Tenth Year of Projects - Week 4

This week has given me a lot of progress on my projects!  This is thanks to many hours of Zoom meetings - still...

Ongoing works in progress:
1) Sock Scrap-ghan - I managed to add 7 squares to my scrap wrap - I think this is the new nickname for this project - it kind of popped out in my podcast... and I love the name!  I now need to add 86 more squares to get this to completion. 

2) Stillness Shawl MKAL - this is a mystery knit along by Helen Stewart that I cast on June 25th 2020.  We get one clue each Thursday in July.  This past week gave us Clue #5 - the final clue - and I am am almost done!  I won't post pictures here as it is still a mystery.  I have shown it in detail on my podcast (linked below) so if you wish to see it please take a peek.

3) Tegna - this is a summer sweater by Caitlin Hunter.  I cast this on June 28th and am making decent progress on it.  I have added another two inches of stockinette this week (progress is from the stitch marker upwards)!  It is still a long way from completion, but I am making progress!

I also spend some time showing my progress on my projects on my podcast.  I just posted a new video on Saturday in case you want to check it out!  And I am having a little give away over there!  I would be so happy if you subscribed to my little channel ♥

Please head over to the forum on Ravelry to see what others are up to with their YOPs!

Eighth Year of Projects - Week 4

Hello everyone!!  Back for another weekly update on my projects!  I had a pretty productive week!

First I finished my Plan A Socks for Stage 1 of Tour de Sock.  I did finish them in time to qualify for a point!  I am not really that competitive in this competition and never expect to win anything, but it is nice to get a few points!  I was quite disappointed with my yarn choice for this pattern.  It does not show off the pattern at all.  I have two more 50 gram skeins of this in blue and four in shades of brown.  I suspect I will just do simple vanilla socks with the rest of the yarn.  Here is what my finished socks look like (the stitch markers are showing the end of each repeat) and a close up of the stitch detail:

And Stage 2 - Odensjon Socks - began on Wednesday.  I am really enjoying this pattern!  But I am finding something interesting with the yarn.  I am using some Madelinetosh twist light that I bought somewhere quite some time ago and there is a clear difference in the color from one end of the skein to the other.  I caked up the skein and am knitting from the middle and the outside at the same time (I like to knit my socks two at a time in tandem).  The middle is more of a light blue/gray and the outside is clearly quite a lot lighter a shade of gray.  Weird!!  Either this skein is one long super gradual gradient or there was a fair bit more color at one end.  Oh well.  Maybe this Tour will be my one with some kind of "issue" with every yarn choice I make :)  Anyway, I managed to get to the end of both heel turns before I hit the hay last night.  Today I will move on to the gussets and the feet.  I suspect I will have these done by next week's update!

I hope everyone is having a wonderful week!!  Take care and I'll see you next Sunday!

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 44

I can't believe how close to the end of the YOP year we are getting!!  And I can't believe I have consistently posted for so many weeks!!

This has been a productive week.  I started and finished my Sock Madness Round 3 socks!  The pattern was released on Sunday morning and I cast on in the early afternoon.  I knit like a fiend and managed to finish by 1am on Friday morning!  This might be a record for me to knit a pair of socks!  I managed to finish fast enough to make the cut and to advance to Round 4!!  I was the last one to cross the line and move ahead!  I took spot #20 of  20 places!  Next round will have only 10 advance - I am not sure I am fast enough to manage that, but we shall see!  The pattern was fun and really did knit up fast!  Here is what they look like:

Once my hands were rested a bit (not really, but...) I got back to my Impressionists MKAL shawl.  I finished the third clue and am now working on the fourth (and final) clue.  I have eight rows left to do (ranging from 514 stitches to 534 stitches per row...) plus the cast off.  Right side rows increase by 4 stitches and wrong side rows increase by 2 stitches...  The cast off is a picot bind off and I am considering adding beads to the picots!  I have a bit of time to decide on that before I cast off.  I hope to have this one done and blocked for next weekend.  I had hoped to have them as a finish for today, but I didn't make it...  I can't wait to have this off the needles!!  The picture is all scrunchy and bunchy since it is on a relatively short cable (especially for the number of stitches).  My progress since the last update is from the green marker.

