WIP Wednesday: Marled Magic

On September 19, 2017September 19, 2017 By FogKnitsIn Shawl, WIP3 Comments

My Marled Magic Shawl has reached the halfway point! I’ve finished clues 1 & 2.

And I love it! I dunno if it’s the colors or the textures or the construction or the stash busting…

But I want to make about six more of these! I love everything about it! The construction is so unique. The marled effect from double stranding is so fun! Mixing colors and fading stripes are so satisfying! This is a lot of fun to knit!

Clue 3 picks up the free edge of the mesh section. Contrast is recommended. I think I’m going for purples.

I’ve still got plenty of stash left!

FO Friday – Pussy Hat

On August 31, 2017August 31, 2017 By FogKnitsIn FO Friday, Hat, Shawl7 Comments

My week started with days 5 & 6 of sitting for jury selection. If you’ve never had to sit through the process, let me tell you, it’s absolutely maddening. It’s slow, repetitive and inefficient. The pool stated with ~250 potential jurors. At the end of day 6 when the jury was finally selected, I was still sitting in the gallery with 7 other lucky SOBs. I’m happy it’s over. I’m happy to not be on the jury but I’m an idiot for showing up in the first place. And then to sit there for six days, only to realize they wouldn’t have known if I was missing. Aaarrrggghhh! It’s the cherry on the insult cake that was this week.

I got me a bit worked up. The Bite Me cross stitch helped with the relaxation process though. Something about the repetitive stabbing motions…

and I managed to get a bit of knitting done. I finished my long overdue Pussy Hat.

The yarn is White Birch Fiber Arts SW Merino, in a worsted weight. It’s a generous skein so I’ve got yarn left for a second hat. I think I made this one just a touch too long. I think square hats should be a bit shorter than a regular hat. It makes the ‘ears’ pop a bit more. I wanted to end with a black stripe though. I might walk on the wild side and end the second hat on a pink stripe?!?

Then again, I may never get to it because I’m loving the Marled Magic so much! I’ve finished the YO, K2tog mesh section and I’ve moved on to the seed stitch section.

I started off with a kitchen sink colorway. I just threw all my little scraps into section 1. Anything that was only going to last for a few rows.

For the seed stitch section, I’ve moved to a mostly green set of colors.

As usual, I’m not planning anything, just letting it happen. It’s happy place knitting and after all the jury duty rage knitting I’m ready for a little happy place action!

And just in time for Labor Day weekend! My favorite weekend in SF all year long…the place clears out! The kids all go to burning man! It’s awesome. The city is calm and quiet. And this year, even with temps predicted in the 80’s, it’ll be cool compared the 110’s predicted for the east bay. Yikes! That is warm!

If anybody needs me I’ll be in the fog. Knitting!

WestKnits Sunday

On August 27, 2017August 27, 2017 By FogKnitsIn FO Friday, Shawl, WIP10 Comments

My Dotted Rays with a Speckle Fade is done! It’s definitely my new favorite thing!

I love the chevron border with it’s high contrast! The purple yarn is MadTosh EuroSock and it’s parter in striping was a skein of Magpie Fibers MCN. It’s super soft. I don’t mind having leftovers from that skein!

The body is four colors, starting over at the upper right corner, faded together. Hedgehog Fibers Skinny Single in Boombox! Western Sky Knits MCN!! and then two skeins of Hedgehog Sock. I was unimpressed with the Hedgehog Sock. It was very think and rather splitty. I can’t imagine knitting actual socks with it. I’d need quadruple zero needles for that. No, I think my money is on the Skinny Single in the future.

Like all good shawls though, it’s only exciting until the next one comes off the needles. With that in mind, I’ve started my next WestKnit.

I culled at the skinny little scraps and half balls from the stash. Sometimes I think the only reason I use fresh skeins is to turns them into leftovers. I really love scrap projects!

This one is Stephen West’s Spring 2017 MKAL. I didn’t have time to do it then and I was still bummed about not loving the Building Blocks MKAL in the fall. This one is called Marled Magic! Despite kicking off with my least favorite stitch — YO, K2tog mesh, I knew I wanted to knit this shawl when I saw what Stephen did with all those ends on the side.

The tails are all cut at deliberate lengths. Instead of weaving them all in at the end (nightmare!!) they’ll be braided together down the center of the shawl, into a big tassel off the point. It’s a clever little treatment. I can’t wait to try it out. I’m willing to deal with a tassel for it!

Tomorrow, it’s back to jury duty. UGH. At least I’ll have knitting time!

Welcome to Fogust!

