My Second Oldest WIP

I feel like I will be writing that quite often as I am currently not working on my oldest WIP. It is a round shawl and I am working a knitted on border with beads; so it is fiddly. I have put it to one side for the time being and it is likely to be the last of my 2019 projects that I work on. It is my only project that is more than a year old and I’d like it if I could complete all my other projects within a year of starting. Which could prove interesting as a couple of my projects are not much further than cast on.

This year I had three plans for my yarn:- use the yarn I purchased in the closing-down sale, (I have shown a completed project and there are two more on the needles); finish WIPs, (2 down and about to show another); make for charity, (last month was the only month that I didn’t even attempt anything).

This project I started on vacation last year and then didn’t work on it again until March of this year when it was it’s time. There was no reason for not working on it except I had designated it a vacation knit, but I decided not to wait for a vacation to work on it as who knows when we will be able to go away. The yarn is one of my oldest yarns, a tencel yarn from Teresa Ruch Design with a lovely sheen.

The pattern I chose was Crystal Helix, written for one skein of fingering weight yarn, so, of course, perfect for two skeins of double knitting weight yarn. The pattern includes beads but there is absolutely no need to add beads to this shimmering yarn. The pattern is written for 130 rows but I managed 190 rows from my two skeins. I thought I had plenty of yarn for bind off but this didn’t prove to be the case and I had to be creative at the end. I have found that if I double yarn on shawl bind offs the edge is quite stretchy. This is what I did for this project, also I did not add beads to the bind off but I did do the picot part. With hindsight I could have gone down a needle size or two and still have had nice bind off. I finished with about two inches of yarn left which is really only an inch when doubled. But the “design elements” at the end are not noticeable and I love the end result. Bonus – it does not need blocking and I took photos.

First of the Sale Yarn

Last year, I wrote about buying yarn in a going out of business sale and posted pictures of what I had purchased. For some reason I only showed what I had bought on the first trip and not on the subsequent trips. I went a second time with a friend when they had reduced to the biggest percentage and the third trip was to see what they had left on their last day.

My criteria for purchasing in this sale was that I had to have an idea of what I was going to make with the yarn I purchased. No buying because I liked it and then it sits in my stash until I give it away.

The last purchase was some Noro yarn (Noro Silk Garden Lite) to make a skirt. I have already made two Lanesplitters out of different Noro yarns and purchased what I thought would be enough yarn to make a third. Of course, this didn’t allow for me changing my mind when it came time to cast on.



My goal for this year is to knit the yarn that I purchased in the sale, so when I finished the gift knitting I started the skirt. As I said I decided not to make another Lanesplitter and chose instead Entrelac Swirl. I had seen this on display at Stitches SoCal. I think this will be another skirt pattern that I will make more than once as it will look different in different yarns. (Just make sure I buy enough next time – more on that later.)

As the Noro yarn is rather rustic I used some left over sock yarn for the waist band. The skirt is then knit in columns of entrelac squares. I made much fewer squares than the pattern which is very easy to memorize. And then – I ran out of yarn. As I was getting closer to the end I had a feeling I was not going to have enough yarn; I was obsessively weighing after each column. Luckily, a friend had bought the same yarn and as I needed only a small amount (5g as it turned out) she let me have some of hers.

I used a fine sock yarn for the seam and decided not to finish the bottom edge.

My Advent Knit

On 1 December last year, I posted about my two Advent cast ons. One was a complicated lace pattern that I am still working on and I aim is to be finished by the end of November so I can wear it during Advent this year. Of course, if I can finish it before then, all the better.

The other project was the project from my yarn Advent calendar. This was a mystery yarn kit with 20 grams of yarn wrapped for each day for 25 days. I had thought about posting a picture each day of that day’s yarn, but that never happened. I have seen some people open their yarn each day and then take a photo of all the skeins together at the end. But I wanted to knit each colour on the day I opened it. I very quickly got behind so I opened each day when I was ready for it and not on the day it should have been opened.

It took a lot of consideration to come up with a pattern that I wanted to make and I thought woulf work with multiple colours and I could adapt to use all the yarn. Most of the Advent patterns used about half of each skein and I did not want to be left with a lot of yarn. The pattern I chose was Chaukor which was easy to increase the width and make as long as I wanted.

The colour scheme I chose was antique rainbow, although I like the end result, the knitting did get a bit boring during the colour progressions - I thought the pinks would never end. The set started with the purple yarn and finished with the blues. As you can see, this is huge and will be great for cooler evenings.



One of my friends has started to talk about an Advent for this year and mentioned that some dyers are preparing for Advent already. I’m not sure I want to go that route again. If I did I would not knit the whole skein of each yarn I got or I would choose a set with smaller amount of yarn. Or I could buy mini sets in advance and choose an Advent pattern to start on 1 December. We shall see.

