on hooks & needles: May

knit:


I've been saving the small bits that are leftover after I knit a square into my Scrappy Hue blanket to make a pair of scrappy socks. We went to see the new Avengers movie over the weekend, really good by the way, and since it was opening weekend, I wanted to get there early enough to get a good seat, so I needed socks to knit on during the wait. The scrappy socks are what I decided to cast on. They were all I worked on over the weekend, I am loving adding new yarns to them. I finished the first sock yesterday and have cast on the second already, they'll be a pair that's finished pretty fast.

I'm also using the first pair of needles I bought for sock knitting, Knitters Pride. I forgot how great they are for not making even a bit of a ladder on the sides of socks. Although, I do remember why I stopped using them, my finger is bruised and hurting pretty bad from pushing the needle. I'm trying to get out of the habit of doing that so that I love these needles again.


Since those socks are going to be such a quick knit, I decided to still pick out a paper bag for the Personal Mystery Sock Yarn Club 2015. The bag contained Poems sock yarn, which was a gift from Andi. I am going to be knitting from both ends of the yarn for the Noro Stripey Socks pattern.

cross stitch:


I found this pattern while browsing pinterest and wanted to stitch it right away, so that's what I did. It was super quick to stitch up and I love how it looks. I have never washed a cross stitch project before but recently I have been hearing about how great it really makes your finished project look, so I'm going to be giving it a try today. The pattern for the teapot can be found here.

There are no immediate crochet plans for the month, so the post probably could have just been called "on needles". There are a couple things I would like to start crocheting this month but I don't have the yarn for any of it right now.

April socks: FO

I finished my April socks earlier this week! I'm really happy with this pair, I feel like every new pair I get off the needles becomes a new favorite. To me the lace pattern that I used looks like falling rain, so I think the rainbow toes and heels go really well with it. They're so fun looking!

I knit the socks in a tube, marking with waste yarn where I wanted the heel to go and then knit in afterthought heels. I don't love the way the heel looks on this pair, the fat line bothers me a bit but it fits really great.

needles: 2.25mm (Knit Picks circular)
pattern: Diagonal Lace Socks by Wendy Johnson
yarn: Mellifera Yarns Merino Twist Sock in Raven & Spun Right Round in So Over the Rainbow (leftovers from this pair)

linking up with the Monthly Sock Challenge.

my week & WIPs

This last week was Spring Break for my kids, we ended up dealing with a lot of sickness unfortunately though. My son got it first and the worst, I ended up taking him into the hospital. Thankfully, it was nothing serious, they gave him medication that worked insanely fast. We walked in with him passing out constantly and crying in pain to walking out with him hyper and talking my ear off. I was definitely relieved after that visit, he was still pretty sick after the medicine wore off but he was still a lot better and after a couple days, he was back to normal. So while dealing with sick kids, I didn't get too much crochet or knitting done, just a bit here and there.


I crocheted a few rows into my v-stitch blanket. That basket used to be overflowing with yarn, it's now only half full, the other half is where the rest of the blanket is sitting. I'm so close to be through it all, it's exciting!


I've also been knitting on my sock a little bit, I have one tube done so far. I can't wait to get the heels on them and then wear them! I'm knitting with my Knit Picks sock needles, I wanted to try them out after using another pair of their needles in a larger size. They're now my favorite pair, I find my Knitter's Pride needles to be far too sharp for my liking now.


Thought I would pop a picture of my cat George in here too, I haven't shared anything about him in a very long time. I think he might be full size by now, he's huge! The spring weather has gotten to him, he runs wild around the house and spends a lot of time staring out the window at the birds. It's really entertaining to watch him be so crazy.

I hope you're all having a great weekend!

on hooks & needles: April

crochet:


I am determined to get this v-stitch stash busting crochet blanket finished. I alternated color with white in my first two sections and now I have very little of it left, so the next two sections are going to be all color. My stash has gotten very small, so I'm running out of a lot of colors but I'm still trying to keep the colors as random as I can, it's not so easy anymore. I'm crocheting the two last sections at the same time to try to keep the color spread around, if I didn't, I think the last section would probably be maybe two or three colors. I'm so excited that my yarn stash has reduced so much! A part of me didn't think I could actually ever get to the bottom of it.

