Winter Wonderland MKAL - Clue 4 Done

The mystery knit along is over, it finished up on December 9, but I knew that I would not be able to complete my shawl in time for any of the prize drawings so I set it aside in order to finish some other projects.  But now that those are done I have pulled it back out and will finish it up this week.  The final clue joins the pieces together.

Pattern:  Winter Wonderland MKAL by Kay Hopkins

Yarn:  Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply

Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)

Giant Peach - Finished!

This is the final Unique Sheep Mystery Knit Along, as one of the pair of dyers is retiring at the end of this year.  They are the dyers that created the gradiance technique.  This series started back in 2009 with The Secret Garden and all of the shawls are inspired by children’s books.  Once it was established there were three a year, two in fingering weight and one (during the summer) in lace weight, thirty-three shawls in total.  I’ve done all but four and have test knitted eighteen of them and tech edited seventeen.  It is the end of an era.  This final one is inspired by James and the Giant Peach.  I knit it in the colorway November.

Fortunately I have a lot of Unique Sheep gradiance colorways in my stash, most of them in shawl kits from the collaboration of one of the dyers (the one who is retiring) with Earthfaire, plus other kits from various clubs, that will keep me busy knitting with their beautiful colors for many years to come.  See, there are benefits to having a large stash.

Pattern:  James and the Giant Peach by Janine le Cras

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Diamond Luxe

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hearthside Crochet Along - Finished!

I finished this up on December 18, but didn’t get around to blocking it until yesterday.  It isn’t perfect (from a gauge  perspective), but I am very pleased with how it came out.  My gauge on the last two clues was just a smidge tight.  I did not pin anything.  I soaked it, squeezed out the water, and did the wrap it in a towel, roll it up and stand on it, and then just laid it out on the blocking mats, smoothing it into shape.

 Apparently I did not post about clue 11.

And here is a pre-blocking picture that show the colors better.

The colors used were all of the recommended colors in the warm colorway:

Leaves

Monarch

Red Flame

Caramel Popcorn

Huanchaco 

Toadstool

Furiends

Sumatran Tiger

Fudge

New York at Night

Autumn Lake

Time Traveler

Pattern:  Hearthside by Jane Vaselous

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Luster Worsted

Hook:  5.0 mm (H)

 

Advent KALendar 2022 - Days 17, 18, 19, 20, 22, 23 & 24

Here is the finished shawl blocking, with a photo bomb by Jezebel.  Somehow I missed taking a photo of Day 21.  But I have the progress shots for all the rest.  I could have made it longer if I wanted, there is the option of adding more triangles, but I didn’t feel like doing that.  The size is really quite nice, a stole on the smallish size for when you just need a little bit of warmth, but don’t want too much shawl to handle, and you can always just scrunch it up and use it as a scarf.

Day 17

Day 18

Day 19

Day 20

Day 22

Day 23

Day 24

And a couple of photos off of the blocking mats.

A super fun pattern, easy to knit, great construction.

Pattern:  Advent KALendar 2022 by Anna Dalvi

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Fuzzy Goat Box of Goats 2022 - Days 17-20

In between clues for the Advent KALendar 2022 I work on this, especially if I want to read while I knit.  Right now I am reading the Lord Peter Wimsey mysteries by Dorothy L. Sayers.  They are rather delightful.

Day 17:  Purple needle huggers

Day 18:  Emma’s Yarn in Fishbowl (the blue)

Day 19:  Notions container - perfect for holding the stitch marker, the needle huggers and the tip protectors

Day 20:  Emma’s Yarn in Earthling (the green)

Pattern:  Knotty and Nice by Laura Dobratz

Yarn: Emma’s Yarn

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Perseverance Knit Along - Finished!

I finished this up last Sunday.  I am pretty pleased with how it came out.  It is a hefty blanket, and my gauge is not perfect, but not bad, especially considering I only did a gauge swatch on the first pattern. The rest I just winged it, going up or down a needle size depending on what the pattern was and how it felt as I was knitting.  It did cause me to have to rip back a couple of times when I realized the knitting was too loose, but I didn’t mind that.  Jezebel has photo bombed to apply her seal of approval on the project.  I think if I were to knit this pattern again I would knit it at a tighter gauge.  It just feels a little too stretchy to me (an effect of the fact that the yarn is superwash, perhaps).  I never had any issues with running out of yarn on any of the sections.  I do like the design, and it was a fun project.

Colors used, in order of use (from bottom right corner to top left corner):

Unshaken

Nightlife

Caricia

Black Hole

Unwilling Hero

Blue Goldstone

Like Rain

In the Cabana

Fugue

Swept Away

Country Village

Captain

Pattern:  Perseverance by Jane Vanselous

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Enduring Worsted

Needles:  US 6 (4.0 mm), US 7 (4.5 mm), US 8 (5.0 mm)

Fuzzy Goat Box of Goats - Days 10-16

This is my easy go-to project when I’m caught up on my Advent KALendar knit.  The latest additions:

Day 10:  Emma’s Yarn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s (already knitted in to the shawl)

Day 11:  John Gregory’s recipe for Goat Cheese Prosciutto Pizza

Day 12:  Emma’s Yarn in Clear the Air (the smaller of the two caked up skeins)

Day 13:  Fuzzy Goat Stitch Marker

Day 14:  Emma’s Yarn in Happily Ever After (the larger of the two caked up skeins)

Day 15:  Fuzzy Goat Pin

Day 16:  Emma’s Yarn in Be Hoppy (not yet caked)

I will probably not be trying the recipe - just not a fan of the toppings, I’m afraid I’m terribly pedestrian when it comes to pizza toppings.  We do make our own pizza, in fact we are having pizza tonight.  I make the dough in my bread machine, and it is super yummy.  We are spoiled now.  I do like the shawl pattern, but I think shawls like this really need a knit on edging.  I may have to see if I have a suitable skein of yarn in my stash for that.

