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.

Blog relaunch + free printable

Earlier in the summer, I made the decision to revamp my blog. That included, coming up with a precise plan on what I'll be posting, and how often. It also meant getting serious and buying my own domain name. Welcome to thisgalknows.com! I'm super excited!

Here at the new and improved This Gal Knows, I'll be sharing current works in progresses and recent finished objects for both knitting and sewing. You'll even get to follow along on this new baking thing I've gotten myself into. Some of my other craftiness will shine through, too. And don't be surprised if I come at you guys crying over some comic book.

My main goal for This Gal Knows has always been for it to be a place where knitters and sewists can go to get their questions answered. But I feel like the internet is already full of great knitting resources and tutorials. Do we really need yet another site with the same information? BUT what I do think we all need is an index of these resources. That's why I've started creating masterlists of some of my favorite resources. This is going to be an ongoing project for me because, yikes, there are A LOT of great resources out there.

Anyway, I'm pretty excited about this new relaunch. To celebrate I'm giving you guys a free notepad printable. I have so many of these things designed, so keep your eyes peeled for more of these over the coming weeks...months...maybe years. You can never have enough notepads, right?

To make the notepad, I printed about 15 full pages on the back side of some scratch paper I had laying around. Then I followed Sea Lemon's How To Make Your Own Notepad tutorial. It's really straight forward, and feels like a great way to ease into bookbinding, if you're into that sort of thing. One thing I do have to say is use just the one coat of glue. I did two coats of glue and it's really difficult to pull the pages off.

I would also recommend using a straight edge to cut the sheets, I used scissors, and as you can see, things got a little wobbly near the edges.

One thing I like to do, is keep a stick of restickable glue on hand, then I can turn these into quick little sticky notes. Just a warning though, the glue leaves a sticky residue behind, so I wouldn't use these homemade sticky notes to put inside any important books.

What's included
[3] 7.5" x 5.5" notepads/sticky notes
[1] 3"x 3" notepads/sticky notes

Printing tips

• Print on high quality for best results
• To print just one page, use the page range functions in the print dialog and choose the page number of the style you want.

If you have any questions please comment here. And as always, to keep up to date with me and my crafts follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

This Gal Bakes: Donuts

Apparently I’ve been bitten by the baking bug. And up until a couple months ago, I didn’t even know I liked baking. Ever since, I’ve had one major thing on my baking bucket list, donuts. A couple of weeks ago I did make up a batch of cake donuts, which were AMAZING. But I really wanted to try my hand at raised donuts, which involved yeast, and that terrified me. Turns out there was nothing to worry about.

It just so happens, I put my fears aside just in time to celebrate National Donut Day, which apparently has a rich history. The holiday was created in 1938 by the Salvation Army to honor their World War I women volunteers. During the War, volunteers known as the ‘Dough Girls’, would take donuts overseas to boost soldier morale. The tradition was picked up again during the second World War by the Red Cross. Pretty interesting, right?

I also made the chocolate glaze from scratch. It’s surprising how easy it was. Melt some butter and chocolate together, add a bunch of powdered sugar, then slowly add some milk until you get a consistency you’re happy with and that’s it. The exact recipe is from good ol’ Betty Crocker circa 1980. I haven't been able to find a recipe like it online.

I love the look of a sprinkled donut, but I’m not a fan of eating them. So, I sprinkled a couple anyway for photo purposes only to realize the sprinkles I found in the cupboard were a little bit less than fresh... Luckily, I only sprinkled a few.

As for the donuts themselves, they were insanely easy, too. Yeast and all. I don’t know why I decided to do this, but I followed a cinnamon roll recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction for the dough then sort of just winged it from there. After mixing the dough, I just did everything I did for my cake donuts. Rolled out the dough to 3/8 of and inch, cut the donuts. Then I went back to the cinnamon roll recipe for rising times, about 90 minutes. After they had risen, I fried them in a large pot of oil, as per cake donut recipe. And I'm really happy with the results.

