Work in Progress 199

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 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!

FO Friday 175

Hi everyone! Happy Friday. Yes, I finally posted FO Friday! Shocking, right? Sorry I've been slacking lately. Not only am I posting a FO Friday, I HAVE a FO!

This week I'm going to share the Rondelay I made with Candy Skein Yummy fingering in Atomic Jelly Beans, the March '14 colorway. This shawl/scarf is made with all short rows and has to be one of the most fun things I've ever knit. Just as the pattern calls for, I used a size US 6 needle and a 40" cable, as at the end you have 412 live stitches. I'd highly recommend this pattern. I used one full skein of yarn.

Just a reminder, Atomic Jelly Beans and this quarter's 3 month pack (April/May/June) will only be on sale until the end of the month at Candyskein.com


I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Share your FOs!

Work in Progress 191

Hi everyone! I hope you're doing well. I'm back from vacation and recharged. I got a little bit of time to knit in the car on the way to Las Vegas, but that's about it. I'm in a mode where I just want to finish projects, so that's my goal

  

First up is this project, the Strathcona scarf by Jane Richmond. It's from the Island collection. I love this pattern so far and this yarn. I've talked about it before, so won't say too much. I'm on the second  half of the scarf but have a bit more to go. Luckily it's a mindless but fun knit so hopefully it will go fast. The yarn is Skinny Bugga! by Cephalopod Yarn in the Sochi colorway, but an Oddity version of it.

This is the very start of the second sock, plus the second sock of my Socks on a Plane. I'm using Candy Skein Savory fingering. Sorry the picture is so yellow, but it's the only way the colorway comes off semi-true to life. When taken normal, the purple shows as blue. This is a great (and free) pattern. :)


That's it for me today. I hope you have a great week. I finished my Rondelay and hope to block it today. I'll share it with you either blocking or dry 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 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! 

Work in Progress Wednesday 186

Hi everyone! Sorry I forgot once again to post Friday. I actually remembered because I was trying to finish my shawl, and then once I didn't finish in time, I forgot to post anyway. Oops! I'm here now for Wednesday though, and that should count for something! ;)


I didn't take a picture of my Sock Yarn Blanket, but I have made progress on it. I just don't want you to get tired of it, and really it doesn't change too much, even when adding squares here and there. I did do a count though, and I have knit a total of 49 squares. Each square is a different yarn (sometimes the same company/base but different color, for example, I have several Candy Skein Yummy fingering and Savory fingering). I've used a total of 11 different yarns. Pretty cool, right? Hopefully I'll have made enough progress next week to warrant a picture.

I have however, started a new project! While at Stitches West a few weeks ago, two of my friends and I were lucky to get our hands on the last 3 skeins of the Sochi Pride colorway (though Oddities) by Cephalopod Yarns on the first day of the marketplace, thanks to our friend Elizabeth. Since they were Oddities of that colorway, each skein was pretty different. We thought it would be fun to knit the same project, using the same size needle and of course the same yarn. We decided to knit Jane Richmond's lovely pattern from her Island collection, Strathcona. This is a simple garter edged mesh scarf that's fun and going really fast. Our yarn is the Bugga! base, so has great drape for the project. I think this will be a perfect scarf for our weather here in San Diego. I highly recommend the yarn and pattern so far! I'll try and get a picture of all of the scarves together next Monday at knit night!

That's it for me today. I hope you all have a great rest of your week. I'm off to watch Frozen with my husband and sit down to a late dinner. I will definitely have a Friday post, as I have finished my Herbivore shawl!

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! 

FO Friday 29

Happy Friday! I'm heading to LA this weekend to visit my parents and for a little fun, so I'm going to make this short because I still some house cleaning/laundry/packing/dinner to make (remember I write this post on Thursday) to do.

That said, I CANNOT WAIT TO SHARE MY FO!!!!!!!!!!! You guessed it....

THE NEVER ENDING SCARF IS FINISHED!!!

Or better known as the Noro Striped scarf that I made with Knit Picks' Chroma. So I'm a nerd and wanted to know how many rows and stitches this scarf had, because honestly it took me awhile. I started it March 3rd and finished yesterday, April 7th.

Here are the numbers:

534 rows
267 rows of each color
20, 826 stitches total

Now, I know that isn't a huge deal to those of you who knit sweaters, but that's a lot of stitches for me!

