WIP Wednesday: Yellow Vintage Cardigan

I was trucking along, finally I had the desire to get some knitting done on this cardigan. I started it almost a year ago and I was ready to get it off the needles. It came to the time for me to measure my front piece to see if I was almost done, how much longer I had to go before starting the next side of the front. "Cool, I've already knit four inches, so I just had three more to go." That’s when I realized, “wait… did I forget to do the neckline shaping? NOOOO!!!” I did, indeed, forget the neckline shaping. I went through all of the three stages of grief:

Stage 1: I should probably just start the whole thing on fire and pretend like it didn't happen

For about a good half hour, I thought seriously about scrapping the whole thing. Maybe even throwing the thing in the fire pit. I hadn't put a lifeline in and didn't want to go through the hassle of either trying to put in a reactive lifeline, or ripping it back and trying to pick up the stitches.

Stage 2: Pretend it was intentional

After talking myself out of throwing the whole thing in the fire pit, I decided it really wasn't that big of a deal and I'd just continue on with no neckline shaping. But the little voice in the back of my head kept repeating "are you sure this is what you want?" Until it was screaming "ARE YOU SURE THIS IS WHAT YOU WANT?!" Until finally…

Stage 3: Rip back and fix it

Yep, so, in the end I decided I needed to actually rip out those four inches and do the neck shaping. Since I didn't have a proactive lifeline, I had to do my best to put in a reactive lifeline. It was a little difficult with the yarn overs and the decreases and I did flub up a bit, but I still managed to not drop a single stitch.

So, are you happy you did that?

Nope. I think the neck shaping looks stupid and idiot me didn't learn from my past mistake and I didn't put a lifeline back in after all that trouble. Soo..., the neckline is staying how it is. I'm sure someone with more experience with different neckline shapes would have been able to foreseen themselves not liking the shape, but you don't know what you don't know until you know. So, I'm just taking this as a learning experience.

Anyway, if you want to get real time updates on my knitting failures (and successes too!) follow me on Instagram.

Annual Christmas Sweater: I won't let myself be great

In 2016, I planned out a much more complicated sweater than I actually knit. In 2017, I planned out a much more complicated sweater than I actually knit. Am I becoming predictable?  If you’ve missed my other three sweaters, check out this handy tag I made to get all caught up, then hop on back here to read about another sweater that wasn't exactly as epic as I had wanted it.

No color work? What gives?

2017 was going to be the year. I was finally going to go all out, big Intarsia Christmas tree smack dab in the middle of my chest. The ornaments were going to be bobbles, maybe big, themed buttons. It was going to be awesome. But guess who had to nix that idea because she hasn’t learned Intarsia. Yeah. That’d be me. Why won’t I just let myself be great?

But Mandi, that still doesn’t explain the one color sweater. I’m talking in circles because I honestly don’t know. I think I had it stuck in my head that I needed to knit something out of my Bernat Handicrafter Book 538 (I was today years old when I learned that it was Handicrafter, not Handcrafter). I soon realized that none of those sweaters were my idea of Christmasy. It didn't matter, though, I had my heart set on a vintage inspired sweater and this pattern was the only one that had an overtly Christmas theme.

So what pattern did you use?

I ended up going with Style No. 53 (such a sexy name for a knitting pattern, no?). I heavily modified it. It was originally a cardigan with the design panel centered on each side of the front. All I did was center that panel on the front to make it a pullover. The pattern called for set-n-sleeves, but I wasn't about to try and figure out how to shape them in pattern so I converted them to dropped sleeves. I have to be honest, I do this too often. I really don't think a dropped shoulder is the best look on me. But it's the easy option so this is what I lean to most. I need to fix that and step outside my comfort zone. Maybe next year.

Next Week

So, that concludes my backlog of Christmas sweater posts. This whole process has been fun to see how much my sweater knitting has improved. Next week… well, next week I'm supposed to have this year's sweater done, but procrastination has set in and we're not celebrating Christmas until the middle of January, so we'll see what happens.

Wanna see if I finish my current Christmas sweater by Christmas day? Follow me on Instagram to see all my work-in-progress shots.

Annual Christmas Sweater: Round Yoke Redemption

My 2015 sweater was riddled with fit issues and poorly thought out color substitutions. The following year, 2016, I set out to be far more ambitious than I ended up actually being. Here I go trucking along sharing my annual Christmas sweaters if you’ve missed the previous two sweaters check out my handy tag here to get caught up.

Round Yoke Redemption?

In 2015 I knit an ill-fitting round yoke sweater. I could say the reason I knit this one in 2016 was because I wanted to redeem myself and show that I could knit a round yoke sweater that actually fit me. But that’s not exactly the case. That’s not the case at all, actually. What I had really set out to knit was an all over colorwork sweater with dropped sleeves. Once I got going on the all over patterned sweater, I realized it was going to be too much of a chore to knit, and I wasn’t about to do any stressful knitting on a tight deadline. So, I opted to change it to a simple round yoke.

My original idea for the all over pattern.

I wasn’t overly happy with the decision though. I love the sweater and it turned out great, but to me, at the time, it felt like a cop out to do two round yoke sweaters two years in a row. I low key wish I could revisit this one year and do the original all over pattern I was planning on. But I’ll probably think it’s a cop out, too. (haha)

Leftover Beads

When I was still planning on knitting the all over pattern, I ran into the dilemma of the snowmen’s faces. I’m not too keen on knitting with three colors at a time, I had done that in my previous Christmas sweater and really I had no desire to do it again. My two options then were to knit the whole thing leaving the faces blank and then duplicate stitching the eyes and nose on later. Or using beads to act as the coal and carrot. Since I’d rather adopt a pack of opossums and raise them as my own children than duplicate stitch anything, I decided to go with the beads. It was perfect, I had a ton of leftover beads from my first Christmas sweater so I would finally be using up those beads and I wouldn’t have to duplicate stitch.

