Tag: socks

Mindless knitting, mistakes, and other thoughts.

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I hear crafters talk about it often, the joy of a mindless project. It’s often hard for me to slow down with making, I am so often squeezing it in while I do something else. A big favorite during the winter is hanging out on the couch in the evenings and knitting or sewing. Some projects require more focus, some require less, and some need more focus than I give them.

After I finished the Pink Fizz sweater, I decided to knit my January baby siblings some socks. For some unknown reason, I cast on the later birthday gift first but many they flew. After all that lace and alternating skeins and carrying the mohair, I just couldn’t put these down – the joy of stockinette was strong.

The yarn is from Bumblebee Acres Fiber Farm in the Gathering Eggs colorway, which came as a set with the contrast color, Golden Hen. The finished socks are just beautiful. I know I knit socks all the time, but some pairs stand out as particularly well done and these definitely fit that bill.

Since I started the earlier birthday’s pair second, I was putting a bit of pressure on myself to finish them fast, just like the first pair. I cast on the first sock and knit the whole thing in about a day. I don’t really recommend that, but sometimes the mood hits. The next day, I eagerly cast on the second and got rolling. Something felt off, so I decided to slow down and give myself some breathing space. I worked on it the next evening and finally started comparing the socks – they were definitely different sizes! It took me forever to realize it but I had used the wrong needles! I knit the fist one on a 2.5 mm and the second on a 2.0 mm – big difference!

Once I figured that out, I pulled that cuff and leg out and started again. One thing I really try to practice is to rip back or fix the problem as soon as I find it. It’s really tempting to put the project on hold, but I try to fix the issue first and then pause it if I’m still frustrated. More often than not, by the time I’ve corrected the problem I’m back in a good mood with my project and will continue on.

A few days later and ta-da! new little brother socks. This is Patons Kroy in the grey marl colorway. It’s so simple but I adore how these turned out. It’s a heavier weight yarn, closer to sport weight, so I like the texture better on a 2.5 mm needle, 2 sizes larger than my usual sock needles.

After finishing all of those socks, I found myself in a really stressful time with work and struggling to focus properly on my Zelda Crop. That colorwork definitely needs attention. So, I did what I love to do, I cast on some more socks.

I’m trying out a fully ribbed sock – it looks so funny and skinny! This is Dark Side EPV #9 from Must Stash Yarns, very very deep stash.

I had a bit of a lull while I was deciding the contrast color for the Dark Side sock’s heels so I started another pair of socks. I’m thinking about trying to work through yarn scraps and already balled up skeins – maybe that’s 2024’s year of? Anyway, I am digging textured socks at the moment so I started some Blueberry Waffle socks in Woolberry Fiber Co’s Moody Pumpkin sock set.

After all of that, I have been plugging away at my sweater. It is not a quick knit by any means, some of the 3-color rows are a slog. As so often happens, I really started flying once I got past separating for sleeves. As you might pick up with this theme, flying meant I made a mistake.

I missed a whole row! It’s tough to see here but at the top there should be a dark green stitch underneath that pink stitch. I’m not really sure how that happened, I checked it off and everything. I had one little moment where I thought of just leaving it, but I went ahead and frogged the two rows back and fixed it. Much like the socks, I was really in a pique when I found that error but by the time I pulled it back and picked up the stitches again I was ready to knit.

Now, I’ve only got about 20 rows of colorwork and then the ribbed hem left before the body is done. The sleeves are only about 8 or 10 rows or something, so the sweater is really close! As this sweater has been chugging along, I’ve really been thinking about my other make nine pieces – specifically the Gypsum Skirt. I’m excited about this little spring outfit.

I had a bit of free time the other day so I really dug into pattern tracing and cutting out fabric. I’ll dive into more detail later, but I hoped to use the leftovers from the Metamorphic Dress to make the skirt, so I needed to cut that out first, which meant I needed to muslin the dress bodice before that… it was a rabbit hole but just the right kind to keep my mind focused and mindful during some quiet time. I didn’t even listen to music or a book, just enjoyed the quiet rhythm of my hands and the feel of the fabrics.