And I want to spend some time with my Rowe Cardigan this week coming up!

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 36

Another week!!  I can hardly believe that February is gone and that I am still consistently posting every week for this project!! 36 weeks!!!

This past week has been another productive one for me.  First up - I finished my February Mystery Socks and I love them!!  I did play a game of yarn chicken with this pair.  I am not sure why I came so close - usually these skeins have enough yarn in them for most typical socks.  I don't think this one was particularly yarn hungry!  Either way - I won the game of yarn chicken with only a few yards to spare!  Here is a picture of the finished socks and the leftover yarn:

I also spent some time working on my BAMCAL afghan from 2017.  I had all the pieces crocheted and only had to sew them together and add a border.  I am happy to say that this little blanket is now a finished object as well!  This will go into my donation pile (note to self: start thinking about where to donate these blankies - the pile is growing!)  Here it is:

I also managed to finish my BAMKAL afghan.  I finally stitched the squares together and added a little border.  This poor thing is so wonky!!  The squares are not all the same size and I basically "made it work"!!  This might get donated to a pet shelter unless it looks better after it has had a run through the washing machine.  Right now I am not sure I would like to donate it to a person...  It is not the nicest quality job I have done...

Sock Madness 12 began on Thursday March 1st and I am now happily knitting through the qualifying round pattern.  We have a full two weeks to complete the pattern in order to be placed on a team for the remainder of the competition.  The two week window is sufficient time for me to get the socks all knit up.  The color work portion is all done and the remaining portion of the socks will all be in the purple.  There is an option for heels and/or toes in the light color but I do not have enough to manage either option - so the rest will be purple!  Here is where I am at now:

There is no progress to report on my Rowe Cardigan...  I spent a bit of time instead finishing the BAMCAL afghan and working on the BAMKAL afghan.  Once my qualifying socks are complete I will focus on Rowe!

When I list everything down here it looks like I made some amazing progress this past week!!

We are heading into Spring Break now, but I unofficially began Spring Break on Wednesday after my last class was done!  Although I did finish up a few lingering tasks so that I would be able to enjoy my break!!  We are going away to a water slide park from Monday through Friday - hubbies choice - but it gives me some time to sit poolside and knit or read to my heart's content!

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 35

Another week has come and gone very quickly!!  The hubby is out of town (and will be for another week) so that has freed up a bit more knitting time for me (although I do miss him being underfoot!)

The final clue for our Mystery Sock was released yesterday morning and I spent my free time yesterday working on that!  I have completed the chart on one sock (and have to add a bit more plain before the toe decreasing) and I have the gusset decreases done on the second sock.  I am hoping to get a fair bit more done on these today!  They will certainly be a finish for next week!  The green markers in each sock show where I left off last week.

Since the clue was two days late in being released, I had extra time to spend with my Rowe Cardigan and am excited to say I am getting close to completing the back portion!!  I have finished decreasing for the armholes and have about six or seven inches left to knit before I need to do the shoulder shaping.  Then I am on to the front pieces!!  This is shaping up nicely!!  The first green marker shows where I left off last week and the second marker shows where I need to measure the length from the armhole to the shoulder - this part needs to be a little over nine inches for my size so you can see I have a little way to go until the top part of the back is complete.

I do expect that my time on this cardigan will slow down as Sock Madness will be starting up late next week.  Once that begins the majority of my energy is on speed knitting socks!  But Rowe will be waiting for me between rounds of sock knitting!!  I am excited to see what is in store for us this year!  The specs look like there will be a lot of color work - not sure what kind of color work - but many patterns call for multiple colors of yarn.  That might slow me down, but we shall see!

Until next week!!

