Category Archives: work in progress wednesday

WIP Wed: socks & shawl

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Good morning! Happy Wednesday! How are you? I’m so excited to share several WIPs with you this week, because that means I actually managed to get my act together to take WIP photos! yay!

First up, MUCH progress on the ASJ – it’s so hard to photograph this as a wip, but I am almost done! I need to lengthen the sleeves, sew the seams, and finish tucking in all the ends. I mainly wove the ends in as I go, but I missed a few. After the cardigan is seamed, I’ll then block it, and after it dries I’ll trim all the ends or weave any in more that might have been missed the first few rounds.

asj progress

Next up, a pair of scrappy socks, starting with this pile of yarn…

scrap socks

They’re loosely based upon a German sock pattern called Fade in Fade Out socks, but the original is a) in German b) cuff down and c) sport weight yarn. I changed them to my usual toe up formula :) and I’m using up scraps of “summer” yarn – cotton / bamboo blends.

fade in fade out socks

You work 4 rounds with color A, then 4 rounds of simple fair isle (k1 A, k1B), then 4 rounds of color B, and so on. Since I’m using up some really small scraps in some cases, sometimes I have to fudge a little, but look at how pretty they are coming out so far! Normally when I make “monster” socks, I don’t fuss about matching, but I’m trying to match these somewhat, so I’m trying to use one color on one sock for the 12 rows of the pattern, and then work it on the other foot. I’m not switching colors exactly at the same time, and because I’m using mainly self striping yarn, they don’t match too much, but for me… they are perfect.

Next, I have two design wips that I can share, as I’m self publishing both of them. First, my next pair of toe up socks…
saturn storm socks (2)

I’m pretty excited about these socks, which I’m calling Saturn Storm Socks (yes, once again I’m naming a pattern for the storm when I wrote up the design!) Why am I so excited about a pair of lace socks? Well, I charted the lace pattern all by myself! The pattern is being tech edited so we’ll see what she says about my chart! It’ll be available for testing shortly, and purchase after that!

Next up, a new sideways asymmetrical crochet shawl, called the Free Spirit Shell Shawl.
free spirited shell shawl

Perhaps you recongize the yarn? It’s Knit Picks Chroma in fingering. The shawl is made sideways and is a simple 2 row repeat, and after the last pattern repeat is worked (crocheting until you are almost out of yarn), you work the one row border. It’s slightly asymmetrical, meaning it’s not a perfect triangle shape, which to me just adds to the charm.

Shawl is currently being tested in my group & will be available very soon!

work in progress wednesday: afghan and asj

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Good morning! It’s beginning to look like spring at long last!

I managed to take a couple of wip photos to share with you this week – aren’t you proud?

First, I’ve been working on the afghan design that I started in February. I’m really trying to push to get this done!

afghan wip

My testers are all done with it, my tech editor has checked it twice, so the pattern is done other than my finished sample!

I also managed to start an ASJ… my FIFTH one, I might add…

asj wip

I received a lot of green wools (full & half skeins) at Christmas from my parents & got a few more skeins for my birthday, so I’m putting them to good use in this jacket. It’s knit at a pretty loose gauge, about 3.6 sts/inch, mainly because I was lazy about swatching & just knit one 6″ square gauge swatch & went with that. I’m using a lot of odds & ends, including some bulky & some fingering held double, so some sections are a bit loose & others are actually fairly tight (like the bulky yarn areas) but the wonder of the ASJ is it all balances out. I’m being careful to balance my gauge – if I knit a row or two with thin stuff, I add a row or two with bulky stuff.

All I can say is thank goodness I started this when I did, because knitting on this has kept my sanity in the past week with all the Jon stuff ;/ (I briefly mention this in last week’s Friday FO post)

work in progress wed: it’s my birthday

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Good morning! Today’s my birthday; I turn 37.

Happy birthday to me! We aren’t planning on doing much today, but this weekend we are celebrating my niece’s birthday on Saturday & on Sunday we are getting together with my parents to celebrate. This year, my in-laws decided instead of giving us all gifts, they are taking us to NYC for the day, so I’m looking forward to doing that in May.

