One Sweater Done, Another One Going

For those of you following along at home, I did finish my Amazing Technicolor Dream CYOA on Friday, exactly two weeks after casting on, and I am thrilled with it. True to form, I completely neglected to take pictures of it over the weekend, so hopefully there'll be some sun after work this week so I don't have to wait until next weekend to get photos.

Since then, I've picked up my SSKAL Wainthropp again, and I've started the bottom ribbing. I originally thought I'd have enough yarn for elbow-length sleeves, but it's starting to look much closer than that. I'm pretty sure I'll need to order another ball of yarn, which means I'll probably miss the KAL deadline, but these things happen. I'm super excited for this sweater, and I'm so glad I decided to jump into this KAL, so it's still a win for me.

So Close

For a brief moment last night, my Amazing Technicolor Dream CYOA wasn't on the needles. I finished the second sleeve, and it was, for all appearances, done.

Clearly, that's not the case anymore.

As I was nearing the end of the second sleeve yesterday, I considered how much yarn I had left, and I decided that I wanted to extend the body by another two inches. My plan for this top was to have a slightly polished sweatshirt kind of look, and I'd really like it to be more hip length since I still have yarn left.

It can be difficult to be so close to being finished with something and decide to rip back part, but I'm really going to like the extra length more. Don't get me wrong-I would have worn it with the shorter body, and I'm sure I would have loved it, but since I still have yarn, why short change myself?

Snowstorms in Technicolor

We're in the middle of a snowstorm right now, which makes knitting and watching murder shows sound more appealing than anything else. Yesterday I went home sick, which made Mystic happy, and then later on I managed to very gracefully fall on my bum after brushing the car off (this is about as far into winter as I've ever managed without falling). It's still snowing, but it's slowed down quite a bit, and hopefully town will be back to normal soon.

I've been working steadily on my Amazing Technicolor Dream CYOA, and I have the first sleeve done and a good start on the second. I've got it in my head to wear this to an audition this weekend, so hopefully I'll be able to bang it out in the next couple days. It's coming along exactly as I imagined so far-I'm knitting this one smaller than my cropped version for a more fitted look, and I'm doing three-quarter length tapered sleeves. With any luck, I'll have a new top this week (and my first FO of 2017!).

Linking up with Yarn Along

After the March

What a weekend! I'm sure it was very full for many of you as well. My Saturday was pretty much taken up with my town's sister march-we had over 500 marchers in my little town, and over 3,000 more in the city an hour north of us. I was exhausted afterward and ended up needing a three hour nap, but it was worth it to see people of all ages and backgrounds come together.

I don't really have words for how it felt to see so many people come together. Nearly every one of my blog and Instagram friends were at some kind of march over the weekend, and I feel so grateful to be a part of such an active and passionate community. It's been humbling and awe-inspiring to see the numbers and the pictures from marches all over the world, and I feel truly grateful to have been a part of it. This is only the beginning, though, and the organizers for my town are already working on the next steps.

1.20.2017

Today is a difficult day for me. I don't know what the next four years are going to bring, and I don't know what the world is going to look like at the end of them. I'm scared.

I'm holding on to our community here. I'm holding on to beauty, and creating, and making my voice heard. I'm holding onto the goodness and generosity I see in people, I'm holding onto my friends.

Today I'll cry. Tomorrow I'll march. And after that, I'll keep staying informed and making my voice heard. I believe that We the People can hold our government accountable. And I believe that all of us can make the world kinder and more generous.

Give freely. Love deeply. Remember that none of us are alone.

Resistance, peace, and compassion.

x

Selfish Sweatering

My Wainthropp is a bit of a tangle right now, which is making it difficult to carry around. I'm still using this as my lunch knitting, but it takes a few more minutes for me to get it all sorted to start working on. I'm about a repeat away from the body ribbing as written, but I want to see if I can squeeze in another inch or so. Therefore I've started a sleeve while  the body stitches are all still live and attached to their own ball.

I'm almost done the sleeve cap shaping on this first sleeve. I'm not doing full length sleeves on this one-I'm planning for the sleeves to be just over elbow-length. I originally planned to do both sleeves, then finish the body, but now I'm thinking it'll be much easier to finish the first sleeve, weigh the remnants from the sleeve ball, and set enough yarn for the second sleeve aside while I finish the body. That'll split up sleeve island a bit and make this whole project a bit easier to carry around.

This KAL goes through February 14, so I'm not too worried about running out of time. I'm really loving how this is coming together, and I'm excited to get it finished so I can start some other sweaters I have planned for this year.

