Finished Baby Bear

It’s hard to post a lot when most of the things you are working on are going to be presents.  Not that everyone I know looks at this blog, but sometimes you just don’t want to ruin the surprise.

When I first bought this High Society Sock Yarn, I wasn’t quite sure what I would do with it.  It is very bright and colorful which always appeals to me but besides making socks (I haven’t finished the first pair that I started over two years ago) it wasn’t clear what I’d actually wear in such bright colors.

But then I realized it would make a great stuffed animal for my newest nephew and I found Susan B. Anderson‘s Baby Bear in her book Itty-Bitty Toys.

For my bear I mostly followed the instructions except that I increased the needle size to a US 5 and I waited until the end to put together all the parts.

The other thing I didn’t do was put a face on this bear.  I started with a nose and besides not liking covering his cute little yellow nose, I decided I didn’t like how my poor hand stitching made for a sort of scary face.

Knitting a whole project on DPNs is not my most favorite (see sock comment above) and you can see in some spots that the knitting could be a little bit nicer. But mostly I just love how he looks like a rainbow.

The pattern was so easy to follow and all of his parts look so great.  I especially love his cute little tail that took maybe five minutes to knit up.

Overall, I am very pleased with how he turned out.  I hope that he becomes a cherished toy that my nephew drags all around the house and snuggles with at night.

WIP Inventory

In the spirit of actually finishing some of my projects, it was time for an inventory of my current works in progress so I can really see how far I’ve come and how much knitting I’ll be doing to finish them.

Last night I decided to frog my second pair of toe up socks. I love the Mini Mochi but I think it will be best used on a different project maybe a Spectra (if only my hands could knit as quickly as my brain plans!).  The only thing I really loved about this particular project was the name Our Stock Would Plummet because they were toe up. Get it?

Anyway, I have another sock project still on the needles that I will finish one day (can you sense my lack of enthusiasm for socks?).  Right now, they are 25% complete.

I also have this Fishtail Lace Scarf that I started last April that I’d like to prioritize and finish. It’s 30% complete.

I love the color of this Kauni yarn and can’t wait to see it finished and blocked. This one requires a bit more attention so I prefer to knit this while I’m watching mindless TV.

I have my Honey Cowl which is half way there and could probably be completed within the week or so depending on the kind of knitting time I have.  This is great for movies.

And finally my One Row Lace Scarf which I’ve mostly been knitting on airplanes and long car rides where I’m the passenger because it travels so easily. It’s an easy lace pattern and it doesn’t take up any room in my bag.  It seems like I’m traveling so much but mostly I’ve been driving which makes knitting impossible.  It’s 40% complete.

All of a sudden, I feel like I can finish these projects and get started on new things. Taking inventory and frogging that half a sock really made me feel great. Hopefully I can get in a lot of knitting today.

On my needles way too long

There are three projects that have been sitting on Ravelry projects page for far too long without any updates. I decided it’s time to do something about them.

Last November I took a sock class at Stitch Your Art Out. The pattern was Toe-Up Socks designed by one of the shop owners, Cynthia Spencer. I started two different socks. One in the first class and another at home so I could practice before the second class. In the second class we turned the heel.  And then I stalled.  I stalled because there were other things to knit. I stalled because there was an uncertainty about how I would know when to stop knitting my first sock and cast off to start the next one. I stalled because maybe I don’t love knitting socks as much as I thought I would. I never even turned the heel on the second sock and that would have been easier to continue since I was using two separate skeins to knit it.

About a month or so ago, I bought a food scale so that I could weigh yarn. And today, I finally broke it out. I tested it on the leftover wool from my Honeycomb Hat.

That’s almost half a skein of Cascade 220. I was half tempted to sit and weigh and catalog all my leftover yarn but that’s a project for another day.  Maybe.

I needed to weigh my leftover sock yarn from my first sock so I know when I need to cast off so I can get started on the next sock.

This is Rabbit Ridge Designs Sock Yarn and at 100 grams, I still have a lot more to go before I will have to cast off. While I would love to be officially finished with my first sock, I’m also glad that it will get a lot longer because the taller the sock, the happier I am.

This is the other sock. It’s going to hang around for a while longer. Or maybe I should just frog it?  The Mini Mochi is so pretty and I don’t know what to do.

But the project I’ve made the most progress on is my Lady Kina. I started this top down cardigan for myself last fall and realized that it was definitely not going to fit me. I did a swatch but since it’s not American sizing, I think I misjudged. But, the good thing is that before frogging it, I brought it with me on a visit to my parents in October, tried the shoulders on my mom and it fits! So, now I’m just trying to finish it up to give to her.

I’ve knit about seven inches from the sleeves down and I think we decided it should be thirteen total, including the garter edge. I was hoping to finish by Thanksgiving but there’s no way I’ll get through it by Thursday, especially since there’s others things happening between now and then.

There are other projects that I want to start. Once this sweater comes off my needles, I’ll start my dad’s DNA Scarf. I wound the yarn for it earlier this week.

 

 

Yarn from Alaska

Last year, at this time we were in Alaska!

While we were in Skagway, we went to Changing Threads so I could get some yarn. I ended up with two skeins of sock yarn from Rabbit Ridge.

In November I took a great toe up sock class at Stitch Your Art Out.  And I started two pairs of socks that have been sitting for a bit.  The first pair is with the Fire skein.

The pattern is really easy to follow and it was great having the help of the instructor and my classmates. I feel confident that I can continue on my own.  And, they knit up pretty quickly (for me).

The only reason that I haven’t finished either pair of socks is that I got too eager and started a few other projects at the same time. I think that once it gets cool again, there will be more of an incentive to actually finish them. Until then, they are a work in progress.

I doubt the skein of Camo will become socks. But it will be a bit before I get to it.