FMM - A Knitting Update, Finally!

It's been forever since I've had a knitting update.  Or knitted anything, really.  But in September I finally felt OK enough to try knitting something really basic, so I chose some yarn that I had in my stash and a basic beanie pattern, and got started.  It took me three tries to cast on correctly - and I actually twisted the cast on one of those times, which is something I'm usually really careful about checking because that means you have to start all over again - but I finally was able to get it going and I finished it two months later.  I know, that's a long time for a simple hat, but in between I had back surgery and was recovering from that, and then Karen and Jimmy brought me a skein of yarn from their trip to Vermont and I started a more complicated hat, so as it turned out I ended up completing two hats in the same week, which made me feel extra accomplished about the entire thing.

Here's hat number one - I call it my Return to Knitting hat:

Yarn is Twisted Fiber Art Queen Evolution, colorway is Candy Floss, pattern is super basic - I just cast on 84, did some 2x2 ribbing for the brim, and then decreased at the top and made a pom pom with the leftover yarn.

I got this yarn five years ago when I was in Twisted Fiber Art's yarn club.  Glad I held onto it until this project because it's become my go-to hat this winter.

This is my favorite picture - me wearing a hat I hand knit along with a scarf that Debby hand knit and I'm at Hogsmeade in Universal Studios next to the magical knitting window display.  Knitting, Harry Potter, and Universal Studios, ahhh. 

Next is my Vermont Hiking Hat:

Yarn is a worsted weight from Shelburne Farms in Vermont - colorway is undyed/natural, and pattern is Irish Hiking Hat...hence the name change to Vermont Hiking hat. 

The cables made my brain work harder than it had in a long time but I was really pleased with how the hat turned out.  Oh - the pom pom is faux fur - I thought it made for a fun change from the usual yarn pom poms.

And here's Karen wearing the hat - I gave it to her which felt like I completed the circle of giving.  She is so pretty and I love how nicely the hat looks with her hair color.

Of course after I finished these hats I had a seizure and subsequent concussion, which put knitting on hold once more, but I started knitting a baby hat last week and it went well although I think the colors might be a little bright for a newborn - what do you think:

Yarn is Mindless Knits hat and cowl DK, colorway is rainbow, pattern is Basic Beanie.  I call this hat Rainbow Beanie and I know you're impressed with my originality, LOL.

And now I'm working on another baby hat, although I'm not sure the color yarn I have is any more baby-like.  I really need a trip to a yarn store to fill a specific need - soft speckled colors - in my stash.  Hmmm, I'll have to see if there are any good yarn stores near Allie; that might be my best bet for an out-of-town yarn shopping trip.

Have a great weekend!

Inspiration

You guys know that I haven't been knitting in months, thanks to my brain being out of order due to pain and pain meds (Gabapentin has been both a blessing and a curse for me).  I've tried knitting on the socks I'd started before the herniated disc, but it's still not clicking for me.  I did start a very basic beanie on large needles, just to get my hands in back to that knitting movement, but I don't have a pattern and I'm at the point of needing to decrease at the top to finish it, so it's languishing at the moment.

But inspiration has arrived:  Karen and Jimmymeow returned from a trip to Vermont with a sweet surprise for me - yarn from a farm that that they visited:

It's undyed and has more of a sheepy texture than the usual superwash merino yarn that I buy.  I really like it.

See the little bits of dried grass/hay/sheep debris that came off when I wound it?  You can tell it's been minimally processed which adds to the lovely natural color and feel.

Sounds like a fun place to visit!

I started thinking about knitting a classic cabled winter hat, which brought me down the rabbit hole of patterns on Ravelry.  You can search by yarn weight but if you don't have a general idea of what you're looking for, it'll take hours to narrow things down.  Since I wanted cables, but not a charted pattern because I've never learned how to read a chart and now is definitely not the time to start, LOL, it was fairly easy to find a hat that looked cute with a written pattern.

I wound the yarn yesterday, pulled out my needles, and cast on.  I fully expect to make mistakes, be dissatisfied at my fabric (too tight or too loose), undo a lot of it, and possibly restart the entire hat, but that's my normal knitting process and I am thrilled to be in the thick of it, finally.  And all it took was a tapering off of the Gabapentin (still have a couple weeks to go, but the dosage is much less) and some really cool yarn from some really good friends.  Creative, too:

This was attached to the gift bag of yarn - Karen is so clever!

More Baby Knits!

Along with knitting all the things for baby Logan, I also put together a little gift set for running friends Sarah and Phillip, who are expecting their first baby next month.  As always, it's so fun to knit tiny baby things, and this go-round was no exception, plus I got to knit for a girl, so that was different and fun.  Here's what I ended up sending them:

Pattern is Golden Pear, yarn is Madelinetosh DK in Carnation and Antler colorways.

This hat is the same pattern that I made for Logan and it employs stranded knitting.  You need to have a loose hold on the yarn so that it doesn't pucker in between the colors, and I'm improving with that, although I can see a few spots where it's a little tight on this hat.  Still, it's pretty darn cute, and having just seen Logan wearing his, I know it'll look sweet on the new baby.

A couple of years ago I knitted a baby sweater that I thought was so cute - I had the yarn for it, and even though I didn't have a baby in mind, I knew it would be a sweet gift someday, so I tucked it away.  Well, I pulled it out and decided that I could build an outfit around the sweater, so first, I found a bonnet pattern that went with the sweater and knitted that up:

Pattern is Super Quick Baby Bonnet, yarn is Berroco Touche, colorway is Aqua.  The only modification I made to the pattern was to knit it in the round once I was done with the front ribbing and lace part - this way I didn't have to seam up the back.

