Rules for Feeding the Stash

Wednesday, August 31, 2016

Teeing Along


This week has just been trucking along! I've been focusing on my Adventure Tee for several reasons: 1) I really want to wear it, 2) It'll be nice to get something else off the needles during the Wayward WIPDown, and 3) The KAL ends on Monday and I don't want to finish another KAL project weeks or months after everyone else.

I'm about halfway done the body now, and once that's done I've only  got the neckband left. I was very on top of my game when it came to the sleeves, and I picked them up and finished them as soon as I divided them from the body. This has been going really fast, probably because my mum and I have finally gotten around to watching Midsomer Murders and we haven't really done much of anything else for the past week, and this tee is absolute perfect tv knitting!

Linking up with Yarn Along

Monday, August 29, 2016

Wine & Canvas Adventure!

Yesterday my mum and I went to our first Wine and Canvas! For those of you who aren't familiar with it, it's a step-by-step group painting lesson with a bar-so, totally my scene. The class we went to was for a picture of Van Gough's Starry Night with a castle and Harry Potter flying in the distance-I didn't put Harry in my painting, and I did my own castle instead of the one the instructor did. It didn't turn out quite how I expected, but we definitely had fun!




Linking up with KCCO

Friday, August 26, 2016

WIP: Windy City MKAL


I've been back to work on my Windy City MKAL shawl this week, and I'm starting to get close to being done! I'm loving seeing everyone's finished shawls on Ravelry, and I'm super excited to be joining their number soon. I am just a few more rows away from being done with Clue 4, and Clue 5 is a bit smaller, so hopefully this won't be on the needles much longer!

Initially with my Wayward WIPDown goals I wanted to focus on things that had been languishing for a while, but with the setback of my Darjeeling socks (that are now like an entirely new project!) and the continued absence of Knitty Twist (I plan to clean this weekend and hopefully they'll  turn up), I'm using my motivation to just finish whatever I feel like knitting. Which, right now, is Windy City.

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

A Couple Finished Knits


I've got two FOs to share with you all today! My TPCT has been done for a while, and I finally got pictures of it over the weekend, and I have my first FO of the Wayward WIPDown-my Outlander cowl! I'm so pleased with both of these-I've already worn my TPCT twice, and the Outlander cowl is everything I ever wanted in a fall neckpiece.


I started my TPCT way back in May for Teresa's KAL, but I had several projects on the go at once (surprise, surprise), and it ended up turning into my rehearsal knitting for the summer. I'm so pleased with how it came out-I'm usually pretty bad about alternating skeins, but one was noticeably pinker than the other, so I was very careful to alternate every couple of rounds through the whole project. I ended up with enough yarn for elbow-length sleeves, and I still have enough left for a couple of squares in my sock yarn blankie. I loved knitting this so much, and I already have yarn lined up for at least two more!


Ravelry Page: TPCT
Pattern: TPCT by Teresa Gregorio
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock "859 Primavera"


My Outlander cowl is the first FO of the Wayward WIPDown, and I'm so pleased to have it done. This was knit on huge needles, so while it knit up fairly quickly, my hands didn't really love working on it. Suffice to say, I will never have a huge collection of on-trend ultra bulky knits, unless friends give them to me. But I am so pleased with how this came out that it's worth all the frustration of working with giant needles. I love a big cowl, and this is the perfect size and weight, and I really can't wait to wear it once the weather cools down.


Ravelry Page: Outlander
Pattern: Outlander Inspired Cowl by Joan of Dark/Toni Carr
Yarn: Knit Picks The Big Cozy "Garnet Heather"


Linking up with Yarn Along

Monday, August 22, 2016

A Sock Setback, and a Little Bitty FO


 I finished the foot of my first Darjeeling sock this weekend, and I am very proud of myself. I nailed the construction (which I really wanted to do), and I still love the stitch pattern. However. I frogged the sock. After trying it on, I really didn't like how the shaping felt on the bottom of my foot, and the heel was quite too wide on me, so I'm starting over (again). I love the stitch pattern, and I love the ribbing above the heel, and I'm going to take all those things, and put them on my regular top-down sock with an eye of partridge heel.


I'm really looking forward to these socks, whenever they get done, and I'm still convinced that this yarn is meant for this stitch pattern. Now that they're not an experiment and I know pretty well how they'll turn out, I don't feel as bad about how long it's taken me to get to this point.


On a happier note, look! Finished baby cardigan! This was an utterly charming knit, even if the sleeves were a pain. I was hoping to find some cute Irish castle-themed buttons for this, and I ended up with these horse triquetra buttons that I think are super charming. I cheated a bit on the inside ties-the pattern calls for you to knit two strands, but I just braided a couple. I think they're cute. I totally missed the baby shower deadline, but the little peanut's not due for a couple more months, so I'll get this sent off this week and everything will be hunky dory.


