Ibbi Socks - Sock Two - Cast On!

Having finished sock one, I cast on sock two yesterday afternoon.  I find that casting on the second sock right away (the same day, anyway) helps prevent second sock syndrome.  I have tried the two at a time magic loop, and didn’t like it, well, it was mostly the magic loop I didn’t like.  I prefer the two circular needles for my socks.  I have worked two socks at a time on two sets of circular needles, but am not crazy about that method either.

These socks are from the 2024 Onling Advent set.

Pattern:  Ibbi Socks by Inge-Lis Holst & Katrine Hannibal

Yarn:  Onling No. 18 in Color Rosa

Needles:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Ibbi Socks - One Sock Done!

This is my “I don’t feel like working on any other projects but still want some fiber in my hands” project, so it isn’t getting worked on super consistently.  I tend to work on it in spurts - work the cuff, turn the heel and work the gusset, then work the foot.  Once I started working the foot I wanted to get it done so I focused a bit more on it and this morning I finished up the first sock.   I don’t do the standard toe shaping anymore if I can help it, instead I shape the toe to fit my foot.  Yes, that does mean that I have a left and a right sock, and I’m good with that.  It also means that I have socks that fit my toes very well.  I mean seriously, is anyone’s toes shaped the way most sock patterns shape their toes?  Custom shaping them is easy, it just requires a lot of trying the sock on between rounds to make sure that the decreases are working out properly.  Obviously most of the decreases happen on the very sloped part of the toes, and I work them every other row.

Pattern:  Ibbi Socks by Inge-Lis Holst & Katrine Hannibal
Yarn:  Onling No. 18 in Color Rosa

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

Tessellation Nation - And so it begins…

I have finally started working on Tessellation Nation.  Most of the motifs have been released, which will give my a lot of freedom in my assembly, although she does have a recommended order of construction, and I will follow it, to a certain extent.  I know that lots of folks are varying the colors in their pentagons, because the frame color is really the important one, but I like things a bit more orderly, so have not been varying mine.  I do have a layout and a general color scheme, but there are still a lot of things that I am sorting out as I go, so I am going slow, and letting the design and color decisions come naturally.  I have lots of other crafting projects that I can work on while my subconscious mind ponders the next step.  I am using the recommended yarn - Scheepjes Terrazzo.  I had ordered some colors to get me started, so that is what I’m working with for now, and ordered some more last week to help fill out my pallet.

I do think that this is going to be a grand adventure, and I’m going to savor the journey.

Pattern:  Tessellation Nation by Sue Maton of The Mercerie

Yarn:  Scheepjes Terrazzo 

Hook:  3.75 mm (F)

Lightning Thief - Cast On!

I have lots of yarn in my stash, and lots of yarn that was bought as a project, and I thought it was about time that I started knitting them up.  Being the methodical sort, and not wanting to make decisions, I simply grabbed my first box of fingering (I have a lot of fingering weight yarn in my stash), and pulled this project yarn out.  When I was stashing my yarn on Ravelry I identified the pattern if the yarn was bought for a specific project, so it was easy to do.

I bought this yarn from Earth Faire back in 2015, for the pattern Lightning Thief  by Lily Go.  The yarn is not the original called for in the pattern, or any of the yarns listed on the pattern page.  It is Araucania Yarns Huasco Multy Botany Lace and is categorized as light fingering.  The color is Teal and I have two skeins, so I’m making the large size of the shawl.  Having finished my Wallflowers and started my Tessellation Nation, I felt I had enough mental attention to add another knitting project to my current WIPs (now at 11, down from two dozen).  Yes, I know I could have continued finishing up WIPs, but sometimes you just want to start something new.

Pattern:  Lightning Thief by Lily Go

Yarn:  Araucania Yarns Huasco Multy Botany Lace

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Wallflowers - Finished!

After almost a year, I have finally finished my Wallflowers blanket.  The course started on April 2, 2024 although I didn’t start actually working on it until May 20, 2024, finishing it up on March 26, 2025.  It is beautiful and I am very happy with it, as is Jezebel, who has claimed it as her own.  

This photo was taken before it was finished.  It is folded up on a plastic box that holds the leftover yarn from the project.  At the start of the project that box was completely full.  She really likes the arrangement, so I think it will stay.

Blocking was straightforward.

