Category: Knitting

Happy blogiversary to me!

Oops. I actually let this one slip by me. 18 years ago yesterday, I did my first blog post! I’ve been a slacker for the past year, not for lack of knitting. I think part of it is that I’m a slow knitter in general. Endless posts about the same sock can get a bit boring. ”Oh WOW! I knit another four rows!”

I also still haven’t gotten out of the mode of keeping much of my personal thoughts and day to day activities private. I still remember the incident where I posted about being sick (“having the plague” was the phrase I used), and had a clinic manager get their knickers in a knot over it. There is also the pandemic, and being stuck at home for much of the past year. It doesn’t give one much exciting to report.

But 18 years! That’s a lot of blogging. And hopefully with spring here, and the pandemic looking at least a bit better, I’ll have more to talk about.

For now, you get this.

It’s a bag. With a knitting project in it. A secret knitting project that I can’t show you because it is a gift. It’s a gift with a deadline, so it’s pretty much all I’ve been working on, and I can’t even show it to you.

Here’s a tiny peak.

It will have a lot more pretty colors than that when it is finished.

I know that someone will ask about the bag, so here it is.

I got this on Etsy, but you can find similar bags all over online. Just google “bento knitting bag” and you’ll find lots of options. It’s a single layer cloth bag to hold a project. It stuffs nicely into whatever larger knitting bag you are toting around, and it keeps your project from being snagged on other things in your main bag. I highly recommend these.

Maybe I’ll go knit on that sock a bit so I have something to show you next time.

Tits Up!

Finished socks! The yarn is Adorn sock yarn, from Three Irish Girls. The color name is Tits Up!, which is from The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel tv series. I love the show, so I had to buy the yarn.

I used the same pattern-in-my-head that I always use. 2.00 mm needles, as usual. Nothing fancy, just plain socks.

Here is where I am on the Get Out of Ukraine Socks.

The colors are more Ukraine Flag by Starlight than the real flag colors, but I like it.

And here’s a blast from the past.

Pretty exciting, eh? The really exciting part is that is the beginning of a sweater sleeve. Here are the rest of the sweater pieces.

Fronts and back done. I just have the sleeves and the front bands to do and this will be a finished sweater. This has been marinating a bit, but I’m determined to finish it soon. It will be a nice in-between-seasons piece to wear in the spring.

That’s what the finished sweater will look like, although I’m making the sleeves longer. And I still haven’t decided on the pockets. I think I’d like the line of the sweater better without the pockets right over my hips, which certainly don’t need any accentuating.

I do love this yarn. It is Appledore DK, by John Arbon Textiles. It is one of those yarns that would work knit up into a wide gauge range. I’m trying to restrain myself from buying more of this in some other colors. I think it would make a lovely shawl. Or two.

Stay tuned!

Deep stash

Like (almost) everybody else in the world, I’ve been bummed out by the situation in Ukraine. The Meske side of my ancestry comes from a part of what used to be called Bessarabia, now in southern Ukraine, near Odessa. Here is where my great-grandparents emigrated from.

The pencil point is on the area where both sets of great-grandparents on my dad’s side came from. So I’m sure that I have very distant relatives in the middle of this war somewhere. The whole thing is just depressing, and maddening at the same time.

I’ve been knitting in the midst of watching all this unfold on the news. I decided that I needed some socks in the colors of the Ukraine flag. I had a shopping cart ready to hit the ”buy” button, and then had the bright idea to check my stash. 🙄

I think that will do nicely. It is Biscotte Bis-sock, in the color Minion. I bought this on a vacation to Newfoundland several years ago, and it’s been waiting for just the right moment.

The banjos have stopped*

Wintergrass is wrapped for another year. It was a great festival, with a nice variety of music styles, and a diverse cast of performers. It’s tough to pick a favorite, so I won’t. This is the first time in two years we’ve been out doing much of anything other than with our close family and friend ”pods”. It was REALLY nice to be in a concert venue with live music. The festival is in Bellevue, which is in King County to the north of us, and they are still requiring masks and proof of vaccination for indoor spaces. They also sold only about the half the usual number of tickets (intentionally), so we felt pretty safe, especially since the Covid numbers have dropped pretty dramatically here.

I did get some knitting done. Here’s the sock in progress.

I started the long weekend with just the cuff of that second sock started, so got about half a sock knit. I also worked on a secret project that will be a gift, so I can’t show it to you. That sock yarn is from Three Irish Girls, it is their Adorn sock yarn, color name ”Tits Up!” (reference to a character in Mrs. Maisel).

