Knit and Crochet Blog Week Day 7: Looking Forward

I am very excited to be taking part in the KCBW-IV this year. It has been a lot of fun playing along with the WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays, and I feel that this mass blogging has an interesting structure and topic.

This will be a series of several posts, everyday with a slightly different prompt.
Monday: The House Cup
Tuesday: A Mascot Project
Wednesday: Infographic
Thursday: Color Review
Friday: Something a Bit Different
Saturday: A Tool to Covet
Sunday: Looking Forward
 
Where do I expect to be in a year?

That is a tough question, if only because I have a hard time predicting what I will be doing next, and I try not to have many goals when it comes to knitting.

When I started blogging and the first new year rolled around I made a lot of grand plans, and well, they didn't match well with reality. This year I made no goals what so ever. Could you argue that makes this year pretty aimless? Probably

But that said I do have a few aims.

 I have two sweater quantities which I intend to become very specific sweaters. I talked about Elphaba on day two, and also have yarn to make a brown main color bohus sweater.
 

I wanted to try to design sock pattern. I have a skein in mind. Really I just need to do it.

I don't even have this skein in my stash on ravelry. It is the darker teal skein in the center. Fritzi Frizzante.

There are three shawls I want to knit. Summer Blooms as a gift, Daybreak as something awesome and exciting, and Walk on the Moon.
 

If I have time I might knit a lace weight cardigan. I was thinking Simplicity has all of the elements I am looking for.
















On the spinning front, I just want to learn how to spin a weight I normally use. I have gone from super bulky to bulky to worsted. Maybe my next project will be fingering or sport.

So, I have no clue if this is possible to achieve, but this is what I intend to do in the near term.

It has been really interesting to take part in Knit and Crochet Blog Week. I think my favorite part was when I got poems in my comments after I wrote the Haiku post. I thought that was really sweet and cool. I know that I cannot keep up with a blog post a day, that is pretty relentless. Once I ran out of prepared posts it was pretty tough to keep up. And, this week I have a lot of worries on my mind, like my final exam, and making samples to test before I go on internship for several months. Well, I hope you guys had an interesting time seeing me blog in a different way. It was fun!

That's all for now, take care guys.

Molly : )

Knitting and Crochet Blog Week Day 6: A Tool to Covet

I am very excited to be taking part in the KCBW-IV this year. It has been a lot of fun playing along with the WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays, and I feel that this mass blogging has an interesting structure and topic.

This will be a series of several posts, everyday with a slightly different prompt.
Monday: The House Cup
Tuesday: A Mascot Project
Wednesday: Infographic
Thursday: Color Review
Friday: Something a Bit Different
Saturday: A Tool to Covet
Sunday: Looking Forward

So today I finally get to blog about my latest and greatest tool. It is the ChiaoGoo Twist interchangeable needle set.

I want to start out with a word of warning. Buyer beware, if there is a set out there for less than the going rate, then it is less than a full set. So my set arrived with less cords than it was supposed to. My set had a 2 pair of 8 inch cords in small and large. I was missing all of the longer ones frustratingly enough. The good news is that when I use the cable connectors this makes a 24 inch needle, which is what I like to use anyways.

I am planning on ordering the missing cords, from a trusted source, Grandma's Knitting and Crochet on Etsy. I would have bought my set from her initially but she was out of stock and I had no clue when she would restock. She is my Chiaogoo source, and low and behold she has them in stock now  *evil grin*.

 It comes in a small compact case. It would be easy to throw in a bag, and not worry about the pieces going everywhere. I also like the attractive fabric.

The tips are sorted based on size. The small cable size on one side and the large cable on the other. The tips are the long pointy smooth lace tips. I realized when ChiaoGoo released the interchangable set that this was going to be the best fit for me. When I do a project that calls for a size I have in ChiaoGoo I go to them first. So when I found out I could buy all of the sizes at once with any cable length. I was sold.

