Demonic Progress

Happy Easter!

April 09, 2023

It’s a time of rejuvenation and snow melting and green things sprouting up. There are tulips and tiger lilies popping up tentatively in the gardens outside, warily looking about for snow, and smiling because there is none. Inside, my amaryllis is fully bloomed and making me smile every day.

I finished the Hello Sweetie socks:

I finished the Tasha Tudor shawl. This is it unblocked. I’m horrible at getting things blocked.

I sent my Bits and Bobs blanket into hibernation because it just got so big and heavy on the circular needles. I kept pulling out stitches because the blanket was stronger than I was it seemed, and the final time it did that again I just told it, “That’s it. Go sit in your project bag until I can deal with you.” Now I’m worried that it will attack me when I peek inside.

So I started the Outfoxed Mitts by Erica Heusser. It’s such a lovely pattern! I used leftovers of fingering yarn in my stash in a foxy color and an off white color:

The Permin Estelle yarn has a bit of angora in it, which I am sure the Fox will appreciate. They only took about a week to complete, which was nice; it’s a quick little project.

I love how the fox’s tail wraps around to the palm. So cute!

I got some yarn from Amazon a while ago, because I loved the colors in it.

This is Golo yarn, made in China. It was advertised as cashmere yarn, but of course it isn’t, because lower down in the description it clearly says that it’s 55% merino and 45% nylon. Besides the color which I loved, it was under $10 a skein for 550 yards. So I thought I would try it for socks.

Unfortunately when it came, I saw it was a single ply, not great for socks, but I did try to start a pair with it because the color was so pretty. Clearly, it did not want to be socks; the yardage told me it was a heavy lace weight, and I cast on more stitches and a smaller needle, but the socks still were loose and holey, and as much as I tried to make a sock, the yarn just kept saying no.

Hill Country Weavers had a simple pattern for A Biased Scarf that would work, so I cast on with my Golo yarn and a size 6 needle and started knitting. This was the right pattern for the yarn. It’s easy, it shows the colors well, and the bias means that it will hang beautifully. I will be excited to finish it!

In other news, Holly Armstrong of Mystery Mouse Yarn has put in her shop the 2023 Advent Calendar for this Christmas. It’s a pre-order, so it won’t ship until early November, but yarn dyers have to put the announcement out early because they have to dye all the yarn, put in little extras, design a pattern for the advent calendar. It’s quite a job, really. Makes me tired just to think of it. Last year’s calendar was “Holmes for the Holidays” and you got a little clue and a color to match which lead you to what Sherlock Holmes mystery it was. This year it’s “Christie for Christmas” and you have to guess which Agatha Christie mystery it is. How exciting!

Have a very enjoyable Easter and keep knitting!

Posted at 07:05 AM in Beth's Knitting Projects, General Blab | Permalink | Comments (0)

Still Snowing

March 15, 2023

But it will soon be spring and the snow will melt! The temperatures are becoming more bearable as well, and I don’t feel like I’m freezing most of the time. Also, drinking more espressos help.

Let’s see what’s going on in my knitting. Last time I said I was knitting a pair of cabled, beaded socks by Heidi Nick. The pattern is Hello, Sweetie and I got the first sock done yesterday:

The toe looks like it is very long — but it measures just 2 inches, which is about right. I think the ribbing makes it look longer. The sock feels a bit tight in circumference but I think that will be taken care with blocking and wearing. My goodness these socks are soft! I can see more socks out of Capretta in my future.

Although I knit the ribbing with two size 1 circular needles, I switched to double pointed needles for the rest, which made it easier for me. Almost every row in this pattern has two to six cables in it which made it go slower and I had to pay more attention to these socks than most, but it was fun. Not every pair of socks is meant for mindless knitting! I’ll start the second pair of socks today, I promise. I always like knitting the second sock more than the first!

My Bits and Bobs blanket has grown considerably.

