Stitches West 2020 and a mega FO update!

My presence at Stitches West 2020 has now officially come and gone.  I attended the marketplace preview on Thursday night.  Then I spent Friday night at the Hyatt knitting in the lobby with my super groovy new crochet buddy, Julia, from Fremont.  Finally, today, Kristine and I returned to have one final stroll through of the marketplace.  The overall vibe of the show seemed mellower to me this year than it has been in previous years.  In the past I've had to park in the overflow lot and I didn't have any trouble finding parking this year.  As usual, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and I very much look forward to attending my next Stitches event.

(From the fashion show) I was really impressed with the crafts(wo)manship of this Shashiko wrap and although not personally my style, I also loved these quilted garments.

 Also, not particularly my style, but I liked the variety of geometric shapes and colors on the cardigan on the left and I just purchased the Valley Yarns/Yuzu cardigan kit on the right from Webs.  I couldn't really find any real close up photos of the finished garment online so it was extremely helpful to check it out IRL and see how it's all assembled, since I've never knit a cardigan from the bottom up and this will also be my first attempt at any twisted stitch/cabling and many other techniques new to me.

I loved these traditional Fair Isle sweaters.  It is my ultimate dream to one day embark upon knitting something like them.

(In addition to 3 different pairs of needles) this is what I picked up at the show.  The stitch markers were my reward prize from the lovely Kira K for wearing my completed Verge Shawl to the show.  The Charcoal Blue Seismic sock mini was a fun purchase from Firebird Yarns.  For $7, you could purchase a mystery sock mini with a coupon inside.  My coupon was for a free item from the "Lucky Dip" bin so I picked the fingering 100% SWM Chestnut hank from Lady Dye yarn and I purchased the 75% SWM/25% nylon Alektorophobia simple sock hank from Machete Shoppe.

All of The Farmers Daughter Pishkun DK yarn was purchased to knit my first stranded colorwork sweater, Stagecoach, designed by Caitlin Hunter of Boyland Knitworks.  The women at this booth were so kind, helpful and inspirational!

 Much to my relief, I also managed to finished all of my UFOs in time to wear them to the show.

I purchased this utterly amazing handspun yarn from Serotonin Fibers last month and quickly knit up these socks in my favorite Atelier Sock pattern.

My feet were walking in the clouds all day.

 This is really some of the most beautiful yarn I have ever used.

Much to my amazement, I was able to knit this Flax Pullover in under 2 weeks!

 Blocking it and waiting for it dry took almost as much time as it did to knit it.

I am super stoked on the results of this sweater because it was my first time knitting a raglan sweater for myself (and not Xena) all by myself with no assistance picking the yarn, gauge swatching, etc.  I bought The Periwinkle Sheep 100% SWM aran yarn at Rhinebeck.  The colorway is Gold Rush and it is SO SOFT!!!  I only strayed from the pattern to make a couple size adjustments, a shorter body and smaller, shorter sleeves.

 The sweater used about 500 grams of yarn and I have enough leftover to knit a matching sweater for Xena!

Finally, since Bill and Kristine's baby shower has passed, I can proudly share my photos of the matching socks and booties I knit for them and Armen.  The yarn I used was Madeline Tosh 100% SWM sock yarn in the Fir Wreath 312 colorway.

 The adorable Kimono booties are a pattern from Little French Knits and they were so quick and fun to make!

It took months to finish this project and I wouldn't do it for just anyone.

Ironically, I've never even knit a pair of booties for Xena.

I really enjoyed the seaming process of this pattern.

The Liesl Socks are a pattern designed by The Woolly Kraken.

This was my first time using the German Twisted Cast On, knitting ankle socks, using German short rows and decreasing to shape a "star toe" and I thoroughly enjoyed every part of the process.

 Expanding my knitting repertoire has been such an empowering process.  It has truly improved the quality of my life and brought me so much joy and pleasure!  

Knit Rye Socks by Tin Can Knits

Just in the nick of time (to wear to Stitches next week), I finished a pair of socks I started a while ago but kept putting on hold to finish other projects.  I've knit these socks before but (in my novice idiocy) I accidentally knit the "garter panel" in reverse stockinette without realizing it.  Those socks came out swell but here's my 2nd attempt following the pattern exactly and knitting the "garter panel" correctly.  I used the (free) Rye Socks pattern by Tin Can Knits and Houndstooth Fiber Arts 100% SWM 4 ply "Cyrmry" fingering weight yarn in their Agate colorway.

I love this pattern and I love this yarn especially because it comes from Castro Valley, CA.  I've even used this colorway before on one of my favorite crochet shawls and I intentionally wanted to knit socks in this colorway because they will match plenty of my outfits.  Because my feet are so small, I only used about 1/2 of a 100g hank making these socks.

 The pattern calls for size 2 needles on the body (and size 1 for the 1x1 ribbed cuff) but I used a size 1 for the entire sock.  These socks fit beautifully but I am planning to cast on another pair using a size 0 for the entire sock because I am starting to realize that after all of the socks I've knit with fingering yarn, I really just prefer socks knit on 0s best of all.

Is it just the philatelist in me wanting preferring everything to be smaller?   

Knit Verge Shawl and more!

Woohoo!  I finally finished the 2nd Kira K Designs kit that I purchased at Lambtown back in the Fall.  You can purchase the Verge Shawl pattern on Ravelry or directly from Kira K.  I know she's going to be at Stitches West in a few weeks and I can't wait to show off my FO, IRL.  I imagine she'll have plenty of super rad kits available.

Finishing this shawl was a fantastic opportunity to try out my new Knitters Pride lace blocking mats and blockers that I bought from Webs with an X-Mas gift certificate from my MIL.  I prefer the texture of the these mats but on the contrary, I really like the 1" grid printed on the shitty mats I bought on sale at Joann Fabrics a while back.

I've never been able to take a photo of any handmade item without Xena anxiously grabbing it and posing in it first.

All of the yarn included in this kit came from Knitted Wit.  It's all fingering weight 100% SWM.  The MC is their Oregon Sky Colorway.  I used 1 1/2, 400 yd hanks.  The other colors used in the stripes came from their playfully named 45 yd "gumballs" as follows: Beaujolais, Salted Caramel, Lettuce Alone, Mighty Oak and Spicy Chai.  I had plenty of leftover yarn and it will not go to waste!

This was my first time using the interlocking technique to switch colors.  Since I've yet to try Intarsia knitting, I'm unsure if this is the same or a similar technique but I really like it and I especially like how securely the colors are "locked" when switching back and forth between MC and CC.

I'm too lazy to go outside right now so here are some weak bedroom photos.  Thankfully Xena is a much better model than I.

 Shawls, the next big toddler trend!

I crocheted this toy box for Xena a while ago and forgot to post photos of it.  

It's a very colorful addition to our super tiny living room.

Xena uses it everyday and she thoroughly enjoyed harassing me the entire time I was making it. 

 I actually have a considerable slate of more FO's but they are all gifts and I won't blog about them until after they've been given at the end of the month.  In the meantime, I'm on schedule to finish a new pair of socks which I plan to wear at Stitches West and I just finished gauge swatching for a rather complex cardigan (that I'll blog more about in the future) and will begin work on my own Flax Sweater later today (if Xena allows me).