WIP Wednesday

Happy thanksgiving! Almost.

I've only got one project this week but at least it's different than usual. I pulled out the east village sweater I'm making for grandpa. I've got about 6 inches on the first sleeve (not this week, just in general). I thought I was further along but oh well. Sleeves are just the worst. I really should remember to do them first while the project is still exciting and new rather than at the end. 

WIP Wednesday

I missed last week but I've mostly just been working on the same things so it's not that much of a miss.

Finished Objects
I finally finished the Halloween Socks I was making for my mom. The pattern was nice though I don't know if I'll want to do it again soon. I'll probably do an actual cable instead of a mock cable. I also want to do some vanilla wrist warmers out of the leftover yarn to match for mom. If I start them this week I can probably finish them by Thanksgiving maybe.

Works in Progress
With the Halloween socks off my needles I put the Vanilla Latte socks back on and I'm close to finishing them, just an inch or so from the top.

I worked a little on the Titan Jacket. Slowly maybe it'll turn itself into a sweater. I like working on it, it just seems like it needs brain power to work on it so I've been gravitating more towards the socks which are mindless knitting.

Spinning
I haven't don't any spinning but I did order some beautiful wool from Into the Whirled. It's a BFL and it's pink and purple and blue. It's superwash which is always nice and hopefully it'll spin up lovely even with all of the different colors.

WIP Wednesday

Between starting my new job and my mom being in town I didn't have much time for knitting last week. All I worked on are socks

First, some impossible girl socks out of the mint rain witchy poo yarn. I wanted to get these done before my mom left so she could have them on Halloween but I just couldn't quite make it. So now I'm going to knit on a more leisurely schedule and do matching wristers. 

Second, I did a little on the vanilla latte socks but only a few rows. 

Wip Wednesday

I have an FO! My second Towpath Henley, this time the 3 month size. It's wearer won't be born until the end of Feb. So it will be a few months before I can get a pic of both boys wearing their matching sweaters but I can't wait for it haha.

I'm close to finishing the first sock of the vanilla latte socks. I've started the ribbing for the cuff so it probably only needs about 10 more rows (they're toe up). But I've been saving it for purse/mindless knitting because my other project has 3 charts worked concurrently.

Yes this is the same pic from last week

Which brings me to Titan Jacket. I've put a lot of time into this one this week and I went from cast on to separating for the sleeves in just a few days (I'm trying to make the most of my knitting time while I have it this week). I'm loving the cables but the pattern especially on the back.

Sleeves!

That's it for me this week, though I'm going to try and get to the yarn store and pick up more yarn so I can do the sleeves of my East Village. I know I'm going to need more so I'll need to start alternating skeins now.

WIP Wednesday

It's been pretty busy around here so I haven't gotten much knitting time in. I have done a little bit though and here is what I've got.

Towpath Henley 

I finished up the sleeves and got them placed on holders and started the body. I've done the turned hem and started the patterning. Man I love how the turned hems look. 

Vanilla Latte Socks 3

I turned the heel and knit most of the way up the cuff. It's going pretty quickly so that's good. 

WIPs Wednesday

Finished Objects
No knitting FOs this week but I did finish plying the BFL blue/green/purple mix I've been spinning all month. It looks pretty good and seems to have come out generally as a light fingering weight. It's a 3 ply and I think it's a tad over-plied but oh well, it'll still work. I just have to figure out what to knit with it now.

Knitting

I finally finished the front of my East Village sweater. Yay! Now only the sleeves and collar to go. Which could take forever, but that's what sleeves tend to do. I really should start making them first, it's a good way to double check the gauge and then you don't feel like ugh so much left when you finish the body. I'm definitely going to need more yarn though, I've only got 100g left so I'll pick some up and start alternating skeins for the sleeves. (alternating skeins means you attach two balls and do a row with ball 1 then a row with ball 2, repeat. That way the different dye lots aren't as noticeable). 

I finished the knitting on the indifference shrug and I've blocked it but I think I need to add a crochet border to keep it from curling. But I need a break from that project so who knows how long it'll take.

I'm to the heel of the first sock of my Vanilla Latte socks for dad in more yarn that we got in Canada at Romni Wools. I thought it wouldn't look good knit up (the yarn, not the pattern). But I'm really liking it actually. I think I need to find a new boy sock pattern though, this one is getting a little boring. It's been good though, this is my third pair in a few months, which is saying something.

I started the sleeves of my second Towpath Henley, I loved how the first one I made for Alex came out so here comes a matching one. And it just goes so quickly making baby stuff. I'm doing the sleeves two at a time again which is nice because then if I mess up an increase at least it's messed up evenly. Here is the tutorial I use to cast on the sleeves for TAAT.

Planning

I finally got the right gauge for both the Titan Jacket and Willow Creek sweater so I've ordered the yarn for those and bought the pattern for the Titan Jacket. Hopefully I'll get to cast those on soon.

I also pulled out my stitch dictionary and found a lovely lace stitch that I think I want to turn into a scarf for Alex to match his sweater. I'm trying to chart it because it's written out so I'm using excel and we'll see how that goes.

That's all (ha!) I'm working on craft wise this week.

WIP Wednesday

It's Wednesday again (already?!?) so here's what I've been working on craft-wise.

Finished objects
Spiralucious cowl: knit out of my hand spun for me :) I'm happy with how it turned out and it'll be perfect to wear under coats as the weather turns.

I forgot to smile hehe

Knitting

I'm like a half inch from finishing the sleeves of my Indifference Shrug. If I have enough yarn left I'm thinking I'll add a crochet border along the neck because I'm not loving how the edge curls. I'm thinking I'll give this to my mom when it's finished because even though it's hand spun I don't love the way the yarn knit up. It's just not my favorite colors for wearing.

