2021 Round Up Part Two

This is the other project I finished just before the end of the year. I started this project on 30 November 2019 as the 2019 Advent shawl. I knew I would not be able to keep up with the rows every day as it is complicated lace knitting but I wanted to get it started. I started 2021 with it about half-way completed and great plans to work on it every day. In the end I decided I would work a clue each month as there were enough remaining to take me through to the end of the year. And this I could keep up with. The pattern required a lot of concentration and, funnily enough, that made it quite boring so having a plan made the end achievable. Until I hit a snag. I ran out of yarn. Towards the end, I was weighing the yarn after every couple of rows and knew it would be close. The last clue was the edging which was a sideways knit edge with yarnovers and corresponding decreases and knitting the live stitches; yarn wise equivalent to a few rows. I could have undone two rows but I really didn’t want to do that. As I said the pattern is complicated and there are lots of double decreases also I would probably have taken out four rows just to be on the safe side.

So why not buy more yarn – because it was discontinued. I estimated I would need about 5g. I went to that trusty source Ravelry and someone was selling their leftovers. But the price they wanted plus postage was more than I wanted to pay for such a small amount of yarn. I had the option of using left over lace weight in a different colour if I really couldn’t find the same yarn. But first I approached someone else who had yarn leftover from their project. They were willing to send it to me for the price of postage. This was very acceptable.

The border wasn’t hard but having got this far, I wasn’t going to rush it so I only get worked on when I wasn’t going to be interrupted. The blocking was easy, apart from size, as I soaked it and then just laid it out with the top pinned. I did not stretch it out at all as I did not think it needed it. Although we had had wet weather, it dried very quickly and it was completely finished ends sewn in and trimmed on 31 December.

Here are pictures pre and post blocking.

 

2021 Round Up Part One

This is where I show the projects that I finished close to year end and did not post before 31 December.

I mentioned that I had worked some dishcloths to have some easy projects. I also worked a hat. I had included them in my meterage for the year, all except the last dishcloth which I was not expecting to finish before year end and also is the cause of a little lie for my 2022 plans as I included it in my WIPs at start of year. This particular dishcloth was also a total fail in the mindless knitting category as every row was different. Oh well.

First off the hat, which really was mindless knitting. The pattern is Luuk, although there are numerous similar patterns available. Rows of stocking stitch and reverse stocking stitch, using some Cascade from friend’s friend’s stash and some frogged yarn. This yarn is never ending, a bit like the dishcloth cotton that I will mention next.

 

I made four dishcloths and finally used up all the brown that I had rescued from a dishcloth swap exchange from a few years ago where I ended up with a cloth that was the size of a tray cloth. The brown has featured in four cloths. I wanted mindless knitting and as it was December I made season appropriate patterns. The first is supposed to be a Christmas pudding but looks more like a big cupcake, two different tree illusion cloths and then the not mindless mosaic cloth. I still have a bit of cotton left over and I can probably get one more very scappy cloth out of it.

 

Regarding the lie in my last post, I started the year with three projects, still two more than planned so finishing a dishcloth in the evening of the last night of the year is not really a huge change to the total.

2022 Here We Come

I am starting the year with more WIPs than I intended. Two are the result of wanting mindless knitting at the end of the year (and one not turning out to be quite so mindless). One is a jacket I was hoping to finish in December but when I finished all the knitting of the main part I realized I hadn’t blocked the sleeves. This delayed finishing for a day or two and then I decided not to rush especially as I still have to purchase buttons. And then there is the lace cardigan which is the only WIP I was expecting. I am a little disappointed that instead of one WIP I have three (plus scrap blankets and hat in the car) but as two of these projects meant I was actually working on something, it is not the end of the world.

A couple of my plans are the same as last year – complete WIPs and use stash yarn I was given for charity items. One thing that I was planning on doing was using up my dishcloth cotton but as I used some of it at the end of 2021 for mindless knitting I am going to save the cotton for year end in case I am in the same situation.

Although I greatly added to my stash last year I am not stressed by it and it will get used at some point. I still have two sets of yarn from the previous closing down sale that have not been used. I have chosen the pattern and swatched for one set but have changed my mind about the other set but am not going to get hung up about it.

