FO Friday -Nephew Care Package

On August 10, 2018August 10, 2018 By FogKnitsIn cross stitch, FO Friday, Hat, Toy15 Comments

My little nephew Marcus is 4 weeks old today! Wooo! He’s such a sweet little thing. It’ll be a while before I get to meet him so I’m sending him a long distance hug, in the form of yarn, naturally.

I’m so excited about everything in this pile. A dinosaur birth announcement. An ‘only in San Francisco’ onesie. I didn’t make it but I love the tripping hippie vibe. It’s the kind of thing you can only get from your crazy California aunt!

Found on Etsy. Added the text myself.

Then there’s the cat toy mushroom rattles, such fun! The pattern is from Purl Soho’s blog. A great little stash buster project with super results. (disclaimer: my yarn and gauge is completely different, so these are actually a heavily modified version of their pattern, if ya know what I mean.)

Then, there’s the hats. Even though it’s still August, I’m sending five hats. Might as well teach him young, this is what I do. I hope you like wearing hats, kid! I’m making them regardless.

These came from the knitting Olympics back in February. It’s such a fun collection. I’ll never stop making goofy hats but now is really my time. He won’t be wearing goofy hats forever!

And finally, Baby’s Second Blanket. He got the first one before he was born, a cotton blanket for summer. This is one is the wool blanket for cooler days. It’s the true pièce de résistance…

A Honeycomb blanket, complete with fringe.

I knit it as a tube, to avoid purling and then cut it open. Using the cut edges to create fringe, I avoided the dreaded end weaving. After that, I added an applied i-cord to the top and bottom edges. and POOF! An Heirloom was born!

I hope Marcus likes it. Obviously I made something I like but I thought about him a lot too. I picked colors with high contrast and textural interest so it can help his little eyes develop. The fringe is for a tactile experience, something for his little fingers to figure out.

It’s pretty amazing to see how much he’s changed already. I can’t wait for the all the developmental challenges to come. I totally appreciate being a casual observer to the miracle of life. Human bodies…wow!

..AND, I have plenty of yarn left for all those amazing occasions. 5 Skeins of Miss Babs Yowza is gonna get me a lot of coordinating accessories. The blanket put a dent in it, but just barely. It’s time for sweaters and an army of stuffies!!

Welcome to the world, little Marcus. You have a crazy knitting aunt (and that is the best kind!!)

When it rains…

On August 9, 2018August 9, 2018 By FogKnitsIn FO Friday, Hat3 Comments

It’s raining FO’s here at the FogKnits headquarters. After many finish free weeks, I’m suddenly finishing everything I touch.

If you recall, back in May, I started this hat but ripped it out because the ‘apple green’ mohair I was carrying as my second strand was reading yellow and I don’t like yellow.

Ugh. Yellow? I really wanted green so I ripped it out and changed my mohair strand. Instead I used a lovely purple that became this hat. These are happy dance colors!

Purple is soooooo much better. And, now that I’m looking at this photo again, I can say with a high degree of certainty, I’ve had this color palate on my mind for a while. LOL.

Completely unintentional and yet, certainly, not?

Anyhow. Back to yellow. Yuck. Nothing good comes of yellow but I had yarn left over so, begrudgingly, why not knit the second hat. Some people don’t find yellow to be offensive. Some people even like yellow? Weirdos, to be sure but they are out there.

So, as I was running out the door to a music festival, I needed some easy knitting. This hat fit the bill perfectly for a small project, with easy stitches, no fuss, just do it. It was the no-brainer I needed and it turned out to be right choice (in spite of all that yellowness).

I cast on early in the day while I watched the Black Sheep Brass Band. And they had super cute stickers.

Meant to be, clearly. And by the end of the evening, I had a finished hat.

Giving this hat an interesting distinction, it was knit almost entirely standing up. I’ve knit hats entirely on buses, while riding in cars and even on airplanes. Always seated. This is the first FO that was mostly standing. I did sit for a bit to finish the last six rows, so maybe that was 5-10%. Still, close enough for me!

And, there’s still an FO (or two) left for tomorrow! Woo! When it rains, it pours! :)

WIP it Wednesday

On August 8, 2018 By FogKnitsIn Casting On, Shawl, WIP9 Comments

Happy WIP Wednesday! That’s so much better than thinking of it as Hump Day, especially when there’s new WIPs involved!

This week I’m all about new travel knitting. Easy stitches and simple patterns are the name of the game. And of course, a bit of stash busting. I just love a pile of half balls.

First up, a quick mitered square baby blanket. It’ll be done before I know it (largely because I don’t have enough yarn, I’m ignoring that though.)

I weighed the yarn I did have and divided it up into four equal portions, one for each mitered square. I’ve got almost 3 squares finished! Gotta love size 7 needles. These squares are practically knitting themselves.

It’s really just a palate cleanser while I pondered my next shawl, which started with a pile of oddballs. At first it’s just throwing yarn in a pile.