My Oldest Yarn

Many, many years ago I bought yarn that then sat in my stash – not because I didn’t like it – but because I didn’t want to knit something and still have loads of yarn left over – or worse – run out of yarn.

I purchased the yarn on a quilt fabric buying trip with my sister-in-law. She took me to the big sale at Keepsake Quilting in New Hampshire and Patternworks Yarn was part of that building. (There have been so many changes of ownership since that time, and, unfortunately, neither Patternworks nor Keepsake Quilting are in business although Keepsake has an online presence.)

This trip took place in the late 1990s. I was not quilting then but have always been an avid knitter so was pleased that they had yarn. Although, at that time I did not buy yarn just because and definitely not without a pattern. How times have changed. I can’t remember what yarn they had, my sister-in-law bought a bunch of Christmas fabrics and I purchased just this one bunch of yarn. It was half-price and there were ten skeins. The yarn is Wensleydale Longwool by Berroco, worsted weight, in a navy colour. This yarn never got used because as I said previously I wanted a pattern that used most of the yarn with no danger of running out. In 2018 I decided that I was going to use my oldest yarns so I cast on; actually I did some swatching. I cannot remember why I chose the pattern I did, I’m guessing that I did a search of cardigan patterns on Ravelry. It is interesting that with my oldest yarn I chose a ten-year old pattern.

Once cast on it was ignored, after all the point was to get the yarn on the needles, and it took me a year just to complete the ribbing for the back. 2019 was the year for this project and I finished the knitting and blocked the main pieces by the end of November. Two things conspired to delay the finished object – the huge Advent shawl and having to pick up stitches for the front band and collar. I haven’t made a note as to when I did that, but the garment was completed apart from buttons on 7 March this year and fully completed on 10 March, a few days shy of two years. And then it was forever to take pictures because the weather in March was awful!

I am pleased with the end result. The pattern is Girl Friday published in Knitty in Fall 2009. The pattern says there is no ease, although it doesn’t seem that way from the pattern photo, also as it is knit in worsted weight yarn you do not want a clingy garment. I wanted more of an outer wear type cardigan and sized mine on a cardigan I wear a lot. I was worried that I would run out of yarn but pleased that didn’t happen, I used 8 and a bit of the 10 balls I had. I think a hat in the same pattern would look nice but the yarn is itchy (to me) so a hat wouldn’t stay on my head for long.

Quarterly Round Up

Not really; but I thought I would show the three hats I have made for charity. I made one each month, which was my goal and I used left over yarn which was another goal.

I get my ideas for hats from one of two groups on Ravelry; either the Operation Gratitude group or the Hat of the Month group. Both these groups have a knit and a crochet selection each month, although the suggestions from the Operation Gratitude group are not always hats; sometimes they suggest scarves which are also welcomed by Operation Gratitude.




In January I knit The Capitol hat. I used Red Heart Sport which has been in my stash for a very long time. I cannot remember what I used it for originally but I used up all the yarn I had in making this hat.

In February I crocheted a hat, Hump de Bump Beanie. It is similar to the Better Late Than Never Beanies – of which I have made five- but uses different stitches and is ideal for using up really small amounts of yarn.

Then March was another knitted hat, Checking on the Colonel. The pattern is written for worsted weight yarn and my supply is low, so I used sport weight yarn held double. I really don’t know what I originally made with these dark colours but I’m glad that I found them and can put them to use for charity. The hat felt stiff when I finished it, so I gave it a quick soak and block and that softened it up.

I haven’t started anything for April. Having started two projects to go with our self-isolating, I thought it was sensible to not start anything else.

I have been working on my second-oldest project. Last weekend I got to the end of the pattern and have enough yarn left for the picot bind off – except that’s just one skein of yarn and I have two. It is an easy 10-row repeat pattern so I am just going to keep going with the second skein. It is possible to finish it by the end of the month – we shall see!

And Now Unknitting

In my year-end round up, I said that I had frogged some completed items. One of them was this project I made way back in 2012. Although I liked the finished item, I never wore it as it was not quite big enough. I finally frogged it at the end of last year. After frogging the yarn was very crinkly so I soaked and hung it to dry and the yarn ended up wavy. Here is a picture showing the knitted item, after frogging and after washing.



The challenge in the Sock Knitters Anonymous Group for March was Self-striping yarn and there was a mystery KAL to go with the challenge. So I cast on. By the time I got to the heel, I knew the pattern wasn't for me. Looking at other knitters' socks, the pattern worked best with yarn with narrow stripes. This wouldn't have been so bad if I had liked the pattern but it was blocks of feather-and-fan with blocks of moss stitch.