Fast forward to after I swatched, the beads were transparent, I tried to pretend I liked the look, but I really didn’t so I had to buy opaque ones. Keep in mind, at this point, I was still knitting an all over pattern. Needless to say, I have a whole new set of beads that I don’t know I’ll ever use. Haha, I’m the worst.

Did I meet the deadline?

Every year I set a deadline to have my Christmas sweaters blocked and wearable by Christmas Day. Every year I’ve made that deadline. Every year except the year I knit this sweater anyway. I don’t remember exactly why I didn’t have it done on Christmas Day, but I do know that was when the tradition of going to my grandpa’s house to celebrate with family on Christmas Day ended and we all got together at a later date. I’m guessing when the actual get together date was set I was like, “Screw it! Now I got a whole ‘nother week to finish this thing.” I ended up casting off on Christmas Day and had it blocked maybe the next day. But in my mind, that doesn’t count as meeting the deadline even if I didn’t need to wear until a week later.

Next Week

To date, this was my most successful Christmas sweater. It fits just like I had intended it to fit with the one exception that the sleeves grew A LOT during blocking. The sweater also taught me another important thing. I do not care for round yoke sweaters. I don’t have any real reason for it, they’re just not my cup of tea.

Next week, I’ll be sharing my 2017 sweater. If you don’t like spoilers stop reading. The 2017 sweater is by far my subtlest Christmas Sweater.

Don't miss my progress on my 2018 Christmas Sweater(vest)! follow me on  Instagram to see all my work-in-progress shots.

Annual Christmas Sweater: Black Santa... Gnomes

Back in 2014, I started a tradition where I knit myself a Christmas themed sweater to wear every year for my family’s Christmas get together. If you read this blog regularly, you’re probably thinking, “Yeah, you knit that one sweater that one year and then abandoned the idea.” While that may be more characteristic of me, I am happy to inform you all that I have indeed knit myself a Christmas sweater every year since 2014… I just haven’t posted about any of them on the blog. But this December, that’s going to change. Each week this month, I’m going to be sharing each of my sweaters on here, finally.

The Concept

The only thing I knew going into the 2015 sweater was that I wanted to incorporate a black Santa. I was first thinking about an intarsia Santa smack dab in the middle of my chest complete with 3D pom pom on his hat. But I don’t know how to do intarsia so I scrapped that idea and decided on a round yoke sweater instead.

Like my previous year’s sweater, I used a mix of patterns to achieve the results I wanted. For the overall body, I used Winter Doldrums by Carla Pletzer as a jumping off point. It’s a great free pattern in multiple sizes that did exactly what I needed it to do. At that point, I had never knit a round yoke sweater so, me being me, I also bought a Craftsy class with Amy Detjen just to make sure I wasn’t missing anything big. And then for the colorwork, I used a modified version of Nisse by Tasha Moss for the Santas and I made up my own color pattern for the trees.

I wanted to keep the overall feel of Tasha’s pattern the same. I wanted it to look like the Santas were standing on snow in front of a blue sky. I knew I didn’t want the original carrots that Tasha had in her pattern because what the hell do carrots have to do with Christmas? Carrots, in fact, do not have anything thing to do with Christmas. But if I’m calling the white part of the sweater snow, and the blue part of the sweater sky, then why the hell are there evergreen trees underground? I don’t have an answer for that but whatever.

Still not considering the logistics of the evergreen trees, I trucked on to the Santas which I figured would be simple enough. Swap the blue jackets for a nice Christmas red and swap the peachy skin color for the dark brown skin color and I’d be good to go. Fast forward to me showing the sweater off and a person saying, “Cool! I want a Santa Gnome sweater.” Well, I don’t but that is indeed what I knit for myself and I’m going to have to live with that regret for the rest of my life.

The Fit

Ufdah. The only word I can think of to describe the fit of this sweater is bad. First, I knit the entire body too short. If I remember right, I wanted it to be a little more cropped because I have a 50s inspired skirt that I wanted to wear with it. But in order to get the color pattern to fit, I had to give it too much positive ease for the look I was going for. In hindsight, I should have cut one of the repeats in half and I wouldn’t have had to fudge to get the fit so much. But hey, the oversized crop top is kind of back in style. I guess I’m a trendsetter. Is it trendsetting when it’s unintentional?

The second issue is that I knit the sleeves way too long. I don't know, I must have thought I was knitting this sweater for Kevin Garnett or something because there is no other explanation for why I knit such long sleeves. With the freakishly long sleeves and the cropped body, the whole sweater looks ridiculous laying flat after I wash it.

The third issue I had with fit is the neckline. As I was decreasing, I was getting more and more worried about it fitting over my head. This was mostly because when I switched over to the 16-inch circular needle, it made the whole thing look super small, which is to be expected. The more I decreased the more nervous I got about it. I was knitting on a deadline and I wasn’t about to knit it too small, not be able to get my head into the thing and then have to reknit it. So, I stopped my decreases too early and ended up with a neckline that’s too wide, which coincidentally, is sorta in style right now, too. I really am a trendsetter.

