It's been a while

I'm alive!  I survived Covid and have been back to work for several weeks now.  I still tire easily, I can't taste or smell anything, and thankfully my vision is better but still not 100%.  It's such a strange disease.  Three other people in the house hold got it but thankfully Sarah, who was playing nurse maid to me, did not.  She stayed healthy through it all.  Miracle of miracles because she can catch colds from comercials about cold medicines.  😛

Thankfully my too-tired-to-knit symptoms didn't last long and I was able to spend the last couple of days of quarantine knitting pretty much non-stop.  Non-stop except for those afternoon naps and early bedtimes I needed.

I started a beaded infinity scarf last month.  There's no pattern, I just cast on a whole bunch of stitches and started knitting.  I didn't even count the stitches, just cast on enough to bunch up on a 24 inch needle.  Figured it would be plenty.  Yes, I am definitely a lazy knitter.  I knit five or six rows then do a row of randomly placed beads.  I'm using Palette from Knit Picks.  If this turns out as well as I hope it will, I plan to knit several of them for my Etsy shop.  It would be a great way to use up some of the thousands of Palette skeins and beads I have.  

I finished the granny square afghan I've been working on for what feels like forever.  Remember  me talking about knitting market bags to sell?  That turned out to be a huge NO!  I did not enjoy knitting them and it took me forever to make one.  Probably because I didn't enjoy the knitting.  Anyway, I used all, well, almost all, the yarn I'd bought to make market bags to crochet the granny square blanket.  I started with two small squares sewn together so that it would make a rectangle but I should have started with three.  It still looks like a square when laid out on the bed.  But it's colorful and I used up a bunch of yarn so I'm happy.  

Despite my continual yarn purchases, my goal in life these days is to use up all my yarn.  Okay, not all.  That would never happen.  I couldn't use it all if I knit 24/7 for the next 25 years.  I guess the real goal is to use up a noticable amount.  To empty a few of the giant Rubbermaid containers my yarn is stored in.  Heck, I'd be happy if I just used up a few of the shoe box sized boxes of yarn.

And, despite covid brain fog, I designed a slip stitch hat pattern that I can not stop knitting.  I'm totally obsessed.  That's hat number five.  And, umm, there may be another giant box of yarn on it's way to me that will allow me to knit 42 more hats.  42!  I definitely have a problem!  I keep telling myself what I have is an Etsy shop, but truthfully, I think I probably just have a problem.  I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever receive the yarn though.  According to the tracking, my box has been sitting in a post office in New Jersey for over 10 days now.  The tracking did finally update last night to show it will be delivered later next week.  We'll see.

And, thankfully I was feeling better on July 4th.  It was my last day of quarantine and I sat far, far away from the rest of the family while they shot off fireworks.  I'm so happy Hayden loves fireworks and isn't afraid of them.  She also loves thunder storms.  Absolutely LOVES them!  Her eyes get huge when she sees the lightening and she thinks the thunder, even the sudden, loud cracking kind, is hillarious.  She just laughs and laughs.  

And that is pretty much a recap of my life for the last 22 days.

I hope you are all well and don't catch this new covid strain.  It seems to be insanely contagious.  

Stay healthy and keep knitting!

The gift that keeps on giving

I'm still not sure what's going to happen here with the blog.  The "bad" domain company's Contact Us button doesn't even work and supposedly my old domain name expires Jan. 14th but they keep sending me letters that it will be cut off on the 11th.   And since I vaguely remember having problems getting the original domain set up to coordinate the blog, Etsy and all my social media places, I'm afraid to try to change the domain by myself without my son's help.  And he's at work for 16 hours a day, every day for the next week.  How dare he have a real job (2 actually) that takes his attention when I need him!  😜

Anyway.... This post may or may not show up and it may or may not be the last for a while.  Time will tell.

And since I'm great at ignoring the things I don't want to think about/consider/do..., let's talk knitting.

One of my Christmas gifts was an Advent yarn pack and a pattern for a cowl or scarf.  I am SO excited over this gift.  I've always wanted an Advent yarn thing but I've never been able to justify the cost.  

Well, my friend, Dawne, made up the yarn packs from her stash and gifted them to the Winterfest group.  Winterfest being the time consuming machine that it was, we all decided to celebrate Yarn Advent in January.  And me being behind schedule as usual, started mine on January 4th.

Each packet of yarn is made up of 30 yards and is wrapped in a cotton quilting fabric square.  They look like hard Christmas candies in the bowl.  😊  And you know what that means, right?  When I finish knitting the advent yarn, I will have a whole new Advent quilting project to do.  It's the gift that keeps on giving!

Now, if someone would only gift me some quilting skills.  And an iron.  😛  I can't find my iron.  How do you loose an iron?  Okay, maybe the fact that I haven't touched the iron in over three years may have something to do with it.

