stitch your library 2017: vol. 1

I'm back with my never-ending goal of actually knitting/crocheting/stitching/making the thousands upon thousands of patterns I've accumulated between my library of crafting books, my subscriptions to knitting magazines, and the endless lure of free patterns on Ravelry and the web. This year I'm giving myself the added challenge of going "head-to-toe" with this project. Can I make enough projects from my library that I cover myself head-to-toe. Should be fun! I'm starting things off with a worsted weight sweater. I need to knit sweaters this year. I have way too many sweater quantities of yarn languishing in my stash! And this project is using yarn from 2011, from the last time I attended Stitches South. Deep stash. :-D 

Hopefully the first of many sweaters knit this year! Going simple-- @annbuddknits top-down raglan, using @missbabsyarns yowza in scarlet ibis. #knittersofinstagram #wipwednesday #yarnalong #wip

A photo posted by snapdragoncrafts (@snapdragon__crafts) on Jan 11, 2017 at 10:44am PST

knit your library, vol. 20

I'm on an ornament roll! Snowflakes are something I've coveted and hoped to make for years now ... but it wasn't until this year that I finally believed my crochet skills were up to the task. This is my first snowflake ever, from the book 100 Snowflakes to Crochet. I like it, but I think it would look better in the recommended crochet thread (this is worsted weight acrylic yarn).

knit your library, vol. 19

So this is a project that has been hibernating since January ... because I realized my gauge was totally off. Looking at the pattern now, nine months later, I realized I was using a needle size that was larger than the pattern called for. Well, duh! So I ripped back and started over with the right needles. And then I got to the thumb gusset and couldn't deny that the whole thing was way too big. So I ripped again. Fingers crossed that third time will be the charm! I have to admit, I have high hopes for this pattern because I really like this idea as a way to show off the oodles of self-striping sock yarn I have and LOVE. And I've had this pattern in my library since Christmas last year, so it's high time I actually made it. It's a little big, but the pattern calls for a liner so I think it'll work out.

Pattern: Michele's Mittens

And in other, "picking up ancient WIPs" news, I decided to pick up this bad boy again. This is a simple, striped garter stitch cowl knit on the diagonal. I love patterns like this, and thought it would be a cute way to knit up some of my Malabrigo stash. This project I started in August, but had been intending to make since last winter. So not as bad as the mittens in terms of time on the needles, lol!

what I knit this summer

Is it horrible to be catching up on summer knitting blogging in October?? Sigh. Between work, normal fall mayhem, and counting thousands of Box Tops as the "Box Tops Lady" for my daughter's school, the poor blog-o has been severely neglected. But it would be a crime to not show you this finished project--this is my finished Pure Joy shawl that I worked on while we trekked to Ship Island in July.  It didn't take long to finish--this one I wrapped up on August 2nd and was seriously a JOY to knit. I would make hundreds of these just for the joy of knitting them, but the only thing holding me back is my failure to really wear shawls/scarves. I'm more of a cowl kinda girl. 

Also finished this summer, but never blogged:

My first ever pair of toe-up socks with a heel flap! (definitely my new favorite way to knit socks! and a Love Your Library project too! double win!)

And a fun pair of fingerless gloves that I'll need to wait at least another three months to wear, lol.

knit your library, vol. 18 (roly poly edition)

Wait ... what is that thing ... it can't be .... it's a roly poly! A humongous, bigger than your head, pillow-sized roly poly! LOL. This is hands down the wackiest thing I have ever knitted. My daughter loves roly polies--and when we spotted the pattern for one in Huge and Huggable Mochimochi, it had  to be knit!