So, You Hate the Whole Thing, huh?

You might be surprised to learn that I don't hate this sweater. Fit issues and color pattern blunders aside, I’m still really proud of it. It still amazes me sometimes that each year I’ve set out to knit a Christmas sweater and each year I actually do. That’s some character development I never expected from myself. And you know, maybe the Santa Gnomes have grown on me over the years.

Next week, we’ll take a look at my 2016 sweater. Spoilers, it’s another round yoke and there were no ill-fated color changes that were made.

Don't miss my progress on my 2018 Christmas Sweater(vest)! Follow me on Instagram to see all my work-in-progress shots.

Fresh off the needles: Keia's Golden Gopher Sweater

There’s no real reason that such a simple sweater took so long to knit. Or any sweater really. But what are you going to do? It did, in fact, take over seven months to knit. I got it done just in time for my sister, Keia to wear on our visit to my mom’s hometown last weekend.

Yarn chicken again? Girl, what is wrong with you?

I know right? This is the second time I’ve done this on a sweater I knit for Keia. I don’t know what it is that makes me under-estimate the amount of yarn I need for her sweaters. In my semi-defense, I wouldn’t have had to worry about it at all had I stuck to the original plan and just knit a plain stockinette stitch sweater. Either way, I did have more than enough yarn which makes my yarn chicken record 2-0.

I guess I’m a liar

Ha ha. Remember in my last sweater post when I swore that my next sweater was going to be knit using an actual pattern? Yeah, well, I lied. I turned to my trusty whatever that book is called once again. I used the drop shoulder sized in the adult 36 chest. As I mentioned earlier, I was planning on knitting another stockinette stitch sweater but veered off course when I was browsing through my vintage booklets and found a sweater with a broken rib stitch. I liked the look of it and decided to use it for this sweater. And I am quite happy with the results.

I’m not even going to end this post saying that the next sweater I knit will be from an actual pattern because the next sweater I knit is going to be my annual Christmas sweater and I never knit those from patterns. But I will say this, I will make it my 2019 goal to knit at least one sweater from an already written pattern. How’s that?

If you want to watch me follow through on that promise, or you want to see updates on my Christmas sweater, follow me on Tumblr, and, Instagram.

Fresh off the needles: My First Mittens

Who knew a pair of mittens could make me so happy. I don’t know what it is but they just make me so inexplicably happy. On a whim, I cast these on one Friday afternoon and had them finished on Sunday morning. So, it might be the “instant” gratification that makes me so happy. Or it’s just that the yarn reminds me of a carnival. Who knows.

The Yarn

It’s not something I would normally use. I’m always drawn towards the beautiful colors of variegated yarns, but usually never buy them, because knit up, they just don’t suit my taste. But when I saw this Dorothy colorway by Dyebolical Yarns I couldn’t resist. The colors are so pretty and vibrant. My favorite part is the little pops of purple that it has. I hadn’t noticed it in the skein, but every now and then the purple would come up and I’d get so happy. The only way I can describe it is with the dancing lady emoji. 💃

The Pattern

I used a Tin Can Knits pattern and you honestly can’t go wrong with Tin Can Knits patterns. The pattern is called The World's Simplist Mittens and they weren't lying. The was so clear and to the point. Plus, there's a blog post to go along with the pattern so if  I got stuck there was an easy way to find an explanation. I couldn’t have chosen a better pattern to follow for my first pair of mittens. Really, it’s not an exaggeration to say this will be the only mitten pattern I’ll ever need. It comes in five sizes (toddler to adult large) and four different yarn weights/gauges (fingering to chunky). So, unless I eventually decide I want a different stitch pattern on my mittens, I'm pretty much set with this pattern.

So, what’s the verdict? Will you knit another pair of mittens?

I will most definitely knit another pair of mittens. Next time though, I plan to make them convertible so I can have a little bit of freedom for my fingers. I hadn’t worn mittens since I was a kid and honestly didn’t even think about the fact that you can’t use your fingers. So, honestly, I’m not even sure how much wear they will actually get. Right now I’ve used them mostly for scraping off my windows in the morning and driving.

Once I get the convertible mitts down there’s going to be no stopping me. I hope everyone is ready for endless mittens because I’m already planning on making at least 100 more pairs.

Have you knit mittens before? Let me know in the comment section or connect with me on Instagram. I’d love to hear from you.

Fresh Off The Needles: Keia's Sweater

I have to admit, this sweater had me 10 different kinds of nervous. Not because the sweater itself was hard. It’s just a plain stockinette sweater. No, this was my first time knitting a sweater for someone who isn’t me.

I offered to make my sister, Keia, a sweater sometime last summer. I was a little worried before I even started the sweater. I felt like there were a hundred things that could go wrong. My anxiety only intensified, when it looked like it was coming out way too big. But when I finally seamed the shoulders together, and Keia tried it on, it turned out it fit perfectly. That’s one downside to knitting a sweater bottom up, you can’t try it on as you knit.

The only thing I would change is I would knit the sleeves much smaller. They're not terrible, but they'd look and probably feel a lot better if they were a smaller.

Before I even cast on, I knew I might not have enough yarn. Initially, I wasn't aware of how big she wanted the sweater to be. When she told me she wanted it closer to a men’s small than a women’s small, I started to worry. Luckily, for me, I was able to just barely knit this entire sweater with the 10 skeins that I had ordered. I did have to sacrifice a round on the collar though.