As recommended by Sue, I pinned it out on my blocking mats and did a light steam with my iron.  Now I can focus on Tessellation Nation.  I was really hoping to finish Wallflowers up in December before Tessellation Nation started on January 1, but I fell down the spinning rabbit hole and was distracted.  I ordered more yarn yesterday (I only had 12 colors selected, and she recommends more - she used 30) and will finally start working through the video lessons again.  I had paused when I got to the crocheting part.  I’ve been downloading files and setting up the project in knitCompanion.

Pattern:  Wallflowers by Sue Maton

Yarn: Rowan Felted Tweed DK

Hook:  3.75 mm (F) and 3.5 mm (E) for the border

 

Bolster Pillow - Finished!

This fiber was from Paradise Fibers, and is called Girl with Pearl Earring.  It is 54% Merino, 40% Kid Mohair, 6% Stellina.  I ended up with two skeins, one of 51 yards and 60.3 grams (~.85 yards/gram), and one of 72 yards and 79.1 grams (~0.91 yards/gram).  It was spun on my Kromski at an 8:1 ratio and played on my Kiwi at a 9.5:1 ratio.  I didn’t really know what else to do with it, but had a vague notion of turning it into a pillow, and ended up settling on a bolster pillow, so I grabbed a US 8 (5.0 mm) needle and cast on some stitches.

If you look at the blocking picture you can see that it did not come out as a perfect cylinder.  Yes, my gauge changed because my two skeins of yarn were not quite the same weight.  They weren’t that much off, but it was enough.  I didn’t really let it worry me, because I figured it wouldn’t make too much of a difference when I worked it up into the pillow.  I finished the knitting quickly, casting on March 13, and casting off March 14.  Then I had to wait for the bolster pillow form to arrive.  It came yesterday.  I immediately stuffed it into my waiting tube.

Yes, the bolster sticks out some at either end.  My tube was between sizes so I went with the larger size figuring yarn stretches and pillows compress and bolsters should be on the firmer side.  For the end caps I had already decided that I was just going to crochet circles until they were big enough to join with my knitted tube.  I had some sparkly DK yarn from Expression Fiber Arts left over from another project so I decided to use that.  I did the cast off (smaller end) first.

I joined the last round with the cast off edge using single crochet, pinning the end cap to the knitted tube using locking stitch markers and placing stitch markers about every 1.5 inches around the circumference so I could do the finagling to make them fit together neatly.  I then crocheted another end cap the same size and attached it to my cast on edge.  That was easier to do, just because of the nature of cast on and cast off edges, and the fact that it was a bit looser then my cast off edge.

I am delighted with the result.

Pattern:  None, just a simple knitted tube and some crocheted rounds

Yarn:  Hand spun by me

Needle:  US 8 (5.0 mm)

Hook:  4.5 mm

 

Hydrangea Neckwarmer - Finished!

I cast this project on back on March 17, 2025.  This is more of my hand spun, hand dyed yarn.  I spun the yarn on my Kromski, with a 12:1 ratio, and played it on my Kiwi, with a ratio of 9.5:1 and dyed it with a Wool Tincture Dyes dye kit using the color Malbec.  While this yarn still had some variability in thickness, it did come out more on the thinner side - at 219 yards and 90 grams.

I wanted to make an accessory out of this yarn so I went searching on Ravelry and settled on this pattern by Anne Hanson from the book Brave New Knits, which I happened to have in my knitting library.  I did make some modifications to the pattern.  I went up a needle size, to a US 4 (3.5 mm) needle, and I cast on more stitches.  The smaller size of this cowl has you cast on 84 stitches, for a finished circumference of 16 inches, while the larger size has you cast on 96 stitches, for a finished circumference of 18 inches.  Frankly, both of these sizes seemed too small for my tastes.  I did start out with 96 stitches and really didn’t like how small it seemed, so I ripped and cast on 144 stitches.

I did have some hiccups with the pattern.  I much prefer knitting from charts and typically skip past the written instructions that go along with the chart, which caused some consternation when I reached round 7 and my motif was not lining up correctly.  It turns out that the beginning of the round shifts on rounds 7, 9, and 11.  The written instructions have you slip the first stitch on those rounds, but there is no mention of the reason for slipping that stitch or that the motif shifts.  Luckily the motif is easily memorized, and I shifted my round marker as necessary to work the decreases that spanned it, using the chart only to make sure that I was lining up the motif correctly.

