hitting "pause"

This month has gone by like a whirlwind! The one advantage of posting only once a week is that I can visually see these projects grow week-by-week! As you can see above, I finished the blue section which means .... drumroll ... I'm in my LAST section of the blanket! Once I finish the two skeins of gray homespun (held double with the orange) this one will be DONE. And my chevron cowl is working up quickly too! As much as I want to finish all my WIPs, I'm going to have to hit "pause" and shift focus for a bit. Do you remember the six azalea hats I knit in August for a local group called Project HELP that assists homeless/temporarily displaced children in my local school district?  My knitting guild has committed to knitting hats and other accessories for them this year, which means it's high time I got serious. There are currently 73 children being assisted by the program, and approximately 20 hats completed. So I'm declaring October my own personal hat marathon. How many hats can I make in one month??? We shall see ....


a little faster now

Like clockwork, the minute I complain about something here it seems to resolve itself! I still feel slow as molasses, but my progress on the garter squish blanket is really picking up speed now. After I finish this blue-black stripe I will be in the homestretch, with only one last orange-gray "stripe" to go!

And the battle to finish other long-languishing works-in-progress continues. I've re-started my second chains sock and it's going quickly too. This pair of socks would have been finished ages ago if I hadn't accidentally goofed and made the "chains" cable in the wrong direction. These socks have sat for at least five months waiting to be frogged and fixed.

Lastly, you know I can't resist starting a new project, right? Right? Ha! I decided to frog last week's Montague Street cowl. I just wasn't in love with it. And ultimately it was intended to be a birthday present for my sister, so I changed course and cast on for this zig zag cowl for her instead. The pattern is a freebie designed for self-striping Mochi yarn, so I'm doing the work and striping two colors of Madelinetosh tosh chunky (smokestack and hollyhock). I had given her a hat made in the hollyhock colorway last year, so now she'll have a matching set. It's going fast! Aran weight yarn plus size 9 needles and only 61 stitches to work across = SPEEDY. I'm really curious to see how long the cowl will end up using two skeins. I'm already envisioning more of these with my large stash of tosh chunky!

Today I'm linking up with Tammy's Stitch-Along Wednesday, Ginny for Yarn Along, and Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Love Your Library, vol. 25


The Leyburn socks are DONE! They fit perfectly, and I adore this yarn. Pink, purple, and orange--all my favorite colors combined! This pattern is seriously the best I've found for dealing with crazy variegated yarn in a fun way. I'm already envisioning some fingerless mittens using this stitch pattern!

Pattern: Leyburn socks a freebie by MintyFresh (link to my Rav project page)
Yarn: Your Mom Knits (colorway: Girls Just Want To Have Fun)
Needles: Size 1 Addi Sock Rockets
Mods: Increased until I reached 62 stitches.Didn’t increase for leg. Was lazy and didn’t shift stitches, was happy with the two stitch “gap” in the pattern running up both sides of the leg where the needles change. You don't even really notice it.




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slow going

Fall is soooo busy. So I find myself feeling like I'm not moving forward on my projects, but I have to remind myself that I am--just slowly. As you can see, I've picked my garter squish blanket back up again. I've just started the second ball of gray Homespun--once it's finished I'll move on to the next color section: blue! Right now I've knit 3/6 skeins of gray homespun, 3/6 skeins of orange Hobby Lobby Purl Bee yarn and 2/4 skeins of black Heartland. So really this project is moving along!

Over the weekend I decided to frog the brioche cowl that was one of my many WIPs I'm determined to finish or frog, and immediately used the yarn to cast on a Montague Street cowl. It's mitered squares, basically. It's knitting up super fast but I find myself not so much in love with it. I'm just not a fan of the big bumpy decrease ridge that mitering a square creates. Has anyone blocked a mitered square project before? Does blocking smooth that out? Since I feel so ambivalent about this project I may be ripping yet again, we'll see ... 


Today I'm linking up with Tammy's Stitch-Along Wednesday, Ginny for Yarn Along, and Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On.

Love Your Library, vol. 24



The best part of toe-up socks (other than the obvious: no grafting!) is that after I finish the heel, the leg portion just flies. Love that! My Leyburn socks are thisclose to being done! I'm on the last lattice quilt pattern repeat, then just the ribbing and a stretchy bind off. Weee! Once these are finished, I'll probably cast on some hat patterns from my library to work on the big charity hat knitting project I mentioned last week. That'll be fun! May your September be a productive one!



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2021 year in review

  Who would have thought that the second year of a pandemic would be worst than the first, in terms of crafting mojo? Not I. But this chart ...