December and End of the Year Stats

In December, I knitted up 3.5 balls of yarn/ 1,591 yards. I finished 2 shawls and 1 hat. I still need to blog about one of the shawls, but it is indeed done and blocking as we speak.

In 2015, I used up 50 balls of yarn/ 14,980 yards. I didn't quite make it to 15,000 yards, but I got close.

In total, I knitted 34 things: 13 shawls, 11 socks, 2 stoles, 2 toddler dresses, 1 dolly dress, 1 toddler vest, 1 toddler blanket, 1 scarf, 1 hat, 1 cowl.

Down the Rabbit Hole

I decided to knit rabbit stuffed animals for the girls. Although, husband commented that the primrose (yellow) one looks more like a ghost or bowling pin then a rabbit at this stage. This is my first time knitting a toy! I chose Sophie, because it's a pattern that requires no seaming and is super cute!

In case you can't tell what the photo is yet, the lilac one is just the head of the rabbit. The primrose one is the head and body. I'm enjoying working on this so far. The directions are very clearly written and easy to follow. It's a bit fiddly at times because... well, it's a stuffed animal after all and knit on DPNs... so the fiddly-ness is to be expected.

In non-rabbit related news, I contacted to the dyer of the yarn that I used for my Moon Shadows shawl, who I met through rav some years back. She was kind enough to put a ball in the mail for me. It arrived yesterday! And is a perfect match! So now I can knit the final 14 rows and then the shawl will be done!

Frosted Glass Hat

Pattern: Frosted Glass Hat designed by Elena Nodel

Yarn: Neeley's Knits DK in Frozen inspired Anna

Needles: US Size 3 and US Size 6

Started on: Dec. 23rd

Finished on: Dec. 25th

Comments/ Modifications: The only modification I made was I used size 3 needles for the brim because I didn't have size 4 needles on 16 inch circulars. Otherwise I knit the pattern as written.

This was an unplanned knit It's been cold here the past few days and I saw a friend make this hat. And I had to have one. I was surprised at how fast I could knit this considering the amount of cabling involved. This is the most cabling I've done in a long time or maybe even ever. I love the way cables look, but I tend not to knit them, because I'm so slow at cabling. I have to constantly refer to the pattern, to make sure which type of cable I'm doing and that I'm executing it correctly. Then the actual cabling take a long time too, because I have to get my cable knitting needle out and make awkward movements to make sure I don't drop stitches etc.

That being said, I still really enjoyed this knit. And I love Neeley's Knits yarns! I rarely make or wear hats, but when I have made them, usually the yarn is itchy or uncomfortable. But Neeley's Knits yarns are so soft and not itchy at all. I love wearing the hat. And even my girls love the hat and have been asking to wear it. Haha... I think I'm going to make another one soon too, since it was so fast and enjoyable.

WIP Wednesday

It's official! I'm not going to make it. I ran out of yarn on my Moon Shadows shawl with 14 very long rows left to knit. So this will sit and marinate until I can either get more yarn or find something in my stash that matches.

Meanwhile, I started a test knit! It's going slowly because it requires concentration which means I have to wait until after the girls are asleep to work on it. I'm really enjoying this one!

Not going to make it

I don't think I'm going to make it. I have 14 rows left to knit and my remaining yarn is that dot on the left. Ironically, I was only worried about running out of the main color. Then I got all confident after I breezed through it with a small ball leftover. So the Knitting Gods are punishing me for not being humble.

14 rows at 380 stitches give or take per row and that tiny ball left... It's not looking good. I'm scared to do the math, but I'll have to do it tonight, to see how much I'll be short and then decide what to do.

Wishful Knitting

Here's a quick peek at what I wish I was knitting. Haha.. All the things I plan on casting on as soon as that pesky lovely Moon Shadows shawl is done. I really do love knitting on the shawl, it's just I wish I had more hours in the day to devote to knitting or that I could just knit faster. So many things to knit, so little time.

These are in no particular order.

1) Rudolph socks - I need a mindless knitting project with me at all times.

