Vermilion Socks and HOTH!

After I finished knitting my first pair of socks, I realized why sock knitting is so perfect me.  Because I have such tiny feet; size 3 boys (size 4/5 womens at a stretch), I can finish a pair much quicker than if I had average size or larger feet!  So I quickly advanced upon my 2nd pair of socks in a monochrome Vermilion shade of Malabrigo 100% merino super wash yarn and finished them in less than 2 weeks.  Xena's middle name is "Vermilion", the color shade of one of the stamps that my husband collects and it's a favorite color among all members of this household.

These socks are so soft and warm and the perfect thickness for this time of year!

Today I am starting a new pair of socks in a different pattern that's mostly stockinette with sock yarn on 0's.  Wish me luck!  The yarn is variegated and I can't wait to see the results.

When I wasn't cooking or doing X-Massy stuff, I spent the bulk of X-Mas day crocheting a bikini top for my friend, Annie, back in Richmond, VA.  She requested something vintage and stringy looking so here's my interpretation based on hours of etsy image trolling and no particular pattern.  It's a size 34C, a size my tits literally haven't been for about 2 decades.  Thanks gravity!  So unfortunately (or thankfully) I couldn't model it myself but hopefully Annie will send me a (sexy) pic of her wearing it soon cause she's a total babe!

I crocheted it with a size 2 (2.25mm) hook and mercerized cotton.  

I have to admit, it was quite a bit of work for such a dainty little thing, especially hand stitching the cups to the bottom strap but by the looks of that gorgeous seamless edge, it was worth it!

My next HOTH were crochet scarves for the 2 sisters at my salon who regularly give me the best mani's, pedi's and massages ever.  One of them also cuts my hair twice a year.  I tweaked a pattern for Caron Cakes that I bought on etsy that I'm not going to mention because I don't really like the way it was written.

Self-striping yarn is convenient but ultimately I prefer picking and arranging my own color striping patterns.

 I may further tweak this pattern to crochet a wider infinity cowl with thicker color blocks.

My final completed X-Mas project was for Arianna, the newborn daughter of Mya, the owner of Dinamo, my favorite Italian restaurant in Richmond, VA.  She has filled my tummy with so many finely flavored memories over the years, I couldn't wait to really thank her.

I crocheted the 3-6 month size of the free Mon Petit Violon Craftsy cardigan that I've already crocheted countless times over the past year.

I used Knitpicks DK swish 100% superwash merino.

Looking back it's hard to imagine that Xena was ever this tiny!

This yarn has great dimension on a variety of stitches.

My seamless sweater knitting class starts in about 2 weeks.  I already knitted, washed and blocked my swatch.  I made the gage and I can't wait to start!

My first socks and more!

As I mentioned a few posts back, I've started taking knitting classes.  The classes are great!  I love my instructor and the other students are so fun and inspirational.  Last night I completed my first pair of socks.  They took 2 weeks from start to finish and now that I have the hang of them, I imagine I'll be able to knit them a lot quicker in the future.  Before I ever tried socks, because of the pretentious way other knitters had described them in the condescending way they tend to communicate with crocheters, I always imagined that they would be extremely difficult and/or time consuming to learn.  With regards to this pattern, I never could've been more mistaken!  The pattern was very simple and straight forward; the vast majority of the work is quite thoughtless and repetitive and a delightful addition to bing watching TV.

In the spirit of X-Mas, I couldn't resist doing red and green socks.  

 They are so warm and cozy and they fit me perfectly!

Here's a rolly-brimmed hat I just finished knitting in the stockinette stitch with some fun color pooling yarn for my penpal in Italy.

I used Lion Brand Wool-Ease in Coney Island.

I love the spiral star finishing at the top of the hat!

This yarn is super bulky. I used 10.5 circulars and double pointed needles.

Even the interior looks beautiful!

 These ribbed hats are the first hats I learned to knit in the round.  I used 10.5 circular and double pointed needles with bulky Knitpicks acrylic I had leftover from making Xena's Halloween costume.

Below are my dear friends in Connecticut, Milly and Ian, modelling their hats.  There is nothing more satisfying than learning a new skill to make useful gifts for friends!