I have barely worked on the East Village sweater for grandpa at all this week. I'm getting close to shaping the sleeves on the front, so maybe it'll finally feel like progress is being made/

I cast on some Vanilla Latte Socks for my dad. I love the vanilla latte pattern for boys. It's simple enough for interesting yarn but but a little more fun to knit than plain socks. I'm using more yarn that we got at Romni Wools when we were in Toronto in June. If you're ever in Toronto, serious check them out. It's the coolest shop, with sooooo much yarn. More sock yarn than I've ever seen in one place. It was heaven.

You can just barely see the start of the patterning

I've also been doing some swatching. Mostly for Titan Jacket for my sister but also for Willow Creek for myself. They take the same gauge so doing double duty. It's a bit bigger than I normally knit, 4 stitches per inch, so it's taken a few swatches and a few types of yarn. Hopefully I'll get it sorted today (my swatches are currently drying after being blocked).

Spinning
I finally finished spinning the singles of my BFL. They're resting now but later today I can finally ply them. I love plying, it goes so much faster than spinning singles and when you're done you get real yarn! I'm doing a 3 ply with this BLF. Maybe I'll do 4 ply with my next BFL that I'm already planning :)

WIPs Wednesday

I've made some good progress this week, but it doesn't show much in the pictures because it's mostly been just putting inches into sleeves and such.

Knitting

Indifference Shrug
I've put maybe 4 inches on the sleeves. I like two at a time knitting, but man it makes it feel like it goes so much slower. I finished decreasing (I think, I'll try it on again in a few inches), so maybe the end is in sight.

It's quite difficult to get a good picture of it right now since it's just curling all over the place

East Village
Again I put  few inches on the front but the progress is barely noticeable unless you're measuring it every 30 minutes like I am.

Yep looks pretty much the same but with worse lighting. 

Spiralucous Cowl
Finally, some visible progress. I finished the main neck portion and I'm working on the applied hem/edging. It was on time out for a few days as I tried to figure out how exactly the applied edge worked. I didn't do the provision cast on for extra stitches it called for because I don't like provisional cast ons, so I brought these difficulties on myself but I think I've got it figured out finally. I'm excited for this one to be done, it looks great and it'll be so cool to show off my hand spun yarn! (project bag by the lovely Maria from Stitched in Sweden)

Planning
I saw that some cascade heritage was on sale so I thought I'd get myself some for a sweater (less than $30 for a sweater's worth, yes please). So I was perusing ravelry but instead of finding a finering weight sweater I fell in love with Willow Creek sweater by Justyna Lorkowska. It just looks so cozy with that cowl neck, I need it in my life (with long sleeves because I'm always cold). So I added some cascade 220 to my cart but since the Heritage is on sale I think I'm just going to buy it and stash it for later. So I might be accidentally buying two sweaters worth of yarn. Oops haha. I have a few patterns in mind for it but I haven't decided yet, Familiar looks good, also by Justyna. I like empire ave but I was kind of wanting something with a v-neck (preferably a shawl collar) and I'm not quite sure I could make those modifications myself. Anne's cardigan looks nice but sort of similar to the last cardigan I made for myself. It's so tough to choose. I might just have to buy the yarn and wait until a pattern really speaks to me.

I'm also making my sister a cardigan for her birthday (which was yesterday). I almost never do my gift knitting ahead of time because I'm just that organized. We're still picking a pattern though. The one she liked initially I decided wouldn't be a great idea since all of the projects on ravelry seemed to indicate some issues with the pattern and I'd have had to do some modifications and it was just getting rather complicated. So we're still looking. And for those keeping track at home I'm about to be getting 3 sweaters worth of yarn. #notsorry.

Spinning
I did a few hours of spinning on the BFL my mom sent me from Maine. It's lovely to spin but I just haven't had a ton of spinning mojo. I've been all about the knits. I'm getting close to being 2/3rds done so maybe that'll motivate me to at least finish off filing this bobbin in the next few days. Then I just have to figure out what I want to knit with it. Maybe a shawl or something for my mom for when she visits in October. Being from Hawaii she is always freezing like me when she visits. And I know she'll love the fact that I spun it and that I knit it because duh she's my mom. 

WIPs Wednesday

Here are the knitting projects I'm working on here at WIP HQ:

Finished Objects

While not technically a WIP it's so hot off the needles I wanted to share it anyway. I made a sweater for my nephew, and I am very pleased with the results. Link to my project page if you're curious about the pattern/yarn/etc.

Knitting

For my first actual WIP a Spiralucious Cowl for myself out of some handspun. I had to start over 3 times before I finally got the pattern right. Partly because it was late and partly because I wasn't actually reading the directions, so it's my own fault. It should go fairly quickly from here (fingers crossed).

4th time's a charm

I'm working on the sleeves of indifference shrug also for myself out of my hand spun. I'm knitting the sleeves two at a time because I'm getting low on yarn and I want them to be the same length if I run out before completing them.

Last but not least for my knitting I'm about 1/3 of the way through the front of East Village, a sweater I'm knitting for my grandpa. I've knit the back already so I'm probably a bit more than 1/2 way through the sweater. I'm thinking I might need more yarn than I have considering how quickly I've been going through it, but we bought it locally so hopefully it'll be easy to get more. If the color doesn't match up exactly I can alternate skeins on the sleeves. 

Spinning
For my spinning I'm still working on the 4ozs of BFL that my mom got me when she was visiting Maine last month. It is so lovely to spin, soft and supple I love it. I'm about 1/2 way through spinning the singles, hopefully I'll have some time to spin more this week. This picture just shows the blue but there is also dark green and some purple in it. So when it's plied up there will be a lot of cool striping.

That's it for this week. Stay tuned for more updates next week.