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 33

Back for another weekly update on my Year of Projects!  I can hardly believe that I have posted every week for 33 weeks now!!  WOW!

I have focused on two projects this past week and have made some decent progress on each!

First my Rowe Cardigan is coming along nicely.  I have completed the five inches of ribbing on the back and have also completed the first 34 rows on the cable pattern.  Written this way it does not sound like a lot, but it actually is a decent amount when you look at it!  I suspect I am so used to working with fingering weight and small needles that worsted weight and larger needles have rows going a lot faster!!  So far I am thoroughly enjoying the knit!!

The second clue in the Solid Socks Mystery Design was released on Thursday morning and I have been working on that in the second half of the week.  I have the second clue complete on the first sock and have finished round 30 of 53 on the second sock.  I hope to have the second leg complete by the end of today or sometime tomorrow so I can get back to the cardigan for a few days before the third clue comes out!  This will look much nicer once it is on the sock blockers (or a leg) to show off the pretty lace!  It looks a bit scrunchy and bunchy here...

I was looking at some pictures of people's Find Your Fade Shawl and I am not entirely happy with the yarns I dyed to make mine.  My color fades are not quite subtle enough for my liking (I think).  I am mulling over the idea of frogging it and starting over with newly dyed yarns that are closer in colors.  That is a decision I will leave until later!

I hope everyone has an amazing week!!

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 32

Another week and I am back with some finished objects and some new cast ons.  I had a productive week!!

I finally blocked my Advent Scarf!!  It is huge!  I measured it when it was blocking and it is almost ten feet long...  Oye.  I did not pull lengthwise while blocking either...  Oh well!  Granted I did use a heavier weight than called for... lesson learned :)

I also finished and blocked my Advent Cowl!  I did not do any pinning of the cowl - it only needed the blocking to settled and even out the color work.  This may take some time to dry!!  It is four layers of color work...  I love it!!  The pictures show the two sides of the cowl - it was knit all the way and then folded in half around the circumference (bound off using a three needle bind off) thus hiding all the floats. 

I also finished up the last three squares for my BAMCAL afghan.  I still had the December squares to crochet and now they are all done.  I still need to stitch the last squares together so that the afghan is ready to use or give away.  I already stitched about half the squares together and made a small afghan already and now I am ready to make the second afghan with the rest of the squares.  Hopefully I get that done in February!  The first three pictures are the December squares and the fourth picture is one of all the squares that need to be stitched together to make a small afghan.

And I cast on two new projects!  First up is my Solid Socks Mystery KAL.  The first clue was released on Thursday and I got that knit up yesterday.  The remaining clues will come out on Thursdays for the rest of the month.  So far I am loving it - lace and beads!  I can't wait to see the next clue!

And secondly I cast on my Rowe Cardigan.  I swatched for it yesterday!  I know I swatched!!!  I am glad I did because my little swatch was too big.  I need to go down a needle size since I am a loose knitter!  I did that up and cast on the back.  So far I have done only a few rows of ribbing, but it is likely my focus knit until the next clue comes out for the mystery socks on Thursday.

Happy crafting everyone!!

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 17

Hello everyone!  Back for another weekly update!  17 weeks in a row!!!  I am happy that I am keeping up with this!  I had a productive week - especially compared to last week (when we had company and had fun with them instead of crafting much).

I kept caught up with my Temperature Scarf.  This thing is going to be a monster once we get to the end of the year!  My progress since the last picture is from the orange marker forward.

I finished clue number 2 on the Mystery Shawl and got a start on Clue number 3!  This picture shows Clue Number 2.  I am really enjoying this knit although each clue is taking longer as the width of the shawl is growing!

I spent some time on John's Vanilla Socks and am happily cruising down the second foot now.

I also spent some time working on my BAMKAL and BAMCAL squares.  I finished both of the October BAMKAL squares and all my BAMCAL squares!!  I am impressed with myself at finishing all of the October squares in October!

