I'm on a roll!

I finished another KAL!!! I'm on fire. Not actual fire, but just as exciting...but you know, way less painful. I finished a Single Men Cowl by Laura Linneman or as you may know her, LaLa of The KnitGirllls. I made it out of Another Crafty Girl's Squishy Aran in the Kermit the Frog inspired colorway. It is fabulous and lives up to its name: squishy! I think the bright greens will look fantastic with the brown corduroy coat that I sometimes wear in the winter. The brown coat is a little tatty on the cuffs but I've had it since college and I just can't seem to let it go.




The KAL is for the Super Summer Knitogether (SSK) retreat that I will be attending this summer. 

Now I just have to figure out what to knit next. It seems like cowls are working out well for me so I'm off to look through patterns on Ravelry.

FO FTW

...or for those not into acronyms, finished object for the win! I finally finished a KAL. I completed the Herringbone Cowl that I was knitting as part of Another Crafty Girl's Muppet KAL.



I used the recommended bind-off and it makes the bound off edge a little floppy and ruffly. I probably could have done a regular bind-off since I cast on more stitches than the pattern called for to make sure that it wouldn't be too snug so I didn't need a lot of stretch in the bound-off edge. Oh well, it was my first time using Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-Off so I have added a new skill to my knitting arsenal.

Now, what to cast on next?

There really should be a title to this post...

I'm participating in another KAL. It's like I just don't learn, or I never give up hope...pick whichever option fits your philosophical leanings. The dyer at Another Crafty Girl is having a KAL with her muppet-inspired yarns and I just could not resist. I am working on a Herringbone Cowl by Lauren Osborne in the Sam the Eagle colorway. I opted to use Simple DK, the new superwash merino single that Another Crafty Girl just started carrying and it is lovely to work with. It is a tiny bit thick and thin but that is the nature of a single & it is so soft and cuddly. The herringbone stitch usually produces a fairly stiff fabric but with this yarn, it is still nice and cozy and soft.



I'm nearing the end of the cowl so this is probably the first KAL that I am actually going to finish. I picked an easy pattern & I have had lots of time to knit while watching TV this week. It has been a pretty somber week as I found out that a friend has stage 4 breast cancer that has spread to the spine. I haven't felt like doing anything other than frying my brain with TV, knitting and occasionally hysterically crying. Fortunately my friend has started treatment & is the toughest person that I know so everyone is hopeful but it is a tough situation. I hate not being able to fix it.

Awkward. I didn't expect to write about that on the blog, but I did so I'm not going to edit it out.

In news that will shock and surprise no one, the stash is winning. I keep adding to it faster than I am using it up. I will admit that I am adding to it at a slower rate than I have in previous years but I really have to step up the knitting to meet my goal by the end of the year. Here is something lovely that just made it into my stash:



It is Another Crafty Girl's Squishy Aran base in the Punky Brewster colorway. I just love a yarn with that many colors in the skein.

Just a bit of blog housekeeping, the books that were up for grabs in the last post are going to be going to their new home with bellamoden on Monday or Tuesday, depending on when I make it to the post office.

I hope that you are well. Until next time, hug your loved ones close and do something that makes the world a bit brighter.

Are you an innie or an outie?

I am still working on my scarf for the Knitting Blooms March Madness Challenge. The scarf is about 22 inches long (unblocked) and I still have 60 grams of yarn left in ball so I am less than halfway through the yarn and I have until Friday night to finish it. I really would like to finish this KAL on time but I don't know if I will. I was hoping to spend a lot of time knitting on the scarf while I was on vacation but that didn't happen. I took my knitting with me but failed to knit even one stitch and I'm okay with that.



I think the feather and fan stitch was a good choice for this yarn. I haven't decided if I am going to do a hard block on the scarf to open the stitch up as much as possible or if I'm just going to let it dry naturally which will emphasize the ridges. I'm leaning toward the ridges. You can find all the scarf details on my Ravelry project page.

Now that I've talked a bit about the project, I'll get to the point of this post. When you wind your yarn into a center-pull cake, do you pull the yarn from the center (innie) or pull the yarn from the outside of the cake (outie). Normally, I pull from the center but for some reason I decided to pull from the outside when I started knitting on this project. Here's the thing...it doesn't feel like I am making any sort of progress when I look at the ball of yarn.



