Hygge Shawl - week 2

This week we did 24 rows of single crochet and then embroidered over what was crocheted.  The instructions have you crochet that red diamond section.  I struggled with it and then switched over to an embroidered chain stitch.  I found it much easier and it looks exactly like the crocheted method.


The cross-stitched part was very easy.  If you cross-stitch, imagine working on 5 count fabric with a single strand of thread.  It was that easy.  The hard part was trying to keep the back neat.  I hadn't planned on lining the shawl until now.  It definitely needs covering up.




I bailed on two knitalong projects.  The socks were coming out huge.  I didn't like them enough to start them over.  The yarn quantities were not working out at all on the shawl.  I didn't like the shawl enough to start it over with different yarn.




That brings my works in progress (or soon to be in progress) to:

Hygge shawl jewel - week 2 of 14 done

Hygge shawl pinks - waiting to order kit

Funky Faerie yarn - handspun from Phat Fiber kit, about half done

Yarnia blanket - pre-game information to be released tomorrow

Knit from Stash socks - March pattern due out next week

Stash Enhancement Saturday

No, I have not any new stash.  Temptation is always there, though.  I found out that there's going to be one final colorway offered for the Hyugge shawl.  It's called Girls Night In and has a pink background.  I would've chosen it instead of the Jewel that I bought if it had been available originally.  It won't be available for purchase for a week or two so I might talk myself out of getting it.  (Like that will happen!)  Here's the first clue:

I dug through my stash for the Yarnia blanket.  It looks like I'll be able to knit it completely from stash.  I'll have fun, a blanket, and two emptied-out storage buckets.  Woo hoo!

Work in Progress

Mystery shawl, clues 2 and 3:

Things are going well except that I've used up half of the speckled yarn and I'm not  up to the halfway point of the pattern yet.  I'm probably going to have to frog the last wedge and redo it with another color.  This will depend on what the middle clue looks like.  At least I have a plan.


Valentine mystery socks:  clue 1 of the first sock is nearly done.  No picture because there's not that much to see.


Hygge shawl:  clue 1 has been printed out.  I had to go down many hook sizes to get gauge.  This is not something that usually happens to me with crochet.  The hook does not play well with the yarn.  I have to decide if I want to spend many weeks fighting with a hook or moving up a couple sizes and risk running out of yarn.


It's always something.

Stashbusting

I've signed up for yet another knitalong.  Yarnia:  The Grand Quest Blanket starts next month and runs nearly to the end of the year.

The good news is that it will clear out a massive amount of worsted weight stash.  I should not have to buy anything.  I won't even need a set of multi-sided dice.  I have a Amazon Dot so all I have to do is ask Alexa to roll a 8-sided (or whatever) die and she give me the number.  I love the whole nerdiness of this.  I'll have a character just like you would in any role playing game.  I also have a cat companion in the game.


The knitting part is double-knit squares done every two weeks.  I think I can manage that.


If anyone happens by here that wants to play, know that there are discounts on the pattern almost to the end of April.  If you buy it early you get a bigger discount.

Stash Enhancement Saturday

It is actual stash yarn this time.  It is the Mad Geek Tour's The Game is Afoot for January.  The inspiration is the tv show Sherlock.  When I saw the colorway name, my first reaction was, "What does Franklin Habit's dog have to do with Sherlock Holmes?".  Rosamund is both a much-loved dog and a much-loved new daughter to Dr. Watson.  It is also a yarn in blue tones with just a bit of purple.

Another lousy picture.  I promise to see if my little tablet takes better pictures than my little camera next time.

WIP Wednesday

I made it through the first clue of my shawl.  I saw some other people's shawls and discovered that I'd missed a repeat of the holes in the pink stripe.  I was going to just let it be, then decided to frog and fix it:

I'm struggling with the second clue.   Hopefully the second try at the second clue will work.

It's becoming mystery knitalong time around here.  That shawl is one.  The crochet-along starts in a week, as does a pair of Valentine themed socks.

Stash Enhancement Saturday

I stopped trying to get a Phat Fiber sampler box some time ago.  In the rare case that I was online and thinking about it when the boxes were available, I usually clicked too slowly to claim one.   I checked on the boxes last month within a couple of hours of when they were released.  To my surprise, the boxes with mostly fluff (fiber, not yarn) were available.  Why not?  I went ahead and got one.

The box has a fairy theme.  There are all sorts of mini batts and mini braids.  The pretty little bag at the upper right is full of goodies like stitch markers and buttons.  Apparently the bag also tastes good if you're a cat.  I had to hide it from Jasmine.

CAL Kit

The yarn for the Scheepjes Hugge CAL arrived today.  Kudos to Wool Warehouse on the packaging.  The cardboard box was shipped in a plastic bag.  This is a big deal when one's mail deliverer tends to leave packages out in the rain.

There must be a whole lot of people playing because the yarn (and buttons and charms) came nicely packaged like this:

It looks like most of the activity will take place on Facebook.  Since I do not go there anymore, I was happy to see that there's another option for acquiring pattern updates.  I want to start right now!

FO Friday

I have been mostly cross stitching and not knitting.  Actually, I've been mostly playing (badly) various versons of Angry Birds on my new tablet.  Maybe I'll learn to use the camera part and take some better pictures.  It could happen.

It's not fiber and I didn't make it as much as assembled it.  It's a Doctor Who charm bracelet.

Feldspar socks, which I think are that last of 2016's Knit From Stash.  Or maybe they are January 2017.

Slippery Slope socks.  This is a General Hogbuffer pattern and is a lot of fun.

Leftie shawl.  It's a crescent shape and I lacked the space to spread it out to take a picture.  The Left in Leftie refers to leftover yarns that are used to make the stripes and leaves on the ends.  It is another fun pattern from  Martina Behm of Hitchhiker shawl fame.

Started or almost started are two pair of February Knit from Stash socks. 

I'm also in two shawl -alongs.  The knit one is the Not Seen Before MKAL.  I bought an e-book of patterns for charity.  I didn't have any big intentions of working any of the patterns until I got an email announcing the first clue in a knitalong.  Since it was a) not socks and b) something I could knit from stash, I decided to do it.  Seven different designers supply seven weekly clues.

The other is Hygge Scheepjes CAL.  It is a rectangular shawl with patterns that are cross stitched on it.  Not only am I not knitting from stash, I ordered the yarn from England.  It is on the way.