FO Friday 129

Happy Friday! Today is a good day, as I did my taxes yesterday and had an appointment with my accountant today. It's always good to get that off one's shoulders, isn't it? I know I feel better without it in the back of my mind!

Today, as you all know, I finally get to share my Color Affection Shawl. I will say, it was a beast, and it got what I wished for. I did a few changes to make it bigger, and did I! I didn't expect it to be quite THIS big, but I wanted a shawl I could cuddle with on the couch on cold days, or even if the air conditioning was on in the summer and I was a little chilly in a tank top, for example. I certainly got that, and more!

 

This is the shawl draped over a banister in my back yard.

 

I thought this was pretty amusing. I stood on a step stool to get the shawl onto my patio cover. Here it is hanging down as I stand on the ground. Crazy, right?

Draped over my fence in the front yard. I think this shows you JUST how big it is! This is a normal style picket fence.

 I wanted to show this picture since the one earlier you could see through it with the slatted fence.

Last but not least, a close up of the three layers. Please excuse my shade in the bottom left corner

Project details:

Yarn: Candy Skein Sweet fingering in Fudge Brownie, Brain Freeze and Pumpkin (50% merino/50% silk)

Needles: Knitters Pride 4.0 mm, US size 6

Pattern: Color Affection

Notes: As mentioned, I did a few things different. I only did double increases for the first section and border. I also made it deeper by only going 2 sts past, instead of 3 in the short row section. This was a project that I followed for better instructions. Another thing I did (by accident actually, as I thought that's what I needed to do), I carried the short row section all the way across the whole thing, instead of only doing 9 repeats. It would be been nice to re-read the pattern, eh? Anyway, it definitely made it BIG! LOL

I hope you guys like it, as you've been having to see it's progress forever now!

Share your FOs!

Work in Progress Wednesday 134

Happy Wednesday! Thanks for the well wishes on Friday. The good news is it wasn't a cold, the bad news is I am SEVERELY allergic to something in my new neighborhood. Luckily, I started taking Allegra and that seems to be working for now. I can actually think, breathe and my sinuses don't feel like they're going to explode which is always good!

I'm sure you guys are getting extremely tired of seeing my Color Affection by now, as I'm getting super tired of knitting it. The thing is now massive. I feel like I'm knitting a freakin' blanket and am now concerned I'm going to run out of the brown yarn!! The good news on that is I have more skeins of it I can pull from Candy Skein, so I'm covered but it won't be in the same dye lot. We'll see what happens. I counted and have something like 13 stripes left total. Each stripe takes me a good 30+ minutes at this point, so despite not having a ton left to do, it's taking awhile. I then have to do the border in Pumpkin. Again, this is Candy Skein Sweet fingering, which is available for purchase!

That's it for me today! I hope you have a great rest of the week! Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about the posts I promised you. I've been extremely busy and hope to get to them this 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 133

Hi everyone! I hope you're having a good week so far. It's crazy busy in my neck of the woods as we have the last push before handing over the keys to our condo to the renters. I'm so excited to get that monkey off my back of stressing about renting it.

I had a great time at Stitches and I'll write more about that later, as I'll just focus on WIPW. On the trip I got a chance to knit in the car, but not much knitting other than that believe it or not. I thought we'd have tons of time to just sit around and knit but we didn't have a moment to spare! Granted, we were only there for one full day and two days of driving.

I was happy to have an easy project like my Color Affection shawl to work in the car. The only hard part was trying to juggle three balls of yarn on my knees! As you can see, I'm working my way across the shawl with the stripes. I have a bit more to go, but I definitely made huge progress. I can't wait to bind off to really see it. It's so squished on the needles/cable, it's hard to tell what it really looks like.

This is a new project, as I was dying to cast on with new Stitches yarn and needles. It's Cephalopod Skinny Bugga! yarn in colorway Blue Ringed Octopus. I'm using the new Knitter's Pride Karbonz needles in size US 1.5 (2.5mm). I'll do a review of the needles soon! Anyway, I'm going to make the Hourglass Eyelet Socks which is a free pattern on Ravelry.

