Black Forest Socks
Started: 22 March 2022
Finished: 29 March 2022
Pattern: Plain Old Socks (my pattern)
Yarn: Sheepy Time Knits Ewe Know Who in colorway, “Black Forest”
Needle: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm
Notes: Basic socks in a really neat green/black color that is absolutely named perfectly. Knit up in only a week!
Doily Rug
Started: 14 March 2022
Finished: 15 March 2022
Pattern: Rag Doily Rug by Coco Knits
Yarn: Recycled sheets
Needle: US 19 / 15 mm
Notes: I have a few sets of old sheets lying around that I keep meaning to upcycle into something usable. Well, it was finally time! This set of sheets, I actually ripped a hole in the middle when I got into bed, that’s how thin they had gotten. So, first step was to cut them into size. These were for a California King bed, so I folded them over a few times to make it a shorter pass and went to town with my rotary cutter, cutting 1.5″ strips. To join strips together, I want to say I used the looped hole technique shown here, but it’s also been over a year and I can’t quite remember? I don’t think I bothered sewing the ends together, but my strips were pretty long. The needles were something I grabbed from online since I definitely didn’t have a size that large on hand, and I’m not going to lie, I’m used to knitting socks, so knitting something this big on needles that large was a full arm workout and definitely tiring on the hands. Thankfully, it was a pretty small project and went rather quickly! The fabric, IIRC, was some kind of microfiber fabric, so the weave is SUPER messy – it split and frayed all over the place while I was knitting and there was just no way to control it – it was nothing like ripping/cutting a plain old cotton sheet. In the end, things came together well and the resulting rug does look a little fuzzy, but it hasn’t shed anymore. I did wash and lay this out to shape it before placing it at our back door, and I think that helped a bunch. SUPER fun to do this and I’m happy with the final result! I still have a bunch of this ‘yarn’ leftover too, so I should be able to make another one too.
Sparkly Socks
Started: 09 Feb 2022
Finished: 01 Mar 2022
Pattern: Plain Old Socks (my pattern)
Yarn: Blue Moon Fiber Arts Super Sparkle in colorway “Supreme Black Dalek”
Needle: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm
Notes: I have written down that I knit these on the plane to and from going to visit my husband while he was stationed in the UK, and interestingly enough, I wore them back to the UK for this last trip just a few months ago. Yes, late posting is late. Every year I swear I’m going to get on top of things and post on a regular schedule and then beekeeping season happens, and well, blogging isn’t as important. Anyway, I absolutely love the color and the sparkle in these, and BMFA yarn has always been a huge favorite.
Evja Mittens
Started: 28 Jan 2022
Finished: 5 Feb 2022
Pattern: Evja Mittens by Skeindeer Knits
Yarn: Locust Hollow Alpaca/Sheep in natural colors black and white
Needle: US 4 / 3.5 mm and US 6 / 4mm
Notes: I picked up the yarn from local farmers market friends and calculated it was somewhere around a DK based on the number of wraps per inch and the weight of the skein and reported yardage. The white skein clocked in at about 14 wpi and was 4.2 oz (1.9 oz remaining at the end) while the black skein was about 12 wpi weighed 4.7 oz (2.4 oz remaining at the end). Both were listed as approx 200 yard skeins. Overall, this was a pretty quick knit, I found the needle sizes to be spot on for the yarn and pattern, the length and width fit perfectly, and the blend of sheep and alpaca fibers make for a delightfully warm and comfortable pair of mittens! So, now here’s where I admit that as much as I respect the Norwegian thumb and the history of the knitting tradition, I deeply dislike how they fit and sit on the hands. Our thumbs sprout out the side of our palm, not the center, so the Norwegian style thumb where there gusset begins just off center of the palm tends to twist the pattern on the top of the hand when worn and it just _feels weird_ to me. Usually I’d hack the pattern and transition this to a “sore thumb” style (the thumb gusset starting on the side ‘seam’ of the mitten) instead, but I’ll be honest with you, it was a hell of a month and I thought just this once, I’d go ahead and do the pattern as written since I didn’t have the brain power to make the adjustment anyway. I mean, it’s okay, and they fit, and they’re really pretty, but it’s definitely not my preference when it comes to mittens. In the end, I’m still pretty damn proud of how they came out and will absolutely wear them tons!
Bee Mittens
Started: 28 Jan 2022
Finished: 5 Feb 2022
Pattern: Hey Bee-Otch Mittens by Drunk Girl Designs
Yarn: Valley Yarn Huntington in Mustard (0024) and Chocolate (B118) – 21 grams remaining of the yellow and 20 grams of the brown.
Needle: US 0 / 2 mm
Notes: Okay, so they’re not quite exactly to pattern, but as a beekeeper, I kind of wanted just plain bee mittens even though I deeply appreciate the bee pun. So, I repeated the “Bee” part from the left mitten to the right once I got to that point in the chart, otherwise I left everything the same in the pattern. I probably would knit the thumb another 5-6 rows longer (it was still a little short even after having added an additional 4 rows), and would swap out the thumb increases to run along the border to the mitten body instead of along the center outside of the thumb. The construction just feels wonky and fits weird? I’ve never done thumb increases this way and, it works, but it’s definitely not my preferred method. Also, the patterning on the thumb made the float situation a hot mess on the inside. If I knit these again, I’d probably just invert the design on the palm for the thumb to keep things tidier inside the thumb. There were lots of long floats in this pattern, so it involved a good deal of managing those floats while knitting and then futzing with the finished piece to pull the too-long ones into submission, but it’s 100% worth it for the final result. This designer does SUCH a gorgeous job on the colorwork designs and this is the second pattern of hers that I’ve knit, and I’m super happy with the finished mittens!
Beekeeper Socks
Started: 18 Feb 2021
Finished: 3 March 2021
Pattern: “His Last Bow” by Lotta Groeger
Yarn: Haldecraft Yarns Andre in colorway, “None of your Beeswax” (80% SW Merino, 20% Nylon)
Needle: US 1.5 / 2.5 mm
Notes: You know that a beekeeper who is also a knitter is contractually obligated to knit these, right? Read the fine print, it’s in there. These are toe-up socks which is something I try to avoid since I find the cast on fussy and, really, I’m just way more comfortable with cuff down. The little bee detail in some of the cells means they really do need to be knit toe-up, and they’re bees (!!!) so it was 100% worth forging ahead with a method that isn’t my favorite but produces a beautiful set of socks. As is usual with toe-up socks, I can never seem to gauge where to start the heel, so the foot is just a tiny bit too long. Then I got overzealous and knit the leg a bit too long, so it’s a little tight near the cuff. In hindsight, I could’ve added a few extra stitches around to accommodate my calves, but by the time one was done, I wasn’t going back to fix it since it wasn’t too-too bad. Can we appreciate though, the beauty of lining up the sock pattern and the yarn color and colorway name here? I’m absolutely delighted with how these came out and obviously am going to bee wearing them a bunch!