Tag: simple

Summer knitting

June 19, 2025 / Deb / 0 Comments

I’ve been thinking about this and since it’s the first truly brutal day of the year it’s now at the top of my mind. I have a few things in line behind it, but my first project is the Workday Scarf from Sue Flanders in Phydlbitz Sock from Knitivity:

I’m no photographer so you can’t see the shades of purple woven though this one but it’s absolutely gorgeous.

I’d share the rest but they’ll probably change three times before this is a quarter done lol. I want to get a good start on something so I stand a chance of finishing it.

There’s a lightweight wrap I’ve been looking at, and maybe some house socks, and a tomato-colored skein of light fingering that hasn’t found a home. Decisions, decisions.

But first we knit!

The garter slipped scarf is done!!

June 15, 2025 / Deb / 0 Comments

Over 12 years in the making:

Pattern is “My Garter Slipped Scarf” by Knit Pox!

Yarn by Ray Whiting at Knitivity.

I went on something of a marathon knitting session to get this done. I was tired of looking at it in my knitting basket and also I’m on a finishing binge (except for the hexies. They’re hibernating lol). I’ve got everything that’s knitting off the needles, so I can start something new. The goal is one knit project, one crochet project. Hexies aside, I’ve got a fair amount of other crochet I need to clear up before I start something else. This is subject, of course, to the condition that it’s summer and I have no air conditioning. Lightweight is going to be the name of the game. I’ll decide after I inventory.

One of the things I ran up against finishing the scarf was a sanity check on the bind-off. I just wanted to give a shout out toward this article that made me feel less crazy:

The ultimate list of bind-off methods

Anyway, with my oldest WiP off the needles I feel somehow lighter lol. It’s a great way to go into the second half of June. Happy summer!

My kitchen needs rugs

May 27, 2025 / Deb / 0 Comments

So I’m making one.

We’ve needed a mat in front of the sink and for some mysterious reason, we’ve never bought one. We’ve always just thrown the dirtiest towel within reach down on the floor to sop up the water that escaped. This makes us sound like loons, but we got in the habit of spending very little on the nice-to-haves back when things were truly desperate and we’ve never entirely broken free of it.

This would be better if it had some nonslip material of some kind, but even plain cotton beats the hell out of a random towel. It’s coming along nicely:

This is painfully simple: chain until it’s long enough, do rows of sc, hdc,and dc in whatever order depending on what you feel like. Go until the damned thing is big enough.

I love this kind of project, minimally structured and great for watching TV.

It’s also a great way of getting back in the game. I’ve been slowly adding more crochet and knitting into my day, even if it’s just a bit before bed. I can’t work for all that long before my hands just aren’t having it, but that’s ok. Not a perfect world.

After this I plan to go on a finishing spree so stay tuned!

when to kill a work in progress?

April 30, 2024 / Deb / 0 Comments

I’ve got a few things on the needles/hook right now and I’m struggling a bit with not wanting to work on one of them. It’s funny, there are things that you just don’t know about a project until you’re well into it. There’s no substitute for experience I suppose.

So I went like gangbusters through the first foot or so of Grain. I somehow managed to make mistakes even in garter stitch, even with yarn overs for increases. This should have been excellent TV knitting and yet I was managing to make a mess. That bit eventually smoothed out, but then I learned something truly problematic:

Each row getting longer drives me insane. This is not a good thing if you want to knit shawls. And I don’t know why I want to knit a shawl. I have no use for one. My daughter says she loves them but doesn’t ever wear them. I certainly won’t. I don’t know any shawl-people.

So what do I do with this growing beast? Do you frog just because a project isn’t speaking to you anymore? Do you hide it in the closet? Do you power through?

I’ll let you know when I figure it out.