I got as far as the heel, which I worked in a contrasting yarn, when I finally gave up.



I think I prefer this yarn as a scarf/shawl rather than a sock. The yarn originally comes knitted in a long scarf, so it would be strange to actually knit a scarf although it would be different from its original form. As there is not enough yarn for a shawl, as evidenced by the Hitchhiker, I'm thinking of a half-hap type pattern with the centre knit with this yarn and a plain yarn used for the lace edge. Also as I write this, the Sun Glitter Shawl was a fun one-skein pattern.

I have other yarn, no need to make a decision yet.

Knitting in the Time of Corona

I started the year with nine WIPs with a plan to finish those as well as use the yarn I had bought in the closing down sale and knit for charity. The only projects I should start that do not fit in those parameters is gift knitting. So I had no right starting two new projects just because I'm self-distancing. OK to be fair one is a CAL with my two knitting buddies that I meet on a regular basis. These meetings are now video. We thought it would be fun to have a knit-along (except we ended up with a crochet along). This involved us agreeing on one pattern that we could make with yarn in our stash. Not an easy job; although we each had a few suggestions. Then I was going through yarn I had been given because somebody was going through stash and getting rid of leftovers and I thought, I could make a shawl of many (OK 3 or 4) colours with this yarn. So a pattern that was an early suggestion was chosen. And, thus, three Virus Shawls were started.

But not to be beaten by this extra time I have and actually finish something, I found a mystery KAL. This is hosted by Arne and Carlos, designers out of Norway known for their colourwork. I have never made any of their patterns, but this was a way to use up leftovers as you are making a square every day. The KAL was already a week and half in when I found it so I just started on the current day and will catch up when I can. For example, there are no squares on the weekend so I can get two extra worked on those days.

This is the first square I made. I made slight changes to the way it is worked. Two edge stitches either side are worked in garter stitch and the first three and last three rows are all knit to give a small garter stitch edge.



This was before blocking - I have been very good and sewn in all ends when I have finished the knitting - and the yarn is in the photo to show how much of the background colour I had left when I finished the square - not much.

And Now For Some Knitting

Way back in February I said that there had been gift knitting and charity knitting going on. I have made a hat for charity in each month this quarter and I will try to post all three hats before the end of the quarter. I have finished the project I started with the first batch of yarn from the closing down sale (and cast on the next project) and finished my oldest WIP, the cardigan. As with the Advent shawl, no decent photos yet. I do have photos of the gift knitting.

But before I talk about that, lets have a recap of the many (LOL) projects on the needles. I still have seven WIPs that were on the needles at the start of the year and two WIPs cast on this year and two WIPs cast on while in self-distancing (and my mitred squares). So in my effort to reduce WIPs, I know have two more. Oh my, what am I thinking?

Anyway here is the gift knitting.

I have a drop spindle, which I try to use most weeks because practice makes perfect, although real life doesn't work that way. I have been very careful not to buy fiber until I need it; I have also been very bad at noting when I start and finish spinning the fiber. This is fiber I purchased in May 2018 after I finished spinning some practice fiber.



I did not make any notes about how I split the braid for spinning but as I ended up with two plyed balls I guess I split the braid into half and each half into two. I decided not to worry about the colours when I plyed, so in some places it is barber poled.



That was August 2019. But what to make with it? Something for my mother which I finally started in January. I had an idea of making a hat with the yarn and settled on a pattern from Drops Design. I like the way the top of the hat came out.



Having made the hat, I still had quite a bit of yarn left so I decided to make the fingerless mitts from the same pattern. I don't know how much my mother will wear them but I know she is pleased to receive anything I make.

The Problem With Social Media

While I was drafting my last post something happened on Facebook which summed up the problems of the online world.

It involved pasta sauce, which I have found to be a big on-line shamer by those who make their own sauce.

A very good friend posted on FB a picture of some pasta sauce that she had found that did not contain certain foods that her child is allergic to. (As background her child has numerous allergies and food sensitivities.) People made comments about liking that particular brand, great that you’ve found something, shame your kid can’t eat that. I commented, which is something I rarely do, a joke about how much she bought.

Someone asked “why not make your own sauce?” An innocuous comment on its own. The response - “I’ve got enough on my plate.” The only possible responses are, nothing, I’m sorry to hear that or anything I can do to help. But this is pasta sauce. People who make pasta sauce cannot leave pasta sauce buyers in peace. So does the commenter say I’ll make you some? No she replies “it’s pretty simple.” And that made me incensed, so from rarely commenting on FB I now comment twice on the same post in a short space of time. I thought before posting – what would I do if this was a real life interaction I was part of, I don’t know this other person, I should support my friend – she said she has enough on her plate not that she doesn’t know how or doesn’t want to or doesn’t have time. So my response was “give her a break”. Then someone else posted if it works for her family it’s a win. And that’s when I got worried. You see it so often, one comment becomes so many, and that was certainly not what I wanted to happen with my comment. It was not to be the start of a long line of jar is best.