In all honesty, I love a fast project – I like the comfort of a mindless project to keep my hands moving. I’m working on learning to love slow projects as well. We’ll get there, slowly but surely. Today I’m grateful that crafting provides me the opportunity for both.

Happy {whatever speed you need} making!

Year of WIPs recap.

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Happy New Year’s Eve! This has become one of my favorite traditions, recapping the year in terms of my chosen theme or goal. I started the blog with a year of making and have come back to the “year of” idea the last couple of years. I’ve got a new idea brewing for 2023 but for now, let’s see how all those WIPs turned out. You can check out the original post here, but this is the list today:

Look at all those cross-offs! I wound up finishing 13 total WIPs. The list morphed a bit as I went: I found 3 projects that weren’t even on the original list and I frogged 3 projects. All in all, I started the year with 21 works in progress and I cleared 16 of them off my plate. I’ve been looking forward to piling everything up like I did last year, so here you go, all those finished WIPs:

Let’s take a closer look (with links to the original blog posts for details):

Granny’s Garden

2×4 Quilt

Homespun Quilt

Rainbow Quilt

Split 9 Patch Quilt

Log Cabin Mini

Clamshell Mug Rug

Wook Ewe be my Neighbor?

Kennecott

Yowza! Weight It Shawl

Habitation Throw

StressKnits Advent Socks

Opal Socks

The other 5 projects are in various states. I picked up the Norah Quilt a bit but it’s still only about 30% quilted. I did a bit more on my Fairytale Forest and I’ve got 5 blocks out of 25 done. I restarted the crochet blanket with a new pattern. The last standing cross stitch project has been pulled out of WIPdom. I want to make that project but I’m still not settled on a background color so it’s going back into planned projects. Finally, since I finished the last bit of quilt binding, I’ve been putting time into my Pink Fizz. I’m ready to pick up for the sleeves so I hope to have this one off the needles soon in the new year.

Well there you have it friends, a year of WIPs. I did want to add that I certainly started other projects throughout the year. This process kept me quite contentious of what I was starting though so I’m happy to say that I only have 2 2022 starts rolling over into the new year. I had an additional 19 projects finished that I started this year. Lots of socks and quite a few gifts in that mix. To come out of it all with only 6 projects on the go feels so freeing.

I think the biggest thing I learned this year is that I really prefer to focus on one primary project at a time. I’ve pondered this before, I think at one point I even wrote that big projects sit around until I decide to just dive in and finish them. That seems pretty intuitive so I’ve never given it much true thought. A few weeks ago my little brother mentioned something over Thanksgiving that really resonated with me about project-based time management. You commit your brain power to one project until it’s finished and then you move to the next project.

My professional life doesn’t really go that way but I think my making should. This started to become clear while I worked on the Granny’s Garden quilt. Working consistently on that project helped me get in and stay in the rhythm of it. I had floundered over and over trying to do a block a week or something. Committing to the process and pouring my focus into it made it flow for me. I did this over and over this year and it really made a difference. So much so that I wound up cancelling some planned block of the month projects and just saving all my Avonlea boxes. That’s one of my rollover projects but it’s time will come.

All in all, this was one of my favorite “year of’s” so far. Clearing out brain space and getting beautiful quilts and socks and makes in return is a great exchange.

Happy making!

Stop and smell the… projects?

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The blog and I have a complicated relationship. I love her, she’s a great listener when I feel like rambling and she’s the best at reminiscing. We just don’t hang out as much as we used to. Back when we first got together, we wrote together often and it felt great. Over the years I feel like I’ve lost my direction and wind up just dumping a bunch of FO photos on her every few months. This is something I’d like to focus on in 2023 – reflecting and documenting the process and not just the finished projects. It honestly sounds a bit silly but I really enjoy going back and reading through old posts. This is about as close to journaling as I’ve ever gotten and I want a bit more of it.

As we’re winding down (careening toward, more like) the end of the year, I’ve got a few posts planned to get you, me, and the blog all caught up and wrapped up. If you’ve been here before, dear reader, then you know as well I do that there’s a photo dump or two on the way. Let’s get to it.

