I don’t have much to say this week. The Side cardigan has been a challenge to say the least. I restarted it four times but I’m in a good place right now. Currently, I’m worried about when I have to switch to dividing the arms. Here are a few pictures and videos below.
As the title says, I’m struggling with the Sode sweater. It’s a cabled cardigan that you have to use several charts in the same row. The pattern does state that it is recommended for advanced knitters and now I’m guessing I am not an advanced knitter after all. I’m ok with intermediate. Maybe I should stick to intermediate. I’m not giving up. Yet. I need to be in the right mind space and right now my head is going in a million different directions at once. The rows I did knit were done with the help of the tutorials included with the pattern. You can find them here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8WChKL24mQ
The good thing is said direction is cleaning and organizing my house. Trust me, I do not do enough of that. Every year I do Dry January. Basically, I cut out alcohol for a whole month after over doing it between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day. This year I’m hyperfocusing on tea. I’ve taken our junk cabinet and turned into into my coffee/tea hutch. Take a look!
I’m still working on two other projects in addition to the Sode. First is my cross stitch. I’m 80% done. The second is a simple shawl which I’ll write up another recipe for. I don’t feel comfortable calling it a pattern because it is loosely created based on common knowledge. I want to create videos that help people knit it from start to finish. It’s just a simple triangle shawl with bilateral increases in every other row. That’s all. It’s spun from home spun and gold thread so I wanted to use the yarn for something simple that will show off the colors. I think this works.
Here is my latest update.
Happy New Year. I’m a few days late. I’ve been posting to YouTube regularly while promising to update my webpage. That didn’t happen. Life is crazy with a full time job, three kids, three cats, four chickens and perhaps, ADHD brain? I finished the Darkwater Sweater pattern by Jennifer Steingass and I’ll post that separately here with the video that shows my progress. I really enjoyed this pattern and had the focus to follow it through. My coworker asked if it was a Christmas present and I believe I beamed when I told her I made it myself.
My goal now is to knit the Sode sweater, which is a Cabled cardigan designed by Hiroko Payne. However, I’m already overwhelmed. I couldn’t get the gauge quite right so I think I’m going to knit one size for width and another for length. I am going to cast on this afternoon when life is quieter and I can focus. Right now my brain is busy with getting ready to ski with my middle child. We’ll go for an hour plus and I’ll be home before lunch time. I’m no longer in any kind of shape to be skiing, but it’s quality time with the middle child who doesn’t have constant, intense needs.
I’m also reading the Principals of Knitting, which is a great big book about everything you ever wanted to know about reading. I’ve borrowed it from my library and read a few pages each night before going to bed.
Happy 2025. I will be eating, drinking, breathing knitting this year!
Here’s my New Year, New Project Video
Here is my weekly summary on my knitting/crafting projects.
Wow! From January to today, it’s been a journey in homemade. I left a good job ruined by a bad boss in December 2023 (despite letting go of a month’s health insurance!!) I was exhausted.
I spent a weekend at a respite house for caretakers and then started the new job, full tilt!
My projects were simple and comforting. I made a blanket I’ve done at least ten times and stamped cross stitch.
Plain Jane socks on a paddle board
Another blanket unfinished
Watch this video for complete instructions on how to start knitting, complete with what needles and yarn to buy, to the five basic steps to starting and completing your first knit project.
I’m really awful at keeping up with this. I’m back and I am now a – drum roll please – YouTube creator. I did a few videos about a year and a half ago but they were simply not good and I dropped it.
How did we get here?
Some of you may already know, I’m the mother of three kids, two with special needs, and I work full time as an accountant. If you are on Tik Tok or You Tube, you know I don’t sleep that well. I’m up most mornings between 3 and 4 am. I was away at a respite retreat when I should have been sleeping, but instead I stumbled upon this master knitter’s program. I’ve been knitting for about 30 years, so why not? Then I looked at the program and read/watched reviews of what is required. I was floored. My knitting experience may be vast, but my technique is not.