The make-your-own person quickly responded with a back off and her comment was for the OP not anyone else. I could have responded to that but I didn’t because, it was not my thread, I didn’t want to spend time pointing out that she was not listening to the OP, I didn’t want to make it uncomfortable for my friend and anyone else following her. She knows I’ve got her back.

What I have learnt from this is:- as it didn’t involve yarn there was no piling on in the comments, never admit you buy pasta sauce, don’t comment on FB.

Hypocrisy, Laziness, Superiority

I haven’t written anything for a while, not because I have nothing to say or nothing to show but because of what is (still) going on in the yarn industry. And I feel I need to address that before, literally, getting back to my knitting.

In November I wrote that pointed attacks have died down but now it is new year, new attacks. I am not going to say sides but people of all beliefs are being attacked or being the attackers and most of what is happening falls under one or more of the categories used in my title.

Let’s give some examples. Hypocrisy – calling a designer names when another person posts how bad that designer is but you have kits in your online shop to knit various of this “bad” designer’s patterns.
Laziness – stating that Ravelry’s policy upset 50% of knitters. This is lazy extrapolation from voting data whereas we do not know how many people were upset by Ravelry’s pronouncement.
Superiority – watching a troublesome video and telling black people not to watch it. Because I am protecting you.

There are many more examples. Complaining about being called names while deliberately mangling a person’s name; stating that I’ve met some Trump supporters and they are nice people but democrats are not nice; (Hello, there are nice and not nice people of all political persuasions.) piling on the abuse to show that you are a good person; using the proscribed words when you have to write an apology; lauding people that have been bullied, bullying is not good (see pile on) and should be stopped but that doesn’t mean the person being bullied is not a racist; telling a Japanese person who is not offended by the use of Kimono that they are wrong; telling people that you are going to block them if they are following certain people but you are still following these bad people to check on their latest (racist) deeds; complaining about comments being deleted and people being blocked and then doing the same thing; being exactly what you are complaining about.
These are just examples that I can recall while writing this. There have been others which have gone out of my head as I did not take a note of them at the time. But my favourite act of hypocrisy was being blocked by a white instagrammer who was writing against racism because I had the audacity to tell her what racism was like in real life. And that, for me, was the point when I knew that these SJWs are not concerned about racism but just want to be seen as the good guy.

An Update and A Sewn item

I haven’t posted here for a while; initially because I didn’t have anything to show and then I had too much to say and I didn’t know where to start.

I have finished my Advent project. No photos yet as it is huge and I want to talk about it in a separate post. I swatched and cast on the cardigan from the kit but stopped after a few days as I thought it would be better to finish the cardigan that is already on the needles and use that as a guide for size. This cardigan being my oldest WIP and the project I was working on gave me the idea to put the other on hold. (If only I’d thought about that before casting on and creating another WIP.)

I can’t say that I only worked on the Advent project as there was some gift knitting and charity knitting going on but it was the only existing project I worked on and , apart from the aforementioned gifts and charity, nothing new was started until it was finished. I knitted a hat for charity last month and started a crochet one this month. I have found working just a few rows a day quickly produces a hat without it feeling like it is taking all my crafting time. I have also started the first batch of yarn that I purchased at the closing down sale.

Because I was keen to finish the Advent project (I was worried that if I stopped I wouldn’t pick it up again until December) and then start the front band on my oldest WIP, my sewing has taken a back seat. But at the beginning of January I finished a table runner. Not my oldest project but the easiest to finish as it just needed about half the binding hand sewn. An easy project to pick up and work on. I like the finished item but wish I had taken more care with it. The pattern was in Block Magazine from Missouri Star Quilt Company. I had some charm block squares left over from a child’s quilt and just needed a couple of other leftovers. (I've looked back at last year's photos and it appears I started this in March 2019.) I was given the pink fabric. When I get some blocks of time I will quilt the two big quilts that have been ready for a long time.

Thank Goodness For Babies

I have been very good and working away on my Advent project, I did not finish it within a week as I had hoped at the beginning of the year but I have nearly finished Day 24. So finish it at the weekend?

I did not want to start a New Year’s Project because I knew once I started something else, the temptation to leave 2019’s Advent until 2020 would have been high. Plus I wanted the continuum of opening up the colours.