First up in sock news, these were born out of frustration over the large number of OG socks that I need to darn. I’ll be doing some mending this winter but in the meantime, these squishy worsted weight socks are a bright and warm treat for my feet. I used Summer Lee’s Thicksgiving Socks pattern and the yarn is Knit Picks Felici Worsted in the Aquarium colorway.

While we were on Thanksgiving holiday, I cast on cuffs for advent socks. I used Stressknits yarn in the My Jam colorway, leftover from socks I knit a while ago, for mine. Mom’s cuffs are leftovers from my Zweig Sweater (scroll down for that one) – it’s the Endless Ocean colorway from Woolberry Fiber Co.

Since then, I started strong but got a bit behind. Mom’s are caught up to yesterday but I’m planning to finish mine over our Christmas holiday trip. I’m really digging the contrast colors with the fun stripes. This is the The Cozy Knitter 2022 24-Stripe Advent Skein. It comes in two 50g skeins and I split those in half to have 4 little balls of ~25g and 24 stripes each so that I can use up every milligram of this yarn.

Ta-da! You guys. This outfit is my dream. I’m so glad I went for it this fall. I saw a post on instagram with this general vibe – floral skirt, colorwork yoked sweater, tights, handknit socks, boots and was just in love. I had the yarn and fabric in stash and I was off to the races.

Sweater: Zweig by Caitlyn Hunter in (main) Endless Ocean colorway by Woolberry Fiber Co. and (contrast) Glacier colorway by Farmhaus Fibers. I wanted a more fitted garment than the oversize look in the original pattern, shocker, I know. My bust measures at 40.5″I knit the size 3 (40″). I also omitted the X pattern, knit the body 2″ shorter than called for, and added sleeve decreases in. Full modification details are over on my project page.

Skirt: Estuary Skirt by Sew Liberated. The fabric is a printed cotton poplin, purchased from Blackbird Fabrics. I cut straight size 16 but cut the back waistband elastic to the size 18 length. I just wanted a softer, easier wear than my first one. I think I prefer the longer elastic but may split the difference in my next one – and there will definitely be a next one. This skirt is amazing.

Other outfit pieces:
– Tights – Snag Tights which I highly recommend. Proportionally, most of me is in my legs and butt, and finding good hose and tights has always been a problem. Not only do these fit but they are actually opaque! Miracles
– Socks – knit earlier this year, Stressknits yarn in the Sunflower colorway
– Boots – I finally took the plunge and went for some real boots. These are the Captain from Thursday Boot Company in Walnut – I’ve had them for about 6 weeks now and just love them.

I finished before we left for Thanksgiving and this was my outfit for the big turkey day – even though it was a little warmer than expected down in North Carolina. This outfit was one of those times, rare for me, where I truly felt like myself. Expect more skirts and sweaters in this space.

It warmed my heart to get to spend some time with our families. 2022 has been a tough year and little things like a walk with my SILs just filled my cup. Plus, check out all that knitwear!

Once I finished those advent sock cuffs, I dove into my Pink Fizz sweater. I cast this one on right after Christmas in 2020 and it’s been mostly languishing since. I got a lot done on our Thanksgiving trip and right and got it to this point – split for the yoke and a few inches up the front panel. I had a lot of quilts to finish this month, plus the advent socks, plus some major personal stuff to focus on. This is on deck once the advent socks and quilts are done.

Speaking of quilt binding, at the beginning of December I had six quilts to bind. I’m now down to only two left! Cosi really bemoans the loss of this fluffy stack on the cutting table.

This beauty will get her own full post but I had to share a sneak peek. Granny’s Garden is done!

Three of the quilts I finished are gifts, so they’ll need to wait for their time in the sun. I’m currently working on finishing my Split Nine Patch quilt from yore.

Finally, and this is what I’m talking about when I’m a little discombobulated, my Exploration Station is done. I finished this shawl on August 28 and I just wove in the ends and blocked it a few weeks ago. Mom and I both cast these on back in June on our vacation. I used Red Stag Fibres Highland Fingering in Great Hall (dark pink) and Castle Suri in Gilded (gold), Blue Sky Fibers Woolstok Light in Quartz Crystal (light pink), and Hedgehog Fibers Kidsilk Lace in Teacup (white/cream). This pattern was honestly one of the most enjoyable knits I can recall. I might just knit another one.