I also had some issues with the knit-on edging.  The pattern calls for a provisional cast on so you can graft the last row to the first row to make a continuous edge.  I didn’t want to do it that way so I just left the first and last motifs separate.  I like the way it allows the edge to settle on the shoulders.  The lace pattern was also fairly straightforward and easy to memorize, although I did have to rip back three times to fix errors that I made and didn’t catch until I was close enough to the end to easily count the remaining stitches and realize that I had screwed up somewhere.  It was a bit frustrating, but I did have that chart memorized by the end!

When I went to block it I was initially going to pin it out as I do with any lace item, but as I was laying it out on the blocking mats I decided I liked the look of a gentle block, especially the way that the edge ruffled, so I just smoothed it out a little and left it.

Pattern:  Hydrangea Neckwarmer by Anne Hanson from Brave New Knits edited by Julie Turjoman

Yarn:  Heinz 57 top, from The Woolery, hand spun and hand dyed by me

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

 

Ibbi Socks - Cast On!

I actually cast these on back on March 3 and have been working on them off and on.  I’ve been trying to finish up WIPs and not start new projects, but I fell down the spinning rabbit hole and have been obsessed with working with my handspun.  This is not handspun.  This is, in fact, part of the 2024 Onling Advent Calendar.  I had grabbed this yarn and some needles a while back and just parked them in a project bag waiting for the urge to cast on.  I’ve actually turned the heel on the first sock and have started on the foot.

The cuff is shorter than called for in the pattern because I have muscular calves (walking every day will do that for you) but overall the fit is perfect.  The pattern comes with three sizes and I’m working the medium size.

Pattern:  Ibbi Socks by Inge-Lis Holst & Katrine Hannibal

Yarn:  Onling No. 18 in color Rosa

Needle:  US 1 (2.25 mm)

 

Wallflowers - Half-hexi’s Finished!

All I have left to do now is the trim.  Jezebel has already claimed the blanket as hers, which can make working on it a bit of a challenge at times.  The fact that I’m working with dark yarn and want good natural light to avoid eye strain also narrows the window of activity.  I do love the way that it is coming out.  I need to get this finished so that I can focus on Tesselation Nation, which I have not even started - other than coming up with a potential motif arrangement and color scheme.

Pattern:  Wallflowers by Sue Maton, The Mercerie

Yarn:  Rowan Felted Tweed

Hook:  3.75 mm (F)

Simple Cowl - Finished!

I cast this on Tuesday, March 11, and finished it up Wednesday, March 12.  The yarn was spun up from a fiber club shipment from Paradise Yarns that I ordered on a whim.  It was a multicolored top - a mix of purples and yellows, and there were some other colors in there as well.  It was composed of 60% Extra Fine Merino, 25% Baby Alpaca, and 15% Tussah Silk.   I divided it in half, horizontally, so I could get two bobbins of singles, and then I stripped it lengthwise and spun it with absolutely no color management.  The resulting yarn was beautiful, and I’m sorry I don’t have a better picture of it.  It came out as worsted weight.

This is a picture fresh off the needles, before it went in for its blocking soak.  There is lots of color stuff happening, but it is pretty subtle.

And this is some of the yarn.  I actually had two skeins, a smaller one (this one) and a larger one, which I did not take a picture of.  The yarn was lovely - soft, silky, with great drape, and cushy.  It was also pretty consistent, which made me very happy.  Given how soft it was I knew I wanted something that I could wear close to the skin, so I cast on a simple cowl.  Just some rows of garter stitch at beginning and end and rounds and rounds of stockinette.  I even took out the end of round marker after I finished the first section of garter because I really just didn’t care and I wanted to make sure that I used up all of the yarn.  I only put the marker back in when I started the garter stitch for the end.

I spun the yarn on my Kromski, with a 12:1 ratio, and plyed it on my Kiwi, with a ratio of 9.5:1.  I even used a plying bracelet at the end to make sure I used up of the singles.

I really like having two wheels, one for spinning and one for plying so I don’t have to adjust them, and can have in process spinning on my Kromski while still finishing up other spinning efforts.

Pattern:  None - simple cowl, just cast on stitches, join in the round, and go

Yarn:  Handspun

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

 

Twills in Silk - Finished!

