Seahorse - Loop On!

I took most of the day off from work yesterday and decided to start another Megan Lapp pattern.  This one is the Seahorse.  I had this skein of yarn and thought that the colors reminded me of abalone and that it would make a nice seahorse.  The start is definitely fiddly, working over only 4 stitches, but once I got it going it wasn’t too bad.  It does take a fair number of rounds before you have more than a smushed tube to work on, but now I’m getting into the body it is pretty easy.

Pattern:  Seahorse by Megan Lapp

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Luster Worsted in Time Traveler

Hook:  4 mm (G)

Curvy Sleepy Dragon - Finished!

I finished this up this past Thursday, completing the assembly during some afternoon meetings while teleworking.  We delivered it to the little girl Thursday afternoon during our walk and she was delighted.  I am delighted as well.  I thoroughly enjoyed the crocheting all of the bits and pieces and enjoyed sewing it all together.  Megan Lapp’s patterns are truly amazing, very well written and very detailed.  I shall be making more.

Pattern: Curvy Sleepy Dragon by Megan Lapp

Yarn:  Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash

Hook:  4 mm (G)

Knotty and Nice - Finished!

I finished this shawl up on January 8, but it took me a while to get a decent outside photo.  I used up pretty much all of the Sunshine Yarn leftovers that I used for the border, finishing with a foot or two to spare.  The border yarn is Classic Sock, in the color Enchanted Pony.

Pattern:  Knotty and Nice by Laura Dobratz

Yarn:  Emma’s Yarn & Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

 

Northern Crown - Days 15-21

Funny thing.  This past week I decided to not pay attention to what day I was knitting and just keep knitting, and I still ended up only one day ahead.  This is day 21, which I finished up last night.  Working backwards:

Day 20

Day 19

Day 18

Day 17

Day 16

Day 15

Pattern:  Advent KALendar 2020 - Northern Crown - by Anna Dalvi

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Glitter

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Curvy Sleepy Dragon - Body Done!

I finished up the body this past week.  It really wasn’t too hard, once I figured out a couple of stupid mistakes on my part, watched a couple of her videos, read the instructions completely, counted carefully, and used some stitch markers to help keep track of where I was.  It was pretty additive.  I have done the front legs and have started on the back legs.  There are lots of small parts to make and then sew on.  I did not put any wire in this one as it is intended for a young girl, but I did get some wire, as well as more eyes to make more of these cute critters.

Pattern:  Curvy Sleepy Dragon by Megan Lapp

Yarn:  Cascade 220 Superwash

Hook:  4.0 mm (G)

Curvy Sleepy Dragon - Loop On!

There are two young girls that Bruce and I encounter on our walks.  One lives at the top of a cul-de-sac, and one lives at the bottom.  Both seem to have taken a shine to me.  The one at the top is named Alexis, and she likes to show me her cartwheels, and any interesting bugs she has found.  The one at the bottom is named Genevieve, but we call her the Warrior Princess for her fierce spirit.  Both girls are home schooled.  This past Christmas Alexis left a present at our front door, an unexpected pleasure, so I decided that I wanted to do something for her.  I have been enchanted with the Crafty Intentions crochet patterns of Megan Lapp for a while now, and although I have several in my Ravelry library, I had not tried making any until now.  When I went to thank Alexis (and her mom) for the thoughtful gift I showed Alexis a picture of the Curvy Sleepy Dragon and told her that I wanted to make one for her and asked what color she would like it.  She instantly said “pink”.  I was not too surprised, I had sort of pegged her as a pink girl.  I have yellow for the spines.  It took me quite a while to figure out connecting the jaw to the nose, but once I figured that out, and the slip stitch chain one join (thanks to a couple of her videos), it has been pretty straightforward, and very addicting.  I am definitely going to have to make more, and I imagine that the Warrior Princess will want one of her own once she sees it.

Pattern:  Curvy Sleepy Dragon by Megan Lapp

Yarn:  Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash.

Hook:  4.0 mm (G)

Fan Shawl 2 - Another section done

I have also been working on my second fan shawl, and completed another section, thanks to some meetings at work.

Pattern:  Fan Shawl

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarn Superwash Fine Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

 

Northern Crown - Days 8-14

I have been keeping up with this pattern easily.  It is a very nice set up, and I’m enjoying my yarns.  I probably need to put it on longer needles soon.  Above is Day 14.  Working backwards from there.

Day 13

Day 12

Day 11

Day 10

Day 9

Day 8

The lace is worked on both sides, as was done in the 2022 Advent pattern, but it is not hard.

Pattern:  Advent KALendar 2020 - Northern Crown - by Anna Dalvi

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Glitter

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Holly Sweater - Cast On!

I finally cast on my Holly Sweater this past week.  This is the 2022 Advent kit from Onling, a Danish yarn company.  I bought the kit because they had pictures of all the different colorways with swatches knitted up so you could see how they all played together.  It also looks to be a pretty straightforward colorwork sweater, which I thought would be good first Fair Isle project for me.  The yarn is the same yarn that is used in the Hanne Falkenberg kits (I have several of those and have knitted one).  The design is by Ruth Sorensen.

