Knitting & crochet projects from the past year and a half

Not that many! The property kept me busy, and one of them (Moyen Age sweater) took a very long time.

One Chunky Cable Hat: a quick knit to surprise my girlfriend.

"Zombie" Moyen Age: Moyen Age is a very popular pattern, so I knew it would be a good one to try for my first ever sweater. I also knew that choosing a highly speckled yarn would kind of cover up the pretty cables, but I really liked the yarn (colorway called "Zombies: 1, Humans: 0") so I went for it. I'm happy with the result and am looking forward to more sweaters in my future.

Stocking for brother in law: Everyone in my family now has a stocking (including the dogs). The fuzzy yarn was fun to work with and gives a great result.

Dog Bandanas: I wanted to make a bandana with some sort of design on it, maybe writing and/or symbols. I looked at some patterns and found the shape that I wanted. I decided to go with double knitting for a squishy, sturdy fabric, and to be able to add designs without worrying about floats getting caught on stuff like dog tags. This was my first time doing non-mirrored double knitting. There were a few false starts, but it was worth it. I made a spreadsheet with formulas to help me calculate the number of stitches for the bands and the base of the triangle, and then how many decreases to put in based on my gauge. Yay spreadsheets!

In retrospect, I should have made the lettering higher and larger on this one. This was the first try.

Modeled by Terra before I gifted it to the recipient.

The second bandana came out just right.

 Cozy for whipped cream dispenser: This metal is always so cold, man.

I currently have 3 WIPs: a lace shawl that is theoretically my easy travel project (I've been "working" on it since 2018, but I keep bringing my main WIPs along instead), a set of tiny amigurumi narwhals that I hardly every work on (first one still needs to be assembled), and my main project, a cotton tank top that is maybe 75% of the way done. But I'm putting all of those on pause to crochet a pair of fingerless mittens for a cousin I'll be seeing in two months. I last saw her several years ago and she was looking over my shoulder at my favorites list on Ravelry. She pointed to the Rotweinknoten mitts and said "make me that." I bought yarn for it in 2019, and it's been waiting since!

Knitting/crochet update: Hamilton shawl, seamless cat hat, dog sweater for Frank

 I call this my Whimsically Informed shawl (Hamilton shawl). I was hoping to wear it to a show, but sadly the pandemic cancelled the rest of the San Francisco run before I finished it.

Seamless cat hat needed alternations because the "small" size was made to be less tall, but not smaller in circumference. Came out a little short. But cute.

Perfect Fit Dog Sweater for Frankie needed a TON of alterations as I went, despite measuring and calculating carefully. You can see that it's still a little baggy behind his armpits. I wrote down the final pattern, and a couple more alterations I'd do for next time, so now I can make as many sweaters for Frank as I want. I was REALLY hoping this would be a one-skein-of-Malabrigo-Rasta project, but sadly it was 1.25.

I am mostly done with my very first sweater, the Moyen Age. I had taken a break when I got to the sleeves because I dislike magic loop and DPNs. I do best with tiny circulars. I put off buying the set of ChiaoGoo size 4-8 shorties until I had a little more money, and the right sleeve is in progress now.

In the meantime I started a Criss Cross Top that is one color on the back and split into left and right colors on the front. The back is all done.

Kryptonite Lace Shawl and amigurumi Narwhals are floating around as easy travel projects.

Steampunk shoulder cover, double knit kitten scarf

I crocheted this steampunk shoulder cover years ago, purchased the buttons for it, then left it in the "to be finished" bin because sewing the buttons on was annoying. I finally got the pendants and finished it up. I won't be wearing it until summer but I'm happy with it.

This scarf was my first double knitting project. I need to figure out how to do a better twist along the edges so that the wrong color doesn't wrap around, but it's a surprisingly easy technique that yields a fabulous result. I have multiple other double knit projects in my queue.

Crafting updates

I made the Radiata shawl as a surprise gift for my grandmother, who used to constantly knit sweaters and scarves for the family. She had to stop due to arthritis.

As a silly project for myself, I made an amigurumi globe:

I finished spinning up and chain plying a merino/silk braid from Greenwood Fiberworks. This was my first chain plying project. It's not totally even but it's worth it to preserve the color changes of the original braid. The yarn came out about fingering weight and 290 yards.

I have a couple of big projects on the needles that will take a long time to finish (a fingering weight sweater and a double knit scarf). So I haven't done nearly as much crafting so far in 2019 as usual. (I've also been spending more of my free time reading.)

Gauge ruler

The Black Squirrel has the best notions and such. Even if I don't buy yarn when I go in, I almost always get some little accessories. This one's a wooden gauge ruler, which makes it much easier to make sure to count how many stitches and rows you're creating per inch/cm. If you're creating more or less than the pattern calls for, your garment will end up larger or smaller than intended!

Reloading yarn

I bought 2 skeins of Berroco Flicker in the color "albrecht." Together that is 378 yards. I decided to use them for a pattern that calls for 350-370 yards. I knew that I was cutting it close, but forged ahead.

I ran out of yarn only 2/3rds of the way through the pattern. WHAT

I went online to purchase more and found that this yarn has been discontinued. Frantically searched and found a website that had 3 skeins in stock. Bought all of them.

There was one more potential problem - the new skeins might not match the old ones exactly, since they would probably be from a different dye lot. Luck was on my side: the dye lot was exactly the same on the 3 new ones as on the 2 I'd already used. Win!

Recent crochet and knitting projects

I was on vacation for two weeks and used much of my downtime to whip up quick projects. First, my third ever knit item, the popular "Hat Shaped Hat" on Ravelry:

(I have like 40 patterns for super-bulky knit hats in my Favorites. Want to make so many. I love hats.)

Then in crochet, Ribbed Slipper Pocket Socks:

My second Spiral-Cabled Hat, modified:

And Weave-Through Scarflette:

I also finally took a proper picture of the extra-long Hufflepuff scarf I'd made a few months back:

And an updated photo of the Buttoned Up Newsboy Hat, to which I added stars on the sides:

HATS HATS HATS

Yarn is packed

Found 3 skeins of a yarn I hadn't input into Ravelry, and so had forgotten about. It was like a present to myself!

This isn't quite all of it - most of the roving is stuffed into the spinning wheel's carry bag.

Crocheted shark socks, mesh shirt

My sister was very happy with the foot-eating shark socks I crocheted for her.

I also made a mesh shirt for my mom to wear over a swimsuit at the beach. She'd specifically requested it after we saw some for sale while on vacation at the Caribbean. I only got a picture of it getting blocked.

Recent projects: rusalka cowl, Pusheen amigurumi, bow ties

Rusalka cowl in alpaca & merino yarn:

Pusheen amigurumi for Rachel:

Bow ties for Rachel: