Mitered Square Blanket… Finally Finished

by Kristin Longacre on February 3, 2013

DSC_3761Once upon a time… I decided I liked knitting blankets (insert laughing noise here). I often read other knitting blogs and the “Madness” on January One’s blog caught my attention. (Note the date, 2007). In my mind I thought “oh I could knit one of these blankets… no problem… it will be good mindless knitting…”

Finally in May of 2009, I started knitting the Mitered Square Blanket from Mason-Dixon Knitting: The Curious Knitter’s Guide: Stories, Patterns, Advice, Opinions, Questions, Answers, Jokes, and Pictures. My goal was to knit it out of Cascade 220. At some points throughout the project I considered doing 16 or 20 squares, but I knew I would get to 12 and see where it would go from there. I ordered enough yarn for the 12 from Web’s anniversary sale in 2009 and got going.

At one point I could tell you all of the colors of Cascade 220 I was going to use…. half of them are currently missing tags and may or may not have gotten used along the way. I do know that they all are Cascade 220… color wise, sorry I did a horrible job keeping track.

Somewhere in 2009 or 2010 I gave up. I got distracted by other pretty knitting things and walked away from the blanket.

For the last 3 years, I kept saying “I will finish this blanket by the end of the year.” I pick up and knit a few little mitered squares and back to the yarn closet it goes.

A few weeks ago, while knitting with my friend Laura we were talking about knitting through stash and finishing up old unfinished objects. She is MUCH better at the using stash thing then I am and the mitered square blanket came up. I mentioned that, once again I wanted to finish it this year and she laughed and said it will never get done. I told her she was probably right but I was going to pull it out of the closet anyways.

I pulled the squares out of the closet and took a look… 11 completely finished squares, yarn wound up for 1 more square. Shock, it was almost done! I knit up the last four miters and started the “putting the blanket together process.”

Last night while IU ‘upset’ Michigan I crocheted together the last squares! It’s OFFICIALLY DONE!

Mitered Square Blanket - FINISHED

Somewhere along the line I realized, I am not a blanket knitter. No matter how hard I want to believe that I love knitting blankets, they will take years on end to finish. I will stick to socks, hats, fingerless mitts… things that I know I will finish.

Finished Mitered Square Blanket

I love having a pretty new blanket to cuddle under, don’t get me wrong. I am loving the finished object. Knitting the squares wasn’t really that bad either. I just ran out of steam with them.

DSC_3758 (1)

Wrigley and I have already taken two naps with our new blanket. It is now blocking on the floor to straighten out some of the center joins. The edges roll a little bit and at one point I considered adding a border, but I like the unevenness of the squares being joined together.

I also considered pulling out another UFO to finish from deep in the stash… but then I decided to start a Mystery Sock Knit Along from Lala Knits.

Happy Superbowl :)

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Oldest UFO

by Kristin Longacre on January 25, 2013

Last Saturday morning I dug deep into my yarn closet and pulled out my oldest UFO (unfinished object) that is still a potentially “finishable object”. This came up in a conversation a few weeks ago with my friend Laura. She told me I would never finish it… I told her it was probably true but that I had a goal of finishing it this year. She laughed and told me I’ve said that before… definitely true.

When I pulled out the blanket last Saturday I was one square short of a blanket… Throughout the week I’ve been planning and working here and there on it & tonight my piles look like this:

Mitered Square Blanket

Then I set myself a weekend goal of a completely finished blanket… we’ll see how distracted I get.

What is your oldest UFO?

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Keeping Up With the Hitchhiker Trend

by Kristin Longacre on January 15, 2013

HitchhikerI get behind on the knitting trends from time to time. I was a little delayed in understanding why the knitting world had a Stephen West obsession, then I knit a Daybreak and it made sense. Most recently I got behind on the Hitchhiker trend. I kept hearing about what a wonderful and easy to knit pattern it was, so I finally dove in to check it out.

I understand the obsession.

This was my last and final Christmas present I knit this year. It was a present for my friend Laura. We decided that 35 is the new 42 since with a skein of Socks that Rock Lightweight I only got 35 points instead of 42. It was the thought that counted right?

It was another one of those “just one more point” things. It was hard to put this project down and I have turned on a few others to knit the Hitchhiker since starting it. If you are looking for a good scarf pattern that uses one skein of sock yarn this comes highly recommended. I loved it!