I realized while uploading that photo that I completely missed posting a finished project.

Those are socks for John. The yarn is John Arbon Exmoor Sock yarn, colors Mackerel Sky and Mizzle. It’s the same ”pattern” I always use for socks.

I really am going to try to be a better blogger. Really.

*That could be the first line in a banjo haiku.

Merry Christmas!

And a finished project or two!

We’re having a low key Christmas. Given the latest covid spike, we have been hanging close to home until we see how this looks for those of us vaccinated and boosted (which we both are). We’re supposed to leave for a two week vacation to Mexico in a couple of weeks. I’m not as much worried about getting Covid there, it sounds like they have a pretty strict masking policy in Puerto Vallarta, and we’ll be outside much of the time that we’re not in our rental place. There is a mandatory 14 day quarantine to reenter the US if we DO get sick, so that is a consideration. An unplanned 14 day lockdown in a foreign country likely wouldn’t be a whole lot of fun. We have not been more than 25 miles from home since March of 2020, so I am more than ready to get the hell out of here and go someplace. I’m just ready for this to be over, and pissed as hell at all the lunatics who have driven this pandemic to where we are.

But on to the knitting. There has been knitting.

New socks! The photo doesn’t show it well, but those are sparkly! The yarn is from West Yorkshire Spinners, one of my favorite sock yarns. The color is this year’s holiday themed yarn, Vintage Tinsel. It’s the same old pattern, size 2.00 mm double point needles. These are for me, just in time for Christmas. I started these November 6th, finished last night.

The bigger project is my Snark-o-Meter shawl. I finished it earlier this week, and it came off the blocking board today.

Project Details:

  • Pattern: Snark-O-Meter mystery knit along, by Casapinka
  • Yarn: The gold gradient is Three Irish Girls Adorn Sock yarn, the other three colors are also deep stash, three different shades of yarn from the Sanguine Gryphon, a long-closed shop.
  • Needles: US size 3 and 5
  • Started: August 14, 2021
  • Finished: December 24, 2021
  • For: ME
  • Modifications: I added a section of 2 row color stripes to add a bit of length, otherwise it’s as written
  • Rating: ***** on both yarn and pattern.
  • What I learned: I don’t hate mystery knit alongs as much as I thought I do. I actually finished this in the same year that the KAL started, so I count that as a win. The changing stitch patterns were loads of fun, and these colors work together better than I had hoped.

There is already a new sock on the needles, and a new shawl. I’ll save that for next time.

Lastly, a photo of our Christmas tree.

I wish everyone a happy and safe holiday season!

Loose ends

The Snark-o-meter is approaching done-ness. I have just two sections of the pattern stitches left, so about 50 rows or so left. I may add a few sections to make it longer, since I have plenty of all four colors left.

But those ends. I have been mostly sewing them in as I finish sections, but I haven’t done it in a bit. That’s today’s project. Not the most exciting thing to do in knitting a project, but there is a sense of accomplishment once it is done.

This has been a really fun project for me. Casapinka has some great patterns, and this isn’t the last of them for me.

Done, done, and started

I’m apparently better at knitting and finishing things than I am about blogging about them. I have two finished pairs of socks to show.

I finished these about a month ago.

Those are for John. The yarn is Zen Yarn Garden Squooshy Sock, color Anna Grace. This is lovely yarn, though the color is one of those that is difficult to photograph accurately. It’s a summer sky blue, but looks more aqua in some of the photos.

I finished the second pair over the weekend. These are for me.

I love, love, love these. This is Opal sock yarn, the color is from their 25 years of Opal Jubilee Collection (#11047 if you are looking for it). Those colors will brighten up the gloomiest day.

Both pairs are my own basic pattern, top down, 72 stitches, heel flap and gusset, knit on 2.00 mm double point needles.

Here is the newly started pair.

The yarn is West Yorkshire Spinners Signature Sparkle sock yarn, color Vintage Tinsel. It’s much sparklier in real life.

Those will be quite festive for the Christmas season!

Barrels, monkeys

I’m not sure how much fun barrels of monkeys really are. This crazy shawl is more fun than a barrel full of pretty much anything.

The pattern is Snark-o-Meter, a mystery knit-a-long shawl by Casapinka. For someone who finds plain stockinette sweaters and socks a blast to knit, this much color and texture is almost more fun than I can stand.

The colors and stitch patterns change just about the time you get bored, but it’s still an easy enough pattern overall to not be too mentally taxing (i.e. still works for binge-watching a favorite show).