I purchased the Red Stag Fibres and the Blue Sky Fibers yarn at A Likely Yarn in Abingdon, VA. If you are ever that way, they’ve got some fun local finds and the people are just so sweet. If southwest Virginia isn’t in your plans, they have just started an online store. That Hedgehog mohair was some deep stash that I dug out at home.

Happy Wednesday from my corner of the world to yours, friends.

Happy making!

Eye of the tiger, anyone?

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Well friends, it finally happened. I got COVID. I’m staying tucked away in the house, nice and isolated, which isn’t the worst thing since we’re smack dab in the middle of this east coast heat wave. 99 degrees F outside? No thank you. Thankfully, I’m vaxed and boosted so even though I feel poorly, it’s like a bad cold.

As I sit here on the couch all day, I’ve realized that I’ve hardly posted to the blog at all! You know what that means – less text, more pictures! Cue up your 80s music, it’s montage time!

First off, I finished up my travel socks – these are in Stress Knits Yarn in the Sunflower colorway.

I finished my other travel socks – these are in A Homespun House in the Sugared Sweeties colorway

Last sock finish – Mom’s Mother’s Day socks. I knit these out of some Norah George Yarns in Apple Blossom – pretty deep stash from at least 4 years ago.

Kevin and I went up to Boston for a concert and I cast on another pair of travel socks. This is their current state, but it’s been a bit since I’ve worked on them. The yarn is A Homespun House again – main color is Pastel Paint Princess and the contrast is Marigold.

In early June, I took a little trip with my Mom. I had planned to make us both dresses, but only hers were successful. And really only one of hers was successful. This is the Popover Dress from the book Gertie Sews Jiffy Dresses. I just didn’t love the finished product on me and I made one of mom’s dresses a bit too small. Anyway, the green and purple one turned out great and mom loved it! She’s such a cutie patootie!

We really had a blast. We took walks, had port in the library every evening, and generally enjoyed just having lots of time together. Oh, and we went yarn shopping.

We went to A Likely Yarn in Abingdon, VA where they were having a Red Stag Fibre trunk show. One of the samples was Exploration Station (pattern by Stephen West) – a long time to-knit of mine – and mom just loved it! We decided to get yarn and cast them on together!

That’s about how far we got on the trip. Once we got home, I became obsessed. I have loved knitting this shawl. I made one yarn substitution, switching out the beige. All my current colorways are listed on my Ravelry project page.

This is the current state of the shawl, about halfway through the third section – so enjoyable.

I tried to balance shawl knitting with hand quilting my Norah Quilt, but it really didn’t last.

Continuing in the world of log cabins, I put together another month’s worth of blocks for my Avonlea quilt.

Next, I took a quick interlude to bind these two beauties, which you can read about here and here.

Looking for another quick finish on the #yearofwips, I finished hand piecing one final block for this ancient (oldest WIP I own) log cabin project. I hand pieced the blocks together and voila!

It’s a mini quit top! It’s currently sitting all basted and ready to go for some hand-quilting, which I just haven’t gotten to. Quick finish, right.

Not feeling like hand quilting, I picked up some this WIP. Needle turn applique is still pretty slow for me and I haven’t gotten any momentum going on this project, either.

Last but not least in this little train of get out the project and promptly put it down – we have Fairytale Forest. I finally decided to trim and assemble all the blocks I had done – a whopping 6 of 25.

They are pretty, though aren’t they? I am looking forward to getting back into this one.

You may be wondering what on earth I’ve been really been doing with all this a little bit here and a little bit there. Well, I have been working on these socks – they’re a secret gift so I can’t spill who they’re for – in some mega deep stash (dare I say 6 or 7 years old?) from lolodidit in the colorway Don’t Stop Believing.

I’ve also been obsessed with this quilt I’m making for mom. She knows I’m making it and has even picked out some of the fabrics, but that’s it so this is about all I can show you. Cosi really likes how the quilt is turning out and he’s helped a lot.

And there you have it folks – months of making in a flurry of pictures. I hope you are having a great weekend and until next time!