Hitchhiker

Quick Details:
Pattern: Hitchhiker by Martina Behm
Yarn: Bluemoon Fiber Arts, Socks that Rock Lightweight
Colorway: Firecracker
Needles: Knitpicks US Size 4

Have you found this obsession yet?

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Green-Eyed Monster Socks

by Kristin Longacre on January 1, 2013

Monster Mash Striped SocksBack around Halloween I decided I needed a pair of Halloween socks… I had some Three Ewes Twisted in Fiber sitting around and decided to cast it on. Somehow I managed to lose the tag for these socks, but I believe it is in the Ewephoric Sock yarn with the Green-Eyed Monster colorway.

I cast on 68 stitches and did an afterthought heel. They quickly became the socks that ride around in my purse.

As you can tell, the socks did not get finished for Halloween. In fact I think I was still on the cuff of the first sock on Halloween. Then came Christmas knitting that needed to be done.

My poor socks took a backseat.

I finished the socks this past Saturday and while I love the way they look, they don’t quite fit right. I have used the afterthought heel tutorial from TheKnitGirllls a few times and I never manage to make the foot long enough before starting the toe. I am determined to get it right eventually.

For now I stand by the “the yarn will stretch” mentality, but overall they worked great for the one day I wore them.

Quick Details:
Yarn: Three Ewes Twisted In Fiber (Link to Destash, No Longer Dying)
Colorway: Green-Eyed Monster
Needles: Signature US Size 1

Happy 2013! What were you knitting at midnight?
(I was sleeping)

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Sunshine Socks by Cookie A

by Kristin Longacre on December 29, 2012

Sunshine Socks by Cookie AI got a little behind in updating with all of my Christmas knitting. Actually, I got behind in general with updating! The holidays got the best of me and I’m still playing catch up in some areas!

All of my Christmas deadline knitting was done by Christmas. I do have one more Christmas present in the works but it will get done when it gets done and I’m not too worried about it being after Christmas.

I took the easy route this year and I really only knit for three people. My cousin’s Christmas stocking, the Hitchhiker I am still working on and socks for my mom!

This summer on our way back from Stitches Midwest I told my mom to pick a pair of socks out of the book Sock Innovation. She flipped through and settled on Sunshine. So, the socks for my mom are in the Sunshine pattern by Cookie A from the book Sock Innovation. The yarn was Perfect Day Yarn (Link to Destash, No Longer Dying) in the colorway Chocoberry Tart. They were knit on my Signature US Size 2 needles.

I can’t ever say enough good things about the patterns that Cookie A writes. I’ve knit more of her patterns than any other knitwear designer and I have yet to come across a pattern I wouldn’t knit again. (I’ve knit  5 or 6 pairs of Monkey socks!) The book Sock Innovation rarely actually leaves my knitting bag. Even if I am not knitting a pair out of it at the exact moment there is a good chance I will be again soon in the near future.

The Sunshine pattern was great and I would knit it again if I came to it. For now I am going to finish knitting my way through Sock Innovation and cleaning up some stash yarn!

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Merry Christmas!

by Kristin Longacre on December 25, 2012

From Wrigley

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One of Those Weeks…

by Kristin Longacre on December 20, 2012

Every have one of those weeks where you fully intend to knock 100 things off your to do list, yet as the week wraps up you still haven’t tackled two of them? That is my week this week.

At some point I had the brilliant idea to knit three coffee mug cozies for a few friends. That was scratched when I found this awesome idea of a chalkboard coffee mug. Needless to say, that didn’t work out. So, instead of coffee mug cozies I have nothing to share for my knitting this week.

The secret Christmas knitting is about four rows farther than last week, so there wasn’t much point of bringing it up again. My hitchhiker is about 2 points farther, than it was last week.

Impressive huh?

I blame my lack of knitting on the fact that in Northwest Indiana it currently gets dark around 4:00, so despite 7 hours in the car last weekend it was pretty hard to knit a lace pattern in the dark.

Unless the world ends tomorrow, I have a lot of knitting to finish in the next four days.

How is your Christmas knitting coming along?

 

 

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Cameron’s Stocking

by Kristin Longacre on December 15, 2012

Cameron's StockingWhen we were kids my grandma knit us all stockings that matched our parents. They were red, white and green and for the most part matched. Keeping in mind that a lot of them were knit at different times and with different types of yarn, they all followed the same general theme.

A few years ago my cousins and I reached that age where marriages started and kids joined the family. Despite not having my grandma around anymore I decided to take on the tradition.

For the last four years I’ve been knitting Christmas stockings as we add to our family.