But…..someone had a baby. Not a surprise and I had already made something – the blue cardigan show at the end of this post. But he was born a little early and it’s cold here right now. So I decided he needed a hat. I chose a pattern I had knit before – Magic Hat – because I wanted to make a size he could wear now but still get use out of. One of the things that I like about Ravelry, is that on a pattern page they show what yarns you have in your stash that other people have used to knit the project. I used this feature so that I could use left over yarn and came up with a yarn I had used in 2015 - Ewe Ewe Yarns Wooly Worsted. I cast on the premie size but knit the length for the newborn size and used all the yarn. A win for my stash.

Starting The Year Off Right

Three off us meet every week to knit and chat. For various reasons we could not get together in December so it was fun to finally meet up this week. Catch up with our projects – Advent anyone? And exchange gifts.

And I received some lovely yarny goodness.

Firstly some beautiful fiber. I have been very conscious about not building up a fiber stash but I had hoped to purchase at Stitches SoCal. Alas this was not to be, there were no booths just selling fiber (last year there were at least two) and there was very little fiber on show at other booths. So I was very excited to receive this.

I also received a skein of a beautiful dark pink yarn. It is 20% bamboo and the sheen from that really shows in the photos.

Although, already, yarn in is greater than yarn out, I am not complaining when it is such lovely yarn.

So What’s The Plan

You do have a plan, don’t you?

I just made the mistake at looking at my post a year ago. In it I said "But I do not want my WIPs to build up like they did last year." Obviously I didn’t get the memo on that one.

Yes I do have a plan - knit what I want, when I want, using yarn from stash.

OK, it is a little more defined than that; my plan is to knit the yarn I bought in the yarn store closing sale. The amount I bought is less than the amount I knit in a year so it is achievable except, I want to knit the cardigan for which I purchased the kit and, I want to finish my WIPs, of which I have too many.
Is this doable? In theory, yes; in practice, we will see. The total amount of yarn for all these ideas is more than I have knit in a year in the past few years. I do know that I do not want loads of WIPs like last year but I would also like to knit for charity this year.

I am starting the year with 9 WIPs (one of which I started in 2018), this is way too many so I am not going to have a new year cast on. I have been working away on my Advent yarn and it should be finished within a week if I don’t work on anything else. After that I can intersperse old projects with new cast ons.

On the sewing front, my plan is to finish projects – finished is better than perfect, then use fabric purchased for specific projects before buying any more. I think I will feel a lot happier when I achieve those two goals.

And Now For The Truth

And I don’t think it’s going to be pretty.

This year I have knitted 8169 meters and crocheted 507 meters in completed garments. This is a little more than last year. This does not include the mitred squares, this year I made three complete squares and am more than half-way through a fourth.

I frogged four projects, all of which were restarted and I undid two finished projects (with a third in progress) that I never wear but wanted to reclaim the yarn for something else. In addition to these items, I made one pair of socks (the first since 2016), one gnome, one charity hat, one pair of adult mitts, 15 baby or children items and 7 shawls or shawl type items. I started the year with five projects on the needles and have completed all but one of them.

Now for the shock – 8676 meters went out but how much yarn came in? As usual there will be plenty of justification but it is made worse by the high meterage yarn I was given at the end of the year; the 1682 meters I received in the gift exchange plus I was sent a huge skein of yarn that is 975 meters and as I haven’t finished my Advent that is 1989 meters waiting to be counted.

What made the big difference in my stash this year was a yarn store going out of business and having a fantastic sale. My friend and I went one day when everything was 70% off. After ringing us up, the owner told us what the total would have been before the discount – frightening. Although it would have been easy to purchase a lot of yarn because it was such a good deal, I restricted myself to yarn that I really could picture myself using. Having said this made a big difference to my yarn in, it also made a big difference to my future yarn buying as I bought very little on the San Diego Yarn Crawl and at Stitches SoCal.

Here’s the number – my total yarn in for the year was 18349 metres in 64 balls of yarn! Of that 4000 metres was gifts and 7500 metres (32 balls) was from the sale.

All I can add to that is to say thank you to my husband for another great year.

Christmas Knitting

I have four great-nieces. Both my nephews have two daughters and they range from 6 ½ years to 9 months. When I went on the San Diego Yarn Crawl this year I purchased some alpaca yarn specifically to knit mittens for them as children’s mittens do not take long to knit.

The problem about making things for absent children is the size. I was able to use my granddaughter as a model for the oldest child (as an aside the mittens I knit for her last year are way too small) but for the others a certain amount of guesswork was involved but I definitely wanted them to be too big than too small. I chose a pattern from Tin Can Knits as they seem to be able to produce patterns that fit children. Although the thumb positioning in the smaller sizes looked a bit weird but a friend who knitted a pair after seeing that I had used the pattern said it was fine. Anyway, I used the World's Simplest Mittens pattern by Tin Can Knits to knit mittens for the three oldest children.

