sunday's stitches

sunday's stitches: a moment to slow down and savor whatever your stitching on

 

 

 

This looks like progress, but don't be fooled ... I was so excited to get sunday's stitches going again that I foolishly opened this kit on New Year's Eve. After sundown. Bad light is an enemy of needlepoint, I tell you! I incorrectly identified the color for this section, and now need to rip back. Thankfully I caught it before I'd completed all the leaves in this color! Hopefully I'll have forward progress to show next Sunday!

WIP Wednesday: Swedish Fish Mitts

When I look at these mittens, I can't help but sing the "I love fishes, 'cuz they're so delicious" song ... These are SpillyJane's Swedish Fish mittens. A pattern that I have had in my Ravelry queue since May 2010, have owned the yarn for at least a year now, owned the pattern for approximately six months now, and finally cast on for this month. It's probably good I waited, as my stranded knitting skills are much much better now than they were in 2010. I'm using Knit Picks Chroma self-striping yarn, to make the colorwork much simpler. Finishing these mittens is my love your library challenge for this month! Did you challenge yourself to use your library and knit from stash more in 2014? Come join like-minded folks over in the 12 in 2014 group in Ravelry!

koolhaas

 

My first finished object of 2014! I'm excited because it helps me make progress toward several of my knitting resolutions for this year! First, this is one of the many WIPs I was hoping to finish this year. I'm not completely certain, but I'm pretty sure I cast on for this hat sometime during the summer of 2012 .... that's right, this project is coming up on two years old this year. I had completed the ribbing and rounds 1-5 of the pattern, so maybe 2ish inches were done when I picked this up last Thursday. Since I didn't use a round marker, I got a little confused as to where to start crossing the cables for the first few rounds but after that it became pretty intuitive. It was surprisingly fast to knit, despite the fact that I did use a cable needle on this one (you cable/move stitches every other row, basically). I finished this up on Saturday! And I loooove it and will definitely be making more. This would be a great gift pattern, I think. So this used up almost one skein of my Malabrigo stash, used a pattern I've owned in my library forever, and moves a WIP to FO territory! That's all three of my 2014 resolutions, folks! Can you tell I'm over the moon?

Pattern: Koolhaas by Jared Flood (link to my Ravelry project page)

Yarn:  Malabrigo Merino Worsted (lost the tag, not sure on specific colorway; used about .75 of the skein)

Needles: Size 8 Knit Picks Harmony's

Modifications: None!  

Perfect timing to wear this while braving our below normal freezing temps!

2013 year in review, continued

1.  no-waste subway tile Christmas quilt
2.  triangle robots in space quilt 
3. krazy kat quilt

I would be remiss if I didn't reflect on all the other crafting I completed in 2013, which primarily consisted of quilting! I finished three quilts this year--two twin quilts and one full size quilt. And I love all of them! I'm getting more accurate with my cutting and piecing, so the quality of these quilts is much improved over past quilts I've completed.

The other project that I made a lot of progress on was an old love: needlepoint! I finally finished a horse needlepoint project I started as a teenager with my Sunday's Stitches project. All that's left is turning the finished work into a pillow (or framing it). I'm definitely going to resurrect my Sunday's Stitches weekly post in 2014--the commitment of posting once a week gave me the accountability I need to make slow but steady progress on my needlepoint projects! I have a bright and cheerful pillow kit that I'm itching to get starting on next--bright pinks, yellows, orange, turquoise flowers. It will match perfectly with the Moda jelly rolls I've acquired to make a new quilt for my bed in 2014! I also plan to continue my Christmas quilt tradition, and try the quilt-as-you-go technique while making a Christmas quilt for my son's big-boy bed. If I really go crazy, I may even try my hand at making some clothes for my daughter. But we'll see about that! 

2013 knitting resolution round-up

So, how well did I do this year?

