[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

[FINISHED] Butterfly Cross Stitch

Here’s a belated post if ever there was any - a cross stitch I made for Scott’s mom back in the fall as a Christmas gift.

I found this kit on Etsy and its quality was superb; the charts were large and easy to read. and the floss wasn’t what you sometimes get in cheaper kits that feel like nails on a chalkboard (I’m looking at you, Hobby Lobby). You could select from a symbol chart, a color chart, or a combo (which is what I used) and I was able to chug along pretty easily.

That said, this is one of the bigger cross stitches I’ve completed, and for as much as I’ve committed to cross stitch (I just invested in a $350 HAED, for goodness sake), I’m still not sure I like anything with intense colorwork. Not that this butterfly is intense, but the little sections of a single color get on my nerves. I know there’s a better way to stop and start my stitches; I just have to find the method that works best for me. For example, I’ve learned I prefer the loop start best (although I’m working on a huge piece right now that requires starting with three strands, and although it’s still possible to do the loop start with three strands, it’s kind of annoying). I’ve also come across several tutorials for pin stitch, which might be a solution here, but I’m not sure yet. I’ll keep you posted.

It was nice to know that I was able to start and finish one of these larger, more detailed projects in just over a month. I started stitching it on election night because I needed to stab something 10,000 times and it was done the week before Christmas, so I’d consider that a success. It turns out the trick to finishing projects is actually setting aside time to work on them - who knew?

[FINISHED] Crochet Turkey Baby Hat

Hello, and welcome to “the cutest baby hat I’ve made in years.”

In all seriousness, it’s been a hot minute since I’ve made any baby stuff, specifically photo props. I detest the things because they’re so fiddly to make and remind me of my hatred for amigurumi and other toys (which, to be fair, I still make because I want the toys, not because I enjoy the process).

But when my bestie sent me a photo of turkey hat inspiration that she wanted for her son, I couldn’t resist.

I didn’t use a pattern, so it’s based entirely off the photo and required fiddling around with shapes until I figured out what looked right. Thankfully, I’ve made enough of these props in the past that it didn’t take much to figure it out, and I think the entire hat took just under three hours to whip up - including the dreaded tassels (I despise tassels).

The original hat was very obviously made out of Lion Brand Homespun (or something like it), so I made sure to migrate what was left of my Homespun collection to the new house when I moved my supplies. Like tassels, I’m also not a fan of Homespun, and my skein was low enough that I had to untangle more than a few knots from what’s already not my favorite yarn. Imagine my glee.

BUT, as always, it was worth it in the end. These hats are always adorable when they come together and, all things considered, it’s over and done with quickly because, ya know, baby heads. I’d probably actually sob if an adult asked for one of these. Spoiler: Scott has asked for one of these.

There’s a big chance I might not blog again before the upcoming holiday, so with that, I’ll wish you all a happy and - more importantly - safe Thanksgiving. I hope all my readers are choosing to celebrate with only their own households considering COVID-19 is running rampant across all states. I suppose this should be my daily reminder that even if covid is “only” as deadly as the flu, it’s far more contagious, the general death rate this year is statistically higher than previous years (meaning more people are dying from it than we know), and its long-term effects can last a lifetime (google POTS). I’m not going to keep my blog a safe space from covid because it’s a matter of life and death and, frankly, if you don’t view it that way, I don’t want you in my circle. I simply care about my fellow fiber artists and want you all to take care of yourselves.

Except any rat-licking conspiracy theorists. Y’all can go balls out with the holiday. Just enjoy your ventilator away from the general public.

[FINISHED] Starflake

You may have noticed that the frequency of my posts (which was already lacking) has taken a nose dive for the worst. The holiday season is upon us, meaning most of what I’m knitting, crocheting, cross-stitching, or even painting (shhh, spoiler alert) are for gifts. The good news is that I’ll slobber you Christmas week with posts about everything I’ve been up to since August, but for now, you’ll have to settle for Stephen West MKALs.

Like this Starflake I finished in September. Starflake was last year’s Westknits MKAL, but I didn’t cast mine on until March after my last in-person yarn shop visit to Yarnphoria in Philadelphia. My go-to shop is Loop, but I wanted to check out a new place while we were brewery and gallery hopping, so I googled this place and was immediately in love. The owner also has an adorable little dog that clearly gets zero pets (and by zero pets, I mean everyone loves her and she gets more attention than the yarn).

