Done before Midsummer

As promised, I come to you today with an official FO post!

Pattern: Midsommarkrans sleeveless top by Lene Tøsti (Ravelry link), size S
Yarn: Miss Babs Damask (65% cultivated silk, 35% bleached linen) in the colorway Together, 1.3 skeins (546 yds./499 m)
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)
Started/Completed: June 8/July 10
Mods: worked different increases for lower body shaping.

You've all heard me complain about this project for weeks on end, but I hope you can tell by my smile how much it was worth all the ripping and reknitting. And I'd honestly do it again, now that I've figured out where I went wrong. I don't usually have any issues keeping my left and my right straight, but something about fronts and backs threw me off -- and it really shouldn't have because this top is completely reversible, so really I just had to do the same thing twice and not think quite so hard about it.

How I'm modeling it here is how I will likely wear it, over a tank or perhaps a dress. I think the v-neck is a bit low in the back to go with just a bra, not to mention that the top feels a bit risqué to me without something underneath, but even on a hot summer day it'll still feel light even with a layer under. This yarn is pretty special, and it was surprisingly comfortable to knit with given that it has no stretch whatsoever. It held up well to the repeated frogging and reknitting, too, so I didn't feel guilty about messing up with a yarn that was not especially cheap. I still have a fair amount leftover, too, which I think would be really nice for one of those little scarves that are all the rage right now. The silk content makes the knit fabric feel really cool, and linen adds some crispness. I expect that it'll soften with wear, too.

The only modification I made to the pattern (or at least the only one I made on purpose and didn't rip out) was working the lower body increases as lifted increases rather than the called-for yarnovers that were to be twisted on the following round. I don't think you can really tell a difference even if you look, and I didn't want to forget to twist a YO and end up having to rip back yet again when I was so close to being done. I opted for the more gentle shaping option; the pattern includes instructions for a straight body or  more pronounced shaping (which I think is what appears in the sample used in the pattern photos) as well. I may have had my issues with the pattern, but given how thorough it is and the fact that it was completely free, I would still recommend it -- provided, of course, that you are a confident knitter and don't need a ton of hand-holding.

This top will be coming with me to Nashville. We leave midday tomorrow and will be back midday Sunday. I am taking my computer with me and plan to continue my regular blogging schedule, so I'll be able to give you some peeks at what we're doing. In the meantime, please send all the good thoughts you can spare the way of the Mister and Ruthie, who I'm hoping will find a way to peacefully coexist at the very minimum (I'm secretly hoping they become good buddies while we're gone).

A Free Friday

TGIF, friends! I always love having a Friday off from work, and it's even better when you've also been off the day before! I still had to get up early (well, the normal time) yesterday to get to my follow-up appointment (everything is normal and good!), and my day didn't look all that different because of Ruthie, but it was so nice to not be tied to my laptop all day. Also, Ruthie had a playdate with two other puppies in the neighborhood that I couldn't have taken her to had it been a regular workday, and we both very much enjoyed that. Today will be more of the same, I expect.

I promised you an update on my Midsommarkrans top, and today feels like a very appropriate day to do it given that "Midsommar" is the Swedish festival for the summer solstice, which just happens to be today! Here is what it looks like at the moment:

In the midst of my illness, it took me a while to work the joining row for the front, but once I was feeling better, I made excellent progress. On Wednesday evening, I was getting ready to finish up the left back panel when I picked up the piece and took a good look at it -- only to realize I had done it completely wrong. Lest you think it was the illness causing it, I want to share with you the instructions for the back panels. See if you can figure out where I went wrong:

Can you see the problem? If not, does this help?

That old adage about getting what you paid for is completely true when it comes to this free pattern, not to mention that the designer's first language does not appear to be English because I've come across some other weird instructions and a few typos. What this should say, for the left side of the back, is to work it as for the right front. I had worked the left, as written here, and that resulted in the lace panel ending up closer to the armhole than the neck. Riiiiip! I've restarted and knit back most of what I ripped, but at least I know what I'm doing now. I think I have now ripped and reknit this one sweater more than any other project I've ever worked on, but I am now even more determined to get it right!

I expect that by next week I'll have finished my Kouyou, as I only have a handful of rows remaining (they're long rows, of course, and the bind-off has picots so will take some extra time). And I've pulled out some yarn to wind for my next mindless project, which I'll share next week. This weekend we have plans to get together with some friends who are moving out of town next month, and Ruthie and I will go to puppy class tomorrow morning. I hope this time she's a little more adventurous when it comes to playing with other dogs. She and I both wish you a good weekend -- enjoy the longest day of the year today if you're in the Northern Hemisphere!

Please admire my long legs!