Pattern: Garter Stitch Baby Kimono by Joji Locatelli
Yarn: Zwerger Garn Opal Classics "9060 Aufregend"


Linking up with KCCO

Friday, August 19, 2016

Oh, Darjeeling


After taking a look at my remaining WIPDown WIPs, I decided to really target the socks. I initially planned to pull out Knitty Twist to work on, since that already has half the first sock done, but I appear to have misplaced it, so I grabbed Darjeeling instead.

Darjeeling and I have a complicated relationship. I initially hesitated putting her in the WIPDown list, because she was really just a cast on and maybe four toe rounds, but she's technically one of my oldest WIPs, and I just need to get her done for both our sakes.

I got The Knitter's Book of Socks for Easter in 2012, and I immediately cast on for Darjeeling. I knit the middle size on US2s, and once it was time for the heel shaping I set it aside. Then in August 2014 I picked them back up, sat down with the book, and finished the first foot. And it was way to big (longtime readers may remember the Yeti Incident). 

So I shoved the sock in timeout, and in December 2014 I frogged what I'd knit so far and cast on for the large size on US1s, and promptly filed the sock away. And for more than four years now, Darjeeling has sat near the top of my Ravelry projects, mocking me.

But there is hope. I've knit half the first foot in a day. The sock is fitting so much better now, and I'm remembering everything I loved about this pattern. I am utterly besotted, and hopefully I'll have a new pair of socks soon. 

Wednesday, August 17, 2016

WIPing Down


I've got my first two finished projects from the Wayward WIPDown drying in my bathroom now-the baby sweater is finished and just so precious, and I finally finished my giant Outlander cowl (because what better to knit in August than a huge wool and alpaca cowl??). I'm very behind on photographing FOs-along with these, I still haven't gotten around to taking pictures of my TPCT, but the weather's supposed to cool down for the weekend, so hopefully I'll get caught up.

I'm taking Julie's advice regarding my Garter Squish and I'll focus on that more when it's just a little cooler out. I don't really want to lose momentum on it, so I'm editing my goal for that to be done by Halloween. October is usually cool enough for blanket knitting, and if I get it done then, I'll still have plenty of cold weather cuddle time to look forward to.

So now my focus is going to have to be on Finn (even though ugh, sleeves) and my pile of sock projects. I'm actually really looking forward to getting some of those socks finished, so hopefully I can use that as motivation to get through the sleeves on Finn.

Linking up with Yarn Along

Monday, August 15, 2016

Wayward WIPdown Week One


Apparently it takes me about a week to recover from community theater. I feel like I realize that every year, but I never actually take it into account when planning my summer. In any case, I'm finally caught up on sleep, and I'm starting to make progress on my incredible mountain of projects.

The baby cardigan is my main priority now, and I churned out some pretty decent sleeves over the weekend. (Despite being much smaller, baby sleeves are in fact just as frustrating as adult sleeves.) I saved the neckband for last as a reward for getting through those sleeves, and hopefully this little guy should be off the needles and in a nice bath tonight.

My other big focus right now is my Garter Squish-it's big enough to be unwieldy now, but there's still quite a ways to go. I remember it going quickly back when I first started, so I just need to find that initiative again. Perhaps in front of a very strong fan.

Friday, August 12, 2016

Hopefully the Last Numbers Post for a While

1. Thank you all for putting up with all these numbers posts. I know I'm looking forward to being able to return to my usual blog format next week, so I'm sure you all are as well.

2. I've been working steadily on my Windy City MKAL shawl, and I'm almost done with Clue 3 now. I don't think I'm going to make the KAL deadline, but my competitive edge hasn't let me set this aside yet.

3. I've also been working on the first sleeve of the baby sweater. It's going a bit slower than I'd like, but hopefully I can kick myself into getting most of what's left done this weekend.

4. It's hilarious how much knitting I think I'm going to get done this weekend when my room is a disaster zone and I have three week's worth of laundry to catch up on.


Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Wayward WIPdown Goals

Thank you for all your wonderful well-wishes during production week! I already miss the show and my company, but I slept like a log last night. As I mentioned last week, I started working my way through some languishing WIPs yesterday, and since I love accountability (and lists!) I thought I'd share some of my goals for this month.

1. Top of my list is the baby sweater. Technically, the shower is this Saturday, so I don't really think I'm going to make it, but I'd love to get this to the parents-to-be as soon as possible.

2. Next is Finn. It's in a great place right now, but I am beyond ready to have it off the needles.

3. My Rios Scraps Cowl is really close to done, and it'd be great to get it out of the WIP basket.

4. Same with my Outlander cowl-it goes really quick, but I don't like using the huge needles, so I avoid working on it. But I'll feel amazing once it's done.

5. I started my Garter Squish back in February 2015-it's a bit large now, but because of the large gauge it knits up pretty quickly, and a lot of knitting storage will open up once this is done.