Happy making!

Travel socks and other fun.

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Happy spring! I am writing from my hotel room in New York City, I’ve got some downtime during my work trip and thought I’d better write before I finish all my trip knitting in one go.

You may recall that I cast on a new pair of socks for my trip to Charlotte back in February. I’ve kept them solidly to travel knitting since, but they are coming along. I just adore that color – Sunflower by Stress Knits Yarn.

After I finished my Habitation Throw, I had a craving for more knitting. I decided to just pick out something happy and speckly and here we are. This is Sugared Sweeties by A Homespun House. I powered through that first sock before I decided it was time to pick back up on one of my year of wips projects. Since the last two were pretty easy wins, it felt like the right time to go back to a project that’s a bit bigger and more challenging.

That’s right, I’m back to hand quilting. I’ve finally started to get my rhythm going with hand quilting on this full size quilt. It’s been a real struggle in the past, I’ve tried a bunch of different techniques and none have really felt right. It is definitely not perfect, not even particularly neat, but it’s coming along and that’s what counts in my book. I do want to try to get the stitches a bit smaller but no bother. I’ve got a fair chunk done now!

Isn’t it great? Speaking of quilting, I have a sneak peek for you! Just before I left for this trip, I got my Granny’s Garden quilt back from the long armer – it’s so amazing!

That’s pretty much it for today. I’ve made a good bit of sock progress since I took those pictures last weekend so how about one more update before we go?

Nothing like a rainy evening in the big apple to cuddle up with some cozy sock knitting.

Happy making!

Because of course I did.

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Hi friends, it’s been a while. February felt like a bit of a blur – I always feel like I’m going to hunker down and get a lot done in February, but it doesn’t always pan out. This year, I’ve been making slow and steady progress on lots of things (most of them WIPs). Once I finished the Granny’s Garden quilt – it felt like a whole new world had opened up! First off, I didn’t have much to go so I just powered through the socks I had on the needles.

They turned out pretty cute! These socks are plain old vanilla, my regular go to. The yarn is Opal in the Juniper Height (9851) colorway. They’re cute and comfy. I cast these on back in October so it’s nice to have them finished. They are WIP 5/20 for my year of wips.

I finished those right before I took a quick flight down to NC to go to a concert with my brother and sister-in-law. I was only there for about 22 hours, but I knew the flights would need a sock. I wasn’t really ready to take a blanket or cross stitch, so I just had to pick out yarn for a new sock cast on.

I picked Stress Knits yarn in the Sunflower colorway because the yarn was wound up (can’t remember why) and I thought socks in this color will just be amazing. I spent that day with the sibs in Charlotte where we wound up checking out the NASCAR museum first…

and then hit the concert at the end of the day…

I had such a good time just escaping for a day to hang out with these two. I was up the next morning at 5 to catch the plane home, so I didn’t knit quite so much as usual. This sock is tucked back away waiting for next weekend – my first work trip in two years!

After all of this, I was tooling around my sewing room, putting away some scraps when I suddenly came across a plastic baggie labled, you guesed it, “projects.” Luckily there was just one in there, but still…

This isn’t too bad, just a wee clamshell panel. I fancy I’ll do a bit better on it now that I’ve got so much more applique experience under my belt, but needle turn is still a bit of magic to me. I started this project back in 2019 and this makes 21 total projects on the list. I really really think that’s it.

With this project added, I saw I have 10 hand projects (hand-sewing, knitting, and crochet) on the list and 10 months left. Not too bad, just need to finish one a month and I’ll be golden. I decided to pull out a cross stitch project for March.

And this is my progress to date. I’ve added the sheep, barn, and grass so far. It’s slower going than I expected, but that’s the way it goes. This is a pattern from The Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery. I started this back in 2017 – I spent a solid 6 or 7 months enamoured with cross stitch and then never picked it up again. I’m not in love with the process, but I’m finding my rhythm.

At the sewing machine, I’ve been working on catching up with my Avonlea quilt. I’ve completed January and am working on February now. These four blocks are the very center of the quilt. I just love how log cabin blocks come together.

