New Projects…and a New KAL…

This week I have no FOs  but I have started 2 projects… well, really one project.  The other one I had done like 5 rows on & left it to work on Christmas gifts so, yes, we will say 2 projects.  LOL

First, I’ve been seeing several posts about a sock KAL and I’ve been intrigued.  I just LOVE knitting socks!!  So thanks to All Night Knits & Purls just wanna have fun I have joined the Socks with Sarah sock KAL!!!  YAY!!!  It’s so exciting especially because I love socks & this gives me a reason to knit socks all year long!  LOL!  I’ve only done one other KAL and I did it because I truly loved the pattern.  But I usually am very intimidated by KALs because I feel pressure to finish by a certain date & what if I don’t…  LOL  (I know nothing happens if I don’t but still…..)  This KAL is very laid back & easy!  You just have to knit socks.  It can be a few rows every day or a whole day spent knitting socks.  And you choose your own patterns.  So I got inspired & joined!!

My first pair of socks for 2014 & this KAL I’m working on the November Socks pattern by Brigette Zeuner.  I love the pattern, it’s different & easy to do.  I am using Patons Kroy Socks Jacquards in Country Jacquard.  I’m calling them my Sand Dune Socks.  LOL  I love the colors in this yarn!

 Can you see the pattern?

Happy Recipients….Happy New Year!!!

For Christmas I gave as gifts a few of my knitted items.  I have gotten a few pictures back from the people I gave them to & I wanted to share them with you.  It really makes me so happy to see them wearing the items I’ve made!  They have no idea how happy!  LOL

Here is my beautiful cousin wearing her headband.  She sent me the picture & said she absolutely loves it!!!  She lives in Chicago.

And here is her daughter on Christmas day wearing the hat I made her.  Isn’t she adorable!!

Almost Back to Normal….

What a crazy couple of weeks!  Between the wedding & Christmas, not much knitting has been happening.  Though, I was able to make a couple of these cute little guys!!

The pattern is called Owl Puffs by Jenna Krupar.  They were fun & very quick to knit up!  The only thing I did differently from the pattern was my row 1 was just a plain knit row.   It just made it easier to join in the round by doing one knit row.  I love these guys!  LOL  I plan on making a few more!!

A couple more gifts are done….

The wedding is in 9 days!!!  I have family coming from Chicago & decided I would make them something to take back with them.  So I made my cousin a headband & her baby daughter a hat.

First the hat,  the pattern I used is Cabled Toddler Hat by Lisa Giaco.  I used Caron Simply Soft in Plum Wine.  I love this pattern!  It was quick & easy!  And I love the curly-Qs on top!  The cable stitch was easy.  I’m not a huge fan of cables.  Not sure what it is about them, but I just don’t love knitting cables.  Though I love love love the way cables look when they are done.

I hope it fits her!  The pattern said to do 5 inches but once I was done I was thinking maybe I should have done another round of the cable repeat.  She’s 1 1/2 years old & she is the flower girl at the wedding!  I can’t wait to see her!  Hopefully I will have pictures of her wearing the hat for an upcoming post.

A Little Bump In the Road…

Last week was a bit of a blur for me.  I had surgery last Monday and was in the hospital for a couple of days.  Thankfully, I was home for Thanksgiving and my wonderful family brought everything over so we could spend the day together!  I’m finally starting to feel a little better so I’ve picked up my knitting and am trying to catch up.

Yesterday I finished my Turtle Socks!!  Yay!!!  As I mentioned in my last post the pattern was very vague so I took notes & now that I have the pattern in a format that I can follow I love it!  Yay!  The actual pattern is called Knitted ankle socks with lace by Drops design.  And my notes are here.  This sock was actually a lot of fun to knit once I got the pattern straight.  It’s a simple 8 row repeat and since it is an ankle sock it knits up super quick!

There were a few things with the pattern that I had never done before.  The way they turned the heel was a bit strange.  Usually when I make socks I decrease a lot more than what this pattern called for.  But the end result worked out just fine!  Also, I never really understood the toe decrease section of the pattern so I did it the way I know how.  Normally I use the Kitchener stitch to bind off but this pattern had me pull the yarn through the stitches.  I was a little leery of doing it like this but I did and the end result was just fine.  I think a little more pointy than usual but when I tried on the sock you couldn’t tell.  And without further ado here is the sock!