The Pattern

My original plan was to find a pattern for a full cabled sweater. But in the end, I decided to to go super simple so I could get the general feel of what Keia wanted from a sweater before I dove right in with a complicated sweater. I used the Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd. It’s well documented that I love this book. It’s perfect for when I’m knitting just a plain stockinette sweater and need a launching off point.

Since Keia didn’t want a super fitted sweater, I had a lot of leeway. She likes her cozy clothes to be a men’s size small, so that’s what I aimed for. Since she didn’t have anything that had the fit she was looking for. I used the yarn craft council to find the right measurements. It was and always will be an invaluable resource for sizing.

I knit the entire body in the round until the armholes then knit the fronts and back separately. The whole thing was a breeze really because I opted to do a drop shoulder instead of a set in sleeve. Sometimes I feel like going the dropped shoulder route is cheating, but then I realize, “who the hell said knitting was supposed to be hard?” I need to remember this every time I start making knitting more difficult than it has to be.

The Yarn

The yarn I used is Knit Picks Swish Worsted in the Jade colorway. This yarn has quite a bit of negative feedback on Ravelry. But I've used it a few times and can't complain too much. I'm not going to pretend like it wears super well because it doesn’t. It gets pretty fuzzy pretty quickly. But I like the look of fuzzy sweaters, and the fuzz doesn't shed, so it doesn't bother me too much.

Even though I’m super happy and proud that I’m at this point where I can pretty much make up my own simple sweater patterns, I’m 100% ready to just sit back and let someone else worry about all the nitty gritty math details. I swear that the next sweater you see me knit is going to be someone else’s design.

To see what other sweaters I have planned for the year, follow me on Instagram.

Fresh off the needles: The Pickle Hat

After one last heat wave a week ago, I think it’s safe to say we’re in the full swing of fall. It’s finally time we get to pull out our hand knits. I knit this hat that I’ve dubbed the Pickle hat approximately two heat waves ago and I’m so happy I finally get to share it.

The Pattern

This is the second time I’ve knit Seaforth by Karie Westermann. For whatever reason, when I knit it the first time, I decided to make the larger size, which I never do. The thing turned out too big and now I hardly ever wear it. It was so fun to knit, though, I knew I had to make another one.

The pattern is clear and concise, it even gives you some great tips so you can modify it if need be. I’m not all that great with lace patterns. I’m so not great at them that I’ve given up ever trying to knit shawls with lace. But this pattern is only four rounds and incredibly well written which makes it easy enough even I find it extremely simple.

The Cast -On

This is in no way anything revolutionary, but my new favorite cast on for hats is the German Twisted cast on, which is the cast on I did for this hat. It’s super stretchy and is incredibly comfortable to wear. I especially like it for baby hats. A lot of times, when I use a regular long tail cast on, my niece will grow out of the brim of a hat even though there’s a ton of room left in the actual body of the hat.

The Yarn

In January, I made it a goal that I would support indie dyers. My first purchase was this wonderful worsted weight yarn by Dyeabolical Yarns in the Okie Dokie Atrichokey colorway. I love this yarn so much. The color is perfect. But since I’m not too familiar with what an artichoke looks like, I was always thinking of pickles whenever I was knitting it. Hence the name Pickle Hat.

My favorite thing about this yarn? This was my first time using indie dyed yarn, so I wanted my pattern choice to be perfect. I think I cast on at least half a dozen different hats. This yarn held up through all of them. I love a yarn that can handle my severe indecisiveness. It also leads me to believe that it’ll wear well over time.

One of the main reasons I haven’t been buying more indie dyed yarn is because a lot of yarn dyers have shop updates, where they dye up batches of yarn and then put it all in their shop and when it’s gone, it’s gone. Without fail, I always miss them. Either, I find out about the update too late, or when there is an update, I don’t have the money in my budget to order. What I loved about ordering from Dyeabolical Yarns, is that she dyes to order. Which means, I was able to order when I had the money in my budget to do so and I don’t have to worry about it.

I couldn’t be more happy that this is the pattern I settled on for this yarn. They work so well together and it’s already becoming one of my favorite hats.

Wanna see more of my indie purchases? Follow me on Tumblr, and Instagram for constant updates.

Fresh off the needles: Poison Ivy Sweater

Finally! I have a finished object to share. I’ve said it before, but, man, does my knitting mojo go away in the summer time. I’ve actually had this done for at least a month but wasn’t about to risk a heat stroke to take a few pictures to share with you guys. I finally got a decent day to take some pictures over the weekend and can finally share.

The Pattern

The pattern I used Columbia Minerva 747 from the Festival of Sweaters booklet. It was first published in the late 1960s. Which is my favorite fashion era, in case you were wondering. I wish I could share it, but since it’s still under copyright, I can’t. But you can buy it off Etsy here.

Sometimes, vintage patterns can be a bit hairy to work with, but this one was very straightforward and easy to follow. I didn’t even make too many revisions to it. I did end up casting on fewer stitches so that I wouldn’t end up with as much positive ease as the pattern called for. But that wasn’t too big of a thing. I also knit it all as one piece instead of in pieces like the pattern called for. Also, no big deal.

What I’ve learned

Button placement is important! I didn’t have a ton of problems with the spacing of the buttons. I found a great site that helped me figure out how to space them. So, I’m happy with that. But I didn’t even consider how far into the button band I should actually sew on my buttons. As a result, the cardigan kind of pulls apart when fully buttoned up. I’ll probably take them off and fix it. But it’s something I now know I have to think about beforehand to save myself a headache. I also chose buttons that are a little bit too small for the button hole I made. So, I might end up with a whole new button choice as well.

