Freshly Finished Friday #6

Welcome to a link-up party for your Friday Finished Object posts! In an effort to connect everyone who creates and blogs about it here on the web, I thought providing a place to link up and share your freshly finished creations would be a great way to see what everyone is working on. Please feel free to share ANY of your finished crafty pursuits from knitting and crocheting to sewing and scrapbooking.

I’m so sorry this is a little later than usual 😦 I was recently invited to play volleyball in a few co-ed leagues. I played in high school and college so getting back on the court has been awesome!!!

In other news, I’m about 4 inches away from finishing Sam’s Cozy Man scarf!

I ended up having to buy more yarn of each color. I think my original “calculations” were off by about 100 yards maybe? Upon some careful consideration, I noticed that I made Sam’s scarf a bit wider than Jordan’s and I also used a larger needle size. Ah well. At least Knitorious, the yarn store, is only like 20 minutes away and they were super helpful.

To join in the fun, click the link up below to see all the others participating in a Freshly Finished Friday! It will take you away from this page, but don’t worry, you will always be able to find your way back. It’s especially helpful if the linked up blog has a link back here. Please add your specific blog post link and remember to link back here in your blog so we can all be connected 🙂

***EDITED: Thank you to Alicia @ Woolen Diversions for letting me know the link-up was spanning the wrong dates 😦 It’s all fixed now and you should be able to add your links!***

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

Freshly Finished Friday #5

 

Welcome to a new link-up party for your Friday Finished Object posts! In an effort to connect everyone who creates and blogs about it here on the web, I thought providing a place to link up and share your freshly finished creations would be a great way to see what everyone is working on. Please feel free to share ANY of your finished crafty pursuits from knitting and crocheting to sewing and scrapbooking.

So I dropped the ball this week on blogging and finishing!! Not to worry, I have still been knitting away! Mostly on my Caesious from Curls by Hunter Hammersen. I’m using Lorna’s Laces Sport in the Montrose colorway. Sorry, no good pictures of it, maybe I’ll get on on Instagram later today!

To join in the fun, click the link up below to see all the others participating in a Freshly Finished Friday! It will take you away from this page, but don’t worry, you will always be able to find your way back. It’s especially helpful if the linked up blog has a link back here. Please add your specific blog post link and remember to link back here in your blog so we can all be connected 🙂

 

I’ll see what I can do about getting back on the blog wagon next week 🙂

Until then,

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

TGIF

Yes, that’s a little throw back to my childhood. We would sit down as a family and watch the TGIF Line up on TV as a family. Cheesy, but fun 🙂

This week in St. Louis, the temperatures have felt like fall. For instance, we opened all our windows yesterday and the thermostat in our house read 65 last night before I went to bed. I’m wearing a cozy sweatshirt and PJ pants, not to mention my awesome Christmas socks!

I’ve been reading all over blogs and Ravelry about knitting season. This change in the weather has definitely prompted a desire to knit everything, even more than I was feeling. Now instead of just knitting on my WIPs, I am scanning my yarn cabinet, Ravelry queue, and my physical library to pair up yarns from my cabinet to knit things. Any things. Just something to put around me and keep my warm. Forget knitting for other people, I’m feeling selfish and very, very motivated.

Plus it helps that I’ve finished a few things. Let me show you those!!

First up, the MariGOLD Slouch hat!! I even blocked the thing!

I love the color. I love the cables. My only reservation is that it’s big. Like big! Lots of slouch. I know that’s the point, but I’m not quite convinced. It’s still drying, so when it’s done, I will take some live action photos of it on an actual head.

I also cast on and finished a Little Red Riding Hood cape for a dear friend’s little one. She contacted me when I was home visiting my new niece and helping my mom organize her stash. I found this darling pattern, Capuchon, hurried over to Michael’s to pick up some fun, hard-wearing, kid-friendly yarn in the Red Heart Shimmer, then went home to raid my mom’s needles and cast that bad boy on.

The pattern is written to start at the neck with a provisional cast-on, then knit the cape down, come back pick up the neck stitches to work the hood. I decided I didn’t want to do that, so I cast-on from the bottom up, did a little math and away I went. It has this adorable raspberry stitch border along the bottom.

It was easier to do than I thought. I held the yarn double and knit it on US 10s. I did a 3 needle bind off at the top of the hood. I used a bowl to steam block this thing on. I wanted to even out my stitches and help the borders lie flat.

Overall, I love the thing. Super easy to knit. I used a satin ribbon that I threaded through the fabric around the neck. I didn’t want to do anything permanent.

