggests a crochet and a knit hat pattern each month and I have joined a group called "Hat of the Month" as they have a crochet and knit hat pattern each month so this gives me more ideas.

The first hat came from the choice of this group in April. The pattern is Cool Logic. An interesting pattern as it is worked form the top down. I worked the edging is shorter than the written pattern as I worked until I ran out of yarn. The hat is plenty big enough anyway. I used Vanna's Choice in Colonial Blue.



This hat is from a pattern on Ravelry called Scarlet. It is designed for bulky yarn and I had some Loops & Threads Charisma in Black in my stash. This was a very easy pattern.

I'm Wearing a Thing or Two

It is hard to get photos of me wearing something I have made because I have to rely on someone else (usually DH) to take a photo.

This is a shawl I finished in July last year and I didn't have any nice photos of it. We went to a party the other weekend and I chose it to go with my dress and remembered to ask for photos before we went.



The party was inland so this was the only time that evening that I wore the shawl.

At the end of June I showed a poor photo of a cardigan I had recently finished. Last night I realised I was wearing suitable clothing in which to be photographed.



I am looking forward to wearing it in the winter.

Knitting in the Park

I am sure I have talked about this but I cannot easily find reference in previous blog posts.

Every summer our city has a series of concerts staged at various outdoor parks. I take knitting with me and one old project has become my go to for these events. Actually the outdoor concerts are now the only time I knit on it. I was hoping this would be the year for finishing it but counting how many more rows to completion and my rate of knitting, even if we went to every concert it wouldn't be finished. But it will still come with me on summer Friday evenings.

I decided it needed to be shown off so here is a photo I took last night.

Some Photos

Not very good ones but photos are better than words. These are photos of the three finished items I mentioned in my last post.



I need to get a better photo of me wearing it. The yarn is Findley by Juniper Moon Farm. I only used 1 1/2 skeins, at some point I will pair the remaining half skein with the skein I was given.



I made these socks for the April challenge which was unusual construction. The pattern is The Troll's Cauldron; a free pattern which is amazing considering the amount of work involved. What I like about this pattern is that it looks complicated but it was an easy knit. The yarn is Super Sock from Rain City Knits.

And finally the finished toy.



The yarn is Bernat Baby Boucle which has been in my stash a long time, nearly a complete ball left over from a baby blanket. When I was sorting out my stash at the end of the year I decided to keep it as I thought I would make a hat but as you can see it ended up as a pig. The other yarns used were in my stash also.

WIPS Are Down

If I count all my WIPs there are still too many because I have three projects that are in semi-hibernation. But I am pleased to say that I have finished four of the projects mentioned in my post from the middle of May.

I wrote and showed photos of one of them but since then I have finished a cardigan, a pair of socks and the toy. No photos yet. This brings my active projects to three. Three! A much better number. One shawl, one cardigan and one pair of socks. Although I am going to wait until August to knit the other sock as SKA has a challenge in August of finishing old projects. But I will be casting on a project for June's challenge. The project on which I will concentrate is the shawl as this just needs the sideways edging.

I am not going to set a deadline (end of the month would be nice) as we have visitors and not much knitting has been going on.

So just a little update of my projects and all that is needed are photos.

One Down

After my assessment of WIPs and my plan to finish them, I am happy to show a finished project. I hope there will be more by tomorrow but just in case I am posting about the one item now because I have a photo.

But a quick update on the status of the other items. The seaming of the cardigan is finished and just needs the buttons sewn on - which I did purchase this week. The socks are nearly finished; I am working on the cuff which is worked sideways and, unlike the shawl, I can see the stitches disappearing.

The shawl is my finished item so the next project I picked up was the toy which I really should have finished last night apart from the embroidery. Except I made a mistake which was hard to undo. Last night I wanted to sew the front feet on the animal. I'd had trouble working out where they went, worked it out, sewed one on and immediately could see it was wrong. Problem was I couldn't see the stitches to pull it out. That's good for a finished object but not so good for correcting a mistake. I might have been able to fix it in daylight but instead of waiting I cut the knitted part. The foot was knitted in different yarn from the body of the toy so I knew I wouldn't be cutting that. Basically I cut the middle out close to the edge stitches and then worked all the extra yarn out. Once I had done this I had another good look at the body and worked out where the leg was and thus the foot. What I had been doing before was making the foot fit and as it turned out to be bigger than needed I had been fitting it into the wrong place. I will say in my defense that it is not obvious from the shape of the knitting how the front legs were formed.