All that reverse stockinette? Did you really purl every row?

Yes! I’m aware that I could have turned the sleeves inside out then knit every row. But I’m a firm believer that you shouldn’t shy away from the purl stitch. I did for too long, so it takes me twice as long to finish a purl row than it does a knit row. So, I convinced myself that I had to purl every round of my sleeves. By the end of the second sleeve, my purling speed had improved greatly. I don’t dread the purl row anymore. This was probably the single greatest thing I’ve done for my knitting.

Why call it Poison Ivy?

Since I knit the bulk of this cardigan about a year ago, when I was watching Batman v Superman on repeat, I knew I wanted to give it a comic book inspired name. My first thought was the Kryptonite Sweater, but then when I realized that the stitch pattern had sort of an ivy feel to it, I named it after one of Batman’s villains, Poison Ivy.

I'm actually already planning to knit this sweater again but in a golden color. If you don't want to miss in progress shots, and more fun stuff, make sure to follow me on Instagram and Pinterest.

Fresh off the needles: It Goes Both Ways Toddler Hat

Why do kids have to grow so fast? My niece grew out of all her hats I've made her. Naturally, now that the weather is warming up, I decided I should probably get on to knitting her a new one.

The hat I knit was made from a pattern designed by CheyOnna the Yarn Mission.The Yarn Mission is a great company that I love to support as much as possible. They are dedicated to the advancement of justice and the end of an oppressive system through community engagement. For more information visit theyarnmission.com.

The Pattern

The It Goes Both Ways pattern is super clear and super adorable. I love the simple two stitch cables that create an effect that looks nothing like your traditional cable. The pattern is 100% perfect as is and I plan on knitting one for myself in the near future. But my niece got top priority, so I decided to modify it to make it fit her.

The Modifications

To start I used a sport weight yarn instead of worsted. I thought that was going to be enough of a change for me, but doing the math I realized I was going to need to do more. But still, it really wasn't that much. All I did was figure out how many stitches I needed to cast on to get the size I wanted then fudged the numbers a bit to make sure there were enough stitches to end the round with a full pattern repeat.

Having to fudge numbers did make it so that I ended up making a bigger hat than I had planned on. But when I make hats, especially when I make them for kids, I don't worry too much if it comes out a little on the big side. You know how kids are always growing like we don't want them to stay little forever. I figure, it'll fit eventually.

The only thing I wish I had taken the time to do was figure out the decreases like the original pattern. I opted to just do a stockinette section with the decreases. It really would have given the hat a more finished professional look. It does look fine, by all accounts, I just wish I would have put in a little more effort. If it really does end up bothering me a ton, I figure I can always slap a Pom-Pom on it. Pom poms fix everything.

The Yarn

The yarn I used was Cascade 220 Superwash Sport. It is 100% superwash merino. I LOVE this yarn. I’ve always loved the color range that Cascade 220 offers, the colors are rich and vibrant and you can find just about any color you need. But the 100% wool is way too scratchy for me. Then I discovered the Superwash Merino and my life was made. It has the perfect amount of softness for me, but it's not so soft that it's slippery and hard to work with like Knit Picks Swish can be sometimes.

I for one love this hat. My niece? Not so much. Apparently she doesn't wear any thing that's not pink. She won't even try it on. I mean, I do kind of have to agree with her though. The orange I picked isn't really my favorite color either. I guess that only means I'll have to make her a pink one next.

Want to keep track of my adventures knitting for a fickle three year old? Follow me on Instagram.

Fresh Off the Needles: Socks that actually fit

I did it! I finally knit a pair of socks that actually fit. Best part? They're not even for me. I finally knit a pair of socks and they fit someone else. Maybe it's not a big deal for most people, but it's a pretty big deal for me. For the longest time, I've been having such trouble with sock knitting that I was about to give it up all together. I would have too if it weren't for all the Knit Picks Felici I've stocked up on. So, how did I do it you ask? Simple, I finally took the time to make a cardboard foot template following the instructions from Fish Lips Kiss Heel pattern. I wish I had done it sooner, it would have saved me a headache or 600. I've had this pattern since my sock knitting journey began (find link to old post). If you're having trouble fitting your socks I highly recommend this pattern. It's only a dollar on Ravelry, so you really don't have much to lose. I knit everything but the heel in Knit Picks Felici in the Surfs Up colorway. Like 99.99% of the sock knitting community, I love this yarn. The only thing I don't love, is that it comes in extremely limited quantities about twice a year, so right now, it's not available on the Knit Picks website. And it's why I have more of it stashed away than I know what to do with.
For the heel, I used some Cascade Heritage in the Snow colorway. I did a simple German Short Row heel instead of the heel called for in the Fish Lips Kiss pattern only because I prefer making my short rows German styles. One thing I still need to figure out when I'm knitting socks is how to avoid the hole at when I start knitting in the round after knitting the heel. I try to pick up an extra stitch to close it up, it that always seems to make it worse. If anyone has any tips I'm all ears. Overall, I'm pretty pumped about my sister’s new socks and am gunna check this in the win column. Have you had a major knitting win? I'd love to hear about it in the comment section.

Want to keep up with all my sock knitting shenanigans? Follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Project Overload

Anyone else ever have so many knitting projects going on you don't know what to work on? So, you end up working on nothing. Then you go a few days without knitting anything which makes you feel guilty, so you then start a new project to get yourself back into the swing of things? Then as you're working on said new project, your mind starts to wander and you start thinking about all the other abandoned projects you have to work on? And then you're tense and stressed until you finally convince yourself to just stick to one project and the rest will have their time soon enough? Then, finally, you can relax and hopefully start getting some finished objects?