So for the yarn portion, I chose the cowl design. The actual pattern is the Manic Panic Cowl which is such an awesome name!  The stitch pattern is the linen stitch and when I saw that, I almost tossed the whole thing in the trash.  No, not really.  Well, almost.  

See, years and years ago I attempted a linen stitch scarf... with DISASTEROUS results.  I wasn't a very experienced knitter back then and didn't know how to 'read' my knitting and well, take my word for it - it was ugly! 

I was not looking forward to another linen stitch attempt.  But, I was coming off the high of a very successful Winterfest and was still feeling a bit God-like and decided to give the stitch another try.

I'm so glad I did!  I'm also very glad I picked the cowl/infinity scarf rather than the flat scarf.  By knitting in the round, every row is the same and it's super simple and I'm loving the outcome.  Absolutely loving it!

I'm also loving the colors.  The yarns are very bright and Eastery/springy/summery.  They are not my normal scarf/winter knits colors but that's not a bad thing.  After all, who says I have to wear dark, dull colors in winter?  Besides, I'm really enjoying knitting the bright, sunny colors as I sit huddled under my blanket, looking out the window at the cold, gray, winter scenery.

And now, I'm off to knit 30 yards of majenta.

Fable Fur

 I really should be medicated, if not institutionalized.

It's July in Virginia and I've just knit a stack of Fable Fur cowls that measures almost twelve inches high!

And now I'm knitting matching Fable Fur headbands.

Now, don't get me wrong.  Fable Fur from Knit Picks is a delight to work with.  It's incredibly soft and it doesn't shed like mohair.  But it's furry.  And it's July in Virginia which means it's hot and humid HOT and HUMID outside.  It's even hot and humid inside because the a/c just can't keep up with the 10,000% humidity.  The Brazillion rainforest has nothing on a Virginia summer!

If you are interested in finding out more about Fable Fur, visit Knit Picks' website. They have some more beautiful colors that aren't pictured above and I notice they have another sale going on.  

Something else I'm excited to discover about Knit Picks is that they seem to have changed their shipping procedures recently.  For years and years, it seemed my orders always went out on either a Monday or a Friday and arrived on my doorstep about five days later.  Then a year or so ago, it started taking a lifetime to receive my orders.  Sometimes it would take as long as three weeks and frequently, the packaging would be damaged.  Like, smashed with holes in the boxes, damaged.  I stopped purchasing from them as often.  But thankfully, my last few orders have arrived much quicker and in excellent shape.  In fact, my last order was faster than an Amazon order!  I ordered it on a Thursday night, it shipped the next day and was at my post office on Saturday! It would have been on my doorstep on Saturday but our Saturday mailman is a little lazy.  He won't get out of the car to put the package on the porch so he takes it back to the post office and you have to go pick it up.

Okay, advertising aside, Fable Fur really is awesome to work with.  It knits up quickly, only takes one skein to knit a cowl and I can get two, maybe three headbands out of one skien.  I haven't actually tried that third headband yet.  I'm knitting all these cowls and headbands for my Etsy shop and for the craft vendor booth at Winterfest.  I'm so focused on building up my inventory, I haven't wanted to waste time attempting a third headband.  The only thing worse than knitting with faux fur in July in Virginia is running out of yarn and having to frog faux fur in July in Virginia.

And yes, I could dig out my yarn scale and figure out if there's enough for that third headband but that would involve going into my unairconditioned storage area.  And that's probably not going to happen!

Knitting with birds

So, last summer, there was a carpenter bee (I have always called them bumble bees and have just recently found out they are two separate beings) that would come say hello to me every day when I was sitting on the deck.  We got so used to each other that he would land on me and crawl around and I was mostly okay with it.  He even took a nap in my knitting bag a few times.  

This summer, I don't have a bee friend.  Instead, I have goldfinch and hummingbird friends.

Yeah, he's very pixilated.  Sorry.  We are friends, but it's a new friendship.  He comes to see me each morning but he doesn't trust me enough yet to allow me to get a decent photo.

I can't even begin to get a photo of the hummingbird.  Every afternoon he flys up about two feet from my face, hovers just long enough for me to realize what's happening, and then he's gone again.  

I am really going to miss the wildlife here at this house when we move.  And no, we don't know so when that will be but it will be soon.  Well, soon-ish.  We are feverishly working to clear out all the junk from the house and fixing the things that need to be fixed so we can put it on the market.  And once that happens, our search to find a house to buy will turn into panic mode house hunting.  I can't say I'm looking forward to the experience. 

Thankfully, I have my knitting to keep my mind occupied.

And boy do I have knitting!  I finished the granny square baby blanket.  It's being modeled on the new deck railing.  I finished the blanket much sooner than expected.  I sort of went into knitting panic mode because...