That's it for me today! I'll have more posts this week about my trip and hopefully the needles! 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 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 132

Hi everyone! It's been a CRAZY week over here, let me tell you! We rented our townhouse, so the past week has been all about showing the place, paperwork, Home Depot and plumbers. Add to that a lot of orders to fill and my undyed yarn got stuck in customs. Oh yeah, and I'm leaving for Stitches in a few days! I'm just a little stressed. ;)

Speaking of Stitches, a few of you have asked if I'll have a booth there. Not this year, I'm just going with a group of my best friends. I thought it was best to experience Stitches first, before jumping straight into the deep end. I hope to be a vendor next year. :) If you'd like to follow my group's trip up to Stitches, you can follow me on Instagram at @candyskein. I'll try to take lots of pictures for everyone.

My WIP isn't too exciting to say the least. The Color Affection shawl is growing, slowly but surely but it doesn't really look much different to be honest, so I'm not going to bother with a picture. I'm still enjoying the yarn/pattern and will at some point probably make another one. It will be great car knitting while we drive the 8 hours to Santa Clara.

That's it for me today. Sorry to keep it so short. 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 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 131

Hi everyone. I hope you had a great weekend and are having a good week as well. Also, a happy early Valentine's day! We took it easy this weekend, enjoying a nice dinner Saturday night with a Groupon to a restaurant we'd never been to. I love finding new places to eat, especially in our new neighborhood! We also did the not fun task of going through a bunch of boxes from our move that have been hanging out in our garage. Overall it was nice to just be home. I didn't get too much knitting done, but I did start the 3rd color of my Color Affection shawl.

Once I added the first few rows of the orange, I wasn't quite sure about it. Now that I'm further into it, I'm loving it. I was hoping to have it done by Stitches West, but considering we leave a week from Thursday, I'm not sure that's going to happen unless I find a LOT of knitting time. I really do love this pattern, as it's mindless, but not too boring, at least for me, due to the stripes/color change. I'd definitely consider making another one, but next time I might have it on a longer cable as It's hard to spread it out and really see the progress I'm making! I wanted mine really big (more deep than wide), so I followed someone's instructions on Ravelry to do this. I'll give more details later. :) I hope it comes out huge, as I want it to be more of a house wrap/comfy couch shawl more than anything. We'll see.

That's it for me today. I will be posting Sweet fingering for the first time (what my Color Affection shawl is made from) on the site/blog this Thursday, so be sure to check back then for that. I hope you have a great rest of your week and I'll see you again for FO Friday as well!


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 130

Hi everyone! I hope you all had a great weekend and are having a great week as well. I had a good time at TNNA. I actually learned a lot and it was great to see so much yarn being displayed so beautifully. It was nice to just relax and not have to worry about what to buy, as it wasn't a marketplace. It was very calm, which was what I was hoping, especially since I have Stitches West coming up soon.

This probably looks the same to you, but it actually isn't! I hope to get a better picture soon, but I worked on it all night, trying to get to the third color but I came up short. I'm only 3 rows (1 1/2 stripes) away from adding the 3rd color! I'm so so excited to get to the main, large section of this shawl. It's already getting really big, as you can tell from it bunched on the needles. The one thing I'm NOT looking forward to is juggling three balls of yarn at the same time. This is starting to turn into a project that isn't very easy to carry around. Luckily, I'm home for the rest of the week, as I've already had my two knitting groups this week.


That's it for me today. I'll see you 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 129

Happy Wednesday! I hope you're having a great day and week so far. My Monday didn't go so great, but my Tuesday was much better, so let's hope Wednesday continues the trend. I have even more to look forward to, as this weekend is TNNA! I'll be going with a friend of mine on Sunday and I can't wait. Is it too nerdy that I'm super excited to meet a lot of the "celebrity" knitting community?

Anyway, let's talk about work in progresses!

As you can see, I've been working a little on my Color Affection shawl. The pattern goes a lot faster than I expected, to be honest. I feel like I haven't work on it very much, but I'm halfway through the second section of the pattern. So far so good. With every stripe, I'm falling more in love with my color choices. As mentioned, I'm doing it in Candy Skein Sweet Fingering (coming this week to the CS shop!) in Fudge Brownie, Brain Freeze and later to be added, Pumpkin.

As most of you seemed to like how I shared my last cross stitch pattern, I decided I would share this one as well. I'm super excited about it, as this is my first time using linen!! I love it, despite having to concentrate a lot more than with the Aida cloth. The picture looks a little wonky, as my lines look crooked. They aren't, rest assure, it's just my snap frame pulling the linen uneven. What I'm working on is the January square for Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery's 2013 pattern, Woodland Sampler. On the 2nd of each month, we receive a pattern in our email to do the next square. I'm a little behind, as you can see. I wanted to finish my previous cross stitch before starting this one. That's right, I finished the other one, but that will be for Friday. Once I finish this square, I'll move onto February and hopefully finish that early so that I can continue on and do all the frames for the year.

