The first few times I have done these weekly roundups I have been adamant about writing THROUGHOUT the week and doing a final check before publishing. This week however has been messy. My full time job has kept me on my toes as we are heading into crunch-time; and though with my little family I have been given set working hours the days leave me with so much stress I am completely mentally drained when I leave and don’t want to think about writing. And after there is baby to put to bed and the constant of keeping up with anything home related. Top it off that for the last week and a half I have been prepping for her first birthday party. This momma is EXHAUSTED! All that being said I have squeezed (literally) as much knitting as possible into this crazy schedule of mine because DEADLINES! So here I am, less than a day before posting, writing up a nice long and lengthy weekly roundup! Here we goooo!!
I am happy to announce that I have finished the Popcorn Vest and Bonnet; and at just under a week before I need to have baby girl unwrap for her birthday! Let me just say I am so crazy happy with the results… honestly my best knitted set yet. Considering how many times I have actually knit this pair, I have made minor revisions each time which have either made the knitting more seamless, literally and figuratively.
This time around instead of BO then sewing together the shoulder seams, then later picking up the back neck for the rib trim; I chose to keep the stitches live. This way I was able to kitchener the shoulders then easily use the live back neck stitches to seamlessly join with the rib trim. For some this may seem like a little more work and maybe it was; however one thing I am still mastering as a knitter is picking up stitches, and picking them up evenly and beautifully. This change allowed me to up the quality of the vest itself; no more worrying if I picked up enough stitches evenly or consistently- they were already live for my working!
I also slipped all edge stitches, giving me nice clean edges to work with at the front edge and armholes. While I may not have picked up as many stitches as the pattern states, I know that what I did pick up and cast on will be sufficient enough for my daughter to wear.
Pattern:Popcorn Vest & Bonnet by Studio Misha & Puff
Yarn:Sawkill Farms Worsted; Undyed Wool (Romney, Icelandic, Finn, Texel mix) from 2015 knit with Alchemy Yarns of Transformation Haiku in Fieldstone + rib trim in Sawkill Farms Worsted; Undyed Wool from 2016 ***
Last weekend I allowed myself the luxury of finishing up the underarms on my Penguono and ohhh I have a knitted thing that looks like a sweater! It is so exciting! I still have the neck and bottom bands to do which I keep changing my mind on what yarn I would like to use…I have been determined to not buy any yarns to complete this but am contemplating getting a single skein of Purl Soho Flax Down. This is the yarn I chose to use for the main back panel and something tells me it would be nice to have it repeat but I think I will still try to use what I have.
Project/ Designer:Penguono by Steven West
Yarn: Purl Soho Flax Down in Kettle Black + The Fibre Co Cumbria Fingering in Scafell Pike & Dodd Wood + Lake yarns Alturas in Shell Seeker + OWool Local in Gray Birch + Skeinny Dipping Fingering and Skeinny Dipping DK in Cease and Desist + Baa Ram Ewe Titus in Coal
Until next time….
XO.
Ruby + Ana in Stitches 