It's Always Something, Part II

Can I get a do-over on the weekend? I was hoping it would be quiet and relaxing, but it seems like when I need that, I don't get it. I never heard back about whether Ruthie could attend puppy class, but it ended up being a moot point after I nearly fainted while walking her Saturday morning and then felt awful the rest of the day. I was exhausted (likely because Ruthie was up barking for several hours Friday night), my body hurt, I had chills, and I had a terrible sinus headache. I wasn't sure what was wrong with me. The Mister told me to go back to bed for a bit and sat with Ruthie, and in the afternoon all three of us girls snoozed. I slept well Saturday night and felt a little better when I got up on Sunday, but when I was looking in the mirror before stepping into the shower, I realized what the problem was. A visit to urgent care later in the day confirmed a case of mastitis (yes, even though I haven't nursed a baby in well more than a decade!). I'm now on antibiotics and hoping that they kick in soon, though Tylenol is helping with the aches and pains. On top of my list today is calling my OB/GYN to get in in a few days to get it checked out to be sure everything is as it should be.

If you want to know just how terrible I felt on Saturday, I will tell you that it was bad enough that I couldn't knit. It's been a long time since that happened. I think part of it was certainly the worry over not knowing what was wrong with me, so even though things weren't that much better on Sunday, I at least was pretty sure what the problem was and was just waiting for confirmation, so while Ruthie napped, I watched the U.S. Open and pulled out my Kouyou to figure out where I was going wrong.

It turns out that it was partly user error and partly bad charting. It seems that the four total border stitches (which are meant to be worked in garter stitch) are included in the chart, but I didn't realize that because they're charted as being in stockinette, so I was assuming what was on the chart was only the body stitches. Once I reread the instructions and realized the issue, everything worked out perfectly.

My Midsommarkrans top is making progress, too, though slowly. I've reached the point on the left and right front where the two pieces will be joined to complete the lace feature.

The good news is that it's a three-day week for me. The university is closed on Thursday for Juneteenth, and then I'm taking Friday off (using one of my two personal days that go poof at the end of the month if I don't use them). I don't expect my days off to be all that different, given that Ruthie doesn't understand that she can sleep in, but at least I won't be tied to a laptop all day. Here's hoping the next three days go quickly and easily! And just because, here's a photo of my girls. Clearly we're failing at keeping Ruthie off the couch!

Unraveled, Week 22/2025

It feels weird that it's already Wednesday; I've once again been thrown off by a long weekend and another one coming up (I'm taking Friday off because I'd reached my maximum on accrued time off, so I needed to take a day or I couldn't earn more). But it is Wednesday, which means it's time to join Kat and the Unravelers, this time with FOs!

I'd have liked to have modeled this first one for you, but I did not have light and another photographer in the house at the same time, and we all know I'm not great at selfies.

Pattern: Zuzu's Petals (Ravelry link) by Carina Spencer, using instructions for Gauge 1/Fingering
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm
Yarn: handspun Rambouillet/mohair/CVM/tussah silk/silk noil, approximately 77 g/188 yds. used
Started/Completed: May 13/May 21

This was a surprisingly fast knit, given that I was really only working on it during Ruthie's afternoon naps (which, on a good day, might be two hours long). Although my yarn was more in the sport to DK range, I followed the instructions for the fingering weight version and used bigger needles to use up as much yarn as possible. I did get a bit into the green in the skein at the edging -- maybe not as much as I wanted, but enough to make me happy. There's about 100 yards of yarn left and no plan for it, though I would expect I could combine it with some other handspun bits and bobs to make something.

Though I don't have a photo yet (because blocking is happening), I also finished my Sugar Maple tee yesterday afternoon! It was a long bind-off in twisted ribbing that took most of nap time, and it's satisfying that I finished well ahead of the end of the month so I'm not in a rush this weekend.

Because I knew I would finish the sweater at some point in the day yesterday, I also took some time to wind yarn for my next cast-on. I'm going to be knitting another summer top. It's not for the SSK knitalong, but it is using yarn that I bought at the last one I attended (back in 2023).

This is Miss Babs Damask, a really interesting blend of silk and bleached linen. I bought the two skeins with another sleeveless summer top in mind, but I'm going to be using for this one (Ravelry link) instead, provided I can get gauge. Swatching is in progress. If it doesn't work, I'll go back to the original plan (Ravelry link).

Reading time has been more plentiful this past week, though the books I've finished have been a mixed bag.

First, after a long wait, I got Onyx Storm from the library. This is the third book in the series, and I really only decided to read it to see what would happen with the cliffhanger at the end of book two and because Katie had read it. This is one I easily could have DNF'ed, but I decided to finish it just in case something happened at the end. Well, there was another cliffhanger, and aside from one other development, that's about all that happened. I couldn't tell if it was the writing/writer or the fact that it had been more than a year since I read the last book, but I had a really hard time remembering who everyone was and what had happened previously, which meant I was confused for a lot of the book. On top of that, it seemed like a lot was going on without anything actually happening, if that makes sense. I gave it 2.5 stars, rounded down. I doubt I'll be continuing with the series unless a reader I trust tells me I need to read the last two books (though in that case I'd probably have to start over and read the whole series so I remember what happened).

