An Autumn Knits Round-Up

After a summer spent doing pretty much anything other than knitting (besides from finishing a few pairs of socks), the urge to play with all the yarn came back strong this Fall. I made fun stuff to put around the house, whipped up gifts, and finished up the odd lingering project. It was cathartic to get my fingers on the needles again and go stash diving to find the perfect yarn.

I’m pretty sure it was the Spice and Clove Pumpkin pattern that brought back my knitting drive. This pattern showed up on my radar last year, but I didn’t get the chance to knit it at the time. This year I dove into the stash and pulled out yarn to make all sorts of fun pumpkins. There are tiny pumpkins made from doubled up sock yarn and big, squishy pumpkins made with bulky yarn. It’s a pretty versatile pattern that way.

Some of these have stayed with me and taken up residence on random shelves all over the house. Kiddo likes totting them around so they get up to some off the wall adventures. The rest headed off to new homes as fun gourd surprises.

While I’ve mostly gotten knitting pumpkins out of my system for the time being, I’m thinking about making one more using this pattern. All the shaping is done with increases and decreases instead of wrapping with yarn. I don’t think I’ll be able to whip one up before Thanksgiving, but it’ll still be a fun project in December.

This adorable little witch duo (well, duos), is another pattern I came across last year, but didn’t get around to knitting until September and October. The green witch and cat were a gift. Then I couldn’t resist knitting a sunflower yellow witch for my own shelves. The pattern, Little Witch Charm Set by Susan B. Anderson, is a little fiddly at times and I made a few mods to avoid picking up as many stitches.

I couldn’t get gauge with the yarn I needed to use, so I used said fingering weight yarn doubled up. It was a great way to use up my sock yarn leftovers and gave the witches a nice size boost. Still small and cute, but not mini. Here’s a full list of all my mods on the Ravelry project page.

And a sweater for the kiddo! This is the In Threes sweater that I started and finished knitting in 2019. The problem was that is got packed up on a high shelf while I tackled other major projects. The lingering doubt of whether or not it would still fit said kiddo this winter finally made me pull it down. Then it took me a few more weeks to sew on three buttons. The good news is that the sweater fits and looks like it will still fit next winter. Whew! The even better news is that kiddo still likes the sweater and asks to wear it. That’s a win in my book any day.

What’s next on the knit list? The Red Scarf Project scarf is still on the needles, but I couldn’t resist casting on a for a sweater. A sweater for me, no less. Christmas gift knitting is also staring me in the face. There’s a whole pile of yarn waiting for me to wind it up. I’ve got plans for cute unicorns, color work mitts, socks, and ornaments. Here’s hoping I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew.

Around Here - November 2019

There’s been lots of small great things happening around here. Let’s catch up!

Last weekend, I packed up the family and headed up to the Boulder Handweavers Guild and Sale. It’s always interesting walking around and seeing what all the different fiber artists in the area are getting up too. There were knitted items of all kinds from tiny baby booties to giant shawls. There were beautiful woven clothes, hand dyed silk scarves, felted bowls, as well as yarn and fiber. I also saw some really cool crocheted t-shirt yarn baskets which made me want to give crochet another try.

We spotted a beautiful handwoven rag rug that had to come home with us too. The rug is cushy to stand on, a good size, and has great colors. Said rug is also the first thing we bought for our new place! I’m looking forward to having more room to spread out, and plenty of space for the kiddo to play.

Much progress has been made on kiddo’s Fall sweater. It’s taken a back seat the last few days to other overdue projects, but the sweater has still come a long way in the past week. The yoke is finished, the sleeves are bound off, and now I’m working through the body. It’s been great autopilot knitting to pick up at random moments throughout the day. Still looking for buttons though.

Remember the hat I was trying to make in the likeness of the Trinidad and Tobago flag? I finally figured out how to make the stripes slope in the correct direction! Charting out the rewrites really helped. Now I’m past the spot where I stopped on the first attempt and quickly moving towards the grafting. Who knew I’d be so excited about kitchener stitch.

I decided to take on a project for a friend that sounded so fun I couldn’t resist. That grey and dark grey yarn above? That’s the yarn I’m using, and I don’t think I’ve even been so excited to knit with so much grey. More details on that later.

Sweater Weather

The world outside my windows is covered in falling snow for the third day in a row. All that white stuff is really stacking up so what better thing to do than hunker down inside and cast on for a sweater?

This bright orange number is for the Kiddo and she picked out the color herself when we went to Yarn Fest 2019. The festival was a few months ago, but I can tell she still likes the color because she would not stop staring at it while I knit through breakfast. Maybe the color means she’ll like wearing it more than any of the hats I’ve made her? A mom can dream.

The pattern is In Threes: A Baby Cardigan which has only been in my queue since 2011. I’ve been waiting for the right time to knit it which is apparently right now. The sweater’s simplicity and size make for quick knitting and very noticeable progress. It is also really nice to have something easy to knit during the day when I’m keeping an eye on an inquisitive toddler.

The other reason I started this sweater was because I finally wrote up my Christmas knitting plans. There, I wrote the dreaded words: Christmas knitting. Oh, there they are again. Though, in my case, this end of year dash should probably just be called “Stuff I Want Done Before 2020”. Hmm, not as catchy. There is some holiday knitting on said list, but it’s mostly a bunch of unfinished projects like 70% knit socks or long lingering hats. This sweater made the list because I wanted to knit Kiddo a Fall sweater. Looks like it might be a Winter sweater now though. Guess I better keep knitting.