I thought I'd mentioned that I was going to be a craft vendor at Winterfest this year but I don't see a post about it so I'm not sure if I never wrote it or if I deleted it some how or if it's there and I'm just blind.  Who knows.  Who cares.  The point is, I'm going to be a craft vendor at Winterfest this year.  I am excited and I am in TOTAL panic mode.  I've never participated in such a big event before and I'm slightly terrified.  But also very excited.  And very, very busy knitting for it.

Currently, I'm focused on knitting faux fur cowls and headbands.  I should have chosen something else to focus on during the summer months but I already had most of the yarn I needed and the projects knit up fast.  I wanted to quickly feel like I was making progress.  ...So, I'm slogging through knitting with faux fur in July and August.

I'll be sharing the Winterfest booth with several other artists and to get some practice working together, we participated in Ashland, Va's 4th Friday celebration last week.  Even though we didn't sign up in time to be advertised, we still had a decent amount of foot traffic and sales.  

In fact, 4th Friday was so much fun, we've decided to participate each month leading up to Winterfest.  If you are local, come check us out.  We have a nice, varied selection of items for sale because we have a jeweler, a seamstress, a paper artist, an all round crafter and my knitting.  There's something for everyone and it's never too early to start your holiday shopping!

Meanwhile, I have a few thousand items I need to go knit. 

Three on Thursday - Quick Knits for Valentines

Thank you all for the wonderfully positive knitting and puzzle mojo you sent my way.  After reading your comments, I quickly finished the puzzle and pulled out a box of yarn and started a new project.  I'll show you the new shawl tomorrow but for now, I wanted to give back and share a little Valentine's knitting mojo with you.  So, for today's Three on Thursday, we have three quick to knit Valentines projects.

First up, and probably most difficult of the three, Valentine Plaids Hats from Cassandra May.  I just may have to knit all three of these for Hayden.  She's growing like a weed though so I better hurry!  The patterns are designed for newborn up to toddler size.

Or how about a cowl for the grown-ups?  Sweet Valentine Cowl, designed by Ambah O'Brien, is written for two sizes - a long and a short version.  I really like this one because I don't think I'd really notice the hearts if the cowl wasn't knit in traditional Valentines' colors.  Honestly, and no offense to the designer, I see lily pad leaves rather than hearts.  But that's probably because I've been reading a lot of fish pond/aquarium books lately and they are on my mind.  Whether they are intended to be hearts or lily pads, I like this design.

And, last but not least, a Valentines Dishcloth from Cecilia Fameli.  This pattern would be great for those of you (and most likely me) who have procrastinated until the 13th and are in a sudden Valentines Day panic.  Although it's technically a dishcloth, it could easily be used as a special wash cloth for the little one in your life.  Or knit it in manly colors for that boy child who's living on his own and may need a little motivation to wash his dishes. 

Thanks again for sending such an outpouring of knitting mojo my way.  You wouldn't believe how much it helped and I hope one of these patterns returns the favor.  I also hope you'll join me over at Carole's for today's Three on Thursday link up.

Bodice Ripper

I do love a good, trashy, bodice ripper romance novel.

Specially if there's yarn involved.

Okay, so I saw that on Facebook the other day and thought it was funny.

Sadly, James is not in my world.  This Minnetonka cowl is though.  I have the feeling it is going to be a Huge disappointment.  How can such a beautiful skein knit up into such a dreary and boring piece of fabric?  I wanted so desperately to doctor the photo up to make the colors look better but the truth is the truth.  And to really be truthful, I was outdoors and the sun was beginning to set and so the light was a little funny.  In all honesty, the real life look is even more drab.  The poor thing looks like Army brown camo that has been washed and heavily bleached about 18 gazillion times.

And the big question is, do I keep knitting and hand it over Christmas morning and say, "Too bad if you think it's ugly.  You chose the yarn."  Or do I show it to her now and ruin the surprise?  Or do I frog the whole thing and say, "Ha ha, you're not getting a knitted gift after all."

Decisions, decisions.

I sure wish James was here to help me decide.

Moving On

Okay, I'm going to try to make this super quick and short.  Zeta's remnants are blowing through today.  We've gotten a little over two inches of rain so far (I know - not much for a hurricane  but it's a lot considering all the other rain we've had,) the wind has already blown down several fairly large tree limbs and the power is blinking.  But one of my goals for October was to not miss a blog post so...  Here goes.

Shoot!  I just realized I failed to take a photo of the second finished stocking.  You'll just have to take my word for it.  I finished it.  And I finished a pair of Christmassy beaded socks for Hayden.

Wow!  Are you seeing what I'm seeing?  A big giant blur?  Something must be wrong with my phone camera/computer.  The photos look nice and clear on my phone but when they transfer to Google/my computer, they get all pixelated.  Or something. I'm lacking in camera knowledge!  