So, on to wip wednesday… Still not reading, so I won’t go there…

jons socks

Jon’s socks, a little progress made…

Jon’s other socks, much more progress made…

socks in progress

I also finally cast on my tee shirt bath mat, thanks to Linda’s generous gift of tee shirts to get me started!

tee shirt bath mat (2)

I’m so enjoying this. I started this about midnight when I couldn’t sleep, so I just guessed cast on a bunch of stitches and started knitting. After a while, I decided to throw it down on my old beat up bath mat

tee shirt bath mat

and realized it’s coming out way too small. Since I took this photo, I spun the mat on its side & picked up more stitches so I’m now knitting this more log cabin style…

work in progress wednesday / yarnalong

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Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? ~

I actually haven’t done well in the reading department lately – I’ve started several audiobooks from the library that I had to return before finishing, and finished several books that I haven’t reviewed yet. I borrowed Beautiful Creatures from a coworker but haven’t started that yet.

Onto the yarn…

box car willie socks
box car willie socks. I haven’t really touched them because I lost one sock as soon as I had started it, but I finally cast on the other toe & did a little knitting on the other sock.

fake cable toe up socks
There’s a bit of a story to these socks. It’s an older design of mine, & I mentioned a few weeks ago I had cast on for the socks but my gauge was way off. So I frogged & went up a size – still way too small. So much for being a loose knitter. Frogged, went up another needle size, OK – now they are good. I started cranking on the socks, got to about 9.5″ long (these WERE supposed to be for my dad’s size 11.5 EEE feet), & realized I was just about out of yarn. I had 3 skeins of yarn which I thought would be plenty, but if I was out of the first skein of yarn already & hadn’t even turned the heel yet… so, I frogged back to about the 7.5″ long mark, and now they are for Jon. Width wise they are the same, but Jon has small feet for a guy – they are only size 8′s, but they are EEEE – very wide, square feet in other words. So, he tries them on, & I said to him if they don’t fit at this point, then they might as well be for me, because I aint froggin’ them again! But they fit great, so I guess they are for Jon, and I have to buy yarn for dad’s socks, again, and this time I’m going to buy FIVE skeins… just to be sure… lol…

yarnalong / wip wednesday

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Good morning! It’s Wednesday! It’s time to catch you up with what I am reading & crafting. I have a lot to share with you this morning!

Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? ~

First, let me share a little miscellaneous personal stuff. Hubby turned 40 last week, and we celebrated in style! We saw Heart in concert on Friday night

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bad, blurry, grainy photo of us at the concert. My camera does not like to take indoor, dark photos!

Now, before I show you Jon’s cake for his birthday party, you need to know that Jon has a few hobbies: collecting hotwheels & matchbox box cars, and Garfield.

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My friend Laura made this incredible cake for him!

And, one more thing before we get down to business, my new toy!
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Now, onto the wips!

I cast on for these yesterday
dad's toe up fake cable socks
They are “fake cable” socks, one of my really old designs that was published in the knitting calendar 6 years ago. I always wanted to go back, add an extra size, rewrite the pattern, get it tech edited & tested, and I’m finally doing that. I worked on the pattern yesterday morning & sent the pattern to one of my tech editors, and now I’m working on a better sample for photos. I’m usually a pretty loose knitter, but my gauge with these is much tighter than normal, so I have to frog the toe & start again with bigger needles. My bad.

I’ve also been working on my log cabin afghan, which my ravelry notes show I started back in April of last year!

knit log cabin

What’s wrong with that photo? Yup, I sewed the seam wrong – well, not wrong, just not the way I had planned for the number of squares I had knitted up. I’ve since ripped out the seam, sewed the seam correct & finished joining together all of the squares & I’m 3/4 of the way done an i-cord border.

and a little bit more progress on my ugly scrap odd sock
sock wip
 

I’ve also been working on my vest – I finished one shoulder strap, finished casting off the back stitches with i-cord edging, and am working on the other strap, but I didn’t think to take a photo.

Now, onto the books!
I’m listening to Matched (Matched, #1) that I got from the library, I just started Lamb of Legacy: A Child’s Survival in Hitler’s Berlin which I got for review, and I’m also reading a book called “Rules” which is due out later this year, which is also for review.

Yarn Along / work in progress wednesday

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Happy Yarn Along!

Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

First, the fiber:
advent scarf 2012 in progress
I haven’t actually touched this scarf since before Christmas, but I did manage to finally take a photo of it. It’s the advent lace scarf, so popular every time this year on Ravelry.

ez vest garter
some progress on the vest – the body is done, and I’m working on the straps.

socks in progress
I turned the heel on the ugly scrap socks, this is my work project that is slow going because I’ve been mainly reading on breaks.