I would like to make the Advent shawl from 2018 but as this will require a lot of concentration, I will finish the lace cardigan first. I also want to use the yarns I got in the yarn swap. Currently I have the pattern planned but need to decide on the order in which I will work the yarns. As the swap started on 11 December, I think I will start this on 11 January. And my knitting friends and I have a KAL planned to start in February.

All these plans do not mean that I will not be starting anything new on 1 January. Like last year I will be casting on all the things. I like to make a hat each month for charity. And this year I am going to make the monthly hats from Kelbourne Woolens. I was going to do this last year but was put off by the comments on the first couple of months that the hats came out small. Well, if I’m not making the hats for anyone in particular what does it matter what size they come out? As I don’t have a crochet project currently on the go (apart from the project in the car) I am going to make another Waroo shawl using a set of minis I was given for my birthday. I intend to change yarn as each one runs out rather than when the pattern dictates. But we will see. These are just small items, plus a gift I am going to make, so I am going to start a cardigan. This will be using my not-quite-oldest-yarn which was purchased to make a particular cardigan, but I couldn’t get gauge, so now I am going to knit a different pattern where I also can’t get gauge. But at least this one will be mostly mindless knitting.

As you can see there are not massive plans for the whole year, just the first month or so, which gives me plenty of leeway to start what I want as the fancy takes me.

Year in Review (2021)

What I like when I come to write about my year of crafting is looking back to the end of last year to see if what I am making has changed and looking at my plans at the start of the year also to see if they changed.

One thing I definitely didn’t take into account was a yarn store closing, resulting in a big addition to my stash and two projects being started as soon as yarn was purchased. Although it could be argued that this was balanced out by no big events in 2020 and 2021. And there was the sudden decision to start another left overs blanket.

I had 43 items on the needles in 2021. Four of these, including the mitred squares, were from previous years. I then cast on four new things on January 1^st. Having got rid of a load of WIPs it makes sense to create a load more, right? And creating numerous new projects is an idea worth repeating as you will see in my 2022 plans post.

Of those 43 projects, only one was frogged and I am impressed that I made the decision in the same year that I started it although I did not have plans for the yarn. Seven of the total were crochet projects and only three were gifts but nearly all the hats (14) were for charity.

In 2021 I completed 7 shawls or wraps, 16 hats and 1 headband, 1 garment, 6 pairs of socks, 1 toy, and 3 dishcloths. The total is close to the total number of finished items last year although made up of smaller items. In all I knitted 7960 metres and crocheted 2024 meters. This was less than the total in but not surprising due to the closing down sale.

I really did not have big plans for 2021. I completed the two specific items – Advent socks and project from frogged yarn. I wrote that I was not going to buy yarn for hats but that changed as I made hats for a specific charity that required a specific type of yarn. The other type of knitting that was not planned was the dishcloths. I had that on my radar for 2022 to use up all my scraps of dishcloth cotton but I found myself in December with no mindless knitting but not wanting to start a major project before the end of the year. So I decided to make some dishcloths. It was surprising how many dishcloths I could make from scraps.

Happy New Year.

 

A Recurring Theme

Initially I thought the theme was cheeky cast ons but it could be WIpping Wednesday or velcroed cats. Although that last one is a theme of my life. As soon as I sit down she is there. And by there I mean on my lap her body stuck to mine. This is why humans don’t have T-Rex arms – so our arms can go around cats and still work.

The theme I was thinking about was finished WIPs and cheeky cast ons. The WIP I finished was the crochet toy. I did not work on it consistently as I could only work on it when the recipient was not in the house and it was fiddly. The good thing about this finished item is that the recipient loves it and I am pleased that I don’t have to think about it anymore. It was fiddly because it was small pieces at a tight gauge with not tightly spun wool. Add to that a not brilliantly written pattern. I have drafted and re-drafted a post about patterns in general and composed a post in my head about this pattern in particular. Currently they are too long for a post but I hope that a post or two will appear at some point on the subject.

I purchased this pattern as a kit at the closing down sale and I am glad that I did not pay full price. Anyway here are a couple of photos. One of all the pieces and the other showing the finished dinosaur.

As for the cheeky cast on, which I started on vacation, that I am happy with. The yarn is left over from this project and works really well with this pattern which is WandererCap. I worked the rib with leftover yarn from the last hat shown here, working until I had insufficient yarn to finish a full round.