2) Owls shawl! - This is a test knit! I have the yarn all picked out! (No photo of this one) I still need to wind the yarn into balls.

3) Sophie - A stuffed bunny - I think I'm going to try to knit more things for my girls this year. I have a few stuffies planned.

4) Honey baby - Long overdue baby blanket for DD # 2. No photo of this as I'm still waiting for the yarn I ordered to arrive.

WIP Wednesday

Still plugging away on my Moon Shadows shawl. I'm now on the last two charts. It's going slowly since the rows are so very long now. I'm really enjoying knitting on this one. I can't wait to see how it looks all blocked out.

WIP Wednesday

I started my "M" shawl for my Lace A-Z Challenge. This is Moon Shadows designed by Romi Hill. I'm using The Periwinkle Sheep Silky Single in The Rising of the Moon. I love this color so much. And the yarn is so nice to work with. I''m so smitten with this project, I just can't put it down.

Little Falls Shawl

Pattern: Little Falls Shawl

Yarn: The Periwinkle Sheep Wink Lace in Crystal Blue

Needles: US Size 6

Started on: Nov. 23rd

Finished on: Dec. 4th

Comments: I love this yarn especially the sparkly bits that twinkle. The pattern was fairly intuitive which made the knitting very fast. This is my "L" in my Lace A-Z project.

WIP Wednesday

I started the Little Falls shawl. I'm using The Periwinkle Sheep yarn in Wink Lace in Crystal Blue colorway. I love the little sparkly bits in this yarn.

This is my "L" for my Lace A - Z project.

November Stats

I finished 2 shawls in November.

In total I used up 4 balls of yarn/ 1,075 yards. Not too bad. I'm always happy to break 1,000 yards in a month.

Integral Shawl

 Pattern: Integral Shawl

Yarn: The Periwinkle Sheep Aran Merino in Champagne

Needles: US Size 8

Started on: Nov. 11th

Finished on: Nov. 25th

Comments: The pattern was difficult for me to understand how to read. It took a bit of time for me to work it out. Once I had it worked out, it was smooth sailing. The yarn was squishy and lovely to work with.

WIP Wednesday

I started my Integral shawl. I really like the way it looks. I'm using The Periwinkle Sheep yarn in Aran Merino in Champagne colorway. It took me some time to figure out how to knit this because the instructions give the first few rows and then it just says to continue in pattern. I didn't quite understand how to do that. It took me quite a bit of time and  in the end I ended up writing every line of the pattern out.

Now that the pattern is visible and I can actually see what I'm doing, it's going faster.

Follow Your Arrow

Pattern: Follow Your Arrow designed by Ysolda Teague

Yarn: The Periwinkle Sheep Single and Looking in Plum Pudding

Needles: US Size 6

Started on: Nov. 6th
Finished on: Nov. 11th

Comments: I knit clues BABBA. This was a very fun and fast knit. I think when patterns are broken up into clues and different sections, the knitting tends to go faster. I really enjoyed using this yarn. It's a soft single ply yarn. I also really love the color.

FYA Clue 3B

I finished clue 2A and 3B. Clue 2A was a slog. It was very repetitive and boring. I'm surprised I got through it as quickly as I did.

Clue 3B was super short and quick. This section was much more enjoyable to knit then Clue 2A. Only two more clues to go!

FYA Clue 1B

I started Follow Your Arrow shawl. I knit Follow Your Arrow 2 last year. I really enjoyed knitting it, so I decided to knit the 1st Follow Your Arrow shawl. This is the shawl where there are 5 clues and each clue has a choice of A or B. The nice thing is now that this shawl has been out for a few years, I can see all the options and choose which one I like best.

For Clue 1, I chose option B. I'm using The Periwinkle Sheep yarn in Single and Looking in the colorway Plum Pudding. This yarn reminds me a lot of Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light. I'm really enjoying working with it.

