Breaking My Own Rules

I have written that if I am going to participate in SKA’s monthly challenge, I have to use a pattern that I own or is already in my Ravelry Queue or Favorites. Plus, and I don’t think I have mentioned this, I must use yarn I have purchased and only one pair of socks on the needles at any one time.

So what happened in May?

I decided I didn’t like the challenges for May and cast on a sock at the end of April so I would have socks to work on in May. But, I saw the start of the Mystery sock, decided I liked it and cast on with yarn from my friends big destash. (All three rules broken. LOL.)

In this pattern there was something going on in every row – purls, knits, slipped stitches, cables, bobbles, as well as alternating colours, - as some concentration was required I put them aside in June to complete other projects and then there wasn't a rush to finish them as August is the finish all your socks challenge.

The pattern is The Old Vine, the pink yarn is Miss Babs Tarte and the dark yarn is from A Whimsical Wood Yarn Co.

 

 

First of Three

 

In my last post I mentioned that I started July with a sock project and I cast on two more. I wanted to start a challenge in July as the theme fit a pattern that I had purchased in 2017. I had cast them on with different yarn in 2022 but didn’t get very far as I didn't like how the yarn looked in the ribbing at the cuff.

Fast forward to 2024 and the theme for July is literature and I wanted to use yarn I had purchased in a sale, fingers crossed it will work – and it did! This is a simple crossed stitch pattern with the pattern occurring on every third row. After having worked the Advent socks concurrently I went one better with these and worked them two-at-a-time on a circular needle. I had to keep track of the third row but no counting to match socks.

The pattern is Prairie Socks and the yarn is Targhee Sock from Oink Pigments. (And, yes, it is a really bright pink.)

Start of the Second Half

I’ve been very quiet just lately. Mostly because I have not had any finished knitting to show but also because all my thoughts about blog posts have not made it to print.

Looking back at my post after finishing my mini WIP-along, I am not sure if I ever said what was still on the needles at the start of the second-half of the year. First, the projects which don’t count – four blankets. Two of them are year-long projects and even when the knitting is complete they have to be blocked and three strips joined to make a blanket and then any edgings of my choice added. In other words as long as I have the completed components I am not going to stress if I do not have a finished blanket at the end of the year. The other two blankets are scrappy, leftover projects without a fixed end date.

At the beginning of the second half I had three projects:- a cardigan, a pair of socks and a baby gift and in July I cast on two pairs of socks. Although it reads as if I cleared the WIPs and then added a load more I am keeping the numbers low as currently I have just two projects in addition to the blankets. Although they will increase soon as vacation is coming up and I will start a hat in the car and when the cardigan gets to concentrate part I will need an easy project to replace it.

Photgraphic Evidence

 

And here you have it; pictures of the five projects that I completed in my mini finishing challenge. In each case I have placed the finished piece beside the photo I took at the end of May to show how much needed to be completed in the month.

 

A Quick Interlude

In my last post I mentioned a new cast on. After finishing the WIPs I was rushing to finish it and then came to my senses and knew I would be cutting it very close to finishing on time so I took a break. (And it turns out I had the date wrong for the next meeting and I had an extra week. The garment is finished in time but also meant I could have waited until I’d finished the WIPs to start it. The only difference it would have made to the WIPs is that I would have finished them earlier in the day.)

Once I realized I better get my act together and make something, I still couldn’t decide what I was going to make, and what yarn I was going to use. I could have made an Easy Baby Cardigan, I’ve only made four of them and without the hood it is a quick knit. But, no, I had to choose a new pattern.

I went for this free pattern - Méabh's Cardigan – I liked the shawl collar and the cable detail. I used the Lion Brand yarn I had used in this blanket. The main colour is Adobe and the contrast is Hazelnut. Neither of these colours were used in the original project. The Hazelnut because I only had one skein and the Adobe because it did not fit in with the other colours.