On August 6, 2017August 6, 2017 By FogKnitsIn Misc, Shawl, WIP5 Comments

Fogust is here! It goes without saying, here at FogKnits headquarters, we love fog season! A lot! I love nights quieted by wind and fog. Everything calms down and the city becomes very still. It’s an amazing change from the hustle & bustle of daily life. aaaaaahhhhh! I love it! It’s good knitting weather!

I’m at the point with everything where despite making good progress, the photos continue to look the same. L to R, That’s the Faded Dotted Rays, the Shawl in a Ball and the Cat Sweater.

The Dotted Rays rows have grown to 450 stitches, slowing progress way down. Especially when this is so light and easy to pick up…

I finished the stitching!!

I’m going to attempt finishing the fabric edges and the hoops this week. I can’t wait to hang them in my bathroom! I’m tempted to go back and get a few more. First though, there’s knitting to do. I want to make sweaters and hats! I definitely feel a hat binge coming on!

WIP Wednesday

On July 19, 2017July 19, 2017 By FogKnitsIn Cowl, Shawl, WIP9 Comments

I’m back up to 10 WIPs. Did you notice how I tried to slide that piece of information right by you? Buried right under a big pile of stash acquisition! LOL! Knitter’s guilt, I tell ya…I think I might have to do a destash — for real. In the fall, I think.

For now, I’m assuaging my knitter’s guilt by giving one of the older WIPs some long overdue love. My Rockefeller. Here’s what it looked like, last you saw…

I still really like this photo. It doesn’t bother me that it’s been hanging out on my Ravelry page, right at the top for over a year. LOL. I would really like to wear this though. The yarn is Jade Sapphire’s Sylph — a cashmere-linen blend! Yummy!

The only bits left to knit are a process knitter’s dream, row after row of striped garter stitch. There should not be a hangup here.

Finger’s crossed that Knitter’s Guilt keeps me motivated!

I’ve also started and nearly finished another cowl with the yarn that shall not be named.

Even though it’s not totally finished, the knitting is done so really, I’m down to 9 WIPs.

I’ll try not to cast on anything new. I’m still pretty enamored with my Speckled, Faded, Dotted Rays, so it shouldn’t be too hard!

Despite frequent use of #beerandknitting, the knitting is pretty outstanding!

I’m going to start fading color #3 tonight!! Guilt Free!

Come back tomorrow to see my Surpreyes Bag from Stephen! Not only has it already arrived but it’s awesome!!

WestKnits Stash Acquistion

On July 15, 2017July 15, 2017 By FogKnitsIn Shawl, WIP8 Comments

It’s a WestKnits kinda weekend around here. I kicked it off with some WestKnits Stash acquisition. Not acquiring stash for WestKnits patterns, no acquiring Mr. West’s actual stash.

I couldn’t resist when this popped up yesterday. It’s a project bag. (Just this week, I was noticing all my project bags are full. After a long dip, my WIP count is back to 10. Don’t worry, I love it.) It’s a book. (The one I don’t have. What are the odds of that?) and it’s at least 400 g of Stephen’s destashed yarn. I appreciate his tastes in color and fiber so I think I’ll like whatever I get.

Especially now that I’ve made my next Speckled, Faded, Dotted Rays decision!

We’ve grown from the Hedgehog Skinny Singles Boombox and now faded into the Western Sky Knits Magnolia Sock with No Name. (so glad there’s no desert here.)

So far I’m loving what’s going on!

The next fade is going to have a bit more zing. I can’t wait! Who knows, maybe this mystery yarn will show up from Stephen and it’ll be the perfect thing. It’s simply fate working it’s magic. (totally not my fault when it goes wrong either.)

Stay tuned for progress, I think this one is going to proceed quickly!

WestKnits Fade Along

On July 12, 2017July 12, 2017 By FogKnitsIn Casting On, Shawl4 Comments

Stephen West’s latest knitalong is Fade themed. It’s not a mystery knitalong. It’s a pick any WestKnit design and fade it. Although, with so many choices, it is still a bit of a mystery what I’m going to do.

I pulled a bunch of skeins for consideration. There was a lot to consider.

Colors? Speckles? Solids?

Even if I could narrow it down to which skeins, deciding the order can still be scrutinized for days!

And of course, which pattern I wanted to knit changed just as often.

^This^ particular set really grabbed me. I think it’s going to be Exploration Station inspired. Pulling those skeins from the pile and setting them aside for that project helped narrow things down a bit! And it left 3 skeins of Hedgehog Fiber in the pile.

Obviously those beauties have WestKnits Fade Along written all over them. I finally settled on, at least, the skein I wanted to cast on with and a pattern.

I spent so much time making decisions I didn’t cast on until after bedtime last night but it’s a start! No one will be surprised to hear, I didn’t decide on anything else. Even after all that thought and attempts at planning, my best plan is to wing it!

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, eh?

Where ever this goes, I can tell already, it’s going to be awesome!