2021 Knitting Report

 

Knitting.  So much yarn, so little time.  

I have a significant S.A.B.L.E...Stash Available Beyond Life Expectancy.  It's a real struggle to divide my time between my hobbies: Reading, Knitting, Beading, Painting.  Then there are the mundane chores like cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes. Sigh.  I'm not a compulsive 'starter'.  I only have one major project and one TV/Social Knitting project (wash cloth, garter stitch blanket/scarf etc.) on the needles at any given time.  A great deal of my SABLE was purchased with no project in mind at all.  But sometimes I buy for a specific purpose.

I took a Fiber Road Trip in April 2019 to attend a spinning class given by Kate Larson at The Fiber Event at the Putnam County Fairgrounds, Greencastle, IN.  Kate was so informative and patient with the small class.  We weren't overwhelmed with statistics or extraneous details.  I learned a lot.  

While I was there I saw a sample of the Downhome shawl by Alicia Plummer (Ravelry link) in this awesome Hue Loco Phyllis Sock yarn from Backyard Chicken Collection in Golden Laced Wyandotte colorway.  I had to knit it!   

I love the pattern.  Love the yarn.  Love the colors.  I get many compliments on it when I wear it.

I consider myself a process knitter.  I enjoy the process of creating something, anything. Probably why I have such diverse interest when it comes to crafting. Many of the things I knit I never wear and often give them to someone who admires them.  I just enjoy 'making'.  And with the above fore mentioned SABLE of yarns without projects, I must find patterns within certain yarn limitations.  For example.  I had 600 yards of this lovely Cascade 220 Superwash Wave in Roses colorway.  600 yards might sound like a lot but it's not enough to make say a sweater (not in MY size anyway).  But it is enough to make the Pine Forest Baby Blanket by Ingrid Aartun Bøe (Ravelry link). 

It was enough to make an almost 30" square blanket.  I don't think I have ever made a baby blanket with anything but acrylic.  I mean really.  The kid is just going to puke on it or pee on it as soon as you wrap him/her up in it.  And what new mom has time or space for hand wash, lay flat to dry!?  But Superwash wool is machine wash & dryable.  How awesome is that!?  I was happy to make this pretty blanket for a very lovely young lady for her first child/daughter.  

While I was on the baby blanket stash busting kick, I knit up a free pattern called Alex's Baby Blanket by Angie Jaszek using 500 yards of another Superwash called Dream in Color Classy in Crying Dove colorway.   

The free bootie pattern by Ines M. can be found on Ravelry.

Yet another baby blanket used Cascade Anchor Bay Superwash stash yarn I had left over from blanket I completed in 2013. 

Tweed Baby Blanket by Jared Flood is a corner to corner garter stitch square blanket edged in a feather & fan border.  It is a very easy knit except for the bazillion stitches you have to pick up to add the border.  I used an i-cord bind-off for a very nice finished edge. 

Forever in Blue Jeans by MonsterKnits Cally Monster 

Here's a shawl that looks difficult but is so easy.  "Fun repeats of 4 stitches or less and not one purl stitch create this quick and easy crescent shawl. Mosaic knitting is an easy colorwork technique that uses slipped stitches and only one color at a time."  

The camera/computer colors aren't accurate. The lighter color is more mint green called Iguana.  The darker is navy blue.  The yarn is Emma's Yarn Super Silky, fingering weight 80/20 Merino/Silk.  It a Superwash that they recommend drying flat.  The yarn has gorgeous drape and is so soft!   I used an Icelandic bind-off which gives it a very neat edge.   I'm keeping this on :D

Another stash buster project were two stranded color-work hats.   I was gifted 3 skeins of 100%  Icelandic yarn Ístex Álafosslopi from some friends who had visited Iceland!  These skeins of bulky weight yarn in green, amber & wheat were 109 yards each.  Icelandic wool is tough and water resistant.  The outer hairs can be scratchy at first but the inner ones are fine and soft. 

I drew from 2 patterns; Sunset Hat and Frosted Alpine using a tubular cast-on in the round.  I LIKE this cast-on!!  The main Sunset Hat pattern calls for 4 colors that my brain couldn't condense into 3 colors, so I used the color chart from Frosted Alpine Hat for my three.  I have never done stranded color work before.  For me it requires a spouse free house with no distractions, LOL!  I am very pleased with how they turned out and it wasn't nearly as difficult as I made it up to be in my head.

It's not a lot of knitting for an entire year but like I said at the start...dividing my time between my other hobbies Reading, Beading, Painting and the mundane chores like cooking, cleaning, laundry, dishes, there just isn't enough time for everything.  Sigh.