I also have the yarn and patterns for a couple of her other shawls, including the Crown Wools and the Sharon Show. Both look equally fun to knit. All three are big squishy fingering weight rectangular pieces with lots of color and texture, so should be fun to wear as well.

Everything else is OK in Chez Knitting Doctor world. We are recovered from the Great Summer of Visiting Relatives. I love them all, but it did seem like every time we woke up, there was another bunch moving into our guest rooms.

We’re now heading into the season of major home maintenance. Our master bath has been in need of some upgrades/repairs ever since we moved in here two decades ago. And our kitchen wall oven has been unreliable for close to a year. It’s a gas oven, and it sort of works as long as the temp stays under about 400 degrees. Anything higher than that, or if it is on too long, and it just shuts off. It’s an old Viking, and they don’t make the parts to repair it. When we remodeled the kitchen several years ago, we discovered that there was never a 220v outlet installed in the kitchen. Gas ovens in general are hard to find, and quite expensive, but it would be a major project at this point to run a 220 line to the kitchen. We’ve finally found the right oven (and cooktop, since that needed replacement also), and it’s on order. And we’re at the beginning stages of the bathroom remodel planning.

But we’re not spending money on travel, so we have more cash available for home upgrades, right? We’ve recently canceled another big trip that was supposed to happen in October. This was already rescheduled from last spring, so it’s beyond irritating that we’re still in this pandemic largely due to selfish idiots who won’t get vaccinated.

And I’ll leave it at that. Back to fun knitting!

Never-ending lace

This monster is slowly but surely getting done. I’m past the halfway point, but still have 172 rows left, plus the crocheted edging along the long sides. I clocked myself a couple of days ago, I’m averaging 10 minutes a row, so I still have a bit to go.

Because lace-in-progress photos always look like crap, here’s the photo from the pattern with what this will look like.

I bought this yarn years ago, it is handspun yarn, spun by women in Tajikistan as well as Afghanistan. This particular batch was spun by a woman in Afghanistan, named Maliknoz. The fiber is 100% kid mohair, aka cashmere. This is still marketed by Cashmere People Yarns, and you can buy similar yarn here. They also sell a cashgora blend in several weights. Go buy some, you won’t be sorry you did.

And a photo of my remaining skein. I’ll have at least a bit of this left once I’ve finished the shawl, but this surely won’t go to waste.

One finished, another started

New socks! I don’t even think I showed that I’d started these, but they’re done as of this morning.

I started these on July 28th, so just about a month to finish. The pattern is the same MacGyver’d pattern I always do: top down, German twisted cast on with 2 by 2 rib, flap heel and gusset. Knit on size 2 mm double points. The yarn is Urth Uneek Sock, color Tigress.

That makes room in the WIP list for a new pair of socks.

A boy that I know that likes blue has already claimed these. John says these are pretty close to Carolina blue. The color name is Anna Grace, but I think it looks like cumulocirrus clouds.

The yarn is from deep stash. I bought this years ago from Kris when she had a yarn shop named Sonny and Shear. The yarn is from Zen Yarn Garden, especially dyed for Kris and named after her daughter, Anna Grace.

There’s lots more going on in my knitting world, but I’ll save it for next time.

Pesto blobs

We have several basil plants on our patio that have yielded a bounty of basil all at once. I made a huge batch of pesto yesterday (around 12 cups of cleaned basil). I’m freezing it in meal-sized blobs to give us a taste of summer through the dark, rainy days of winter.

That’s just a bag of happiness right there.

I have been knitting, of course. I signed up for a mystery knit-along, Casapinka’s autumn shawl project. It’s just plain fun. I have the first clue done, the next one comes out tomorrow. I even used stash yarns.

The first section used three of the four colors, the fourth I’m using is a deep blue. Most of the yarn is from the Sanguine Gryphon, sadly no longer available. That pale gold is a four skein gold gradient from a long-ago sock yarn club (Three Irish Girls).

Those little knitted knots in the center of that are called Gobshites, if you want to know. There’s likely an official knitting name for them, but that’s what the designer calls them, so there you have it. If you’ve knitted any of her patterns, you already know that she doesn’t take things too seriously.

Something new, part 1

Since I was on a finishing frenzy in July, I had plenty of open needles to start some new things. Here’s the first new thing.

This is going to be another CustomFit cardigan. The pattern is Mine Hill, here is the photo from the pattern.