Materials Used:

Knit Picks size US 7 Harmony needles
Knit Picks Chroma Worsted (Galapagos)
Knit Picks Chroma Worsted (Regency)
Tapestry needle









EDIT: OMG, I was so excited I forgot the Mr Linky! Here it is!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 34

I hope everyone is having a great week! I am so far, and am excited because I just found out I don't have to watch my nieces tomorrow. That may sound terrible. I love watching them, but right now I'm on a huge roll with the blog and yarn dyeing. I've dyed 3 skeins in the last day and a half and love the results. I can't wait to share them with you all, but that's for another post.



I don't have a ton to share this week, as I've spent most of my time with said yarn and website. That being said, I thought I would take some new pics of my Chroma scarf (no, really, it WILL be done this week) in my new light box. This pic matches the color really well, so you can get a good look at what it REALLY looks like. Pretty, isn't it? (Seriously, you must be so sick of this scarf by now. You're probably thinking, oh my god, just finish it already!)




I know this isn't a project just yet, but I have six balls of this beautiful yarn. I started swatching to make this tank top yesterday, but my gauge was off so I have to go up a needle size. I don't have size US 10 that I like, so I may just ask my neighbor if I could borrow hers. We'll see. I've never done that before, but I DID just babysit her cat. I thought this was a great pattern to start clothing on, nice and simple. I think I'm going to do a few rows of ribbing so it doesn't curl at the bottom.



Old pic from yesterday on the left, new one on the right.

I thought you would all enjoy these pics. I went and got a different light bulb for my light box yesterday and loved to see the change between pictures. I also changed the setting a little on the camera. The new pic is a much closer representation of the true color of the yarn.



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!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 33

Are we in a time warp where Wednesday comes around faster than the other days? Maybe it was because I didn't get any crochet/knitting done this weekend except for the trip up to Long Beach to take my in laws to the Queen Mary and a tiki bar. Who knows, but I can't believe it's Wednesday AGAIN!

First off, before I get to WIPW, I want to say how happy I am that Denise's husband is getting better! I'm not sure if you have all been keeping up with her blog, but I'm sitting here typing this with a huge smile on my face to hear such wonderful news. SO YAYAY for that! Denise, please send me your address via email (link in the sidebar).

Okay, back to WIPW:



I'm still working on the blanket of course, and really haven't done much with it. BUT, I did get to two rows of the 3rd color, so I figured I could show you that. :) So here it is. After one more row of that, I'll be repeating back to blue. I made it so wide that I have decided that ripples will go lengthwise. Should be interesting. The length is the size of my couch, so I think it will be a nice length.




Here is my scarf as of yesterday afternoon. I took it to my meet up group, so it's a little longer as I type this. I hope to finish it by FO Friday, but my yarn balls never seem to shrink. It's like the never ending yarn. I'm sure I'll be surprised once I get close to the end. I love it. As you can see, the two colorways have restarted. Sorry for the crap picture of the whole thing, but it was rainy today so it's weird lighting the blew out the colors. I also took a closeup looking away from the scarf so you can get a better idea of the fuzziness and texture of Chroma since a lot of people seemed interested in it. I still plan to write a review up on it when I finish my scarf.




I probably shouldn't have started something else, but I haven't made a dishcloth/washcloth in awhile and I was itching to make another one. I'm using the same pattern I used for this dishcloth, because I love how it turned out. I fell in love with the colors of this particular yarn, so I hope I'm just as happy with this one as the last.

I hope you 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!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 32

Happy Wednesday! I hope you're having a great week, and if you aren't, the good news is it's hump day! I haven't had too much time to knit, but have a little to show. Hopefully next week my time will free up a little and I'll be able to get my knit/crochet on.

I know I promised you all pictures of the pillow finished and on the couch, but I thought I'd share that on Friday (yes, maybe that is a little cheating) since I probably won't have my scarf finished by then.


This is the only thing I have to show today, but it has grown since last week! I'm super excited about it now that I've hit the light color of the Galapagos colorway and the hot pink in the Regency colorway. Again, this is the Noro Striped scarf, but I'm using Knit Pick's new yarn, Chroma. I love the way the two colorways are meshing.

Sorry to be so brief today, but I have a ton of my plate right now. As I mentioned, I hope next week I'll have more stuff to show once my in laws have left, the house is finished and a few other things are off my plate, or at least off the worry plate.

