Quarantine Realities

Hey Everyone!

I am now in week four of being in “quarantine” and being furloughed from work.

Since I finished my last pair of socks, I have been working on these two pairs of socks:

The purple sock is being knit up out of the colorway “healer” on the fortitude yarn base from Forbidden Fiber Company. The grey sock is the “freshwater pearl” colorway on bounce sock base from long dog yarns. The purple sock is the first one of the pair, and the grey sock is the second sock of its respective pair.

With at least three more weeks (though likely longer), of quarantine, I will definitely be knitting until I go back to work, and I am trying to get as much done as I can in that time.

In the state I live in, we have been under a shelter in place order for several weeks already, the governor has cancelled in person classes for the schools statewide for the rest of the year, some churches cancelling events at least through the middle of July, as well as the fact that the company I work for is a larger corporation with stores across the country, and our parent company is even larger, I foresee going back to work later rather than sooner. It’s one of those things where I know the earliest that I could go back, but in all likelihood, that date is going to keep being pushed out for a bit. I am just trying to keep my perspective realistic, and my expectations for things I cannot control low, as well as continue doing things that I enjoy that are within my control.

While the world outside continues to become crazier and more of a mess, the more I do just want to stay home, not because I am afraid of getting sick or anything, but to stay away from the craziness that is outside. I am very much an introvert and a homebody who is perfectly ok with staying home and knitting, away from other people.

I hope all of you are staying safe, being sensible, and working on the crafts and hobbies you have.

Working Hard and Projects I am working on

Hey Everyone!

Between constantly being at work, being exhausted from work, eating and sleeping, it has definitely been a struggle to fit in knitting.

The first weekend of this month, I came down with a cold. I had to call out of work a couple days last week. As I was starting to feel better, but still home sick, I made a fair amount of progress on the second Heirloom Pumpkin Sock I was working on. I finally got the second sock finished up yesterday, since I was off.

I had been wanting this colorway for several months, before it was brought back and I was able to order a hank for myself. I ordered the Heirloom Pumpkin colorway on the Fortitude Base from Forbidden Fiber Company.

I also started the next pair of socks. I grabbed the hank of Campfire colored yarn, on the Gluttony Sock Yarn base. It is also from Forbidden Fiber Company.

Today, I have watched a few vlogs, filmed in Southeast Alaska, and it’s still the dream that I am working for. I am dreaming of moving up to Southeast Alaska. This is part of why I am knitting up socks. I also have another project I want to make, that would be amazing to have done, before moving to a colder climate. I am also wanting to order a pie of xtratuf rain boots, while not absolutely necessary here in Portland, would definitely make some winter adventures more enjoyable, and are pretty much necessary in Southeast Alaska.

When Work Slows Down

Hey Everyone!

I have gotten a lot of knitting done this past month. I still can’t believe I let a month lapse between posts.

So much has happened in the past month, that isn’t work related. Work totally slowed down after the holidays.

Since my last post, I completely finished up the pair of socks I started using KnitPicks Stroll hand painted yarn in Koi Pond.

This pair is currently out on the line drying with the Thunderhead Tonal pair of socks as the first pair of Hawthorne Fingering socks in Tie Dye Speckle, beings that it turned out to be a beautiful spring day. It has been a sunny to partially cloudy day, where it is currently 56 degrees outside (13 Celsius).

I just cast on the second sock of the pair, for the second pair of Hawthorne Fingering yarn tie dye speckle socks. I had to order another hank of the tie dye speckle yarn, to finish up the first pair, which I had talked about back in January. I went ahead and ordered two Hanks of the tie dye speckle yarn to make a second pair of socks with the yarn once I finished up the first pair of socks. I had finished up the first sock of the second pair, this morning.

A couple days ago, once I finished the Koi Pond socks, I cast on another first sock for a pair of socks, using KnitPicks Stroll Tonal Fingering yarn in Frozen. It literally looks like the colors from the blue Elsa Dress.

I have also been working on the Tuckamore Wrap that I am working on.

I finally got the second repeat done yesterday.

In the past month, I have also fit in a trip to IKEA as well as a couple of adventures, one of which included going out into the Columbia River Gorge. The other was just out to Estacada, and by the Pioneer Church at the baker cabin.

It was to icy to go much further:

The Pioneer church:

IKEA:

I should also mention that I stocked up on my favorite tea, and found some new shows to watch while I work on my knitting.

Two weeks ago I also submitted my passport renewal application, so I can hopefully be doing some traveling in the near enough future. I would love to go to a fiber / fibre festival in the UK among other things.

Even though work is super slow and I am not getting many hours, I have been able to get a lot of other things done.

From Thunderhead to Koi Pond

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Today, I finished up the pair of socks I was knitting up out of the yarn I had really been wanting to use since it had arrived.

This yarn is from KnitPicks, it is a Tonal Stroll Fingering yarn in Thunderhead Tonal. I had used my 2.25mm size 1 double pointed needles.

I am working really hard to get the sock yarn I have that doesn’t fit in the container I have for storing sock yarn, knit up. I have way more sock yarn that doesn’t fit in the container than that does fit in. I have plenty to do, which is a good thing. As I may have mentioned in previous posts, I want to eventually live somewhere with colder winters, and I want to spend more time outdoors in the cooler months. I have found that I can make a better quality sock than I can buy in store, and I prefer my own socks anyway. There is so much pretty sock yarn out there, that there is no good reason for me to not make my own. I still wear store bought socks for the job I have now, from the first wear, I could tell the were a lower quality.