For the youngest I decided that thumbs are still to fiddly so I made Cabled Toddler Mitts.

I had purchased two different colours of alpaca from Atlas Alpacas and I used a different colour for each sibling. I’m not going to show you three pairs of mittens that are the same so here is a photograph of the tiny pair in the Bordeaux colourway and a picture of the largest pair in the Fig colourway.

Charity Hat

This year has not been a good year for charity knitting/crochet. I wanted to use up all my ends of yarn before making a decision on future makes. This resulted in many starts and some horrendous looking hats. I have a separate container for all my non-sock left overs, which, for some reason also contains my oldest yarn. When I was getting out a ball of that to continue working on my cardigan, I had a quick look at other yarn and took out a ball of navy worsted weight yarn that was about ¼ used and decided that should become part of my charity knitting/crochet.

On a recent car trip I started a hat – the Better Late Than Never Beanie – which I have made many times. I had been trying to make this pattern work with my many leftovers by working each round in a different colour. Ugh. With this yarn as the main colour throughout, I used a different colour for each single crochet round and a presentable hat was produced.

More (and less) Yarn

This week my knitting group had their annual yarn gift exchange. This is the type where the gift is wrapped but not labeled and you take it in turns to pick a gift or steal one that has already been opened.The guidelines for the gift have been a skein of good quality yarn. There hasn't previously been a price limit as participants have usually taken a skein from stash. After last year's exchange a couple of friends banned me from taking part as I would always end up with the White Elephant.

I did take part as I had a full skein of yarn left over from a project that I thought would make a great gift. I ended up choosing three times as I was stolen from twice. (A friend says she always chooses something that has been stolen once so that she does not have the stress that it will be taken from her.) I decided not to steal from anyone, there was some lovely yarn but not in my colours, but go for the mystery and I ended up with two ballsof Noro Taiyo Lace. These balls of yarn are 841 metres each, so my stash has gone up way more than it was reduced by the skein I gave.

The interesting thing is that although this was not the prettiest yarn in the exchange it is the yarn that I am most likely to use. As is usual with Noro the two balls look completely different but are the same.

More Gift Knitting

This is not the last of my knitted gifts for the year as I have made some things for Christmas but here are a couple of items I made for babies.
Luckily in each case the sex of the baby was known so I did not have to worry about the parents being concerned about boy or girl colours.

I made a hat for a person I come into contact with on a professional basis. You do not know how hand made gifts are going to be received in such cases, but you can’t usually go wrong with a hat. And I was right. The mother loved it.

This is a pattern I have made a couple of times before, it is not hard but does have some interest, also as it is all garter stitch it is stretchy so no need to worry about if it will fit. Although I have knit this pattern before, all through the knitting I was doubting if I even liked it, to the point where my husband said to make something else. I did not like this until it was completely finished. The yarn was left over from a cardigan I knitted earlier this year for my niece.



The second item I made was for a colleague of my husband’s who is expecting a boy in January. The yarn was purchased on the San Diego Yarn Crawl especially for the baby. It is an American organic cotton as I did not know the parents feelings towards fiber for their baby. This is the forth time I have made this pattern – Easy Baby Cardigan – I decided against the hood as I thought that might be too heavy in cotton. I am really pleased with the buttons. When the only choice for in person button shopping is Jo-Ann’s I often have to make do but this time I got what I wanted.

Happy Advent

Does this mean new knitting? Of course!

Two years ago I knit an Advent pattern with a friend, I used left over yarn and she used an Advent kit. Last year I cast on three projects on 1 December – you can read about those here.

Of those three projects, I finished one on 30 January, one on 10 February and one I didn’t finish at all. This was the complicated mystery and I ended up frogging it because I had made a really obvious mistake and that made me realize I would not have enough yarn.

I frogged it on Thanksgiving and cast on this year’s mystery by the same designer. Looking at the first day’s clue, which came out for me on the afternoon of the 30th, this is going to take longer than 24 days, but it is started. That was a recent decision to make the mystery as I did not know she was going to do it again until near the end of November. But what I (and my 2 friends) had been thinking about for a while was each buying a yarn Advent calendar. Due to our tastes and availability, we ordered from three different dyers so it is going to be fun seeing the different yarns. I ordered from Canon Hand Dyes and the theme was Antique Rainbow. I hope I like it!