Pattern:  Knotty and Nice by Laura Dobratz

Yarn:  Emma’s Yarn

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Advent KALendar 2022 - Days 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14 & 15

I’ve been keeping up with this quite well.  The clues each day are small and easy to manage, and the pattern is really quite simple and straightforward.  Even the lace is pretty easy, especially for lace that is worked on both sides.  Day 9 continues the third triangle.

Day 10.

Day 11.

Day 12 finished up the third triangle.  This is a fun construction, and I do like the fact that there is no right or wrong side.

Day 13 started the fourth triangle.

Day 14.  The photo is a little dark as it was raining all day yesterday.

Day 15.

Pattern:  Advent KALendar 2022 by Anna Dali

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Fuzzy Goat Box of Goats 2022 - Days 4-9

The Fuzzy Goat Box of Goats goes for the complete month, not just to Christmas, so it is not a traditional Advent calendar.  Here are the first nine days.  You can see that I have almost finished knitting the first mini skein of yarn.  The pattern is pretty easy, and I like the color play.  So far we have:

Day 1 - Fuzzy Goat Yarn Bobbin

Day 2 - Emma’s Yarn in Securrity

Day 3 - Purple star point protectors

Day 4 - Emma’s Yarn in Parasol (the speckled that I am knitting with)

Day 5 - Peppermint Bark

Day 6 - Emma’s Yarn in On the Rocks (the other speckled skein)

Day 7 - Goat Garage Magnet

Day 8 - Emma’s Yarn in Sprout (the skein that has not been caked)

Day 9 - Purple acupressure finger ring (I had to look this one up on the Fuzzy Goat website as I had no idea what it was, but I have tried it out, and it does actually work).

And here is a picture from Day 5, just to prove that the Peppermint Bark exists.

Pattern:  Knotty and Nice by Laura Dobratz 

Yarn:  Emma’s Yarn

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

 

Advent KALendar 2022 - Days 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, & 8

Day 3 introduced the second triangle.

Which continued to grow with Day 4, and a little lace work (a nice break from the moss stitch)

And some more lace work on Day 5.  This lace is worked on both sides (there really isn’t a right side or a wrong side with this pattern).  I’m not a huge fan of working lace on both sides, but this was not hard.

Day 6 is getting us ever closer to finishing the second triangle.

Day 7 is almost there.  Day 8 completed the second triangle, at which point I discovered that I had made a mistake with my first triangle.  I was two stitches short.  So I ripped back.  It was actually pretty easy to rip back because of the way the second triangle is joined to the first triangle.  Basically I just peeled the second triangle away, picking up the live stitches of the first triangle as I went.  Then I raveled the second triangle.  There were still a few stitches at the very start of the second triangle that I could not disengage until I had raveled the second triangle, but that was easy.  I knit the missing rows to get the correct stitch count and then redid all of that previous work.

Day 8 completed the second triangle and started the third.

Pattern:  Advent KALendar 2022 by Anna Dalvi

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Fuzzy Goat Box of Goats 2022 - Days 1–3

I have a little bit of a thing for Advent Calendars.  I’ve been collecting them for a few years now.  I probably have enough right now that I could have a year (or more) of Advent Calendars.  And yes, some of them have not even been opened.  This is the Fuzzy Goat Box of Goats 2022.  For some reason I decided that I would open this one.  It came with a pattern (always a plus) - Knotty and Nice by Laura Dobratz.

Day 1 - the cute little Fuzzy Goat yarn bobbin

Day 2 - the lovely pink yarn, 10.1 grams of Emma’s Yarn in the color Securrrity

Day 3 - the purple (!) star point protectors

Pattern:  Knotty and Nice by Laura Dobratz

Yarn:  Emma’s Yarn

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Advent KALendar 2022 - Days 1 & 2

Anna Dalvi is an extremely talented designer that designs exquisite shawls.  I have a number of them in my library but have not knit one before.  For several years she has been holding an Advent Mystery Knit Along where she releases a clue a day.  I have those patterns as well, but have never participated.  I started to one year but didn’t like the color choices so I dropped out.  I purchased the 2022 pattern and when the first clue dropped this past Thursday I did a little stash diving and came up with this pair.  The pair is from 2019 and was dyed up by The Unique Sheep for Ste Patrick’s Day, but I prefer to think of the speckled as Christmas lights/decorations against the snow and the green as holly leaves.  I started with the speckled for Day 1.  Just a cute little triangle of moss stitch.  No right or wrong side was indicated so I put a locking stitch marker on the side on which I worked the increases.

Day 2 introduced the lovely green.

Pattern:  Advent KALendar 2022 by Anna Dalvi

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Winter Wonderland MKAL - Clue 3 Done

Clue 3 finished off the first side, and started the second.  The last section of the first side has some double increases, and the gray is worked as short rows, which gives it the shape.  The lace pattern in the first pink section of the second side is candy canes.  I barely had enough of that mini-skein to finish, ending up with maybe two feet left over.  I had plenty of my second mini-skein.  I’ve already started working clue 4 and have pulled clue 5 into my knitCompanion app.  I’ve seen a finished photo and it is a really cool design.

Pattern:  Winter Wonderland MKAL by Kay Hopkins

Yarn:  Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply

Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm) and US 4 (3.5 mm)