Do I spend the money, jump full on into it and get frustrated? At that point, I had knit three sweaters in the space of less than two months and none of them fit as expected. The fourth sweater wound up being huge as well.
Let’s start at the beginning with GAUGE.
I decided to knit the Wasabi Sweater from Custom Knits 2 again, but this time for my daughter. I had to go down two needle sizes to get the right gauge.
I did the provisional cast on using a crochet hook instead of figuring it out while in the car on a two hour ride.
I blocked the sweater. For the FIRST TIME. Did I mention I’ve been doing this for THIRTY YEARS!
It came out – perfect. I added a cabled ribbing, and it is perfect.
Onto sweater number 6. Let’s tackle color work. I picked the Darkwater Sweater by Jennifer Steingass (Knit.Love.Wool). I made my swatch and went down one size with my needles and a size down since my swatch was wide. I can knit it longer. I will knit it longer!
So far so good.
I’m so excited to announce that I’ve finally completed the Lindisfarne Scarf/Shawl. I used the pattern for the poncho but didn’t have enough yarn so pivoted. I still have some left over so I’ll probably make a matching set of fingerless gloves to go with my scarf.
Am I the only person who has to have a travel project? Here I am, with my shawl in progress but the pattern is too intricate to take along. I also have my cross stitch but I’m carrying 32 threads so that’s not great to carry with me. There’s always socks! I started my two at a time toe up socks for my kiddo but I forgot a stitch marker. I used a hair tie to mark the beginning of my round.
I had a goal of finishing my shawl? Scarf? Poncho? By today! I’m on the last panel and then need to knit the ending but that’s not going to happen in the next few hours. Meanwhile I’m working on a cross stitch Pokemon pattern when I’m tired of cabling every other row.
I love this pattern but it’s very involved so I need to take breaks.
I still love the Lindisfarne pattern even if it’s time consuming!
I’ve been working for months now washing, combing, spinning and now knitting the Tunis fleece I bought last September at a Fiber festival. The first huge skein I actually over spun when plying. It didn’t seem like I had enough yarn to knit the Lindisfarne Mantle, which is a poncho. Instead I’m making this into a wide cabled scarf/shawl. I think it’ll be more useful than my jacket over this upcoming winter!
How, how do I know I’m going to be ok? This is how! It’s been over a week since I cast on a particular project. It’s not easy. I’m working on the Lindisfarne Poncho which means cabling repeat pattern blocks and tracking it carefully. I haven’t been able to do an in-depth pattern for ages. I pretend that I did an intricate lace pattern last holiday season but it just looks pretty because of the colors! This THIS is how I know my mind is healing. Look how pretty it is!
What does it mean to put yourself or in my case, knit yourself back together. I’ve said this many times, but this time it’s true. I’ve had to deal with quite a bit the last three plus years and even longer. My family has dealt with loss upon loss, cancer, cross country moves, Covid and even the murder of a loved one right as Covid began in 2020. Knitting or crafting in general is one thing in a sea of things that has carried me through the last few years. Way back in 2020, I grasped on to new hobbies hoping they would save me, one by one. I picked up spinning again, bought a table loom, bought fleeces, bought combs and cards to process those fleeces, and tried, tried, tried. I’d hit a road block, such as being unable to figure out how to comb long curly Coopsworth wool fleece, and give up. Then I’d try again, dyeing said fibers and finally, finally weaving them into a rug using a peg loom. Was it pretty? Not exactly, but I learned!
In 2021 a generous woman who I had sold my mother’s table loom to gave it back – and refused to take money for it. Then I found a Schact Wolf Loom for dirt cheap on Facebook leaving me with one rigid heddle loom, one tapestry loom, two table looms and one floor loom. I purchased a warping board off Facebook marketplace but I never received the screws that went along with it. I went to the hardware store and made do. I couldn’t figure out how to warp it and wasted tons of yarn in the many attempts I made. Two weeks ago, I took a class online and have wound my third warp since then.