October Main BAMKAL square:

October Alternate BAMKAL square:

October Main 12 Inch BAMCAL Square:

October 12 Inch Filler BAMCAL Square:

October 6 Inch BAMCAL Squares (made four of them):

For the next week I plan to continue working on my Mystery Shawl - the final clue comes out on Friday.  I also plan to keep up with my temperature scarf and hope to finish at least one of my two Socktober socks!

My page of current projects for this YOP can be found here.

To read other blogs taking part in YOP - Year 7 (or to join up yourself - it is never too late!) check out the Ravelry group over here.

Seventh Year of Projects - Week 7

Another week has flown by!!  This week I finished another pair of socks, made a little sweater, and worked on some BAMKAL squares.

First I completed my Tour-de-Sock Stage 3 socks.  These were a fun knit - lace and cables!  What is not to love?  I used my own hand dyed yarn for these and the speckles work fairly well with the cables.

The Stage 4 pattern will be released on Monday night so I will have pictures of another sock in progress next week (I doubt I will finish a pair before Sunday morning as I am busy Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday with work stuff!)

Next I finished my July alternate BAMKAL square and am nearly half complete with the August alternate BAMKAL square.  I plan to spend some time working on my August squares today so I hope to be able to show you two more completed squares next week.

And finally a friend pointed me in the direction of a miniature sweater challenge.  I signed up (and I think sign ups might be closed now) and got the first pattern on Friday.  Once my Stage 3 socks were complete yesterday I cast on and completed this little sweater!  It was a fun knit!  The four patterns are each examples of typical sweater designs to give us an idea of what is involved in knitting a sweater (on a small scale).  I used my leftover yarn from my Stage 3 socks and now only have a tiny little ball left over - maybe enough for one Scrap-ghan square - we shall see later!

And on another note - I got my hair chopped off on Thursday and the hair will be donated to make wigs for cancer patients ♥  They cut off well over a foot of hair!  It was not very thick but certainly long!  Now I need to remember to use a lot less shampoo and conditioner!!

So for next week I plan to work on my BAMKAL squares (finish my August alternate square and make the August Main square), my Stage 4 socks (pattern is available on Monday night), and (time permitting) the second mini sweater (pattern will be emailed to us on Friday).  Tune in next week and see what I accomplished!

New Designs!

Finally I am back to posting something on my blog!  It was been far too long since I posted anything!  I keep threatening to do this on a more regular basis but we see how that has worked :)  Maybe this time I will get back into a rhythm of regular posting.

The school year is all done and I have had a bit of time to relax and unwind.  Now I have shifted into gear and am getting things done!  This past week has been quite productive for me! I had two sock designs that I finished the sample, pattern writing, and testing many months ago (like in the fall - October and November!) but then never got around to doing the edits and publishing the patterns.  I finally got that done this past week!!  Both patterns are getting a lot of love on Ravelry and I have sold several patterns :)  YAY!!  I am counting these as finished objects now!!

Broken Glass

Masculine Socks

 I also had two designs that I had knit up the sample (again one was completed in early November and the other one in December) but I had not got around to do any more work on those.  I have now got the two patterns written up and have the first one out for testing.  I will get the second one out for testing on Sunday afternoon.  I will be without reliable internet for the rest of the weekend (beginning around lunch time today) until Sunday afternoon so I thought is best to hold off on the second test until I can more easily answer any questions.  These two also count as finished objects (mostly!!)

Churro is now being tested

Inner Peace will be up for testing Sunday afternoon

And I have ideas for several more sock designs that I want to get started on!  But first I really should get a few of my needles freed up!  I have two partially complete Sock Madness 11 socks to finish (well three actually, but I want to focus on two first and will get to the third pair once those are done).  I hope to make some serious progress on these this weekend!!  I'll report back next week with how I managed!  Hopefully I can report two more FOs next Friday!

Invitation to the Dance - one sock complete and the second is part way through the gusset decreasing.

Symphony Socks - both have gusset stitches picked up and one has a couple rounds of decreases done.

Let's see where I am next week!