Category: Stashbust 2014

Knitables · Stashbust 2014

Start and Finish

Amanda1 Comment

Here’s where we start a lot of things on top of finishing a lot of things.

Started thing 1: A pair of boot socks for Boyfriend. 

Shepherd’s Wool in Christmas Red and Garnet. Have I mentioned how much I hate that red never photographs well? I also took this picture while waiting for the worlds longest and slowest train ever. Boyfriend didn’t approve, but my car was in PARK and I finished three rows in the time it took for the train to finally pass through. I viewed it as a win. 

I started these socks on the 4th while hanging out with boyfriends’ family and got this far by the time lunch and such were done. It’s a 60-stitch sock on size 2 needles. The yarn is a little light, but I’m hopeful that it’ll bloom nicely when washed. I have to finish these by the time we leave for LaCrosse for another family event where we’ll be camping all weekend. Boot socks are necessary for a healthy foot. He only has one pair of socks and will definitely need another pair for the weekend.

Thing Finished 1: Line Break shawl. 

Shelridge Farms SoftTouch Heather Fingering weight in colorway Sand. This is from the Cone and I haven’t weighed it yet for total yardage used.

I cannot wait for the weather to cool off enough for me to wear this shawl. It is so beautiful it hurts a little and it blocked amazingly. I even used blocking wires for this one! It’s so light and airy and it’ll be perfect for the wedding we’re attending in August.  Did I mention that I was so obsessed with this that I finished it in 8 days?

Thing Continued 1: Not-So-Color-Tipped-Scarf

I don’t have an image of this but I was working on it for a while on Friday night. It’s slowly coming along and I’m about 2/3 done with the second skein of Tahki Donegal Tweed I got for my birthday. I’ll get partially through the third skein before finishing it off.

Thing finished 2: The Puerperium Cardigan

Yarn is Handspun Fairy Yarn Mother in colorway BlueBell. It bled like a MOFO when I washed it. Buttons TBD.

I finished this guy on Thursday and he laid in the living room for a good long while to block properly. He’s now sitting on the button box waiting for buttons. I haven’t decided on the color of the buttons yet.

Thing started 2: The Baleshare cardigan

Yarn: Fishermen’s Wool. Size 9 needles.

We got a new KnitScene at the store this past week and I instantly purchased it because there were about 6 sweaters I wanted to knit and will definitely BE knitting these this season. This one struck me immediately and I started figuring out how much yardage I’d need. Boyfriend took my measurements and I fell between the second-to-largest and the largest, so I went with the largest in the thoughts that a bit of ease would make it really cushy and comfy so I set to finding an economical way to get 2500 yards of yarn in my possession.

A trip to Joann Fabrics on Sunday morning and I had five skeins of Fishermen’s Wool and I figured out my gauge. Size 9 needles and I was set. I cast on and started the ribbing pattern and by bedtime, I was half a row away from finishing the ribbing pattern. From now on it’s just the stockinette until it measures a bajillion inches.

I’m short by about 75 yards per the pattern, but I have a great skein of handspun I inherited from Lynn at  knit-night in a deep chocolate brown (just slightly darker than what I’m working with) so I’ll be able to add that to the sleeves and it’ll look intentional. I hope to have this sweater done by the time the season changes and it cools down enough to wear it immediately when it’s done!

Thing continued 2: The Sincere cowl

Sincere Sheep in Vitamin C and Deepest Desire. Size 4 needles. Knits in orange. Purls in purple.

This has been languishing in my stash for I don’t even know how long. I purchased the yarn back in 2012 in Seattle, started the cowl in march or something and have been very slowly working on it since then. Keywords being VERY and SLOWLY.

The skeins are 330 yards each and I’m doing it in the dumbest way possible. GARTERSTITCH. Really? What was I thinking?

So that’s what I’ve been doing lately. Nothing much else to report other than I guess it’s time to start looking for a new contract job. My current one is ending soon, sadly. Such is the life of a contractor!

 

Knitables · Stashbust 2014

Stash-Buster

AmandaLeave a comment

That’s totally what I’ve become this year.

So here’s a recap of the last few weeks:

I went to Stitch n Pitch with the arm warmers and I finished one while bored one evening. It helped that the lap blanket was too gargantuan to feasibly travel with it. When my fingers turned black yet again I  knit a swatch and washed it dilligently in hot, cold and lukewarm water. I was amazed when the little blighter hadn’t bled…at all. Not a single drop of color bled out of the yarn. What the hell?

Yarn is Desert Vista Visu in colorway “Dia Del Los Muertos” but I think it was supposed to be a test batch as the colors aren’t nearly as vibrant as the replacement skein Jenny got. I’m OK with it anyway.

In any case, I’m back to the beginning of the color repeat and am going to start the second tube eventually. And by eventually, I mean not for a while.

I went to a Brewer’s game with a ton of people from my gym and knit a sock from the nosebleed seats. I finished it right as Ryan Braun hit a homerun to help us win the game. It was pretty great.

Yarn is Happy Fuzzy Yarn Superwash Corriedale in colorway “Rain”

The Gemini pullover is done and has been worn once to work but it needs to be put away for a couple months until it’s cool enough to warrant wearing it. The wool and alpaca make it a really tough sell on super hot days.

