Honey Cowl Finished

Honey Cowl is finished. I used the two skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino that my Future Sister In Law gave me for Christmas. The two colorways played well together I think. I alternated them every two rows. I actually used a bit more of the lighter blue but for some reason have more of it left. That's a little odd as the skeins should've been the same yardage.

Either way, the cowl is oh so soft and I own shirts in pretty much every color that shows up in it so I can wear it with just about anything. Hopefully this warm spell will pass over soon so I can actually wear it. It took a little longer to make than I wanted, mostly because I assumed row 4 was the exact same as row 2 and it's not so I had to start over when I was already about 3-4" in.



I believe the socks are next up on my list. The cowl was a very simple knit and I need something to work my brain a bit before casting on for an all knit hat or really long ribbed scarf.

Oh! And I finished it in January! I started it and finished it in the same month! Score one point for averaging one finished project per month! 

New knit picks loot

I got some loot from knit picks. This is my little birthday splurge for myself.




I got the 6" DPNs. I like the harmonies but my 4" DPNS are just too short, especially when it comes to turning heels. I also got a smaller needle sized circ to try the magic circle for a pair of socks in my Brave New Knits book.

As for the yarn you see there are 3 balls of Chroma, Regency, Midwinter and Mix Tape. I plan on knitting a Noro Striped Scarf with that yarn. It's SO soft and luscious. I can't wait to knit with it.The colors are really lovely. The smaller balls of yarn are knit picks shine worsted for Kevin's Christopher hat in New England Patriots' colors.

I'm still working on my honey cowl. About 2/3 of the way through it.  It's looking really great, I can't wait to share pictures once it's all finished up. Now I just have to figure out which project to start next. The socks, hat or scarf? So many choices!

Jane hat

Picture of Jane from my phone new test

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testing

Trying to post from my new phone

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Nutkins Finished!

 

My nutkins are finished! I redid the toe on the first sock and it came out great. There was a wee nubbin on the heel of the second sock but blocking took care of that. They're a little big, but significantly easier to get on than my Spring Forward socks.




The Cherry Tree Hill yarn was great to knit with. Very similar to Dream In Color Smooshy. The red is a fun color and I've already worn them a few times. I can't get enough of them.

I also went ahead and finished my Jane hat. It was snug when I cast off, but blocking has loosened it up quite a bit. Malabrigo grows like a mofo when it's wet. No photos of that yet but they'll be coming soon. I cast on for a honey cowl this morning and it's going pretty quickly. I'm alternating the two colors every two rows and I think it's turning out ok so far. I also ordered the yarn for Kevin's Christopher hat so I should have that in the new few days and should be able to get started on it once I'm done with the honey cowl.

Good news and bad news.

Good news. I finished Nutkin 2! I got better at the short row on the toe and it looks good. It's a little big on my foot but whatever, I can live with that.

The bad news is, the toe on this sock highlights exactly how bad the toe is on the first Nutkin. This one is nice and round and very toe like. The first Nutkin toe came out really boxy and square. So, I have to rip the toe out and redo it. I'm not going to rip all the way back to the heel. The heel just doesn't bother me that much but the toe most definitely needs to be fixed. I've actually already ripped out the toe, that was fairly painless and I think I can redo the new toe and finish it by tomorrow so that's more good news. By this time tomorrow I will have a new pair of socks to wear!

Nutkin Round 2

So I did decide to go with finishing a pair of socks (can you believe I've only finished one pair after knitting all of these socks?). I'm making good progress on Nutkin 2.



I'm about halfway down the foot and I made it through the short row heel thanks to this tutorial that someone directed me to last time I whined about my Nutkin. The pictures and detailed instructions were great. I can't say that I'm a fan of this heel though. It's just so fiddly and even though I did it right I still think it's messy looking.



Messy messy! It won't be as gappy as the original sock, so that's nice but I'm not crazy about how it looks. I think the heel flap is much neater. Oh well, at least I'm getting another pair of socks under my belt. That is, unless I decide to rip up the first one and do it all over again the right way.


In other yarny related news, I got two luscious skeins of Malabrigo Silky Merino for Christmas. One in the Marruecos colorway and the other in Bobby Blue. What should I knit with them? Perhaps I'll consult my other Christmas gift Brave New Knits to see if it has any ideas. Whatever it is, it will need to be small, I've only got 300 yards to work with...

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Y'all! I'm sure most of you are being good little knitters and already working on your first projects for the new year. I'm not. I'm sort of moseying along with a Jane hat I started for myself over Christmas but I'm not fond of how it's fitting right now. It's kind of tight and I'm struggling with the realization it needs to be ripped and done again. The brim took AGES to knit and I just don't want to do it again so I'm sort of ignoring it.

Other than that I'm currently waffling on what I want to do next. Before Christmas I had this crazy urge to do a Honey Cowl but I don't have the right yarn for that. I'm also pondering casting on my Citron again but then there are those socks that are languishing in some random project bag with no partners. And of course the house needs a good cleaning since I slacked off on that totally over the holidays and there are Christmas presents that still need to be put away and I need to drag my happy ass back to the gym again after taking the holidays off. While that didn't cause me to gain that fabled Holiday weight, I don't want my slack ass ways to come back and bite me in the ass. So all of that naturally eats into knitting time.

That brings me back to my original dilemma...what to knit? I'm uninspired by the Jane right now. The pattern is nice and the yarn is lovely but I think I burnt myself out on hats over Christmas. Same with mittens. That leaves socks and shawls/scarves. I'm kind of poor so clearly I should knit with yarn I have in my stash. None of that seems suitable for a Honey Cowl so that rules that out for now. There are those socks that need partners. Maybe I'll actually finish up my Nutkins and really learn how to do the short roe heel/toe. But then there's the Citron...You know what...f it. I'll start the sock. What's the point of having one sock laying around? You can't wear it by itself! That's just silly.


In other news, here are a few of my knitting related resolutions.
1.) Average at least 1 FO per month.
2.) Teach myself a new technique with each FO. Whether that be a new stitch, way to hold my needs, finishing, blocking or method (2 at a time circs for example). Just something that will improve my skill.
3.) Do some sort of big project. A shawl or a sweater or blanket. Something nice and big.
4.) Knit Christmas stockings for me and Kevin for our first Christmas as a married couple.
5.) Finish my friend's Chthulu that I've neglected since last Christmas. I'm a bad, bad friend.

We'll see how far along I get with these goals. The biggest problem I forsee is just avoiding that knitting rut I got into last year. Especially since I do have a wedding to plan this year (which I am still fastidiously procrastinating on). I have a feeling that might throw a kink into my plans somewhere around August-September.