Because I knew we’d be stopping by, I spent the car ride down looking for patterns so I knew exactly what yarn I wanted to add to my stash - mostly so it didn’t end up in my stash and instead ended up in the project itself. I’m not sure I even knew Starflake was a Stephen West pattern when it popped up in my search results, but as soon as I saw it, I knew I needed to have it.

It took me forever to pick out what yarn I wanted to use because there were approximately 4,875 colorway combinations I was attracted to, but I eventually more-than-settled on Three Irish Girls Cavan Fingering in Day Glo and Black Trillium Fibre Studio Vale in Moonshadow (it’s sparkly!)

In typical WestKnits fashion, this thing is huge, making it super warm for when we sit outside at breweries while we can (before another lockdown). Additionally, it’s plain old freaking gorgeous. We hit up the downtown holiday market yesterday (masks in tow, of course) and I got complimented on it twice in 30 minutes. I’ve also worn it multiple times to one of our new favorite breweries (McCall Collective Brewing), and I think they’ve started recognizing me by my yarn bag #alwaysbeknitting

As with any Stephen West pattern, it’s a labor of love. You’ve got nearly 700 stitches on your circs by the last row (I’m in for a treat with his current MKAL, which has over 900 by the end), so it’s a LOT of knitting, but as always, the pattern is clear and he provides plenty of tutorial videos in case you forget what you’re doing. I can’t recommend it enough and am thinking about casting on this shawl’s big sister - the Starflanket - in the new year.

Project Details

Pattern: Starflake by Stephen West

Yarn: Three Irish Girls Cavan Fingering in Day Glo and Black Trillium Fibre Studio Vale in Moonshadow

Speaking of Stephen West, let’s all have a moment of silence for my first ever WestKnits completed project, Exploration Station, that succumbed to moths in my old house and met a swift end in the trash while moving more junk a couple weekends ago. I was literally in tears.

It goes without saying that my new craft room will have so many cedar blocks and lavender sachets that I’m going to start smelling like a twee German fairytale forest. If anyone has other recommendations for how to keep the moths at bay, let me know. I lost so much stash and other beloved projects to moths and I have no idea how they even got into my house (and the traps only work so much). I’m sad that my love of natural hand-dyed fibers essentially became money down the drain.

[FINISHED] Infinite Hope Shawl

It’s about that time where I need to knit on projects that are enjoyable, but easy to figure out and memorize. Work is insanely busy, people (in general) are frustrating, and I feel like I’m living in one of those zombie movies where we make fun of people who don’t listen to experts, except this is real life and we’re not listening to the experts.

Long story short: working full-time and moving in with your boyfriend during a pandemic is nothing short of stellar (more on that later).

The good news is that my friend, Erin, needed someone to test-knit her new crescent shawl pattern at the same time I needed a distraction from people not wearing masks and hanging out at bars like we’re ignoring the Spanish Influenza during Mardi Gras (I need you all to stop doing that for everyone’s sake).

She told me it would be easy and she wasn’t wrong. I grabbed some deep stash that’s been dying in my craft room for at least four years and headed to the lake, along with my latest thriller novel, and went to town. What you see here is the final result!

Details:

• Pattern: Infinite Hope by Erin Donahue

• Yarn: Teenybutton Studio

• Colorway: Conversation Hearts

Since finishing this up (and like I mentioned earlier), I’ve been busier at work than I have been in months. I think the ability to work from home has allowed people to hyper-focus on their oft-neglected marketing operations, so every day is a new adventure in hunting down processes and rebuilding boolean logic. I can’t complain because it helps make these monotonous days of venturing nowhere move quickly, but I miss the days where I could break up my working hours with brewery visits, library runs, and potluck parties.

It’s also that time of year where I’m prepping gifts that I’ll be making for the holidays, so there’s a solid chance I’ll be disappearing soon while I knit or cross-stitch my top-secret projects. Probably not, though, because I’m a selfish knitter and can always find time to sneak in a shawl for myself.

Let me know if you’ve starting your winter crafting and if you think your plans are actually attainable (because mine absolutely are not).

In the meantime, I’m also…

Watching: Little Fires Everywhere (finished) and The Umbrella Academy

Reading: Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women That a Movement Forgot

Screaming: Into a paper bag