“Gemini” Tank from Knitty Spring/Summer 2012. Knit in The Fiber Company Acadia in color “Blue Heron”

Finally, I have finished the blanket.

Tosh Chunky in colorway “Oak” and Mission Falls 1828 in Navy Blue.

Final dimensions of this beast is 50X60″ and it’s amazing. I’m almost tempted to keep it and knit something else for the babe, but I’m going to the shower soon and have other things to knit instead.

I’ve also made a vow to never knit with MadelineTosh yarns ever again. This blanket took forever to knit and was, predominantly, knit with yarn that had been made into sweaters, washed at least twice and never blocked properly. The color bled in the water every single time I washed it and it’s so infuriating that, after nearly 10 washes, the yarn is still losing color. A note is definitely going in the bag to put a color catcher in with this blanket whenever it gets washed and dried so the olive green color doesn’t stain everything. What a disappointment. I also have an issue with how it blocks. I gently stretched the blanket to stop it from rippling and to stop the edging from curling, but I don’t think there’s any merit in blocking Tosh yarns because they don’t block. Ever. They never keep their shape even if you let it dry in that shape for DAYS at a time. I believe my stash is Tosh free aside from a skein of sock yarn, but I will never buy Madelinetosh yarns ever again. It’s simply not worth the hassle.

Once the blanket was done, I dove into the stash and went searching for stuff to knit and came up with my large cone of Shelridge Yarns SoftTouch Heathers in colorway Sand. I then rediscovered the Line Break shawl from Veera Valimaki while at the store on Sunday and started knitting. 

I started this little guy on Monday night, got to the 90-ish stitch mark, realized my stitch markers had moved and had to start over. This is about how far I got after a couple innings of the Tuesday baseball game and now I’m about two rows away from finishing the whole damn thing. Each row takes about a half hour to knit and, while I had hopes to finish it last night, the eyelets are just not as big as I thought they’d be so I keep making the executive decision to do ‘one more row’ which ends up being a few more rows, blah blah blah. So I’ll probably never be done with this thing. No I’m kidding, it’s happening tonight.

I’m also working on a puerperium cardigan and a baby sophisticate cardigan for the same baby the blanket is for. I hope to have them done by the shower…we shall see!

So, despite the heat, I’ve gotten a ton done this month. Let’s hope the rest of the season goes that way too!

 

 

Knitables · Patterns · Stashbust 2014

Catching Up

AmandaLeave a comment

Another month- not a whole lot of knitting to account for.

I’ve been working on some different things. Mostly for other people but I’m finally getting into the knitting for myself.

I’ve finally found the time to start working on a commission I got two weeks ago from one of the amazing ladies at the store. She’s working on a Latte baby jacket, but because of a shoulder injury, can’t knit with the large needles and yarn so she asked me to finish the button band for her. I agreed, and work and life have finally slowed down enough to allow me the time to do it.

I’ve started a Gemini pullover out of The Fiber Company Acadia. It’s a really sweet tank with lace on both shoulders and one side, so it can be worn with the lace to the front or the back. It’s knitting up so fast and I can’t wait to wear it. I got six skeins of the Acadia in the hopes to make a different sweater, but landed on this one, knowing I could make the body a little longer if I wanted to, or I can lengthen the sleeves a bit. We’ll see. So far it just looks like a large mass of teal yarn.

I took a skein of self-striping yarn to Stitch n Pitch this past week and started some fingerless mitts. I got the skein from Jenny after she discovered five knots in the fiber. She emailed the dyer who promptly told her to throw the skein away and wait for the next one to come in the mail. She offered it to me and I gladly took it! The only problem is the colors bleed quite a bit so I’m worried when the time comes to wash the mitts. They might bleed all over the place, but a color catcher should fix that right up. The yarn is Desert Vista in colorway Dia de los Muertos. Even though there’s pink, I don’t mind it. The colors are vibrant and exuberant and will brighten up my fall wardrobe nicely.

Oh and I got a bobble head. Isn’t he cute?!

Things are still plugging away on the lap blanket for a special someone. I won’t go into details since I’m not sure if she reads this blog. All I will say is the Tosh chunky is done and I’m onto the Mission Falls Merino which is accenting the tosh really well.

I’ve been doing a lot of spring cleaning lately and it’s included consolidating and organizing my stash. I’ve managed to make some good headway into my stashbusting endeavor, so my minor purchases of the Acadia and the Michigan yarns haven’t impacted my stash all that much. I came to realize that I haven’t purchased anything more than 20 skeins all year. It’s been 6 months and I’ve only purchased six skeins of Acadia, five of Shepherds wool and a couple skeins of Tosh sport and some Malabrigo Rios. I’ve been doing really well!

Once the lap blanket for someone is done, I’m planning on starting a stash-throw, which will include a lot of wools that I haven’t managed to find a home for but will be able to ferret away into a striped blanket for the back of my couch. This will take me a while, but I know I’m going to love it.

I also want to start an OWLS sweater out of my stashed Cascade Eco. I have two skeins of beautiful blue yarn that have been a blanket already but I tore it out in favor of something else. I’m really looking forward to seeing what the sweater will turn into.

Another thing? I’ve put blogging on my schedule. No more of this once a month crap.