A Pile of FOs

Do I have lots of pretty photos of finished knits to share with you? Yup. I washed my hair and put on a bra and everything. It's a photo-heavy post, but if there's anything we all have, it's time to scroll through and look at lots of pretty knitting pictures. Here we go:

Up first is my Old Harry, which is FINALLY finished after spending way too long on the needles. It came out exactly how I wanted it too, and I even got Lee Lee in for some pictures!

Ravelry Page: Old Harry (Wayward KAL)

Pattern: Old Harry by Kat Riddell

Yarn: Knit Picks Preciosa Tonal Fingering,"Anemone" and "Boysenberry" 

Next is this cowl I made with a bunch of my Malabrigo Rios scraps. I love this so much. It came out exactly how I pictured it. I can't believe it took almost four years for me to actually finish it, but it's great. It's just moss stitch, changing colors when I ran out of one. I just magic knotted the yarns together, and changed them wherever the old yarn ran out, even in the middle of rows.

Ravelry Page: Rios Scraps Cowl

Pattern: None, I made it up IN MY BRAIN

Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Rios, various

My first "Quick Win" project of Quarantine is my Purl Soho Bandana Cowl. I originally had another pattern in mind for this yarn, but I had thought I had two skeins instead of one, so the other pattern wouldn't have worked. I got this skein from my friend Annika, and I don't know what colorway it is and I'm too lazy to scroll through all of Malabrigo's colorways to check. It's a great color for me, though, and a great little cowl. Mine is a bit shorter than the sample as I only did three sets of decreases instead of the five that were written, because I ran out of yarn. I also had to knit it twice because I forgot how to read patterns. It's okay, I had the time.

Ravelry Page: Bandana Cowl

Pattern: Bandana Cowl by Purl Soho

Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Chunky, unknown

When I first designed Breony, I knew the original sample was going to go live with Tara. About a year after sending the sample to her, I grabbed this skein from her to knit a Breony of my own. And then I let it sit in my stash for years. I knew this hat would take only a few hours to knit, but I never cast it on. I'm thrilled with it. I made the brim a little deeper on this one than is written BECAUSE I COULD. I love the soft pinks in this yarn, and I'm super happy with how it knit up.

Ravelry Page: Breony

Pattern: Breony by Kat Riddell

Yarn: The Dyeing Arts Rogue, "Bermuda" 

As always, much love to you all. Every one of you individually is my best friend. You're doing great. 

Day Fourteen

So, clearly I'm still trying to adjust to whatever my new schedule is. It's weird. It's all weird. I love being home, and I love being by myself, and even I'm struggling with this new normal. My heart goes out to everyone who's really missing being around people and being in public places. This sucks, but we're tough.

I've pretty much stopped sample knitting. I don't know if I'm still mad at my vest for having the wrong increases, or if I don't love the concept, or if the weight of *gestures widely* makes the thought of "work knitting" just too much.

I very nearly cast on a laceweight sweater last week, but I reigned myself in and decided instead to focus on some quick projects that have been in my queue for an age and a half. Let me tell you, if you have the stash for some quick projects, they are GREAT right now. In just a day or two, you go from "a skein of yarn" to "new cowl!" or "new hat!" and that feeling is incredible. It's an easy win, and it's a sign of progress in a time when time itself feels meaningless.

So far I've knit a Purl Soho Bandana Cowl, a Breony (which I've been meaning to do since the original sample went to live with Tara YEARS AGO), and most of an Arikaa Cowl (it just needs a seam and fringe). I also finished my Rios Scraps Cowl, which has been on the needles since 2016 and came out EXACTLY how I wanted. I'm also doing Jessie Mae's MKAL, which I'm really loving right now—ribbing in the round forever and ever with medium-weight yarn? That's exactly what the doctor ordered right now.

Numbers On a Wednesday

1. No photo today. Sorry. Things are just weird right now and I promise I'll try to get better/figure something out as I adjust to this new routine.

2. I'm on leave from work this week, and don't know what the next few weeks holds. I don't like uncertainty, but I'm trying to be chill and not worry too much.

3. Yup, I'm isolating. Because I'm diabetic, I'm high-risk if I get COVID-19. I don't want to get it. That would be very bad.

4. I had to rip out like six inches from my vest sample last night because I figured the rate of increases for the v-neck wrong. It is now in time-out, because how dare I mess up math.

5. I finally finished my marled Old Harry! I don't know when I'll do a photoshoot for it (I mean, I have the time, clearly, but I'm also very invested in not doing my hair this week, so we'll have to see if I can find any motivation to make myself presentable).

6. I have already eaten through most of my stash of Quarantine Chips, which is kind of a bummer, but also to be expected when I am alone with a bunch of chips and no supervision.

