June Mid-Month Progress

Finished:
Brioche scarf

Done with Cascade Eco Alpaca yarn - 1 full skein - just did 18 Brioche stitches until I ran out of yarn. Ended up squishy and cosy and really, really soft. I'm sure it will be extremely warm this winter. I had started this in May but just didn't focus on it much and it was my 'when I have a minute knitting'. I ended up frogging it a couple of times... but got it finished on the first of June.

One charity Hat Of the 3-4 in my goal:

Done with Wool-Ease on size 19 Addi Turbo Circular needles using Brioche. Looks just like many other hats I make. It's fast, it's quick, it's satisfying and it adds nicely to the pile of hats I will be donating to charity in the coming fall.

Double-Knit Hot Pad:
SIDE 1 -

 SIDE 2

Made with Peaches & Creme Cotton - just love how nice and soft this is... how thick it came out. It came out a bit bigger than I expected. But it's going to make a WONDERFUL hot pad for putting pans down. I didn't really have any big ones and now I do.

On the Needles:

• Top #1 Striped Bamboo T- about 45% done -
• Top #2 Bamboo Silk T - about 20% done -
• Masters - 9 swatches out of 16 + hat - about 45% done - separate post to follow with some details; planning; emphasis on what I still need to improve.

Still waiting to be cast-on:

• More charity hats
• X-rated Bridal Garter
• Felted Bag

 

 

 

Bamboo silk T

I set this aside earlier this month because I am nervous about running out of yarn. I bought the yarn at a shop about 150 miles away and know that I can't find it locally... and odds are they don't have this color anymore, let alone the dye lot as the shelf wasn't full to start with and I bought all that I could find. But, maybe.

Wouldn't you know it, I made the trip to that town twice last weekend and did NOT manage to make it to the shop?

I decided to pick it up again and do the best I can with what I have. Worst case I run out and hit the store next month... if that doesn't work I will shop thru folk's stashes on Ravelry... maybe I can get away with extra short sleeves?

This is a top-down raglan sleeve T with a scoop neck. I have about three to four more inches to go before I switch from stockinette to lace.

The photo isn't very true to the color, its really a deep plum color.

Mid-month Progress Post on Striped-T

I have 13 1/2 inches done on the body with all of the ends woven in. The pattern suggests joining the sleeves here, but I know full well that it would end up far too short if I don't add more inches first.

The question is though ... how many more?

If this yarn didn't grow... I would add four more inches. But it does grow quite a bit. So I am currently planning on adding two more inches and give myself a rest from it and see if I end up wanting three.

June planning

Original plan was to make a second version of the Oceana Shell (picture is of the one I made last year)...

I have a shrug I made with a Caron Simply Soft Paints (still don't have a great shot of it) and I was thinking that a dark brown top half with dark brown & this paints striping in the bottom half would look great paired with the shrug. I already had enough left over after making the shrug. So all I had to do was pick up some brown to compliment it. Picked up the brown and left it in it's bag until this weekend.

Put the two together and - um - no - this is a BIG NO. It's actually a really light brown and paired next to the deep dark brown/bright reds/rich hues? NOT a good match. Duh. Suppose I ought to have held the two colors near each other BEFORE I cast on and started knitting. I took a picture to blog this - but camera is acting up and it fell off my sim card. I'll try to snag another pic tonight & try updating . . . but let's just say that is NOT the top I'll be making in June after all. I don't have anything in stash remotely close to substitute for the brown and just spent a ton on yarn as it was - so it's going to sit in the queue a little longer.


Instead - I'm going to make a Pima Silk Cotton Lace T-Shirt top - Ravelry link in Bamboo Silk in a deep, rich, vibrant Purple.

Other projects:


Finish Brioche scarf
3-4 charity hats
Double-knit hot pad
X-rated Bridal Garter
Felted Bag

Continue working on Striped T and Masters program submission.

May month end progress

FINISHED:

- Crocheted Pullover (previously featured)
- Charity Hats - ended up only finishing three total last month
- Adult sized socks:

Used KnitPicks Comfy - ended up a bit too big. Changed to K2P2 ribbing to try to see if that would help them fit better (it didn't help enough - should have customized stitch count).

- Double-knit mini-socks:

Used Sport-weight Hobby Lobby, I Love this yarn.

Didn't love these and the afterthought heel in double-knitting? Hard, hard enough that I'm going back to the drawing board on the design plan for XMas stockings. Which was the point of doing these tiny... to give me some trial and error ideas.

- Last minute add-on:

Quick Crochet Baby Blanket - son's teacher ended up having a baby shower thrown by the kids in her class on the last day of school. I technically gave her a blanket I had made for charity previously - so I ended up putting this one on the Charity pile to replace the other.

(sorry for the poor pic quality - cell phone has a great camera; but it's having some issues lately)
80 stitches - all DC all the way - about 8 stitches / 4 rows = 4" x 4" so super fast.

ON THE NEEDLES:
- Brioche scarf (this got sidelined OFTEN during the month)
- Striped T in Silk Bamboo
- Masters Level 1 knitting

More TKGA swatches

I've got four more swatches finished. A little ahead of schedule.

Here's the seed stitch swatch:

And here are three swatches that cover different types of increases:

I'm really thrilled with my progress so far. I'm certain none of them are perfect and that they might ask me to redo some... but isn't that the point of the thing? To do your best, get feedback and find a way to improve?

Anyway. I'm going to take a little time this weekend to focus on answering the questions and starting the report so that I don't have all the written portion to do at the very end.

May - mid-month progress report:

MAY's PREVIOUSLY POSTED FINISHED ITEMS: Cabled sweater; baby blanket; hat

FINISHED (but with details):

Sweater # 5 of 12 -
  Pattern: Crochet Bronze Beauty Top by Doris Chan
  Yarn: KnitPicks Cotlin in StarryNight
  Hook: I hook
  Mods:
   - I need to work on my foundation-less sc; so this one used a chain and regular sc as it was more even.
   - I only did half-sleeves.
  Comments:
    - Super fast, super easy. Could adapt this pattern 'structure' to other crochet stitch patterns. Fits like a dream. Super soft cotton after washing (which you might want to do sans other clothing as it sheds the first time in the wash). This yarn was actually left-over from a project last summer and as such was a no-cost sweater for me. I threw it on over a t-shirt to dress it up for the office.

Also finished  two more charity hats - current total is 15 hats out of 40 (original goal for the year). This goal might climb as things go - just love the portability of hats and having them handy when I get stuck somewhere I can pick it up and put it down for a few minutes here and there.

ON THE NEEDLES:

• Brioche Scarf done on 2-ply alpaca on BIG needles for lacy-effect.  About 40% done - Goal before end of month
• Pair of adult socks for me - pattern selected On The Town from Melissa Morgan-Oakes with KnitPicks Comfy in Fingering. About 25% done. - Goal before end of month
• TKGA Master Knitters Level 1 program - just started, but we'll call it 10% done. Goal before Jul 27th (so I can free myself up for Ravelympics)
  
   

STILL TO DO THIS MONTH:

•  Pair of mini-socks done in Christmas colors & double-knit to test my theory that I can make a larger stocking with after-thought heel. I really want to make a family set of Christmas stockings. But I want to use stranding to get nice looks - but HATE the floats that grab onto all the stocking stuffers. Double-knit stockings mean NO floats. Plus I could make the inside of the stocking striped in the primary colors used on the reverse side. Goal - cast on 6/19 and finish by 6/20
• Cast-on Striped-T using Paton's Bamboo/Silk - hopefully this third attempt will be the charm Goal - Cast on after 6/27 and finish by 7/13