Anyway, since I got the two stockings and Christmas socks for Hayden done, I decided to move on to Christmas knitting instead of having a strong Socktober finish.  The big blur is Minnetonka and I'm knitting it with some unlabeled Malabrigo I bought several years ago at Sarah's request.  Back then, the yarn was supposed to turn into socks for her so I feel like it's okay to be using it to knit a cowl here at the end of Socktober.  

So, NaKniSweMo starts on Sunday, November 1st.  First of all, can you believe November is on Sunday?  Where did October go??  Anyway, will you be participating?  I hope to.  I have a pattern picked out and the yarn has been wound and is sitting at the ready.  But while I'm excited for NaKniSweMo (National Knit a Sweater in a Month) and I have a sweater I really want knit, I'm also beginning to panic just a bit about Christmas.  What are the chances I can get Minnetonka knit in the next 48 hours?

Well, maybe if I focused on knitting instead of eating Halloween candy.  Yeah, right.  That's not likely.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Three on Thursday

Does it feel like this past week has flown by in the blink of an eye?  Where on earth did the week go??  Seeing that I was apparently caught up in some weird time warp thing and accomplished absolutely nothing, today's Three on Thursday post is mostly a recap of last week.

Bulky 2x2 ribbed alpaca cowl

First, I finished the bulky, 2x2 ribbed alpaca cowl.  This was such a quick and easy project I know I will be knitting a few more in the future.  For this one, I held two strands of Simply Alpaca together to create the required bulky yarn.  For future projects, I'm envisioning using some of the many, many variegated, speckled or striped hand painted yarns that I keep buying single skeins of with one of the many, many skeins of solid Palette that I also keep buying.  Despite appearances and my bank balance, I really am trying to knit from my stash and this would be an excellent stash buster project.

Weekender Sweater knit with Wool of the Andes Tweed

Still on the needles is my Weekender sweater.  I've split the front and back at the armholes and am only knitting the front right now.  You'd think it would be growing in leaps and bounds with only half the stitches on the needle but....  While this past week has flown by at the speed of light, there were a lot of distractions taking place.  I'm not abandoning this sweater though.  Hopefully by next week I'll have the exact same photo to show, only I'll be knitting the back instead of the front shoulders.

Beginnings of a shawl knit with Love Ewe Farm yarn

This one is a new project.  It's going to be a shawl and I'm knitting it with my friend, Betsy's, wool.  I love that her skeins are marked with the individual sheep they came from.  That dark brown that's on the needles comes from Brandi and the white skein was provided by Sadie.  As you can see, I'm not very far into the shawl but so far, this yarn is wonderful to work with.  If you are interested, you can read all about Betsy and her farm here.  

Join me over at Carole's place for today's Three on Thursday link up.

Maybe next year

Today's post is not what I had planned.  My intention was to show you bunches and bunches of little hearts I'd knit from all that pink yarn I showed you the other day.  I was going to knit bunches and bunches of them, stuff them, then hang them on a mini Christmas tree for display.  

The problem with that idea.... I never knit a single heart.  My pattern has you casting on five stitches on dpns and knitting several rounds on those five stitches before increasing.  Knitting multiple rows of only five stitches on tiny little dpns and knowing that once I finished knitting one, I'd need to knit bunches of bunches more, and then I'd have to go dig the mini Christmas tree back out of storage to hang them on....  Well, I remembered why every single year, Every. Single. Year., I pull out that pattern and yarn and then never knit a single heart.

If I had any sense, I'd throw away that pattern book and be done with it.  But nope!  Maybe next year...

What I did knit instead was the Big Secret Baby Thing.  I finished it!  Whoop Whoop!  Once it has been given, I'll show you pictures.  Assuming I remember to take them.  Sheesh.  

I also started a K2P2 cowl knit with THE softest alpaca yarn.

2x2 cowl knit with Simply Alpaca

I had planned to knit a different cowl with this yarn but...  It's been a rough week around here and I needed something portable, mindless and heavenly to knit.  This definitely fits the bill.  

The pattern is so simple I can't believe I bothered to download it.  It's simply a matter of casting on 140 stitches with bulky yarn (or in my case, two strands of aran Simply Alpaca held together) and knit K2P2 in the round until you only have enough yarn left to do the bind-off.

Simple, simple, simple.  And it grows fast because it's bulky weight yarn.  And did I mention how soft this yarn is?  It's Heaven in a skein!  Let's just put it this way - it's so soft I don't even mind knitting an entire skein's worth of  K2P2 ribbing.  Have I mentioned ribbing is not my favorite thing to knit?  It's a little boring.  But this....  This is just glorious!  