I might’ve mentioned this project before but I think this is the first I’ve photographed it.
afghan hexagon in progress
scrap hexagons from a vintage leaflet, I need to find it again to tell you what it’s called. I’m not at all happy with these as they don’t lay very flat, but I didn’t realize it until I made the pile you can see here. I did start edging them & joining them as I go…

afghan hexagon in progress (2)

I’m miserably unhappy with this project so it’s very slow going.

Now, onto the books… last week, I mentioned these four books…
When Calls the Heart (Canadian West #1)
Addicted to Magic (Addicted, #1)
Thwarted Queen
The Stolen Crown: The Secret Marriage that Forever Changed the Fate of England

I haven’t picked up any of them still. What do you call books that you’ve started but haven’t read in a while? For crafts, it’s a UFO. For books?

I’ve been listening to Before Versailles, a historical fiction book that came out in 2011, & I’ve been devouring Through Rushing Water by Catherine Richmond, a book I’m reading through one of the many reviewing programs online.

 

And while I have your attention, if you missed it, there’s still lots of time to join us in our crafty book challenge! Won’t you please join us & help spread the word?

What are you reading, listening to, and stitching?

socks in progress- yarn along

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You might have noticed I’m not calling this post work in progress wednesday, but yarn along. I’m going to try – key word try – to actually participate instead in yarn along – where you combine books & yarn into one post. Duh, why didn’t I do this years ago? I’ve seen other people do it, so I’m finally jumping on the bandwagon.

So, without further ado….

Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr. Leave a link below to share your photo with the rest of us! ~

I decided at the last minute to do yarn along, so I don’t have a photo of any books with my wips, so let’s start with the wips, shall we?

I’m not sure when I actually started these socks – before Christmas anyways. I only work on them on work breaks, and only when I’m not reading. I usually have a book & my socks with me every day – if I’m alone in the breakroom, then I read; if there’s someone else in the room with me, then I knit & chat. I’m using up random scraps that were supposed to go into the sock yarn blanket, but let’s face it – they aren’t going to be knitted into miters, now are they?

scrap socks in progress

Yes, I’m aware they aren’t the prettiest socks in the world. I’ll probably make just the one odd sock & add it to my pile of mismatched socks.

Last week’s wips that I showed you are complete & blocked… now I just need to take photos!

I also have some progress on my garter stitch short row scarf / shawlette thingie, using scrap sock yarns in purples…
garter stitch wip

I also started a new Wiggly Way ripple afghan for charity (last one I finished blogged here)
wiggly way afghan wip

Now, onto the books:

Technically, I have a ton of books I’ve started reading, some of these were started back in July, according to my goodreads profile! Yes, July!

In no particular order, I’m reading:
When Calls the Heart (Canadian West #1) – just started on a lark, not sure if I’ll get beyond the first chapter, honestly
Addicted to Magic (Addicted, #1) – I don’t even remember this one, but it’s on my goodreads “currently reading” list
Thwarted Queen – I started this in July & loved it, have NO idea why I never finished it!
The Stolen Crown: The Secret Marriage that Forever Changed the Fate of England – another one from July that I loved & have no idea why I didn’t finish it.

These last two I started so long ago, I’ll probably start reading from the beginning again & at least skim the parts I read 6 months ago, to refresh my memory a bit

For the Outlander challenge, I picked up Breath of Snow and Ashes (Outlander, #6) from the library & I’ve started reading that again. Man, I forgot how much I love this series & it sort of makes me wish I had started from the beginning again, but when I look at the earlier books in the series (which I all own) & see how many pages of reading it involves… which means other books don’t get read…

 

garter knitting: wip wednesday

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Good morning! Happy Wednesday to you all.

I was very curious, so I had to check my own blog, the last time I posted a Work in Progress Wednesday post was October! I show yarn for a pair of fingerless gloves (that I frogged) and a log cabin afghan… that I’m still working on! And the wip post the week before shows a vest (that I’m still knitting) and 3 afghans that I did manage to finish!

I didn’t have time to take wips of everything I’m working on but I did manage to snap two very badly lit & photographed pictures… and I bet you don’t know what they are! Drumroll, please, it’s WIP Wednesday!

IMG_4762

IMG_4764

Guess what they are?

I’m spending the morning catching up on my reading & hopefully writing a couple of reviews, working on editing some photos I took last weekend, and ideally spending some time actually finishing one of my massive wips.
link ups
what are you doing wednesday?
Keep Calm Craft On

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