The creamy colored hat on the bottom right is the very first hat I made.  I used Baby Alpaca Grand and even though it's luxuriously soft and ridiculously expensive, it's a total pain in the ass to knit with and I doubt I'll ever use it again.

 Finally, here's Eelco's little baby modelling his hat on the means streets of Amsterdam, Holland. I crocheted it back in March and he finally just grew into it. Last but not least is one of my current crochet WIPs that I am hoping to finish by the end of the week and then I'll post some photos.

 In addition to any number of WIPs and random holiday projects, I just picked up the yarn for my seamless sweater knitting class starting in January.  My homework between now and then is knitting and blocking a swatch to test my gauge.  I'm quite curious to find out if can make the gauge.  Stay tuned!

WIP City

As soon as the ends are woven in on one project, the hooks and needles instantly begin to fly on the next. As per usual, I have no shortage of perpetual WIPs going.  For starters, I enjoyed the Flatiron Shawl I finished last month so much that I already started another with some Houndstooth yarn I recently purchased at Lambtown up in Dixon.  The colorways I picked for this fade are so autumnal, my fingers are plunging into pumpkin spice with every stitch.

Next I've been garter-stitching away to make a very conspicuously colored supply bag with some totally outrageous HHF yarn I bought ages ago (and then completely forgot about).

Since I'm talking about knitting, (as I mentioned last month) my 3rd knitting class is tonight.  For the first 2 weeks we worked on a sampler with Lamb's Pride.  The photo above features the sampler I made over 3 years ago and the sampler I just finished (and still need to bind off) last week.  Tonight I'll start my hat with the ball of Baby Alpaca Grand in the corner.  The yarn is SO soft and gentle, I can't wait to feel and wear the finished project!

Truly last but not least, I came up with the brilliant idea, utterly at the last minute to crochet scarves for the 2 sisters at my salon for X-Mas gifts.  So now it's a race against time to get them finished sooner than later.  I downloaded a great shifted stitch yarn cake pattern from Yarnybird on Etsy.  Tomorrow night we're flying to Chicago for a stamp show and I plan to be busting out my hook at any given opportunity during our travels.  So here's to hoping I'll have plenty of HOTHs to proudly display in the very near future!

Stitches SoCal 2018

A couple of weekends ago, Kristine and I went on our first roadtrip together, down to Stitches SoCal in Pasadena.

We had such a wonderful time together, surrounded by 100s of fellow fiber artists!

We took a great class on improving our Continental knitting style.  We learned some incredibly helpful tips.  My speed and tension consistency immediately improved (literally during the class, simply by making a few simple adjustments) and most of all, I've discovered that this is truly the least arduous and most ergonomically pleasing style of knitting.

Both of us went pretty crazy in the marketplace.  I bought some beautiful yarns but my finest purchase of the trip was finally investing in my own yarn swift and ball winder.  Knitpicks had them on sale and I simply couldn't resist.  The double bonus is that Xena is completely mesmerized by the yarn spinning around the swift and she now immediately crawls under the table and peacefully sprawls beneath it while I wind the yarn.

The 2nd class was a wild and wacky introduction to Crochet cables, taught by the CLF's very own Shibaguyz.  It was super fun and informative and like a grand finale to our weekend, they raffled off free yarn and supplies and we both went home with more freebies than we even knew what to do with.

This photo easily captures the way I felt all weekend long.  We're already anxiously anticipating Stitches West in Santa Clara in February 2019!

TL Yarn Crafts Flatiron Shawl

In between no shortage of other projects, it took me about 2 1/2 months to complete the TL Yarn Crafts Flatiron Shawl.

It's an easy to follow pattern and the perfect on the go project for public transportation or social crocheting.

Best of all, it's a great excuse to buy 3 different shades of hand-dyed fingering yarn to create a breathtaking fade.

My shawl fits perfectly and because I used Wooly Wonka Aerten Sock yarn, it's softer than pussy willow kisses and lighter than air.  Aerten is 80% SW Merino, 10% cashmere and 10% nylon.

These photos simply do not do the shawl justice.

 I enjoyed making this shawl so much.  I already have the yarn ready to start another one!