April Stats

This month I knit 2 dresses and made a lot of progress on two shawls.

I knit up 4.6 balls of yarn/ 1,427 yards. Very similar numbers to last month, so good progress. I hope I can keep up with breaking 1,000 yards every month.

WIP Wednesday

 I started a pair of self striping socks. I love how bright these colors are. This is just what I need to get back into knitting socks again.

I started my THIRD Darwinia dress. This one will be for DD # 2, who I know will wear it, as she's not yet old enough to be particular about her clothing. I love this blue and how much depth it has.

I'm still working on my Glenallen shawl. Although progress has slowed down quite a bit as the rows are starting to get long. And this one requires concentration and focusing on a chart.

Hobbes' Dress

As promised in my last post, I had an idea to tip the scales in my favor of DD # 1 liking the new dress I knit for her.  I had almost an entire skein of yarn leftover from after knitting DD # 1's Darwinia. I was updating projects into Rav when I realized the designer designs matching doll dresses with many of her children's clothing patterns. It's designed to fit American Girls dolls.

I myself have never been into dolls and my girls aren't either. However, DD # 1 loves Hobbes. So I did something I never in a million years imagined I would do.

I knit a dress for Hobbes. Ha! I have to say I really enjoyed knitting this project. And I think the dress looks great on him.

Here are the details:

Project: Dolly Darwinia designed by Georgie Hallam - Baby Doll dress version

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh DK in Rose

Started on: April 23rd

Finished on: April 24th

Darwinia

I've never had the desire to knit baby clothing. I enjoyed knitting Milo so much and there seems to be many cleverly constructed seamless garments out there, I'm afraid I may be a bit addicted. This one is Darwinia which is also designed by Georgie Hallam. I find her instructions to be clear and easy to follow.

Here are the details of my knit:

Pattern: Darwinia designed by Georgie Hallam - Baby Doll dress version

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh DK in Rose

Started on: April 17th

Finished on: April 22nd

This is my first completed item from basket dash! I knit the pattern as written. It was another very fast knit, which can explain one of the reasons I'm now addicted to knitting baby clothing. This was a risky knit as it was the first time I've ever knit a garment for DD # 1. I have no idea if she wear it or even will like it.

I tried to tip the scales in favor of her liking the dress by finding the perfect shade of girly pink in a luxurious yarn. This actually meant I went out to buy yarn, because I didn't have exactly what I wanted in my stash. I also did one other thing which I will share in my next post.

WIP Wednesday

I've been monogamously knitting away on my Darwinia dress. It's almost finished. I can't wait to see how it blocks out. I've used close to two balls of yarn so far.

Basket Dash

I decided to participate in the basket dash that is being hosted in the stash knit down group on rav. It started on April 15th, but I figure better late then never. The goal is to fill a basket with yarn and WIPs and try to finish knitting everything in your basket by June 30th.

Here's my basket.

Here's what's inside. Maybe because we are full on into Spring now, everything I'm knitting is light colored and cheery looking. 

Let's take a closer look. Of course the first two projects I'm working on are the ones that haven't been started. In fact, I haven't even finished winding yarn for them. I plan on knitting two Darwinia dresses for my two girls. I don't think I'll need to use up all three balls of yarn for each dress. I think it will take two and a half balls for the bigger dress and maybe a little over two balls of yarn for the smaller dress. 

After that, I plan on focusing on my "G" shawl for the Lace A-Z challenge. This is the Glenallen shawl. Yes, that's a mega ball of yarn. The majority of it will go into this shawl. I think I'll have just a little bit leftover after this shawl is done. 

When the "G" shawl is done, I will work on my "H" shawl for the Lace A-Z challenge. This is the Holbrook shawl. I've gotten the boring part of the shawl done, all that's left is the knitted on edging. I think it may take an entire ball of yarn to finish the edging, you know, that skein of yarn that I have not wound yet. Knitted on edgings are deceptive, it feels so close to being finished, yet they take a long time to knit and they use up a lot more yarn then you would expect.

Last but not least, I have to finish Cluaranach. The first half is finished and you can see I folded it up in the photo. I still have the second half to knit, which will take up almost the entire ball of yarn. 

If I finish everything I'll add more yarn and projects. I'm not even sure if I can realistically finish all these five items. I remain very optimistic. I really am looking forward to working on all these projects and even more so to finishing them.

Lace Knitting

It's been awhile since my last knitting update.

Glenallen - Yes, I did knit a "G"shawl. I intended my Golden Orchids shawl, which I knit in December of last year to be my "G" in my Lace A-Z project. Well, it didn't turn out exactly as I wanted it. I felt the fingering weight yarn gave the shawl a heavier look, which I didn't like as much. Blah. Anyway, I'm being particular, and because it didn't turn out exactly how I wanted, I'm deciding to knit a new "G" shawl.

I just started Glenallen Shawl. I'm using my leftover yarn from my "B" shawl, Blooming Stitch shawl. It's BMFA in Laci in Rose Quartz. I like the way this one is turning out so far.

Cluaranach - I've been plugging away at this shawl. It doesn't look like much, because I just started the second half, which is exactly the same as the first half. I hope I can finish both of these lace pieces this month.

FO Friday: Algiers Shawl

Pattern: Algiers designed by Kirsten Kapur

Yarn: Neeley's Knits Gradients in Blue Crush

Needles: US Size 6

Started on: March 17th

Finished on: April 2nd

Comments: I knit this as written except for one thing. I didn't read carefully and on the wrong side, I purled the center stitch on every row. It's my very own design feature. Heh. I think it looks fine and it's just more intuitive for me to purl that stitch anyway.

I used up the last of my Neeley's Knits gradients. It's hard for me to believe I can use the last of anything in my stash, since it's so vast, but alas it's true. I really do love this shawl dearly, and am going to keep it for myself.