I’m mostly impressed that it fit 🙂

It’s just too adorable. I made pretty thorough notes on my project page in case you want to knit one from the bottom up too…I only made the notes for the 12 months size. Should be a good starting point though if you want to do a bigger size.

You may have also noticed that I blocked these two items. Aren’t you impressed? Especially after my Knitting Confession a few Mondays ago about it. It really does make a difference. I have another awesome blocked object to show you. I guess we could count this as a FO as well on this lovely Friday.

It’s my Follow Your Arrow Shawl. I know I’ve posted about it a lot. I love it and blocking the lace made a huge, HUGE difference. Before:

After:

She is beautiful. I can’t wait to wear her.

Have you finished anything lately??

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

Follow Your Arrow to the Driving Range!

Happy Free-For-All Friday!!!! I feel like this week has flown by. Here in St. Louis, there was a terrible tragedy on Saturday when a young man lost his life. The rest of the week has been utter chaos. I’m hoping things will settle down here soon.

I bet you are wondering what the title is about…if you’ve been keeping up, you know I’ve been recently working away at my Follow Your Arrow Cowl…a Mystery Knit-A-Long from Ysolda Teague that I started in February…well…

I FINISHED IT!!! Yahoo!!!! I really, really, really need to block it, but here we go.

I love the edging. I love the color. I just love it.

I’m hoping with a good block this 100% Merino Ella Rae with grow a little. The shawl is a little small for me. I’m going to blame it on me being tall. With volleyball shoulders. Yes, that’s why 🙂

About the driving range…last weekend, I went “golfing” with my husband, his brother and his girlfriend (you follow?). I mostly drove the cart and knit, but I did get to hit a few balls. Man! It was fun. And frustrating since I didn’t know what I was doing. So, Tuesday, Jordan and I went to the driving range to work on my swing…We hit for about an hour. I left a little frustrated that I wasn’t just killing it.

So I went back. By myself. On Wednesday. I got the Medium bucket of 70 balls. And went to work. I was improving, but still, quite a few swing and misses…

So I went back. By myself. Today. I got the Large bucket of  100 balls. Much better…much much better. I missed less, I hit the ball straighter, and I can say that I’m hooked.

Anybody else do something once and get hooked? I guess knitting has been the same. A few stitches, a trip to the yarn store and BAM! Here we are 5 years later, juggling 3 different active WIPs and itching to cast on more 🙂

Happy Friday! Have a wonderful weekend!

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

Blankets & Mitts & Swaps, OH MY :)

Yes, it’s a Free-For-All Friday and I’ve got a few fun things to post…Maybe something along Sillylittlelady’s post from today: FFFO* Friday 🙂 I’ve been keeping up with her journey on her gorgeous orange sweater and it’s a beautiful finished project. While browsing my bloglovin feed this morning, I came across several FO Friday posts and I’m feeling inspired…

You guessed it (if you read Wednesday’s post) I finished up the Midsummer Baby Blanket for my soon-to-arrive niece!!!! Check it out!!

I love the colors.

I love the texture.

I’ve even weaved in all the ends.

Now I just need to block this. It’s cotton and little out of whack. I’m hoping a good blocking will even it all out.

I also managed to finish up my Yarn Bliss Super Secret Swap project. It was a pair of the Gefn Mitts by Kristen Ashbaugh-Helmreich. I had the pattern in a Knitscene Accessories 2014 magazine. I actually bought this magazine at Sophie’s a while back to knit this shawl in a gray and yellow. Mayhaps I can start that soon…Anyway, back to the awesome swap project and package I sent:

The mitts in the blocking bath:

 

Here they are, well at least one of them on my hand since I had to model and take pictures.

I loved that I didn’t need to knit separate mitts for the right and left hands, I just knit the same one twice.

And finally the whole package I sent:

My swap partner Heather loves greens and blues hence the Manos Lace I thought she may be able to do the Dreambird shawl she’s been wanting to do. She likes caramel in her coffee so I included some for her. And some stitch markers. Who doesn’t need those 🙂

What have you finished lately? Would you want to be involved in a yarn swap?

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

 

A Finished Object & Feline Friday

I sat down yesterday to write a Thirsty Thursday post and I kept being distracted by my 2 darling kitties. Plus I was really struggling to write something I would enjoy and think that others would want to read. I’m trying hard to toe the line between what I want to write about and still thinking (a little) about what you guys want to read about. I keep thinking back to that one post about the knitter who didn’t want to blog anymore because she wasn’t writing for herself.

