Here's to 2014

Hello again!  Here's hoping for more blogging and knitting, spinning, and quilting in 2014!

When I last left you in December we were hoping to close on the 20th....well we moved in that weekend and did not close until January 3rd....sigh...long story on that. However, the house is now ours. So you can guess where most of January went on my days off...yeah, unpacking. This is our 4th move in 2 years....hoping we are here for at least 3 years, but who knows!

I have been knitting and spinning when I can to save my sanity. Still working 12 hour shifts and attempting to get the house in order.  The last room of course is my fiber studio, which is still not completely done, slowly getting there.

We are also trying to downsize even more...we'll see how that goes!

So...in the spinning department I spun up these skeins:

Two if By Hand Superwash Merino,a 3-ply in Firework and some 3-ply and n-ply leftovers. Socks soon I think....it is sportweight about 300 yds, my default yardage it seems.

From this:





Two if By Hand Organic Merino in Flowers and Football Tops, a chunky n-ply spin of about 180 yds or so. Will be a nice squooshy hat or something. Their organic merino is so nice to spin!



Such cool colors huh, reminds you of Footballs and Flowers ;)


Knit a few hats:


Gargantuan Melon in Plucky Knitter Bulky Big Sky and Wintry Mix for a former coworker. This was knit in leftovers from my Zags cowl. I still have more left! Love Plucky Bulky. Working on another project with it too :)



My first Hats for Sailors hat of 2014, a Barley had knit in Pagewood Farms Kiana, a superwash wool in Marine Girl...going to a Navy person..um..hehe.


This is a scarf knit back and forth...um..just what I dislike usually. However knit in Rasta on size 17 needles, this Super-Fast Ultra-Cozy scarf goes pretty quick. That's 2 full skeins of Rasta (about 180 yds of super bulky yarn) It also went to another former coworker.


I have one more FO that deserves it's own post so that is coming later :)  Maybe some house photos too!  I'll try not to stay away so long!

Skies of November

An FO post finally!


Here is the lovely cowl, pre blocking....



Post blocking by steam. Yes you can see where I changed colors here, but on it doesn't show.  I surely did not want to alternate skeins....a sweater yes, a cowl no!



Posing on a fence near our apartment. These black fences are all around here in horse country. I personally love them. Not good to keep a dog in, but love the look...



Close up of the stitch detail, looks so hard, but so easy to do.

I did all the pattern repeats and it is wide, but I like it fine.

Can you see my pal there, he was not impressed by the photo shoot.


Worn single looped, it is long....

Worn doubled so much better!

Silver Gin Fizz by Thea Coleman aka Baby Cocktails
The Plucky Knitter Traveler Aran in Skies of November, 2 skeins
US 9 circular
No mods as I was test knitting this. Love it! Soft and comfy and next up or should I say very soon, a hat in the same yarn!

And another....

Month has passed! Well I did have a good excuse, packing up and moving across country right?

I survived driving at breakneck speed across a few states to get to our final destination. Hubby is not a relaxed traveller at all!! I had to follow the small moving van/truck combo driving the Jeep. Thank goodness for Siruis music!

A view from the back of our apartment complex and home until mid December.

Interesting living in 2 bedrooms with a cat and a large dog ;)

Knitting has been going on the last two months...not many FO's due to limited time with the move. Some nights only a row or two.

Lowbrow Hat by Thao Nguyen
Plucky Knitter Primo Aran in In the Navy
US 7 needle

No mods, plan to knit the cowl too. You see someone near and dear to me is in the Navy, so I am thinking this hat and soon to be cowl will "hug" me and make me miss him less ;)

7up Lollipop

7up Hat by Thea Coleman
Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted in Lollipop Guild (stay tuned for more of this awesome colorway!)
US 6 & 7 needles

Luckily, our AZ house is now under contract and hope to have it closed soon.

Really....over a month!!

Hello there anyone who still reads my little space in the world! Sorry for dropping off like that but it's been crazy around here! More on that later ;)

In the meantime, there has been knitting! Not as much as I want...but more on that later too ;)

I knit up these 2 hats to go with some socks I had already finished a while ago.  I donated them for a couple of baby shower gifts.

Simplicity Newborn hat (ribbed version) to match the Baby Francis socks in Socks that Rock Mediumweight In the Navy. Used doubled for the hat.


I had these wee Magic 28 socks and knit the stockinette version of the hat linked above.

Leftovers from this sweater ;)



Knit a Fez!  Our unofficial Prescott Knitters headgear!

Finished a long time WiP!


And knit a few more Hats for Sailors



Chocolate Beanie

Are you tired yet?  I sure am!  Main reason why is declutterizing the house and doing some touch up painting, baseboard cleaning...Oh and packing up all the stashes...fabric, yarn, and fiber.

Why???? Well in less than a month, we'll be back on the East coast again...well if you call Kentucky east coast ;) Hubby got a promotion and I'm on the job search again.  Finger crossed the house sells quickly and I can unpack the stashes and be around my lovelies again!! So hard to decide what to bring to knit, spin, and finish for about 2 months....gonna be interesting!!

