Hi everyone! I hope you're all doing great. I'm sorry this is so late today. I kinda forgot it was Wednesday since my normal Wednesday knitting group met yesterday. I'm so excited for the next few days because I have a group of friends coming to visit, Ruth from Rock and Purl, Rijel from Black Market Wool, Stephanie, who is starting an amazing bag company soon and does the Pick and Throw blog with Rijel, and significant others. We're going to Disneyland on Friday and California Adventure on Sunday, and of course knitting while we're there. The rest of the time just bumming around San Diego, knitting and cross stitching.
I don't have too much to share this week. I'm working on another secret project that I can't share just yet. What I CAN share is the progress of my awesome Armande cardigan!
The picture is a little dark, as I was at a coffee shop, but as you can see I've finished the pockets, zoomed my way up and just finished the decreases. I'm not two rows away from starting the upper body! I adore this pattern so far and it's FREE!
As mentioned before, my husband and I are turning our basement into a tiki bar. (A basement in SoCal...odd I know). Anyway, it already had a wet bar from the original part of the house (the house was built in 1955), so we're just tiki-fying it. We have a TON more to do, but we finished the bar front this weekend. The top will be totally covered as well, but I wanted to show you the work so far (and my mom really wanted to see it. HI MOM!) If you look in the reflection of the mirror, you can also kinda see the side walls...and me. LOL
The side dark pieces are carved by my husband, though it's a little hard to see. Soon we'll be finishing the ceiling, painting the floors and finishing the walls. It's definitely an on going project. I'll keep giving you guys updates if you're interested.
That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of your week! For fun knitting pictures at Disneyland this week, you can follow me on Instagram at @candyskein, Rijel at @rijelviolet, Ruth at @rockandpurl and Stephanie at @befadee.
Hi everyone! Sorry today's post is a little late! I actually have a new project to share with you today.
I've been obsessing over the Armande by Andi Satterlund. Ever seen I saw the pattern a few weeks ago (though since it was a Knitty pattern I'm sure I've seen it before and didn't remember), I couldn't stop thinking about it. I realized despite having a thousand projects to work on, I needed to cast on. I had some Candy Skein Yummy Worsted from the Miele vest I had cast on. I knew I would wear this more, so I frogged that for this.
Sorry for the crappy picture but it's hard to get it all in picture at the moment. It's a bottom up construction and right now I've built the inside of the pockets and are now picking them up as the sweater grows. This is my first time doing pockets and I love how they're constructed for this sweater! Also, another great thing about this pattern, the button band is built in! No need for picking up hundreds of stitches at the end of knitting the body and worrying about puckering.
I can't wait to get this sweater off the needles and wearing it once it gets cooler here.
Also, for those who haven't seen it, the September colorway, Acai Berry is now available at Candyskein.com!
That's it for me today! I hope you have a great rest of your week.
Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great week. This is going to be short and sweet because I've been very busy working and am very tired.
As you may remember, last week I started my Owls sweater by Kate Davies. I've finished the body and only need to do a sleeve and a half and the yoke/collar! I can't believe how fast this is knitting up.
As you can see, this is just a blurry photo of the sleeve that I took quickly. I'm using Neighborhood Fiber Company Studio Chunky in Edgewood that I bought at Stitches!
That's it for me this week. I hope you have a great rest of it and I'll see you Friday!
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Hi everyone! I'm home safely from Stitches West and had a great time! I got to meet so many amazing people that I've talked to forever, including Stacey from FreshStitches! Hi Stacey! :) I'll try and write a recap post and also show off my yarn haul this week, but I'm trying to get a wholesale order out the door so I can't make promises. I hope you had a great weekend as well!
I decided not to show my Sock Yarn blanket this week since I started a new project yesterday (Tuesday) and since I'm making it with Stitches West yarn, it is perfect. You'll see enough of the blanket coming up, since I'm crazy addicted to working on it.
This may look like a hat, but it is actually a sweater! The picture is deceiving because it's out of thick chunky weight yarn and US 10 needles. Before I learned how to knit, I first saw the Owls sweater by Kate Davies and knew I had to learn how to make it. Several years later, here I am finally getting around to it! The picture makes the yarn look black, or very dark gray, but it actually has a green tint to it. It's Neighborhood Fiber Co. Studio Chunky in colorway Edgewood. The amazing thing about this yarn is that each skein is 300 yds, so I need less than two skeins to make the full sweater. Due to that, I'm being brave and not switching between skeins. I'm sure they will look different, but I'm hoping I can use the first skein for the body, up until I split off the front and back, then use the second skein to knit the sleeves and yoke. Maybe that way it will look intentional. I just couldn't imagine carrying around two skeins of 300 yds each of chunky weight yarn. The ball is the size of my head and I actually had to ball about half of it by hand because my ball winder couldn't handle it. As you can see, I've gotten pretty far and have probably only knit on it for a few hours. It's amazing how fast Chunky yarn works up!