6. My Neon Socks have been on the needles since January-they're a great project to keep around, but I'd like to finish them up.

7. Same with Knitty Twist. These have taken way too long already, and I feel guilty every time I see their project bag stuffed down at the foot of my bed.

8. Darjeeling have been on my needles since...March 2012. I am ashamed. I need to suck it up and get these bad boys knit.

The socks are really more like stretch goals-but if I can get even one of those pairs finished, I'll feel a lot better about myself.

Both the Tee-Along and the Windy City Mystery KAL are due to finish up during the WIPdown, so I'll need to keep up with those as well. And then there's a couple more goals I  have that aren't necessarily knitting:

1. I need to frog my Winter Helmut so I can restart it. I really messed up the rate of raglan increases, and at this point I really just want to start over from the beginning.

2. The Stockholm Scarf I was knitting with some Cascade Highland Duo also is due to be frogged. I liked the project when I started it, but the further I get into it the more I realize that this is a terrible yarn/pattern match, and I'm not going to love the final product.

3. I have to re-skein the yarn I dyed for my Yoga Shawl and set the dye some more-I've been putting this off for months, and it's high time that I  get it done.

It definitely appears that I'm using this month to kick my ass in gear and take care of things that I've let languish for too long, which is fantastic. I have so many great new projects in my queue, and I want to be able to get excited about them, and clearing out some of these older ones will really help me do that. I don't really think I'll get everything done by September 3, but hopefully I'll get a lot done and feel motivated to keep going.

Monday, August 8, 2016

Backstage Knitting


I hope you've all had a fun weekend! Mine was long-two shows and a cast party on Saturday, one show and another cast party on Sunday, and I'm definitely beat. We've got one more performance tonight, and I'm going to be sad to see this run end. It's been so much fun, and we've had great performances and audiences.

I needed some plain stockinette for backstage, so I finally cast on for my CYA Tee-Along tee. I'm doing a short sleeved cropped tee with no shaping, and I'm really excited to see how it comes out. I managed to join it in the round and start the sleeve cap shaping over the weekend, and I'll hopefully get a few more sleeve cap round in tonight.

Linking up with KCCO

Friday, August 5, 2016

Still Tech Week, More Numbers

1. It's Opening Night tonight. I am very excited.

2. I am also very tired. In the next four days, I have five performances and two cast parties.

3. Tuesday night I am going to go to bed so early.

4. The baby sweater is looking a bit more like a baby sweater. The body is all done and the sleeves are moving along at a nice clip. Thank goodness that babies are tiny.

5. After some digging, I uncovered a set of US4 DPNs for the end of the sleeves on Finn. I'm hoping to get at least the first sleeve done this weekend and the pattern sent to my editor. (I know this is at least the third week I've said this, but I'm nothing if not consistent.) The pattern's mostly done-I just have to plug in numbers and write maybe two more paragraphs of instructions, so this should totally be doable.

6. I'm thinking I need a little WIP knit-down once the play is done. I still have my two KAL shawls, and I have a Tee-Along tee planned that I need to get started on, but otherwise, there's a few things that I could stand to finish up this month. So, if you'd like to spend the rest of your August knocking off a few WIPs, feel free to join in. We like hashtags for this sort of thing, yes? Let's go with #waywardwipdown. We'll start on August 9 and go through September 3.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Numbers During Tech Week


1. I finished Clue 2 on my Recharge KAL shawl and am all caught up until Kate sends out the next update.

2. I am still less than halfway into Clue 2 on the Windy City Mystery KAL shawl, and Clue 4 comes out tomorrow. I am a bit tense.

3. The baby sweater is slower going than I'd hoped. Apparently the amount of fingering-weight garter stitch I can handle is less than half a baby sweater's worth.

4. Finn has 2/3ds of one sleeve. It is getting a bit tight on my 16" circular, and I'd like to swap out to DPNs, but I appear to only have two US4 DPNs in my collection. This is problematical.

5. It is still Tech Week. So far, I have flung three apples into the orchestra pit and two apples into the audience, and I have tripped over approximately every set piece we have.

Linking up with Yarn Along

Monday, August 1, 2016

More Rehearsal Knitting

I hope you all had a magnificent weekend! Mine was pretty slow-lots of knitting, some play rehearsals, and not much else. We're now officially in tech week (eek!), and while I'm super excited for and proud of this show, I'm also really looking forward to sleeping a whole lot.

I did finish my TPCT on Friday night, and it's blocking now. It's absolutely lovely, and I'm incredibly excited to be able to wear it. During rehearsals this weekend, I went to town on the Garter Stitch Baby Kimono for my cousin, and I'm just about ready to start the neck decreases. Which is a pretty good place to be, considering that the baby shower is in less than two weeks and I need to get this little thing across the country in time for that.