I finished one of the shawls. I finished the sideways knitted border, soaked and blocked the shawl. I lay the main part flat, pinning the top edge and then stretched the border to show off the design. I am really happy with it, although it is DK weight 80% merino so I do not think I will be wearing it much until the winter months.

The yarn is Black Cat DK by Dye Cauldron, a Canadian dyer who does not seem to be dying anymore. This is the same dyer as the yarn used in this project. I had bought some of the yarn and some was a gift. Once I moved, I had no idea what I was going to make with the yarn. Then I saw a mystery Knit Along starting in March for a shawl using DK weight yarn. I looked at the projects after the fist clue, liked what I saw and decided that it would be an ideal project to take away with me. I wanted to use up all the yarn, I had two skeins in orange and one in brown, and ended up knitting the border 2 1/2 times.

I am really happy with how it came out.

Too Many WIPs

Back in 2013 I explained my ideal number of projects on the go at any one time and how this number can gradually creep up. Also earlier this year I was lamenting that although I was knitting away I was not finishing anything. (This has not been helped by my ripping out the edging on two shawls and completely restarting a cardigan.)

Before vacation I decided to take stock and come up with a better plan to finish things. This was prompted by having two different socks on the go and knowing that I would want to cast on more for future challenges.

So what's the number? Ten - I have 10 unfinished projects. That's it I have admitted my problem and this doesn't include the sewing projects. Although I am pleased to say that they are currently at one cross stitch project and one sewing project, as I don't work on them often I don't let them get out of hand.

Let's look at these ten and see if that is a true number of projects actually being worked on. One of them is the project that has become what I work on at the outdoor concerts, another is a project that requires attention and time spent on it. The longer I leave between working on it the harder it is to get started again and another is the charity project that stays in my handbag. This brings the number down to seven, not so bad but still too many.

I have two shawls, two socks, two cardigans and one toy on the go. Both the shawls need sideways knitted edgings, one cardigan is at the seaming stage and the toy is at the fiddly putting together stage. I had already decided to finish one shawl before starting the other so I applied this to my plan. Choose two projects to work on - one easy, one complicated. When a project is finished, pick up another WIP. Don't start socks for the May challenge; the category is lace which will be repeated every year and I want to knit socks for the June category, which may not be repeated. The two exceptions to the two project "rule" - I can work on the handbag project if I am out of the house; if I have a block of time during the day I can seam the cardigan.

The first two projects I chose were the sideways edging on one of the shawls and the easier of the socks on the go. Why did I choose these two projects to start? The shawl is a newer project started on a recent trip; I had already decided to finish it before the other shawl; it would be nice to finish a newer project; the socks are the only easy project (apart from charity knitting) I have on the go plus there is a chance I can finish them within the challenge deadline.

I am pleased to say that this plan is working. I have very nearly finished the shawl edging (and have not run out of yarn) and I have found time in daylight to seam the cardigan so that is gradually being finished. I can really see a few projects being finished by the end of the month. The problem is going to be when I finish the socks as that is the only easy project I have on the go. I want to finish them by the end of this month and I hope that one of the patterns I want to cast on for the June challenge will count as an easy project.

Vacation Knitting

Yes another vacation. This time a trip to the other side of the country with my husband. As I still have plenty of WIPs I decided to take one of those - a complicated looking but not hard sock that I cast on in April for that month's challenge. While away I finished the first sock and started the second one.

I did start a new project. It is a long flight from California to Washington D.C. and I took a new knitting project. I don't know when I last knitted on an airplane; I have always been worried about knitting needles being taken. Yes, I know my crochet hooks were taken in Mexico but that leaves one loose loop, knitting needles being taken would result in many loose loops. Anyway it was one flight within the continental US and I'd heard that knitting needles were acceptable. I needed a new hat for charity so I cast one on just before we left and worked on it on the outward flight.

There's always a bonus on vacation if I can check out a yarn shop and I was happy to do that this trip as I met up with a very good friend who had moved to Virginia a year ago. She had told me that the yarn shops now local to her had a very different selection to the ones local to us so we spent a day together, yarn shopping and chatting.

We went to Fibre Space in Alexandria Virginia and I saw yarn that I had heard about but never seen in person. I was actually quite restrained and did not buy just because. Luckily for my wallet there was some lovely yarn in thicker weights which I knew would not be suitable for my current climate. The yarns I remember seeing were, Hedgehog Fibers but not sock weight; Neighborhood Fiber Company, I was drawn to a red but they only had it in worsted weight; Miss Babs, very hard to make a choice; Hazel Knits, yummy sock yarn. There was other yarn but these are the ones I remember probably because I either bought some or seriously thought about it.