Once I get more of the Fingering weight yarn I have knit up, I definitely want to try using more of a hand spun yarn to make socks and see how that works. That’s not going to be for a while though.

I decided that the Koi Pond colorway of Stroll Fingering yarn would be the next pair of socks I would work on. I am excited to see how this next pair turns out.

It’s starting to feel like Spring.

Hey Everyone!

In the last few days we have had a few very nice, unseasonably warm days.

Tuesday, I had taken advantage of the nice weather and washed socks. I had used The Laundress Wool and Cashmere shampoo to wash my socks. I love the cedar scent of this wool wash.

As the sun was going down, I snapped this picture:

Tuesday, I had also finished up the pair of tie-dye colored Hawthorne socks I had been working on for a while. I got the yarn I needed in, so I could finish them.

This yarn is the KnitPicks Hawthorne Fingering speckled yarn in Tie-Dye Speckle. I used my 2.5mm size 1 needles.

I started the second pair of the tie-dye socks I am making after I had finished op the first pair.

Christmas Socks

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It had taken me two months to knit up these socks.

These socks were knit up from Knitpicks Palette yarn in Mist.

I finished the second sock up on Christmas evening.

I have started another couple pairs of socks, one is of Palette Yarn in tea rose, and the other I am using Hawthorne Fingering in the dye speckle.

Work was very busy the past couple of months, so I have basically been eating, sleeping and working. I haven’t had the time to knit. Now that things are calming down at work, I will hopefully get some more knitting done.

Opal Heather and Finnley Heather

Hey Everyone!

This summer has been somewhat busy, and things like gardening and making jam have pushed knitting to the back burner.

Now that summer is winding down, I can shift more of my focus back onto Knitting.

I have been slowly working on a couple pairs of socks in recent weeks. For both pairs I am working on I am using KnitPicks Palette yarn, in the colorways: Opal Heather and Finnley Heather. I absolutely love the Finnley Heather color. Grey has become my favorite color.

At the looks of things, summer is finally quickly fading. When it is hot I don’t have much in the way of energy and desire to work on knitting.

A Knitter’s Dream

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The latest KnitPicks order I had placed, arrived yesterday.

I had ordered 4 balls of the aloft lace weight yarn in Kenai, 2 hanks of Alpaca Cloud in Bennet, 1 ball of Chroma Fingering Weight in Fog Bank, as well as 2 new pairs of 6 inch DPN’s in the two size 1’s (2.25mm and 2.5mm), since these sizes are the two I use the most. I also prefer the 6 inch needles to the 5 inch needles. That extra inch makes a huge difference in how they feel while knitting with them.

I really love the colors I got. I was unsure if I would like the color Bennet of the Alpaca Cloud yarn, but it turns out that the pictures don’t do it justice.

The aloft and Alpaca Cloud yarns I will be using to knit up wraps, and the chroma yarn I will use for more socks.

Right now I have a lot of sock yarn, so I really don’t need to buy more, and I need to work on knitting it up. Beings that it is winter that also helps with the whole not going on so many adventures / not needing as many pairs knit up, washed and blocked (since it is too cold really to hand them outside to dry), I am able to leave the pairs I finish knitting in the bucket I have to keep my wool socks until I can get them washed.

For now, my knitting supplies that I want are more substantial than yarn. I want some more blocking mats and some lace blocking wires. So for now I really need to curb the impulse to buy yarn.

I am not done blogging, I still have finished projects and other knitting related things to share with you all in the future, so stay tuned for more posts.

Knitting More Socks

Hey Everyone!

Autumn is quickly approaching, and with that, I am continuing to work on Wool socks to add to my stash. 

Yesterday I finished up a pair, using KnitPicks Palette Yarn in Victorian and Hazelnut. 

Today I started a pair for which I am using the Larch Heather and Victorian colors of the KnitPicks Palette Yarn.

I am excited for autumn to be here. I love that the wool socks I am knitting up will help fill up the extra room in my Doc Martens boots that I have. I haven’t worn my boots at all this summer. I am ready for it to be cool enough to wear my wool socks in my boots. I am trying to get as many pairs of socks done as possible before the rain and cold weather sets in, and will force me to dry my wool socks inside rather than outside on the line. 

Creating my own Sock Pattern!

Hey Everyone! 

I am super excited that I finally finished typing up my own basic knit socks pattern! I built my pattern off swatch testing yarns to figure out gauge and figure out what size needles to use, as well as other patterns to get a rough idea of how many stitches to cast on. Length of cuff and heel flap came from working in the first sock, and I used a tutorial for turning the heel, the gusset and decreasing the toe. I kept comparing the sock against my foot to get the length of the sock correct. 

I finally typed up all the pieces of information I had written down on post it notes and from the blog tutorial I used for the heel, gusset & toe. Now I have it all in the same document and looking nice and easy to use, going forward for more socks. 

This is the first sock I knit up using what has become my sock pattern:

I really like how it turned out. 

I have a fair amount of sock yarn that I am excited to finally get to use for socks, including some wool that I am wanting to use for socks. This wool is KnitPicks Palette yarn, which is super soft, and I am hoping it will be durable, and last a while.