I plan on making it with full length sleeves. This will be a nice “between seasons” layering piece. I’m using a lovely wool blend from John Arbon Textiles, one of my favorite wool sources. They have some wonderful wool blends, I did a pair of socks earlier this year using their Exmoor Sock yarn. This is their latest offering, Appledore DK.

The color name is Sheep’s Nose. The yarn is a blend of Devon, Romney, and Exmoor wool, and it has a nice soft hand despite a bit of a rustic look. It also has a divine sheepy smell. You will hear more about John Arbon’s wool here in the future, since it is becoming one of my favorite sources for yarn. It isn’t cheap, but it is very high quality, and the mill is a small family-run business that uses primarily local fiber, and processes the wool on vintage spinning machines. I ordered this particular wool direct from their UK shop, the shipping was reasonable and fast. The Woolly Thistle here in the US does carry some of their yarns, though not this one at the moment.

I have some other new projects to show you, but I’ll save those for later!

Dockside Cardigan

Finished!

Project Notes:

  • Pattern: Dockside Cardigan, by Amy Herzog. This is one of her CustomFit patterns.
  • Yarn: Warm Valley Orchard wool/alpaca blend. This is deep stash yarn, purchased on a vacation to their farm on Orcas Island in 2006. It’s about time it got made into something lovely. I used a bit under 1600 yards for this, I have a little under 700 yards left for a squishy shawl, or perhaps hat and mittens.
  • Needle: Size 6 circular
  • Started: February 22, 2021
  • Finished: July 27, 2021
  • For: Me
  • Rating: *****for both pattern and the wool. If you haven’t used CustomFit, you pick your pattern, enter your own body measurements and your row and stitch gauge from your swatch. You get a pattern that is customized for your fit and the yarn you want to use. I’m sold on this. This is the best fitting sweater I’ve ever made.
  • What I learned: I need to knit more from deep stash. I have some very lovely yarns that I’ve collected over the years. The new and shiny will always catch my eye, but the “old and curated” once caught my eye for a very good reason. I also learned to trust the measurements. I tend to knit oversized sweaters in general, so I kept thinking that this was going to be on the small size. It fits perfectly.

Another couple of photos, since I don’t finish a sweater every day.

Buttons

I finished the knitting on my Dockside Cardigan over the weekend, and sat down this morning to sew on buttons. Button-sewing is not my favorite task, and it needed to get done in the morning hours when it is still relatively cool around here.

Here they are, half done. There are actually five already sewn on, five more to go.

And a close up:

How about that fancy button-shank-making tool?

Of course, where there are buttons, there should be buttonholes. I did remember to put those in as well. I fidgeted around with a couple of different methods of knitting these, and settled on a one-row buttonhole using the “TULIPS” method. Here’s a link to an article about how to do these, and a video explanation as well. These look really complicated, but once you’ve done one, it all makes sense. It’s the best of the horizontally placed buttonholes that I’ve found.

Next time, I’ll do a finished project post about this, and perhaps a bonus finished project as well!

Little lace loops

I’ve been knitting away on my Cathedral Stole lace shawl for months. My Ravelry project page says I started this in 2016, which is true. This is what it looked like since then.

I pulled this out of hibernation in mid March and started working on it again. This is a rectangular shawl, started in the middle with a provisional cast on. You knit for miles, bind off, then pick up the provisional stitches in the center and knit for a few more miles. Fortunately I’m happy knitting the same thing for miles and miles. This yarn helps. I bought this yarn in 2014. Here is what I wrote about it then. *

 Peace Fleece got in some lovely lace yarn hand spun by women in Tajikistan. They had a nice little story to go with the yarn about how these women spin yarn to help feed and clothe their families. One skein provides enough money for them to buy a chicken, a loaf of bread, or a kilogram of potatoes. Tell me you could resist that. Let’s just say I bought enough for a nice chicken dinner complete with potatoes and bread for the whole family. 

I’m not sure exactly why this sat unloved for so long. At any rate, I am just finishing the first half. I decided to do a fancy schmancy crochet loop bind off. It isn’t hard to do, just fidgety. And trust me, you do NOT want to have to undo this, so make sure it is what you want before you wade in. You can always put in a lifeline before you bind off, but where’s the fun and adventure in THAT.

It makes pretty little loops along the edge. Here’s a birds eye view of the lace.

Have faith. Lace knitting always looks like crap until it’s finished and blocked.

*The links in the quote don’t work, Peace Fleece only carried this for a short time. This, my friends, is why I buy yarn that I love when I see it.