Anyway, that's it for me today. I hope you all have a great rest of the week. We're supposed to FINALLY get some rain here in San Diego (or actually the whole state for that matter) and I can't wait. I plan to stay home this weekend and knit while watching movies!
I'll see you Friday!
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Hi everyone! Thanks so much for all the well wishes you all sent on Wednesday. I'm doing much better, minus the huge hole inside my mouth. It's not too painful anymore, just annoying and uncomfortable. I'll get over it soon hopefully. :)
This is a big FO Friday for me, as I finished my Elfe. I haven't blocked it yet, but I'm not sure I will. It fits so good right now. If I do block it, I will probably throw it in the dryer (it's superwash) once it's almost dry to pull it in a little. Thanks for the great suggestions, Christi!
I have to say I loved making this so so much. I might even make another at some point. I've been SOOOOOO busy with my secret project the past month and a half (which is almost finished!) that I didn't get much knitting time, and I still finished this sweater in a month's time. I started the sweater July 27th and finished August 26th. Crazy, right?
So here it is!
Here it is on the back of my bathroom door. The lighting isn't great. I wish I had remembered to take a picture when it was still daylight out.
Not the best picture, as this is late Monday night after knit group when I finished. I had actually never tried it on (nor did I make a swatch...shhhhhhh) until this moment, so I was excited to see it fit. I'll have a better picture of it soon, as I was making in part for the Yarniacs podcast Fall KAL. Part of the fun of the KAL is to wear it with a Fall outfit designed around your knit wear. I'm still coming up with the full outfit, so I'll share that when it happens soon!
Materials:
Yarn: Candy Skein Yummy fingering in Grape Soda and Sugar Snap Pea
Notes: I have to say I LOVE the neckline of this sweater. I wish all pullovers had this perfect construction. It's so clean and pretty. I also loved how the continuous sleeves allow for the sweater to just be finished when you finish the body. No dreading the sleeves or neck band, etc. I made the size S, but it was a 36", which is too big for me. I'm afraid if I block it, it might get a little big, but we'll see. I did the stripes jogless, and carried the yarn down the back of the sweater. I first started cutting at the bigger stripes, but realized how pointless that was. I'm happy I carried it the rest of the way. Overall, I can't wait to wear this when it gets a little cooler. I think it will look great with a pair of jeans and even a long sleeved tee under it for Fall/Winter.
Hi everyone. I hope this post finds you well. We had a great time this weekend and now I'm plowing through work. I'm almost finished with my secret project, and let me tell you, it's going to be a huge weight off my shoulders. I can't wait to tell you all about it once I can. Not only that, I'll have time to knit, cross stitch and sew! I can't wait! I almost promised myself a week off coming up. We're hoping to take a small little vacation and it's much needed in my house.
As you might have guessed, I'm still working on my one project, the Elfe sweater in Candy Skein Yummy, Grape Soda and Sugar Snap Pea. As you can see I'm SOOOOOO close to finishing! I would love to be done by Friday (but not blocked, just done with the knitting), but I don't want to put the pressure on myself. If I finish, awesome, if not, that's okay. There's always next week.
I will promise you one thing. Once I finish my large secret project, I will be trying to post here more leading up to the holidays. There are a lot of different subjects I'd love to write/cover on the blog. I hope the first one will be about my secret project. :)
That's it for me today. I hope you all have a great rest of your week.
For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just
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Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday. I hope you're having a great week and had a great weekend. We were home all weekend, with my husband having the hurt back, so I had a lot of time to watch movies and knit! It was relaxing, yet by the end I felt a little cooped up with only going to the grocery store the whole weekend. The great part is that my Elfe is FLYING off the needles so fast. I feel like I blinked and it started to look like a real shirt! Don't you love when that happens?
This is my progress picture from tonight. I'm a little over half way finished with the pattern. This is such a great pattern and if you're looking for a first time garment, look no further. It's easy, yet fun as the stripes keep it interesting. It also doesn't take a ton of yarn, which is great. I bet everyone has a few skeins of fingering yarn that would look great together from their stash.
I certainly hope it fits, but even if it doesn't, it will make a great sample for shows. I'm using Candy Skein Yummy fingering in Grape Soda and Sugar Snap Pea.
That's it for me today. What are you working on?
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Hi everyone! I hope your week is going good! I stole a few minutes this weekend between working to actually knit! Crazy, right!?!?!?! So I actually have something to share with you.
