Hey guys! Sorry I'm late for this but just realized it's Wednesday. I'm so hard at work preparing for the Vista Fiber Fiesta, I'm not sure if I'm coming or going. That's the problem for working for yourself, days of the week don't really matter. Sadly, I'll be able to keep track of time better soon as hockey season is starting. I usually know what day it is when, as I keep track of when my teams are playing.
Anyway, I have an update on my Skull Shawl (the pattern is called Jolly Roger shawl). I've started the lace skull border and I have to say, so far this has to be one of my favorite projects I've ever made for myself.
Isn't it awesome!? The whole border is in the Pumpkin Spice. I'm using Candy Skein Savory fingering in Pumpkin Spice and Oyster. Depending how it looks after the border, I might add a few rows of Oyster garter stitch to it before binding off.
That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of the week.
Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing great. I'm sorry this is so late today. I kinda forgot it was Wednesday since my normal Wednesday knitting group met yesterday. I'm so excited for the next few days because I have a group of friends coming to visit, Ruth from Rock and Purl, Rijel from Black Market Wool, Stephanie, who is starting an amazing bag company soon and does the Pick and Throw blog with Rijel, and significant others. We're going to Disneyland on Friday and California Adventure on Sunday, and of course knitting while we're there. The rest of the time just bumming around San Diego, knitting and cross stitching.
I don't have too much to share this week. I'm working on another secret project that I can't share just yet. What I CAN share is the progress of my awesome Armande cardigan!
The picture is a little dark, as I was at a coffee shop, but as you can see I've finished the pockets, zoomed my way up and just finished the decreases. I'm not two rows away from starting the upper body! I adore this pattern so far and it's FREE!
As mentioned before, my husband and I are turning our basement into a tiki bar. (A basement in SoCal...odd I know). Anyway, it already had a wet bar from the original part of the house (the house was built in 1955), so we're just tiki-fying it. We have a TON more to do, but we finished the bar front this weekend. The top will be totally covered as well, but I wanted to show you the work so far (and my mom really wanted to see it. HI MOM!) If you look in the reflection of the mirror, you can also kinda see the side walls...and me. LOL
The side dark pieces are carved by my husband, though it's a little hard to see. Soon we'll be finishing the ceiling, painting the floors and finishing the walls. It's definitely an on going project. I'll keep giving you guys updates if you're interested.
That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of your week! For fun knitting pictures at Disneyland this week, you can follow me on Instagram at @candyskein, Rijel at @rijelviolet, Ruth at @rockandpurl and Stephanie at @befadee.
Hi everyone! Sorry today's post is a little late! I actually have a new project to share with you today.
I've been obsessing over the Armande by Andi Satterlund. Ever seen I saw the pattern a few weeks ago (though since it was a Knitty pattern I'm sure I've seen it before and didn't remember), I couldn't stop thinking about it. I realized despite having a thousand projects to work on, I needed to cast on. I had some Candy Skein Yummy Worsted from the Miele vest I had cast on. I knew I would wear this more, so I frogged that for this.
Sorry for the crappy picture but it's hard to get it all in picture at the moment. It's a bottom up construction and right now I've built the inside of the pockets and are now picking them up as the sweater grows. This is my first time doing pockets and I love how they're constructed for this sweater! Also, another great thing about this pattern, the button band is built in! No need for picking up hundreds of stitches at the end of knitting the body and worrying about puckering.
I can't wait to get this sweater off the needles and wearing it once it gets cooler here.
Also, for those who haven't seen it, the September colorway, Acai Berry is now available at Candyskein.com!
That's it for me today! I hope you have a great rest of your week.
Hi everyone! I hope all is well with you this week. We're just plugging along and working hard. We didn't do much this weekend. I think I've mentioned before but we're turning our basement into a tiki bar. It's a ton of work, but so fun. We worked on that a bit this weekend and hung out with a friend that was in town from the Bay area (San Fransisco).
I've been working a ton of my secret project, but I've also been doing a little knitting. As you can see, I'm speeding right along on my Jolly Roger Shawl I'm still insanely in love with it. I just moved it to a 32" cable as it was super tight on the 24". I'm using Candy Skein Savory fingering in Oyster and Pumpkin Spice.
I've also been working on the Sockhead I'm making my brother in law for Christmas. It got thrown to the side for awhile, but I'm back at it again. I'm on the decreases, so I figured it's almost an FO. I'll post it soon.