My angst has not been towards the yarn but in finding a pattern that I think will best show off this unknown set. Ambah O’Brien produces an Advent pattern each year, it was her design that I knit two years ago. This year she produced two patterns, and, although I like them both, they were not for me right now. So that meant a search for just the right pattern, which is difficult when you don’t know what the yarn looks like. My criteria were a shawl, rectangle, some pattern, that would not be obscured if the yarn was highly variegated, would show off a rainbow, would use most of the yarn, was a decent width. There were a number of patterns that I declared were “the one”, but each time I kept looking. My search of patterns on Ravelry was initially limited to patterns with more than one colour but as 1 December approached I expanded my search to include all patterns that were rectangular shawls. I came up with two patterns, unintentionally by the same designer. I chose the one I thought would show off a rainbow best and I could make wider - Chaukor.

Now it is the 1st, all I have to do is open the first packet and cast on. Except I’m on vacation, so a bit of hiking and lunch first. I’ve waited this long, I can wait a few more hours.

Stitches SoCal

This event was this past weekend in Pasadena and I went on Friday with two knitting friends. This year we took the train which was fun because we could all sit and chat and knit. (Or crochet as was the case.) Taking the train did make for a long day as we were limited by the train times whereas with driving the time you leave is based on the time you want to arrive. But it was nice not to have to worry about driving home in fog like last year.

We had all purchased quite a bit of yarn when a yarn store closed down in the summer so we were not going with definite buying plans but we had been planning this for a while and wanted the day out.

One of us did not buy any yarn, which was a surprise because she is the most prolific yarn buyer, but she did buy some knitting themed earrings and a book. I bought some yarn and some stitch markers.



The first yarn I purchased was a souvenir purchase. This is yarn from Quebec, Canada that I have seen in pictures but not in person. It is fun self-striping yarn. I purchased the Go Habs Go colourway and have already found a fun pattern.



The other yarn I purchased was a kit for a cardigan. Excuse the bad photos but I do not want to take it out of the packaging. The kit is for the Comfort Fade and I was told that the pattern would be sent to me. I hope that will happen this week.



I’m still working away on my WIPS and when I have finished my oldest project I will cast on one of the yarns purchased this weekend.

Some Gifts

These two projects were finished in July but I hadn’t shown them until now as they were both gifts.

Firstly, a quick little baby hat for a friend who used to live near me but (conveniently for knitting purposes) moved to Washington state. Which makes it a no brainer for baby knitting. She is very much into reuse, reduce, recycle, so I knew she would have no problem that the yarn I used to make her new baby a hat was yarn left after knitting a hat for someone else. The skeins of Red Heart Soft are just under 150 grams so go along way. This is the fourth project from this particular skein and I still have some left. Yes, it’s acrylic, but it is soft for a baby and machine washable and dryable so convenient for parents. Using leftover yarn, it seemed appropriate to knit a pattern that I had already made. The first time I made the newborn size but this time I made the 6-12 months size so that it could be worn in the winter.



The other gift I made was a birthday present for my niece. After deciding that I did not like what I had first made with this yarn, I decided to make a shawl that would show off the colours and thought it would make a great gift for my niece. The pattern is Sun Glitter shawl and there are two variations – garter stitch or stocking stitch. I decided to go with stocking stitch to get a slightly bigger wrap and to show off the colours better. It is a good pattern for variegated yarn.

Before I show a picture of the finished item, here is a photo of it in progress, I just knit from the bottom of the original project. It also gives you a chance to see how loose the original project was, which I had shown at the end of this post.



And the finished item.

But What If They Really Are Racist?

The pointed attacks in the yarn industry have died down. I think because a big finger-pointer was finally shown to be a hypocrite. Those already attacked are continued to be vilified except now plenty of people are coming to their defense and saying stop. Professionals have weighed in to describe the behavior as bullying which I think finally gave people the courage to stand up and say enough.

It is interesting watching what is going on. Both “sides” are claiming bullying but neither “side” has denounced it in its entirety only when it is aimed at the person(s they support. Both “sides” have mocked the fundraising requests (usually by Ko-Fi) by individuals.

But while all this is going on – “you’re bad”, “no it’s you”, “it’s not bullying it’s accountability”, racists are, at the least, being forgotten ,at the worst, being given voice. Because anyone who has been attacked by a social justice warrior must be an innocent victim. But that’s just not true.
Whether you just want everyone to get back to their knitting, are a strident SJW, or mock everything they do, it is time to really look at the individuals you are supporting. What have they said and written. Is any of it worrisome but because they have been attacked you have seen them as an innocent.

What are you going to do about those who are exclusive and racist because now you have given them the power to continue.