I think you may remember me mentioning a few weeks ago that I was going to start Elfe by Astrid Schramm. I couldn't decide on my colors so I went back and forth and even asked my Candy Skein Ravelry group. I finally decided on Grape Soda, as I'm using Candy Skein Yummy fingering. Then I thought I was going to use Foil Wrapper, but the Sugar Snap Pea kept pulling me toward it....
So I picked these two, Grape Soda and Sugar Snap Pea in Candy Skein Yummy fingering. This picture is really closely accurate for the color, and the pics below aren't.
This is how far I got. I haven't been able to work on it since, but I'm already half way through the sleeve increases, and two green stripes in. I LOVE it so far and I have to say the pattern is amazingly fun and easy. I see myself making a ton of these in different colors (and solids) if it fits good.
I'm trying to make the stripes as jogless as possible and I think it doesn't look too bad. This is the first one and the second looks even better!
That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of the week and I'll see you on Friday!
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Hi everyone! Happy Wednesday. I hope you're having a great week. I wish I had a ton to share with you today, but in fact I have lost my craft mojo the past week or so. I'm not sure it went, but I've turned every rock and can't seem to find it. In the hopes I get it back, I cast on Elfe last night at one of my groups. I would show it, but I seriously cast on and did one row. There isn't much to show. What I will show is what yarn I'm using and the debate I went back and forth via my Ravelry group and Instagram.
I posted on the group needing help deciding on colors for my Elfe. The pattern calls for two different colors in the shirt, and I didn't want it too crazy, so I knew one of the colors would be Foil Wrapper (the color in the middle). I decided it would be between Grape Soda (left) and Sugar Snap Pea (right) and took it to a vote. Most agreed that while both looked good with Foil Wrapper, Sugar Snap Pea won out...that was until I started making mini skeins last weekend. The two colors happened to be sitting next to each other. The first thing that popped into my head? SLYTHERIN!!!!!!!! :O
Now you see, some of you might say "so what? No biggie", but I don't think I could wear (or own) a Slytherin colored shirt (and in person they are VERY close to the silver and green of the house colors), as I am a Ravenclaw...this is where some of you think I'm bat shit crazy, but that's okay! I know some of you totally get what I mean and agree that it would just be wrong on so many levels. So back to Grape Soda and Foil Wrapper I went, which I'm good with. I don't think they pop like the other two do, but that's okay. At least I won't feel wrong when wearing (or knitting) it.
So that brings me to today, or when you're reading this, I guess yesterday. I cast on with the Grape Soda today (yep, that's right. I threw all caution to the wind and didn't even swatch! Did I mention I have zero craftiness right now and am just trying to get my mojo back?) The great thing is, someone (Maria, Kiwiria on Ravelry) already made this pattern with Yummy fingering so I decided I'm kinda safe. Her's is pretty fantastic after all. We'll see how it goes.
So that's my tale for today. Hopefully I'll have more to show you next week, but I will say I will be terribly busy for the next two months and won't have much time to breathe, let alone knit, but that's all I'm going to say about that. It's a secret I can share in due time.
Now, onto WIPW! Oh yes, and I apologize for the late FO Friday last week. I lost track of my days with the holiday and all!
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Hi everyone! I hope your week is working out to your liking. I just wanted to take a moment for those in the Boston area, or who have friends/family there, my thoughts are with you. What a terrible
tragedy. :(
As far as WIPW, I have progress on the sweater and a new project to share:
In this picture, I was an inch away from finishing the 1x1 ribbing, and I actually did tonight after this picture was taken. The body is now bound off and tomorrow I'll hopefully have time to pick up the neck stitches and knit the collar band. I can't believe how fast this sweater has progressed. It's amazing what worsted weight yarn can do after using fingering so often. Again, I'm using Candy Skein Yummy Worsted in colorway Watermelon (though it's a slightly lighter version of the colorway. The pattern is the Ladies Classic Raglan Pullover by Jane Richmond.
This is the start of the Sweet Summer Rays Shawl by Holly Priestley . I have to increase until I hit 30 stitches between the markers and then move onto the main pattern/body of the shawl. I'm using Sweet fingering in new Candy Skein colorway Foil Wrapper. I thought the rays of the shawl would look beautiful in silver (gray). Due to the content of the yarn (50% merino/50% silk), this yarn really does look like it's silver thread. It's gorgeous! I'm making this for an ongoing KAL we have over at Holly's Ravelry group. It's ongoing until May 15th, so there's still time to join in!
That's it for me today. I hope you have a great rest of your week.
For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just
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Hi guys! I'm so sorry for the delay but honestly I just lost track of my days. I thought of WIPW yesterday but in the context of "Man, when it's WIPW, I can show how much I've worked on my sweater!!" not, "Tomorrow is WIPW, I get to show my sweater tomorrow!" ::facepalm::
Happy Wednesday! I hope your week is living up to expectations. I will say, this week is a hard one for us, as my husband is back at work. We're having to get back into a routine after being able to sleep in, go to bed late and leisurely get ready to start our day. This week is busy too, as I'm dyeing yarn for a LYS as well as others for the shop.