I made quick work of an audiobook from the library, All the Beauty in the World: The Metropolitan Museum and Me. This memoir tells of the author's time as a security job at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, a job he took when his older brother was battling cancer. The book doesn't really follow a timeline but rather is a series of vignettes about the author's experiences with visitors, his friendships with other guards, and his reflections on the art he sees every day. I think that perhaps there's something lost in reading this on audio, as I think the print version might contain images of the works he references. I did look up a few, but mostly I was listening while walking, so it wasn't always convenient to get out my phone and search. It did, however, make me want to visit the Met and see all the amazing works of art they have there, and the several hours I spent listening to someone talk about art were quite pleasant. I gave it 3 stars.

Finally, a book that was very good but also very hard to read. Han Kang won the Nobel Prize for Literature last year, and I've been wanting to read some of her work. I have her most recent novel on hold at the library [EDIT: We Do Not Part is a Kindle daily deal today, if you're interestested], but in the interim I read Human Acts, a short novel full of utterly devastating things. This book is based on the events and aftereffects of the Gwangju uprising in South Korea in May 1980 in which citizens protesting against a military coup were brutally massacred. The book is told in multiple points of view over different time periods, ranging from a young boy who was killed to those who were there with him that day but survived to his mother, years later, trying to find meaning in his death. This isn't a book for the faint of heart, but if you're willing to read it, it raises some very important questions about the value of human life and what causes people to harm versus help others. It's really masterfully written and impactful for being only a little more than 200 pages. I'm looking forward to reading more by Kang in the future. I gave this one 4 stars.

I'm currently reading two books. First, I've returned to Mercury, which I started almost a month ago but wasn't in the right mindset for at the time, so I've largely ignored it until now. I'm more than halfway through and am hoping to finish it up by the end of week. I'm also reading a digital ARC from NetGalley, The Homemade God, based upon Bonny's recommendation. I'd been preapproved for it and was mulling it over but finally decided to read it based upon her say so, and I'm glad I did, because the few chapters I've gotten through so far have been good.

I'll leave you with a Ruthie photo, because I can't seem to post without one anymore! This is a still from a video the Mister took in an effort to capture her response to him, and I think it gives you a really idea what this pup is like when she's awake and ready to play.

Happy hump day, friends!

What's the Date Again?

The calendar tells me that it's May 23, the Friday of Memorial Day weekend here in the United States, but it feels more like late October or November outside right now. We've had steady rain for the past couple of days, and it's gotten so chilly and damp that I turned the heat back on because the house was just too cold for comfort. It looks like we'll recover a bit this weekend, but I don't think anyone is going to be swimming anytime soon! Still, it's nice to have a long weekend to look forward to.

On my to-do list for the weekend is blocking my Zuzu's Petals, which I did manage to finish Wednesday afternoon. I hope you'll forgive this poorly lit, unblocked photo:

I didn't use as much of the green as I would have liked, but I did use some, and I like that it's just that bit at the edge. Because of the shape, this is going to be a bit tricky to block, especially because I want to stretch and pin it under tension to really open up the lace and get a bit more drape in the fabric, but I have a plan and hope it'll work.

Since finishing the cowl, I've been working exclusively on my Sugar Maple tee, even while Ruthie napped yesterday afternoon. It's looking more likely that I'll finish it by the end of the month, too. When I measured it last night before putting it away, I had just four inches left to knit on the body. I think I'm getting about an inch per eight-round repeat, so that's 32 more rounds or so (plus a handful more for the ribbing at the hem), and that seems entirely reasonable.

This weekend we have a bat mitzvah to attend, fortunately at our synagogue (so we'll be close if I need to leave to take Ruthie out). We're also hoping to get together with the Mister's aunt and uncle, who will be in town visiting some friends. We don't have any big plans for Memorial Day, which is just fine with me! I will enjoy just having a Monday off.

I hope you can enjoy the weekend, whatever you have planned, and I'll leave you with the very first of my hydrangea flowers starting to open:

I will see you back here on Monday for my One Little Word reflection for May. Have a good weekend, friends!

FO Friday

It's been a while since I had a finished object to share on a Friday, but I've got a big one today. It shouldn't be a surprise, but with lace, it's always a rather dramatic transformation, even if blocking isn't really extreme. Here's what the baby blanket looked like before (with ruler for scale):

And here it is after it was stretched, pinned, and aggressively steamed:

I could have really stretched the fabric more than I did, but because this is a blanket and not a shawl, I only did it enough to make the lace open up and lie more or less flat.