That's it for me. I hope you all have a fantastic rest of your week. Hopefully I can post a finished object on Friday!
Hi everyone! I hope you're having a good morning so far. I'm happily taking time out this morning to knit, which I haven't done in a really long time. It's great to be excited about knitting again. I was going through a slow period of time, and I think it's because of summer. It's been so hot here, I haven't wanted to knit. Now I have a few projects I'm dying to cast on and one I love right now that I'm knitting.
Remember me posting the two skeins of yarn last week for a Jolly Roger Shawl? Here it is so far! I'm in SERIOUS love with it. I'm striping every 8 & 9th row. Then I'll do the skull border in the orange and hopefully have enough gray to weigh the bottom down with a few rows. I'm using Candy Skein Savory fingering in Oyster and Pumpkin Spice. I soooo want Fall to be here!
That's it for me today. I hope you all have a great rest of your week.
Hi everyone! Sorry I'm a little late today. I was out late at a concert last night and had to get my orders out this morning. The mailman seems to be coming earlier and earlier lately to beat the heat, I'm guessing!
I haven't had much time to knit lately as I'm working on a SUPER secret project that I hope to share with you guys come mid October at the latest. I'll just say that I"m so so so excited about it and it will be an expansion of Candy Skein.
Before I spill more of the beans, let me get into Work in Progress Wednesday!
As mentioned last week, we went to Jimmy Beans Wool during the retreat. I didn't buy much, as I was almost too overwhelmed and really, I have enough yarn in my stash. It's a little ridiculous. I bought one skein of yarn, fabric (I could have bought so much more fabric and it was 50% off too! I had to contain myself) and needles, because you can never have enough needles.
I wish you could see how intense this yarn is. I cast on another Sockhead with it while at the airport. It's a company I haven't heard of before, Vice Yarn. So far I like it. It's either going to be the most amazing Sockhead or the most hideous Sockhead. I haven't decided yet. I'm going to give it until a little into the stockinette section before deciding.
I posted this yarn on my Instagram a week or so ago, and I can't stop thinking about it. I think I'm going to snatch them from the Candy Skein shelves to make a Halloween shawl. The colorways are Pumpkin Spice and Oyster. I'm considering making the Jolly Roger Shawl and then adding stripes into the body of it. Thoughts?
That's it for me this week. I'm off to work and make Gluten Free banana bread! I hope you have a great rest of your week.
Hi everyone! Look, two weeks in a row!! I'm back in the swing of things and working hard in the heat of the summer. I actually just returned from a knitting/cross stitch/craft retreat in Lake Tahoe. It was an amazing experience. I had so much fun and it was awesome to be surrounded by like minded people for 4 days.
We got to visit and tour Jimmy Beans Wool as some of you know who follow my Instagram feed (@candyskein). I'll hopefully have more time to tell you about it at a later time and share more pictures that weren't posted to Instagram.
A few of us at the retreat have been working on a special project, a kit that combines all of our businesses. In the kit you receive an exclusive colorway skein of yarn from both Candy Skein (which is me) and Black Market Wool (which is owned by my friend Rijel). Two patterns are also included, both designed with the two skeins of yarn that is included, one a sock and the other a shawl. The patterns are designed by Meaghan from Unapologetic Knitter. On top of all that, you also receive an AMAZING bag made by Stephanie (@befedee on Instagram) who is just starting a bag making company. I have to say, this has to be the nicest knitting bag I know own. It's HUGE (and fits both skeins of yarn PLUS. In fact, it fits my Sock Yarn Blanket AND scraps) and has a nice thick interfacing so it stands up on its own and can be used as a yarn bowl when knitting in the wild.
The exclusive fabric, with a logo that combines all of our companies and looks awesome, was designed by SeaandLake. The kits are on sale now for only $99 at blackmarketwool.com!
As far as what I worked on at the retreat, I didn't want to have to pay attention to a pattern or where I was in the knitting, so I worked on my Sock Blanket! A few of us brought yarn scraps so we could share. I think what I love most about this blanket is having different squares from different people, as well as the memory of knitting them. For example, I'll always remember where I know the 12 squares I finished during the retreat!
That's it for me today. I hope you all have a great rest of the week!