The cables are female and the tips are male. There are also handy pockets for storing the cables and half sizes that do not come with the kit.

The large needle sizes have an impressive taper to them.

The set comes with many accessories, like cable connector, cable stops, keys, stitch markers and a needle gauge.

It all neatly fits in the front pouch.. I might end up moving the stitch markers out, since I normally keep those in my knitting bag.

I have used the needles on 2 projects so far. To put them through the paces I used the smallest size, 2, while I was knitting the long edge on the indecisive stripes cowl. I did notice that the stitches would catch on the cable connectors. So, for the finer gauge projects it is better to use the right length cable. I also used the largest size, the 15s. The needle tips felt fairly short, but otherwise the needles were very invisible.

 So here is the project I was working on. The cable is the perfect length for this. It is plastic coated braided wire. So it is strong, flexible, but firm. Probably not to the taste of magic loopers, but certainly perfect for knitting in the round.

As I mentioned earlier, the taper on the needle is pretty extreme. I think it makes the needles feel shorter than they actually are. The good news is that I had no trouble knitting in the round. This taper allows the stitches to smoothly transition from the cable to the needle.They do not catch.

Here is the join. With super bulky yarn I couldn't even tell it was there. With light fingering I could tell. The cable has a through hole that you can stick the key into to tighten. Hand tight will result in the pieces unscrewing themselves. The key is easy to use, and you need to use 2 if you are joining the cables to the cable connector. On the needle end you use the key in the cable and your hand on the needle.
 

I apologize for the blurry photo. Every needle has the size clearly printed on it.

That's all for now, take care guys

Molly : )

Knit and Crochet Blog Week Day 5: Something Different

I am very excited to be taking part in the KCBW-IV this year. It has been a lot of fun playing along with the WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays, and I feel that this mass blogging has an interesting structure and topic.

This will be a series of several posts, everyday with a slightly different prompt.
Monday: The House Cup
Tuesday: A Mascot Project
Wednesday: Infographic
Thursday: Color Review
Friday: Something a Bit Different
Saturday: A Tool to Covet
Sunday: Looking Forward
 
This post is brought to you by my mad Haiku skills : )

 

Scrappy socks are done

I ran out of yarn again

Good thing I have more.

The scrap sock kick ends

it has been good fun to try

to use up small bits

Kai-mei has begun

the knitting is flying by

cookie A hell yeah!

Miss Babs makes pretty

Bluefaced Leicester sock yarn

green blue nom nom nom.

Evenstar sitting

in a corner most unloved

no free time this week

Work's filling my time

and knitting is not allowed

inside the cleanroom

A FO Friday

short sweet simple and quite brief

see others right here

That's all for now, take care guys

Molly : )

Knit and Crochet Blog Week Day 4: A Color Review

I am very excited to be taking part in the KCBW-IV this year. It has been a lot of fun playing along with the WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays, and I feel that this mass blogging has an interesting structure and topic.

This will be a series of several posts, everyday with a slightly different prompt.
Monday: The House Cup
Tuesday: A Mascot Project
Wednesday: Infographic
Thursday: Color Review
Friday: Something a Bit Different
Saturday: A Tool to Covet
Sunday: Looking Forward

I had to spell color like an American, haha, sorry everyone else. Today's topic has to do with what I think is my favorite color, and how that compares to reality.

I must admit, my favorite color, hands down, is blue. I am just attracted to it. I know just from making a color wheel of stash, that a good third of it is blue, and half is encompassed in blue/green and blue/purple.

However, I know when I open my drawer most of my t-shirts are not blue. When I look into my closet, most of my dress clothes are blue or black. When I look around my house, there is a ton of red. So I understand that my favorite color does not always translate to my most used color.

So if I was to encompass all of my stash and projects in a word, it would be bold. I love bright, rich, loud, riotous. vivid color. I keep away from neutrals, naturals, pastels, and dark colors.