The alpaca is so soft and light and wonderful to knit with.  Normally my hands/wrists begin to ache after only about 20 minutes of knitting with bulky yarn but this...  This I can knit on for hours with no issues at all.  There's no weight on the needles, my hands and wrists are fine, and my neck is dying for me to put it onto a bigger needle so that I can try it on.

But that's not going to happen.  In order to try it on, I'd have to stop knitting long enough to dig out a longer cord for my interchangeables.  And right now, I just don't have the time.  Like I said, it's been a rough few days and right now, besides my yarn, I also have a glass of wine and Aquaman waiting for me.   Just as soon as I press "Publish."

I may not even proof read this.  I mean.... Aquaman, i.e. Jason Momoa, my TV boyfriend is waiting.  Who would blame me?

Five Days

Not bad!  I knit a cowl, start to finish and got it on the blocking mats in five days.  Doesn't sound all That impressive but considering I knit some other stuff during that time, read a few books and lived my life...

MadiTosh Merino Light

On Sunday, December 1st, I woke up and thought that perhaps I should start on my Christmas gift knitting.  I mean, I'm only a little bit behind schedule.  No need for panic or anything.

I dug out the yarn, found a pattern to try and found a place in this house where I could set up my swift and ball winder.  That was a chore, let me tell you!  In the old house, my desk was an old dining table and the swift and ball winder simply lived clamped to opposite ends of the table.  But the desk/table didn't come with us.  The only place I could find that wasn't fancy furniture and had enough of a lip to clamp to and enough wide open space to accommodate the swift was the kitchen counters.  Yes, counters.  I had to stretch the yarn across the room with the swift on one side and the winder on the opposite, slightly too close to the fridge so that I had to stand at a really awkward angle to crank the handle.  I'm now hoping Santa brings me a table top swift. I've always thought they would take up too much space but....

Eventually I started knitting.

And I knit some more.

And yesterday I finished the cowl and even got it on the blocking mats.  As in, actually wet and pinned to the blocking mats.  Not just casually tossed on top of the pile of mats in a futile hope that it would block itself.

The yarn is Madeline Tosh Merino Light (or fingering) in the Sycamore colorway.  I absolutely loved knitting with this yarn.  Besides the yarn being dreamy soft, there was never a dull moment color-wise.    The pattern is, well I'm not sure.  If you search Ravelry, you have to search for Serenity Cowl, but the pattern printout says it's called Cashmere Cowl.  Whatever it's called, it was a fun, fast and easy knit and I will most likely knit it multiple more times.  

Three on Thursday

I'm joining Carole for Three on Thursday and I have three knitting updates for you.  My apologies in advance if the photos are blurry.  I can't tell.  At the moment, everything in my world is blurry.  That never-ending, cold-like virus I've had is still hanging on and now it's gone into my eye.  My eye and eyelashes are full of antibiotic ointment which makes it tricky to see details.  

You'll also need to excuse the packing boxes, weird furniture placement and general disarray in every photo taken for the next month or so.  Did I mention we are moving?  Yeah, I'm still in slight denial about it.

Fable Fur Cowls

Luckily the Fable Fur cowls I've been knitting are garter stitch on giant needles.  I could practically knit them in my sleep.  Which it sort of feels like I'm doing.  The gray one on the bottom is Kuma, the middle is knit with Bjern and the top is Mishka.  Kuma is my favorite.  I feel like it looks the most like real fur.  I thought I'd prefer Bjern over Mishka but it turns out, I like Mishka better.  

And speaking of Mishka, have you seen the free teddy bear pattern Knit Picks is offering to go along with their Fable Fur yarn?  It is Adorable!  And did I mention, it's free!?!

Test knitting the Showl Cowl for Chris Knits with yarn from Forbidden Fiber Co.

Next up is the test knitting cowl I knit for Chris Knits.  I ended up making the medium size with an extra garter ridge row.  I really wanted to knit the largest version but the skein of yarn was getting smaller and smaller and I am the Queen of Denial.  Just like I'm happily denying our upcoming move, I was denying how quickly the cowl had begun to eat up yarn.  I finally calculated how much yarn each row was taking and had to face facts; I didn't have enough.

I'm hoping to get the cowl blocked over the next couple of days and show you a better photo of it next week. But even unblocked, I think it looks great!  

I can't wait for Chris to put this pattern out into the world.  I think you'll enjoy knitting it.  It's super simple to knit but you never get bored.  Even with the longer rows you don't have a chance to get bored.  You only knit a few rows of one stitch before it changes to something else.  And the lace sections are simple too.  The pattern is easily remembered, yet it changes every few rows.  Super simple, yet it keeps you on your toes.  Definitely my kind of design!

I'm so thankful Chris offered me the opportunity to knit this wonderful cowl and gifted me the yarn.  I'm hesitant to include a link to the yarn shop because I don't trust myself not to shop and did I mention we're moving soon?  I'm supposed to be getting rid of yarn, not collecting more.