A Finished Sweater for the Mini

#The100DayProject has been a great kick in the pants for my knitting. Not only am I knitting at night again, instead of scrolling through my phone, I’m actually finishing stuff. My first finished item is a Marigold Fields sweater for the Mini. I know baby/kid sweaters can be ridiculously fast knits, but the push to do something every day kept me from tucking this away to work on later. I got through the hard work of swatching, and figuring out mods for gauge, and actually starting which was the hardest thing of all. Working on the sweater, even as the yoke rows seemed to get longer and longer and longer, was the easy part.

This is only the second sweater that I’ve ever knit for the kiddo. I’ve got plans for a few others to make over the summer and fall, but this is the second which makes it special. The first sweater I finished before she was born, and it’s a special sweater too. That sweater was about what I wanted to make, and I planned it just so from the yarn to the pattern. It’s a warm, cosy welcome to the family even if she did have to grow into it. Now, well, she’s just about grown out of it. This second sweater isn’t just about what I want to make because now I have an idea of what she likes. And she likes the color yellow. So, I can make a sweater more for her and less about me. I’m looking forward to seeing what she wants in the years to come.

I couldn’t resist dressing up her in the sweater the other day after I’d wove in the ends. While she didn’t immediately wriggle out of it, she did put the sweater through its paces. I’m hoping she’ll like it better now that it has buttons. I haven’t actually put it on her since sewing on the buttons, because I made the next size up. So, it’s a bit big which is so much better than a bit small. She’ll have the rest of spring and the whole summer to grow into it. Probably won’t take that long though.

Finishing the sweater turned out to be more interesting and collaborative than usual. I did the usual first step of dropping it in some cool water with a squirt of Eucalan, and gave it 20 minutes to soak. Then I laid it out to dry on a mat on my studio floor. That only lasted until the Mini crawled in and got a good grab of it. To prevent any more drastic adjustments to the shape, I put the whole blocking rig on top of my printer. The problem was that the sweater was much bigger and stretched out than it had been before going in the bath. Plus, it was still rather damp even after sitting out all night and most of the morning. Something had to change. The yarn, Knit Picks Comfy, is a blend of cotton and acrylic. I’ve had good luck putting similar blends in the dryer before so I chucked this one in the dryer too. On low, of course. The dryer did the trick! The yarn plumped up, the stitches got neater, and the sweater went back to its original size. That’s a win on all fronts. Once I had some free time that night, I sewed on the buttons. The cuteness was complete.

What am I going to do for #The100DayProject now that this sweater is finished and documented? Next on the list is sewing buttons on a pair of slippers so I can finally wear them…next fall. Then I need to get started on a pair of fingerless mitts, including rewriting the pattern for scratch, to match a lace hat. My plans after that are still nebulous, but I’ve got some time to figure it out.

The Specs:

Pattern: Marigold Fields by Taiga Hilliard

Yarn: 251 yds Knit Picks Comfy - Semolina

Needles: US 8 (5mm) and US 9 (5.5mm)

Dates: April 13 - 30, 2019

Full modifications and notes listed on Ravelry

Yarn, Knitting, and #The100DayProject

#The100DayProject, a project dedicated to 100 days of whatever you choose, kicked off earlier this month, and I decided to join last minute. I’ve tackled this project in previous years with the goals of daily art, and spinning. For this year’s project, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to commit 100 days to. All I knew was that I was so bored of starring at my phone when I plopped on the couch at the end of the day after putting the Mini to bed. I wanted to do something or make something instead of endlessly scrolling through whatever or playing another game for the Nth time. So there was my project. My goal for 100 days was to put down my phone and make something. It’s been an interesting and fun change of pace. I haven’t done a great job of posting my daily progress online (mainly because it’s already after 11PM when I’m done), but I have put down my phone to make tasty desserts, write tutorials, take photos, pick out buttons, and knit lots.

#The100DayProject might be bringing back my knitting mojo. I returned to a pair of floundering socks for the Bearded One. I finished a pair of slippers, and now just need to sew on 12 buttons. The main project that I’ve devoted the past few days to is a new sweater for the Mini. She’s almost outgrown the first sweater I made her, and I want something she can wear through the Summer and into Fall. All of my perusing through Ravelry for baby stuff while I was still pregnant left me with lots of options to choose from. I picked out three sweaters and first up is Marigold Fields by Taiga Hilliard I had the yarn and the pattern already, but the 100 Day Project gave me the kick I needed to actually start. Casting on turned out to be harder than expected because I couldn’t get a fabric I liked at the required gauge. So I came back the next day to figure out how to make the yarn and pattern work together.

And here we are now. The lace yoke is finished. The arm holes are bound off. My mods went off without a hitch. Now I’m zooming through the body with 3” left before the bottom edge. I’m making the 2T size which will probably be a bit big for her right now, but should hopefully fit her for a long time.

I’m glad I committed to #The100DayProject after taking a break from it last year. It’s helping me feel like my old self and remember what I like so much about yarn. Anyone else tackling the Project with me?