Hi everyone! I must start off with an apology. I'm sorry I disappeared for a few weeks unexpectedly. I just realized I needed to step away for a week, and a week turned into more. As a few of you know, I've been doing this a LONG time, 202 weeks which is pretty insane (and almost 4 years!). It's almost 4 years! Wow! I love doing WIPW and FO Friday, but needed a break to realize that. It had become a chore. Sure, it only takes a few minutes, but I would put it off later and later each Tuesday night, until I was already asleep and would sit bolt upright in a panic that I didn't schedule a post. I've had a lot going on the past few weeks with Candy Skein, a new exciting side branch off of Candy Skein that I hope to tell you about soon, my husband not feeling well and home from work for a few days and company in town. Enough with excuses! I just want to say thank you for sticking around if you have and I hope I haven't lost too many of you. I will continue to publish posts for WIPW and FO Friday, but please understand if it's not there as soon as you wake up on Wednesday and Friday mornings. I also hope to post more about other things, as I've gotten away from that as my love for posting diminished.
Enough of that. Now to WIPW!
This is August '14 colorway, Prickly Pear Margarita. I have to admit, it wasn't what I was going for when I first set out to dye August, but sometimes you have to go with the flow. I adore it, but I had no clue how it would knit up. Of course, every skein is extremely different when kettle dyed, but I at least needed an idea before I put it up for sale!
Do you adore it as much as I do!? It's so different than anything I think I've released before. I love how the colors are completely random and it works amazing with this pattern. This is Ruth Garcia-Alcantud's pattern, Sinuous. You all may know her by her company, Rock & Purl! She's amazing, and a good friend of mine. In fact, we'll both be at a retreat starting tomorrow! If you're looking for a pattern that looks amazing and hard, but is really easy to knit and remember, this is the pattern for you!
That's it for me today. I've been working on my Sock Blanket, but want to wait to show it to you until I have a little more progress. I've also been working on cross stitch which I hope to share with you soon!
Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday and 4th July/Canada Day week! I hope you all had a great weekend. We worked around the house the whole weekend, but it was awesome. Sometimes those are the best weekends. Before I get into WIPW, I wanted to let you guys know that I've teamed up with Meaghan from The Apologetic Knitter (@socalmeaghan), Rijel from Black Market Wool (rijelviolet), Alicia from Sea and Lake (@seaandlake) and Stephanie (who makes awesome project bags and will be selling them soon, @befadee) to bring you a raffle! Unfortunately we can't share the entire details with you yet, but we CAN provide you with a teaser AND a chance to win socks made by the wonderful and fantastic @socalmeaghan. If you're fortunate enough to win, you will receive a pair of socks out of the colorway Emerald Bay dyed by Black Market Wool.
We've decided that instead of a giveaway where you post to win and gain us more followers, we're going to do a raffle. Do you love animals? Do you want socks that will fit your feet so perfectly you'll never want to take them off? Do you want to know how to enter to win??!?!??! Well, here are the deetz: To get in on this and win a pair of socks, it's $5 per entry. I know what you're thinking, what the heck? You guys just want my money! Well, we do...but we won't be getting it $5 at a time! Your $5 will be going to RedRover. They are a nonprofit in Sacramento, CA that rescues and helps animals in need. They help with natural disaster relief for pets and even provide grants for people who are no-income or low-income to help cover costs of seriously injured pets. So, if you want to participate AND help some unfortunate pets, head on over to http://www.redrover.org/, hover on "donate" at the top of the page and click "make a donation." Here you'll be able to make your donation. As it was said before, it's $5 per donation, so if you feel like donating $10, your name will be entered 2 times, $15 - 3 times, $20 - 4 times, $25...you get it, right? Yep, FIVE times your name would be entered for the raffle. Now, the important part: Once you've donated, you will receive an email back. The email will have your address (which Megs will need to be able to ship the winner beautiful socks), and the amount donated (which will be needed to put your name in the raffle). Forward this email to: pick.throw@gmail.com Stephanie and Rijel will be monitoring this email and adding your names to the list for the raffle. Stay tuned for that something amazing and fantastic that was mentioned earlier! Thanks for reading and for those who donate! Now onto WIPW!
I've caught the cross stitch bug again!!! It's been taking up most of my crafting time. I started this cute little cross stitch this weekend and it's flying by. I'm hoping to have it finished in time for the 4th and it looks like I'll make the deadline. It's a Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery design, who I adore. Their patterns are so clear, and fun.
Here is the start of the pattern for my Dad's sock. I love the way it looks but man is it slow going. I'm not sure I'm going to stick with the pattern as it's a 16 row....SIXTEEEN ROW repeat. Dear god. LOL Anyway, I'll get a little further and see if I can take it. If not, I'll pull it out and do something that will go a little faster or that I can at least not having to carry the pattern around with me every single row. I'm using Candy Skein Yummy in Midnight Mousse.