So now, for the actual results. And for simplicity, I will tally up every time a color comes up.

In my projects:
blue 46 red 16 pink 18 purple 25 green 25 grey 4 white 18 orange 11 yellow 18 teal 8 black 15 brown 6

In my stash:
grey 6 blue 43 purple 31 green 29 brown 9 red 19 black 7 teal 9 pink 15 white 9  yellow 9 orange 3

 Of course if I was going off the general impression of a project or skein than if the color was present this would be a different spread of numbers.

I did not hold out hope for blue being the most common color, but it was. I am surprised at how much more purple and green I have/used. And most surprising of all is how little red is represented. I feel as if I have had way more red in the stash and in projects. I can only think that since red is so different than blue, purple or green it just stood out more in my mind.

I would have estimated having nearly no brown, grey, white and black. However since I did instance of color, these do pop up in my variegated yarns, and I have had a few projects with them in it. As I do more colorwork I expect that black and white will be more common, just because they work so well to give contrast to any color.

So, tying this back into House Monkey, the jewel tones, with pops of other colors like yellow, orange, black and white are bold, fun color choices. I am not afraid to use color, and while I do have favorites, I do use them all, even if it doesn't feel like that sometimes. And, colorwork seems to be a common theme among House Monkey. We like it, the harder and more insane the better!

That's all for now, take care guys

Molly : )

Knit and Crochet Blog Week Day 3: An Infographic

I am very excited to be taking part in the KCBW-IV this year. It has been a lot of fun playing along with the WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays, and I feel that this mass blogging has an interesting structure and topic.

This will be a series of several posts, everyday with a slightly different prompt.
Monday: The House Cup
Tuesday: A Mascot Project
Wednesday: Infographic
Thursday: Color Review
Friday: Something a Bit Different
Saturday: A Tool to Covet
Sunday: Looking Forward

This one is short and sweet. I am a smidge early for May, but way late for April, so I present my favorite infographic, the stash graph!

 I find it helpful to know where I stand between future projects and current projects. I will tend to choose a lace or fingering project because I just have so much of both.. The yardage really adds up for the finer stuff. There was an uptick with everything this month.

I blame this mostly.

One skein of this is very nearly a mile.

Also, I haven't had as much knitting time it seems, with that whole spinning thing.

That's all for now, take care guys!

Molly : )

Knit and Crochet Blog Week Day 2: A Mascot Project

I am very excited to be taking part in the KCBW-IV this year. It has been a lot of fun playing along with the WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays, and I feel that this mass blogging has an interesting structure and topic.

This will be a series of several posts, everyday with a slightly different prompt.
Monday: The House Cup
Tuesday: A Mascot Project
Wednesday: Infographic
Thursday: Color Review
Friday: Something a Bit Different
Saturday: A Tool to Covet
Sunday: Looking Forward


As I mentioned yesterday, I have declared allegiance to House Monkey, and today's post is about the thought process behind choosing a project based upon my house.

The starting place for inspiration is generally my queue. I try to save patterns there that excite me. Either the socks are charming, or the shawl is exquisite, or the sweater is cute. I have a couple of patterns queued that are actually just ideas for my own designs.

There is also the mental queue, of sweaters I have yarn for, and projects I said I would make. I have 2 sweater quantities in the stash right now, and I have a skein of sock yarn meant for the dear sweet loveable one, and I promised my Grandma that I would make her a shawl. I don't like to have a lot of these sorts of projects. Normally I limit myself to one sweater quantity at a time.

Take for example Elphaba. The pattern was a gift from my mother in law. As soon as I received it I went through the PDF, and I was quite impressed. It was more than just a pattern, it was a guide to tweaking the fit of a sweater to be perfect for you. So instead of being directions, it was a highly technical guide that told you why, and where and how to make adjustments.

From there I got a deal I could not pass up on the perfect yarn for it, and from there it is only waiting for the right time to start.

