No Socks!

What is a girl to do when her hand knit sock drawer is empty?? And it’s 25 degrees Fahrenheit? And her toes are cold?

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Well, she has to wash her socks! I only have 4 pairs, and 3 pairs are every day pairs…one is  a pair of house socks.

In a 2 bedroom, one bathroom flat, sometimes the sink is not the best place for these things…so I use a mixing bowl. I fill it with some Eucalan and warm water.

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I throw in the pair of socks, one by one…first up are my Squishy Socks out of some Regia 6 ply followed by my Technicolor Socks in Pagewood Farms Denali Sock.

And my ???? socks I can’t find that I made a project page on Rav…I don’t even know what the yarn is…they were the first real pair of socks I made after my House Socks made from Jarbo Yarns Raggi.

Next up I just need to roll them out and lay flat to dry…only 24 hours between me and toasty toes!!

How do you block/wash your knits?


Jenna

Freshly Finished Friday #14

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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.

Again, no new finishes. However, I have been wearing 3 of my favorite knits:

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My Squishy Socks, My Settler Shawl & My Rikke Hat. Not all at the same time, but over the last couple days. In fact, I wore my Settler Shawl to my interview yesterday 🙂 Hopefully it brings me luck.

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 🙂

 

Jenna

 

Dropping the Ball

I have definitely dropped the proverbial ball on Friday’s link up 😦 Let me stop and say Happy Easter!

Back to what I was saying…Thursday afternoon & evening was simply glorious. I spent some really wonderful quality time with my husband. We ran an errand or two and ended up at Four Hands Brewery in downtown St. Louis. We sampled some really delightful brews and had some wonderful conversation. I’d been missing it. We ended up meeting up with a friend for dinner and by the time we got home, just fell into bed. We slept in a bit on Friday, went to Good Friday Mass, had dinner, spent some quality time together again and with some family before I realized it was Friday and I’d missed the boat here.

Here’s to getting back on the wagon for next week. I am disappointed that it happened but there are worse things. I am hoping you guys were able to find some other wonderful Friday posts out there and check out everyone’s finishes.

I’ve been catching up some posts and came across one that I’d like to take part in.

G r a t i t u d e * S u n d a y

{Sunday’s heartfelt tradition. A time to slow down, to reflect, to be grateful. A list of gratitudes.}

This comes from the Wooly Moss Roots blog where Taryn takes the time to reflect each Sunday. Those are her words above and if you click on her blog title, it will take you to her page and the link up she has 🙂

Today I’m grateful for:

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…seeing these darlings on a walk today, bluebells maybe?

…being married to a wonderful man.

…living in the same city as family.

…catching up with my mom 🙂

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…finding these two getting along so well.

…playing in the kitchen to make something tasty.

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…knitting on my Curl, Cerise out of some lovely Zen Yarn Garden in a one of a kind Jewel colorway.

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…being able to wear my hand knit Squishy Socks with my fun mary janes to church today.

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…appreciating how fingerless mitts keep my fingers just the right temperature while still allowing me to enjoy my mango manicure 🙂

…folding clean laundry.

…enjoying the Cards vs Cubs opening day game!!

…breathing.

You can click the link here to see what others are grateful for this glorious day.

Jenna

Freshly Finished Friday #4

Freshly Finished

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.

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Everything but weaving in the ends!!! Yahoo! 4 weeks in a row…this time with the Squishy Socks!! On the feet!! This has given me great inspiration crack open Lara Neel’s Sock Architecture and get knittin!

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 🙂

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Running Behind

WIP Wednesday

Technically, I’m not really behind on anything except maybe housework and reading my blog roll. It’s funny how just taking a few weekend trips really racks up the backlog on those two things!

But I have made some progress on my Squishy Socks.

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They are coming right along. I’m knitting just the basic sock pattern from a Paton’s book using some Regia Adventure 6-ply on US size 2 needles. I have had a few little snags…like when I started my toe decreases too soon because I really want to wear them!! Just a little ripping back and I’m back to knitting the foot a little longer.

And my first Curl from Hunter Hammersen’s new book.

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It’s Caesious. I’m using Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport. It’s 100% Merino in the Montrose colorway. I picked it up back in December when I was visiting Louisiana for my brother’s graduation. I love the colors, a grayish blue, almost cornflower blue, a light brown and a springy yellow. I love how it is growing so quickly and I don’t have to count! Yahoo!! And it means I’m Loving my Library 🙂

Last project getting some love is this Manly Scarf for my friend Sam.

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A moment of confession: You haven’t seen this yet, mostly because I’m a little embarrassed I bought yarn for this after the new year. Let me justify. After our fist trip to Memphis for my birthday, my husband’s friend Sam admired my husband’s Cozy Warm Man scarf I finished for him back in October. He was saying just how much he would love to have one so I had to make him one. I’m using some Berroco Ultra Alpaca Fine in a dark brown held with some Claudia Hand Painted Yarns Addiction in the River Bank Grass green colorway on US size 7. And technically I didn’t buy the yarn, my husband did 🙂

Linking up with some great people:
Emily for Love Your Library
Tammy for her Stitch Along Wednesday
Ginny for Yarn Along
Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On
iknead2knit’s Whatcha Workin’ On Wednesday

See you again soon!!