Here are the details:

For the pattern, I used this free shawl pattern (Ravelry link) but converted it to make it a square. If you have knit enough top-down triangle shawls, this is a pretty straightforward process. You start with a circular cast-on and eight stitches and then knit the pattern twice per round. The main difference is that you omit the border stitches and add a second "spine" stitch after the second and fourth repeats -- in essence, you have one "triangle" that is repeated four times per round.

The pattern calls for fingering weight yarn, but obviously I wanted something heavier for a blanket. I used Caron Blossom Cakes, a 61% cotton/39% acrylic blend. This is one of those yarns made with a knit tube into which fiber is then blown, though I don't know if one component is cotton and the other acrylic or if both are a blend. I used a full skein and about a third of another, and I did encounter two knots in the first skein (and I have already spotted one in the second). Knots are a pain, but considering that each skein is 8 oz./227 g and 481 yds./440 m, I suppose it's not unexpected.

I used US 8/5.0 mm needles, though I could have used even larger ones; I didn't want the holes in the lace to be too big.

This blanket will now be wrapped up and sent to my college roommate, who had a surprise second daughter this summer (well, I assume it wasn't a surprise to her, but I didn't know about the baby until after she was born).

There appears to be a bit of a baby boom going on in my world right now, so I whipped up another quick gift the past couple of evenings:

This is the Berry Baby Hat (Ravelry link), a pattern I have made many times before, including for Molly when she was a newborn. A woman in my office is expecting her first baby this fall and the office is throwing her a baby shower, so naturally I felt I had to knit a little something. I used two of the semisolid Fibernymph Dye Works DK colors I ordered a couple of weeks ago -- Warm Honey and Light Silver Green -- to make this more of a squash hat. I used a whopping 71 yards of yarn! I will likely make another one, slightly larger, for our neighbors' new baby.

We have a fairly quiet weekend ahead, with our only plans being celebrating the Mister's birthday on Sunday. I'm hoping to get some more reading and crafting done, and I'm hoping for some promised rain! I hope you have a wonderful couple of days, whatever you have planned.

Are We There Yet?

Happy Friday, friends. It's been a long week, so I'm happy to see it come to an end. The Mister had to do a bunch of work travel this week, and it got complicated by a diversion and landing due to a medical emergency on board yesterday (he's fine, and the passenger with the issue was being cared for by a nurse on board). Last night was also curriculum night at Molly's school, so I spent the evening meeting all her teachers and hearing about her classes for the year. On top of all this, the heat has come back and we haven't had rain in a while, so everything feels completely dried out.

On the plus side, I did get some good news from work this week: My job classification change has officially gone through! The change is effective at the end of the month, so I'll still have to submit weekly time sheets for a few more weeks and it will take about a month for my paychecks to catch up, but at long last this major headache is over. I'll also add that, thanks to the Mister's encouragement to ask for it, I am going to be getting an additional payment to make up for the increased pay I would have received if they'd put in this change months ago. It's not a huge amount, but it was bumped up a bit by my office to a nice even number (I suspect to placate me after all my complaining). It's really nice to be relieved of this extra stress after nearly a year.

I have been focusing mainly on two projects this week. The first is the baby blanket, which I think is in the home stretch. I finished the sixth main pattern repeat (of eight total) last night and slipped half of the stitches onto a spare needle to get a better sense of the size:

My 9.75 in. foot for scale

The body repeats are 10 rounds each, and the border is another 14 rounds, so combined with a good hard block to open up the lace, I think this will be a nice size for a baby blanket. I still have a little more than a third of the first skein of yarn left, and I'm hoping it will be enough (though I've got that second skein in reserve if needed).

I've also been spinning away at those Charollais singles:

I'm hoping to finish them today, if I can. Woolen-spun singles spin up a lot faster than worsted-spun singles, but the difference is that I need to keep an eye on them as I spin, which means it's not feasible for me to read while I spin. I know that I'm very spoiled in being able to spin or knit and read at the same time, but I've gotten so used to doing it that doing just one leisure activity at a time without doing something else has started to feel unproductive to me (yes, I know that's entirely ridiculous). I can, however, listen to something while spinning these singles, so that's mainly what I've been doing. And once I'm ready to ply, I'll be back to spinning and reading again.

We've got a fun weekend coming up -- Molly and I are going to see Hamilton tomorrow! This will be my second time (I saw it the first time in January of 2019, when she was a bit young for it). Sunday we'll both be tuning in to the Makers for Kamala livestream. And I'm hoping to take care of the laundry and cleaning today so that the rest of my weekend can be cleared for the stuff I want to do rather than the stuff I have to do.

Here's hoping your weekend is full of the stuff you want to do!