I have had time to knit though, as you can see from the picture. This is the sweater that you saw barely started last week! I have about 5 more rows before finishing the waist shaping if you can believe that! I don't know why it's going so fast, but my guess is because I'm so used to working in fingering weight yarn (this is worsted) that the progress is flying which makes me want to work on it more! As mentioned last week, this is Candy Skein Yummy Worsted in Watermelon and pattern Ladies Classic Raglan Pullover by Jane Richmond. I love the way she writes patterns, as you fill in all of the info based on your size from charts. That way you don't have to remember which size in the bracket you're doing or highlight. So smart!
My only issue so far (if you can see it in the picture) is the way the sweater joins after knitting back and forth to get the back of the neck. This is my first pullover and I was very sloppy (not sure how I could have done it better, as I'm new to it) carrying the yarn. I'm rotating balls of yarn, since it's hand dyed. I hope it looks better after blocking, and if not, I think that's a GREAT place for a cute patch/felted needle pin, etc! ;) If you have any tips/tricks to make this look better, let me know in comments! After I split for the arms, I am now carrying the yarn under the arm, down the side which is working MUCH better, as you can imagine.
I wanted to share with you April '13's monthly colorway, Mint Mojito! This yarn is available in Yummy fingering (as usual) now through April 30th! If interested, you can purchase it here!
That's it for me today! I hope you have a great rest of your week and I'll see you all on Friday!
For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just
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Hi everyone! I hope you're having a great week so far. My husband and I have had a fun and busy week so far! We've done a few things to the house we've been wanting to since buying it, caught up with some friends, did some shopping and today we're going to Downtown Disney!
First off, before I get into WIPW, I wanted to let you all know about my Easter /Passover sale at candyskein.com! I'm offering 15% off now through March 31st. Just enter code EASTERSALE at the time of checkout.
Also, don't forget that Holly (Sillylittlelady) and I have a KAL starting on April 15th! For full details, please visit this post.
Now to WIPW!
I have something new to share with you today! I got the sweater itch the other day, so I cast on Jane Richmond's Ladies Classic Raglan Pullover. I wanted something mindless to work on, and a pullover (which I have yet to make) that I could just throw on with anything and go. I'm using Candy Skein Yummy Worsted in a new colorway (though a slightly lighter version of it), Watermelon! I am so excited about this project. I have two more rows before I cast on a few more stitches for the front of the neck and join! I have to say, I'm also very excited because this might be the first project I got gauge using the correct needles (both row AND stitch) the first time! Remember how tight I used to knit!?! So exciting!
That's it for me today. I hope you all have a great rest of the week. I'll see you back here Friday where I show you my Variance finished (or at least blocking)!
For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just
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Hi all! I hope you had a great weekend. I had a great time with my knitting group on Saturday. We traveled to Long Beach (about an hour and a half drive) to go to the Alamitos Bay Yarn Company to see the Unique Sheep Truck Show. It was so awesome to see all of the yarn sets, as well as the gorgeous shawls made from it. I didn't want to spend too much money while I was there, so I decided not to buy any Unique Sheep, but I did buy one skein of Lorna's Lace Shepard Sock. I couldn't resist. Last time we were there, I had wanted a skein, but had spent so much money at the fiber festival we had gone to beforehand, I didn't want to splurge too much. This time, that's all I bought, but I'm super happy with my purchase. I'll take a pic of it later so you can see how pretty it is. :)
Now on to WIPW!
Sorry for the very dark/awkward picture! I just wanted to show how long it was in the back.
I haven't been working on the socks, because I am now determined to finish my Rhombi sweater. I am LOVING the way it fits. I have about another inch to do on the body, before then working a garter stitch bottom for about another inch. After, I'll move onto the sleeves and finally the collar. I can't WAIT to get it finished. Doesn't it look pretty good? For those of you who are new to WIPW since I last worked on this, I'm using Candy Skein Delicious yarn in Brain Freeze. What I love about this sweater (at least right now) is that it will be warm enough (it's REALLY warm yarn) if I wear a long sleeved shirt under it for the mild winter days, but perfect for spring and chilly summer nights.
That's it for me this week. Hopefully I'll be finished with it in the next few weeks to share on FO Friday!
For those that are new to WIPW, to share your WIPW post with us, just fill out the Mr. Linky below. Despite it saying you must comment, don't feel as if you do. That is something Mr. Linky automatically adds. I just ask you to check out a few of the links posted to see what everyone else is working on and comment there if you can. Everyone loves feedback and a little encouragement on their projects! Also, please link back to this post in your post to get the word out! The more the merrier!