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!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 31

Greetings everyone! I hope everyone had a great weekend. I spent mine painting! We got most of the downstairs painted, but it took us 3 1/2 hours on Saturday and 6 hours straight on Sunday. There are a few touch up that need to happen, as well as the long accent wall still needs it's fresh coat of paint. By the time we had to take a break on Sunday to eat around 5, we couldn't bring ourselves to continue after our meal. Who can blame us?

You may wonder why I'm blabbing so much about our painting, but it's because it brings me to my first WIP.


This may not look like much now, but it will be a pillow! When I bought the latest Crochet Today! magazine, I fell in love with the two patterns. Of course, at the time I didn't realize I would be changing the colors of my downstairs so quickly, which gives me a perfect opportunity to make them now. I went to Joann's Tuesday with 40% coupons in hand and our paint swatches to see how close we can get it with yarn and also to buy the pillows that will fill out the crochet shell. Yes...I had to use my 2nd yarn diet purchase (post coming tomorrow probably), but I think it will be well worth it. As you can see, I'm almost through one full skein of yarn and I just bought it Tuesday. We needed something to tie in the wall colors with our red...yes red...couches. I think this will be perfect. Right now I'm making the petal one (the one with the circles) and will be doing the circles in a red (to match the couch) and possibly a darker teal (to match the accent wall) since the main color matches every other wall in the room. What do you think, two colors for the circles or one? I'd probably do the larger circles in the red and the smaller ones in the darker teal. I hope to have this pillow finished for Friday...we'll see.



On to my second WIP. I'm crazy excited about this one. Remember my yarn purchase last week from Knit Picks? I bought three balls of Chroma yarn. Two of them are for the Noro Striped Scarf that everyone and their brother seems to make. I couldn't resist. They always are so beautiful and Chroma was more in my yarn budget than Noro is (and softer IMO). The two colorways I'm using are Regency and Galapagos. Originally I wanted Galapagos and Midwinter, but they were out of Midwinter when I made my order. I have to say, I'm pretty happy with Regency so far. Isn't it beautiful? I love not knowing what colors come next or what they will look like next to each other.


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!

FO Friday 23

YAY, I have a FO to share! Finally! It's been two weeks but it feels longer than that. Sorry it took so long to post the pics, but my internet hates me apparently!

I'm really happy with this scarf. It's a simple garter stitch, 30 stitches across. It was a perfect project to travel with and work on it when I didn't feel like concentrating. At first I was unsure of the yarn, Filatura Lanarota Alpaca Cloud, that I bought from Smiley's. I bought 3 skeins, but only used two. I'm not sure what to make with it yet, but the yarn is SO soft.

Materials used:

US 9 needles
Filatura Lanarota Alpaca Cloud (2 skeins)
Yarn needle

Share your FOs!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 29

I am back from vacation and very rested, yet injured. Milo pulled me down as we were walking him early in the morning while standing on an icy street. Let's just say, he hates snow plows. I fell on my left wrist, so I didn't get as much knitting/crocheting as I had hoped on the trip. I still had a great time and forgot how much I love snow. We had a great time sledding and just walking through the four feet of snow on the ground. I got to see my first full blown snow fall and it was amazing.

Anyway, here is what I'm working on.


This is the scarf I hoped to finish before/during the trip so I could use it while we were there. Unfortunately, my hurt wrist slowed the progress. I love how it's turning out, even though it's a simple garter stitch. I'm getting used to the very fuzzy yarn, which slowed me down at first. :) I hope to finish it this week for FO Friday if my wrist can handle it.



This is actually a sneak peek (though a very bad picture) of my new self striping dyed yarn. I'm working on the swatch, so I figured I would count that as a WIP. This is my first time knitting with fingering weight yarn and I'm loving it! I'm also in love with the needle, my US 2 Hiya-Hiya. It has a great point and is slippery but not insanely so. I need to have this swatch done for my next Dyeing for Fun post Tuesday, so cross your fingers my wrist holds out between this and the scarf.

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!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 26

Do you know what I just realized? Today marks six months of WIPW. Can you believe that? I can't. Thanks to all of you who have grown WIPW to where it is today. I can't wait until we hit our 1 year mark!

I might as well call this work in progress I HATE THIS YARN! Yes, for some reason I have two projects to share with you today and both have hard to work with yarn. I'm not exactly sure why I did this, but at least I'll appreciate regular yarn when I switch back.