After this is finished, I'm going to be joining the smaller bits of yarns that I still have into one big magic ball. Hopefully it will make a nice sized toy.


knit:


For my April socks, I decided not to choose a paper bag but instead knit a pair of socks that I've been itching to cast on. I'm using my left over Spun Right Round yarn in the So Over the Rainbow colorway and my Mellifera Yarns Merino Twist Sock in the Raven colorway. I've wanted to knit a pair like this since seeing this pair over on ravelry.


I'm still knitting a patterned sock, this one is Diagonal Lace Sock, it's a free pattern. I think the pattern almost looks like rain falling, so it goes well with the rainbow toes. I'll be knitting an afterthought heel for this pair.


Some knitting on my Scrappy Hue Shift has been happening! This one can be very addicting and hard to put aside but I'm slowing down again because I will be running out of minis again. Last month, I won an etsy gift card from CraftyRie's blog, so I decided to spend it on new mini skeins. When I started this blanket, I bought a bunch of mini skeins from NikkiSlipp on etsy and I loved knitting with them, so I checked her shop first and she had some new colors that I hadn't used yet. Her yarns are so gorgeous, I really wish I could buy full skeins from her right now, like this one or this or this or this! Seriously, go check out her shop, she's really a great seller!

I'm really glad that DPN's come in a pack of 5 and that I enjoy the cheap brand!
swapping:

I'm also participating in a swap this month, I'm trying to be a lot more choosy with them this year after being burned a couple times last year. This one is a Spring Swap, it's being held in Liesl's Buckaloo View group on ravelry. I have no spoilery pictures to share right now, I'm kind of bad with giving stuff away I think, I don't know how much is too much to share without giving it away completely! I've had a lot of fun gathering and knitting or crocheting (not telling!) for my partner. I'll be sure to snap a picture of what I send her before I mail it out so that I can share it here!

Hope you're all having a lovely day!

March socks

I finished knitting my March socks a couple days ago! I used a free pattern called Menehune Cobblestone, the pattern was an easy one to memorize. I wasn't entirely sure I would have this pair finished this month but I picked up my sock last weekend with only a few repeats actually done and managed to speed through that sock. Once I got into knitting the pattern, it was not easy to put down.

The socks turned out incredibly comfy! I used the optional ribbing pattern instead of knitting my usual 1X1 ribbing, I love how it looks! The yarn I used is Malabrigo Sock in the indiecita colorway, I will definitely be using this yarn for socks again, it's so soft to knit with.


linking up with Liesl's Monthly Sock Challenge.

on hooks & needles

cross stitch


I finally started my greetings cross stitch last week. The pattern can be purchased here. I am loving stitching this project, it's been very hard to put down! I had to take a break from it yesterday after my finger became really swollen and painful, I think I had been holding my q-snap frame wrong. It's feeling a bit better today though, so I'm back at it. I'm excited to have this finished soon! I really like the designs from Satsuma Street, I will definitely be stitching more of them.

knit


I chose my sock yarn for my March socks, it's Malabrigo Sock in the Indiecita colorway. I haven't quite decided what pattern I will be knitting yet but I probably won't be casting on until I finish my greetings cross stitch. If you have any suggestions, I'd really love to hear them!

crochet

I have done very little crochet recently but my scrap v-stitch blanket will be getting worked on again, hopefully by next week. I really want to get that done before the end of the KAL/CAL in My Sister's Knitter's ravelry group, it ends April 30th, so I have enough time!

I've also been thinking of crocheting toys again. There are a couple designs that I've been thinking about, I've even started crocheting one a little but I don't think I'll have it finished any time soon. I am really excited about the construction though, I think maybe I need to try a different yarn so that I won't want to set it aside. I have a lot of toy ideas sketched out, I really want to get a couple of them off the paper and in toy form this year.