And then… I saw some quilters on instagram talking about pulling out their Betsy stashes and so I just had to pull mine…

It’s so pretty. Y’all know I have a love affair with the Betsy pattern by Liberty. Last year, I made a Betsy mini quilt last year and so when Bec of Sew.Be put out the idea of a Betsy nine patch quilt, I just haven’t been able to get it out of my mind. Going through my stash, I pulled out a few solid pink fabrics that I thought might work for the background.

After a lot of hemming and hawing, I went with the middle color here. The sewalong aims to make four blocks a week. I’m starting with two blocks from each fabric and the results are pretty snazzy.

Well that’s it for now. How long do you think it will be before I discover another latent WIP? Start another project? Inspiration seems to be everywhere, year in and year out, so I’m not mad.

#yearofwips projects finished: 5 of 21

Happy making!

2 steps forward and 1 step back.

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Greetings! January was a bit of a blur with some big work stuff, so I’m rather pleased to see February come around. I’ve been working hard at work and appliqué, I’m rather pleased to share.

One thing that really held me back on my progress with this quilt has been prepping the blocks. It actually takes quite a lot get all the pieces ready and basted for appliqué. I’ve started committing my early mornings to this prep work each day. I get up with the kids, but they are pretty much self sufficient at this point so I really just make coffee for myself and give hugs as they leave. Since they’re up so early, I have a good hour each morning to myself, which has just been amazing.

Bit by bit, I’m making progress. I just love this little teeny flower. Up this close, you can tell that there is nothing perfect about my work here. But I’m letting it be and taking my flowers as they come. Let me tell you, though – the overall affect is pretty spectacular! I started sewing up the rows as I planned to, and now that we’re over half way there, I’m more motivated than ever.

Ugh, it’s so good! I’m up to block 34 now I think – there’s another row to sew on and then I’ve only got 9 more blocks. And then the border… but I’ll think about that another day. As work really ramped up towards the end of January, I fell off with appliqué just a bit and focused on another project instead.

These socks had been my “hands too tired for sewing but not for knitting” project for a while, so I finally buckled down and finished them. These are my scrappy advent socks from the holidays, all made from the Stress Knits 2021 advent calendar. I knit 5 rows from each mini, and slipped every 4th stitch in an alternating pattern on the first row of each color. I wish I hadn’t done the slipped stitch pattern, it’s so subtle it almost makes the stripes look a bit messy. I finished off with the 25th day skein for the last bit of the foot and the toe. They are sweet and scrappy, and super squishy.

That’s WIP 3 of 18 done! I think that’s pretty good for the first month of the #yearofwips, but I have some confessions to make. The first is a planned project start – this year’s block of the month from DuckaDilly.

Can’t you just?! It’s another log cabin quilt and I’ve just started but my goodness. It’s a beautiful pattern called Avonlea, and you guessed it – all in Liberty. This doesn’t go on the WIP list, but I do want to keep up with it this year.

Now for the real confession – I found another WIP. I had kind of forgotten about them, but starting the Avonlea quilt reminded me of an old log cabin project I had buried in my mind and in the move, apparently. I did some digging, had a bit of a panic when I couldn’t find it, and dug some more before…

I found it. We can talk about the full story when I start working on this, but let’s just say there are 8 completed HAND PIECED log cabin blocks there and a million 1.5 inch strips. Let that sink in and we’ll get to the real kicker. When I found this project in ziploc bags under a bunch of batting scraps in a box in the back of the closet, there were other ziploc bags underneath…

Yeah. That’s another quilt, cut out and waiting. There are approximately 1000 squares. The practice blocks aren’t actually the right pattern, but more on that when we get there. Let me repeat – 1000 squares.

If you’re keeping track – that’s an additional 2 more WIPs that we didn’t account for. These both date back more than a decade, so they definitely count towards the #yearofwips. 3 of 20 is still pretty good, right?

In all of this hubbub, my sister-in-law had a birthday so I made her a thing.

This is the Take Along Tote by Sometimes Sewing made up in some gorgeous Rifle Paper Co. canvas. This is the fourth one I’ve made and they just get easier. Sewing these up is a snap and I can say that I jut love mine – the finished product is a great piece. I used a soft pinky cream print, also from Rifle Paper Co., for the lining and some oatmeal cotton webbing for the handles.