I am showing three photos of the hat so you can see the top and also how the yarn changes through out.

 

And as for WIPping Wednesday. I am down to three WIPs – one of which I have put aside. I am working the sideways border on the shawl and binding off the long band on the jacket. Neither of these are easy to pick up and put down in small chunks of time but slow and steady wins the race.

A Finished Object, a Frog and a Sneaky Cast On

The finished object is the Advent Socks which I worked as a year long project. The pattern (from December 2020) was set up for one sock to be knit over 12 days. I knit one section on each sock every month. At the end of part 10 (October) I knew I was very close to the required length. In November I worked the few rows required before starting the toe shaping and then just decided to keep going and finish both socks so that would have to be one less thing to worry about in December.

These are not the best socks  have knit. Although I used sock yarn, as it is all leftovers, there is a difference in thickness and make up of each yarn. Also my swiss darning (duplicate stitch) is not wonderful in some places. But as the pattern is worked all around on the leg and foot they are double thickness and cosy and I was not concerned about exact fit. But I am very happy with them and will wear them around the Christmas season. The socks are made entirely from leftovers. On both socks I used up all of the original main colour but had other options to add in. 

 

 

I did not intend to frog the next project especially as I was using yarn that had come from a frogged project. I started a shawl on vacation in May and it was designated my vacation shawl but the yarn and pattern did not go together so I (metaphorically) ripped off the band aid and the shawl is now back to yarn. I really want to use this yarn as it was a gift (and I like it) but I think I am going to wait until I see just the right project and not try to force the yarn to fit in with something.

 

I was on vacation and did not want to take one of my WIPs because they weren’t at a convenient point to just pick up and knit. So I grabbed some needles and yarn for easy poolside and reading knitting. I completed a hat and a bit. The completed hat is the Molly hat and the yarn is more than likely YOTH Big Sister. (It was part of the big load that I was given from a friend of a friend's stash.) As this hat will go into next year’s charity pile, I worked the pattern as written and did not worry about the slouch which, generally, I am not a fan of.  The first photo shows the pattern and the second photo shows the colour.

 

I then used leftovers to cast on the Wanderer hat. Although this is intended for vacation knitting, if I can fit it in I will finish it before the end of the year just so that I have one less WIP.

Excluding the hat I cast on for vacation knitting, I have four WIPs plus two blankets and I am really excited by this number. In September the number was nine plus two. I am not working on one of these projects at all so that leaves me just under four weeks to finish three projects. As my husband said, that's one week for each project with some extra days leeway.

Of course, none of this is going to happen as I am writing this with a cat “velcroed” to me.

It’s WIPping Wednesday

Was I going to write regular posts about my WIPs when there seems to be little change? It is the season for WIPs so I think I should.

Everything is moving forward but no finished items to show. This is partially due to some unknitting. At the weekend I worked on the toe of one sock. I was about half-way through it and realized I had not changed needles. I have used a size smaller needles for the cuff and heel and would do the same for the toe – only if I remembered though. I wanted to start the toe shaping before finishing the colourwork pattern, which was only three rows and then I continued in one colour. When I looked at it the gauge was definitely too loose so it was pulled back to the end of the colourwork. Of course, I didn’t have the smaller needles to hand. If I had I expect I wouldn’t even have been in the frogging position. So what could have been a quick finish is waiting for the next opportunity.

I started the frill on the dinosaur, it wasn’t hard but so fiddly, which I write every time. I have not worked on it this week as the intended recipient has been at our house. This is another project that is so close but so far.

The jacket is coming along nicely. It is my easy knitting so can pick it up at anytime. I finished the second sleeve and picked up stitches for the hood and am half-way through that. I still am not sure if it will be finished by year end as although it is easy knitting there is a lot of it.

I have not picked up the complicated shawl as I am waiting for more yarn. I ended up buying some from someone on Ravelry who had some leftover from their project. I could continue working the border with what I have left but I am being prudent and waiting until I get the other yarn in case there is a difference in tone. There shouldn’t be as it is a commercial yarn but having got this far and taken a long time I might as well wait.

A Cheeky Little Cast On

My last post was about how well I was doing with my WIPs, so what did I do? Cast on a new project. To be fair it is a gift and it was a very quick baby hat.