My 2013 crafting resolutions were to:

•  Goal #1: Learn a new knitting technique (I'm thinking brioche stitch, or mosaic knitting!)... Major success with this goal! I really spread my knitting wings and dabbled in several new techniques this year:

 

Starting at the top, and proceeding in a clockwise fashion, I knit my first shawl and actually blocked something for the first time ever with my Storm Fir Shawl (still excited about that one!!), tried "illusion" knitting for the first time with my candy corn illusion cloth (definitely going to make more illusion knits, so easy and fun!), tried duplicate stitch for the first time when making the mouth/teeth on my minion, fell in love with brioche knitting, knit big bobbles for the first time, learned and fell in love with magic loop while making these ballet legwarmers, and knit applied i-cord for the first time this year (LOVE this way to finish an edge!). These were all really fun, gratifying projects so I was doubly happy to learn something new.

• Goal #2: Try dyeing yarn (I have undyed wool, I have the dyes, I have a pot ready to designate as my "dye pot" ... I just need to do it!). DONE! Successfully attempted dyeing yarn with food coloring and Easter egg dyes. Loved it, and need to do some more dyeing!
•  Goal #3: Finish at least one sweater in 2013. Do children's sweaters count? Because I knit four kid's sweaters this year ... sadly, my intention was to motivate myself to finish a long-languishing WIP with this resolution and that still didn't happen. I'm down to one more sleeve and finishing, so one step closer though!
• Goal #4: Make one project a month out of my current library of craft books, magazines, and knitting patterns. Well, I certainly did not quite manage one project each month this year from my current library, but my personal Love Your Library challenge did get me knitting more from my current stash of books and magazines than ever before! These are all the projects I finished from magazines or books currently in my library:

1. Jewel Vest from KnitSimple magazine

2. Montague Bulky Lace Vest from New England Knits

3. Shawl Collar Sweater from The Expectant Knitter

4. Mock Cable Wristers from 60 Quick Knits

5. Bobbles & Cables Cap from 60 Quick Knits

6. Crosshatch Lace Socks from More Sensational Knitted Socks

7. Easter Egg Dyed yarn with the guidance of Teach Yourself Visually Hand-Dyeing and Hand-Dyeing Yarn and Fleece.

Sadly, these seven projects are a major victory for me! I also "count" projects that require purchasing the pattern that I actually knit this year, as I have a a problem of purchasing patterns and just not quite following through on my intentions to make them, ahem. If I count those projects, then I easily exceeded my goal of 12 projects knit from my library. But these seven are from older library items, so these are the ones that really deserve some celebration! 

So what are my goals for 2014? I thought I was getting simple in 2013, but my knitting goals in 2014 are even simpler:

• Goal #1: Knit down my stash. 
• Goal #2: Finish, frog, or otherwise eliminate my current WIPs.
• Goal #3: Continue my Love Your Library project!

In doing my annual year-end cleaning I discovered numerous languishing WIPs that I really really really want to finish, and got excited to see again. And as I continued to shove more and more yarn acquisitions into my "yarn dresser" (I have a chest of drawers in my guest bedroom that is solely devoted to storing yarn), I realized that my stash was exceeding my storage capacity. As in, if I shove one more skein into this drawer, something's going to explode capacity. A point which was further driven home when I purchased a couple of those humongous 30 gallon plastic storage tubs and promptly filled both of them. To the very top. And then some. My stash seriously exploded this year, and (excitingly!) I acquired some really pretty, awesome, good stuff (MadTosh, anyone? Plucky Knitter? Oh yeah ...). All stuff that I really really really want to knit with, but somehow I keep. buying. more. So that's got to stop this year. That really is my biggest goal, knitting my stash down to a level I'm comfortable with. Which, let's face it, will still be an amount suitable for stocking a small yarn shop, but as long as I feel good that's all I care about! Heh! Frankly, the easiest way for me to put a good dent in my stash is to actually knit up the sweater quantities of yarn I've been acquiring ... but I'm afraid that will never happen if I specifically put that out there as a resolution (look how far that got me in 2013!). So we'll see how that goes ... I recently have acquired some really exciting knitting books, so continuing my Love Your Library challenge will help ensure I have some accountability in following through on knitting out of them!

What are your knitting resolutions for 2014?