Kimani Shawl

Pattern: Kimani designed by Dee O'Keefe

Yarn: Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light in Blue Gingham

Needles: US Size 6

Started on: Oct. 21st

Finished on: Nov. 1st

Comments: This is my "K" shawl for my Lace A-Z Challenge. I really enjoyed knitting this because the pattern was easy to follow. I also used one of my favorite yarns, Madelinetosh Tosh Merino Light. It's single ply, which I generally an not a huge fan of, but I like working with this yarn. It comes in beautiful colors and it feels soft and sturdy at the same time.

October Stats

This was a slow knitting month. I only finished one shawl and made little progress on a blanket.

In total I used 4 balls of yarn/ 1,116 yards.

WIP Wednesday

I started Juno Regina. I really love how this looks so far. I'm using Lorna's Laces Helen's Laces in Cranberry. It's such a beautiful red color.

Juneberry

Pattern: Juneberry designed by Brooklyn Tweed

Yarn: The Periwinkle Sheep in Merino Silk in Rose Quartz

Needles: US Size 7

Started on: October 3rd

Finished on: October 16th

Comments: This is my "J" for my Lace A-Z project. This shawl is very difficult to photograph the true color. It's a bit more pink then the picture shows.

It was a fairly quick knit. I thought this pattern had nupps in it. But after reading the pattern, I learned they were bobbles. Bobbles are much simpler, quicker, and less annoying to knit. My favorite part of the pattern to knit was the knitted on edging. I really love the way the knitted on border looks.

WIP Wednesday: On the Edge

I'm working on the edging of Juneberry. The whole thing looks like spaghetti.... I can't wait for the magic of blocking. I can already tell though, that the shawl is going to be smaller than I would like. Ah well, I was too lazy to do the math and figure out how to make it bigger...

Anyway, I'm still enjoying knitting on it. My favorite part of the shawl is the knitted on edging. I love knitted on edgings in general. I'm not quite sure why.... maybe it's the challenge of it and being able to conquer the fiddly-ness of it. Or the torture of being so close to finished yet so far... or the fascination of how much yarn gets gobbled up by the edging... Almost finished...just not quite there yet...

Sixteen

I recently picked up my Shine Memory Blanket again. I'm now up to sixteen squares finished. This is great mindless knitting.

Seeing Double

 I started  Juneberry in Madtosh Pashmina in the Briar colorway.

I love working on this shawl so much, I started a second one in pink. This one is knit in The Periwinkle Sheep in Merino Silk in Rose Quartz.

September Stats

In September, I finished 2 pairs of socks and 1 shawl.

In total I knit 4 balls of yarn/ 1,212 yards. I didn't knit as much as I thought I would, but at least I broke 1,000 yards.

Irene Adler

Pattern: Irene Adler designed by Through the Loops

Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Mrs. Dalloway

Needles: US Size 5

Started on: Sept. 6th

Finished on: Sept. 19th

Comments: This is my "I" shawl for the Lace A-Z Challenge. This blog post is a bit late because I wanted to make sure the recipient received the shawl before blogging about it.

This was quite a challenging knit. The yarn was a sticky laceweight single ply, which made it difficult to frog and easy to accidentally drop stitches. The yarn also tangles easily due to the stickiness, so I had to be extra careful when handling the yarn.

When you reach the lace section, there aren't really any rest rows. So it's patterning on both sides. It took a lot of concentration and I had to refer to the charts all the time. Despite all of this, there's something to be said about patterns like this. Something that's zen about needing to focus all your energy and thought on one thing one project. It felt like a good exercise in concentration. It's nice that it's all done. I think I will miss working on it, just a little bit.

Memory Blankets

I've finished 16 squares in my sock yarn scraps memory blanket. I haven't worked on this project too much lately. When I do work on it, I really enjoy it.

I'm enjoying the sock yarn scraps memory blanket so much, I started a second one. This one is out of my Knitpicks Shine Sport stash. With all the new season premieres and shows starting up again, it will make for great television knitting. So far I've knit up ten squares.

WIP Wednesday: socks

 I started a pair of worsted weight socks with a simple K3, P1 ribbing. These should go quickly.












I also started another pair of Halloween self striping socks. These are Nightmare Before Xmas inspired in the colorway Jack. I love these so much. Self striping yarn makes me so happy. There are just plain vanilla socks.