And here's the bonnet with the matching sweater:

This color is so hard to photograph - it changes with the light!  Trust me, it's so pretty.  Anyway, the sweater's pattern is Miss Daisy, using the same yarn as the bonnet.  I loved how it turned out, but holy moly, all of that 1x1 ribbing got tiresome and as cute as this is, I probably won't make it again.  I do love how the bonnet's ribbing makes it look like a matched set, when they were done by two different designers.

So then I needed a little dress to complete the outfit.  I shopped at our Carter's/Osh Kosh store and could have bought about a million things - everything was so freaking adorable!  I found a little dress that looked super cute with the sweater, and bought it plus a two-pack of leggings in navy and pink - I guess leggings are the new tights?  I saw a mom with a girl baby in the store and checked with her that it was a thing to pair leggings with a dress when it was cold and she said she does that all the time, so I went for it.

Here's the dress with the sweater - front:

Ack!  Dying of cuteness.

Back:

The back of the sweater is why I knitted it - I loved the two different sections of ribbing starting at the waist.

About another month and the baby will be born - I'm sad that I won't get to cuddle her like I get to with our local Renegade babies, but I'm sure there will be plenty of pictures to ooh and ahh over, and I can't wait to see her!

FMM - California Yarn!!!

I'm back from my trip to California - I had a wonderful time and have so many things to write about, but I started getting a sore throat the last evening I was there, and it's turned into a full-blown cold, so what I mostly want to do right now is nap.  Second to that, I want to knit, because I came home with a lot of yarn!

My first yarn shop adventure was with Debby.  She drove down from her house to Santa Cruz and picked me up - we went to lunch first, naturally.  No pictures because we were too busy catching up, but the food was great...if you are ever in the area, Gayle's Bakery in Capitola is worth a visit.  Then we got back on the road, and I have to hand it to Debby - she did a lot of driving that day and I'm very appreciative that she was so willing to make the trip.  We went to Pacific Grove, which is right next to Monterey, as well as being the home of a wonderful yarn shop along with a beautiful quilt shop.

First stop was Monarch Knitting - we'd been there two years ago and I just loved that store.  It was as wonderful the second time around; the shop is well-stocked with yarn and goodies, and the women who work there are so helpful and friendly!  I had a list of yarn that I was needing for certain baby projects, and love what I ended up buying.  I also bought some sock yarn, and because I have had a gift certificate for that shop, I splurged on some fun goodies that I have been wanting but never buy because usually all my money goes toward yarn.  Here's my fun things:

A handmade clay dish (in stockingnette stitch) to hold my little stitch markers, adorable tiny scissors to snip yarn, and a super cute wooden needle sizer!  I have basics of all of these items, but having such artsy versions makes me happy.

My yarn pictures are a bit jumbled up, because I bought some sock yarn there, and then more at a store in Santa Cruz, but I photographed the yarn together:

The top three skeins were purchased at the Santa Cruz store; everything else came from Monarch Knitting.

I was so happy to find the Carlos and Arne line of sock yarn at Monarch - I have knitted one pair of socks with it and loved how the stripes and patterns appeared as I knit.  I also wanted to buy some solid color skeins of sock yarn for the toes and heels, because I've discovered that changing the colors really seems to pop the socks, and I'm all about making my socks look good!  I bought a navy blue skein, but there weren't any other solid colors that would work with my yarn.  That's OK, they had everything else I wanted.

After we finished with yarn, we moved onto fabric at Back Porch Fabrics - Debby was in heaven there!  I restrained myself from buying any fabric, mostly because I can only do so much, and knitting is my first love.  But I'm telling you, it would be so easy to fall down the rabbit hole of fabric in that store - everything was displayed so nicely and it all looked appealing to me.

When we'd exhausted ourselves with shopping, we drove back to Santa Cruz, where we stopped at Kelly's French Bakery for dinner and some knitting.  Desserts were in order:

Shared and thoroughly enjoyed - we both agreed it was a good thing we didn't have access to this kind of bakery on a regular basis!

Our knitting - Debby's scarf, my sock.

Debby and I - another happy blogger/friend meet up!

Nearly a week later, Barbara, Theresa, and I happened to be driving in downtown Santa Cruz when we passed a yarn shop.  Being the kind of friend that she is, Barbara whipped a U-turn and the next thing I knew, we were parked in front of the shop.  This was a sweet little place called Yarn Shop Santa Cruz; I couldn't believe I'd not been there before, so I asked the owner how long she'd been open - five weeks was her answer!  So yes, a brand new shop, where I found some new-to-me sock yarn made in England, Signature, by West Yorkshire Spinners.  She also had a lot of smaller skeins of solid color sock yarn, which made me very happy!  Here's some of the yarn/color combinations I ended up with (some yarn is from the first store, with the solid yarn from the second store):

These aren't my usual colors, but something about them appealed to me so much that I had to get them.

Accent color is a dark purple; this is going to be so pretty!

This dusty turquoise goes with a lot of my sock yarn; I probably should have bought two skeins, but at least I know where to get more.

All of the solid colors that I came home with.

I had birthday money saved along with some extra stashed cash, which made yarn shopping even more of a treat!  I really enjoy seeing the yarn in person vs having to buy it online; this should hold me for quite a while now as I knit socks to my heart's content. 

Have a great weekend!