Pattern: Roland by Anna Hrachovec (link to my Ravelry project page)
Needles: size 8s
Yarn: "shell" is Queensland Collection Whitsunday held triple stranded, and the pink is Cascade 220 held doubled
Mods: My gauge for the shell and the stomach was not the same, so I did have to unravel and fudge it to make it work. I basically added more garter stitch rows in between yarn over rows. And using yarn doubled and tripled meant that this project ate up 822 yards from my stash (yes!).

knit your library, vol. 17

Recognize this hat? Oh, it's only the seventh time I've knit a lowbrow hat. I can't help it--fast and fun to knit, fits perfect, and looks cute. This time I'm making an MSU Bulldawg appropriate version, which I'm honestly shocked that it's taken me this long to do! The yarn is Tanis Fiber Arts Green Label Aran weight in the garnet colorway (shhh! it's close enough to maroon!).

And to go with it, a maroon lacy cowl (this is pictured doubled up and drapes to my belly button when it's a single loop). The pattern, Palessie, was gifted to me for my birthday in 2014. Sad but true. Only two years to get to this one! It's the perfect pattern for one skein of sock yarn though, so I see a lot of these in my future! It's simple, brainless knitting too. And the lace when doubled will be plenty of warmth for our mild Mississippi winters. Win, win, and win.

Pattern: Palessie cowl
Yarn: Araucania Ranco Sock (unknown colorway), used one skein.
Needles: size 5
Mods: Only used K2tog throughout, instead of alternating with SSK sections. Just to make it even more of a brainless knit! 

knit your library, vol. 16

I always seem to feel like I'm floundering after finishing something so big as the big 'ol girly blanket I finished last week ... so bear with my knitting ADD as I recover! I made a tape measure cover using 14 yards of a Blue Moon Fiber Arts Socks That Rock mini skein one of my swapping friends sent me ... 

 Burned through two more skeins of baby yarn I dislike for 8 more newborn caps that will be donated to my local hospital ...

 Started a roly poly for my daughter out of this book ...

Oh yeah, and finished one sock and started the second!

knit your library, vol. 15

Another big 'ol blanket is DONE! For this one, the grand total was 3,758 yards out of stash. I'm counting this one as a bigger success than the first, since it allowed me to move some really old boucle and eyelash yarns out of my stash! Wooohoooooo! And as you can see, it is plenty big for a twin sized bed.

And in other "knit my library" project news, I have made my first-ever toe-up heel flap!?!?! I did not even know it was possible to knit socks this way. I may never knit top-down socks ever again ...

knit your library, vol. 14

My second granny square blanket is groooooowing! It's so close to being done--by the end of the month for sure! I estimate this one will use about 3,800 yards. I'm even more excited about it, since it's eating up some boucle' and eyelash yarn that I have had sitting around for years.

 

And in between crocheting, another pair of socks got started. I'm excited to try a toe-up version of the heel flap (instead of the short row heel most toe-up socks use) from my Wendy Johnson box of patterns I got last summer. There's a TON of patterns in this box I'd like to try, honestly!

knit your library, vol. 13

It's done! It's done! The big 'ol bulldawg blanket I made my husband for our anniversary is done! It went really fast once I concentrated on it. I'm super happy since that's 4,000 yards out of my stash and he loves it!

The "marled" section is one strand of maroon and one strand of cream held together. I actually already had the yarn balled up that way from ripping apart this flop of a project and realized that it would be a major tangly mess to separate the two strands back apart. I'm glad I added the marled section now--it breaks it up and makes things more interesting.

And like every successful blanket project I've done before, I got super excited and immediately pulled out yarn to make another one. This one will be super girly and for my daughter. It's already doubled in size since I took this picture--that's how fast these go!

love your library, vol. 12

In my latest efforts to keep crafting from my library of books and patterns, I've gone crochet crazy again using a pattern from the book Granny Square Love that I've had in my library for over a year (at least) now. Technically, this is a cushion pattern. But I'm using it to make a blanket that's one of those around-the-world keep adding a row to the edge until it's big enough type patterns. And I'm totally hooked (hehehe, couldn't resist!). I'm using two strands of worsted weight (Red Heart yarns, since this will need to be washable) held together with the same M/N hook I used for my daughter's mermaid blanket. It's going sooo fast, which is super satisfying since it'll be over 4,000 yards out of the stash if I use everything I purchased for this project! Weeee!