After making up that bag, I gave myself permission to start new projects. One major criteria for new ideas making the cut in the #yearofwips will be gifts. I’m not planning to start anything new in a category I already have going – I’m looking at you, pink socks – but gifts are an exception.

With that, Cosi and I hd a wee fabric pull for a new quilt for mom. He loves our choices very much. You won’t see much on this one for a long while, of course, but it will be quietly in the background.

Well, that’s it. I’ve made a whole lot of progress and piled a bit more on my plate. I don’t imagine that anyone is surprised. I’m enjoying everything that I’m giving time to, and that’s the most important thing.

#yearofwips projects finished: 3 of 20

Happy making!

Happy Year of WIPs!

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In typical style, I’ve been brainstorming lately about what my new year should be. My 2021 year of minis got a bit derailed by moving and all and I still have those big projects I wanted to finish. I was chatting with my SILs about it the other day and we went down to take a tour of the craft room and some of my WIPs. I wound up having a bit of a moon over all the bits and pieces laying around so yesterday afternoon, I made a list.

That, friends, is the current list of all my works in progress, plus my upcoming block of the month or club projects. Take a deep breath with me. Some things are very close to finished – quilt binding or a hat, for example. Some, not so much – I’m looking at you, applique. Let’s take a look at the list in another way…

Wowzers. Thats a big pile. That is a total of 18 current projects: 6 quilts, 1 crochet blanket, 7 knitting projects, and 4 cross stitches. Oh that’s right, I said cross stitch. My oldest unfinished project dates back to pre-blog times in 2015.

I think I’ll pull out the old project pictures and their history as I get to each project, but I couldn’t help myself from sharing this throw back. That’s my sweet old Twiggy, she was such a good kitty.

Perhaps you’ve guessed by now, but my 2022 goal is to turn that big ole pile of WIPs into a pile of FOs. Let’s take a quick look at what that would look like:
Quilts: The finished tops I want to turn into quilts, bound and finished. The quilt tops that are still in progress, I just want to finish the top and have it ready to go out for long-arm quilting.
Knitting/Crochet: Finished, ends woven in, blocked as needed and done.
Cross Stitch: Completed and ready for framing.

A wee stretch goal would be to finish the year with only projects that need outside help for finishing (quilting or framing), which means keeping up with the two club / block-of-the-months projects I have planned. Since this is a tall, tall order I’m trying to not start anything new for quite a while (except socks, of course). I’m really excited.

Well here we go friends, my Year of WIPs starts today. I’ve got a lasagna in the oven and some cozy knitting just waiting. The supervisor even told me that he’s ready to get to work in the sewing room.

Happy making!

Wrapping up, one more time.

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Happy New Year’s Eve! I hope you are all ringing in the next trip around the sun in a way that makes you smile. We had a joyous (and intensely packed) trip home to see family and then my brothers and their wives (and our dog nephews) came home with us. I’ve had my siblings here most of the week and that has been filling my cup to the top.

This is going to be a big wrap up – I’ve finally gifted a bunch of socks that I knit over the pandemic – and I’ve got my advent knitting FOs and WIPs to share. Just like 2022, let’s dive right in.

First up, a pair of socks for my mom: This is the Woodland Walk pattern by This Handmade Life. I used Stress Knits yarn in the Mountain Mama colorway.

Next, Judge’s socks: This is Paton’s Kroy sock – a favorite for brother socks – in the Dads Jacquard colorway. I knit a simple 3×1 rib for these.

Noah’s socks: Another pair of Paton’s Kroy in the Blue Grey Marl colorway.

Madelyn’s socks: The pattern is Heather by This Handmade Life but I messed it up and did the cables a bit wonky. The socks turned out lovely, so I’m not mad. I used Brooklyn Tweed Peerie in the Butte colorway for these.

Crystal’s Socks: Another pattern from This Handmade Life, this is Sixpence. This is also Brooklyn Tweed Peerie in the Klimt colorway.