Linking up with  Yarn Along

A CYOA of Many Colors

So...you know how I said I wanted to just work on my blankets in the evenings? That lasted a hot minute. I'm still dedicated to getting those done, but Friday night I cast on a new top. I frogged my old Amie cardigan, and I'd been planning on waiting a bit to cast on, but then the yarn just looked so pretty and all of a sudden I'd gone and cast on.

I'm using the Choose Your Own Adventure Tee pattern-I'm planning on doing the tee-length body with shaping, and I'm hoping for around 3/4 length sleeves. I'm already loving this so much more than the cardigans I knit with this yarn, and I'm already having fun planning outfits for it.

I separated the body and sleeves last night, and I still have 2 of my 3 skeins left, so I should be fine in terms of yardage. I'd love to get this done in the next couple weeks, but I do still have my blankets to work on and my Selfish Sweater KAL Wainthropp to finish, so we'll see what happens.

Linking up with KCCO

Blanket WIPdown

I'm not normally one to feel bad about the state of my WIP pile, but there are a couple of long-languishing projects that I want to get done over January and February: my two big blanket projects.

My original Blanket is a 10-stitch blanket that I started my junior year of college. Six years ago. Originally my plan had been to make a queen-sized multi-color monstrosity, but I've refined that plan a bit. Now I just want a nice throw-sized nap blanket. I've been working on this one in the evenings to try and use up the yarn that I have for it. I've determined that I want another 2 balls for it, and I'll buy those when I go to the yarn store in a few weeks, so I'd like to be done with the current ball before then.

My other blanket is my Garter Squish, which has only been on the needles for two years. But it's taking up a lot of room in my stash/WIP storage, and I'd like to get it done. I have all the yarn for it, and I remember it knitting up quickly as long as I actually worked on it. Sadly, I only knit like four rows on this last winter, so it's been abandoned for a while.

My plan is to make these my dedicated evening blankets until they're done. It's perfect blanket knitting weather, and both of these knit up really easily and pretty quickly as long as I'm working on them. I'm optimistic that I can finish them both by the end of winter, and then I won't have them hanging over me anymore.

New Year, New KAL

Since I've discovered that I really like KALs, I decided to jump in on the Selfish Sweater KAL from Untangling Knots. I've done one of Andi's KALs before, back in 2014 (the Marion KAL), and while I struggled with the social aspect of it, I've long admired Andi's patterns, and I've always been happy with the ones I've knit, so I figured why not.

I had six balls of Knit Picks Wool of the Andes Tweed in my stash-this is pretty deep stash, and I have no clue what I was planning when I bought these, but I decided they'd be perfect for Wainthropp, and so far I'm thrilled with how it's knitting up.

Hopefully I'll be done with the body soon, and then it'll just be me on sleeve island. I don't have buttons for this sweater yet, but I have to run to the city at the end of the month and I'm planning to hit the yarn store while I'm up there and hopefully I'll be able to snag something perfect then. 

The KAL goes through February 14, so there's still time to jump in on the action if you'd like! There are a lot of awesome knitters in the group, I'm having a blast watching everyone's cardigans come together!

Linking up with Yarn Along

Early Check-In KAL: Filled With Secrets

Today's the last day of the Early Check-In KAL, so I thought it would be the perfect time to share my last FO of 2016! I hadn't intended to finish this sweater before the new year, but at 11:40pm on December 31 I wove in my last end. As usual, I had a ton of fun with this KAL, and I absolutely love this sweater. Love love love.

I did a pretty drastic yarn substitution with this project, using two strands of Kenzie together. Because of that, my sweater isn't as light and lofty as the sample-it's still lofty, and not as dense as I feared it might be, but it's definitely a substantial sweater.

I didn't really make any mods to this-I knit the size 48 so I'd get 4-5 inches of positive ease, and I only knit three-quarter sleeves, because I loved the look of the pushed up sleeves in the pattern photos, but I didn't want the bulk of a full sleeve. I also knit the collar a little shorter than called for, because I have a problem with things too close to my neck. I'm absolutely thrilled with how everything came out, and I wouldn't change a thing.

I definitely went with "1970s appliance colors," which are the best colors, in my opinion, and I've already worn my finished sweater quite a bit. I love the deep yoke so much-between this and my xmas sweater, I want deep yoked everything now!

Ravelry Page: Filled With Secrets

Pattern: Filled With Secrets by Leah Coccari-Swift

Yarn: HiKoo by skacel Kenzie "Kiwifruit," "Bayberry," and "Oceania"

Linking up with KCCO