2013 knitting year in review

 

(pictured clockwise, starting in the upper left-hand corner)

1. Jewel Vest

2. Cross-hatch Lace Socks

3. Telemark Sweater

4. Garter Stitch Mitts

5. Azalea Hat (my own free pattern!)

6. Bobbles & Cables Cap

 

 

 7. Mock CableWristers

8. Hitchhiker

9. Shawl Collar Sweater

10. Another Azalea Hat

11. Luuk

12. Lace Heart Bookmark

 

 13. Minion!

14. Brioche Cowl

15. Little Spare Time Pullover

16. Candy Corn Illusion Cloth

17. Montague Bulky Lace Vest

18. Police Box Mitts

 

 19. Storm Fir Shawl

20. Earthen

21. Ballet Legwarmers

22. Ballet Wrap Sweater

23. Mini Maddox

24. Short Row Stockinette Sphere

25. Blue Streak Cowl

(not pictured: an additional two wash cloths, two charity scarves, and a water bottle cover)

I don't know about you, but it's hard to believe that another year has passed. And man, it's been another productive one! Lots of small projects (not surprising, given my propensity for instant gratification knitting!), which helped me increase my total number of projects completed when compared to last year, but did NOT surpass last year's total yards knit numbers.  As you can see, 2013 was the year of the hat and the kid sweater! But my favorite projects had to be the minion and all the bulky weight lace ...

 

 

What were your favorite finished projects of 2013? Next up, I will revisit the knitting resolutions I made last January ... did I fulfill them?

merry christmas!

Wishing you a very merry Christmas and some happy, relaxed knitting post gift-giving mania! When I get a chance, I'll be working on my Vanilla Latte socks (freebie pattern!) in some awesome String Theory Colorworks self-striping yarn. When I purchased this yarn, I was totally seeing funky watermelons, but given the season it now looks like non-traditional Christmas yarn! Either way, I'm loving how fast this is knitting up! This is my first pair of socks using the magic loop method, and I think I may have finally stumbled upon a method of knitting socks that I love. I've turned the heel and am racing to finish this sock now. Merry Christmas!

a manly hat

My last-minute giftmas knitting is complete! I love how this turned out ... hopefully so will the recipient!

Pattern: Earthen by Alicia Plummer (link to my Ravelry project page)
Needles: Size 5 and 7 Addi's
Yarn: Knit Picks Swish Tonal (approximately .75 of a skein, "Thunderhead" colorway)
Modifications: None! Fun, fast knit!

Hope all your last-minute holiday preparations are going smoothly!

last minute giftmas knits

 

Decided last weekend to make a hat as a last-minute Christmas gift ... good thing hats knit up fast! This is Earthen by Alicia Plummer, a nice, manly guys' hat pattern. I'm using some Knit Picks Swish Tonal (Thunderhead), and it's knitting up nice and squishy and soft!

What are you finishing up for Christmas this year? Wishing you speedy needles as Christmas nears!

storm fir shawl

 

It's done! My first attempt at lace that forced me to actually block something for the first time in my life ... and I love it! Now I completely and totally get the magic of blocking lace. Prior to blocking, this shawl was a lumpy, bumpy mess. After blocking = flat, beautiful stitches! LOVE! I'm hooked. This won't be my last lace ... I'm already scoping out more bulky weight lace patterns to add to my endless queue! I will definitely knit this pattern again. So fun!

Pattern: Storm Fir Shawl (link to my Ravelry project page)

Needles: Size 10.5 Addi's

Yarn: Knit Picks Full Circle (4 skeins of the Latte colorway)

Modifications: None! I blocked it by soaking the shawl in water, then getting as much water out as possible by sandwiching it between towels, and then stretching and pinning onto the spare bedroom mattress. It took the entire length of a queen-size mattress, and then some!

bulky lace

The storm fir shawl is nearly done! It doesn't look like much in this picture, but I'm really happy with how this project is turning out. Would definitely be done by now if it weren't for the interruptions of Thanksgiving and work! Should definitely be able to get this blocking by the weekend ...