As it is a free pattern, I do not want to be overly critical but I did not like how this pattern was formatted. It is two columns like most patterns but the rows up to sleeve separation are so wordy that the instructions spread over several (10 or more) lines making them hard to read. Also the bottom ribbing was not symmetrical, which if I was not in a hurry I would have corrected. And a minor point, I did not slip the edge stitches as stitches are picked up along the edge for the bands.

I purchased the buttons at a yarn store when I was out with friends last week. They were available individually so no angst over being able to find the right number at JoAnns, plus I’m sure they were cheaper. And, I got them before working the buttonholes so I was able to make the buttonholes the right size.

I am happy with the finished item and hope the mother likes it.

 

 

A Quick Update

 

I haven’t mentioned my mini WIP along since I frogged the first project. My incentive for this challenge was to finish some projects especially those from last year. With four year-long projects I felt like I was knitting and knitting and knitting without anything to show for it. This was exasperated in May when the socks I started required quite a bit of concentration.

I had 12 WIPs. Three of those were not going to be finished as two were the year long blankets with patterns released each month and one was the crochet blanket where yarn is added as I finished other projects. Although these could not be finished I did want them up to date and I achieved that with the crochet blanket and one of the year blankets.

I had three projects that if I worked on that would have been the only project completed in June. Two of them were new WIPs so working on one of those would not have completed my aim to finish old projects. These three projects are my mitred square blanket, the aforementioned socks and my easy knitting project. I plan to finish the socks by the end of August and I would like to finish all the squares of the blanket by the end of September so that I have the final quarter of the year to join them.

This leaves six projects. I wanted to start with the oldest and work forward. Not only to get the old projects complete but so that I didn’t put off the two oldest projects. I have already posted about the oldest project being sent to the frog pond but the next project was a dress knitted in bulky weight wool; in other words not something that I would wear right now. But it was the next project and complete it I did. I am looking forward to wearing it.

I then went out of order as I wanted to finish the crochet toy but knew I couldn’t pick it up and work only on it exclusively until finished. I also threw a spanner into my own plans by casting on a new project – a baby gift. I have known about this baby for many, many months. I wasn’t going to cast on straight away but the time just flew and the baby was here. So in addition to finishing WIPs I was rushing to make a gift. Having finished the WIP challenge, I hope I can finish the gift before I see the mother again.

Anyway, having finished the dress, I then worked on the remaining projects in any order depending on what I was doing. I was in the last week hoping it would all work out but a planned outing where I thought I would get plenty of knitting or crochet done turned out to not be the case. Yesterday, it felt as if the remaining projects would be stitches away from being finished but I persevered. Firstly, I finished the crochet hat, then I embroidered the facial features on the toy and in the afternoon and evening I worked on the hat and socks. (And I managed to make lunch and dinner.) And, amazingly, the last stitch was cast off at bed time.

May’s Socks – Or Are They April’s

I mention the Sock Knitters Anonymous Group frequently in relation to the socks I knit but I am not sure if I have said that the incentive to take part in their knit alongs is that there are prizes. Not Fake Internet Points but real prizes. I have been participating since early 2010, with a break from 2017 to 2019; and in that time I have won two project bags and a skein of yarn. This year I won a pattern for the socks I knit in February. (As the challenges are over two months and the prizes awarded at the beginning of the next month, I received the pattern in April.)

It just so happened that the designer who donated the prize was the featured designer for April but I had already started socks in April and, remember, I am not starting all the things so I didn’t cast on. Except… when May’s plans were announced at the end of April there wasn’t anything that interested me so I quickly cast on the socks before the end of the month so I would have socks to work on in May. (Oh, and that nothing interested me – total fail.)

The pattern is Nutmeg Socks by verybusymonkey and the yarn was purchased in the sale in 2021 and unintentionally is the same dyer as the socks I cast on at the beginning of April. 

Socks fresh off the needles.

 And after blocking and closer to the correct colour.