Instead, I thought I’d just skip to Friday. Usually it’s a Free-For-All Friday. I guess this one will be that way, but I wanted to cram in a few of the other things I like that start with F.

First off, let’s explore the Finished Object part of the title. Yes, you read that right! I did in fact finish something on my needles. Yes, it was the Giant Flower Cowl turned Shawl. 

I just made up the pattern as I went along. Simple garter stitch with a yarn-over at the beginning of each right side row. Sis being a good model.

She wasn’t too sure what was going on and it may be a little warm for this giant wooly shawl.

Here are some close-ups of the super fun flowers.

And the edging.

And a fun shot of the whole thing laid out.

It does make me feel good that I finished something, but I am still carrying 11 WIPs. I just realized earlier this week that my niece is on her way and will be here mid-August, so that baby blanket needs to get finished! I’ve been working exclusively on that for at least the last 5 days. I’ve transitioned into the 3rd color and I’m loving it! Here’s a sneak peek!!

Onto the Feline part of the post. My darling kitties will turn 5 this October! I can’t believe they’ve been keeping me company for so long. They are some great companions. As we prepare to move to St. Louis, it has me feeling reflective. I am amazed at how much my kitties make a house feel like a home. I just wanted to share a few pictures of my darlings because I just love them so much!

Here they are just exploring some newly uncovered floor. They get along so well.

So weird but they love to rub their faces on the corners of walls and cabinets.

Just a little Sis.

Except that she is super fat. She needs more exercise. Good thing our new place will have stairs and hopefully the two of them can run up and down to get fit!

Here’s Brother AKA Big Man.

Any time I sit down, he climbs into my lap.

They really are the best.

Have you finished anything lately? Do you have some wonderful companions like Sis and Brother?

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

The Blogs & The Frog(ged Projects)

You know that feeling when there is something you are supposed to do hidden in the back of your mind that you can’t quite grasp? Yep, that’s me trying to remember if I had posted or not in the last couple days…I was like, yes, I know there is something I’ve been wanting to do, but I just couldn’t quite grab hold of it. So here we are, and it’s Friday.

Never fear, just because I haven’t posted in a hot minute (that’s Memphis terms for a little while) doesn’t mean I haven’t had ideas brewing about what to post on this glorious FREE-FOR-ALL FRIDAY! Where shall I begin? I’ll start with the most interesting part of the title, the Frog 🙂

On my last WIP Wednesday post, that was actually an early Thursday morning post, I showed you guys my crazy flower cowl that I didn’t love.

Then I sat on the plane and frogged the whole thing, rewound it into 2 separate balls and thus ended up here:

During the second flight from Chicago to Denver (2.5 hours) I worked without halt on the little shawl thing, but I didn’t quite finish it. I made it to here:

I’m working on the decreases now. For some reason I couldn’t quite bring myself to pick it back up since I’ve been on the ground and the flight home had a different project in hand to work on. And since I’ve been back home, I’ve been combing through my WIP hoard again. I have kept going back to my darling Technicolor Toes socks.

Remember how I told you the Addi Lace points reeked like old brass? And every time I used them, my hands reeked too?? Well I tried to work on them. I really did. I even looked for some DPNs in my needle stash to use to finish them, but I think they are engaged otherwise with the bunny…So I frogged them. I pulled them off those stinky needles and rewound the single yarn cake into two balls by hand (Sorry Sherry).

I also may have picked up some tiny size 0, 9-inch circulars to cast these on again. The owner, Noel of Sophie’s Fine Yarn Shoppe here in Louisville said she does her socks this way and I love doing hats without having to worry about Magic Loop or DPNs or switching needles in any sort of way…I haven’t done this yet since I’m trying to exercise some self control and finish at least one thing on the needles before adding back to the WIP hoard again. Aaaah, such is life I suppose.

I’ve also been reading a ton of blogs lately…**CAUTION: the next pictures have almost nothing to do with the written words**

I recently read a blog post that I really enjoyed. The horrible part is that I can’t remember where I read it. I’ve been trying to read and keep up with so many blogs since I started blogging that it’s a little overwhelming. I enjoy reading everyone’s blogs, but I feel like there are just so many I can’t read them all or remember them all. Such is life.

Anyway, the post I read had to do with why the author blogged. She said originally she started out blogging for herself, talking about what she wanted to talk about. Somewhere along the way, it turned into a chore that she didn’t enjoy. She said she felt like she was posting for her audience and not for herself anymore.

