knit your library, vol. 8

Last week I was in one of my favorite places ... the Smoky Mountains in Tennessee. It's becoming a family tradition to venture there for spring break. This year was unusually warm--we got sunburns and were roasting in the high 80s. Normally it's drizzly and misty and chilly this time of year!

As a transplant from the west coast I constantly crave a change in elevation, since that is something that Mississippi severely lacks ... so for me this annual trip is a taste of "home" that temporarily satisfies that craving.

 

It's also my chance to introduce the kids to one of my favorite childhood activities, hiking. And as they get bigger--camping! Eventually we'd love to take some backpacking trips on the Appalachian Trail, but for now we're satisfied hiking in a half mile or so from the where the trail intersects the viewpoint at Newfound Gap (pictured above is the view!).

And this year we took the kids on their first "real" hike, to Cataract Falls. It was 1.3 miles to the falls, so that was a 2.6 mile round-trip hike. With surprisingly less whining than I expected on the way back .... the falls were definitely worth the effort!

Of course, knitting was also happening! I made some HUGE progress on my heavily modified Campside cardi. All I have left are the sleeves and neckband! And I realized that I was using a Tennessee yarn while vacationing in Tennessee, which felt doubly appropriate. This is Miss Babs Yowza yarn (in Violaceous colorway), and she is based out of Mountain City, Tennessee.

no yarn for 90 days

Why is it that this is the one new year's resolution I can actually keep? LOL!

more belated finishes

February was a lot more productive than my blog would let on ... here's a couple of more finishes that never got posted about! Above was a quick set of placemats for my sister's birthday. These ones I didn't do a binding on to speed things up--instead I basically followed the same steps as my quilted coaster tutorial, but with the fabric cut to 16x20 inch dimensions. Then I had fun quilting them in rectangular labyrinths. I used two yards of fabric to make four placemats, and now I know it takes about half a yard to get two "sides." I think this is my new favorite way to construct them!

Does the cabling on this hat look familiar? It's the hat version of the cowl I test knitted in February! A fun and easy way to use another skein of Malabrigo from my stash!

knit your library, vol. 7

 

And .... chart one of my heavily modified Campside cardigan is done! This sweater is dominating my knitting time of late, as it's so exciting to see it grow so quickly ... and gasp ... finally follow through on my goal of knitting a sweater for myself??? 

Saturday sewing

When my dining room table has exploded, you know I'm sewing again .... this is destined to become a crazy Christmas quilt for my son. Oh, I've only had this planned in my head since I finished the Christmas quilt for my daughter three years ago. That's okay, this year's theme is following through on my intentions, and this is one of them!

crochet mania cont.

Remember the newborn baby beanies I finished at the beginning of February? Well, this weekend I finished four more after discovering ONE MORE SKEIN of the dreaded baby yarn I was so happy to use up with this project!

And in another catch-up post, I realized I never shared the Valentine's day beanie I made for my husband. It's the same pattern I used for the newborn beanies, but with one small modification: I added some rows of single crochet to break up the endless double crochet. Hubby approves and is now in his regular "running hat" rotation!

Pattern: basic beanie (link to my Rav project page)
Yarn: Malabrigo Rios, plomo colorway (used .52 skein)
Hook: size H (next time I'd go down a size, this was a little loose)
Mods: Add three rows of SC twice.

knit your library, vol. 6

 

I realized I never posted two of my February finishes for my knit your library challenge! First up, my first ever pair of tube socks. Kiddo likes them, so a second pair is already on the needles!

Pattern: Child's tube sock recipe (free!), link to my Ravelry project page
Needles: size 1.5
Yarn: Paton's Kroy Socks Stripes in Mexicala colorway
Mods: None!

And I went to an old favorite pattern of mine, for a quick finish hat for me! This is the lowbrow hat, which I knit at least six times two years ago (around this time of year, too!). The yarn is new though--Tanis Fiber Arts aran weight in the lemongrass colorway. Swooon. LOVE this!

Pattern: lowbrow hat (my Rav project page)
Needles: size 4 and size 7
Yarn: Tanis Fiber Arts aran weight, lemongrass
Mods: Nada!

After my leap year cast on craziness, the two projects that have gotten any love that qualify for the knit your library challenge are these two. I've finished the front and back set up for the top-down set-in sleeve pattern using my Ann Budd book, and now I'm ready to start using the lace charts from Campside!

 And my second pair of child's tube socks grew by an inch!

testing, testing 1 2 3

The shawl I'm test knitting for Brandy is growing rapidly! I'm in looooove too! The pattern is an easily memorized four row repeat for each color. I'm halfway done with the stripe section now!