Anyway, that's all for today. Is there anything exciting that you've been working on recently?

February Socks: FO

I lost motivation with pretty much everything for a couple weeks this month, so I didn't really do much crochet or knitting. Luckily, I did find some mojo again and got these socks finished before I need to choose another sock yarn. I'm so, so happy with this pair! The striping looks exactly the way I pictured it. The yarn was a sock split set from Spun Right Round and the colorways were Mega Magenta & Combat Boots and Baby Doll Dresses.

I didn't use a pattern for the socks but there are quite a few different striped sock patterns that looked similar to these on ravelry. To get make the stripes jogless, I used this tutorial on Craftsy, it works so well! My tension with the technique was very tight in the beginning, so one sock curves a bit when not on but it stretches out easily when worn. I also tried a new bind off for the cuff, the video I used can be found here. It seems like it has the same amount of stretch as Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off, which is what I've always used but I think I like the look of this more, so I'll probably use it a lot more often.


I'm really happy with the two pairs of socks I've finished this year! I'm definitely going to continue knitting a pair each month. Hopefully some months will have more than one pair, I would really like to knit a pair or two for gifts during the year. I want to have 12 for myself though, I want to have a drawer full of hand knit socks!


This last pair was finished exactly a year after I finished my very first pair of socks! It has me thinking of all the things I've learned since I started, so I'll share a post on my year of sock knitting soon.

I'm linking this post up with Liesl's Monthly Sock Challenge

January socks: FO

Last week, I finished knitting my January socks. I'm so happy with these, they are perfectly squishy and so comfy. I really loved knitting with the yarn, it's Knitsomniac Designs in the Frankenstein's Monster colorway, the yarn is incredibly soft.


The pattern for these socks is Rye by Tin Can Knits, it's a free pattern written cuff down but it's very easily adaptable to toe up. For my toes, I use a turkish cast on to start, it's easy and looks great. I finally found my favorite and perfect fitting toe pattern, I knit Joan's Favorite Toe (first pattern on the page), it's written for finishing off socks but I knit it backwards.


Since I'm participating in the Personal Mystery Sock Yarn Club and all my sock yarn is in paper bags, I'm waiting until February to cast on another pair of socks. Holding off is not easy!

While I'm waiting to get started on February, I'm knitting a row or two once in awhile on my two at a time socks I cast on last year. It feels like it's dragging on now, I may not be a two at a time knitter, so I may switch to just knitting one sock soon that way they actually get finished and don't stay a WIP forever.


Other than the little bit of knitting, I'm crocheting a new design by FreshStitches, I can't wait to get it finished to share, it's really fun. It's the only crochet I've touched this year! That feels pretty crazy to me but I'm sure I'll get back into the crochet groove again soon.

December socks & 2015 sock plans

I finished knitting my December socks on New Years Eve, they were my first ever cuff down socks. I knit them as ankle socks and they fit, mostly well. I found that my gauge seemed to be much tighter knitting cuff down, I may have been feeling a bit more tense than usual during the week I was knitting them, so that's probably the reason for the tight gauge. At some point I'll give cuff down socks another try though. These socks were made from Schoppel-Wolle Crazy Zauberball, I love this yarn and can't wait to buy more, I love the color changes.


I plan on continuing to knit a pair of socks each month in 2015. In addition to taking part in Liesl's monthly sock challenge, I'm taking part in the Personal Mystery Sock Yarn Club. You pick yarns for the year and then put them into brown paper bags, each month you choose a bag and knit socks from that yarn. This is something I wanted to do this year anyway, but I'm really glad that there are other people doing it now too, it gave me a kick in the butt to really get it done. There's a tag on instagram to follow, #personalmysterysockclub2015 and there's a thread in the My Sister's Knitter ravelry group to follow.