No? Me either. Just asking for a friend. But my friend would really like to know how you all deal with project overload, so, tell me about it in the comments. I'll be sure to pass along the information.

 If you want to stay up to date on all my projects follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

First Impression Book Review: Vintage Design Workshop by Geraldine Warner

Whenever I go to Half Price Books, the knitting section is always my first stop. Sometimes I have luck and find something of interest other days I don't. During my last trip, when I picked up, Vintage Design Workshop: Knitting Techniques for Modern Style by Geraldine Warner, I knew I had luck on my side that day.

Usually when I find a vintage knitting book, it's a collection of updated vintage patterns, which I love, but this book is different. Vintage Design Workshop is exactly what it says it is. It shows you step by step what you should do while knitting from a vintage pattern. It has everything from how to assess your vintage knitting pattern to how to adapt a modern pattern to give it a vintage look.

My latest vintage knitting project

My favorite section, in the entire book is Chapter 2: Substituting Yarns. This has been one of my biggest stumbling blocks when knitting from a vintage pattern. In vintage knitting patterns, there's very little information on the yarn. Usually, it just has something along the lines of, "12 balls of Patons Confetti Flecks". Not too terribly helpful. In this book, Warner gives you advice on how to figure out what type of yarn was used from analyzing a series of things from the gauge given to the description of the garmet. Then she has a whole section dedicated to learning what you can from the preview picture. I really could have used this section a few months ago when I started my most recent vintage project.

This is all just a first impression, I can only assume I'll love this book more once I have time to actually use it on a real project. But just from skimming through it, I would highly recommend it. And even though I got it at a deep discount, this is a book I would definitely feel good about paying full price for.

Have you guys purchased this book? How do you like it?

To keep up with my next vintage knitting projects follow me on Instagram.

WIP Wednesday: Poison Ivy

After spending almost two weeks without knitting on my most recent WIP, I decided to pick it back up over the weekend.

Initially, I wasn't overly excited about the way this sweater was turning out. It didn't look like the picture in the booklet. I had felt this way after I'd washed and blocked my swatch, too. I still don't think it looks like it does in the booklet, but I'm okay with that now.

I'm currently about to split the front and back, and I've made a promise to myself that when I finish the fronts, then I get to start on my annual Christmas sweater. Things like that always get me going when I've stalled out on a project.

What are some things that kick you into gear when you're less than motivated to finish a project? Let me know in the comment section.

As always follow me on Instagram to keep up to date on all my projects.

WIP Wednesday: Practice swatch

It's been over a week since I've knit on anything. When nothing's going right, it's good to take a step back for a while. I feel like my first project getting back into the swing of things should be one of my favorite things to knit. I love knitting color work, and it's about that time for me to start thinking about my annual Christmas sweater. I've planned out the color pattern and even picked out the yarn. But there are a couple things I plan on doing that I've never done.

I’ve said it before, but I am a big fan of practicing a technique before coming to it in my project. There's nothing more stressful than attempting something I'm not too sure about on a project I've already put a lot of time and effort into. Plus, if I know I'm coming to something I hadn't planned for, I put it off then a year later wonder what happened to that one sweater I was knitting that one time.

For my Christmas sweater there are two things that are semi new to me. Small diameter stranded color work and steeking with superwash yarn.

In the past when I've done small circumference stranded knitting, the areas where the joins were had awful tension issues. Apparently, there's a technique to fix that. And it's so easy, but did take some getting used to.

I've done steeks before, my very first garment I knit had steeks. Cutting my knitting is no big deal to me. BUT I've never secured my steek with a sewing machine and it’s a must when you're using superwash, non-sticky yarn. Can you imagine me cutting into my knitting, probably on Christmas Eve, and having my sweater starting to fall apart? It makes me sick just thinking about it.

What do you guys do when you're unfamiliar with a technique in a project. Do you dive right in and worry about it when you get to it, or do you plan ahead and practice it first?

Don't for get to follow me on  Instagram to keep up with all my swatch knitting.

WIP Wednesday: We were on a break!

This past weekend has been the weekend from knitting hell. If it could go wrong, it did go wrong.

First of all, my current sweater project just isn't doing it for me right now. I'm not hating it enough to rip it out, but not loving it enough to continue on. So, there it sits in the same spot I left it on Friday night, mocking me. Okay, not THAT bad, right?

If you've been following me on Instagram, you'll know I've been having a lot of feelings about The Flash and have been wanting to knit something inspired by the comic books. Well, after several charts and swatches later… I'll just let my Instagram Story to speak for itself.

Honestly, I applaud all knitwear designers for having the patience and perseverance to actually get just a prototype done. Maybe this is my own fault for taking on something like this after my sweater issue.

After my designing reality check, I decided I needed to cleanse my palate with a simple vanilla sock. How could I go wrong with that? I was knitting along when I decided I should try it on. Even though it’s for my sister, I figured I'd get a good guess if the cuff would be long enough. I put it on and it was too small… My sister has bigger feet than me.

For whatever reason, in my delirium, I started trying on and measuring all the socks I've knit so far. I'm not sure what I was trying to prove, but I stayed up well past two in the morning trying to prove it.

