[FINISHED] Dotted Rays

After what seems like eternity (but was really only four months), I’m proud to announce I’ve finished the slog that was my Dotted Rays shawl.

It doesn’t help that I chose the largest size possible and I’m neither a monogamous knitter nor crafter, but I’m excited with how it turned out (and I’m also excited for it to be done, not gonna lie).

This latest mamma jamma followed us everywhere we went for its lifespan because it was amazing potato chip knitting, perfect for spending long periods of time in the car or at breweries (as we’re wont to do on weekends). I mostly stick to vanilla socks for that purpose, so it’s rare you’ll see my lugging around a massive project bag like I did for this big boy, but it truly was a great portable knit that I can highly recommend for any of your upcoming travels.

What I didn’t like? The literally endless garter stitch. If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll know that football fields of garter stitch can lull me to sleep so it’s easy to lose interest in whatever I’m working on before too long. In this case, however, the short rows held my interest just enough to not give up. The shawl is fairly plain with the exception of those short rows (and the two rows following), so it could have been easy to slip into pure boredom - and honestly, I think I was getting to that point. As with most Stephen West shawls, it was so big that it would take 20-30 minutes to knit 1.5 rows and I was thisclose to losing my mind.

BUT! It turned out so well and is perfect for showing off your favorite speckled yarn. I chose this yarn (Hedgehog Fibres Sock in Birthday Cake) specifically because I loved the multi-colored speckles, so the pattern really allowed the yarn to lean into itself. I’m looking forward to cooler weather because a) climate change is starting to freak me out and the wildfires out west are making our local AQI pretty awful and I feel sick all the time but that’s a tangent we don’t need to get into and b) I’ll be able to wear this with a denim jacket and boots and maybe an appropriately-colored flannel.

Yup, I’m basic, but we knew that.

Project Information:

• Pattern: Dotted Rays

• Designer: Stephen West

• Yarn: Hedgehog FIbres Sock

• Colorway: Birthday Cake

[FINISHED] Leafy Baby Blanket

Two weekends ago, Scott’s mom asked if I’d be interested in knitting a blanket for someone in their family who was having their first baby. I immediately took to Ravelry, found this Leafy Baby Blanket pattern, and took off to Michael’s to find appropriate yarn.

Now, I’m never a huge fan of acrylic, but I tend to use it for blankets because it’s easy to care for. Especially if you’re a new parent, there’s nothing more annoying than having to delicately hand-wash something that’s frequently used just because it contains natural fibers that will felt and shrink at the mere sight of a stain. But I will say that the yarn I used (Loops & Threads Snuggly Wuggly) was pretty good for an acrylic and softened up a ton after running it through the wash for some light blocking. I might still try to relax the fabric a bit more by taking my steamer to it, but there’s only so much you can do with yarn that doesn’t have any memory.

The pattern is easily adjusted to multiple sizes as long as you can do basic math. For this project, I chose a newborn size because having blankets in a crib with a newborn isn’t just straight-up not recommended, but terrifies the bejeebus out of me, so I figured it can be used in a carrier or stroller instead of being hung on display or stored away until the kid is old enough to cling to it responsibly.

I used two strands of the yarn to encourage drape, which was recommended by the pattern, but I wasn’t sure if I wanted to fiddle around with using two ends of a ball or yarn or having to lug around two of them. I sucked it up, though, and I’m glad it did, as it drapes beautifully and will look great whether it’s hanging out on the back of a rocking chair or keeping baby warm.

Of course, my least favorite part of making blankets (other than the fact they can be huge and boring) is that the bind off usually ends up being too tight. I made sure to bind off in seed stitch, which helped make it a bit stretchier so the blanket maintains the same width at the top and bottom.

Overall, I’m really happy with how this turned out. It was interesting enough that I didn’t put it down and forget about it after three years, as is my normal process when asked to make a blanket, but easy enough that you could memorize each row without much issues or needing to stare at the pattern.

That said, this project is what made me finally download KnitCompanion, and I’m glad I did. I was able to easily mark off where I was on the chart and I’ve since started using it for non-charted projects and have quickly marked my place without needing to print something out. If you’ve been looking for a project tracker/knitting app that has multiple stitch/row counters and helps you keep your place, then KnitCompanion comes highly recommended by me.

All in all, this puppy took me a week to knit and I’m not mad about it. I needed a break from my Dotted Rays, which is boring me to death with endless rows of garter stitch, so this was a perfect distraction! I may or may not have also been putting off lots of wedding planning because every day, 400 more things pop up and I need a mental vacation!

[LIFE STUFF] My Successful Philly Birthday Beer and Yarn Extravaganza

Given the state of the world (ie: hi, there’s still a pandemic), it goes without saying that Scott and I haven’t partaken in much travel over the past 1.5 years, which is terrible because traveling is one of our favorite things to do together. Even worse, it’s been just as long since we last visited Philly. In fact, the last time we drove down for the day was to check out Wonderspaces, drink beer, and buy yarn a week before covid really took a turn for the worse in March 2020.

So yeah, now that we got vaccinated like anyone with a brain and a sliver of scientific literacy should, we’ve decided we’ve done all we can to protect ourselves and are trying to get back to some semblance of normalcy.