Last year in the midst of chaos, I failed our newest family member Cameron.

Despite the fact that he is now a year old, Cameron will finally get his stocking today!

The Details:
Started: December 2011
Finished: December 9, 2012
Yarn: Red Heart
Needles: US Size 7
Pattern: Christmas Stocking by McCall Patternwork Company – McCall’s Needlework and Craft, Winter 1980

Cameron's Christmas Stocking

Sorry it took me so long Cam!

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Winding Up Christmas Knitting…

by Kristin Longacre on December 13, 2012

… or trying to!

It has been another busy week filled with a variety of knitting! It makes me realize how “out of it” I got these past few months with my knitting projects and how much I have missed it. We are 12 days from Christmas and I only have five projects left to finish before then… we won’t discuss that I haven’t started three of them.

Secret Perfect Day Yarns ProjectFirst things first. The “secret” knitting project. This is a Christmas present and I am still working my way through it. I made a little bit of progress this week  so you could call this project about 65% done. Yes, I know I have a ways to go.

Quick Details:
Yarn: Perfect Day Yarn (Link to Destash, No Longer Dying)
Colorway: Chocoberry Tart
Needles: Signature US Size 2

Halloween SocksI am continuing to work through the striped socks from last week. I was really hoping to have them done but I haven’t spent as much time on them this week as I did in the weeks past. I’m hoping to call them finished this weekend, even if they aren’t a Christmas gift. They are a simple pick up and knit at any time project to keep with me!

Quick Details:
Yarn: Three Ewes Twisted In Fiber (Link to Destash, No Longer Dying)
Colorway: Monster Mash (I think)
Needles: Signature US Size 1

Hitchhiker Pattern in Socks That Rock LightweightThe only other project I have going on actively right now, I just started last night. It is a gift for a friend and really isn’t due until “after” Christmas, but it will make for good on-the-go knitting for the upcoming weeks. I officially jumped on the Hitchhiker bandwagon and cast on my first Hitchhiker scarf!

Quick Details:Pattern: Hitchhiker by Martina Behm
Yarn: Bluemoon Fiber Arts, Socks that Rock Lightweight
Colorway: Firecracker
Needles: Knitpicks US Size 4

As for the Christmas Stocking you saw last week, check back later this weekend. I will only be sharing finished objects that are Christmas presents once they have been gifted. Good luck with your holiday knits! Until next week, what are you working on?

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Weekly What’s On My Needles

by Kristin Longacre on December 6, 2012

In an attempt to get my blog up and going again (sorry for the lack of content lately) I’m going to try and do a weekly “what’s on my needles”. I’ve been pretty slow and producing anything finished lately, which is a big part of why this blog has slowed down. Hopefully by committing to updating the blog each week it will encourage me to try and finish different pieces of knitting.

So, I am introducing a new weekly (hopefully) blog that will keep things a little more up to date.

Monster Mash SocksOne thing I always have going at some point or another is a pair of plain stockinette socks. I started these around Halloween and have been carrying them around since. They don’t get worked on every day, but when they do I tend to make pretty good progress.

Quick Details:
Yarn: Three Ewes Twisted In Fiber (Link to Destash, No Longer Dying)
Colorway: Monster Mash (I think)
Needles: Signature US Size 1

I would like to actually finish these up in the next week or so, since I have a very pretty skein of “The Holly and the Ivy” Vesper Sock waiting to be cast on as my next pair of stripey socks.

Cameron's Christmas StockingMy first “deadline” knitting has a deadline of around a year ago. (Seems to be a common theme over here at Confessions of a Sockaholic). Every year (at least I try every year) I make Christmas stockings for the new members of one side of my family. We had a new little one join our family last year, but in the midst of my crazy life I was unable to complete his stocking. Have no fear Cameron, your stocking is coming this year! The name was already complete I just need to finish the white stripe, a heel turn and a toe.

Quick Details:
Yarn: Red Heart (YIPEE!)
Colors: Red, White, Green
Needles: US Size 10.5

Secret Christmas KnittingThe last thing actively on my needles right now is a Christmas present for someone who doesn’t know what it is or when they are getting it. So with that being said. I will show you the pretty yarn and pattern it is making but that’s about all you are going to get for now.

Quick Details:
Yarn: Perfect Day Yarn (Link to Destash, No Longer Dying)
Colorway: Chocoberry Tart
Needles: Signature US Size 2

Until next week, what’s on your needles?

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