Reading about this blogger’s experience made me a little sad. I realize how easy it is to slip into a routine and how easy it would be to start posting for someone other than yourself while blogging. It’s a fine line to determine what you want to write and share and what you think someone will want to read and find interesting. I find myself wrestling with this even as I post now.

This takes me back to why I wanted to start a blog in the first place. I wanted to connect with people over a craft I love. I think I’m doing that. Like I said, getting into blogging has led me to read some great blogs and to virtually meet some cool people.

Moving on…I HAD NO IDEA HOW HUGE THE FIBER ARTS BLOG WORLD REALLY IS!!!! I knew people were out there, blogging, knitting, crocheting, spinning, designing and what have you, but wow! I probably follow close to 50 blogs on my Bloglovin feed, and not all of these blogs update that often. However, if I go to my feed right now, I’ve got 36 unread posts to look through and I read some yesterday!! This world is huge! I love that I can read about so many different fiber artists all over the world.

I will say that reading all of these blogs has inspired me to take on new projects. This is dangerous since I am in the double digits (still) of Works in Progress (WIPs). It has also inspired me to get knitting on these projects since I want to post about them 🙂

I know this is a word-heavy post and I did try to keep you entertained with my darling Brother & Sissy & a few baby alpacas, but it’s on my brain.

v’s & bumps,

Jenna

Sweater-phobia?

It’s Free-For-All Friday and I’m tackling a thought I’ve been having for a while. Sweaters. Why haven’t I started one? Personally, I find the thought of 10 balls of yarn and a large thing that is supposed to fit me to be quite intimidating. The sheer amount of one type of yarn a sweater would require is so much more than what I would even think about buying! Usually, I buy 2 or 3 skeins of something for a reasonable sized project, hence my stash of random 1-3 skeins as seen here. The one exception to the large-quantity-of-yarn-purchase rule that I seem to operate under is baby blankets. My most recent baby blanket yarn purchase was 11 skeins of Tahki Cotton Classic to make Pickles Midsummer Baby Blanket. Onto that topic another day.

Back to the sweater question. I have bought enough yarn for a raglan pullover in Berroco’s Linsey called Turia. When I worked at McNeedles for a summer, that shop sample stared at me for 3 months. I vowed I’d make the thing, but couldn’t quite bite the bullet to spend the $100 on the yarn. I kept saying in my brain, “I could buy a sweater, already made, for that! I could buy 2 sweaters for that! Why would I MAKE this??” I did buy the pattern booklet before I left that job.  Then McNeedles ran a sale back in January when I was visiting my parents and Linsey just so happened to be in the bins. I did buy enough to make the sweater. Now i just need to work up the courage to cast on…I think a good starting place would be to wind alllllll the yarn. That is always something I enjoy and find very calming.

This is what I’m thinking…*So much yarn. could be so nice to knit. and so much yarn.*

Last November, I dragged my husband on a FUN. trip to Chicago for a Vogue Knitting Live show. What an adventure! It was a whirlwind; 1 day, 12+hours on the Megabus round trip, 2 hours strolling through the Market, 2 hours in a cables class with Amy Detjen…I wish I could have spent more time there, but that would have required much more money to spend on all the beautiful yarn. Believe me, I did do some damage.

One of the booths, the Neighborhood Fiber Company had all the ladies wearing Monomania sweaters. So darling on everyone, just visit the rav link and see for yourself!! Even the designer, Ann Weaver of Weaverknits was there and wearing hers! AND they had yarn ALREADY kitted up for a reasonable price. Plus each of the ladies I spoke to about it said the pattern was not hard. Even if it was going to be my first sweater. I don’t know if lack of sleep, the overwhelming amount of yarn surrounding me, or just sheer insanity hit, but I bought a kit. In the most fun reds and oranges. I thought the yarn could speak to me and make me cast the thing on. I downloaded the pattern and was immediately intimidated. So I’m stuck there too.

Once again, in my brain…*But its sooooo pretty. and its fingering. and its pretty. and soft.*

I think I will vow to cast one of these on…as soon as I finish: Jabes’ Flurfy Scarf, Leigh’s GREEN scarf, and Michelle’s Summer Cowl. Maybe I can work the baby blanket and the sweater at the same time?

Here is the question I pose to you, which should I start with? Turia or Monomania??

v’s & bumps

Jenna

PS. Another question, what was your first sweater project? Was it successful? Frustrating? Amazing?