Wrapping Up and Casting On

Why is it that the short weeks seem to last longer? That's certainly been the case this week. In addition to an important project at work (which I started and then was told abruptly to stop because major changes needed to be made), I donated blood on Tuesday and then went to get my annual breast MRI on Wednesday (all good!). And I've generally felt a little off all week -- nothing major, just not feeling quite 100%. So I'm glad it's almost the weekend and there will be some extra sleep in my future.

Thanks to the stoppage of that work project, I had some extra time on my hands the past few days and wrapped up some knitting. On Wednesday afternoon and evening, I finished up the hat to go with the Newborn Vertebrae and the first sock of my current pair.

The hat is a free pattern that I have made many times before; I often refer to it as the "rude baby hat" because that strip of fabric that's knotted on the top looks, well, rather phallic before it's tied up. The sock is a pattern that I've basically made up myself by looking at another pattern; I could have bought the pattern, but it was easy enough to reverse engineer, and I would have had to make adjustments to it anyway because it's written for a larger gauge. The biased fabric on the front of the sock definitely makes for snug fit and a little difficulty getting it on over my heel, but it does fit once it's on. I'll be casting on its mate soon.

The Pigskin Party officially kicked off yesterday, so I started two new projects. The first is a spinning project, one that's a big contrast to the spin I just finished.

These two batts were a door prize that I won at SSK last year. They're from Bricolage Studios and called Luna Moth, and they're a blend of Rambouillet, mohair, CVM, tussah silk, and silk noil. Each batt is 2.5 ounces, so I figured I'd spin each one on its own bobbin and ply them together. I started spinning the first batt yesterday and got about halfway through it. I've split up the batt so that it's kind of being spun in a gradient of green to pink, though there's quite a lot of blending. I'm hoping that the finished yarn will have the same subtle color shift.

This spin is a departure from what I've been doing all summer because, for one thing, I'm using a woolen prep rather than worsted. And though I'm still using generally my same short forward draw, with this prep and the chunky bits of silk noil in it, it's pretty much impossible to get an even, smooth single. I'll admit that I am pulling out some of those chunky bits when they're excessively clumpy and/or rough, but I'm generally letting this yarn be more textured.

I also cast on a new knitting project last night, and I'm doing some lace knitting for the first time in a long time.

 

I only just found out recently that my college roommate (who was also my maid of honor in my wedding) had a baby over the summer, her second daughter. I knit her first daughter a lace blanket five years ago that was apparently much loved, so I decided to do the same for the second. As with the first one, I've adapted a triangle lace shawl to be a square, using thicker yarn and larger needles to up-size the lace. I'm using this free pattern (Ravelry link) with -- don't be shocked! -- Caron Blossom Cakes, a 61% cotton/39% acrylic yarn purchased at Michaels. My top priority when I knit for babies is to make sure that what I make is easy to care for, and the big box store acrylic blends have come a long way. I wanted this to be something my friend could toss in the washer and dryer without having to worry about messing it up, and having felt this yarn before (my mother just used it to make blankets for my nephew and expected niece), I can say that it's very nice. Mo also picked up some of this yarn to make herself a blanket.

After I post this, I'm going to attempt a run (always a challenge after donating blood), and if my inbox cooperates, I'm hoping to do a little cleaning and laundry. Today is my sister-in-law's birthday, so she and my brother are going out to celebrate and my parents are babysitting my nephew, so dinner will be just the three of us. At some point this weekend, I'm hoping to make it over to A Fair in the Park -- the potter who made my favorite coffee mug will be there, and I'd really love to pick up another piece or two (I missed out on the fair last year because I had COVID).

I hope you have a restful, enjoyable weekend full of the things you enjoy!

Completion -- and Then Some

As I hinted in my last post, I achieved success in my goal to finish my wrap before the end of July with time to spare -- but trying to photograph it on my own was another matter!

Pattern: ADVENTuresome Wrap by Ambah O'Brien (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Fibernymph Dye Works Bounce (80% superwash merino/20% nylon) in Wisp (main color) and Holiday Pops mini skein set (contrast colors)
Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm)
Started/Completed: January 14/July 29

This project had been on the needles for far too long, and once I forced myself to be monogamous, I did the bulk of the knitting in a relatively short amount of time. So don't let the dates fool you -- there were actually very few days of active work on it during that time span.

The wrap was designed to be knit with one of those Advent mini skein sets that have become so ubiquitous the past few years. I've been getting Lisa's holiday sets for a while now, but I think last year was the first year I decided to do yarn mini skeins rather than her fiber option because I was feeling so overwhelmed by the size of my fiber stash. I figured that unless I had a pattern that was specifically for such a set, the minis would never get used, so that's how I got to the wrap. The pattern itself isn't too terribly challenging, but there are three wrong-side rows in each pattern repeat that have decreases, and the problem with not working on a project regularly is that you forget such things, and that leads to a lot of tinking. After just a couple days of monogamously working on it, though, I had the pattern memorized and could get through it faster. I still had those moments of forgetfulness, but I caught them much faster.

