On the Pins in February

I thought I would show a little of what I have been working on so that no one thinks that I have been doing nothing or disappeared again. I have two larger projects on the pins and they will take a little longer to finish as a result. I am loving them both though and I swap my time between them. They are both very different and so I haven’t minded that it is taking me longer to finish (too used to knitting socks is my problem).

The first is for my garment challenge and it is a the Windy scarf by Martin Story. I came across the pattern and the designer thanks to watching the Fruity Knitting podcast. Andrew of Fruity Knitting did this very same scarf in order to practise his cables. It was beautifully done and I initially thought that this might be good to knit for my dad or my uncle. Then selfishly I decided to knit it for myself as part of the challenge. Like the hat it is a bit of a cheat since I am not new to cables. I love a cable and I have never knitted a cable scarf before. I don’t want to say too much about it until I do my finish post but it is a lovely knit.

The second project is a continuation of learning Brioche. It’s another Knit Graffiti design and it’s a shawl called Parlour. I cast on the yarn that I found in my stash by Owl About the Yarn. I knit this on my days off while I have something easy on in the background so that I can concentrate. It’s hard to put down though and I am loving watching it grow just as much as I am loving the scarf. The scarf pattern I have memorised and I tend to knit that when watching something I haven’t watched before. I also occasionally do a few rows before bed after work as it helps me relax.

So I said in my last post that I was going to have a month or two of de-stash projects once my Brioche phase was finished. In that vein I decided to cast on the sock yarn by For the Love of Yarn which I also showed in my last post. I have seen numerous people knitting socks where the design is a simple slip stitch. I was sure I had this pattern saved somewhere but have struggled to find it. I have therefore cast it on myself but won’t be releasing it as I know that this already exists as a pattern. Since my last post I have also tidied out what was formerly known as my cupboard of shame. I can now find everything and that means seeing exactly how much stash I have. It is considerably more than I thought and it is disgusting. Another excuse to cast on socks. Really I was having sock withdrawal.

On the plus side I found that I had a second cake of this yarn. When buying Lisa’s club boxes I always opted for the larger size (which will explain my stash size). This yarn has large blocks of colour and so one sock will only have two colours in it. After realising that I discarded the mini which I had originally planned to be an afterthought heel and toes. I pulled out the second cake and I plan to make two socks the same by knitting from the outside. I have finished the first sock and one half is orange while the other is purple. Yesterday I also started a second sock by knitting from the inside which will be the first of a second pair. It has a different pattern and it’s one that I will be able to release when I have written it up. I have called it Bad Wolf. You’ll find out why at some point in the future.

I suppose that technically means that I have four projects on the go but I predict that my socks will be finished by next week. The other two will take a little longer.