Here are my colors.  I have worked the collar up to the increases.  The pattern gives a great process for determining where to make the increase stitches to distribute them evenly, which I will try out, but I also have my Knit Evenly app on my iPad, which I will also consult for comparison.  I had forgotten how much fun colorwork is, especially when using the right yarn.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles:  US 1.5 (2.5 mm) and US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Knotty and Nice - 12 Border Repeats Done

One of the projects that I have been working on after finishing my daily clue for Northern Crown is the border on my Knotty and Nice Shawl.  I had about half a skein of Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock in Enchanted Pony left over from the Box of Chocolates Shawl and decided this would be a good use for it.  I am one quarter of the way done with the border.  I am using my current favorite knit on border that reminds me of the Eye of Horus.  I’ve used it on several other garter stitch shawls.

Pattern:  Knotty and Nice by Laura Dobratz

Yarn:  Emma’s Yarn and Sunshine Yarns

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

 

Northern Crown - Days 1-7

With the new month I decided to cast on another of Anna Dalvi’s Advent KALendar shawls, and work a clue each day.  This one is from 2020 (there doesn’t seem to be one from 2021) and is called Norther Crown.  I picked two Zen Yarn Garden skeins from my stash - French Vanilla and Clay Sand in Superfine Glitter.  They came as a pair.  I really like the colors.  There is an option to extend the shawl at the end, but I might do a knit on border, depending upon how much yarn I have left over.  This is the first picture I have gotten in natural light, the rest of the pictures I took on the daybed after working the clue in the evening.  I am still not using the recommended needle size, which is a US 7 (4.5 mm).  I did swatch with a US 7 (having one handy as I had cast off the Fan Shawl), but I decided to go down one size to a US 6 (4.0 mm).

Working backwards:  Day 6

Day 5

Day 4

Day 3

Day 2

Day 1

Given that I have the entire pattern it is certainly tempting to just keep knitting and ignore the daily clue breakouts, but I am trying to be disciplined and work on some other projects instead.

Pattern:  Northern Crown by Anna Dalvi

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Glitter

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Fan Shawl 2 - Cast On!

My winter break from work was very productive.  I finished up six WIPs.  Unfortunately I had to go back to work this past week, so I needed an easy project for my work bag.  Having finished up the first Fan Shawl, and liking the result, I promptly caked up one of the two remaining kits and cast on.  I’ve made some progress thanks to a couple of meetings last week.  I have absolutely no idea what the colorway is, as it is not labeled, and it turns out that the colorway identified on the pattern insert is the colorway of the sample.  Oh well!

Pattern:  Fan Shawl

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Fingering Weight Superwash Fine Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Fan Shawl - Finished!

My last finished object of 2022.  I cast off on Sunday and blocked on Monday.  Blocking was a little trickier than I thought it would be.

I started out pinning the circle for the neck edge, then I started pinning out the spokes.  I did tweak the spokes after taking the picture, but had trouble getting another in focus picture, so gave up and went with this one.

I like the size of mine.  I did add repeats and increases and used up almost all of the yarn.  The back comes down to a nice depth, and the front hangs to the elbow, which works quite well.  I have two more of these kits to knit up, so I will cast one on tonight to tuck into my work bag for knitting during meetings or while reviewing documents.

Pattern:  Fan Shawl

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Fingering Weight Superwash Fine Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Fuzzy Goat Box of Goats 2022 - Days 21-31

I have finished knitting with the yarn that came in the box, but will work a knit on border with the partial skein that is sitting in the middle of the picture.  It is from Sunshine Yarns.

Here are some more of the goodies that came in the box.

The items from Days 21-31:

Day 21 - Fuzzy Goat Screen Cleaning Cloth

Day 22 - Emma’s Yarn in Sugarcoated

Day 23 - Eucalyptus Shower Bomb (I’ve ordered more of these)

Day 24 - Emma’s Yarn in Take a Hike

Day 25 - Sewing Kit

Day 26 - Emma’s Yarn in Cosmos

Day 27 - A lobster claw, for holding stitch markers

Day 28 - Emma’s Yarn in Kale

Day 29 - Sock Monkey

Day 30 - Emma’s Yarn in Glitter and Garland

Day 31 - Wrap Tag for the shawl

Pattern:  Knotty and Nice by Laura Dobratz

Yarn:  Emma’s Yarn

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Winter Wonderland MKAL - Finished!

I finished this up on 29 December.  It was fun, and I love the colorways that have been created for it.  So many beautiful shawls!  I liked the construction.  Blocking was straightforward, pun intended.

This shawl is a nice size, generous without being too big, and the yarn is lovely, soft and with wonderful drape.

I have finished six projects during my winter break, and am down to thirteen WIPs, I frogged seven WIPs last year as well, and I have seven WIPs that are in hibernation.  I am determined to finish or frog them all.

Pattern:  Winter Wonderland MKAL by Kay Hopkins

Yarn: Miss Babs Yummy 2-Ply

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