Knitting

Thursday: What’s on your needles?

stargrace January 14, 2016 No Comments

 Like I mentioned in my last post, it’s easy to feel motivated when January rolls around. There’s so many KALs and projects just starting out and of course we’re all flashing our stash and making unreasonable goals (which is half of the fun). I find it harder to keep knitting projects going throughout the rest of the year. This year I’m knitting from my stash and I have a handful of WIP. I’m working on a MKAL shawl hosted by Sherwood Knits and I’m half way through the second clue. I hope to finish it up tomorrow just in time for the next one.

I’m also working on vanilla socks, hosted by the beginner’s knit-along group that I belong to. I’m almost done the first sock and I’ve been making them on 9″ circulars to try them out vs. DPN. So far I’m a huge fan. The third project I’m working on is also hosted by the beginner’s knit-along group, and that’s my BKAL blanket where we complete one square a month and then stitch them together. This months square is completed, so it’s not a WIP or on my needles any more, but it was until recently (it’s the picture featured in this post). The final project I’m working on is the Pine Forest Baby Blanket in a bright sunshine yellow. I also have enough yarn to make a second in a sky blue, and I’m hoping to gift them. The blankets are so soft and smushy it’s tempting to just keep them for myself. I enjoy having multiple projects on the go but on that same note you want to make sure that you don’t get overwhelmed. It’s easy to feel like you’re ‘falling behind’ and setting up goals that you can obtain and that won’t frustrate you is important. I had a double knit afghan on my to-do list but found that learning the skill on top of all of the other knitting that I wanted to get done was just frustrating me instead of giving me joy. For now I’ve set that project aside, and I’ll pick it up again when I’m feeling more confident about it. Double knitting is an intense technique, and as a beginner (yes, I still consider myself a beginner) I just found it overwhelming. I did manage to get to row 17/45 before I messed up beyond repair, but it didn’t relax me like my other knitting projects do, even the MKAL shawl is not so bad.

So what do you have on your needles this week? Let me know in comments!

New Needles, New Project

stargrace January 8, 2016 No Comments

You may have noticed that I’ve redesigned the site slightly. After much debate, I decided to open an Etsy store and brand my knitting as “OK.Knits” (Okanagan Knits). I’m excited about this prospect even if I haven’t sold anything yet, it gives me some direction with my knitting. Items will be added slowly over time, with a few in stock of each. I don’t expect it will ever be an enormous money maker, but I am excited about the prospect none the less. I also have a facebook page dedicated to it, and a twitter account. Exciting times, no?

On the knitting front, today I received my 9″ hiyahiya circular sharp needles and I cast on almost right away. The beginner knit-along group that I belong to had a pair of vanilla socks up for a KAL this month, and hey who doesn’t need a third part of hand knit socks, especially since I have some very lovely yarn to go along with them. These socks are being knit with KnitPicks Stroll Glimmer (black), and KnitPicks Felici (Rainbow). I’m doing the cuff, heel, and toe, in the black, and the rest of the sock in rainbow. Unfortunately I’ve already noticed an issue with the felici, there’s some weird red bleeding of dye in the lime green portion (so far) but since it’s spread throughout the yarn it’s not something I’m going to worry about quite yet.

Knitting with the hiyahiya needles is an absolute dream. They’re incredibly light, and the cord bends very easily. It doesn’t catch on anything and I haven’t had any issues with my hands cramping up or anything like that. I’m very glad I got them, and along with them I got a pair of free stitch markers, thank you ACME Fibres! I’m very glad to have found a store that prices things in Canadian dollars and since she ships in envelops the cost isn’t a huge amount. I haven’t purchased any yarn from them yet since I have quite a bit of my own to work through, but I’m looking forward to it in the future. I did also check out the sales at WEBS (yarn.com) but their shipping costs to Canada are through the roof. I loaded up my cart with some of their yarn that was on sale only to discover that shipping costs would be equal to the cost of the yarn itself – plus it’s in USD, and with our Canadian dollar sitting at lower than .71 cents to the USD, it’s just better if I shop local, and shop within Canada.

So, with that being said, if you have suggestions for knitting / yarn related pretties, especially in Canada, either in the BC area or online, don’t hesitate to let me know in comments! Remember I’m still new so I’m always looking for my new favourite yarn to play with and promote while I narrow down my likes / dislikes.

Challenge: Fine Yarn Frenzy

stargrace December 31, 2015 No Comments

I knew when KnitPicks announced their luxury yarn sale that I’d probably end up getting something. I got a gift card for Christmas from my sister-in-law and brother, but even before then I had added a few things to my wishlist. Of course I wasn’t wrong. I ended up buying 4 skeins of chroma in fingering weight (2 lupine and 2 new leaf) and 10 skeins of galileo in dragonfly that just looks amazing. I’ve never used either yarn before, but I have seen a lot of projects knit up in chroma and wow are they ever beautiful. Of course owning all of this beautiful yarn is great, but I didn’t just want to have it collect dust, I wanted to knit beautiful things with it. I’m still coming up with a name for a potential Etsy shop, so far nothing has appealed to me. I’m not 100% convinced that I want to open one to begin with, but it’s something I think about. I know some of my colour work items would sell. Plain items not so much. I’ve had a lot of interest on facebook from friends which I really appreciate.