A Lot of Firsts….

I’ve been kinda busy this week (knitting & wedding busy).  And I’ve worked on a couple projects that had some firsts for me.

I decided I was going to try knitting a mug cozy.  They just look so cute & I really wanted to try making one.  So I searched for a few patterns on Ravelry and decided on the Diagonal Mock Cable Mug Cozy by Debbie Andriulli.  I thought the stitch was kinda cool.  As I was knitting it I would look at it and think, this really doesn’t look like cables, maybe I’m not doing it right.  But I kept at it.  And when it was done it really did look like little cables.  And here is the first “first”:  I was knitting with 2 strands of yarn!!  LOL  I’ve never done that before.   It was kinda strange and a little cumbersome working with 2 skeins.  I couldn’t imagine knitting with 2 strands for something big.  They kept getting tangled & twisted.  

When I was done knitting I searched for a button, attached it & Ta-Da…. A mug cozy!!  I (a slow knitter) did this in a couple of hours!  But when I tried it on my mug, it was a little big.  I know the pattern said to knit with 2 strands but I think if it was done with 1 strand it would have fit much better.  But, I have decided that I am going to try to invent my own little mug cozy.  I have an idea in my head but I’m not exactly sure of how to do it.  LOL  So I may work on that this week & maybe next week I will have a creation of my own!  LOL

An Afghan Full of Meaning….

It’s finished!  It’s finally finished!  Yay!  I’m so excited to have finished my second afghan!  And this one has so much meaning to me!  I call this my “Leftover Yarn Afghan”  Its the second one I make.  Basically what I did was take a bunch of leftover skeins of yarn & put them into a large bag & start knitting.  When I run out of a skein I just reach into the bag and grab another skein.  There is no rhyme or reason to the colors, it is just whatever color comes out next.  It kinda makes it fun because you never know what color you are going to get next.

2 week catch up….

Wow I can’t believe that I missed a post last week.  eek!  I’ve had a few crazy weeks with a lot of things going on!

But I have finished my Comfy Socks II.  They are a little bigger (go figure) than I would have wanted but they do fit!  The pattern was just the basic sock pattern.  The yarn is Aslan Trends Royal Alpaca in the spice color way.  I think this is one of my favorite yarns!  It is so soft and warm!

The leg of the sock is 6″ & I did 15 rows for the heel flap and the foot is 9 1/2″ before the decrease for the toe.  I finished it up with the kitcheners stitch.

And We Have a FO and a Half FO…

We have a finished scarf!  The scarf is about 66 inches long.  I wasn’t really sure how long it should be.  I didn’t want it to be too long & I didn’t want it to be too short.  So I kinda decided 66 inches would be a good length.

Just to recap, this is the Dapperly Dashing Scarf & Hat pattern  by Stormy Tetreault.  I loved the pattern it was simple & fun & the pattern looks great!  It’s not a simple rib or exciting cables, but the pattern keeps the hat & the scarf interesting.

I do have to say when I started knitting the scarf I was stumped by the “wool forward” stitch.  I searched You Tube & found a couple of instruction videos, I watched them, watched them again….and I said to myself, hmmmmm  that looks a lot like a yarn over.  But I still wasn’t sure that I was understanding the stitch correctly.  So I googled again & read a few posts about the difference between wool forward & yarn over, which to me seemed very similar.  I decided that I would just go ahead start the pattern & see what happens.  So, when I got to the last 3 stitches I moved the yarn to the front & slipped the last 3 stitches.  It made a very nice edge.  I really liked the way it came out.

Not a Whole Lot Going On

This week’s post will be pretty small.  I don’t have anything new going on from last week.   Still working on the same WIPs so I will just give a quick update.  I’ve been focusing on my scarf & my socks mostly this week.  I started the dishcloth, did about 5 rows & ended up ripping it out because I missed something along the way and just haven’t picked it back up again.

Since I only have about 1 1/2 – 2 hours of knitting time each night when I get home from work, I’ve been splitting that between the scarf & the hat.  LOL, One hour for you & one hour for you.  LOL  🙂

I’m really enjoying the Dapperly Dashing Scarf.  It is a quick 4 row repeat & I just love the way it comes out.  I have about 34 inches done so far.  This may be my go-to pattern when I want something quick and pretty.  🙂