The Martha Shawl

And last, my most recent project.  I'm calling it Martha.  I'd planned to knit a simple but lacy shawl design with only Sunset, the pink/yellow yarn, but I didn't like the way the yarn played with the lace.  It was a little too busy for my taste.

Long ago I knit a loooong triangular scarf from a pattern whose name started with a "B."  Sadly, the shape and the "B" are all I can remember about it.  Although I don't know the design's name, I liked the result and have knit my own made-up version numerous times since.  Each one has been knit slightly different.  

This time around, I'm knitting (Actually knitting every row.  Yay! No purling!) two rows of the not-so-solid, solid black (Carbon from Knitted Wit) and two rows of Sunset from Dying for Art (KnittersKnacks on Facebook.)  Each first row of the black is an increase row.  It couldn't be simpler.  Four rows repeated over and over and over until it's long enough and/or you run out of yarn.  If you're interested in the details, they are:

The Martha Shawl

Using 2 colors of similar weight yarn and needles to obtain a pleasing gauge,

Cast on 3 stitches
Row 1:  Using color A, K1, Kfb, K1
Row 2:  Knit across
Row 3:  Without cutting yarn, switch to color B and knit across
Row 4:  Knit across

Row 5:  With Color A, K1, Kfb, knit across
Row 6:  Knit across
Row 7:  With Color B, knit across
Row 8:  Knit across

Repeat rows 5 - 8 until you run out of yarn or reach the desired length.

I have knit a version of this in the past where I used three colors and it looked great but keeping up with the increase rows wasn't a mindless thing.  You may have noticed - I like mindless.

On The Needles

Test knitting a cowl for Chris Knits

Enjoying my morning coffee and a little outdoor knitting before I head into work this afternoon.  Trying to cram in as much knitting time as I can now because it's Halloween Haunt and the hours are long.  I won't get much knitting done over the weekend.

Three on Thursday - OTN

Today's Three on Thursday post is going to be quick and dirty.  I just so happen to have three projects currently on the needles...

Three projects currently on the needles

1.  Top left is the dish cloth styled baby blanket. I keep thinking I'm almost ready to start fading into the next color but... Sadly, the blanket is at that stage where even if you knit on it for eight hours a day for three days straight, there is no measurable increase in knitted fabric.  But one day... one day soon I hope, I'll measure it and discover it has suddenly grown six or seven inches since I last measured it fifteen minutes ago.  

The yarn I'm using is the no longer available Sock Labs Stroll from Knit Picks.  I'm quite sad to see the yarn sold out.  It's a delight to knit with.

2.  In the middle is the world's widest sock knit from Patons Kroy Sock in Rusty Stripes.  It's a simple vanilla sock and naturally I didn't do a gauge swatch.  I've knit with this yarn 1,000 times before and my notes in my knitting journal told me how many stitches and what needle size I needed.  My journal was wrong.  Very, very wrong.  

This is actually the second sock.  No SSS for me!  Anyway... For the first sock, I was several inches into it before I paid any attention and noticed that the tube I was creating for my calf was wide enough for my thigh, maybe even both thighs!  I didn't want to frog it and I'm not using top dollar hand spun/dyed yarn... so I just made a decrease row and kept on knitting.  When doing the gusset decreases (the socks are top down) I just kept decreasing until the sock was tight enough on my foot.  Okay, that's wrong.  I kept decreasing until the sock was Almost tight enough.  And I will do the same with the second sock.  And this pair will be the pair I wear when my feet and ankles swollen because I've had a long day on my feet and too much sodium.

3.  At the bottom right, we have the cowl/showl I'm test knitting for Chris Knits.  I finished the smallest size and had plenty of yarn left over so I kept on knitting.  I'm about halfway through the medium size and it looks like I still have enough yarn left to knit the largest version.  The yarn, Eucalyptus Leaves from Forbidden Fiber Co., is a delight to knit with so I'm happy to keep knitting as long as the yarn holds out. 

Oops.  I guess this post wasn't as quick and dirty as I expected it to be.  

Hope you'll join me over at Carole's for today's Three on Thursday celebration.

Current Cowl

I'm pretty psyched over here.  Chris from ChrisKnitsSews asked me to test knit her new cowl/showl pattern.  Have you ever heard the term showl?  I hadn't heard it used before I began reading about Chris's adventures designing her cowl but this week I've seen multiple people mention it.  In any event, in case you are in the dark like I was, a showl is a cross between a cowl and a shawl.  In other words, it's a cowl, but more shawl sized.  Cowl + shawl = showl.  Brilliant!

Anyway....

I'm test knitting Chris's newest showl design and it's going very well.