WIP Wednesday: Pink Blob

The pink blob lace shawl is growing. It's taking all my concentration to work on it because there aren't really any rest rows. And I have to be careful with the sticky lace yarn. I am still enjoying working on this. There's something very zen about it. And now it's big, so I can kind of see progress happening even though the rows are getting slower to knit. It also helps that over the  years, I've become better at reading my knitting, so I can tell right away if I've made an error or something is off. I think I'll be sad when I finish this project, that's how enjoyable it is.

Openwork Rib socks

 Pattern: Openwork Rib socks from SKS

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock in Georgetown

Needles: US Size 2 DPNs

Started on: Aug. 8th

Finished on: Sept. 12th

Comments: This is one of my older sock yarns that's been in my stash for a long time. The yarn can be a bit splitty, but I love the colors it comes in. I'm not sure why it took me so long to knit this pair up. The pattern was easy to memorize. The pattern and yarn matched better than I expected.

WIP Wednesday

Oh lace shawl knitting, how I've missed you. It feels good to get back into knitting with lace weight after knitting a few socks.

I originally got this yarn in a yarn club in 2011. The bright pink isn't me at all. So I put it aside and let it sit. Now, 4 years later, the yarn still isn't quite me, but it's grown on me.

The yarn is Malabrigo, while I love their worsted weight yarn, I find their lace weight to be more fiddly. It's single ply and thick and thin in places and tends to be quite sticky. The sticky-ness of it is what gives the most challenge. I have to be extra careful when frogging or tinking back with this yarn. That being said,  I do love the colors that Malabrigo offers. Also their yarn has a certain lovely airy lightness to it.

I'm really enjoying working on this shawl, even more than I thought I would. The pattern and yarn play so nicely together. I find myself stopping every so often, to smooth it out and admire it. 

Monster Mash Socks

Pattern: K3, P1 ribbing

Yarn: Neeley's Knits Sports in Monster Mash

Needles: US Size 3 DPNs

Started on: Aug. 30th

Finished on: Sept. 5th

Comments: These are my Halloween socks. So glad that they are done. Sports weight knits up so quickly. I love these bright colors.

FO Friday: Mystery Lace Scarf

I started this on Tuesday and finished it last night, so there really wasn't time for this project to make an appearance on the blog.

I decided to revive my plan of using up some of my oldest yarn (from 2006). This particular yarn was a birthday gift from a good friend. I lost the ball band years ago, so I'm not sure the yardage or the fibers in this yarn. I used the scarf pattern Mohair lace scarf from Purl Bee, but I'm sure this yarn isn't mohair, so mine is just a mystery lace scarf. It's nice to have this very old stash yarn all used up. The scarf is incredibly fuzzy and soft. 

WIP Wednesday: socks

I'm working on more socks! I admit these photos are older, as I haven't had a chance to take new photos yet.

Monster Mash - These are my Halloween self striping socks! It's a simple K3, P1 ribbing. It's sports weight yarn, so it knits up super fast. I just started the second sock this morning.

Openwork Rib - This is the openwork rib pattern from my SKS book. The yarn is Lorna's Laces in Georgetown. I'm also working on the leg of the second sock. This yarn and pattern ended up being a better match then I thought it would. Funny how things work out. 

August Stats

Real life was busy, so it was a very slow knitting month.

All in all I finished 1 pair of socks and 1 shawl. I also made some good progress on a second pair of socks. In total, I used up 3 balls of yarn/ 831 yards of yarn. I didn't quite make it to 1,000 yards, but there's always next month.

Ursula

 Pattern: My own vanilla socks

Yarn: Neeley's Knits Super sock in Ursula

Needles: US Size 2 DPNs

Started on: Aug. 8th

Finished on: Aug 27th

Comments: With self striping yarn, really the yarn does all the work. I would have finished these sooner, but there was a lot of stuff happening this month. So really not too much knitting time. It was nice to work on these socks, because it was easy to pick up and put down as needed. This is another pair that I'm keeping for myself. I love these colors.