Kai-Mei

May 9: I wanted a knitting project to work on while listening to papers at a conference, but since Devon is a bit more complex, I didn’t want to work on it. So haramis suggested Kai-Mei since it starts out with simple ribbing on the leg. So I have started these socks, but I actually haven’t spent as much time knitting as I thought I would, so I have only about 1” finished so far. But there’s still 1-1/2 days of the conference left.

May 11: I have about 4 inches on the leg finished.

May 24: Finished turning the heel and picking up the gusset stitches.

May 30: Finished first sock. Fits just right. And thank you to haramis for the tip about using a stitch marker (one that opens) to hold the YOs that will be purled together for the nifty pattern. That was definitely a big help!

July 24: Finally cast on for second sock!

July 26: Finished leg and heel flap.

July 27: Finished turning the heel and decreasing the gusset. Now I’m working on the foot. I had 8 pattern repeats on sock #1 and I’ve finished 3 of them so far on this second sock. I remember the foot going pretty quickly on the first one, so I hope to finish these in the next couple of days.

July 29: Finished!

Pattern: Kai-Mei from Sock Innovation by Cookie A
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy in Happy Forest

Practice Toe Up Socks

July 8: I have not learned how to knit socks from the toe up so when a class was offered at my LYS, I had to sign up. Here is the progress from the first class meeting: a short row toe. Once I got the hang of it, it worked out nicely.

July 14: Finished my “homework” (up to right before the heel).

July 15: Worked the heel and started the ribbing on the leg.

July 20: Finished the leg. I’m all ready to do the bind off for Wednesday’s class!

July 22: Finished first sock at the final class meeting and also finished the toe of the second sock.

July 23: Finished second sock.

Pattern: Basic toe up sock provided by class instructor
Yarn: Cascade 220 Superwash in Denim (845)

Springtime Bandit

July 15: Because I just can’t seem to focus on one project at a time, I just had to start a new one. The cast on and set up for this project really confused me. I tried it multiple times and each time it just looked completely bulky and ugly and not something I really wanted to have on my shawl. So I just did a long-tail cast on of 7 stitches and went from there. There’s a little curve in the edge right there but I think it looks okay. I worked through the set-up rows and 3 of the 4 pattern repeats for the body. This is turning out to be a pretty quick knit!

July 17: I’ve finished up through row 12 of the Edge Chart and have just finished off the first skein of yarn.

July 18: Finished. I still need to block it, so I’ll do that in the next couple of days and get some pictures posted.

July 20: Blocking.

Pattern: Springtime Bandit by Kate Gagnon Osborn
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Violetas

Copper Penny Socks

June 7: I’ve been reading about other people’s experience with this pattern and their concern that the small number of stitches around will make the sock too small. Since I’m a tight knitter (and just had to frog those Devon socks twice because they were too small), I decided to go up to a size 2 needles and also to use some heavier fingering weight yarn. I didn’t change the number of stitches. And the needle/yarn combination seems to have worked. I’ve tried it on several times to discover that it seems to be fitting quite well and not at all too tightly. Finished the leg (I did 16 of the 18 pattern repeats, which seems to be about right for my leg or else I’ll be making knee highs!) today. This pattern really goes quite quickly.

June 8: Turned the heel and finished about half of the foot. Will I be able to finish the first sock tomorrow?

June 9: And I did it. Sock #1 finished and a perfect fit. I’m not sure I can do the second sock in 3 days (that’s some really intense knitting time!), but I’m definitely liking how this first sock came out so I’m eager to get it a mate.

June 21: Finally cast on for sock #2. Finished the cuff and 2 pattern repeats of the leg.

June 30: Finished 2 more pattern repeats on the leg.

July 1: Finished 2 more pattern repeats on the leg.

July 2: Once again, finished 2 more pattern repeats on the leg.

July 3: Finished the leg, heel, gusset, and started the foot.

July 8: Finished second sock!

Pattern: Copper Penny Socks (in Knitting Socks with Handpainted Yarn)
Yarn: JulieSpins MCN in Warm Wood

Hurricane Hat

I saw this yarn in my LYS store today and I really wanted to make something with it. I had very recently queued this Hurricane Hat so I decided that the two would work nicely together. And I was right. I really like this hat (although it might be a little on the small side). I did go up a needle size than what was called for as the hats I’ve knit on 7s in the past have been child sized.