Current Cowl knit with Eucalyptus Leaves

The knitting is going much better than my photo taking, that's for sure!  With my work schedule, photos are either taken at 3:00 a.m. or or outdoors, in the bright, noon sun.  You're just going to have to take my word for it that the yarn I'm using is a gorgeous pale grayish green.

You can see Chris's finished version here.  Chris asked me to test knit the smallest size (there's a small, medium & large) but it looks like I'll have enough yarn so I'm going to knit the large one.  Or the medium, if the yarn doesn't hold out.  But I think it will.

Anyway, the pattern....  The smallest version is cowl sized and called Current Cowl.  The largest is definitely shawl sized and is therefore the Shoulder Showl.  The pattern isn't for sale yet but keep your eyes peeled for it.  You won't want to miss it.  I know I'll be knitting multiples.

The design is super simple to knit yet never boring.  You're constantly changing stitch patterns, yet the patterns repeat so it's easily remembered.  The cowl starts off being knit flat then gets joined in the round after a while.  By starting off flat, you get a sort of v-neck shape so that the finished showl doesn't bunch up weirdly around your neck.  I love patterns that incorporate this feature.

So yes, I'm loving knitting the cowl/showl.

And then there's the yarn.  Oh! My! Goodness!  I'm in SO much trouble!  I'm supposed to be using up/getting rid of/not buying any more yarn because we'll be moving soon and my yarn stash already requires it's own oversized moving van.  Then Chris tells me that if I test knit the pattern, she'll supply the yarn.  And she tells me to go to Forbidden Fiber Co. to pick out a skein.

Like there's a chance in Hell I could pick just one.  I think there are only two skeins on the whole website I didn't drool over.  I made Chris pick for me.  She picked Eucalyptus Leaves.

Eucalyptus Leaves Fortitude from Forbidden Yarn Co.

And I love it.  The skein I received isn't anywhere near as variegated as the photo shows, but for this project, I'm glad of it.  The yarn is by no means a solid green, but from looking at the photo I'd have expected it to be stripey or spotty.  It's not.  It's simply lovely.  It's a superwash merino, delightfully soft and has great stitch definition.  It also arrived super fast, which is always a good thing.

And did you see all the colors the yarn comes in?  I am in SO much trouble!  I should just go ahead and reserve a second moving van now.

And,

pumpkin stitch marker

The yarn came with The cutest little pumpkin stitch marker.  I just want to knit All the fall things with this little pumpkin's help.

Fable Fur

I don't normally post on Saturdays but I am SO excited about a new yarn being offered by Knit Picks, I had to make an exception.  And yes, I could have waited until my normally scheduled Tuesday post to tell you about it, but Knit Picks is offering a coupon code on their home page for a free skein when you order a set of bulky interchangeable needles.  But hurry!  The coupon code expires on Monday.

Fable Fur from Knit Picks

Fable Fur.  Oh. My. Goodness!  

When Knit Picks introduced it a week or two ago I knew I'd either love it or hate it.  Fake fur things aren't normally my thing.  The mention of it does one of two things.  It either mentally sends me to a Walmart's clearance clothing aisle or it takes me back to the '80's and all those colorful 'fun fur' scarves we knit back in the day.  Neither of which are good things.  But it's Knit Picks and I am an affiliate (I'll be up front about that) and it's their new yarn.  I should try it.  So I ordered some.

And Oh. My. Goodness!

First of all, the yarn is crazy soft.  CRAZY soft!  

Second, it's bulky and knits up super fast. SUPER fast!

I stopped by my LYS to purchase US 15 needles because I didn't own any that large.  I went from the LYS to my knitting group meeting.  I sat down and cast on the Ephemeral Cowl, a free pattern designed for Fable Fur, knit a few rows, passed the cowl around for others to feel and pet, knit a few rows, moved to another table to chat with others, knit a few rows, passed the cowl around some more, knit a few more rows... Drove home, knit a few more rows, cast off, sewed the ends together (the cowl is knit flat,) wove in my ends and...

Presto Magic!  A ready to be gifted cowl, (Or kept for myself.  After all, who are we kidding here??)  knit in under 3 1/2 hours, start to finish.  

Ephemeral Cowl knit with Fable Fur

So to answer the question, Will I love it or will I hate it?   Oh, I definitely love it.  The daughter even loves it!  And yes, I've ordered more.  

And I'm sitting here thinking, "You know, that would make a really cool blanket."  I just might have to place a third order.

And since you might be wondering.... 

This cowl was knit with the Kuma colorway on US 15 needles.

I don't normally knit with bulky yarns.  Actually, I avoid them like the plague.  Bulky yarns make my hands hurt.  But this Fable Fur didn't.  Not at all.  