I started off with 108 grams and the ball is down to 60 grams but it just doesn't seem to be smaller. I know that if I put this ball next to a 100 gram ball it will look smaller but without a point of reference, it seems like I am knitting and knitting and knitting and the ball isn't getting any smaller. I had no idea how much I relied on visual cues to feel a sense of knitting accomplishment. I know the scarf is getting longer but unless I start using stitch markers to track my progress I won't be getting visual feedback every time I knit because it takes several knitting sessions before the scarfs looks longer.

However, there are some definite pluses to being an outie. I haven't had the yarn tangle at all which happens occasionally when I use the yarn from the middle. Also, when the project is finished, any leftover yarn is will still be in a nice yarn cake instead of being collapsed into a pile that has to be wound into a ball.

So, my fellow knitters, are you an innie or an outie? Do you have a definite opinion one way or the other? Shout it out in the comments.

If at first you don't succeed

...try another knit-a-long! Yep, despite failing at stash dash this summer and the SAL/KAL that finished in February, I am doing knit-a-long with the Knitting Blooms podcast.

The Mach Madness Knit-a-long is a bit different so I thought I would give it a shot. I signed up for the challenge and Tina, the podcaster, looked through my stash (posted on Ravelry) & picked out a yarn for me to use. The pattern was totally up to me. Tina picked a yarn that I have had for several years, Keegan Lane Yarns Big Footsie Toasty Sock in the Shy Violet colorway. I purchased the yarn at The Loopy Ewe but they don't carry Keegan Lane Yarns anymore but you can find Keegan Lane Yarns on Etsy.

I am making the Old Shale Scarf by Tiennie because I wanted something simple and easy to memorize so I can pick it up and put it down at will without getting lost. Here is a photo from the start of the project.

The scarf is now about a foot and a half long now. When I actually work on the scarf it goes quickly so there is a chance that it may actually be finished by the end of the month.

In other news, who wants to see a baby? Anyone? Here is a photo of my mom with my faux-niece's baby.

My mom has long been sad that neither my brother or I wanted to have kids because it meant no grandchildren for her. I felt bad for her but, you know, not bad enough to have a baby. Fortunately my faux-niece stepped up to the plate and delivered a bouncing bundle of adorable baby that my mom can cuddle to her heart's content.

For the knitters out there, yes, my mom made the purple blanket that is wrapped around the baby. It is the Basket Weave Blankie kit that mom got from Herrschners. I don't know that she would use the yarn that came in the kit again because there were numerous knots in the skeins which made for a frustrating knitting experience.

Yarn-y Goodness

Happy Leap Day!! I hope that you took the time today to celebrate and enjoy the extra day. I firmly believe that on leap day you should try to do something that makes you happy and you get bonus points if it is something that you have been putting off because you don't have time.

What makes knitters happy? Yarn! So, here are some photos of the yarn that has made it into my stash this year.



Fibernymph Dyeworks in the Elemental 3.0 base which is a non-superwash worsted. The colorway is a self-striping color called Poseidon's Love. There are 220 yards in the skein so I'm trying to think of patterns that will show it off...perhaps a cowl or a hat? If you have any suggestions, shout them out in the comments.



The Plucky Knitter in the Plucky Rustic base which is 165 yards of a superwash Aran weight wool in the Fly the Concord colorway. I also have a skein of Peep Toes which is a red with some rusty undertones. I will probably use these yarns for charity hats or perhaps some mittens.



Malabrigo Rasta in the Solis colorway that I picked up at my local knitting store, Klose Knit. It is 90 yards of a Super Bulky wool that will become a cowl. If you want to pick some Rasta up online, you can get it here at The Loopy Ewe.


There is more yarn, as you can see from the running total in the sidebar, but I will save those photos for later posts. Sadly, February is coming to a close without me finishing the Hitchhiker for TheKnitGirllls SAL/KAL. I think the project needs to take an official timeout so I don't resent having to knit it and then maybe I can get it finished.  What about you, fellow knitter, do you sometimes resent your knitting when a deadline is involved?