I bought a merino fleece and couldn’t figure out how to clean it properly. In 2022, I took not one, but three classes on how to prep a fleece. In 2023, it finally clicked and I’m still working through a Tunis fleece I started processing in March. Wash, comb, spin, ply, repeat.
When I was little, my mother tried to teach me to crochet. I’ve never been the type to learn by listening. I have to figure things out on my own. She got frustrated and gave up, leaving me home with my grandmother for the weekend. When she returned, I had crocheted a set of slippers. Then she really got frustrated!!! I never really learned to crochet properly but I spent a month last year in New York attending the murder trial of my family member. Knitting needles were expressly forbidden and enforced so I learned to crochet again. I made close to fifty sunflowers and even wound up making a stuffed pokemon for each of my kids. Not too bad if I say so myself.
In February, after the second trial ended in conviction, I broke down. I fell apart. I went out on FMLA and couldn’t find the energy to knit, to spin, to think or hardly to breathe. I cared for myself, my kids and my life as best as I could. It was hard and painful. I attended the sentencing and said goodbye to my life back in New York, one final time. Every time I say it’s the last time. I said goodbye to the loved one I never got to bury and to the memories, good and bad. I walked away at the end, driving slowly and stopping frequently, hoping my mind would come back to me.
March and April passed. May and June. July is here and I’m in full craft mode. I’m trying to find the balance again, between family, work and the projects that call to me. I’m knitting a scarf, a pair of socks, spinning and prepping Tunis wool fiber for a potential sweater, and have a warp ready to hit the loom. You can indeed knit yourself together again. I have. I am still.
I’m back into knitting socks big time and giving them as presents. I can whip up a pair in a few days (or a trip from Florida to New York.) I don’t make them fancy and I’m back to the point where I don’t need instructions.
A simple pair of toe up socks is more like a recipe than a pattern. It’s easily modified to go bigger, smaller or adjust to yarn weight.
For my latest socks, I’m using sock weight yarn on size two circular needles.
Using magic loop, cast on twenty stitches (10 each needle). Knit first row. Next row knit 1 make 1 knit to last two stitches on first needle make 1 knit 1. Repeat on second needle. So you’ve added four stitches. Knit the next row. Repeat this until you have 22-26 stitches on each needle or 48-52 stitches total. Continue knit to the ankle bone or about 7 inches for a woman’s size 8.5 foot.
Start heel
Slip 1 knit
Slip 1 purl
Continue for half the number of stitches on food. (22-26 rows)
Start short rows
Row1: Knit half the rows stitches (11/13) knit 2 together, k1, turn
Row2: slip one, purl 2, purl 2 together, k1, turn
When you’ve knit all the stitches, pick up the heel rows (slipped stitches) usually 11-13 stitches on each side of the heel.
Ankle:
Row1: knit
Row 2: knit 1, knit 2 together, knit to end of other side of heel, slip 2, knit together, knit rest or row
Repeat these two until you are back to 48-52 stitches (fewer of you have skinny ankles)
From here you can add ribbing, create a short ankle socks or add more design.
I’m trying to write this on my phone, so I’ll update it later.
It’s worked for the last six pairs of socks and I’ve added a different design feature into each, including ribbing and seed stitch.
This week we gave two pairs of socks and had time to work on the blanket in between wrapping presents and packing for our upcoming trip.
The socks were a hit and another pair was requested. I have plenty of driving time to whip them up.
We are approaching the end of the blanket. Finally!!! Thank goodness. I still love the yarn and the feel. I already bought brown yarn for a second blanket.
So with my travel knitting, I decided to make a few people socks as Christmas presents. I’ve finished three pairs of socks in less than two weeks. I knit simple toe up socks with short row heels on two circular needles. I can do anything but two at a time socks. Seriously, that magic loop method has my brain scrambled. I’m looking at Pinterest for new twists on the simple socks.
Knitwerks 