Snow Day Hats

I've been making a hat a day, it seems. Stash busting snow days! And hats are awesome to make...

Craft Room Clear Out

Spent my snow days aggressively purging the craft room. I've cleared out crap I never got to (and probably never will) and I got rid of stuff I know I've had for 10 years and still never used. There's a difference between having a well stocked craft room and hoarding supplies for no reason. Sure, I still have lots of stuff I don't need, but let's not rush! I've been watching these Alaska shows since I've been on a temporary break from school (4 snow days!!). I see how these people live off the grid and how they have so little, yet are so happy. I've been scaling back and it feels pretty great.

Basic Twined Hat

Well, it took longer than I thought to finish it, but it's done.  And I love it more than I loved the first one. This one actually fits. AND I have enough left over to make another one in case this one goes AWOL, too.

It better not.

And now I'm working on the next hat. Jen's New Sweetie Pie Hat in Mochi Plus.  This beauty has been in my stash for 2 and a 1/2 years.  It's time to be put to good use.  And when I checked my stash on ravelry today, I'm down to 59 yarns.  I told Andrew how excited I was to actually be using up my stash last night.  I've never felt like this before about my stash, but it's amazing how the projects and the yarn are all starting to click.  By December, all my yarn might actually be gone!!  (I doubt it, but it might!!)

Hat Mania!

Here lies my latest obsession--a hat.  It truly is the best way to use up stash when you have only one small skein of something.  Or not enough for a scarf...  This pretty thing is the Basic Twined Hat which uses a Swedish technique that makes people think it is hard.  But! It's super easy!  And using two skeins gives it this awesome mishmash of weird stripes.  And rainbow colors, of course!  Started this today and will finish tomorrow morning while I watch CBS Sunday Morning!  Yay!

To fuel this obsession, I found some pretty free hat patterns on Craftsy today. Can't wait!!

Snow Day Friday!!

Well, the gods saw fit to give me another day off this week. I thank them!  This day off gave me a chance to do more knitting, of course!

Here's my next pair of socks.  Just a basic sock using Desert Vista Dyeworks NYC New Years Eve color way. I only work on these at work, so no real progress yesterday.  

I did, however, finish my Boardwalk Hat.  It is a lovely piece of work. I am always intrigued by the crowns of hats, and this one was pretty cool.  The yarn worked up really nicely, too.  I love stripes!!!  And rainbows!!!

I also,finished my 10 squares of the month on my Hue Shift Afghan.  Everything is coming right along.  My entire knitting to do list for January is complete! I'm going to spend the rest of this week trying to crank out a couple of hats!!

A day off is always productive!

So, I had today off work because of the MLK holiday.  This enabled me to finish my socks and get some crafty things done! 

So, since my January list of projects is just about finished, I cast on 3 new projects today.  

This pair of socks in Desert Vista Dyeworks self striping yarn. The color is NYC New Year's Eve. I'm doing the same sock as above, but without the little design...

I started the Arroyo in Another Crafty Girl's worsted weight yarn called "Not So Imaginary."  It is based on the colors of Snufflupigus (sp) from Sesame Street.  This yarn is lovely and squishy. I got it in Chicago at Stitches Midwest in August. 

And, I had to restart the Boardwalk hat because I made a major mistake on Sunday, so I frogged it and started over.  Only mildly heartbreaking.

So, these are the lovelies keeping me busy.  I have 4 more squares to do on my afghan and this week's clue for the KAL.  All in all, I'm not stressed out about the WIP's--I'm actually pretty darn happy to be finished with most of my January projects!!!

Stash Bust 2014

I'm so happy with myself!  Here's a picture of my stash page on ravelry.  For the first time ever, I have more used up yarn than stashed yarn.  And the number will only get smaller!  I'm honestly looking forward to working through my stash this year.  And I have a working queue on ravelry also so I am always planning my projects in conjunction with my stash instead of finding a pattern and the. Buying the yarn.  Very. Proud. 