Vinegar Zags.....

LOL! That's not really it's name....more like it's smell! Sigh....



You see that's a pretty dark blue and I was leery it would bleed onto the white.....So I put a wee too much vinegar in the soak...

Close up here!  Cool pattern, after the first few rows, no instructions needed.


Now if I could figure out how to wear the darn thing!!! I confess, I have 2 other eternity scarves on the needles for a long while, this is the first one I finished.

Sure is a pretty blue and gray/white though ;)



Zags by Melissa LeBarre
Plucky Knitter Bulky in Big Sky 1.2 skeins and Wintery Mix
US 10.5 circular

Now to use the leftovers for a hat and let this thing air out ;)

I miss hat knitting!

I usually always have a hat in mind or in progress (shhh...the wip pile is calling me..um..er)..well I frogged one hat and it will now become 2 hats, one of which will go to the Hats for Sailors project. The handspun will become yet another hat. Also had a baby hat started with some other leftovers I think I'll frog as well. I mean, come on a hat on the needles for almost a year...yeah, frogging should be done!

Enter a new pretty quick knit I was hoping to finish for the closing ceremonies for the games. Yeah, it didn't happen, but that's ok.

I love pumpkiny colors!



Sometimes hard to photograph the back of one's head!

psss...don't look too closely at the leaves, something is eating them??

Oh and of course I put the hat on backwards....or is it sidewards.

I like my buttons to be on the left...why I have no idea, I just do!


Speaking of buttons, I love the leather type buttons but not the price or non-wash-ability of them. I found these cool ones at the local fabric store that starts with a J ;) Washable and dry cleanable, perfect :)

Was knit in the leftovers from this cowl, not the same pattern, but very similar :) Fall, where are you??

Mint by Thea Coleman
The Plucky Knitter MCN Aran in Pumpkin Flame
US 7 needles
Started August 9, 2012 - Finished August 19, 2012
Knit the 90 stitch size

No mods, a pretty easy knit.  I did get a bit tired by the end of the ktbl stitches as this yarn is a bit hefty, but oh so soft and glorious to knit with! I think I have a green skein from a mystery kit that will become Basil, the other companion to this pattern.

I will warn you if you knit this via magic loop.  Don't forget your YO's at the end of the row.  You may be better off moving your end of row somewhere and use a marker.  Luckily I found my missing 2 YO's and no I didn't frog, I figure no one but me will notice.  See, I am not always a total perfectionist...well..I try ;)

Now off to find that green MCN aran....sure hopes she sells it again this fall!

Oh...Black Water...keep on rolling....

Or not ;)

The longest 60" of knitting in my life!  You all know I dislike immensely knitting scarves back & forth, but hubby wanted a new scarf.  Since he is pretty supportive of my fibery pursuits, I figured I'd tolerate it as much as possible...


I do admit I did want to poke my eyes out a few times ;) 

You can see the edges of the scarf...no rolling!  Due to the slipping of the last stitch, when you turn it around to start the K2, it ends up wrapping the slipped stitch.  Very nice edge.


I didn't want to take it off, it's so seriously snuggly and soft!


BTW, it may look like rib, but not a purl stitch was knit until the bind off...wild huh!

A pile of softness for sure :)


I used my new set of Cubics Interchangeable tips.  I really enjoyed using them, easy on the hands. I admit I was a bit leary as another pair of square needles didn't work well for me.  I only bought 2 tips to go with the set of miscellaneous KP cords.  They work well with them.




Berlin Scarf by The Purl Bee
Plucky Knitter Primo Worsted in Black Water, 2 skeins
Size 8 needle
Only mods was the bind off.

An easy mindless knit...not easy to fix a dropped stitch without tinking though ;) ask me how I know.  The bind off makes no sense at all.  I tried it and it was too tight so I ended up using JSSBO and it turned out great.  Hubby used it today and loved it.  Now back to regularly scheduled knitting and spinning ;)

Pumpkin Comfort

Ahhh....nothing says Fall to me more than Pumpkin.  Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin cupcakes/muffins/bread, pumpkiny colors and smells....sigh...it is my favorite!
So, when Carrie asked for test knitters I knew just the yarn I wanted to use.  Funny thing is, it was the exact yarn base she wanted me to use. GMTA or what ;)


Not the best picture here, but I wanted you to see just how scrunched up you can wear it.....



Or not!  It goes with my gray winter coat so well.  I'm so glad I got that color as I can use hats/cowls/shawls for pops of color.  My usual looking off to the side, almost covering my nose cowl photo.


Even better picture here.

My new backdrop of stones in my backyard :) I love my new photo areas.

As you can see it's a gradual sloping cowl.  Bigger for the lower neck/shoulder area and just right for under your neck.  You can also tell how the cables pull it in a bit. I'm sure you could block it more aggressively but I didn't want to.

Comfort Food Cowl by Irishgirlieknits
Plucky Knitter MCN Aran in Pumpkin Flame
US 8 needles

No mods, since it was a test knit I even did a swatch.  I was .5 sts over on the swatch, row gauge was fine, but I liked the fabric so I continued with the 8's. 