WiP Wednesday

January 10, 2024 / Deb / 0 Comments

Wherein I try and fail to make progress:

1. Grain: I’ve developed a love-hate relationship with the simplicity of this knit. It’s great TV knitting and I’ve gotten faster and smoother at cranking out knit stitch as a result of working on it, but there’s just so very far to go and I’m just so very bored. I don’t know what’s going to happen to this one.

2. Al’s Mitts: I’ve been having trouble getting these fingerless gloves done since I first started them. I’m not quite finished with one and making the second one seems daunting even though I think I’ve figured it out now. These are simple moss stitch crochet worked so the stretchiness encircles the and and wrist. They’re worked as a rectangle and will be seamed up the side. I don’t know why I’ve had trouble with them, but it’s like that sometimes I suppose.

3.Jewelled Star: Talk about love-hate relationships! From trying to get a reasonable assortment of colors to how much I don’t like making one of the motifs it’s fought me back the whole way. This one I plan to win, though. I’ve just got too much invested and too much love for the finished project. Not to mention that the process of deciding what colors to put together is an absolute joy.

There are a couple more but those are the big ones. They’re all driving me nuts in one way or another and probably need to be put in time out lol. Or maybe I need a smaller project or two that can be finished quickly to get my mojo back. We’ll see. But for now I’m chugging along and making some progress and is something that I’m really happy with.

hooks and tools

December 27, 2023 / Deb / 0 Comments

Look what else I got for Christmas!

I’m so excited! I really like working with bigger yarns. I can’t wait to get my hands on some and make lovely chunky things.

In other news, I finished the second sock of the worsted lavender pair and though I’m super stoked to have done it I’m feeling like I don’t want to be near another sock anytime soon. Maybe if I get over it I’ll try toe-up and see if they drive me any less crazy.

Grain is coming along but I’m starting to feel like I overestimated my love of endless garter stitch. It’s beautiful but I’m more and more reluctant to work on it. I’m not sure I can keep it up for another few thousand stitches.

And last but not at all least, after some swatching and playing around I decided to keep the same hook on my big brown throw. Mostly it’s nice to be working on it again.

Little Skinny Scarf

December 23, 2023 / Deb / 0 Comments

(Yarn by Ray from Knitivity.)

Following the sock fail I decided to do something fun with the yarn and set up a cute little scarf. I used my own Rectangle Granny Bookmark base row with a multiple of 4+2 then just played. It turned out to be a great length to just toss around your neck and is very light and warmer than it looks.

I have half the skein left and an idea what to do with it. We’ll see how that goes.

walking and chewing gum

December 19, 2023 / Deb / 0 Comments

I’m finding that right now knitting is a solitary activity for me. Even simple projects take enough concentration that I can make a mess of things pretty quickly if I get too distracted. And sometimes being simple is the problem; I made a pretty elementary mistake today when I started having a conversation partway through a row and lost track of which row I was on. That’s my own fault for not having marked the right side, but I am so accustomed to easily reading my crochet that it didn’t occur to me until just now.

Everything in knitting feels so high-stakes. Ripping back is harder than it is in crochet, and a dropped stitch seems like a disaster. I know these things will get easier but for the time being I’m on the edge of my seat.

It’s pleasurable, though. There’s such a lovely rhythm to it when all is going well, and solving a problem is so satisfying. Colors play together in a different way and even just as a beginner–and I really am a beginner again–I can see the possibilities. Everything I encounter just makes me want to dive deeper. So that’s exactly what I plan to do.

WIP: the silver scarf

October 5, 2023 / Deb / 0 Comments

I couldn’t sleep last night so this went from a few inches to almost 2 feet long:

I’m sure there are mistakes in it but I love the overall effect. The stitch came from a book by Tracey Todhunter called The Step-by-Step Guide to 200 Crochet Stitches.

This is number 125, Garland Lace.

The yarn is Red Heart Soft in Light Grey Heather.

I’m mildly obsessed with it, so it might actually be done before the weather turns truly cold. I’m keeping this one for me. 🙂

So I’m making one.

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