I ended up with one skein of Hazel Knits socks which will become a Christmas pair of socks for hubby.




And two skeins of Miss Babs 3 ply which will become a shawl but no idea of pattern yet.




I also came away with a ball of Juniper Moon Farm Findley that my friend gave me. She had purchased it on the first San Diego yarn crawl because she was branching out from her usual colours but realized this was not her thing but was totally mine. This will go very nicely with the yarn left over from the cardigan I finished recently. If only I could find the pattern I came across on Ravelry recently.

Have I Finished Anything?

well yes I have. This week I finished a couple of hats for charity - and I took photos of them. And I completely used up two balls of yarn so that is a nice addition to yarn out.

The first two hats are the same pattern except one was knitted from the top down to make sure I used up every little piece of yarn and it did work out very well as there was just a few inches after the bind off row. (I finished the first one way back in January.)

The pattern is Barley, a free pattern from Tin Can Knits.



The other hat was crocheted and I used the Tulips hat pattern again. Having made it for charity last year.



For someone who doesn't like to knit the same pattern twice because there are so many patterns available, I certainly seem to like to repeat hat patterns.

I was hoping that I would also have a finished shawl to show off. The one shown here, because I was very close to finish the border. Problem is it is a sideways knitted border and I had estimated incorrectly how much yarn I needed. It was worked in a second colour so I pulled it all out and am just working a few rows of stocking stitch before the border. No timescale now for when it will be finished. This is what it looked like before I pulled the brown out.



On the sewing front, I finished a quilt, no photos as it is a gift, and I made good inroads into another one.

Jelly Roll Quilt Finished

Remember this? I am happy to report that it is now a fully completed quilt.

After finishing the Jelly Roll Race, I knew I wanted to make mine bigger. I started by adding narrow borders in contrasting colours and then added a fancy border in the same fabric as the main quilt. (I had purchased two jelly rolls.) I added the squares at each corner so that the diagonals did not run into each other. Although I hadn't planned it this way, there was just enough of the lighter orange fabric for the binding.

I am glad I made it bigger so that it gets used as a throw also the additions make it more visually interesting. I like the idea of the Jelly Roll Race as a fun sewing day with friends but without the border details my quilt is pretty blah. I won't be making it again but if I did I would want a range of fabric with a lot of contrast.

A Binding Glitch

There's a saw that says "measure twice, cut once" and my situation wasn't as bad as that but definitely a case of check before you sew.

I have been (slowly) making a quilt and it is now ready for binding. A few weeks ago I made the binding which involved cutting the required number of strips sewing them into one length and then folding and pressing them in half. So this week I was ready to machine sew the strip to the quilt. I started with a large roll of fabric, of which, of course, I don't have a photo, and merrily started sewing. As the roll quickly got smaller I started to think there wasn't going to be enough and as I got closer to the end I wondered if I had ever checked the length of binding against the actual perimeter of the quilt.

I certainly hadn't checked before starting to sew and I ended up with more quilt than binding. But oh so close.



This wasn't a huge problem but as the quilt is queen size it is a bit unwieldy. I had plenty of fabric from which to cut another strip which I pressed in half before joining to the end already on the quilt. It was just a pain stitching the small seam and supporting the weight of the quilt. I managed it and finished the edge. Now it just needs to be hand sewn on the back. I am very excited about this quilt as it is a surprise gift, so no full photos yet.

Successful Vacation Knitting

The last time I wrote about knitting while on vacation it was a tale of wow about unsuccessful projects and I was mindful of this as I set off for a trip to visit family. I needed an easy pattern suitable for working while chatting I also thought if I limited the yarn I took, I would have to make it work, also if the worse came to worst I could buy yarn and needles.

I had seen a mystery knit along on Ravelry for a shawl knit out of DK weight yarn. I have some nice DK weight yarn that I had no idea what to make so this was the opportunity. I wound one skein before I went and took needle tips in two sizes but still living dangerously no swatching before hand. I did take a skein of sock yarn and needles just in case.

I am pleased to report that this time the knitting was a success. Not only do I like the pattern but yarn has been used up. I have used two full skeins in the same colour and started the third skein in a different colour. The day before I was due to come home, I got to the border. As it is a sideways knit border I decided to wait until I got home before starting. the problem is that now I have two shawls waiting for sideways borders to be added; although not hard, they are not social knitting. The skein of sock yarn was not needed.

