We're All Mad In Here Redux

Could it be? I have a FO? After being stalled on all sorts of projects and finding motivation in none, I decided that every day I was going to knit one more stripe in these socks and eventually they would finish themselves. 

The heels match, like usual. I don't care if they laugh at knit night. I'm sure they are just jealous of my self-striping heel matching prowess. 

I've knit these socks before. We're All Mad In Here color way was the first Canon Hand Dyes I ever knit with. Unfortunately they faded. 

The sock on the left is the faded one. It almost looks like it is in shadows compared with the new one on the right.

Here is a close up of the damage. I've since been re-fixing all of my socks to help them resist fading. These were far from the only pair to fade, but because they had been neon, the contrast was much more stark. Luckily the old socks won't go to waste. Mum has found that she not only likes hand knit socks, she likes them even better when they've been worn in. Apparently they are more cozy. That works for me.

The sock on the left is in the Oscar base. The sock on the right is ion the Charles base.

Of course finishing my on-the-go pair of socks meant I could start a new pair. I didn't realized I had been so starved of a new project until I started knitting  this one. I blinked and I'm already at the heel.
The yarn is from Opal's now discontinued Little Prince series, the color is The Geographer, and there is a mildly embarrassing story as to why it needs to be knit now. I bought the skein back in November of 2013. After that I carted it around everywhere I went. I think it even came with me to New Zealand in 2014. Wei Siew saw it and was enchanted, so I found a skein at Stitches 2015 and sent to her. The embarrassing part is that she knit up her socks with her far newer skein before I got around to mine. So I'm knitting them now.

Progress has been steady on my other WIPs. I got more yarn for the shawl I'm designing. I had to unravel a few rows so I could blend the new skein in better. It took some time, but the shawl is now ready to be knit again. The Pucker sock is growing slowly but surely. I am ready to put in the toe on the first sock. (Finally!) I just need some quiet time to figure it out. The toe is a little different than my usual one because the mosaic pattern is 72 stitches around and I need it to be 64 stitches early on. I'm glad I have my Geographer socks to keep me sane while I work on the other two projects that need brain power.
There is one more thing in that photograph that I want to share and it also has a little story. I was reading Alicia's blog and saw a delightful bag. (See the second picture down.) I lusted, but decided I didn't want to buy a kit I wasn't interested in for the bag. The same day while reading Monica's blog that I saw a second bag and lusted over it. (See the third picture down.) After a bit more research I realized that those bags were both made by Jenna Rose. It was going to be a birthday present, but the bag accidentally got sent to our old address. We tried to get it back, but it was long gone. (I hope whoever stole it likes it a whole bunch.) So we ordered a second one. It became more of an anniversary present. It is my new favorite. It sits open really well and, well, I love that Jenna dyes and screen prints the fabric herself.

So that is what is going on in my knitting life. I'm still painting and learning all I can. It is exciting to have a new area in which to be creative.

My Sister's Knitter KAL/CAL

So Andi over at My Sister's Knitter has started up a KAL with the aim of finishing up projects. Even though I rarely have many WIPs (Works in progress), I thought I'd join in. At the moment, I have 4 WIPs. Starting in the top left corner and moving clockwise we have: the Prairie shawl, Strathcona (an embarrassing late bday present for my Mum.), a yet to be revealed sweater design, and a simple old shale scarf.

My goal is to finish the sweater. I only have a sleeve and a bit to go. Then I'd like to finish up the Prairie shawl. Strathcona has become my car and appointment knitting, so I won't worry about finishing it too quickly. And if I wait long enough, it can become Mum's next birthday scarf.
The old shale scarf is a hard call to make. It is a variegated yarn that has been knit in a way where the colors line up. I'm a little worried that the scarf will be too short. It's pretty wide, so I'm thinking about going up 2 needle sizes to make it longer and narrower. But this means that I get to figure out how many stitches will make the colors line up.... again. I'm not too enthusiastic about do the set up again. Unfortunately, having a too-short scarf is also a poor alternative to continuing on. My goal for this one during the KAL is to make up my mind on what to do with it.

Is anyone else participating in the KAL? (It's on ravelry as well). Do you have a blog post of shame like this one? Feel free to share how many WIPs you have... if you dare.

Still Knitting All The Things

My first Denature handspun sock is steadily growing. And although I really like the pattern and the yarn, I'm a bit on the ropes on whether or not they compliment each other as well as I was hoping. A  solid color would doubtlessly show off the pattern the best, but I suspect a good blocking will make the pattern stand out much better. I plan on continuing on since I spun this yarn with the intention of knitting this pattern. Starting over would only result in me never knitting the pattern or using the yarn for anything else. 

It should be noted that the heel flap is a little tough going and should be knitted in one sitting. 

The second Druid mitten grew a whole repeat last night. I've been feeling guilty about letting this sit on my needles for so long. (I cast on near the beginning of January this year.) Plus, I have finally worked out all the fitting issues I had with the pattern, so now I just have to knit.

Today's big project was to learn how to double knit. I have a pattern idea, and finally decided that double knitting would be the solution to the construction problem I was having. (A big thank-you to fernknits. Her botanical caplet is what inspired me to even look at double knitting as a solution.)

Learning this technique was much easier than it was the last time I tried. Partially because there are many more tutorials on the internet. (The one that made things click for me was from Knit Picks.) And partially because I now use both hands when doing stranded knitting, which helped immensely with keeping my tension even. Although I had to go down several needle sizes because, surprise surprise, it turns out my double knitting tension is looser than any other knitting I do.

Beer + Yarn = 2 New Projects

Apparently I'm a bit knitting repressed. I usually only have 3 wips (works in progress) going on at a time. Well, last night while watching From Prada to Nada and drinking a beer I felt the need to cast on for not one, but two new projects! The first is a prototype for a color work design. I thought it would be easier to figure out the sizing before going crazy with color. This will eventually be gifted to a buddy I've know for over a decade. The yarn is Lorna's Laces Shepard Worsted in the color way Zombie BBQ.

After knitting on the prototype for a bit, I went ahead and cast on for my Druid Mittens. I've been dying to make these for several years. I've had the yarn and pattern since 2010. It took me awhile to feel comfortable with size 0 needles. And even though I know I'll never get gauge, I have come up with a crazy brilliant solution. After realizing that taking stitches out of the pattern would not keep the mittens proportional, I have decided to knit them, then shrink them a bit in the dryer. Does this have the potential for catastrophically disappointing failure? Yes. Am I going to do it anyways? Yes. I figure if things go really wrong, I either have to find someone with bigger (or smaller depending on how this goes) hands to gift them to.

I did end up ripping out the toe of my Boromir sock and lengthen it. I still have the second sock to do. But the socks require the same needles that I'm doing the mittens on. I figured that it is sock weather longer than it is mitten weather, so these will be put on hold for a little bit.

And for those of you interested, Claire has released her Fellowship of the Socks ebook. Her designs are really pretty. Although the Boromirs are my favorite, I may have to make the Samwise and Gimli socks as well.

My Rocky Coast cardi is also coming along nicely. I finished up the body two nights ago while watching A Long Walk Home and One Crazy Summer.

Thanks again to my brother for the pictures. Though I'm not putting up the picture that he said made me look like a turtle. I kinda did look like a turtle.

I actually have 5 wips going on right now. There is still the pattern for my book that is being worked on. It should be good car knitting. And all going well, I'll be delivering the cardigan to my Oma tomorrow. She doesn't know this yet.