Moving right along!

I've been working diligently on my January knitting list.  I've joined 3 KAL's and I'm starting to worry that that might be too many...  

Here's Ysolda Teague's Follow Your Arrow KAL. I started it twice tonight and got irritated and put it away.  I was doing clue 1a because it looked easier--but I'm missing something.  Then I got on Instagram and saw people's clue 1b and I may try that tomorrow.  I can't start projects after 7pm for some reason, so I'll start fresh tomorrow.

I took a day to myself today and managed to finally finish my Thunder Moon.  This is a picture of it blocking.  I'm pretty happy with it despite the mistake I made in the beginning...  I really love the yarn.  It is Fiber Optics yarn in her gradient mini skeins. This is called Smoke on the Water.

And lastly, my other two KAL's I combined into one.  One is a mystery and you pick your own yarn.  The other is use marigoldjen yarn and knit whatever pattern you want.  So I'm using Galaxy Lite by marigoldjen for the Artful Yarn's mystery pattern.  Score!  This is the completed first clue pictured below.

Almost halfway done with my January knitting projects!

Double Delight Cowl--finished.

5 squares on my Hue Shift Afghan--finished. (Only 4 are pictured, I know!!)

Growing Leaves Hat--finished.

Thunder Momon Shawl is progressing nicely.

Skyp Socks are 50% complete.

All that's left is 5 squares, 1 sock, the shawl, and a Mystery KAL that starts on Monday!  Yay me!!

My most awesome achievement!

See this lovely hat? It is the top of a hat I modified from the cowl Growing Leaves.  I had to wing the decreases and hope they came out pretty.  Well? They turned out awesome!  A nice swirl extends from the last leaves on the hat.  Yum!

And the hat is beautiful too!  And the yarn!  This is my biggest knitting accomplishment.  I was so excited I was running through the house with glee shouting "Genius!!" The dogs and the husband just rolled their eyes.

Magic Cakes

I took some time today to magic knot my madelinetosh Texas Tea Cakes from Jimmy Beans Wool. (That's a mouthful!) Here's how they came out...  I decided to go from light to dark.  This gives me 480 yards of sport weight to create with.  The biggest decision is always what to make.  It will come to me.  I just need to learn some patience.

To add even more magic to my yarn stash I created another magic ball of yarn.  This time it is out of Desert Vista Dyeworks mini skeins The 12 Stripes of Christmas. The outside color is Partridge in a Pear Tree and it numerically works it's way through the twelve days.  I'm thinking of making a hitchhiker in this.  It will probably turn out awesome because of the millions of colors in self striping madness.  I'll have to mull it over.

Progress

First off--I need an idea on what to make with 200 yards of this awesome DK weight yarn. No pressure. I might need a new hat since Miss Tess likes to eat mine. Tomorrow, I'm going to magic knot my Tosh Cakes and wind them. I'm also going to tackle my 12 stripes of Christmas mini skeins to make a magic cake. Pray for ease of winding--and no cussing.

Aaaaannnnnnd--I finished my Double Delight Cowl today--my first finished object of 2014. It fits perfectly and matches this cute sweater I got from Cabelas! Yay me! Now, of I ever leave the house..... (It's been snowing for 2 days straight and I just keep changing pajamas.)

Happy New Year!

With 110 minutes left in 2013, I bought this beautiful yarn you see pictured. 800 luscious yards to make my new "Hitchhiker" with. Ahhhhh. I was super excited! Also, I started my 2014 knitting a tad bit early, but I know you forgive me. It was after dark, so technically the day was over, etc etc etc.... I started my afghan I got for Christmas called "Hue Shift" by Knit Picks. I did the first square last night to get the hang of it and today, I did the second square with 2 colors. It is a long process doing just one square. My monthly goal is 10 squares. Each square takes over an hour. (I knit slow.) And I also cast on my Double Delight cowl--finally using my madelinetosh pashmina yarn from last year. Love!