This is the shawl after two clues.



A little bit of souvenir shopping went on. Before I left I ordered some yarn from West Yorkshire Spinners and it was waiting for me. It is their Signature 4-ply in their Country Birds series and I chose Kingfisher. This will self-stripe and I am going to be patient and wait for the challenge before starting this yarn.



I also took a crochet project for the flights and started a Tulips Hat.

My WIPs are creeping up and I want to cast on a pair of socks or two for April's challenge. Nevermind that I'm not even at the heel on the first sock for March's challenge. Although I did finish one of the cardigans before I went away, it needs to be blocked and sleeves sewn in before it is a finished object. And having completed that I will work on the other cardigan that is on the needles.

But they are all projects I am enjoying working on.

2015 in 2016

In my round up of 2015 I mentioned three projects still on the needles at the start of the year. Two cardigans and a shawl. As I am determined to finish them this year I thought I'd show them a little love on my blog. Let's do this in order of starting.

In April I started a cardigan by Iris Schreier, the same designer as the pink shawl in this post. Ms. Schreier has her own line of yarns and I bought a set which included Merino Cloud and Silk Mohair. I sold the mohair and used the money from that to buy Beaded Silk and Sequins so I could make the Diamond Dewdrops Cardi. I started this at the beginning of April and I can't remember why it was sidelined although there is a note on my Ravelry page that in October I changed needles so until then the knitting experience was probably not too enjoyable. It is worked from the top down and at the beginning of the year I tried it on as I was concerned about fit. I was right and it is too small; it was also an opportunity to ask DH what he thought as if he didn't like it I was going to completely pull it out. But he liked it so I just have to pull it back to the armholes and work to the next size. I haven't done this yet as I thought it would be better to concentrate on the other cardigan on my needles.



In May, my friend and I met for lunch and decided to have a little trip to the yarn store first. I had no plans other than looking but ended up buying yarn and a pattern. Definitely one of those cases where the pattern made me look at the yarn. The pattern is Morning Glory Cardigan and the yarn is Findley by Juniper Moon Farm. This is a lace weight yarn knit at a slightly larger gauge which I love. I started it at the end of June and at various times other projects took precedence. But I went back to this with a flourish in the middle of February and it is nearing completion.



The third project I wanted to finish was a shawl I started in the middle of November. It was an easy pattern but I had stopped working on it when I came to the point of working out how many extra rows to work before starting the border. I want to use as much yarn as possible but the border is added sideways so calculations had to made. I was getting pretty excited as I neared the end of the border and it looked like I would have enough yarn - I had been weighing it at certain points - when I noticed that I had worked the border on the wrong side. When I added in the extra rows I had added an odd number so I started the border on the wrong side. The shawl has a right and wrong side and so does the border. DH said he couldn't notice it was wrong but I definitely could so the whole border and one row had to be pulled out. Luckily, I had put in a lifeline before starting the border so with a smaller needle I picked up the row below the lifeline, pulled out all the border as far as the lifeline, noticed that in nearly 400 stitches I had missed just one, put this on the needle, then pulled out the lifeline and the row it was holding. This was actually quite quick but I decided to have a little break before starting it again.

Socks in 2016

With all the sock yarn I have, I should be completing a sock yarn project every month. But it's just not working out that way. In fact here we are, nearly in the middle of March, and I have shown 2 knitted hats and one sewn bag for 2016. How much happier I would feel if I could say I had been lax in posting about my finished items but all that is waiting to be shown is one knitted hat, a sewn bag a quilt and the socks I will show today. By this time in 2015 I had nine finished yarn items, and for the same time period in 2014, I had 14 finished yarn items.

So why only four items in 2016? I don't feel as if I am knitting any less; maybe the items I am knitting are larger. On the needles, amongst other things, are a cardigan and a shawl. (Which should have been finished by now if not for a major error.)

At least today I can show a finished pair of socks, plus I started another pair and have plans to cast on another to take on a trip.

These socks were cast on at the beginning of February, for the SKA challenge Literary Theme. The pattern is Maudie and is named after the character Miss Maud Silver created by Patricia Wentworth. The pattern is actually quite an easy cable pattern with an interesting heel and toe. The yarn I used is Seella by All For Love of Yarn, which is no longer dying. My friend Elizabeth had got this in a yarn club and it really wasn't her colour so she swapped for a skein of sock yarn that I had bought to make fair isle gloves and then changed my mind.

When I first got this yarn I really thought it was destined to be a shawlette but it actually turned out quite well as socks.