It’s now at the two foot mark, so it’s one third done. I knit about an inch every night while watching TV. I also make a lot of mistakes that look like purl bumps because I just knit a stitch when I was supposed to knit in the row below. I leave the mistakes in because it makes a random pattern and because this whole row-below thing is ferociously hard to take out properly if you make a mistake. Since it’s a blanket for me and my husband which probably will be used on the porch, it doesn’t really matter. I just like that it’s squishy and warm!

I started another project last week to give me a break form little tiny needles and lots of cables. I’m using 4+ skeins of my handspun black yarn, which uses up most of it, leaving enough to make maybe a hat and mittens. It’s good to use up the yarn. I’m making the Tasha Tudor Shawl by Nancy Bush which was really popular around 2001 or so, maybe later or earlier. A long time ago anyway. It was really popular for making prayer shawls and probably still is. I am making this one for me for keeping me warm!

In the Amaryllis Saga, the 2021 amaryllis is growing like a wild creature and is getting ready to bloom:

I think it’s going to be red again because the bud contains something that appears to be a dark color.
The 2022 amaryllis got a late start but it’s much darker green and more robust looking and working hard to straighten up after being confined in a box:

We should have an amaryllis blooming a long time here!

I should have my socks done by the end of the month, and maybe my shawl as well. Maybe another foot of my blanket too! See you then!

Posted at 09:44 AM in Beth's Knitting Projects | Permalink | Comments (0)

Ah, Spring!

March 05, 2023

We got a big snowstorm yesterday. It dropped about a foot of global warming everywhere. Thank goodness I have lots of wooly warmth!

I love my knitted blankets especially. Right now I have four that I am sort of working on. There’s the crochet ripple afghan that I had to quit working on last fall because I didn’t have any more worsted weight scraps, but now I have more, I found the hook I was using, and sometime this year I’ll finish it. It’s hibernating right now. Also in hibernation is the Bakery Bears My Favourite Blanket KAL. I just have to wait for the March (or is it April?) part to come out, so that’s why it’s in hibernation as well. Finally, also hibernation is the Rectangle Granny square that I started with the remains scraps of DK/sport weight yarn, which I was excited to begin, but I found that I didn’t really have enough scraps of that yarn to go further. I mean, I have enough yarn, but I need more colors. So I will wait.

But I do have enough colors of fingering weight scraps to work on my Bits and Bobs blanket, which is another Kay Jones design of Bakery Bears. I work on this every night, and I already have a foot done. I love it.

This blanket is so soft squishy! It’s all knitting done in a way that looks like brioche but isn’t. It uses two strands of fingering weight held together, so it blends the colors together beautifully. It’s easy enough that you can watch TV and knit. In the beginning I made tons of mistakes but I just left them and kept going, and they’re really not that obvious. The more you do, the faster you go, and the more you absolutely love this blanket. So, it’s my night time WIP.

My other WIP which I started yesterday on size 1 circular needles is a pair of cabled, beaded socks by Heidi Nick. They’re a little slow going because I am not used to cabling with such teeny tiny needles, but it’s getting better.

Also, I’m not used to using two circular needles. I’m using a lovely yarn that I bought on sale recently. It’s Capretta, an 80% superwash fine merino wool, 10% cashmere, and 10% nylon. It’s squishy and has the soft feel that only cashmere imparts.

I have one finished object: my Festive Shawl I was using my Advent Calendar yarn to knit. This is it unblocked:

It will be gorgeous when it’s blocked. It’s also huge and lovely. It will be lovely to wear.

In other non-knitting news, I’ve been enjoying the results of indoor gardening. I had an amaryllis from 2021 that I was going to try to get to bloom again, so in December it got repotted and I waited. And waited. A few leaves sprouted finally, and I waited some more. Then finally boom! A bud appeared! And in about four days it was this big:

I am very excited and happy to see it bloom. A few days ago we finally got around to planting the 2022 Christmas amaryllis and it has gotten its legs under it and is raising its head and beginning to look around. It was fairly pasty and white when it started out, but it has got some green in it now:

I’ll let you know how it turns out! I think it will be spectacular.