Over the course of a few days, it gradually figures out a color scheme.

And then the fine tuning begins. Colors are added and subtracted. More stash is pulled out from the depths. I start to wind up new skeins.

I really love where these colors ended up! I think I’ve found the perfect progression for a fade! It’s a bit of a dragon in my mind. A splash of green for the tail, then fading purple through the body, up into a grey head. I love it!!

Yes, this is going to be fun and it’s garter stitch! Wooo! The pattern is Match & Move from Martina Behm (of Hitchhiker fame). The ultimate result is a triangle, worked sideways. I’m excited to really get this one under way!

And then, there’s the crochet…

On August 7, 2018August 7, 2018 By FogKnitsIn WIP5 Comments

As I continue to finish things up and clear off my needles, my on-going, crochet blanket project has become a go-to. Despite it’s size, I’m still carrying it around…

Like this foggy day, I went for a spot of crochet at the Japantown Peace Plaza but forgot to bring an extra ball of yarn. D’oh.

At least I got to spread it out and take a look. I’m closing in on the end…only 2 more balls of yarn to go!

Pebble Beach Shawl Finished

On August 6, 2018 By FogKnitsIn FO Friday, Shawl7 Comments

After 48 hours of avoidance, I finally sat down for a game of yarn chicken. I was certain, I was on the losing end and I didn’t want to deal with a suitable alternative. Imagine my surprise when I got to the end with yarn to spare!

Wooo! Disaster averted!

I carried that enthusiasm into immediate blocking. It’s the only way. Just do it before the momentum is lost.

Picot bind off means all the pins come out to play. UGH! I was super happy with my new Knit Blockers though! They saved me a lot of time with the straight edge.

Blocking is always worth the effort though. The lacy bits opened up beautifully.

And so, despite the whining while it’s in progress, this is why we must block our knits. (I need to remind myself frequently!)

Now a few details.

The Pattern: Pebble Beach Shawl by Helen Stewart

Yarn: Kona Sport, hand dyed by my Mom. One 770 yard skein. Yay for only weaving 2 ends!!

Mods: I used sport instead of prescribed fingering weight. I knit the medium size but decided that I had enough yarn to knit a few extra rows in the body. I added maybe 8-10 additional rows. I didn’t really count, just winged it, as always. Despite the yarn chicken scare, I’m glad I went for the expansion.

The finished size does not disappoint, it’s quite large. Aggressive blocking helped too. The tips of this shawl stretch well beyond the edge of the fence panel…just how I like it!

It’s a generously sized, gorgeous, lightweight, drapey bit of fabric. It was fun to knit and I could take pictures of it all day. Sadly, I don’t see it becoming my new favorite thing. The color is wrong for me. I just can’t do it.

It did inspire a little weekend cross stitch though :) And a couple of cast ons, that are more in line with my own personal color palate! Stay tuned for WIP Wednesday to see those and another a couple more finishes later this week too!

Y’all Thready for This?

On August 1, 2018August 1, 2018 By FogKnitsIn cross stitch, Scarf, WIP6 Comments

As promised, I’ve got knitting pictures today! Woo!

I took a swing through Pacifica recently, hitting all my favorite spots. The Royal Bee yarn shop, the Tripp Distillery and a foggy beach, a perfect trifecta!

I did a bit of unnecessary yarn shopping. Those colors though! Irresistible! I’m calling this a nephew sweater. I’ve used that kid as an excuse for a lot of yarn shopping this year. He may get a sweater out of this yet. It’s Swans Island Sport, a new to me yarn…another justification.

Once my Pebble Beach scarf is finished, I’ll be ready for a new cast on! Assuming, of course, I win at yarn chicken. The pattern calls for a picot bind off and I suspect that needs to be modified. I just need to find some time to get out the scale. I’ll weigh my yarn, knit a bit, weigh the yarn again and then do some math to make a more educated guess about yarn chicken status. Current prediction: I’m losing.

I really want to get to the blocking stage phase of this project though. I also picked up a set of knit blockers at the Royal Bee.

They get universally good reviews, so I’m assuming I’ll love them too. I love them for looking like toothy little monsters. We’re off to a good start!

Also, as promised…I watched the premier episode of Making It! It’s a lot of fun. The makers are a fun group of crafters with lots of different interests…fiber, fabric, paper, wood. And Nick and Amy are great, of course. Not only did Nick demonstrate his ability identify different woods by smell, they had a great pun off! I definitely stole ‘Y’all thready for this?’ from them. So, check it out! It gets two needles up from me!

It was a perfect backdrop as I finished my Ron Swanson inspired phone case. LOL! I wish the old design hadn’t stained the plastic case. I washed, scrubbed and soaked it to no avail.

I’m hoping it’ll fade with use. If not, it’ll just linger as proof that I’m recycling my phone case and clearly not a rich woman :)