WiP Parade

While I have several projects waiting their turn to be worked on I'm only actively working on a select few. I've just lost interest in some of my other projects. Oh, I'm sure the time will come when I feel drawn to them again but for now they're just hanging out in the craft room on my new project rack. I'll have to show you that sometime soon.

I've gone back to knitting dishcloths. I knit these when I have just a few minutes, like while making dinner. For quick and easy knitting I just stick with Grandmother's favorite dishcloth pattern and I like size 5 needles.

The nerve damage in my neck makes my hands numb. During the Winter it also makes them very cold. I have a ratty old pair of fingerless mitts but I decided it was time for an upgrade since the original pair was knit flat because I didn't know how to knit in the round at the time. I wanted the mitts to be form fitting so I went with a pattern that had ribbing. I came across this pair which uses one of my favorite stitches - the waffle stitch. I'm almost at the knuckle ribbing on the first pair.

I added a few more white hexies to my mini red, white, and blue wall hanging. I started using beeswax and I really like how it strengths the thread and keeps it from tangling. I also like how it "twangs".

My youngest Robbie (18) was so excited when he received three pairs of hand knit socks for Christmas last year that I decided to make him a box of socks this year. Instead of 12 pairs like most knitters have in their box of socks, I'm aiming for 6 pairs. Robbie wears a size 14 and that's a lot of sock to knit. I imagine I could knit him a pair a month if his socks were the only thing I worked on all month but that's not gonna happen lol.

Do you have any special projects you're working on this month?

TTMT #24 WiP Parade and a little knitting

January 1st 2018 WiP Parade

Another month has come and gone yet again. I'm looking forward to January because it tends to be a slow moving month for me. Every month has the same amount of days give or take but some just speed right by.

I was able to add 34 little 2" squares to my mitre square blanket in December. I found a new morning rhythm. I knit one square each morning while listening to an audio book. I have more "reading" time and more knitting time. I also find it a very relaxing way to start my day. Now if I can just get hubby and the animals to leave me alone for that hour or so in the morning. 

Some people like to block their blankets periodically but I'm not sure when I will block it. If I wait until it's all done then it will be huge and harder to block. If I block as I go then I wonder if the blocking will "set" or will I still need to block it again later? It's getting rolled or folded each time I work on it and "jammed" back into the project bag when done. It's bound to get out of shape again. Knowing me, I'll leave it until the end and even then I might or might not block it lol.

Each block is made from fingering or sock weight yarn but depending on the yarn base it could be thicker or thinner than the square next to it. I'm planning on adding some borders so I figure it will work itself out in the end. If not? Who cares? It's blanket. 

I've picked out my next bunch of minis to go into the blanket. Some of them are so pretty and I would love to knit socks out of many of them. A few of these are from socks I've knit for Robbie and I.

I've spent a little more time on my red, white, and blue hexies. This week I am adding the white trails or paths. If you're interested in seeing how I make my hexies I've been working on a video series over on my YouTube channel RsIslandCrafts - Robin.

I made very little progress on my red, white, and blue (notice a theme this month? lol) scarf. I was planning on taking this with me to my son's 2 hour doctor's appointment but it ended up getting rescheduled and I just never picked it up.

One of my Facebook friends sent me the below picture and asked if I could make her a purple version of this hat. I didn't come across a pattern but I recognized the stitch as seed stitch so I played around with the stitch count until I thought I had it right. Nope. I had to make the ear flaps several times until they looked right. Then after I knit the main body of the hat for 5" I could try on the hat and realized it was way too big. Bummer. I frogged the hat portion and played with the numbers a bit and now I'm happy. I'm back to the 5" mark and I just have to knit to 8.5" and then I can start the decreases. 

You may have noticed that there are no socks in this WiP Parade. I decided that after I finished Robbie's latest pair that I would hold off on casting on another pair until a few days into January. I need to to get the purple cat hat off the needles first and then I will cast on a new pair of socks.

I am carrying over several projects into 2018 but I'm okay with that. I like the idea of having a fresh start for the new year but that's only because then I can start several new projects lol. 

Are you starting the New Year with clear needles and empty wip containers?

November 2017 WiP Parade

It might come as a shock but I only worked on three knitting projects this past month. My main focus was Robbie's socks because they will be another pair of Christmas socks for him. I've turned both heels and now I just need to knit the legs and cuffs. I try to make the legs/cuffs the same length as the foot so when you fold the sock in half the toe and heel match up. Know what I mean?

My daughter Miranda has a co-worker/friend, Gia, that had twin boys earlier this year. Gia asked if I could make a pair of knit hats for the boys for their pictures with Santa. I didn't want to just make Red Santa hats because then after Christmas the boys really couldn't wear them. Although Gia said she would put the Santa hats on the boys in February lol. January and February are our coldest months in my area of Florida so I with a design and color scheme that would work for both Christmas and into the Winter months.

I thought green and white striped stocking hats would be cute on the boys. I was surprised to find a pattern on Ravelry called Not Only Christmas Hat. I actually had it in my library for a few years just waiting for it's turn to be made.  These hats will now become my main focus.

Since I couldn't or didn't want to bring Robbie's socks to the kid's house I of course started a new project. I started this scarf instead of the twin hats because I was waiting on Gia to measure the boys heads for me. I used the Redheart Americana yarn and it has a blue section with white to represent the stars and then it changes from red and white for the stripes of the flag. I looked on Redheart's pattern page and Ravelry and couldn't find a simple scarf pattern so I just cast on somewhere around 28-30 stitches and I'm knitting it in garter stitch which is just knit every row. I'm slipping the first stitch as if to purl with the yarn in front and I'm knitting through the back loop of the last stitch so that the borders are nice and straight. I have another skein and if I don't need it for this scarf I might try a scarf with a big cable up the center. I think that would look nice with this yarn.