Pattern: Hurricane Hat
Yarn: Malabrigo Worsted in Little Lovely

Otto

June 18: Started this one and learned a new cast on method. The instructions were very good and it worked perfectly for me the first time I tried it. The head is finished, but I’m out of stuffing so I need to get more before I am able to continue.

Got more stuffing and worked a bit of the body. Took a quick picture to show current progress.

June 27: Finished body and legs. Started first arm.

June 30: Finished first arm. Am running really low on yarn, so I hope I have enough for the second arm and the ears!

July 1: The second arm was a bit easier than the first. The first ear was pretty challenging, but like the arms, the second was easier. The nose is still a wee bit pointy (and is now emphasized with the black), but I think he’s pretty cute! (I had just a tiny bit of yarn leftover.)





Pattern: Otto
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Skinny Dyed Cotton

Milkweed Shawl

June 15: I’ve been looking forward to starting this project so I decided to go ahead and cast on. I got through about row 20 and realized my stitch count was off. I couldn’t figure out where I had gone wrong and since I wasn’t that far into it, I just frogged and started again. Second start and I got to about row 28. Once again, my stitch count got off. My attempts to fix it just made things worse, so once again, I found myself frogging the whole thing. Third time’s the charm, right?

So this third time I’m back up to row 28 and all is good so far. I put a stitch marker before the center stitch so I can check my count through each row. I also am including lifelines after each chart so that if I do find myself having to frog again, I won’t have to start completely over. I probably should have done both of these things from the start!

June 16: I’m almost ready to just give up on this project. I got off again and couldn’t find where I went wrong, so I ripped down to the first lifeline. I must have picked up the stitches incorrectly because it just became even worse of a mess at that point. I was ready to just rip it out and find another project for this yarn (again!), but I did have a second lifeline, so I very carefully ripped back to it and painstakingly picked up each stitch. I did miss one, but I caught it before I had even started that row.
So I ripped back 18 rows and I’ve knitted 4 of those again. Quite a lot of work today got taken out, but I’m determined to finish this shawl. There are no stitch counts at the ends of rows, so I’ve counted them out myself and will be checking myself at each row. It might mean slower knitting, but it’s got to be faster than ripping everything and knitting again!
June 17: Work today has progressed nicely on the shawl, but I think I may have found an error in the pattern. Going to see if anyone else has reported it.
Yes, there are errors in the pattern. Three that I’ve found so far in the written directions: Row 64 is missing a yo in the second repeat between the k3, ssk at the end. Row 66 is missing a yo in the second repeat between k5, ssk at the end. Row 68 is missing a k6 in the second repeat between the yo, k2tog. Very frustrating, especially because I “confirmed” the errors after I had knitted row 62, 63, and most of 64 so I had to rip everything back.
June 29: After finding more errors in the written instructions, I switched to the charts, which I probably should have done in the first place. But all has worked out because I finished the shawl this evening. It is currently blocking so I will get some pictures in the next couple of days.
July 1: It’s overcast today so I didn’t get any good pictures. I’ll take more when the sun comes out, but I’m putting up this as a temporary picture until then.

Pattern: Milkweed Shawl
Yarn: JulieSpins MCN in Talons

Shawl has been sold in my etsy store: karendawn.etsy.com

Serenity

Jan. 6: My friend Kristin has a new baby girl named Kaylee. What better gift than a baby blanket with the name Serenity? I learned a new cast on - Emily Ocker’s Circular Cast On - but I’m not sure it was 100% successful because although it did turn out (on the second try), I wasn’t able to pull the hole closed like the instructions for the cast on said it could be. But the hole is fairly small and if it bothers me too much, I’ll just close it up when I weave in the end there.

Jan. 14: At first this blanket seemed to be knitting up rather quickly, but now I think that was because each round was still pretty small. I’ve just finished round 51 and it’s taking me about 20-25 minutes per round now. Eek! But I’m happy with how it’s turning out so far.

March 18: Back to work a little more on this one (I need to get an updated picture). I’m liking the pattern but hating the yarn, mostly because each skein has 1-3 knots in it. At only 80 yards per skein, that’s rather ridiculous, and it leaves me with a ton of ends to weave in.

