Weekend Planning

The fun pink shawl is still moving along swimmingly! Like how I threw that swatch in the photo? I thought I'd change it up a bit for you all. I'm not quite ready to start that project yet, but I'm absolutely in love with the swatch.

Tonight my sister and I are going out to karaoke. I love karaoke, but it's been a long time since I've been up that late, so I'm definitely going to be chugging coffee all day! Otherwise, this is probably going to be a pretty slow weekend. I have some more things for my apartment that I need to bring over to my storage unit, I have some library books I want to read, and I'm sure I can find a couple loads of laundry to do.

I definitely need to go through my plants and give them a once-over. There are a couple of African violets that I wasn't quite able to bring back from the edge of death, and my shamrock definitely needs a trim. I also have a jade cutting that I need to make sure is rooting properly, I haven't been seeing much new progress from it since it went in the dirt.

What do you all have planned for the weekend?

A Shawl WIP

This shawl sample has been on the needles since September, and it's one I'm really excited about, so I'm focusing a lot of my "finish all the wips" energy on it. This yarn is amazing- it's by my friend Heather, of T&H Fiber Works, and it's a gorgeous blend of BFL, silk, and stellina. I don't normally go for sparkly yarns, but something about this skein called to me, and it's such a joy to knit with.

When I started planning this shawl, I wanted something soft and delicate, but still cozy. I decided on a garter stitch body with a generous lace border, so this project hits all my buttons- soothing garter stitch and pretty lace! The garter stitch rows are starting to get pretty long now, and I can't wait to move onto the lace!

A Blizzard Shawl

We had some major winter weather this weekend - we had a blizzard warning, but I don't think it got quite to blizzard status, at least here in town. Lots of ice, lots of wind, and just a little bit of snow. An hour north of us got record snow - over a foot! So, it's safe to say that we didn't do much of anything this weekend except watch murder mysteries and knit.

I got a ton of work done on this shawl. I'm so pleased with it, and I'm glad I waited so long before starting it again, because it doesn't really feel like I'm knitting it for the second time. It's still fun and holding my interest, and I can't wait to get to the next part. 

Right now I'm almost a third of the way through. I also have plans to work up a smaller sample for one skein of yarn once this bigger sample is finished. It's not all shawl all the time, though - I finished my bath mat yesterday, and it's waiting to be blocked now!

Something Pink

So, in spite of all my hemming and hawing about trying to whittle down the WIP pile, it turns out I really needed something new on the needles. This shawl is a new design I initially started working on back in 2016, and I got pretty far into the second skein of yarn when I realized that it was much darker than the first one. So I ripped it all out, balled it back up, threw away my chart and notes, and ignored it for a year and a half.

I still love the idea though, and enough time has finally passed that I'm ready to tackle it again, this time alternating skeins. Last night I re-drew up my charts, wrote myself some notes, and started knitting. I'm just as charmed by this as I was the first time I tried knitting it, and it feels really good to be knitting a lace project again.

My hope is that having this to alternate with some of the WIPs I really want to finish up will keep me going. It's so easy to hit a wall in crafting, especially when projects have languished for a while, and I'm really glad that something as easy as pink yarn and some yarn overs can bring me back to life.

Lining Up the Third

I just have a few more rows before I can add the third color to my bath mat. I'm so excited to see it all come together. I'm still toying with some different ideas for my kitchen rug, so I probably won't start that one right away once this is finished, but there's still plenty of time.

I've been taking a look at my stack of WIPs and trying to figure out where I stand with all of them. I'm trying to decide which ones I want to focus on right now, and which can stay tucked away a while longer. Pretty much everything currently on the needles has reached a point of "why isn't this finished yet," and I'm feeling ready to get some things finished. 

Weekending

This weekend was crazy busy. On Saturday was the state show choir competition, which was a super long day, but I got tons of knitting done on my Intense TPCT. Our high school won first in its division again, but all of the groups did a great job. 

I spent most of yesterday holed up in my room recovering from the long day on Saturday. I put on Netflix, sewed a little bit, finished my Intense TPCT, and read two art books and some more of An Unkindness of Magicians. My crop top is blocking now, and hopefully I'll be able to get photos soon. We got more snow over the weekend, so I'm not really looking forward to standing outside in short sleeves for pictures!