As with any pattern designed for mini skeins, I had a lot of ends to weave in. At first I was cutting the main color, too, thereby giving myself an additional two ends for each stripe, but I quickly realized that I could just carry it up the side and save myself some finishing time. I also paused my knitting after every four or five stripes to weave in ends so that I didn't have to deal with them all at the end, and that proved to be a smart move.

I made no changes to the pattern other than accidental user-error-type ones; there were a couple of times I'd missed a decrease or somehow was short a stitch, so I fudged things to make up for them, and I honestly can't find where they were now. I must admit that I did a quick-and-dirty blocking job and thus the wrap is probably not as tidy or crisp as it could be, but I just wanted to be done at the time, and as I'm not entering it in any beauty contests, I'm happy with it the way it is.

In all, I used 1,124 yards/1,027.8 meters of yarn, about 63 grams (252 yards/230.4 meters) of the main color and 218 grams (872 yards/797.4 meters) of the mini skeins. When I finished each stripe, I cut the mini skein strand and tossed what was left in my project bag, and there was enough yarn leftover from the whole project to whip up an easy charity hat, which I finished yesterday afternoon:

This is just a basic beanie holding the yarn double -- one strand is the Wisp (the main color in the wrap) and the other strand is the leftover from the minis. I used the clasped weft join to add in each scrap and ended up using all the mini leftovers. The reddish yarn at the very top of the crown was dug out of my big bag 'o scraps. The finished hat used a total of 240 yards/256 meters of yarn. I have just a small amount of the gray leftover, and it makes me very happy to have used up nearly all of the yarn from a big project. I'm also quite happy with the cheery colors in the hat and hope it'll make someone smile (and keep their head warm) come this winter.

Finished and Fabulous

Even though it's not one of my normal days for blogging, yesterday's post was kind of a special one (my monthly One Little Word check-in), and I still have some knitting and reading to talk about, so today I'm joining up with Kat and the Unravelers.

I have a big finish to talk about, too!

Pattern: Tegna by Caitlin Hunter, size Small/38 in. bust, with minimal ease

Needles: US 5 (3.75 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)

Yarn: This handspun; I used approximately 717 yards

Started/Completed: May 29/June 28

Mods: sleeve adjustment (see below)

I really could not be happier with how this turned out. It was so long in the planning (I started spinning the yarn way back in September of 2018) that it had the potential to be anticlimactic, but I'm really thrilled. And it turned out to be a pretty fast knit, too, considering that I was working on this at the same time as several other projects.

The only modification I made was to pick up several extra stitches for the sleeves, so I added some additional length to decrease those extra stitches and still get a good fit. The sleeves are fitted but not tight (I guess I should avoid doing too many bicep curls so that they continue to fit!).

The planning I did to spin the yarn so that I had two very similar skeins worked out pretty well overall. I discovered as I was knitting that they were ever so slightly different in thickness, so I occasionally threw in an extra round using the thinner skein so that the colors would transition at more or less the same time. The tricky part in maintaining the colors, of course, came when it was time to do the shaped portions of the front (the right and left of the neckline) and the sleeves. I ended up winding off various lengths of my original skeins to get to later points in the color sequence, and it seems to have worked out okay. If you look closely at the shoulders on the front, there is a noticeable stripe, but I did that purposefully so both fronts would look like they matched. The sleeves don't quite match as well, but at least they share a lot of that green.

I'm delighted that this is done and I can now wear it (though where, I can't really say). My sweater mojo is still pretty high, and I dug out yarn to start another one soon.

I'm also still working on my Through the Loops Mystery Shawl, and I finished Clue 5 yesterday. Spoilers ahead!

I know that's not the best photo, but it's getting large enough that it's difficult to get in the whole shawl and also show details (not to mention that the lace really won't be that apparent until it's blocked). Clue 5 used only Color B (the rust color, in my case) and was all lace. I was happy and surprised to see that when it was done, I had knit stems of flowers with curling leaves:

Can you see them? Again, apologies for the poor photo. This lovely shawl deserves a decent photo shoot, and it will definitely get one when it's finished and blocked. Next week's clue will be the final one, and I'm excited to see where this goes!

Now, as to reading, there is still quite a bit. On Friday night I finished reading the eighth book in the Inspector Gamache series, The Beautiful Mystery. This installment was a bit of a departure from the others, as it took place in a decidedly different setting: a remote cloistered monastery. It was a great read that kept me guessing, and the only reason I gave it 4 rather than 5 stars is that there is a turn at the end in the relationships of the main characters in the series that I did not like (though I suspect it's somewhat necessary to keep the recurring story lines interesting).