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v’s & bumps,

Jenna

Crazy Sock Knitting

WIP Wednesday

Since it’s Wednesday, I thought I’d share one of the things I’ve been diligently stitching on every day, my Squishy Socks. I’m using the Schachenmayr Regia Adventure Color 6 ply on some US 2 (3.00mm) Addi Sock Rockets. I’m working off of the Paton’s Basic Sock pattern from a booklet I bought a few years ago (loving my library). If you think back to maybe a few posts ago, they looked like this:

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They may have even looked a little longer. I posted some of their progress over on Instagram (@hardknitlife) and I really love how they are coming along and I love that I was working them two-at-a-time style.

Confession: While I have worked 4 of my 6 completed socks two-at-a-time, I have never done so ON THE SAME NEEDLES! Previously I have used either two sets of double-pointed needles or two sets of two circular needles.

Well this time, I braved sticking them on the same two circulars and everything was buzzing along just fine. I knit the leg. I knit the heel flap.

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I “turned” the heel. I even picked up my gusset stitches. Here is where the tricky part began. I fiddled a bit with the craziness of all those stitches on the two circulars, but I just couldn’t figure out how I was going to actually KNIT! So I wandered over to my bag-o-needles and pulled out some double points. Luck must have really been on my side because I found two sets!!

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Doing what any sensible knitter would do, I used them both and transferred each sock to it’s new needle home. I started knitting on the left one (using bamboo needles) and thought that they felt a little smaller than my Sock Rockets. I picked up the right sock (using metal needles) and thought the same thing. So I pulled out the packaging of all three and noticed while each set of needle is labeled as a US 2, the Sock Rockets are 3.00mm while both sets of my DPNs are 2.75mm.

Oh well. I guess that will make for a nice firm fabric in the heel!

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You may find yourself wondering where all those other planned WIPs are. Don’t worry, they are still floating around in their little bags, just waiting to be worked on. I have just been feeling the sock mojo lately and I was amused by my adventures using double points. Aren’t they just lovely?

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A contributing factor to wanting to work on socks? Knitting Sarah just finished up her year long KAL last week called Socks with Sarah. I didn’t come across the knit-along until maybe November, but I really love that it’s main goal is to promote daily sock knitting. How many socks could you knit in a year if you did a little each day? Even though the KAL is over, Sarah is still keeping the group open on her Ravelry group. I know I set forth some goals a few weeks ago and I’d like to add daily sock stitching to it. Maybe this is just the kick start I need to get my sock drawer into shape!

Linking up with some great people:
Emily for Love Your Library
Tammy for her Stitch Along Wednesday
Ginny for Yarn Along
Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On
iknead2knit’s Whatcha Workin’ On Wednesday

Until Friday 🙂

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v’s & bumps,

Jenna

Terribly Troublesome Tuesday

My day began pretty early for a day off. Our sectional we ordered the weekend after Thanksgiving was delivered this morning at 7:00AM. I got the call yesterday that they would be here between 7-10AM, and I figured we probably see them somewhere around 10 or 11. WRONG!! At 6:40 I got a call from the delivery guys saying they were 20 minutes away. My husband and I sprung into the action, moving our futon to another room so we would have space. I even vacuumed 🙂

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It looks fantastic!! Except…

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They couldn’t get the end-piece which is a chaise (sp?) up the stairs and around the corner 😦 So we are going to have to pay a “re-stocking” fee but they will at least exchange it for a different piece that will fit. Hopefully it doesn’t take as long to get that one in, but who knows since we wanted a custom fabric that would hold up to the cats.

On a happier note, I did celebrate my birthday on Sunday, January 11. I had a wonderful time in Memphis, spending it with my husband and some friends. And what’s a birthday without a little funfetti cake?

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I also wanted to give you guys a little update on the charity hats I knit. They needed buttons for the band. I found these cute little yellow flowers at Michael’s and sewed them on during the drive to Memphis.

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Last thought for today is about the Love Your Library challenge going on with Emily at Snapdragon Crafts. I’ve been gearing up to tackle Curls by Hunter Hammersen for this challenge. I was trying to wait until the 15th when the start of her KAL in the Violently Domestic group, then I checked in over there yesterday and it’s already started!! Ah well. Plus they are also doing an informal KAL in the Prairie Girls Knit & Spin group too! I wound the yarn, I’ve got the needles (I think) picked out and I just need to start!!