The only complaint I have about these are they're a little dense. After a little bit of research I learned, it’s either because I didn’t let them rise enough, or I added too much flour. Probably a combination of the two. Either way, it was a good learning process and the results are still totally edible.

Recipes Used
Dough: Easy Cinnamon Rolls (from scratch) by Sally's Baking Addiction
Glaze: Chocolate Glaze by Betty Crocker (1980)
Frying Instructions: Cake and Raised Donuts by Betty Crocker (1980)

I’m still new to baking, but I’m thinking this new hobby is another one that’s going to stick. Either way, if you want to follow my journey follow me on Instagram and see all the things I’m making that don’t make it to the blog.

This Gal's Top 3 (Free) Sweater Knitting Resources

I'm sure you've heard it before, “if you can knit a tube and do increases and decreases you can knit a sweater. There’s nothing to be afraid of.” Once a knitter wants to move onto knitting a sweater that's the first thing seasoned knitters tell them. The thing with that advice is, most things that worry knitters about their first sweaters isn't the actual knitting part. Their thoughts usually are, “I'm about to spend who knows how long on this sweater, what if it doesn't fit.” It's probably the first time most people are working with gauge, multiple measurements and modifying a pattern to work best for them. A lot of times, it's the first time a knitter is even working with gauge. There's a lot of uncharted waters for a new sweater knitter. Luckily, there are tons of free resources around on the Internet to help us along the way. Here are three of my favorites.

Nina’s Design Your Own Sweater Class on KnitPicks.com - I love this resource because each lesson comes with a PDF fill in the blank worksheet. Whenever I plan out a sweater I feel like I'm forgetting something important and I'll run into roadblocks later down the road. With the print outs, there’s less room for error when I’m planning the numbers needed for my sweater. I'm not going to say there's no room for error, because believe me, sometimes I can overlook things that are right in front of me like I'm getting paid to do it. Lets just say, it's harder to overlook a certain measurement or math formula, since everything is right there and there's less things that I have to remember off hand.



Thinking Beyond the Pattern: Knit Smarter not faster on Knitty.com - Thinking Beyond the Pattern by Jenna Wilson, is an entire series on understanding the knitting pattern and grading any given sweater design. Most of the series is geared towards aspiring designers, but it all can be applied for the casual knitter, too. The article I seem to be reading the most is, 'Knit Smarter Not Faster'. I love it because it puts that advice you always get about reading through the pattern into context. It takes you through what to look for when reading a pattern and even talks about how to use schematics to your advantage. And Jenna gives you helpful tips on what to do if your pattern doesn't have a schematic. I do recommend looking at the entire series, it’s incredibly thorough and has tons of information. The only thing is, for me, it can get pretty heavy and after awhile it becomes information overload. So, I suggest to take it in small chunks.

By Gum By Golly Fit & Knit a 40s Pullover Series - Although this tutorial series is geared towards knitting a specific sweater pattern all the information there can be applied to any sweater pattern, modern or vintage. This is probably my most used online resource when I’m planning to knit a sweater. I'm not sure what it is, but there's something about having someone else walk you through their process that's so helpful. Being able to see an actual sweater in progress as opposed to a schematic helped me grasp some of the concepts that I just couldn't get a handle on. Tasha’s writing is also super easy to follow and isn’t weighed down with too much technical jargon that makes me lose interest.

Those are some of my favorites. What are yours? I'm currently working on a sweater resource masterlist, so let me know in the comments below so we can build a comprehensive list.

If you want to keep up on my sweater progress follow me on Tumblr, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest.

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..

This Gal's Guide to Gift Shopping for Knitters

It's that time of year, Christmas is right around the corner. If you're anything like me then you struggle when it comes time to buy gifts. Suddenly, I don’t know who the person I’m shopping for is, their likes their dislikes. Have I really known them my entire life? Has my whole life been a lie?!

When I finally calm down, I start to remember their hobbies and the things they enjoy to do. Then I hit another roadblock, I know very little about their hobbies, and what would or wouldn’t be useful to them. I know they say, 'it's the thought that counts' but when I buy gifts I want the recipient to actually enjoy it and find it useful. That's why I decided to create this list, for anyone stuck on what to get that special knitter in their life.