Photos

So now I have photos of my finished project, thanks to my friend taking some at our weekly get together. I have two things to say about this project – 1) I love it; 2) it was a leap of faith while I was knitting it that I would like it. I started the project on 1 January and it quickly became my easy project so was not consistently worked on. The yarn is Gleem Lace from Fyberspates in a beautiful tonal grey, I purchased in the summer of 2017 for a mystery knit along that did not work out. I finally frogged it in December last year as part of the WIP KAL. The pattern is Viajante by Martina Behm, available for purchase through Ravelry.

This photo shows why you have to trust the pattern

– it is basically a big tube and as I don’t like to work with really long cables on my circular needles I could not try on as I went. Martina has a video showing different ways the item can be worn – flat as a regular shawl/scarf or wearing the item like a poncho with the point at the side or the back. Either way I love it.

Two Finished Objects But Only One Picture

When I wrote about the WIP challenge I said that the first project I wanted to complete was the one I started on 1 January. And I have done that, although that is the project without photos so you will have to wait a bit for information on that project.

I also finished the second sock as that was the closest project to being finished.

The pattern is Monkey which I first knit in 2008. I knit the current pair as an informal Knit Along with two friends. And as is the way with these things, the person who suggested this has still not finished hers. The yarn is Quaere Fiber Tweed Sock which I bought way back in 2016 and was waiting for the right pattern. Which wasn’t happening as I wasn’t knitting socks. This is the first pair of socks I have made since these ones I made for DH at the end of 2016. I made one modification to the pattern. The pattern has a stocking stitch heel, and I changed it to a slip stitch heel with a garter stitch edge.

Whitesplaining

I am sure that there are many women who complain about mansplaining but are adept at whitesplaining. In my last post I said we don’t need saving, we certainly don’t need white people to explain racism.

What have I seen recently? A white woman calling a person of color a nazi because the POC did not agree with the views of the white woman; a white woman feeling uncomfortable with Morgan Freeman’s idea on how to end racism because what he said wasn’t right; a minority being told that they weren’t doing enough for BIPoC.

I have also read where someone said of course they like Jews, their pets have Jewish names. I’d like to think they were being ironic but in light of other things they have written and said I was inclined to believe they were serious.

But while all this ‘splaining has been going on, no hand has been given to minorities but it has allowed anger into these spaces to match the anger of the so-called allies resulting in BIPoc/BAME persons being verbally attacked. But “that’s not my fault, I’m protecting those poor black people”.

I really should finish with that statement but I wanted to add just one more thing that I read recently. “I believe firmly in empathy and understanding and forgiveness.” Isn’t that great? Except the person writing that did so in respect of their expectations of another person – not that that was how they were going to live their life.

Plus Ca Change – Turbo Version

Way back in 2007 I wrote about the nastiness of the online world. Of course nothing has changed but now it comes with a cause. And in the knitting world the cause de jour is racism. Firstly, why any knitter would be surprised that there is racism in the yarn community when there is racism throughout society, I don’t know. Secondly, racism is bad and should be combated by everyone. Thirdly, the convenient moniker of BIPoC (or BAME in the UK) does not accurately describe my family who are subjected to overt and covert racism.

So what should be done about racism in the yarn world? Obviously it is easy to recognize overt racism – offensive words, being treated differently. But what about unintentional racism? An event is all white people; not because minorities have been excluded but because they have not been included. The organizers have not been deliberately racist but the result is still the same – no minorities. But once you start to include them, minorities are more visible and (we hope) will be included more and more.

But this isn’t happening. It was to be hoped that when the racism issue was brought to the attention of white yarn people they would give a hand to their fellow citizens. Do I see my family represented in your pattern photos? Do I see any minority in your business? No. But what do I see? I see your words. I see you posting for any infraction real or perceived that a white person has committed. I see your words full of hate and vitriol whether an event is seen as all white or someone has used the N word. And how is this helping minorities? It’s not. These people, who say they are allies, do not want to give a helping hand to minorities because then what they would do? They need to be seen to be the good guy who’s speaking out for the underdog and if the community becomes more equitable, they lose their control and sense of power. But this is dangerous and offensive.
Dangerous, because when you attack everyone in the same way, and people come to their defense, real racists get the benefit of the doubt and continue their nefarious ways.

Offensive, because you haven’t asked the oppressed group what they want. Who gave you the right to be our savior? We are not your project and we do not need saving. And this is why you aren’t doing anything to bring us up. Because you want to be lauded. You were the one to stop the dyer, you were the one to make the designer apologize. But you weren’t the one to include a person of color on your pattern page; you weren’t the one to include the black person on your table at the yarn festival, you weren’t the one to make sure minorities were included at your retreat. Because you’re the savior, the big I-am, shouting at everyone on Instagram that they are terrible people for not doing these things. You’re living off the high you get from your hubris and self-importance.

But at the end of the day, you are just a bully who cares about one thing - yourself.

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.