April 17: I’ve worked on this a bit more the past couple of days. Another 10 or so rounds finihsed. It’s taking me about an hour and a half to do two rounds now, so I’m trying to work on it a little here and there. Slow and steady progress is better than none at all!

June 10: So I really haven’t worked on this at all since the last update. But I did knit 2 rounds today, which took over an hour. I do like how it looks, but I’m just not enjoying this project, which is why it’s hard to feel motivated to work on it.

June 14: Knit 4 rounds today.

June 19: Knit 4 rounds today.

June 20: I’m really determined to finish this project. Knit 4 more rounds today and 3/4 of a fifth.

June 21: Knit 5-1/4 rounds today.

June 23: Knit 6 rounds today. I’m fast approaching 500 stitches per round!

June 25: I can’t believe it. The knitting is done!! I used a size 10 needle to bind off and that seems to have worked. The edge is just the right tension. Now I just have to weave in a gazillion ends (and I’m not exaggerating that much) and block it.

June 26: Added pictures of blanket blocking.

Pattern: Serenity
Yarn: Cascade Yarns Cotton Rich

Something Brown

March 28: I’ve been wanting to make one of these for quite a while so I’ve decided to jump right in and start working on it.

March 31: I’ve finished up the raglan increases, so I’m ready now to divide for the sleeves.

April 6: I’m down to the ribbing on the bottom of the cardigan with about 6 more inches to go on it. Then I’ll do the sleeves and then the ribbing around the edge. I tried it on and it’s fitting quite nicely so far.

May 3: Finally got back to this project. I have about 1-2 more inches to go on the bottom of the cardigan. Then I’ll be moving onto the sleeves.

May 13: I finished off the body. Sleeves and edging around the front remaining.

May 15: Finished first sleeve.

June 6: Finally picked this back up and finished the second sleeve. Now I just have the collar and button band, but that will have to wait as I had to order some new 60” cables for my Harmony interchangeables (since the other one broke), and I don’t think I can fit 184 stitches comfortably on the 40” ones.

June 13: The 60” cables arrived today, so I spent the evening working on the collar and button band. I think I’m ready to cast off, but I’m going to do that in the morning. I also need to get a button. But this project should be finished soon!

June 14: Finished but for the button. But I’m not sure it’s turned out. I tend to be a tight knitter and I cast off pretty tightly, too. So I used a larger needle (9) to cast off and tried to do it loosely. But it was still too tight and when I tried it on, I realized that the button band pulls the cardigan up on each side, making it really just not look good. It’s currently blocking and I tried to stretch it out as much as possible, so we’ll see if that helps.

June 23: Finally sewed on the button, so this is finished. You can see in the picture how the button band pulls up the sides of the cardigan. Alas, the blocking helped but not enough.

Pattern: Something Red
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in Expresso

Gretel

May 31: I’ve been thinking about this project for a while so I decided to go ahead and start on it. It took me a little time to get through the cast on (new technique for me) but I think I got it and have now moved through row 18, so it’s well under way. I did go up a needle size from the suggested size (since I’m a tight knitter). I’ve tried on what I have so far and it fits my head rather nicely. Now it’s just a matter of whether or not it will actually be slouchy!

June 1: Got to work a bit more on it. I think it’s turning into a slouchy hat, which is good! I’m not sure yet if I will go though the slouchy version or if I’ll do the regular (which is the one in the middle). I’ve got 6 more rounds before I have to decide. By the way, the yarn is gorgeous!

June 3: I went with the slouchy version. I got to the decrease rounds, so I hope those go more quickly and I can finish up in the next day or two!

June 4: Oh no! The cable came lose while I was working and about two dozen stitches came loose. I didn’t panic (although I felt like it), but I immediately grabbed a DPN, a crochet hook, and some patience, and I got all the stitches back in their proper places. I’ve now fixed the cable but it did put me behind a little in my schedule to finish it since that took quite some time to fix.

June 4 (later): Good news and bad news. First the good: the hat is finished and it is absolutely beautiful. I love the combination of yarn and pattern. Now the bad news: the hat looks awful on me. I’ve never really been able to wear berets, but I was hoping this one would be different somehow (perhaps magically?). Alas, it is not. I shall have to find the right person for this hat so that it doesn’t just sit on my styrofoam manikin head forever.

Pattern: Gretel by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: JulieSpins Juno (60% merino, 40% silk) in