That’s all for now. Gotta get back to my sock! I hope you are knitting something wonderful!

Posted at 10:25 AM in Beth's Knitting Projects, General Blab | Permalink | Comments (0)

Never Ending Christmas

February 14, 2023

Last November, I decided to get myself a Christmas present. I bought an advent calendar from Mystery Mouse Yarns. This advent calendar contained twelve 20g mini skeins of beautiful hand dyed fingering weight yarn in luscious Victorian colors, and would be accompanied by several surprises like stitch markers and candy, as well as a full 100g skein of yarn on the last day. Each skein and surprises was carefully wrapped. Mystery Mouse Yarns loves books, especially mystery books, and this advent calendar would give me twelve clues about a particular Sherlock Holmes mystery, with the big reveal on the last day. I was so excited when the box came! But I had to wait for December 1.

The plan was to open the skein every other day in December, as there were only 12 mini skeins plus the big one on Christmas. Advent calendars cost a lot: this one cost around $150. Full 25 day advent calendars cost close to or over $300. Since this was the first advent calendar I ever got, I figured I’d go for the smaller one in case I was disappointed. Also, this was the first advent calendar that Holly Armstrong of Mystery Mouse Yarns had ever done, so there was that. Turns out, I was most definitely NOT disappointed and I can’t wait to get the next advent calendar from her in December 2023! She’s mentioned that this one will be based on an Agatha Christie novel, and I am very excited by that.

The internet is full of great ideas for what to knit with an advent calendar’s yarn, from shawls to scrappy blankets to sweaters. Holly had designed a pattern specifically for her advent calendar, the Victorian Bookshelf Wrap, which is beautiful and is now available to purchase in her Etsy store. I may make it some day.

But I already knew what I wanted to knit before I ever got the yarn: the Festive Wrap by Ambah O’Brien.

I started knitting this four days ago, and I’m loving it. Each color is knit in its own little space, one of three little lace patterns. Here’s what it looks like so far:

It will be even more beautiful when it’s blocked. I’m very happy with it! It keeps on giving me the Christmas spirit as I work on it.

In other news, I finished a few things. My Valenvent project came out beautiful:

My sparkly socks came out very sparkly and I have worn them twice already!

And yes, the brown leggings from hell are finished, but the first time I wore them I realized I would likely never wear them again, because despite the Lycra mixed in with the merino and the fact I knit them in the smallest size, they fell down constantly and I was always pulling them up. They might do okay if I double them and just use them as knee high legwarmers. In the end, if it’s really cold I will put them on. I might wear them to bed. At least I used up the two skeins of yarn.

Keep on knitting! See you soon.

Posted at 02:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Finishing Up January

January 29, 2023

Snow finally fell and made it really and truly winter.

Good thing I finally finished my black sweater! It’s really heavy and warm. It fits me perfectly.

Sorry for the bad picture, but it’s really hard to photograph a big black sweater, especially with one hand.

I also finished my Opal minis cowl:

I’ve worn this a lot already. I love it!

I am very, very close to having the evil Bungee leg warmers done.

Thankfully, I am done with the Bungee. Hallelujah! I only had two skeins of Bungee, so I knit as far as I could with each skein of the evil yarn and continued with some black yarn I had leftover from something or other. I just have about 7” of black to finish them. This project was definitely not process knitting; I never enjoyed the process. It was all about getting the leg warmers done so I could stay warm in them! I can’t wait to put them on.

I’m pretty excited for February. The Bakery Bears are having an event for Patreon members called Valenvent, I believe. Basically, it’s a mystery knitalong that starts February 1st and ends on February 14, but you don’t have to be done when Valentine’s Day rolls around. This is the yarn that I am using for it:

Based on the yarn requirements and the needle size and length, I’m guessing it will be a cowl, or at least I’m hoping it is, because I really love cowls this year. They’re so warm and cozy.

