"ALL-Ways" Cowl

"ALL-Ways Cowl"

This is a super fun pattern by Laura Nelkin.  If you look closely in some of the photos, you might see some green beads in there.  My beads match my yarn SO WELL, that you can hardly see them! Doh!

The yarn I used for this project is a worsted weight yarn from "Retold Yarns".  I bought it because the color way is called "I am Groot" (adorable!).  I made a Messy Bun Hat with part of the skein so I guess I have a matching hat and cowl now.  The "All-Ways Cowl" pattern can be knit with any weight of yarn and can be knit with or without beads. My cowl worked up quickly since I used worsted weight yarn. I just kept knitting until I was almost out of yarn; however, I would have liked for my cowl to be slightly wider.  This pattern is easily customizable. Is that a word?  You can make it longer, shorter, narrower, wider, etc.  

If you'd like to make the "All-Ways Cowl", you can find the pattern on Ravelry (Click HERE).

Copy Cat "C.C. Beanie"

Copy Cat "C.C. Beanie"

I've been seeing this hat for a year or two or three?  It's a commercially made hat and it seems to be quite popular. I've made a similar hat for myself.  I wore it to the knit shop one day and I got to talking about it with Tammy at the shop.  She mentioned a hat called a "C.C. hat" or a "Colorado Chick" hat and she told me she had seen copy cat patterns on Ravelry.  

I did a little looking and sure enough I found the "Copy Cat C.C. Beanie" pattern. It turns out there is  a company called "Colorado Chick" and their hat called "Boulder Authentic C.C. Original Beanie" is that hat I've been seeing around.  You can see the hats on their website HERE. 

Of course I had to make the hat. The pattern calls for worsted weight yarn and I used Cascade "Pacific" yarn that I had left over from my "Building in Color" afghan project.  I got the greatest fluffy white pom pom at my local yarn shop (Yarned and Dangerous, Canon City, Colorado).  The pom pom is detachable and includes a snap.  You stitch the snap receptacle onto the hat and you can pop the pom pom on and off so that the hat can be washed.  How cool is that?

You can see a little video about this type of pom pom HERE.

I did not entirely follow the pattern for this hat.  The pattern calls for starting the brim with a provisional cast on and then, after you work the ribbing for enough length, you fold the brim in half, undo the provisional cast on, and merge the cast on stitches with the live stitches for a brim that is double thickness.  I did not work the brim this way; I was worried I might run out of yarn since I did not start out with a full skein of yarn.  I wish I had made the brim this way; I think it looks really nice. If I do make this hat again, I'll follow the directions for the brim.  I've never made a hat brim this way and I'd like to try this technique.

If you'd like to make a "Copy Cat C.C. Beanie" you can find the pattern HERE.

Fruit Stripe Gum Socks... done!

Fruit Stripe Gum Socks

I got these socks done in a jiffy.  They were so fun to knit that it was hard to put them down.  The pattern is available for purchase on Ravelry and is called "Fruit Stripe Gum Socks".  The pattern works best for self-striping sock yarn.  The socks look as if they may be complicated to knit; some folks think the socks resemble entrelac knitting which is quite labor intensive.  The pattern is actually very simple. Once you complete the ribbing portion of the sock cuffs, you work the leg portion and the pattern is *knit 2, yarn over, knit 2, k2tog* around (every round) over a number of stitches which is a multiple of 6.  The sock pattern also calls for increasing the number of stitches after the cuff is complete and then decreasing the same number of stitches after the leg portion and before the heel. The pattern also includes a different heel which I believe is called an "eye of partridge" heel.  The pattern is very well written; I highly recommend it.  This is one of those projects where you just need to select the perfect yarn for the pattern.  I don't think the pattern will look as good with self-striping yarns that resemble fair isle, but I have not tried it yet. It's fun to look at the completed projects using this pattern on Ravelry to see what yarns work best.  I got lucky. I think this yarn worked very well for this design.

This yarn has a funny story.... it's the yarn I almost lost. I went to the Salida Fiber Festival in September 2017.  After selecting the yarn, my husband and I went to a restaurant for lunch.  The restaurant was so busy and crowded that no one ever came to take our order.  We just sat at our table for the longest with the menus.  We decided to leave and we found an even better restaurant to have lunch.  It was a beautiful day, we got to sit outside, and I had the best salad (it was so good I remember it).  As we were sitting there, it occurred to me that I no longer had my shopping bag with my new yarn.  I had lost it!

After we finished our lunch, we decided to go back to the initial crazy crowded restaurant to see if maybe someone had found my yarn; perhaps they had a "lost and found" box with mittens, baseball caps, wallets, etc. that had been left behind.  When we got to the restaurant I looked over at the table where we had waited for awhile.  There on the table sat two menus and my shopping bag with yarn! I don't think anyone ever noticed that we had sat there and clearly no one noticed that we had left.  

Here is the link to find this pattern on Ravelry (click HERE).  Also, here is a close up of the label from this yarn. It is so nice! There are a lot of On Line Supersocke 4-fach (4-ply) yarns but the "Merino Extrafein-Color" is very luxurious.  If I find it again, I'd buy it.

Nugget Peds

Nugget Peds

Above: Why am I always getting photobombed by Labradoodles?

At the beginning of this month, I got a notification that my next Laura Nelkin kit was coming in the mail soon.  I just couldn't wait!  I decided to cast on another pattern by Laura Nelkin called "Nugget Peds".  I purchased this pattern on Ravelry a few months ago and just had not gotten around to it; however, I did have my beads all counted and sorted out.  The yarn I selected is yarn I got from my mom.  It's Knit Picks "Stroll" in a color called "Duchess Heather".