7. Please be safe, kittens. Wash your hands, avoid large groups, and know that I love each and every one of you.

Operation: SJW

I’m participating in Operation: Social Justice, and 20% of the purchase price of all my patterns and collections sold from March 15th through March 31st will be donated to Transformation Project SD, an organization that provides education and resources to trans youth and young adults and their families in South Dakota.

Check out #OperationSJW on social media to see what other businesses are participating and what organizations we’re supporting during this project.

New Pattern: Cervid

I love wearing triangular shawls, but sometimes that much fabric is too warm, or sometimes I don’t want to worry about trailing extra ends through my food, or sometimes I want something that I don’t have to worry about coming loose or falling off while I’m out and about.

Cervid fills all my stylistic desires without any of the hangups that can come with my beloved shawls. The triangular front of the cowl grows out of staghorn cables, one of my favorite motifs.

Cervid is worked flat from the bottom point, then additional stitches are cast on for the back neck and the cowl is worked in the round to finish.

Cervid is available on Ravelry and is 20% off through Monday, March 16th, with code CROWN.

Back in the Saddle

Has it really been two weeks?? I'm sorry for the prolonged absence, but in an effort to clear up this tendinitis flareup I've been strictly no-knitting since the last time I posted. I finally let myself try knitting a little bit yesterday, and I'm feeling all right. Not quite 100% yet, but it felt really good to get a few rows in.

I wish I could say I've been using the time I would have spent knitting the past two weeks wisely, but mostly I've been messing around online and wishing I could knit. I did manage to read a few books and get ahead on my goal for the year (here's my Goodreads profile, if you want to be friends).

My plan is to keep taking it slow on the knitting front for this week—two weeks is a long break, and while I'm eager to get back into some long knitting sessions, I know my thumbs are still a bit weak and inflamed and need to be treated gently. 

Weekends

Back on Friday, when I started planning my weekend, I thought I'd spend two long days getting a bunch of knitting done. I have a pattern to finish writing up, a couple of samples on the needles, a sweater that only needs half a sleeve left to go, and I really thought I had a good chance of getting a bunch of stuff caught up on.

Well, Saturday morning I had to admit to myself that I'd let my apartment get into A State, and it really needed some love. So I spent all day Saturday cleaning and WOW my apartment is so much better now. I even finally repotted my orchids after having that on my to-do list for months!

So I didn't get any knitting done on Saturday, but yesterday I sat down in front of Netflix with my vest sample and banged out a few inches. As you can see, the fronts and backs are joined and it's finally starting to look like an actual garment. This is my favorite stage of a project, right when everything comes together. Obviously, there's still a ton of knitting left to go, but cruising along through the body of a garment is one of my favorite things to do.

Back to Routine

That long weekend was just the thing I needed—I spent most of a day in bed and finally kicked the end of a cold that I've been fighting for a couple weeks. I got a pile of costume alterations done for the dance studio as well, and I've only got three more to do now, which shouldn't take too long. I also finished the upper back of this vest sample and am on the second upper front now. It's at that stage where it looks a bit strange and twisted, but it'll even out and start looking like an actual garment pretty soon.

It feels good to be back to my regular routine after a couple of different weeks. I'm definitely a creature of habit! Last night I spent several hours in the kitchen, which I haven't been able to do for a hot minute, and I made brownies and a coffee cake and a sweet potato and chickpea skillet that I'll probably have for dinner tonight. It was great to know that I had time to cook without worrying about having to get somewhere, and it's so nice to finally have cake in the house again, I really missed it!

Color Shawl

It's been kind of a slow week here. I took a few days off from knitting because I've been having a tendinitis flareup, and I'm definitely missing it. I gave in and knit a little bit last night and felt okay, and I'm really looking forward to getting back into my usual groove.

(Unlike other problems with my hands, my tendinitis doesn't necessarily make it so I can't knit, and knitting doesn't tend to bother my thumbs at all, but the only real treatment for it is total rest.)

A couple weeks ago I pulled out these two skeins from The Dyeing Arts that I've been holding on to for a couple of years now and cast on a new shawl. I've been thinking about what to do with these skeins for a while, and now that I'm finally working with them I'm really enjoying seeing how all these colors work up.

Astrateia

Astrateia is a generously-sized lightweight shawl with a simple lace pattern. Featuring a garter border and a picot bind off, this shawl is perfect for draping over your shoulders or wearing around your neck. Designed to work with both solid and variegated yarns, Astrateia is both a portable project and a wardrobe staple.

Astrateia measures 61.5in/156cm wide and 27in/68.5cm deep and is currently 20% off on Ravelry with code HUNTRESS.