I love this yarn! It has golden sparkles in it and is so pink and squishy.

It’s hand dyed by Potions and Purls in Rhode Island. This mini set is their “Oh Deer!” set.

It must be sparkle season in Rockport. I also got some Opal yarn that is sparkly too, and is waiting to be knit into socks:

I can’t wait to start! What is more fun than a sparkly cowl and sparkly socks??? I live in exciting times!

Posted at 10:19 AM in Beth's Knitting Projects, Yarn | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hello World

January 13, 2023

Is it still January? What better time to wear my hand knit woolens!

I’m still working on my black handspun sweater. It took forever to knit the back, but now the back is done and I am speeding through the front. I just started the front yesterday and I’m already 6” along. Woohoo!

My long legwarmers knit out of the vile Bungee yarn, which is a chore to knit with, are half done. I knew I would run out of the Bungee yarn before it was done, and I used black sock yarn to finish the leg. I think these legwarmers will be warm and wonderful to wear, but they are a real pain to knit. The yarn is very grabby of the needle and hard to get the needle into cleanly, so I mostly just stab it in and hope for the best; it makes for slow knitting, but I want it to go fast because I don’t like to knit it much.

Having got one of the legwarmers done, I took a break to knit my Opal minis cowl. Opal is a brand of sock yarn, usually dyed in self-patterning stripes and dots, and aside from 100g skeins, they make the cutest little mini skeins that are just irresistible. Unfortunately they don’t seem to be available in the US, but I got a set of 10 mini skeins from AnnaKnitterYarns in Germany.

I’m using these little 10 gram minis to knit a cowl using the Opal minis interspersed with black Opal, and it’s coming out pretty well. I can usually get one mini skein and one black stripe done in an evening’s worth of knitting. I have no pattern really, just cast on between 160 to 170 stitches, do about an inch of ribbing, go in stockinette stitch for about two feet, then rib at the end for and in or so and it’s done.

I only have one finished object done so far this year: a pair of pretty, striped, hot pink and peach colored Opal yarn that I knit as a pallet cleanser to get away from black. I love them.

That’s all for now! Happy knitting!

Posted at 06:37 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Happy NewYear!

January 01, 2023

Time marches on. It’s a new year! Woohoo!

Let me get caught up, since I haven’t actually posted here in a month (advent calendars don’t count).

In in November, I finished the Eastport pullover, it fits beautifully, and I love it.

I finished the Helgen socks which I’ve worn numerous times.

I finished the Hitchhiker Shawlette but don’t have a picture of it.

And finally, I knit a very simple cowl out of some handspun yarn that I spun before my stroke out of merino fiber that I dyed with goldenrod:

It’s a lot more bright yellow than the picture shows.

In December I knit the Mystery Advent Knitalong by AnnaKnitter, which resulted in this cowl:

I used up yarn from my stash. The rust colored yarn is Permin Estelle, sadly discontinued, the gray yarn is Swans Island fingering, and the light gray yarn is leftover from a sweater that I knit.

I knit a pair of Freezer Gloves too. What are freezer gloves you say? They are gloves to wear when you are rearranging stuff in the freezer to get to the bottom because everything you want is always on the bottom, even if you put it in there only yesterday. And frostbite sucks.

I also spun a bit. Behold 4 ounces of merino top, hand dyed by Spunky Eclectic.

So, what am I knitting now?

I am finally working on my EZ Gansey, Reynolds #350 using the black Romney that I spun this year:

Not much to see yet.

I am also making a pair of long leggings to keep my legs warm this winter out of brown Bungee, a Plymouth yarn that is discontinued. It’s mostly merino with a little bit of spandex for stretchiness.

I have about a foot done out of the 36” but don’t have a picture yet. It is unbelievably boring to knit, and the I’ll have to make another one. The pattern is from Lion Brand, in a 6 x 2 rib that decreases gradually. I’m sure they will keep me warm, but I really don’t like knitting them.