That's it for me today. I hope you all have a great rest of your week and have a safe 4th of July!
Happy Work in Progress Wednesday 200!!!! WOW! That's a LOT of years doing this. HA! Thanks to everyone who stuck by me through some spotty posting times and who still visits weekly.
I have a few new projects to show you and one I'm super excited about. I posted a sneak peek of the upcoming July '14 colorway, Deviled Egg on Instagram so I thought I would share it here as it also has to do with one of my new projects.
The yarn is available in the Monthly Colorway section of candyskein.com in the 3 month pack which starts shipping tomorow. If you'd like to buy single skeins, that will be available on Friday when I post full skein pictures.
I started ANOTHER Sockhead with the yarn, as I knew people would want to see it knit up. Isn't it amazing? It's spiral striping! I'm so in love with it, though already said I would be giving the hat when done, so I'm hoping to have enough yarn left over for ankle socks for me!
This is going to be Escalator Socks and I'm knitting them in Candy Skein Yummy fingering in Midnight Mousse. These are for my stepdad. Mom, please don't show him this picture or any in progress pictures! (Yes my mom reads my blog. LOL) I'm hoping to have them done by his birthday, but since that's right around the corner (August 3rd) and I have a few projects I have to finish for work, I always have Christmas to fall back on. We'll see how fast I can knit big guy socks. HA!
That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of your week!
Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday. I hope you all had a great weekend and the first part of this week. I know I did as I got to watch my hockey team, the LA Kings, hoist the Stanley Cup for the second time in three seasons on Friday night. It was a heck of a finish, as was the whole playoff run. It was made even more special because my husband and I traveled up to LA and watched the game with my mom and sister across from the arena with hundreds of other fans. It was pretty magical to be in that atmosphere. It was great to be back in my home city, as we haven't visited in awhile, so overall a great weekend, which was then topped off with the Stanley Cup parade on Monday.
Due to all the excitement and traveling in the car late at night both there and back, I didn't get much knitting time, but I have made progress on my two projects that I'm actively working on.
The first is the Sockhead for my brother in law out of Candy Skein Savory fingering in colorway Oyster. I'm about 3 1/2-4" into the body of the hat. I haven't decided how tall I want to make it as he isn't a very slouchy hat kind of guy. I'll have to have my husband try it on to be a good judge. I have plenty of time to finish, as it's a Christmas gift for him.
Next up is the Diffraction shawl I'm making for my mother in law for Christmas (it's never too early to start your Christmas knitting) out of Candy Skein Savory fingering in Oatmeal Cookie and Plum. I wish the camera could capture the depth of these two colors. Once I am finished I'll try and see if I can get better pictures of it, as these are just with my iPhone. I'm loving this pattern, and despite the insane number of stitches and the insane number I still have to increase, it's going crazy fast. A friend of my, Regina, is also making one and she just cast off after only two weeks. I think it definitely helped to have someone else work on it at the same time.
That's it for me. I hope you all have a great rest of your week and I'll hopefully have time to share something on Friday!
For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just
fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't
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Good morning everyone. I'm sorry to post this so late for you on Wednesday, but I was at Disneyland yesterday for a friend's 40th birthday and didn't get a chance to type it up. I hope you're all doing great. I'm doing pretty good! My hockey team that I live and breathe is one win away from the Stanley Cup, I was just at Disneyland, my husband is done with insane overtime (for the time being) and tonight I'm headed to LA. Not too shabby!
I've decided to get a jump on Christmas gift this year, and to begin with I decided to make my brother in law a Sockhead. Okay, okay, maybe it was just another excuse to start another one. Anyway, I'm using Candy Skein Savory in colorway Oyster this time and I LOVE how it's turning out. Since he has a bigger head than I do, I'm using 144 sts. Isn't it so so pretty? I sure hope it fits!
And while I was at it, I started this gorgeous shawl/stole/scarf for my mother in law for Christmas. I'm using Candy Skein Savory in Oatmeal Cookie and Plum. The pattern is called Diffraction Shawl. It's a gorgeous pattern and weirdly addicting despite it being a boring knit. You cast on a LOT of stitches using Judy's Magic Cast On, and weirdly, when I KtBL for the second needle on the first row, my stitches ended up twisted. I'm not sure how I cast on without twisting them. Very bizarre. I'm hoping it will block out and not be as noticeable. I wish you could see this thing in person. The Plum is amazing. I'll try and get a better picture of it next week. It's now close to 500 sts! Yikes! HA!