I started weaving this way back in 2012 - according to the project page in my weaving notebook for my loom, I started it on October 28, 2012.  I finally finished the weaving last month - February 27, 2025.  My beating is uneven, and for the most part denser than the pattern called for, so the beauty of the warp is unfortunately mostly hidden.  But it is finished, and now I can weave something else on that loom.  I am not unhappy with the result, imperfect though it may be.  One thing life (and spinning) has taught me is to not be overly judgmental about things.  Do I always try to improve my technique and increase my mastery?  Absolutely!  Do I beat myself up when I fall short of ideals?  Absolutely not!  Every day is a new day to learn, to grow, to improve.

Project:  Twills in Silk

Sett:  15 ends per inch

Materials:  1 - 3.5 ounce skein Gemstone 2/12 silk in #103 red, 1 mini-cone Gemstone 2/12 silk each in #116 rose, #105 Copenhagen, #106 gold

Source:  Yarn Barn of Kansas kit

Loom:  24 harness Margaret from Woolhouse Tools

More Spinning!

After spinning up the Zen Yarn Garden fiber (spin 6), I went back to the Heinz 57 fiber and focused on spinning up two full bobbins, trying to spin consistent thin single.  I ended up with about 103 grams / 255 yards of yarn, which I dyed using the Malbec.  I still had some paler spots, these were co-located with the ties, even though I tried to tie them loosely.  I might try using this yarn as the weft in some weaving.

Next, I pulled out some fiber that I had recently received from Paradise Fibers as part of their Fiber Club.

The fiber is called Girl with Pearl Earring, and contains 54% merino, 40% Kid Mohair, 6% Stellina.  It was a bit of a tricky spin for me, and I ended up with thicker singles - every time I tried to go thin it would go too thin and break.  I’m not sure what I would make with it.  The fiber club came with two fibers, and I’m still spinning up the second one, but I do have a sample.

The yarn is multicolored, and I’m not trying to do any sort of color management.  It is 60% Extra Fine Merino, 25% Baby Alpaca, 15% Tussah Silk.  This one came out a bit thicker as well, although I have spun another third of the fiber and the single has come out thinner, so maybe I’m getting a bit better.

All of these were plyed on my new wheel, an Ashford Kiwi 3.

I’ve set it up across the room from my Kromski.  It is wonderful to ply on.  On my Kromski my treadling is slow, but on the Kiwi I am fast, and the plying goes quickly.  I also bought a second niddy noddy, as the one I have only makes shorter skeins.  When I tackle long draw I will do that on the Kiwi, as my setup with the Kromski doesn’t really lend itself to those sort of arm movements.

Jezebel Blankie - Finished!

Well, not really a blanket, but a sleeping spot for a kitty that loves to curl up on my knitting and crochet projects.

I started working on this back on February 28, and finished it up on March 3.  It contains my first 5 efforts at spinning.  The Turquoise is my first and second spins, the Eggplant, my third, the Deep Water my fourth, and the Malbec my fifth.

I like the fact that you can see the improvement in my spinning in the piece itself, and yet all of it was usable.

Pattern:  Easy 4 Colour Log Cabin Blanket by Haley Waxberg

Yarn:  Heinz 57 fiber from The Woolery, handspun

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Wallflowers - Hexis Finished!

I finished up the last of the full hexis last night.  Now I just have the half-hexis on the top and the bottom (13 on each edge) and then I can work the border and this will be done!  With the darker yarn I am mostly working on this in the afternoon when I have good natural light.  I have the box with the yarn, with the blanket folded on top next to my daybed so that I can work on it whenever my cat, Jezebel, is not sleeping on it.

She was actually a bit miffed with me last night because after I finished with the hexis I spent the rest of the evening Netflixing and sewing in ends.  I now have all the ends sewn in.  I have been keeping up with the sewing in ends thing, but I would typically wait until I had completed the next part of the project just to make sure I didn’t have to rip back.  If I were keeping to that plan I would not have sewn in the ends for all for my dark purple hexis, but I decided to sew all of them in.

Pattern:  Wallflowers by Sue Maton

Yarn:  Rowan Felted Tweed

Hook:  3.75 mm (F)

 

Garter Stitch Scarf - Finished!

One of the things that the Sheepspot Spinschool recommends is immediately starting to work with your handspun.  As mentioned in a previous blog post I had spun up some roving from Zen Yarn Garden.  It still wasn’t consistently spun, but there were sections that were very good, and I decided to knit it up into a simple garter stitch scarf.  It was very nice to knit with, even with the inconsistent thickness.  I used a US  6 (4.0 mm) needle.  It relaxed a bit when I blocked it.  Here is the pre-blocking picture.