Love this yarn, it's so soft to knit with and so far wear.  Too bad I only have .75 oz of a skein left :(

I love garter stitch....

I really do, call me sick or something....however, this is one garter stitch project I was happy to finish :)


Nothing with the pattern at all!  I'm just a fidgety knitter sometimes. I am making myself finish things instead of jumping around and having tons of WiP's...thus you'll be seeing some getting done soon!


Guess I should have worn a different color shirt...oh well...


It really is an easy knit, relaxing too, sometimes too relaxing LOL!


Often windy around here, was a bit of a pain to pose ;)



Stripe Study Shawl
Plucky Knitter Primo Fingering, MC "Backwards in High Heels" and CC in "Henley"
US 6 circular
Mods: due to the Primo only being 385 yds each, I knew I needed to only knit 10 CC stripes (thanks to notes from Ravelry).  I used a crochet bind off with a hook 2 sizes larger than I knit with.

It's lovely, soft and so drapey. Knitting with Primo is a pleasure, so soft!  Depending on the job I have someday, hoping I'll get lots of wear besides with my winter coat ;)

C & C Replacement Cowl....

Replacement you may ask...sniff...yeah, my lost somewhereinthishouseIprayIwillsomedayfind Ohh Cashmere! cowl.

It's not cashmere, but trust me, it's *almost* as soft! I doubled the yarn to get more of a bulky weight and I really think it added to the plushness of it.
I wanted the 16 cable aspect to match my C & C 16 Cable Hat, but didn't want a collar-ish type of cowl, you know one that curls up under your chin. I wanted it scrunchy...one you could settle your chin into and be warm....

and scrunchy it is! A winner!

Hubby was laughing as I walked outside to get these pictures...picture me in snowflake flannel pj pants, white t-shirt, my wool coat and cowl.....wait for it....81 degrees...and no I'm not bragging, I want it to be cold! I am a displaced northern girl! It's February, supposed to be cold, not freaking AC weather!!! (keep yer fingers crossed peeps...we are still hoping...)





I'm an overachiever, I got a 2 colored cowl!

In hindsight, since I knit this with the yarn doubled, I should have used the 2 skeins separately as one has more black than the other, which being a handpainted yarn it happens. I usually don't sweat it in smaller handknits, but with sweaters, I always alternate.

This colorway is amazing, a black over burgundy/red and so very hard to capture...I love it very much!


C & C Replacement Cowl aka The Burberry Inspired Cowl
The Plucky Knitter Superwash Merino Worsted 1.93 skeins (approx. 15 yds leftover)
US 10 circular

No real mods I knit it until it was around my neck as I wanted and then probably 4 more rows so getting it on/off would be easy. It turned out to be 20" long.

If you hate kitchner stitching, don't bother knitting this, unless you want a seam and use a 3 needle bind off. It's 58 sts people!! I don't mind the K-stitch and towards the end, I was getting tired of it....well either that or the tremendous extra yarn I had to pull through to do it. Yes, I've run out of yarn K-stitching before, thus the extreme long tail I cut to sew/knit it.

Knitting 16 stitch cables isn't a lot of fun when you are a tight knitter. Why? Well those last 8 sts, the captive ones on the cable needle. (no way I'm cabling without a needle on this amount of sts...no...way!!) Howevah, my good ole pal Megan had a great suggestion. After you knit the first 8 sts of the cable, put the held remainder sts back on your left needle and knit away... *lightbulb moment* sure wished she would have reminded me about that when I was knitting the hat and most of this...

Now just patiently waiting for cooler weather to wear it...which could be Monday morning going to work, as this time of year going from 80 to 50 degrees in a day is common....hmmm

She wore a.....

Blueberry Beret....the kind you find...oops, wait it's supposed to be Raspberry beret LOL!

Just look at those yummy cables!!

I test knit this pattern. The charts and instructions are very clear and it's a great one to practice cabling without a needle.


Just love the way the cables intertwine at the top.



As you can see, it does fit daughter pretty good. For me, it's shorter than I like. It's not the pattern's fault at all! I used very light worsted weight, almost DK. I truly think that's the difference. See pattern notes below.


Sigh...I really do love the top of this beret.



Arboretum by Jane Tanner
The Plucky Knitter MCN Lite in Heirloom Linen (looks like blueberries to me ;) .75 skein
US 4 & 6 circulars, knit Magic loop.

Mods: not on purpose though...gauge was supposed to be 22 sts x 30 rows for 4" knit flat. I knit the swatch in the round for the MCN Lite and got 26 sts x 32 rows...of course I admit I did knit this swatch after I finished the hat.

I had swatched another yarn and started using it, but didn't like how the cabled portion was coming out so I frogged it. I had gotten gauge for that yarn.

I then knit the hat in the MCN Lite figuring it was pretty close. As you can see by my gauge numbers, it was a bit off. The yarn is very lovely to use, but it does get a little halo to it.

I'll save it and start another one. Never know when I need to gift a hat. Plus, I have about 1.25 skeins left to knit either mitts or a cowl to go with it. Could be an early gift for someone!