I'm now in the middle of three books (totally strange for me, but these are strange times). I have less than 100 pages left in How to Be an Antiracist, but it's a book I am purposefully taking my time with in order to fully digest what I'm reading. I'm also 40% or so into the current Read with Us selection, Wild Game. And I did finally borrow the audiobook of The Tenant of Wildfell Hall from the library. Though I'll continue to listen to it via Craftlit because I so value Heather's additional commentary, I wanted to finish it much faster. The version I'm listening to is narrated by Jenny Agutter and Alex Jennings, two people you'll likely be very familiar with if you also watch a lot of PBS period pieces, and it's delightful. I have quite a bit still left to listen to, but it's a treat to enjoy while I'm spinning.

That's all for me for today -- but I'll be back tomorrow with a new pattern!

Pattern Release: Elodia Hat

Last week, I really thought that spring was on its way in our neck of the woods. Early flowers were starting to poke up out of the ground, trees and shrubs were starting to bud, and the birds were getting noisier in the morning. But then a snowstorm came through on Sunday, and this week temperatures feel more like early January than early March.

That means I still need to wear a hat to stay warm. Conveniently, I have a new hat pattern out today!

Designed to coordinate perfectly with my Elodia Mitts, this lightweight, slouchy hat is the perfect topper for those days when you need just a light layer. A twisted stitch brim ensures a snug fit around the head, and a lace panel with the familiar Elodia stitch pattern adds a touch of elegance. The amount of slouch is easy to adjust.

The hat has been graded to three sizes to fit children through large adult heads. I've once again used Murky Depths Deep Sock fingering weight yarn, and less than a skein is needed for every size. The lace panel is fully charted and written. As with all my patterns, this one has been professionally tech edited to ensure that it is correct and error free. You can find all the specifics on the Ravelry pattern page.

I'm Almost Out of Time

It was a busy weekend here, busier than I expected, so I am not as far along on my shawl as I had hoped to be -- and that means I'll be knitting on it every moment I can until it's done or we leave for our trip, whichever comes first. Technically, I could always take it on the trip with me, but as close as I am to finishing, I'd rather not take the extra weight only to finish it the first day I'm away. The good news is that I have made it to the border and the final chart, and just 20 rows and a bind off lie between me and a finished project. I will be working on it the next two evenings and also as much as I need to during the day on Thursday; it's the last day of work at my office, but Rainbow has a half day for her last day of school, so I'm taking the day off. The complication is that I also want to finish plying up the handspun skein that's currently in progress and have time for it to be washed and dried so I can snap a picture before we leave.

The other WIP on my needles is my Felici socks, and I feel pretty confident that those will get done. I'm on the foot of the second sock, so that means I don't need to pay much attention and can knit mindlessly on them whenever I want, including in the dark while I'm waiting for Rainbow to fall asleep.

I'm still debating exactly how much yarn to take with me on vacation. I know there are a couple of projects that need to get done (a baby gift is at the top of the list) and I can likely knock out a pair of socks or two, but there's always that fear that I'll run out of projects before I run out of vacation. There's always reading to do, but I despise sitting with nothing to do with my hands, so it may be a case where I toss in an extra skein of sock yarn at the last minute. I suppose that if worse comes to worst, I can find a Michaels and pick up some kitchen cotton to knit some dishcloths! But I'll make a final decision and show you what I'm taking the next time I post.

It'll Be a Nail-biter

I have a feeling I'll be knitting like a crazy person to finish my shawl before we go away. It's partially my own fault, as I've been spending about half of my nightly crafting time working on spinning up what's left of my holiday minis, but I think I really need to buckle down and focus if I want to finish this in the next week. I'm now just five or six rows away from finishing the final repeat of the main lace chart and then there are two more to go.

The colors here are, again, a bit darker than in real life thanks to limited light. I was hoping for a little more natural light this morning because we got snow last night, but it's so hard this time of year. In any case, you can see that it's getting a bit big more the needles, so things are moving in the right direction. Here's a little preview of what this stitch pattern will look like when it's blocked (though I'll be stretching it quite a bit more):

In the meantime, remember the socks I was knitting for myself? Somehow I'm already halfway done with them. The first sock is done but for grafting the toe (somehow I didn't have needles in my project bag) and the second has been cast on.

I got such a response to this heel on Instagram that I've already written up a draft of the pattern. I'll be reviewing it while I knit up the second sock and then getting it to my tech editor. I wasn't planning on doing much design work this month, but sometimes I guess it creeps up on you!