Since I love love love finishing, and I hate having too many projects at once, waiting is a fact of life.

So, in summary, I pick projects when inspiration strikes, generally with tantalizing challenge, with appropriate materials, and given enough time. So, as a Monkey, I start knitting projects that make me think, or challenge my skills.

That's all for now, take care guys

Molly : )

Joy and Smiles Episode 20: Our FOs

This week is full of FOs and Joyatee carefully examining my stashquisitions.

Enjoy!



Molly : )

Knit and Crochet Blog Week Day 1: House Cup

I am very excited to be taking part in the KCBW-IV this year. It has been a lot of fun playing along with the WIP Wednesdays and FO Fridays, and I feel that this mass blogging has an interesting structure and topic.

This will be a series of several posts, everyday with a slightly different prompt.
Monday: The House Cup
Tuesday: A Mascot Project
Wednesday: Infographic
Thursday: Color Review
Friday: Something a Bit Different
Saturday: A Tool to Covet
Sunday: Looking Forward

So, to launch right in I chose House Monkey. Why? Because I think it on average explains what motivates me to knit.

The House of Monkey: Intelligent and with a fun loving side, Monkeys like to be challenged with every project presenting them with something new and interesting.

There are some times when I pick something not as exciting, but on average I want to be pulling my hair out in frustration. I love a good challenge, starting something and barely having the skill to work on it at the beginning, and emphasizing the technical side of knitting. Also, the more stressed out I am, the more I need a really challenging knitting project to go with it.

I haven't always been a Monkey. When I started knitting I was House Manatee through and through. I knit hundreds of hats with each one being incredibly similar to the last one, but different in subtle ways (ie colors used, a little intarsia ect. I couldn't say that I was House Peacock, embellishments and perfection don't happen very often for me. And of all of the houses I am least likely to be House Bee. I can't say I have ever been a process knitter. What is funny is that I hate having a ton of WIPs, it is draining not energizing to me.

Thinking about some recent projects that exemplify my house, I would say the Bohus, Rhodion, Evenstar, and Rabidly Rose-Hulman all challenged me to become a better knitter.

That's all for now, take care guys!

Molly : )

FO Friday: Handspun Hat and Indefinite Stripes Cowl

I finished 2 things this week, yay!

The cowl is done! It is very vesitile. It can be a hood, a scarf, a cowl or a one sided object.

I finally just buckled down and finished the stupid thing. I was using it as an excuse to knit and read, and finish off all of the natural ball of yarn. But, there comes a time when it just needed to be off the needles.

The handspun hat is also complete. I have been wearing it like it is going out of style (or rather spring has sprung, and there aren't many hat days left this year.)

I have made it to have 2 configurations, slouchy and beanie, it just depends on how the brim is rolled up.
It looks really short now that I have been wearing it. Trust me, it looks good on my head.

 




















Or it looks less goofy on my head than on the dining room table.

I really like how the slouchy way really shows off the gradient. It was hard to show in the skein how gently it transitions from the colors.

I am pondering what to do with the leftovers. There isn't a lot leftover. I haven't weighed it yet.


The suggestion was gauntlets. I also need to figure out if the remainder is fingering, sport or worsted weight, since I will definitely need some other yarn to supplement it.

My fingerless gloves are starting to get worn out, and while I can try to fix them, it might be fine to replace them as well. They are my most worn, and most complimented piece of knitting, even in their careworn state.

We shall see, you and me haha!

I believe that my scrappy socks will soon be done, and I will be on to more socks, as in Kai-Mei, by the awesome and incredible Cookie A. Good thing I linked this guy, there was an errata on the pattern.

Let me distract you with a photo of me with Cookie A. in October. Yay Cookie!

I guess I am rolling in my stash tonight, we'll see what I choose for the socks.

Please check out the other cool FO Friday bloggers this week, here!

That's all for now, take care guys!

Molly : )