My bath mat is coming along slowly. The cotton is bothering my hands a lot, so I'm trying to remember to do a couple rows at regular intervals instead of trying to crank out a big chunk all at once. I think I'm at the halfway point now, so hopefully I'll have a great little mat ready to bring to my new place soon!

New Pattern: Ifan

I love a cozy grandpa sweater, and Ifan is exactly that. Intended to be worn with 2-6in/5-15cm of positive ease, Ifan has extra long sleeves and cozy patch pockets. The textured moss stitch body gives way to deep ribbing and tailored stockinette set-in sleeves.

My "self-pitch" for this cardigan was "grandpa sweater meets women's college." I wanted something cozy and easy to wear with a few tailored details. I couldn't resist making the sleeves extra long - I love sweater paws! I hadn't worked with Malabrigo Twist before this sweater, and I'm absolutely in love. It is so bouncy and squishy and absolutely perfect for snuggling up in.

Ifan is available on Ravelry now, and is 20% off through Friday, April 13th. Check it out now!

Most of a Crop Top

Thank you all for your good wishes for my new apartment! It's been lined up for a month already, and I'm even more excited now than I was when I signed for it! I'm definitely planning a little photo tour for the blog once it's all set up :)

I didn't get too much knit on my Intense TPCT over the weekend, but I'm just a couple rounds away from starting the bottom ribbing. I wanted to add an inch or two of body length so I can wear it with my high waisted jeans without a gap (definitely NOT good for work!), and I think I'm just about there.

I'm also trying to read through my massive stack of library books before I move. Right now I'm about four chapters into An Unkindness of Magicians, and it's absolutely spellbinding. I really loved Kat Howard's last novel, Roses and Rot, so I was really excited to dive into this one. I currently have 17 books out from the library, which is fewer than I usually do, but still more than I want taking up space when I move, so hopefully I can average two books a week for the next couple of months!

Linking up with Yarn Along

Nesting

I hope you all had a good weekend! University employees had Friday off, so I got tons done over the weekend! I've had a storage unit for several years, since shortly after I moved back into my parents' place after college, and on Friday I went through and got rid of a ton of stuff that was stored in there. I took twelve boxes of books, a box of assorted stuff, and a bag of fabric scraps to the thrift store, and I threw out another seven bags of junk. It felt so good to get rid of all that stuff that I didn't really care about or want, although I still have more than enough books and fabric in there to keep me happy :)

So what was my motivation for spending a whole day going through my storage unit? Well, in about two and a half months I'm going to be moving into my own apartment! I have a great apartment lined up just three blocks from my parents's house, and I'm so excited to set up a place that's all my own. Right now, I'm in hardcore nesting mode, and I'm trying to find little things to channel my enthusiasm for the next couple months.

I bought this yarn two or three years ago with the intent to knit a bath mat for my apartment when I moved out, and this weekend seemed like the perfect time to start doing that! I'm planning a sort of ombre deal - it starts out orange on one end, then it's coral in the middle, and when I reach the end of this yarn, I'll finish it up with pink. I love these colors so much, and I'm so thrilled to be able to make things like this for my apartment. I have yarn lined up for a kitchen rug as well, and yarn for a floor cushion for my living room. Hopefully all these projects will keep me going until it's actually time to move!

Crop Topping

It's nice to be back into my regular routine. I've switched back to my Intense TPCT, and I'm trying to finish the body before I let myself wind the next skein for my Orange Finn. I had brought this to my knitting retreat, but I only managed a round or two on it at the lodge. 

Last night the temperature hovered in the low 50s for a couple hours, so I took this out on the porch for an inch or so. I really love knitting on the porch, but there's really only a couple days a year when it's not too hot or cold outside. I am exceptionally picky about temperatures, and I have a very small spectrum of "acceptable" knitting weather.

There's a couple more inches on this before the twisted rib at the bottom, and I'm hoping to get close to finished with it this week. The library is closed on Friday for Easter Break, but I'm planning on taking that day to go through my storage unit and get rid of a bunch of stuff, so I'm not really getting any extra knitting time out of it.