Cue my 38th birthday where all I wanted to do was head back to our city and continue my never-ending search for an authentic Full English (mission accomplished at The Dandelion, by the way). I may or may not have picked up some yarn along the way, so here’s what’s good:

Yarnphoria Haul

I hit up Yarnphoria for a couple reasons: 1) I needed (wanted) yarn to start a Rosy Blooms by Stephen West and 2) the owner just happens to have the cutest yarn shop dog ever - little Miss Mabel - and after two days away from our dogs, Scott and I were missing our little monsters and needed a hot minute with a pup. Here’s what I ended up picking out:

• Misti Alpaca Tonos Carnaval, Surf Blue (2 hanks)

• Malabrigo Mechita, Carnival (1 hank)

Both yarns are accessible (ie: at a decent price point), so this visit didn’t hurt the bank and I’m grateful for that!

Loop Haul

And then, of course, we trekked a few blocks and passed a bunch of garden wine bars we’d visit later to buy even more yarn at my Philly go-to, Loop. It’s rare that I head into the city and don’t drop in to see what the latest stash is (mostly so I can add it to my own stash), and this latest trip didn’t disappoint. Here’s what I came home with to make a Baubles by Andrea Mowry:

• Hedgehog Fibres Sock, Coral (1 hank)

• Emma’s Yarn Splendid Singles, Mint to Be (1 hank)

• Fiberstory Fave Sock, Cake (2 hanks)

Based on my new yarn collection alone, it should come as no surprise that I can’t complain about my birthday weekend in the city. We stopped at all our favorites (like Monk’s Cafe) and discovered new favorites (like Tattooed Mom and 1 Tippling Place), finally got to the Philadelphia Magic Gardens, and walked something like 20 miles in two days in between enjoying cocktails at top notch establishments. Scott made my birthday one to remember and I think he even had fun, too. Super grateful to be with someone like me who can have fun anywhere and likes to fly by the seat of his pants so we can try new things and discover new places. If this was any indication of what our honeymoon in Asheville will be like, we’re in for a good time.

PS: Speaking of our honeymoon, we’ve started a wedding website for anyone who’s interested in following my adventures in being stressed. I can’t believe we’ve only got four months left and I feel like there’s so much to do (although we’ve got all the major things done). Make sure to check out the sneak peeks for all the fun things I’m ordering off etsy because I want all the unique handcrafts I can find; basically, there will be elephants and unicorns everywhere!

[FINISHED] Slipstravaganza

I don’t know about you, but I never thought this day would come: the day I finally finished my Slipstravaganza.

I started it in October for Stephen West’s annual mKAL and made good progress on each clue before I had to push it to the side and focus on Christmas gifts and moving/selling my house.

I picked it up back in January and have been working on it on-and-off between other projects, partially because I’ve been super sidetracked with cross stitching and, I dunno, getting engaged or something.

Needless to say, knitting on a project that was damn near 1,000 stitches per row toward the end was a slog, but oh-so worth it. Of course, I could have opted to make the smaller version with only three rows of waves, but where’s the fun in that? If I’m going to commit to one of Stephen West’s notoriously huge shawls, I’m gonna go big or go home. Literally.

Although I second-guessed my color choices the entire way through, I think they ended up working really well together in the end. I tend to refuse to listen to instructions and used a more colorful yarn as an option, which didn’t seem like it would work out in the end. But, as a person who tends to buck the system just because it’s fun (I’m an ENTJ-Debater), I stuck with it and am really pleased that I did. It came out so lovely and it’s shockingly SO warm despite being a thinner fabric due to all the slipping (hello, Slipstravaganza!)

I have exactly zero ideas of when and where I’m going to wear it as we head into the summer months, but I do know one thing: I’m incapable of NOT having a Westknits pattern on the needles, regardless of whatever projects I’m working on. I just bought some gorgeous Hedgehog Fibres yarn in the Birthday Cake colorway to knit up a Dotted Rays as a birthday project (it’s in June, in case y’all want to start planning my party).

Anyway, here’s what I used to make this magical unicorn of a shawl:

Supplies

• Knit Picks, Cozy Sock, White

• Knit Picks, Cozy Sock, Pucker

• Happy Fuzzy Yarn, Corrie Sock, Sea Glass

• Sunrise Fiber Co, Indelible Sock, Holi Festival

• Size US4 circular needles

[LIFE STUFF] We're Engaged!

Well, friends, we made it. 1.5 years and most of that spent in covid lockdown, we’ve decided we can tolerate one another enough to spend the rest of our lives together.

Not that it should come as a surprise. Scott pretty much moved in with me after covid shut everything down (over a year ago) and then I moved into his place back in the fall and we adopted another dog together. Heck, we even went to look at rings together a few weekends ago.

Turns out said ring was burning a hole in his pocket and he couldn’t wait until our socially distanced OCMD trip at the end of the month to propose, so he dropped the ring in my hand as we were getting into bed the other night. Okay, that’s a lie. Technically, Ziggy dropped the ring into my hand after asking if I’d spend the rest of my life with his papa. It was kind of adorable, even though his paws were wet and muddy from having just been outside.

We’re planning a “low maintenance” wedding at one of the local breweries for this coming October, so I wouldn’t be surprised if you saw more posts from me complaining about how stressed I am (this is why I’ve divided my blog into categories so you can skip my whining if/when you want to - you’re welcome).

All that said, we’ve received a LOT of love from friends and family since announcing our engagement on April Fool’s Day (our timing is great) and we’re looking forward to celebrating with everyone once we’re able. Scott and I are both fully vaccinated now and it seems like most of our guest list will be in good shape come fall, plus we don’t want a long engagement or a huge shindig, so we think we can pull off something safe.

Now I just need to lose 40lbs so I can buy the $64 dress I found online (it’s gonna happen, fam, don’t roll your eyes - I’m already down almost 30lbs since January).