As for actually knitting with the yarn, it's probably not for absolute beginners.  I couldn't see my stitches, I had to feel for them.  Just like the 'fun fur' of the '80's.  But unlike that horrible fun fur of the '80's, the stitches were easy to feel.  The yarn is bulky after all and it's easy to tell if you have your needle in a stitch unlike that awful thread like, hairy stuff of back in the day.

And yes, if you are on my Christmas gift list, you can expect to receive a posh, fur cowl this year.

On The Needles

This post contains affiliate links.

I'd planned to have the prayer shawl blocked and ready to show you today but life got in the way.  I use my dining room table for blocking and it's currently unavailable.  We're remodeling our kitchen, (repainting the cabinets and replacing the counter tops and sink) and every single thing that used to live in our kitchen is now spread out all over the dining room.

Stroll Cowl knit with Stroll Tweed from Knit Picks

So, instead of a blocked and finished shawl, I have my Stroll cowl to show.  And I'm not even doing a good job of showing it.  It's dark and stormy - again - and the light in our house is awful.  And yes, that is my mitered square blanket over my legs.  It may be 90 degrees and 4,000% humidity outside but it is Freezing inside our house.  And looking out the window at the storm clouds and wind-blown trees just makes me feel that much colder.

But it's okay to be cold.  I have yarn.

Three on Thursday - Serendipity

Note:  This post contains affiliate links.

Serendipity!  It's Three on Thursday and I have three projects on the needles.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Only three!  The Kroy blanket is finished!  More about that later, when I can stand to look at it long enough to discuss it.  For now, the blanket is off the needles and tossed in the corner.

But today..... Today, I have three projects on the needles.

Madli's Shawl

1.  Madli's shawl.  I haven't touched this one in over a month.  Luckily, I was waaaay ahead of schedule when I tucked it away to focus on other things.

Prayer Shawl

2.  The prayer shawl.  I was all gung ho for this project at first and then.... I showed it to Sue without telling her who it was for and she wasn't the least bit impressed.  I thought she'd at least gush over the color but....  I'm not sure if she A) just didn't like the color and/or feel (although it's incredibly soft) or B) simply couldn't visualize it.  Whatever the case, I lost my enthusiasm and decided to focus on finishing the ^%#$^%* Kroy blanket.  

Now that the Kroy is done, I'm back to focusing on this shawl.  And if I'm being honest, I sort of hope Sue doesn't like it.  I wouldn't mind keeping it for myself.

As for the pattern, I'm making it up as I go.  I'd been trying to decide if I wanted to knit it in solid garter with a lacy edging, or if I wanted to knit occasional *yo, k2tog* rows into it.  Problem solved.  I accidentally left out an increase row, so to solve that issue, I made up for it by doing the yarn over row without knitting two together a few times to make up for the missed increases.  Serendipity!

Knit Picks Stroll

3.  A  cowl.  I don't think I've mentioned this one here before.  I haven't even listed it on Ravelry yet.  It's another 'make it up as I go' project.  I'm knitting it with Knit Picks Stroll Tweed in stripes of Wellies Heather, Barn Door Heather and Down Heather.   My plan is to knit the Wellies (black) and Barn Door (maroon) in stockinette and add some lace or texture of some kind for the Down Heather.  The Wellies and Barn Door are both dark and much more tweedy than the Down.  I don't think patterning would show up as well on them.

As much as I'm looking forward to wearing this cowl this winter, the project is on the back burner for now.  Winter is a looong way off. 

Jeweled Cowl

Life has been pretty good lately.  

Jeweled Cowl

I never thought I'd call a trip to the dentist a 'good thing' but I took their recommendation to do no hard physical activity for a couple of days to heart.  I sat, re-binge watched True Blood and knit bead after bead onto my Jeweled Cowl until I ran low on yarn.

Jeweled Cowl

I only knit 46 rows of beads instead of the 51 stated in the pattern.  I'm happy with the depth of the cowl though so ....  But I'm not exactly happy with the circumference of it.  It needed to be an inch or two longer.  In order to twist it around my neck twice, I have to remove my eye glasses and it's like wearing a uncomfortably tight turtle neck.  At this point, I'm not sure if I'll keep it and wear it long or find some skinny, small headed person to give it to.

Another good thing -  we had some very warm, dry days last week and I was finally able to take a walk around the neighborhood.  I walked down to the pond and am happy to report that all the ice had melted and there were even mosquitoes buzzing around the water's edge.  Okay, I'm not so happy about the mosquitoes but they are a sign of spring.  I'm also happy I got the walk in when I did.  It felt 'tornado-y' and the weather quickly tanked not long after returning home.

Another sign of spring - our lone daffodil has sprouted leaves.

As for my book progress....  Well, I obviously spent more time binge watching True Blood than reading.  I'm still reading Disturb Not the Dream and I started reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.  Yeah, I'm a little slow on that one.  I'm probably the last person on the planet to read it.