Onda Hemming

I finished knitting the back of Onda today. I told Sweetpea, now don't run over and get cat hair all over my blocking board while I am upstairs grabbing some pins.

Sigh. Thanks, Sweetpea. Good thing you are so cute.

This was my first experience sewing live stitches down for a hem. I found it helpful to pin down the sweater in order to stitch it up evenly. I did overlook the decrease instructions for knitting the hem stitches, but I just did them a little later and I think it's fine.

Now on to the sleeves. I think that there are another 4 hems to this sweater.

Sweater Weather

I keep forgetting that it's Summer here. It's not really that warm most days, maybe 70's if we're lucky. Usually we'd have a few days in the 80's in July, but not so far. Maybe that's why I have sweaters on the brain.

I started two sweaters in the past two weeks. First I cast on for Onda from Pompom Quarterly issue 2. But I am knitting on size 2 needles, with dark yarn, so I quickly got bored on the sleeve cap increases....

So then I cast on for the Annabel Cardigan from Quince & Co. This knit up really quick on size 10 1/2 needles. I was done in 3 days. But I kept pulling at the slip stitch edge, trying to make it look less sloppy, and in the end the front edge grew too much, and that part looks unfinished to me. And my bind off defied the promise of being stretchy, it feels constricting at the bottom. So my plan is to re-start the cardi with a different edge treatment and a different cast off. I used less that 2 skeins of yarn, and I had 4, so I am not going to unravel it. The sizing came out just right, so I am using this sweater as my sample and starting again. I am swatching several solutions for the garter edge and bind off.

In the meantime I worked past my boredom with Onda and am now about 5 inches into the body section. There's still a lot of knitting on tiny needles, picking up stitches for the front sections, sleeves, and several hems to go....

Frosted Socks with Sprinkes

I finished another pair of socks yesterday. These are Zigzagular Socks, the yarn is Madelinetosh Twist Light, and the colorway is Holi Festival. I kind of loved/hated the way this colorway was knitting, and in the end I loved them. This yarn is especially soft and lovely.

I had to knit these quickly, as once I settled on a yarn and a pattern I had 5 days until my sister's birthday. I completed them in 4 days.

They look like Animal Cracker frosting and sprinkles, yum!

Waving Lace Socks with Kool Aid Overdye

I seem to be on a knitting binge right now. I made these socks in 2 days over the weekend. Then immediately cast on for a sweater and another pair of socks.

These are Waving Lace from the book Favorite Socks. I actually own a pair of socks in this pattern that I received in a swap, but this was my first time making them. An easy knit, though I made the heel flap shorter than the pattern.

The yarn is Madelinetosh Sock in Tensha Bead, from the thrift store. It's more pastel than I typically like, so I overdyed the socks with Ice Blue Lemonade Kool Aid. This might have worked out better if I'd let the socks soak longer before I dyed them, so it's a bit uneven. I may overdye them one more time to even it out a bit.

I will gift these to one of my sisters.

I have 4 days to make another pair for my older sister's birthday this weekend. Wish me luck!

The Present Moment

I like making fabric gift bags. Here is one that I letterpress printed ages ago. I couldn't find enough wood type to print almost anything that I wanted to say, but eventually I settled on this. Tonight I sewed up a bag to gift some knitted socks to my coworker. I hope that she likes her present!

Simply Waterlily

It's been a while since I last posted any actual knitting content. Here are some socks that I made in about 10 days. I bought the yarn at the thrift store, it is Madelinetosh Sock Yarn in Waterlily. Not a color I would normally pick, but I do love Madelinetosh.

The pattern is Simply Ginny, so that's a repeat of for me, I made another pair of these about 8 years ago.

Since finishing these socks I started on another skein of Madelinetosh sock. Expect to see that finished project soon, though I may overdye the socks, as they are very pastel, and I am not big on pastel.

Staghorn Ferns

I love Staghorn Ferns. Today I mounted four onto a wormy board from the salvage store that I cut with my miter saw. Then I put a picture hanger on the back of each board and hammered some nails to the front in a circular pattern. The ferns don't need much soil, and you wrap the roots with some sheet moss. I made a spiderweb of twine (first I used copper wire but it's poison to plans apparently, so don't do that) to hold it in place, and voila! You need to take it down and soak it well. And whatever you do, don't try and wipe the dusty looking layer off of the leaves, the plant needs that layer. Now where will I hang one on my newly painted walls? And who will I give the others to?