That was pretty much my last straw. And I have to say, I think it's time I take a short break from knitting. Not a long one. Maybe just a couple more days, I think that's best so I don't try to force it and then get myself a case of the yips.

What do you guys do when your knitting just isn't going your way?

If you want to stay up to date on all this knitting drama follow me on Instagram.

Fresh Off the Needles: Cinnamon Muffin Sweater

Of course I'd finish this sweater right when it's warming up outside. Admittedly, I've already worn the hell out it already.  And I'm not going to complain too much about the warm weather. I'm sure temperatures will inevitably drop and it'll make an appearance or two throughout Spring.

I'm proud of myself for two things regarding this sweater. The first, I swatched not once but three times, four times if you count the cable pattern I had originally wanted to do.

And the second thing is that I finished this in exactly a month. My first two sweaters took me well over three months each to knit. I think this has to do with the fact that I took time to swatch, measure a sweatshirt that I wanted to mimic the size of and then planned out every step. That way, when I got to the armhole and shoulder shaping I didn't have to stop and do calculations. Or what happened in the past, I didn't get to the shaping and put off doing the calculations for months. It was just smooth sailing.

Like I said before, I originally wanted a super intense cabled sweater from a vintage pattern, but after swatching the cable pattern, I decided it was just more than I wanted to take on right now. Even though I've knit two other not so simple sweaters, I'm still not overly familiar with sweater construction. And although the cable pattern was fairly easy to follow, I knew I'd abandon the sweater once it came time for the shaping.

Now, I have a sweater that I love, and a ton more confidence in my sweater knitting. For the sweater I followed instructions for the gauge 5, 32 inch bust in The Knitter's Handy Book of Sweater Patterns by Ann Budd. It's a great book and I made very few changes to the original instructions. Mostly, I just knit the body a bit longer, put some length in the armholes and added a bit more shaping to the sleeves.

Instead of knitting the sleeves flat, then setting them in I followed the tutorial on By Gum By Golly for set in sleeves from the top down. They were super, super easy the only thing I did different was used German Short Rows instead of the Wrap and Turn shown. I do wish I had remembered to go down a needle size when I worked flat, my flat gauge is significantly different from my in the round gauge.

Overall, I'm really happy with the results. I would maybe knit the body a tad bit longer as well as the sleeves. I'd also maybe knit the bottom ribbing a little bit longer closer to two inches instead of the one inch I did. With that said, it's already proven to still be totally wearable as is though.

The yarn I used was Knit Picks City Tweed DK in the Habanero colorway. There's been quite the debate around the house about what the actual color of this yarn is. Some members of my family say it's brown and I had always thought it was orange. I've decided it's an orangey brown, so I dubbed this sweater my Cinnamon Muffin sweater. Whatever color it is I love it, but don't love that I can't figure out how to photograph it correctly or consistently. Any tips?

I'm really super pumped about having an everyday sweater to wear instead of my stranded Christmas themed ones that I wear once a year. I already have so many outfits planned for this sweater and I can't wait to wear them. How do you guys style your favorite handknits?

For more detailed information, check out my Ravelry project page. And as always follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest for work in progress pics and to see what other non-knitting things I'm working on..

WIPs and Worries

I'm not really one to worry about much of anything... Unless it's driving, or a job I hate, or life in general... Okay, fine, lets just say, I'm not one to worry about my knitting too much. Sure, I'll have a little apprehension when trying something new, but nothing that I'll lose sleep over. But some of my current WIPs have me all kinds of frazzled.

The project bugging me the most is my first shawl, Uphill by Cailtin ffrench. The whole time I've been knitting on it, I've been worried about my yarn choice. It's a really fuzzy, single ply yarn, it's Knit Picks Preciosa and I'm afraid it won't wear well and just get fuzzier through time. On top of that, the pattern calls for DK weight yarn, but I'm using a worsted and knitting the pattern as written. So, I'm worried the whole shawl is going to turn out too big.

My annual Christmas sweater is another project that has me all worried. I know there's still A LOT of time until Christmas, but I don't feel like I'm really where I want to be right now. I know once I get into the color work it'll be a breeze. But I was at least hoping I'd have the waist shaping done by now. I just can't seem to stay focused through the boring all white stockinette section.

The last really worrisome project is my Gummy Bear socks. I've been having trouble with the fit of my hand knit socks. And after finishing the first of this pair of socks, I'm still concerned about the fit. I thought my problem was that I wasn't allowing enough negative ease in the length of the foot, and figured shortening the foot would solve my problem. That was a no go, I feel like I'm either going to have to either go down a needle size, or decrease my stitch count. The thing is, I'm not sure what to do now though. Should I keep re-knitting the same sock until I get the right fit, or should I keep knitting new socks, making changes until I know what works for me?

All these projects have me a bit frazzled, and to be honest, I am losing sleep over them... That's not all that weird for me though. I tend to stay up too many nights thinking about my knitting projects even when things are going along fine... That's normal for a knitter right?

How do you guys battle your knitting worries? Do you find yourself losing sleep over your knitting? Let me know in the comment section.

As always, if you want to keep tabs on all these WIPs follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Fresh off the Needles: Walden on a Boat Socks

I'm not even sure why it happened, who can ever know why anything happens with me. But when I saw the picture below of Bobby Darin I decided I NEEDED a pair of socks loosely based off of that picture. And since his given name is Walden, I decided to call them Walden On a Boat Socks. Honestly, not even I can ever be sure where I'll draw inspiration from.