I just want to mention quickly, that along with links to Amazon and Etsy shops, I suggest local yarn stores or craft shows. If you’re unsure of where a yarn store is near you, you can look it up on knit map. The staff will be very helpful if you’re not quite sure about what you’re looking for. They'll probably have even more suggestions than what I have here.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links when you make a purchase through those links I make a small commission. I would never link to something I haven't or don't plan to buy and try myself.

Stitch Markers

Most if not all knitters use some form of stitch marker. They’re easy to use and even easier to lose, so we’re always in need of new ones, even though somewhere in the house we have dozens upon dozens of them. They come in so many shapes, colors and styles.

1. Soft rings
2. Locking markers
3. Novelty/charms - Just add a jump ring to any charm and you have an instant stitch marker. I personally love the charms from Sucre Sucre Miniatures or The Nome Knitter.
4. Local yarn stores carry commercial markers and may also carry locally made novelty ones.
5. If you're DIY minded go ahead and make you're own beaded charms.

Project/Notion Bags

Project and notion bags are great for those on the go knitters who always, no matter where they are, seem to be knitting. Notion bags help us stay organized when we have a whole bunch of WIPs going at once. They’re also great at keeping our small projects protected in our purses or bags when we’re out and about. Notions bags are great for, theoretically, keeping all our notions in one place and preventing them from getting lost at the bottom of our knitting bags.

1. Too Daughters
2. Ewe Sew An Sew
3. Lavender Hill Knits
4. Mama Made Waffles
5. Local yarn store or craft shows
6. If you know your way around a sewing machine, making a small zipper bag is a great option.

Yarn bowls

Many knitters love yarn bowls. When yarn is traditionally wound the ball will bounce and dance all over the place. Yarn bowls prevent that and keep yarn in one place and free of any dust, hair or dirt that may be on the ground where ever we're knitting.

1. New Moon Studio
2. Heidi's Shoppe
3. Local yarn store or craft shows

Ravelry Patterns

If you’re willing to sign up for a free Ravelry account, you’ll be able to buy and send patterns to other users. You can search for your knitter by name and then filter by location. Then you can go through their favorites and find a paid for pattern that they like and send it as a gift to them. It’s something nice, that will make them feel like you went the extra mile. My best friend since high school did this for me recently, and it was a really nice surprise.

Gift Cards

It may seem impersonal to buy someone gift cards, but they're great for those of you who want to gift yarn, but don’t know where to even start. Yarn buying can be a very personal thing for a knitter and while we always enjoy getting yarn, we all have our preferences and sometimes would rather buy our own yarn. So, a gift card is sometimes the best option. You could even go to the store with the gift card recipient and make a day of it to add a more personal touch to this gift.

KnitPicks, Webs, Jimmy Beans Wool and Etsy are all great places to get gift cards for knitters. I’d also check out your local yarn store to see what they offer in terms of gift cards as well. Maybe I'm a control freak, but I love getting gift cards. They help expand my knitting budget and get something I might not be able to afford on my own. 

Entertainment

A lot of us knitters, like having some sort of entertainment while we’re knitting. I, for one, like to either watch TV or listen to podcasts or music. Others might like to listen to an audiobook, or even read a book.

1. Netflix and Hulu gift cards (Can be found at most retail stores)
2. Favorite movies
3. iTunes gift card (Can be found at most retail stores)
4. Audiobooks
5. Spotify gift card (Can be found at most retail stores)
6. Favorite books
7. A book or tablet stand for reading while knitting

I hope this takes away some of the stress of holiday and gift shopping. Now if anyone wants to make a list of gift ideas for carpenters, I’m all ears. And if any of my fellow knitters have any more suggestions, let us all know in the comments.

One last thing. Follow my shiny new Instagram account where I'll be highlighting some of these gift ideas with pretty pictures. And if you're a knitter, join in on #KnittersGiftList on both Instagram and Twitter and tell me what's on your list this year.

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.