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Then, I was looking around on boards and going with the theme of a KAL and using my library, I found the First Quarter KAL over in the Laura Nelkin group. I was really excited about Laura’s designs after I took her class at Vogue Knitting Live in Chicago this year. I bought her book, Knockout Knits and she signed it 🙂 So I’ll be starting the Prolix Mitts in some lovely Noro Silk Garden Lite I found in  my stash.

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Last but certainly not least going with the theme, once again 🙂 is to fit my Squishy Socks in with a heel from Lara Neel’s Sock Architecture. My husband got me this book for Christmas and every time I pick it up just to browse, I’m intrigued and inspired by all the great info Lara has in the book. I’m not sure which heel I will use yet, but I’m almost to that point so I guess I need to decide!! Plus this can count towards Operation Sock Drawer hosted by the Knitmore Girls & inspired by Susan B. Anderson’s sock drawer picture.

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Anyway, all in all, not a bad Tuesday, just one with some fun challenges at an early hour. The best part? There is plenty of room on this couch for me, the kitties and the knitting 🙂

If you’d like to learn more about the Love Your Library challenge, (<– click the link) head over to Snapdragon Crafts and read about what Emily has been up to 🙂

Until next time,

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v’s & bumps,

Jenna

The WIPs that Won’t Quit

WIP Wednesday

I know I’ve posted some about trying to clear up the needles so I can start new things for the new year and NEWS FLASH!
I’m still working on some of those things.

Like this Flurfy Scarf.

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I feel like if I can keep giving it a few rows here and there I can save myself some insanity and get it finished. I love the fabric this is creating and I know that blocking it when it’s done will be simply fantastic. But I’m not so sure of the project fitting the original recipient.

Then there are these Squishy Socks I’ve been working on since right before Christmas.

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I’m loving them and I carry them around to stitch a row or two. Oh Regia! 🙂

Last but not least, I did start the Very PDX Hat by Liz Abinante for my husband.

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I’m calling it his Extra Warm Ears Hat. It’s like 8 degrees Fahrenheit here today and I was blocking his other warm hat so I felt like I should work on giving him something just a cozy. I like this pattern because it’s worked with a double thick brim. I’m using some of the Empty Pockets Alpaca yarn from my stash that I picked up with him at the Kentucky Sheep & Fiber Festival last May and some leftover Alpaca yarn from my Equilibrium cowl out of Juniper Moon Farms Herriot.

That’s all I’m really giving my knitting attention to for now. Linking with Tammy for her Stitch Along Wednesday & Ginny for Yarn Along & Nicole for Keep Calm Craft On & (**edit to add an additional link-up) iknead2knit’s Whatcha Workin’ On Wednesday.

See you guys Friday for a Freshly Finished link up party!!

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v’s & bumps,

Jenna

Wrapping It Up

Or at least I’ve really been trying to!! Jeez! I’ve been on a crazy bender trying to wrap up as many projects on my needles as possible and I finally caught up reading my backlogged blogroll. I didn’t realize how much I missed while entertaining family. No worries, I’m all caught up and so excited to read all the wonderful posts people have been writing.

I’ve read lots of posts where people are like me, feeling the urge to finish up their projects in preparation of the new year and new projects. I’ve made a good effort, and I’ve waited a few days since the first to really sink my teeth into those new projects.

I thought as a good way to stay accountable and fight the urge to cast everything on I could share a few more of the things I’m trying to finish or frog…

I’ve got 2 pairs of socks going. One I’ve been knitting on for a few days (Squishy Socks) and one I’ve put into hibernation until I can weigh the yarns (Technicolor Socks).

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I’ve also got 3 scarves/wraps going. The first is a lace pattern (Jabes’ Flurfy Scarf) in some Silky Alpaca Lace. The second is a diagonal sparsely striped one (Skinty Stripe Scarf) also in Silky Alpaca Lace. Last is the Never Ending First Project with some Artful Yarns Vineyard.

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There is also the Catkin Shawl I started in some tasty MadTosh Light during a KAL at Knitorious. I love this thing and I am excited to have it finished (eventually) but the rows are getting longer and it takes a good deal of attention. Translation: Not suitable for TV watching or conversation knitting and is thus limited in the time I choose to work on it.

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Last project on the needles is that crazy Copper Twist Vest I started so I would have another garment to wear to Vogue Knitting Live back in October. I’m using Inca Gold by Berroco. I started this in a frenzy and it went pretty quickly. I was having some reservations when I picked up the fronts/neck and it looked small. On a great suggestion by a reader, I put the thing on waste yarn and tried it on. Just as I suspected, it’s smaller than I would have liked. I think it could grow a little with blocking but I did not knit a swatch and wash it to find out. Bad knitter. So I’m considering frogging it.

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Or I could finish it and gift it. This is something I think is right up my mother-in-law’s alley style-wise and I think she would like it. I don’t know.

Hopefully I can wrap up some of these by this next week and then I’ll share all the things I want to start 🙂

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v’s & bumps,

Jenna