I finished up the Nugget Peds in just a week and I have a number of photos of them here for you.  My new Laura Nelkin kit arrived on Saturday and I told myself I could not cast on the new project until I finished up this pair of socks first.  

As you can see, this pattern is a short sock with beads in the cuff.  The pattern calls for knitting the socks from the cuff down. 

If you like knitting with beads, I urge you to check out Laura Nelkin's designs on Ravelry. Right now many of her patterns are buy one, get one free. She is also offering a "First Quarter Knit Along" and she's offering some prizes. Fun stuff!  If you are interested in the KAL, here is a link with additional information (Click HERE).

Christmas Gifts... Knitting

More Christmas Gifts... Knitting

I made a number of Christmas gifts this year. Some items were sewn and others were knit. I showed the sewn items a week or so ago.  Here is a quick post to show some of the knit items.  

Socks for my husband. He wears size 13/14 shoes so socks for him are a BIG commitment.  The yarn is Zitron Trekking XXL and I used 2.50 mm needles and 72 stitches per round. The sock is basically a knit 3, purl 1 ribbing and I used a Fish Lips Kiss Heel.  I let him have these socks before Christmas actually. He really appreciates the hand knit socks I've made for him which is nice.  He's proven himself to be knit-worthy.  And trust me... if you are knitting socks for a person who wears men's size 13/14 shoes, that person better be knit-worthy.

This is a super quick cowl that I made for Sylvia (my son's girlfriend). The yarn is Alpine by Sirdar.  The pattern is called "Two Ball Snood". It calls for size US 15 needles.  The color way is "Polar" but this yarn comes in so many great colors.  This would be a great yarn to make some sort of stuffed animal. So plush and squishy and soft.  If you see this yarn in person at your local yarn shop, I bet you'll pick up a ball and just carry it around the shop while you are petting it.  So SOFT!  Also, most people tend to rub this yarn on their face when they pick it up.  It's like picking up a kitten.

And finally, Sylvia also got some felted slippers.  The yarn is Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Worsted primarily and I also used a novelty ladder yarn called CityLife by Premier Yarns.  I gift wrapped the slippers before felting which I thought would be kind of funny.  I explained "felting" to Sylvia when she looked at the huge floppy slippers in the box.  She still looked a little puzzled after my explanation. We threw the slippers in the washing machine Christmas night and we shrunk the heck out of them until they were just right.  She's been wearing them around the house once the slippers finally air dried.  

Slippers: before felting.

What a great year of knitting.  Ravelry had a challenge on their website at the very beginning of 2018.  They encouraged folks to set a goal for the number of projects to complete in 2018.  I set a goal of 18 projects in 2018.  I actually completed 59 projects in 2018.  Truth be told... many of the 59 projects were started well before 2018 began, but setting the goal got me motivated to finish up those long over due UFOs.  Also, many of my 59 projects were small, quick projects (dishcloths, Christmas ornaments, hats, fingerless mitts, etc.); however, I was very excited to have completed two big afghan projects and 10 pairs of socks.  I also made a number of knitted-felted projects this year out of the blue which was a lot of fun.

Ravelry has again encouraged folks to set a goal for 2019. My goal is 19 projects in 2019 but I bet I'll make more.  I started a list of things to finish and make; I know I can and will be busy for months just with the projects I already have lined up.  One thing I noticed about my knitting in 2018 is that I felt quite overwhelmed and burdened with all the yarn in my stash. I was often tempted to cast on projects that called for one skein of yarn and were quick knits.  I made a lot of garter stitch shawl patterns for example.  Toward the end of 2018, I found myself trying out some more challenging patterns and I was loving it. It occurred to me I was really craving my challenging projects.  So in 2019, I have also set a goal to try to challenge myself more.  I would like to learn Brioche knitting and also Double Knitting.  I would really like to improve my Fair Isle technique and I'd like to learn the Moebius cast on.  Just recently I finished up a pair of socks using a pattern called "Squircle" and I loved the innovative, unique construction.  I have decided to out some more challenging sock patterns this year as well.

That's all for now.  Do you have knitting goals for 2019?  I'd love to hear about them.

Squircle

SQUIRCLE

Squircle is a free sock pattern on Raverly.  This is a pattern I've been wanting to tackle for years and I am so glad I finally got around to it. These socks are a blast to make and the fit is perfect for me!

You might not see that these socks are too out of the ordinary but sock knitters will understand the difference when I describe the heel.  Ordinarily when you knit a socks with a heel flap, you work the heel flap over half the number of stitches in the sock.  For example:  if your sock is 60 stitches around, then you work the heel flap over 30 stitches.  In the Squircle socks, you knit a heel flap that is super narrow (only six stitches wide).  Also, when you knit the traditional heel flap, you knit about 24 to 32 rows (depending upon how deep you'd like your heel to be).  In the Squircle socks, you knit about 66 rows.  As a result, you end up with a really narrow and really long heel flap when you knit the Squircle socks. Then you pick up and knit stitches up and down the heel flap.  Because you have so many stitches in the heel gusset area, you need to use two circular needles instead of just using double pointed needles.

For my socks I used Regia PAIRfect yarn.  This yarn is not designed for the Squircle pattern so I had to cut the yarn in a few places so that the stripes in the PAIRfect sock yarn were in the position they are to show off the unusual heel and gusset in the design.  If you look at examples of completed Squircle socks on Ravelry, you'll see that folks use all sorts of self-striping yarns to show off the heel and gusset design.  The Squircle pattern is also a great pattern to use up small amounts of leftover sock yarn.

I am working on a pair of socks with beads now. They are super short socks so I should have them done in a jiffy!

Happy Knitting and Happy New Year!