More socks for mom: This is the Coast Range pattern by Lindsey Fowler. Once again, I used Stress Knits yarn in the Eucalyptus colorway.

Bridging the gap between gifts and advent – more socks for mom! If you recall, I was knitting two pairs of socks out of my Cozy Knitter Advent Stripe 2021 skein. I finished these early Christmas morning. I managed to get all the stripes on both pairs! I love them.

I finished all four socks on the evening of Christmas and wore my pair the day I gifted them to her. I’m a bit ridiculously excited to have a pair of socks that match my mom’s.

I got a bit burned out on the other advent projects so they’ve been put in a little basket until I feel like picking them up again – more on that soon. Kevin decided he wanted a toasty warm hat so…

I wound up these beauties and cast on a Kennecott hat on the car ride down south. The yarn is from Sweet Sparrow Knits – top is the Chickadee base, suri alpaca and silk, in the On Softest Wings colorway; bottom is the Phoebe base, tweed DK, in the Blanketry colorway.

In small time news, this is also the fifth anniversary of the blog! I started off five years ago today, with a picture of – you guessed it – socks and the idea to have a year of making. I’ve been doing years of things or a word – and I’ve been throwing ideas around all month long. I think I’ve finally got something that has stuck, more on that to come.

Cheers, friends.

Happy making!

A stripe a day keeps other projects away.

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We’re here again! It’s the holiday season and I’m pleased as punch. This year, once again, I’m diving into advent knitting with gusto. Last year, I knit two pairs of advent socks and started a wrap that didn’t get finished. I finished the wrap back in July, right before we moved, and pulled it out and wove in all the ends and blocked it a couple of weeks ago.

This is Dust of Snow by Curious Handmade. I knit mine using the Stress Knits 2020 advent calendar minis held double with un-dyed mohair/silk. The result is a dreamy cloud of a wrap in a beautiful variety of colors. I do think I could have gone up a needle size, the wrap is a bit narrower than expected, but oh well. Live and learn for next time.

In other news, a few weeks ago, we went home for Thanksgiving! It’s been so long, it was magical and exhausting to be traveling again! We saw bunches of family and it was just wonderful. Of course, as one does, I packed tons of knitting. My first order of business was to cast on the cuffs for my advent socks:

More on those in a moment. I also brought along that pair of socks I’d been working on:

However, as a I was packing, I felt the oddest sensation! I thought about casting on something that wasn’t socks… it had been quite a while, but I went with the tug and wound up an enormous skein of Miss Babs Yowza. I cast on my third Yowza Weigh It Shawl 3, finally one for me.

Of course, the socks and shawl have now been cast to the wayside to make room for advent knitting. If you’re unfamiliar, advent knitting is that magical time where you cast on a million projects that will use just a bit of yarn each day. I easily convinced myself that I could handle a “few stripes” each day. Psh.

The first projects are my The Cozy Knitter 2021 Advent Stripe socks. Yes, I said project(s). Last year, I didn’t use a contrast color and wound up with a good bit of yarn leftover. The advent skeins come with 4 full repeats of the 24 stripe pattern, so I decided to knit 2 pairs of socks out of it.

Fun right? Now, if you’re thinking why stop at 2 pairs of socks – I’m right there with you. I also cast on a pair of scrappy socks with this year’s Stress Knits advent calendar. These are super simple, I’m knitting 5 stripe repeats with a very simple slip stitch pattern on the color change rows.

Since those socks use approximately 2 grams fo yarn in total from each mini, I also cast on the Habitation Throw, another design by Curious Handmade. I’m a bit behind on this one – putting the heels in the other socks really set me back – but I’m almost done with day 11.

I’m really starting to think this is coming out far smaller than intended. It’s supposed to finish at 40 inches square, but I’m far short of that. I think I’m going to bolster the yarn needed at the end with the day 25 colorway – this calendar has a Christmas day full skein of yarn. That will be how I finish the blanket and the socks.

Well, there you have it. Lots and lots of fun stripy, scrappy knitting. I do really enjoy this process, but my mind is also turning toward the new year. I’ve got a few projects ongoing that I want to wrap up and then what? I’ve got some ideas churning and I look forward to sharing them here!

Happy making!