The picture doesn't do the color of the yarn justice. It's actually more of a raspberry redish purple instead of blue purple. Either way, I'm making a garter stitch scarf. Nothing fancy, because this yarn is a little annoying to work with. It's Alpaca Cloud that I got from Smiley's. It is INSANELY soft, but very wispy.




This is a blanket that I started from Light and Lofty. I started with this pattern but changed it a little since I'm using such difficult yarn. The feeling if it crocheted is AMAZING, but working with it is almost impossible. To find the stitches, it's all by feel. I wish it was a little wider, so I was thinking of frogging and starting over so that it's a little wider. It's a little more of a throw than a blanket, so I'm not sure if it matters really. We'll see. I will also be using a tan color right after I finish this row.

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!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 15

First off, I have to say a HUUUGGGEEE thank you to Stacey, one of our lovely weekly WIPW members, who made us a WIP Wednesday blog button to advertise on our blogs! I love it so much, and I hope you all do, too. Please feel free to use it in your WIPW posts and on your blog in the side bar. If you like, you can link it to my WIPW tag here, that will pull up all of our WIPW posts from the past, including the newest one that will appear first. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, please feel free to let me know in the comments section.

Now onto WIPW 15!



That's right...I'M KNITTING A SCARF!!!!!! It's from this pattern, using the knit stitch and purl slip stitch. I screwed up on one row I realize now, so that the first few rows of the ribbing doesn't line up with the rest, but it's hard to see it so no big deal. It also doesn't look much like the project pictures, and I'm not exactly sure why. All the same, I'm super excited about it. At first I thought it looked like crap, but the more I worked on it, I like the way it's shaping up. I'm using Patons Shetland Chunky which I really like, though I wish it would slide on my needles better.

Thanks to all of you who suggested knitting videos and a special thanks to Paula and Alea on helping!

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!

FO Friday 5

Since I showed this in this week's WIPW, it's probably no surprise what my FO Friday is for this week. I asked you all if I should frog the scarf, and for the most part, everyone said no. I decided to take your advice, but I had even more incentive to finish. I found someone who loves it even more than I do.

Meet Roxy, my 8 year old baby

She decided to curl up on it while I was working. I didn't have the heart to move her, especially since she has a cold right now. Once I saw her fall asleep on it, I knew I had to finish it. Who cares that it isn't perfect? She doesn't!

Materials used:

6.00 mm (J) hook
Vanna's Choice (scarf- Rose Mist)
Yarn needle

Share your FO projects!

Work-in-Progress Wednesday 10

Wow, we're already to double digits for WIPW! Awesome! Today I'm going to share two new projects, well, one brand new and the other old but I forgot about it. Sorry for the short post, but I'm on my way to LA for the day (to go to an Eels concert!) and had to write this post early Tuesday morning.



Monday I pulled out all of my yarn to start putting it into my new yarn chest. This included a box I had under my desk, containing projects that I'd forgotten about, got frustrated with or was thinking of frogging. That includes this pretty scarf! I started this scarf back in January or February. I bought the yarn (Vanna's Choice in Rose Mist) for the project because I thought it was pretty (it was before I really knew anything about yarn) and also before I knew about Ravelry. It's a basic double crochet and if you notice, it is not super straight, and a little wide. Part of me wants to frog it, but I'm so close to almost being done, and it was my first scarf, that I'm not sure I have the heart to. What do you think? Finish or frog?



I've been wanting to make socks SOOOOO bad, having bought some fine yarn (my next pair will be made in fingering), yet had too many projects in the works to start them. Monday, I gave in. After arranging my yarn in the chest, I couldn't resist the pretty yarn. It was too tempting. I'm using this pattern, and so far, so good. I think I'm going to get really confused once it comes time for the heel and going into the cuff, but I'm just taking it one stitch at a time. I'm totally excited. I decided to make the sock the biggest size possible, because I crochet really tight and everything I make seems to be on the smaller size compared to the pattern. I figured if it's a little big, no big deal, but too small and I have nothing to do with it. The toe is a little odd on it. I think if I were to make this pattern again, I would make the starting chain a little wider, but maybe it will all come together in the end. Isn't the yarn SO PRETTY! It's Premier Yarns Garden Serenity in Sea.

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!