I Wear My Handknits

I don't blog because I think I have nothing to show but in the same way as I am setting aside time for sewing I am going to start setting aside time for blogging. I started a list of what I wanted to say/show off and there are actually a few things you haven't seen yet.

Let's start off with a picture of me wearing one of my hand knits. You can just see it poking out of the bottom of the pile in this post. As I said it really needed to be photographed being worn but, although I love the finished item I couldn't work out how to wear it.

One day last month I was meeting friends for coffee and it was a bit chilly and I thought it would be fun to wear a shawl instead of grabbing a cardigan. (It would have been quicker to grab a cardigan!) I was wearing jeans and a white top so colour wasn't a big issue except the pink looked too bright and another one looked too shawly. So I grabbed the Starshower put it on and was happy.

Don't you love the photo I took on the laptop?

Some Sewing

I enjoy sewing but I do not enjoy having to get everything out every time and I do not like to leave work and sewing equipment/notions out. Rather than try to fit in some sewing every day I try to block some time off each week to sew. This does depend on what else I have going on but this week I set aside time to make a bag for my sister.

I have Downton Abbey fabric left over from this project. This was fabric I had bought specially to make something for a dear friend and I didn't want to get rid of what was left but there had to be a very good reason for using the fabric. My sister seemed a good enough reason. I made my usual drawstring bag.

I didn't take any measurements for this bag. Just sewed two pieces of fabric together and that was going to be the size. I have plenty of cream fabric in my stash and one piece was just the right width for the lining. Instead of making drawstrings I used ribbon that I had in my stash. The resulting bag was tall and thin - ideal if I was gifting a bottle of something.

I Won

Whenever I knit socks I almost always reference the group on Ravelry called Sock Knitters Anonymous that have monthly challenges and prizes.

I won a prize three years ago, a bag, and wrote that I was wondering whether to keep up with the group. The group has eleven challenges a year and looking at my projects, 2011 was the only year that I participated every month. So when I wrote that post 3 years ago I was already not fully participating. Looking at socks started since then I participate about half the time, but what happened as a subconscious decision is definitely the way I want to keep going. I will take part in a challenge only if I like a pattern that fits and have yarn that works with the pattern. I found in December I was really trying to fit pattern and yarn to a challenge which is why I ended up with a fail, so although I have yarn to choose from I am going to continue not forcing what I have fit the challenge.

And in case you're wondering, the moderator with the injudicious comments? She left the group started up a new, anything goes, group. Except anything goes meant as long as it was what she said and she was very rude to a participant and now hasn't been on Ravelry for nearly a year.

So is this post going anywhere? Yes, I'm here to tell you that I won again in the Sock Knitters Anonymous group, three years after my first win. The prizes are random number generated and I won for my socks completed for the November challenge shown in this post. I won a bag and three years ago I won a bag albeit by a different designer. Although I have plenty of project bags, I was excited to win a bag from Peg's Procrastinations as I had always admired them and even considered buying one before I started making my own. Peg very kindly let me pick a bigger bag than was allocated for the prize and I am very grateful as I have many small bags and as nice as it was to win a prize I just didn't want another small bag.

Let's Start The Year With Hats

Finished items! They may only be hats but they're completed items. One started this year and the other I was thinking of frogging but changed my mind when I saw that I was more than half-way through.

First the one started this year as it feels good to start a project and finish without it being set aside for something else. It certainly helped that this was a gift and I had a box full of things ready to send.



The pattern is Antler Hat by Tincan Knits; the same design team responsible for the hat pattern shown in this post. Yarn is Red Heart Soft as it is easy to care for and I used 4 mm and 5 mm needles.

The other hat is one I started right at the end of October for Operation Gratitude. I was going to unpick it as the slip stitch pattern doesn't really show up in this yarn but as I had only an inch to go before shaping, I decided it was worth continuing. The yarn is Charisma by Loops and Threads and I used size 6 mm and size 8 mm needles. The colour of the yarn is Dark Blue but it really did not want to be photographed.



I immediately cast on another hat so that I would have something simple to work on.

2015

A bit late but lets see what I achieved.

The projects mentioned in my last post are not included in any of these numbers.

In 2015 I had 53 projects on the needles, four of which were frogged, although there were more that didn't get past the first couple of rows so a project page was not made on Ravelry. (Two of these were projects started in 2014 that I finally decided to end.) Uh oh, two of the projects on the needles at the beginning of 2015 are still not finished. One of them has become the project that I work on at the outdoor concerts in the summer. Maybe this year is the year. The other project is not one that I can just pick up and work on for a short while. Like I set aside sewing days I need to set aside a day for this project. It would also be a good time to catch up on podcasts.