When I was going through my leftovers to find leftover lace weight yarn my husband asked if I was going to make the new baby a blanket. I do not feel inclined to send a blanket to Japan but I said I would make booties. The problem with booties is that mothers either love them or hate them. So I decided on a hat. After a lot of thought that is. I have made many baby hats more than once as they are just so cute but I decided to make a different pattern, using leftovers of course.

The pattern is Gather by Tin Can Knits; the yarn is Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK from Sublime Yarns. I worked as many complete rib rows as I could with the white yarn and then changed to the pink for the pattern. The hat is the total length as stated in the pattern but I though it looked a bit short in comparison to the width. But the baby was not big at birth, so I am sure it will be fine for a while as long as it doesn’t take forever to get to Japan.

WIP Update

I used to regularly write about my WIPs but I think I stopped when there wasn’t much change from week to week. I had a look through my posts and the last regular weekly update was in April 2014. I do not intend to make this a regular weekly feature but as we are in WIPping season it is time for an update.

I currently have six projects plus two blankets. The two year long projects are close to the end. The socks are at the toes and the shawl is at the border. It is sideways knit border and not hard after all the lace but I am pretty certain I do not have enough yarn. I worked about 1/6 of the border, weighing yarn before and after and I used about a gram. (Now I wish I had more accurate scales than 1 gram.) The yarn is discontinued so I cannot purchase any more. I have contacted a couple of people on Ravelry who have left overs from their own projects and I will write about how that went when I finish the shawl. I could take out a couple or four rows of the lace pattern but that is not a task I want to undertake, so I may have to work the border in a contrast colour. I have some leftover lace weight yarns in colours that will contrast nicely; just have to decide which one I am going to use.

I have been working on the crochet toy, and is it fiddly! It is nearly finished, just have to work out what the instructions mean for the frill around the head and I am done. Oh, apart from sewing all the little bits to the body. That should be finished by the end of the year.

I have nearly finished the second sleeve of the jacket. I have blocked the body and will pick up and work the hood and pockets before I sew in the sleeves just to make the knitting easier. I’m aiming to finish it by the end of the year but once it’s all sewn together there is still a big front band to knit.

I have been true to my word and not touched the lace cardigan nor the vacation knit so that I can finish the other projects.

A Quick Little Cast On

Since I started the WIP challenge, I have not cast on anything new. But two things combined to cause me to make something. Someone had posted a picture of a cute headband and there was a birthday coming up. I decided that was an acceptable cast on; otherwise I would be spending time shopping either rin person or online. The only limitation was colour.

I may have mentioned that I was given a lot of yarn from a friend of a friend’s stash and I took it on the basis that I could do anything with it. In there was a 50g skein of Berroco Ultra Alpaca Light in a greenish colour. It was hard to capture the colour with my phone. (I am having problem with my phone capturing true colours, but that’s a whole different story.)

Pattern is Headband with a Twist and is available fro free on the designers website. I used just under 30g and it would be perfect for leftovers.

When You Have A Choice of Beautiful Sock Yarn

What do you do? Knit a pair of socks from leftovers and take four months to do so! The yarn is left over from this project. I used about half skein of each and they are so beautiful I knew they needed to be used in another project. One of the options for July’s Sock Knitters Anonymous was Slipped Stitch Colorwork. Searching through Ravelry, I found this pattern 

I wasn’t sure if I would have enough yarn to just use two colours so I did use the third colour for the cuffs, heels and toes. Weighing the yarn after completing the project I would have been cutting it close so I saved future me from “do-I-have-enough-yarn angst”.

I don’t know why it took so long to finish these socks but when I had not even finished the first sock by the end of July they got pushed to one side. With the incentive of the WIP knitalong, these socks were the next project to be focused on and I completed them within the month of October. I am really pleased with them and they are lovely and soft.

 

I am now down three projects from the original eight. I am on target to finish the two year-long projects and have picked up the garment as my next project. The knitting on this is not hard but I am changing much of the pattern to fit with my gauge and measurements. The body is complete and I am now working on the first sleeve. After both sleeves there is a hood or collar and the front bands. I really would like to get it finished by the end of the year.

 

Another 5k – Rock n Roll Running Series San Diego

I first ran this in 2019 and was so psyched by it that I immediately signed up for the 2020 run. Not surprisingly it was “cancelled” but earlier this year they announced it would be taking place as usual and then a day later the date was changed to October.