And to get back into my charity making spirit, I started making chunkeanies again! One done, and one started ...

Which is good, since I have this entire bin of charity project yarn I plan to knit through this summer!  (you know me, summer = stashdown!)

Love Your Library, vol. 11

 

My nurmilintu is finished! And in a few moments, it will be blocking! I can't wait to see what this looks like blocked!! With any luck, I'll have photos of this beauty fully blocked by the end of the week.

And I'm embarking on a different type of "love your library" project--a needlepoint project from my big book of Needlecrafts! (that's the book I've been working all the crochet blanket edgings out of too). This will also hit my new year's goal of making a new pillow cushion cover for my couch in the front living room. You can see I'm using mostly blues, plus the green that matches the couch. It's fun and fast so far!

knit your library, vol. 10

In between fits of gardening I have been knitting, believe it or not! I'm in one of those all-over-the-place phases. I want to start ALL.THE.THINGS and then I don't feel like I'm productive since I'm not finishing anything. I'm trucking along on Nurmilintu (a freebie I downloaded August 2014! I swear, sometimes my pattern library is a black hole that sucks time away ... I could have sworn that this pattern came out last year, not two years ago ...). I'm using up a skein of Lorna's Laces Solemate in the Harrison colorway. This is destined to be a gift for an online yarnie friend, but I'm curious to see if I like this shape. I normally gravitate towards cowls, not asymmetrical neck things so we'll see. If I like it this would be a great way to blast through some "special" single skeins of sock yarn I have.

And evidence of my casting on insanity, another pair of socks. As if I didn't have enough socks-in-progress already ...

And long overdue photos of my finished Campside Cardigan! I love how this turned out! This is really heavily modified--I used the top-down set-in sleeve pattern from my Ann Budd book of top-down sweater patterns. I did this because the pattern as designed was one of those skimpy front raglan designs. And I know from experience that these won't stay on my shoulders and I'll constantly be pulling them back on and constantly bugging me. So I had way more stitches than the pattern calls for--I picked the lace pattern that most closely matched my stitch count, and everything worked out. I also cheated and did my own thing in terms of switching lace charts. I liked the first two charts best, so I knit them further than the pattern called for. The yarn is Miss Babs Wowsa in the Violaceous colorway--I used exactly two skeins, or 1,092 yards (more details on my Ravelry page). Normally I am bored with single color yarns, but the vibrancy of this purple was enough to keep me interested!

knit your library, vol. 9

While I've been absent, this big pile of purple got finished! That's my campside cardigan, which is a mash-up of a top-down set-in sleeve pattern from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Top-Down Sweater patterns and Alicia Plummer's Campside Cardi pattern. 1,092 yards of yummy Miss Babs Wowza out of my stash! It's blocking now and I can't wait to wear it once it dries! What's even more exciting to me is that this only used two of my three skeins of Wowza ... which means I can make an awesome cowl from the remaining skein ... AND I know I can make myself a sweater from the two skeins of Wowza I have in my stash! YES! 

In other "knit from my library" news, I made two hats from an oldie-but-goodie pattern for me: luuk. Above is a last minute newborn baby gift version, and below is a kiddo version for my little boy. This project makes me exceptionally happy since it is one of my "follow through" projects for this year. I specifically bought this yarn with this intention for it. And I followed through in under a year's time! (sadly that's fast for me ...) This is Wisdom Yarns "Poems" in the Amazon colorway. I had two skeins in my stash, and the two hats used 1.5 of them. I have enough yarn leftover for another baby version to add to my gifting pile! What's fun is seeing the difference in the two hats--the newborn version was small enough to not reach the brighter limes/yellows in the skein, so it has a completely different feel than the big kid version!

And despite the humongous number of WIPs I have lying around, I have been feeling the urge to try making an oversized shawl of some sort lately. So I'm back to my varjo-shadow pattern that I started ages ago but frogged since I didn't like my original color choices. This is a gorgeous SpinningFates pink colorway called "gillyflower" and I'll be pairing it with a speckled yarn I've been hoarding for far too long. 

 

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.