I don't have a big sock yarn stash, so I only had enough that I could fill six brown bags. I'll more than likely be buying more sock yarn to add more bags during the year. Some people added sock patterns to go with their yarns but I'm just going to pick a pattern once I see what yarn I'm using. Last year, I knit a lot of vanilla socks but this year I'm going to try to pick out more patterned socks, there's just so many great ones out there to try!


I chose my January yarn on New Years Day and was really happy that it turned out to be some new yarn that I was gifted in a Christmas swap I did through instagram. It's Knitsomniac Designs Sleepy Sock yarn in Frankenstein's Monster colorway. The yarn is so soft and squishy, I'm loving knitting with it!


I'm knitting my socks using Rye by Tin Can Knits. The pattern is simple but it looks so amazing! I am very much in love with it already, I can't wait to have a finished pair. I already have my first sock off the needles!


Those are my sock plans for the year! I decided against making real goals for the year because I'm not very good at sticking to them, I hate going back and seeing what I didn't do at all at the end of a year! This year, I'm planning on being as laid back as possible with my crafting. There's going to be lots of sock knitting and of course crochet! For blogging, I'm going to try to post at least once a week, maybe more than that soon though.

Did you make goals or resolutions for 2015? If you did, I'd love to hear some!

November Socks

It's been awhile since I last posted, didn't mean for that to happen again! Instagram really is too easy to get caught up in I think, I post there pretty often. I don't want to stop with the blog though, I just need to figure out a way to make it a priority again, next year it's something I'll work on.


There's been plenty of things keeping me busy lately, my daughter's both turned a year older! I now have 10 year old and 8 year old girls. That's just crazy to me, every year I think the same thing. The picture on the left is my 10 year old and the right, my 8 year old. Once you're finished with the baby stages, kids seem to grow up incredibly fast, no matter how much you wish they wouldn't. Their birthdays were on the 6th and 8th of this month, we kept those days just for us to celebrate this year but they'll be having a fun bowling party with friends this weekend. I plan to keep advil in my pocket as I'm the only adult with them all.

Anyway, on to my November socks! I finished them on the last day of November, just in time! Getting them off the needles was incredibly exciting to me, they felt like a huge accomplishment. They're a Christmas present for my boyfriend, I'm pretty sure he still has no idea I knit him a pair. It was hard to keep them a secret, I love showing off my socks! I already stuffed them away so I won't be tempted to give them to him early.


I knit these socks at 72 stitches on size 2.25mm needles and did a basic ribbing pattern. I decided to knit the leg to the same length as the foot, I think that's probably a good length for men, I hope? The yarn that I used is Opal in the Wacholder colorway. I'll definitely use this yarn brand again, it's not the most soft yarn but it feels like it will hold up well.

I have a pair of socks that I'm knitting two at a time that I thought would be my December socks but I think I'm going to take a small break from sock knitting this month. I still have a few Christams ornaments to finish crocheting and I want to finish my Once Upon a Time cross stitch sampler before the 2015 sampler starts. I stopped stitching by June, so I have a lot to catch up on!


I'm linking up to Liesl's Monthly Sock Challenge today.

Sock Saga

I think it's safe to say now that I am a sock knitter. I never thought I would say that, it always seemed so intimidating to me to even try it. I'm so happy that I did try because I love knitting them! I decided that for Christmas, I would knit a pair to gift. I measured everyone's feet in this house and said it was just in case I ever decide to knit for someone else. But, obviously I am knitting for someone, he has no clue! It's hard to not show off what I'm doing because I get so excited about my socks. I've had some issues with said Christmas gift though, let me share...

I started with Malabrigo Sock Yarn and the Syncopation sock pattern. I knit all the way to the heel, loving the pattern and then realized the yarn was not superwash. Superwash means that you can throw socks in the machine and probably not have to worry about them. I know that I would accidently throw these socks into the wash, they'll be worn by a man afterall. Although, now that I've already frogged them, people have said that the yarn is superwash, I'm not sure but I'm over worrying about it, I get to use the yarn for myself now!