Just a reminder, only a few more days of the Yarniacs 15% off code at Candy Skein! Just enter the coupon code YARNIACS during checkout to receive 15% off of your total purchase. The code ends February 1st!

That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of the week. I'll see you 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 128

Hi everyone! I hope you had a lovely weekend and a great start to your week. The weather here has been glorious. Blue skies, a light breeze and around 77-80F during the day. It's great for a break in the cold and rain, but I do want my winter back. The good thing about warm weather is it speeds up the drying process on the wet skeins in my studio. :)

I haven't had too much knitting time lately, as I've been working on my cross stitch and savoring the fact that hockey is back! I've also been keeping up on one of my new year hopes, to read more. If you want to read a good book, make sure to check out Libba Bray's first book in a new series, The Diviners. It's awesome. I can also recommend Beth Revis' trilogy that starts with Across the Universe if you're into light sci fi.

Anyway, you aren't here for book recommendations or to here me talk hockey. You want to see what I've been working on!

As mentioned last week, I started my Color Affection shawl for the Yarniacs Podcast self indulgent KAL. I'm using Candy Skein Sweet Fingering (coming soon to the website!) and I'm so excited about it. The yarn is so soft and drapey with a beautiful shine to it. I just started on my second color, as you can see. The first color (or main color) is Fudge Brownie, the second is Brain Freeze. Can you see the yarn just shine?! That's because it's 50% merino/50% silk. I can't wait to get a little further into the stripes to see how they really work together.

Speaking of the Yarniacs podcast, right now I'm giving a 15% off discount with the coupon code Yarniacs through the month of January over at Candy Skein. It's off your total purchase, not just one skein! Enjoy!


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 127

Hi everyone! I hope all is well in your neck of the woods. I'm doing okay. Today (Tuesday), I had one of those days where it started out not how I expected, throwing off the whole day. Half way through, I questioned if I should just quit working for the day and take a nap. Have you ever had one of those?

 Instead, I decided to work a little longer and then go inside and work on my Color Affection shawl. I stopped working on it (and actually started it a few times) because I wasn't sure if I wanted to follow the pattern exact, or change it a little as others have done. Right before I got sick, I decided not to do YOs between the k2 on the pattern (I want it to arc a lot), but instead of m1l and m1r, I am doing kfb. We'll see how it goes. If you've made this pattern, as I know a lot of you have, and changed it up a bit, let me know in the comments! I want mine to be really big and snuggly.

As far as yarn is concerned, I'm using a new Candy Skein yarn, as mentioned previously, Candy Skein Sweet fingering (50% merino superwash/50% silk). This colorway is Fudge Brownie, and the other two colorways I'm using will be Brain Freeze for my second color and Pumpkin for the third and final color.

That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of the week and I'll see you 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 125

Seriously? It's Wednesday again!!?? How did that happen? I feel like I just panicked a few days ago about almost forgetting a post due to a holiday. LOL I hope everyone had a safe and fun New Year's celebration. I just got finished with my New Year's Day dinner of prime rib, baked potato and peas. MMmmm, it was fabulous!

Since last Wednesday, I started a hat! Actually I started last Wednesday. It's the Hinagiku Hat from Ravelry. It's super easy, but tough at the same time. It's the Daisy stitch which I've never done, and let me tell you, it's hard to knit three together and then knit those SAME three together again! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the way this is knitting up. It's a new Candy Skein yarn base called Juicy Sport, but I'll have more on that soon. I'll be releasing the new yarn Thursday and let me tell you, you'll want to check it out. This might be my favorite base I carry as far as the Merino yarns are concerned. Oh, I almost forgot! The colorway is Robin Egg Malt Ball!

One of my favorite podcasts, the Yarniacs, is having a Self Indulgent KAL that starts January 1. You can make anything, as long as it's for yourself! How great is that? I decided to start my Color Affection shawl for the project. I'm using another new yarn (coming) to Candy Skein in the next few weeks called Sweet Fingering. It's a 50/50 merino/silk base and so so soft. It has the same twist/ply as the Delicious fingering. The colors I decided to go with are Pumpkin, Fudge Brownie and Brain Freeze (which looks bluer in the picture than it actually is. It's more of a teal).


That's it for me today! I hope you 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 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!