And here is the yarn that I used.

Pattern:  None - just cast on 35 stitches and work until all the yarn is used up

Yarn:  Handspun from Zen Yarn Garden Superwash Merino Roving

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

 

Dyeing My Handspun

I spent a day last week dyeing up my handspun using the dyeing kit that I had bought from Wool Tincture.  It was super easy, and fun.  The only hiccup came on the last skeins to be dyed (bottom right corner) which came out with some lighter patches, which I am attributing to the fact that I used tap water instead of filtered fridge water - I had used filtered water on all the other batches.  There was even some undissolved dye powder left over in the jar when I dumped the water and rinsed it.  Lesson learned.  The colors are (from left to right and top to bottom):  Turquoise, Eggplant, Deep Water, and Malbec.  This yarn, which is on the bulky side and is not very consistently spun will be turned into a blanket for my cat.  She really likes to lay on my knitting and crochet projects, and has already loved on these skeins.

I set up my dye operations in the spare bathroom.  That is a trivet under the dye jar (part of the instructions).

Here is the first batch of yarn in the dye jar.

First batch on the drying rack, and second batch in.

Second batch on the drying rack and third batch in.

Third batch on the drying rack and fourth batch in.  I modified the arrangement of the drying rack between the second and third batches, to give myself enough room to hang the skeins.  All in all it was a very fun experience.

More Spinning

I’ve also been trying to spin regularly and finished up my first pound of Heinz 57 top from The Woolery, and cracked open the second pound bag of Heinz 57 that I had bought.  These two skeins were spun on a faster whorl (16:1 as opposed to 10:1), which was a bit exciting at times.  They are all tied up and ready for a dye bath.  I purchased a dyeing kit from Wool Tincture, which claims that if you can brew a cup of tea you can dye yarn.  I definitely have mastered tea brewing, so we shall see how that goes.

The kit comes with a dyeing jar (no sacrificing any of your kitchen ware) and you can get pre-measured dye kits in complementary colors, all you have to do is add the hot water and let the magic happen.  No fancy variegated stuff - just solid colors - but that is fine with me.  I just don’t feel like working with white wool.

I also spun up one of the dyed rovings that I bought ages ago when I first thought I would want to go down the spinning rabbit hole.  This was a roving from Zen Yarn Garden, who have recently closed their shop (they retired), although their dyer has opened up one of her own, so you can still get their beautiful colors.  I have a lot of their yarn in my stash.  This roving had been sitting around in its plastic wrap for years in my studio, never finding a home, so I just grabbed it, opened up the package, undid the braid and let it breathe for a few days before I started spinning.  The fiber is superwash merino, and it was dreamy to spin, so silky and soft.  I went back to the slower whorl (10:1) for this one, just because I felt like I had more control.  My spinning is still not consistent, but the yarn came out beautiful and soft.  It will likely become a scarf.

For plying both of these sets of singles I broke out the jumbo flyer that I had bought for my Kromski spinning wheel.  Getting it switched over was a bit of a challenge, and getting it set up to actually ply was also a bit of challenge and I ended up snapping my string drive band.  Fortunately I had a spare poly drive band so I replaced the band and got it all working.  It definitely took more effort to treadle (I have a single treadle), especially as the bobbin filled (inertia is real).  Spinning with my regular flyer is really easy and almost effortless, so I wasn’t super happy with the experience of plying on the jumbo.  I’m seriously thinking about getting a second wheel just for plying and am looking at the Ashford Kiwi 3, which comes with larger capacity bobbins, and is compact, and folds up.

 

Holly Sweater - Finished!

And it is done!  I finished up the second sleeve this past Sunday and blocked it on Monday.  So, my first all-over colorwork, top-down, yoked sweater is done.  I learned lots and enjoyed the knitting.   I have two more Advent calendar kits from Onling to knit up - one from 2023 and one from 2024 - but right now I am back to working on my Wallflower Blanket.  I need to finish it up so I can get started on Tesselation Nation.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)

Holly Sweater - One Sleeve Done!