After that, I went to Michaels and picked out some Lion Brand Sock-Ease. I started on some plain vanilla socks but the yarn was so rough that it was cutting into my hand so badly, I couldn't keep knitting them. It's a pretty color though, it's Toffee, it's too bad it's so rough.


I finally ended up going to a yarn shop here and found a lot of Opal yarn. I bought a skein in the Wacholder colorway and cast on right away. I'm knitting the sock in a basic 3X1 rib pattern. I'm really enjoying working with the yarn, it's definitely not the softest but it's not cutting me and it feels like it's going to wear really well.


I think these socks will be my November socks for the monthly sock challenge, I'd like to get these done early! I'm really close to having the first sock finished, so I think I can do it. I planned on possibly knitting a second pair but I think I'm going to stick to just one so that I'm sure the socks fit him perfectly. Maybe next year he'll get a stocking full.

monthly sock challenge - October

My October socks are already off the needles! I finished this pair in only 5 days, it was hard to put them aside for much else, all I could think about were these socks. The pattern was easy to memorize and the yarn was so much fun to knit with!


They're Monkey socks but done from the toe up using the Los Monos Locos pattern. The yarn is So Over the Rainbow by Spun Right Round, I absolutely love how the yarn striped!


This is the 5th pair of socks that I've ever knit! I think they may be my favorite, I've already worn them quite a few times. The length of these socks are perfect and will probably be the length I knit from now on, they go just a little above my ankle, high enough that they'll be visible when I wear shoes. I still need to work on my toe though, these did turn out a little pointier than I would like.


I'm linking these up to Liesl's monthly sock challenge. I already have yarn picked out for November's socks, I'm going to try knitting two at a time, I'm excited to challenge myself!

monthly sock challenge - September

Liesl started up a monthly sock challenge and invited others to join along too. I kept forgetting to post and join in, so I'm finally doing it! I think that I will be able to keep up with finishing a pair of socks each month, I love sock knitting so much! I'm definitely happy that I took the leap to learn the skill this year.

These were my September socks. They're a plain vanilla sock done in a fun self striping colorway from Nomadic Yarns called The Slutty Pumpkin. I did an "afterthought heel" for the first time with these, turned out to be a lot easier than I expected. I have also learned that some people don't like you calling it an afterthought heel if you plan it with waste yarn, so it's a forethought after-heel... I guess! Anyway, I love these fun socks, I've already worn them a few times :)


I've gotten a start on my October socks, they're Monkey socks but I'm using Los Monos Locos/The Crazy Monkeys, so that I can knit them toe up. It is an addicting pattern! I did all this knitting in just a few hours, it's a hard one to put aside. I'm using yarn from Spun Right Round called So Over the Rainbow, it's knitting up so amazing, I love it! Sadly, this picture really does not do the colors justice, darn the grey skies!


Have a great day!

happy weekend!

Saturday morning I woke up to yarn all over my living room! It made me sick to my stomach but luckily I found the sock still in its bag untouched, my bugger of a cat gnawed off the rest of the yarn to play with.


I spent about two hours untangling the mess and I'm back at my sock again. I've learned my lesson though, I will (hopefully) always remember to make sure my project bags are zipped up right!

I hope you've all been having a good weekend. Mine's been mostly fine other than my sock yarn mishap and now a bug that seems to have struck my oldest down this morning.

I'm finally catching back up on blogs, I cleared out a lot of stuff I don't read from my reader, so I should be able to stay on top of everyone's wonderful posts again! Here's a few I wanted to share, not all are super recent, but that's because I really fell behind!

Look at this patchwork CAT pillow! Lotte modified it from my patchwork dog pillow pattern. I'm so in love with this pillow, I need to find time to make one myself.
I really want to make a blanket using this pattern.
I love this way to organize school records, it's something I really should get on top of! This blog is full of great organizing tips!
Lisa shared a tutorial on how to embroider a "knit" heart, definitely something I will get to sometime!