But in addition to these two projects, I ended the year with four other projects on the go. (Although I'm pretty sure I'm going to frog one.) One is a shawl that I would have finished before we went on vacation except I want to use all the yarn. I have reached and worked some of the border, which is knitted on sideways, now I have to decide how many extra rows to add before the border and which pattern to use.

The other two projects are cardigans, one of which is very lacy, but I should look at the other one and see if it is suitable for knitting group.

But (yes another one) I cast on a hat this year, so although not in the stats it needs to be finished first.

Ten projects were for charity and 18 were for other people. I only knit five pairs of socks, (plus the two frogged projects) but also used sock yarn in four other projects. I made 18 hats, nine shawls/wraps (two still being worked on) and four pairs of gloves; seven projects were crochet.

And how did I do for yarn buying? Notice I left this to the end. I knitted 9532 metres and crocheted 814 metres. This is about the same as 2014 which isn't bad considering December was a total wash out. I haven't got a final figure for the total yarn added but it is similar to 2014. In other words more yarn in than out. Yes, I'd like to use more than I buy, so let's get knitting.

Vacation Knitting

We went away for just over two weeks at the beginning of December and I made sure I had a good supply of yarns and patterns with me. But this trip was a total disaster for producing anything I liked.

The flights would be long so I thought that making a scarf was a good idea as scarves can be quite tedious to make. I also chose crochet as I would not be happy losing knitting needles. Having made the Tulips Hat for charity, I decided to make the Tulips Scarf. I had a good supply of Red Soft in my stash and made sure I had a collection of crochet hooks in various parts of my luggage in case any were taken from me especially on the return flight from another country. (Although I was never once asked about them.)

The first problem arose on the long flight. The cabin lights were dimmed for the entire flight and the overhead lights shone on my husband's seat and not mine. I was working with dark blue yarn and soon gave up. A missed opportunity but I should have been sleeping anyway. Then when I looked at it in the light of day, I did not like the edges of the scarf as they were uneven. I need to take a better look at it to see if it can be improved or if it is a design "feature".



In down time on our vacation I cast on a shawl, I thought this would be a quick knit and it would be nice to have a finished item and not add to my WIPs. The pattern I had chosen was Spytacular by Meaghan Schmaltz she of the hat at the end of this post. I have seen this design IRL in two different colourways so knew I liked it, it wouldn't require much concentration but it wouldn't be boring. I also had a skein of sock yarn, purchased at The Vista Fiber Arts Fiesta in October this year, which I thought would be perfect. In fact when I purchased it I had decided I wanted to make a shawl and not socks.

The first problem was with the knitting needles. I was using needles from my interchangeable set and one had a groove at the join of the wooden needle and the metal end and the yarn kept on getting caught. I am not sure if that played into my decision that I didn't like my project. So I didn't actually pull it apart, I just stopped working on it. There isn't a problem with the pattern nor the yarn; I just think they do not work together. The yarn will be better in a stocking stitch pattern to show off the colour - and yes it is likely to become socks.



And, of course, looking at this photo I wonder why I don't like it.

Not to worry I still had other yarn and patterns. So I cast on a sock. I used Oink Pigments in the colour Goldfish Bowl. I had looked at projects on Ravelry and this colour stripes, so I looked at self-striping patterns, inspired by the Ravelry's group theme of self-striping for the December challenge. I chose Borracha Socks. There are three things wrong with this sock that I know make me not want to continue. 1. The yarn does not stripe enough to show off the pattern; 2. I do not like the way the pattern changes the shape of the foot - see on the right side of the photo; 3. I'm convinced the sock will be too big. I have already chosen another pattern for this yarn which will fit a future SKA challenge.



At this stage I was pretty disgusted with myself for not committing to anything. Although I had another skein of sock yarn and a pattern as well as internet, so access to a multitude of patterns, I gave up on the idea of working on anything.

Happy New Year

December was a busy month and I've been writing an update in the spare minutes I have each day. The nice thing about being so busy, I can ignore the yarn in and out for 2015 for the moment. But I did take a screen shot of my blog yesterday so that I have a record of amount crocheted and knitted as KnitMeter resets to zero at the beginning of each year.

Having looked at what I wrote at the end of 2014, I'm not sure I have achieved much of my plan but it will be fun planning for 2016.