Tomorrow, if you can believe it, is Rainbow's eighth birthday. We are planning a fairly low-key celebration with family tomorrow evening (she had her kids birthday party last weekend), and then we are going to see The Nutcracker downtown on Sunday afternoon. We've also got another holiday party to go to on Saturday night, and I'm scheduled to podcast with Anna Saturday morning, so it looks to be another busy weekend. But we're down to single digits in the number of days before we leave for our vacation, and I can't wait! Just need to figure out what knitting to pack.

One Deadline Met

Good news -- I finished Rainbow's socks before the start of Chanukkah (actually, with a few days to spare)!

Pattern: Vanilla Is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher
Yarn: Knit Picks Felici (75% superwash merino, 25% nylon) in Hopscotch
Needles: US 0 (2.0 mm) Addi Sock Rockets
Started/Completed: November 24/December 9

These were an easy, straightforward knit, and they would have been done a lot faster if I didn't have to knit them in secret. I'm anxious to see how they fit Rainbow's feet. I know she'll be thrilled with them, but we've been trying out different heel styles and seeing what she likes best.

I've been intrigued by this pattern for a while and could see pretty much how the heel was constructed, but rather than trying to wing it I thought it was worth it to give Anneh the money she deserves for figuring it out and writing it up. It is a clever heel and one that's not very hard to execute. I will likely make myself a pair at some point, if only in the name of science -- I'm really interested in how the heel wears over time without any sort of reinforcement.

Now that these are done, I have one last project on the needles that I'd like to finish up before we leave for Florida next week. That's my Flower Market Shawl, which has been seeing some action the past few days but probably not as much as it needs. If you'll forgive this horribly lit photo (it's snowing here today, which means there is zero light outside), here's where things stand at the moment.

I'm almost done with the seventh of eight total repeats of the main body chart, and if you look closely, you can see that I've just gotten into the start of the transition from gray to blue. Here's a better shot (with colors that are a bit more accurate):

As is usual with lace, this looks like utter crap just sitting on the needles, but trust me when I say it looks really nice stretched out.

The shawl (and its charts) are a bit much to take to work for my lunchtime knitting, so I've got another pair of socks on the go. This is another pair in Felici (colorway Hawaiian Shirt) that's for me, and I'm trying out a new heel method. If you follow me on Instagram, you will have seen the first attempt yesterday that did not turn out as I hoped. I ripped back to the start of the heel turn and redid it, and I'm liking this version much better.

I've taken some rough notes of what I did that I'll be fleshing out a bit and testing with the second sock. It would be nice to finish these up before our trip as well so that I could take some new projects with us; to be honest, it seems more likely that I'll finish the socks by next Friday than the shawl, but I'll keep plugging away at both.

Counting Down

There has been much knitting the past several days, and projects are finally starting to wind down. All the same, I also feel like I am running out of time.

First, the finished -- my Plummy Mitts are complete!

Pattern: Plummy Mitts by Katy H. Carroll, size small
Yarn: handspun Targhee
Needles: US 4 (3.5 mm)
Started/Completed: November 25/December 3

I made these exactly as the pattern called for, with zero modifications. And they are a perfect fit. After blocking them earlier in the week (in the hope that the yarn would bloom a bit, because the yarn used for the second mitt was a bit thinner than that used for the first mitt), I brought them into work yesterday and have been making good use of them when the office air conditioning kicks on (yes, even when it's freezing outside -- our HVAC system makes no sense). They are incredibly squishy and cozy, and I kind of want to wear them all the time. I still have a bit more than half of the yarn leftover, so I need to figure out what to do with it. Unfortunately it's not enough to make the matching cowl, but maybe I'll make another pair of mitts for home or something.

Meanwhile, I am in the home stretch on Rainbow's Vanilla Is the New Black socks, with just the foot of the second sock left to knit. I'm very confident that I can finish these up this weekend and have them ready for the first night of Chanukkah, if I decide to give them to her then.

The one project that's causing me a bit of concern is my Flower Market Shawl, which is moving but slowly. That's really my own fault -- I just haven't been working on it as much. I'm through five of the eight repeats of the main body chart at this point, and I'd really like to have this finished up before we leave for our trip, so I'll be focusing on it more in the next two weeks to try to make that happen.

I've also got another pair of socks on the needles, cast on pretty much because I needed something to work on while putting Rainbow to bed (which means nothing with a pattern or that requires actually being able to see my knitting), and obviously I couldn't knit her socks in front of here. These are another pair in Knit Picks Felici, in the colorway Hawaiian Shirt. They're just a plain stockinette, but I'm planning to try out an idea for a new heel with them.

The weekend ahead is looking to be pretty busy, with a couple of birthday parties for Rainbow (one of which is hers) and a holiday party for us adults as well as podcast recording time. I'm still hoping to get in a few hours of crafting, though, and hope that by next week I'll have some noticeable progress to show you!