For awhile now, I've wanted to knit something using a color scheme based off of a picture, but I was hung up on knitting a stranded sweater and just haven't had it in me to design one. And then it finally occurred to me that a pair of socks with contrast heels would work just fine. I even have some more ideas floating around in my little head for more socks.

I'll be honest though, I was expecting to be more inspired by a beautiful photo of a landscape like the ones my mom is always taking. Not a picture of a guy, who reminds me of a cartoon bird, wearing a tiny yellow swimsuit, denim jacket and some ridiculous hat. But again, I'm unpredictable.

As for everything else about the socks they're pretty standard. Just a plain ole toe-up vanilla sock using German Short Row toes and heels, and a simple 3x1 rib for the legs. I used the same pattern I used for my Sick Socks as a base. I was also constantly rewatching the videos from Very Pink. I'll get all of these techniques down and not have to refer back to those videos one of these days, I swear. Until then, I'm sure Staci from Very Pink won't mind the page views I'm giving her.

With these socks, I did decide that I wanted to do a few more short rows so that I had a narrower toe. In the original pattern you knit the toe the same as the heel. Due to my child sized feet, the toe was just too big and loose for me. So, a few more short rows and that fixed the problem. Although, I'm not crazy with the way the toes look. If you want more details about my construction, you can check out my Ravelry project page.

They were knit with some Cascade Heritage solid in the Marine (haha fitting right?) colorway for the blue and the Lemon colorway for the yellow. I enjoyed working with the yarn, and I love it because it's really hard, at least for me, to find a sock yarn in a variety of solid colors.

Originally, I had wanted to have some sort of nautical stitch pattern, like a lace stitch that looked like a lifesaver, but couldn't find anything quick enough. I wanted them ASAP!! But I do have enough yarn leftover for another pair. So, if I find an appropriate stitch pattern I'll definitely be making another pair.

German Short Rows close up. Plus you can see how much too big they are!

I truly love these socks. Since they did turn our too big I'd either cast on less stitches, right now I'm at 56 stitches. Or use a smaller needle size, I used a US1 (2.25mm). Possibly both. I'm also curious if this would fix my wide toe problem. Hmm... There will be plenty more themed socks in my future, so I'll have plenty of opportunity to experiment. If you want to follow along with my sock knitting adventure follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

Now, my question for you guys is where do you draw your sock knitting inspiration from? Let me know in the comments.

Fresh Off the Needles: Sick Socks

That's it, I throw in the towel. I'm officially obsessed with sock knitting. I finally get what all the fuss is about. Don't ask me what it was about my first pair of hand knit socks, but I wasn't overjoyed about them. Proud, just not overjoyed. They didn't leave me wanting to make more. Now, I already have another pair on the needles and ideas for an entire series of themed socks swirling around my head.

What can I say? I'm so in love with these socks! Sucks I got distracted while knitting the first foot and knit it too long. Oh well. They fit my sister almost perfectly, so they'll be going to a good home. They are however, a bit wide in the toe, something that can easily be fixed by working a couple more short rows on either side.

I really enjoyed knitting this pattern even if they are just a plain old vanilla sock. Maybe next time I'll knit the leg entirely in 2x2 rib just to spice things up. The pattern is very straight forward with row by row instructions at both the toe and the heel. It was perfect for me since, I had never knit socks with short rows. For a matter of fact, I'd never really done much short row knitting prior to this, just the little bit that were used for the heel turn on my first pair of socks. I've also been sold on knitting socks toe-up as well. For me, it's far easier to fit when you're starting at the toe because you can try it on as you go and you know exactly where to start the heel. Also, you can use up every bit of yarn by winding the yarn into two equal balls and then knitting the leg until you don't have any yarn left.

 My favorite part about knitting these socks are the all too simple German short rows used on the toes and heels. I've been on the hunt for a pair of short row heel socks that didn't involve the old wrap and turn. And finally found one from Staci Perry at VeryPink.com. She even included a free how-to video on her website. It seems fitting that I became such a fan of this short row technique since I am mostly German, don'tcha know.

There are still a few tension issues I have to work out while doing the short rows on the wrong side which I still haven't figured out on my second pair. But all I'm hearing is I get to make more socks to practice this technique.

Lets talk about the yarn, shall we? This is some bare Knit Picks Stroll Sport that I dyed myself using Kool Aid. The orange, is first and foremost, nearly impossible to photograph. Look at those babies glow. I dyed it using some left over orange and cherry that I used for practicing some hand painting. For the bluish green I used  a mix of blue raspberry lemonade, lemon lime and McCormick's blue food coloring. Both yarns turned out far more tonal than I had expected, this is because apparently superwash wool sucks up the dye a lot faster than non-superwash wool does. Like really quickly, I could literally watch the water in the pot go clear like magic. I felt like I'd finally lived my dream and was a student at Hogwarts.

I'm pretty sure I've found my favorite way to knit socks that will keep me wanting to knit more and more. When I get more adventurous I plan on giving magic loop a try and then maybe even two at a time. What are some of your favorite ways to knit socks?

Special Skills Needed:

I included three different reference links for each technique. I didn't want to assume everyone learns the way I learn. Click on the numbers to see the different links.
Provisional cast on: 1|2|3
German Short Rows: 1|2|3
Extra stretchy bind off: 1|2|3

Want to see some of the other sock ideas I have swirling around my head? Be sure to follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram, Ravelry and Pinterest to be the first to see progress photos and the like before they're up on the blog. Also, don't forget to follow me on Bloglovin' so you never miss a post.