Anyway, it’s no use having all of this pretty yarn if I don’t actually make anything from it. On that note, I’ve joined a few KALs (remember, those are knit-a-longs) one of them being a mystery kal (you don’t know what you’re making before you make it). The first one I joined is from Sherwood Knits, and is a shawl. I’m honestly not sure what colour I’m going to knit it in yet, the suggested yarns are either a solid, semi-solid, or ombre yarn. I’m thinking of using some of the gifted cone yarn I got, especially since I have so much of it. I’m sure I’ll make a decision by January 1st though as that’s when the first clue is released. I’m nervous about this one, the designer didn’t write out the chart pattern, so it will be my first time attempting to read a chart. I may just end up writing it out myself, we’ll see. Ideally I want to keep growing my skills and I know that chart reading is part of that, but I’m still pretty nervous.

Aside from that, I signed up for a sock KAL in my beginner’s knit-along group, and they’ve decided to go with the knitmore girls vanilla socks for January. They’re pretty basic socks, and I’m going to finally get a chance to knit with my rainbow felici. I’m also doing cuffs, heel, and toe in black glimmer yarn. Very excited about this one. While I make those socks for one group, they qualify as an item in my final group, who is challenging people to FO (finish off) objects in fine yarn – anything DK weight and lower. There are prizes for this one, and my socks will definitely qualify as one entry. If I complete the shawl, that will be two entries. You see where this is going? It’s a fun motivational way to encourage people to use up that beautiful yarn and not to just let it lay around for years on end (of course if that’s what you want to do with your yarn, you’re more than welcome to. No judgement here)!

Have you decided on your 2016 projects yet? My ‘big’ goal for 2016 is still to knit a sweater for myself – we’ll see how that goes. I do plan on creating a smaller version of flax light, if I like it well enough it could be a potential full sized sweater for me later on in the year, maybe. Looking forward, I’m excited about all of my potential projects. Knitting is relaxing and feeling the yarn between my fingers is just a joy. I’ve been working on a baby blanket with knitpicks might stitch and smushing it every time I turn the project around because it’s just that comfortable. If I opened an Etsy shop and was able to make a few sales, maybe I could afford some of the nicer yarn. I guess we’ll just have to see!

Lace and Shawls

stargrace November 26, 2015 No Comments

I like to challenge myself as I learn to knit, but there’s no road map to follow as far as “well, now that I know X skill, I should learn Y skill” – and it works, since there are hundreds if not thousands of different things to learn when it comes to knitting. I have started setting aside patterns with techniques I’d like to learn, but it’s a slow process to figure out the order of things so that I’m both challenging myself, but not taking on too much too soon (and thus getting discouraged). I thought socks were going to be the ‘end goal’ of my knitting, but it turns out that they were actually the catalyst that sent me out searching for new projects. Socks are pretty standard and once to learn one ‘style’ you’re pretty much set. The next thing I found myself fascinated with was lace, and shawls.

I found a very good beginner pattern that only involves a little bit of lace. Lace is basically any piece that involves increases (these create fancy open spaces) and decreases. The shawl posted above is found here on ravelry free of charge. It only has one lace row, and you work it from the top down. What I’ve done here is used two types of yarn, remember I’m still learning and still very much a beginner, so I’m just using basic acrylic for this shawl. The black is Phentex Worsted Solids, and the second yarn is Red Heart Boutique, Unforgettable, in Sunrise. It’s an amazing LOOKING yarn that shifts colours to look like a sunrise, but it’s an absolute pain in the arse to actually knit with. It’s slippery, splits, and just isn’t much fun especially for a beginner. That being said, take your time, and you’ll do just fine.

So the lace row and the stockinette rows are done with the sunrise yarn, and the back is just garter stitch. Simple, looks pretty, and teaches me the basics of shawls. I have every intention of moving on to Skywalker by Laura Nelkin before too long, this pattern is actually from a Craftsy class that I picked up. I have some beautiful bright yellow fingering weight yarn that I’d like to attempt that shawl with.

I love lace – but I’m not very good at reading charts. I’m hoping to get better but it goes very slowly and requires a lot of practice. I’m also thinking that it might be fun to get into beads. I saw a very lovely shawl with glow in the dark beads knit into the pattern and it looked amazing. I’ve never done any bead work before and I don’t have the slightest idea about what is involved, but it’s still something I have been thinking about, so I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before I dive in.

In the meanwhile, I have two projects on my needles right now. Last night I completed a 6 foot cable scarf that is to be a Christmas present, and I have the shawl along with a very plain blanket on the go. What will I work on next? Depends on my mood.