All these changes made it hard to train and get enthused for the race as there was no way to know if the date would be changed again and the race was not exactly the wonderful experience I had in 2019 but I ran and it was faster than 2019.

The 5k course was changed this year. Previously the start and finish lines were close to each other and the way the course looped, it was easy for spectators to see most of the race. This year they changed the start line so that it was a good walk to the finish line. This meant that there were no spectators along the course to cheer us along and as the one road we ran up was only half-closed, we were not cheered on by the residents.

Having said that; I am glad I ran it and that it was faster than previously, and my husband was there to stop the negative self-talk. But I am not sure if I will take part again. The downside is that I have to drive to San Diego twice, once to pick up my bib and then again for the race. One way to San Diego is longer than the actual race and with the change of course, the excitement is missing.

I have a 10k race in February that was supposed to take place in October last year. I am going to wait until I have completed that to decide what I want to do regarding what distance I want to participate in and where I want to do it.

 

Finished Hats

This year as well as making hats for Operation Gratitude I made hats for Hats for Sailors. This is a group that makes hats for US Navy members serving on board ship. They provide hats for a different ship each year and this year they were asked to provide hats for the USS Carl Vinson, an aircraft carrier with at least 6000 personnel. As it was such a big undertaking and the ship is based out of San Diego I thought it would be a good cause to support. There is no limit on pattern or colour but you have to use superwash wool. As I did not have any I approached my friend Heather, owner of Ewe Ewe Yarns and purchased various colours and weights of her yarn. I liked that I was keeping it local. Although I didn’t think about keeping the patterns local.

I ended up making five hats. I do have enough yarn to make one more hat but I wanted to make sure that these hats were labeled and mailed in time.

 

 

I have numbered the hats in the order I made them.

1.      Pattern Tamarugo Yarn Ewe Ewe Wooly Worsted

2.      Pattern  Freshwater Yarn Ewe Ewe Fluffy Fingering held double

3.      Pattern  Sailors Rib Cap Yarn Ewe Ewe Yarns Heather’s Heathers

4.      Pattern Barley Yarn left over from hats 1 and 3.

5.      Pattern Ankers Hat  Yarn Ewe Ewe So Sporty.

I also finished another hat for Operation Gratitude. I needed an easy project and I had these partial balls of yarn that I had been given and Angel Hat is an easy pattern that I have knit before. The yarn is Extra by Blue Sky Fibers and is deliciously soft. 

 

It will keep a serving or retired military member warm. I had not remembered that I had posted photos of my other Operation Gratitude hats as I finished them otherwise I would have posted this one sooner. I thought I would be posting photos of them altogether.

This year I have made 10 hats for charity which is equal to one per month. I am now going to take a break and concentrate on WIPs.

One Down

I was a little disappointed not to have finished my projected two projects in September. But I have now finished the socks I started on 1 September. I did finish the hat, but when I tried it on it was small for an adult. I could have left it and given it to one of my nieces or donated to a different charity but I really wanted this to be my last hat for Hats for Sailors. I pulled out the knitting as far as the first decrease row and then knit another pattern repeat before starting decreases.

We are at the start of a new month and time for a new sock knitting challenge but I am being very sensible and not starting any so that I can finish my WIPs; one of which is a pair of socks left over from July’s challenge. I am only on the foot of the first one but they will be my knitting for this month and maybe I can get them finished.

One of the challenges for September was the theme literature. I chose Bertie Wooster’s Faux Pas by Becky Greene.

I now have quite a few skeins of sock yarn following the “little” shopping spree earlier this year when the yarn store closed. I looked at projects on Ravelry and saw that it worked in dark colours and chose Theodora’s Pearl Fingering by Dizzylettuce. The colourway is Purple Haze which seemed very appropriate as the pattern is inspired by Bertie Wooster wanting to wear purple socks.

The pattern had been originally published as a mystery and then the clues combined. In the combined clue the designer has four rows of cuff pattern but does not say to repeat those therefore my project does not have a cabled cuff. As these socks included cable stitches I started with a size larger than usual to make sure they fit on my muscley calves When I got to the foot I could not easily change the pattern to a smaller size so I changed to a size smaller needle.