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.)

PVC niddy noddy, ChiaoGoo Shorties needles

I recently purchased a 1 yard niddy noddy cut from slim wood, but I decided that a stronger, 2 yard one would be useful as well. The wooden one would bend if I pulled too much while winding onto it. This when I hung my yarn to stretch and set:

The hanks with more yardage weren't stretching evenly and still had curly bits.

Here's the new niddy noddy with the problematic hanks rewound:

In other fiber news, I ordered a set of ChaioGoo Shorties (mini circular interchangeable needles). They're hilariously tiny:

Ready for socks! And also just lace any weight projects, as I hadn't had any needles smaller than 2.75 mm.

More hats and updated hats

Two recently completed beanies:

Am I cute or what?!

Both of these hats have rabbit fur pom poms purchased at The Black Squirrel. Once I've finally gotten the hang of breaking hides, I definitely want to make my own fur pom poms.

I also added two fur pom poms to the Bobble & Twist Hood:

And a yarn pom pom to the NOPE beanie:

Bobble and Twist Hood

This was a super fun pattern! If I were to make it again, I would make the cabled brim out of a thinner yarn (it is super bulky on 6.5 mm needles). Even with the tight gauge, it comes out long and wide and overwhelms my small head. I'll definitely be wearing it, though. I might add a bobble onto the back and the sides of the brim, as pictured in the pattern.

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!

Pearla Lace Shawl #2

I love fancy, lacy crescent-shaped shawls. I made a Pearla Lace Shawl last year for my sister, and wanted a second one for myself.

These photos don't really do it justice.

I went ahead and cast on the Kryptonite lace shawl from the same designer, then set that aside while I knock out some faster, bulky weight projects.

NOPE hat take 2, Stitch & Bitch spinning

I was excited to try my hand at both fair isle and intarsia with this pattern for a hat that says NOPE. I followed the pattern exactly, and this was the result:

Okay, my head is small, but seriously? The upper part before the brim comes all the way down to my eyebrows. And the brim, even folded in half, would cover half my head on its own. So I took out the bottom row of hearts, shortened the brim, and made a few other minor changes. Take 2 is much better.

Chase reminded me about the Stitch & Bitch at her store every Thursday evening. I used to go sometimes when I lived in Oakland, and I miss it. Yesterday I didn't have any evening clients so I decided to make the drive down. Rachel joined me at the store. Instead of working on my endless queue of knitting and crochet projects, I brought my neglected spinning wheel and continued with the pink/yellow/purple/silver merino and silk roving. I've always called it "My Little Pony roving" and multiple other people referred to it as "unicorn hair." It took about ten minutes to get back into the groove of spinning, and a few hours before I was back up to my previous speed. The time flew by. I finished filling up a second spindle. One more to go, and then I'll ply all three together.

I told Rachel not to let me buy anything unless I had a very good reason. Well, Chase had yarn spinners/lazy susans, which I've been coveting for months. I've been having major problems with my yarn twisting up as I knit when using center-pull balls. So I had to get one.

I also picked up another little project bag. It was too funny to resist.