After finishing my needlepoint excursion I went back to working on my Holly Sweater and quickly finished up the sleeve.  When I started the sleeve I worked the decreases as the pattern calls for, but when I tried it on I decided that the decreases (every five rows!) were making the sleeve too tight, so I ripped back to the row before the first decrease and worked the sleeve without decreases.  That made for much easier knitting as I didn’t have to make sure to adjust the pattern every time I decreased to line up the motifs correctly.  When I got to the cuff I worked a decrease round to get me to the correct number of stitches, from 96 stitches down to 64, which meant I worked k1, k2tog all the way around.  I also only worked 22 motifs instead of 23, as the pattern size (XS) called for, and worked 12 rows of ribbing before binding off.  The sleeve length is perfect and I like the way it gathers in at the cuff.  I think it fits with the easy of the body.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)

A Little Needlepoint Excursion

I took a little break from knitting last week (I had overdone it and was noticing some soreness in places that aren’t usually sore) and spent the week doing a little needlework project.  This was a kit for a notions bag. I found it when I was setting up my spinning corner.  The zipper actually goes all the way around so you can unzip it to work the needlepoint and then zip it back up to use it.  I also added a cotton lining just to finish it off.  My first forays in to the crafting universe were actually embroidery and needlepoint back when I was in my early teenage years.  I don’t think I have any of the embroidery that I did, although I think I still might have my embroidery hoop somewhere, but maybe not, it has been a very long time since I’ve seen it.  I do have three needlepoint pillows that I have made, including my very first one, which was a bargello kit.  I also have several cross-stitch and needlepoint kits that I have purchased over the years, and a latch-hook “tiger skin” rug that I have never finished - all I have left is the assembly.  One of these days, now that I’m retired…

Holly Sweater - Body Done!

I finished up the body last night, and started on a sleeve.  Spit splicing the yarn is working great    I also did a long-tail cast-on for the stitches under the arm when I set up the body stitches.  The first body row begins with casting on 8 stitches, so I did a long-tail cast-on and dropped the end when I got to the body stitches.  When I got to the other underarm stitches I tied a piece of the same color yarn to the working strand and did the long-tail cast-on again.  I like the nice edge this gives, as well as easy stitch pick-up, and it also seems to reduce those pesky holes you tend to get.  Plus, if you do have any holes you have tails at each side of the underarm seam to sew them closed.  This will be my go-to technique going forward.

The pattern calls for 6 cm of ribbing at the hem, but I only did 4, 6 just seemed excessive, and the sweater is plenty long enough on me.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles;  US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)

Holly Sweater - Yoke Done!

Since I have retired I have actually become monogamous with my projects, so I have been knitting away at my colorwork sweater.  This morning I finished up the yoke and am now ready to place sleeve stitches on stitch holders and start working on the body.  Before I get too far in to that endeavor I am going to skein up all my little balls of yarn, spit splicing them together so I don’t end up with a bunch of mini skeins, then wet them to get the kinks out and cake them up again.  I’m pretty happy with how this is turning out, and my gauge looks to be pretty spot on.  No, I did not do a gauge swatch, my earlier attempt served as my gauge swatch, and I have since checked the gauge on the yoke and seem to be on target.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)

Holly Sweater - Take Three!

Having finished my Peacock Shawl (a project that I had started back on November 6, 2016!) I looked at my other WIPs to see what I wanted to tackle finishing next.  When I had set it aside back in March of 2023 it was almost finished.  I had actually worked one of the sleeves, although I didn’t take a picture.  But here is a picture of the body finished.

Although it fit me, it did not have the recommended ease, and after letting my mind ruminate on it in the background and trying it on again, I decided that it really did need more ease and that my gauge was just too tight.  I had already gone up one needle size, but I decided I needed to go up more.  I was using a 2.5 mm and 3.0 mm needle, and my gauge was 32 stitches and 38 rounds in 4 inches, vice the called for gauge of 27 stitches and 30 rounds in 4 inches, so I decided to go up to a 3.5 mm (US 4) and a 3.75 mm (US 5) and try again.  To organize the yarn I got 8 bags, and put a slip of paper with the chart symbol for the color in each one.  Then I spent an evening frogging my work and winding lots of little balls of yarn and sorting them all in to the appropriate bags while watching the Chiefs beat the Texans.  My Lumos light helped me make sure I got the correct colors in their respective bags.

I had already cast on a fresh start and the larger needles, and going up the needle size seems to have done the trick with regards to gauge.  I was worried about the looser gauge looking sloppy with the color work, but so far it seems to be okay.

Pattern:  Holly Sweater by Ruth Sorensen

Yarn:  Shetland Wool

Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm) and US 5 (3.75 mm)