That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of your week. GO KINGS!
For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just
fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't
feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I
just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone
else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves
feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link
back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the
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Hi everyone! Look, I'm posting on Friday! YAY! First off, I just want to say that my team is THREE WINS AWAY from winning the Stanley Cup! WOOHOO. Unreal.
As you know, I'm addicted to the Sockhead hat pattern on Ravelry. I finished the one I made for my friend Meaghan, out of Candy Skein June colorway, Orange Cream Soda!
I cast on 136 sts instead of the 144 called for in the pattern and knit 7" for the body of the hat, instead of 9". Other than that I just followed the pattern. Didn't it pool awesome?!
That's it for me. I hope you have a fantastic weekend. I'll be headed to the dog beach and pub afterward on Saturday, and then to watch game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. GO KINGS!
Hey guys! Sorry I'm late to the party today. To be honest I forgot it was Wednesday! My husband worked on Sunday, and my Monday knitting group didn't knit this week so I don't know if I'm coming or going. HA! I hope you had a great weekend. We did (despite my husband working). We spent a few hours at the San Diego Zoo, as we're lucky enough to be members and live minutes away from one of the best zoos in the world. We then hung out with a friend at our local bar/restaurant. It was awesome because they had Adventures in Babysitting playing, so I just happily sat and watched while knitting and eating/drinking. Can't beat that! Sunday I worked, since my husband did, and then we watched the hockey game. As a bunch of you know, my favorite hockey team (I'm a die hard fan) is the LA Kings. They won on Sunday to earn a berth in the Stanley Cup Finals. To state that I'm excited for game 1 today would be a huge understatement!
But you didn't come here to talk about hockey!
I'm sorry to say I don't have much that is exciting to share today. I finished my second Sockhead hat, and what did I do? I cast on another. Yes, this is my THIRD straight one. I'm loving the simple knitting and quick finish of this project. This time I'm using Candy Skein Savory fingering in colorway Oyster. I'm making this for my brother in law in Chicago. I figured it's never too early to start Christmas knitting, right? It will be November/December before we know it! I can't believe it's already June!
That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of your week. I PROMISE to have FO Friday up, as I'll hopefully get it scheduled today.
Hi everyone! I hope you had a great weekend and a fun Memorial Day if you live in the US. My weekend was pretty quiet and chill. We hung out around the house on Saturday and Sunday had happy hour with friends. My husband had to work the holiday, but I went to my niece's 10th birthday which was nice, and then got to watch my hockey team, the LA Kings, come one win away from the Stanley Cup Finals. Pretty exciting!
As you may remember, I just made a Sockhead hat. Guess what?! I started another one. Crazy, right? This pattern is stupid addictive. It's insane how quickly I can make these and how cute they are.
Here's the backside of it with a little bit of the stockinette body. I'm a little further than this now, but this was the last picture I had.
Now I need to decide what yarn to use for the next one! HA!
You may be wondering what yarn I'm using. It's the Candy Skein June '14 colorway, Orange Cream Soda, on sale later this week! Here's a sneak peek of it in the hank.
That's it for me today. I hope you all have a great rest of your week!
For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just
fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't
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else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves
feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link
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Hi everyone. I hope you had a great weekend. We had a relaxing Saturday and on Sunday went to Disneyland and California Adventure a few hours. That's always fun.
The fires here in San Diego were intense last week, but luckily the weather has changed and really helped get them under control. It was 106 degrees on Thursday, about 35+ degrees hotter than our average. We're back down to 70F already, which is crazy but welcomed. our thoughts are with all the family who lost homes and businesses.
I've had some time to do some knitting and cross stitching due to the extreme heat last week.
This is the hat I started last week. The pattern is Sockhead, which is free on Ravelry. As I think I mentioned last week, I went with 136 sts instead of 144 and am using a US 2 needle. I'm using Black Market Wool The Milo Twist in No Use For a Name.
I started this cross stitch awhile back for my husband but am getting to it again. I love working on cross stitch. It's such a different kind of relaxing vs knitting. I hope to finish this soon, as my husband is back on overtime for the next four weeks. Lots of time to craft!
That's it for me today. I hope you all have a great rest of the week!
For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just
fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't
feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I
just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone
else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves
feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link
back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the
merrier!
