Tag Archives: knitting

05

Jan. ’26

2026 Knitting WIP list

St Mungo’s socks finished 11/24/2025

WIP List:

  1. Fingerless Mitts #2- started 11/11/2025
  2. Soldotna – started 11/2025
  3. Coziest Memory Blanket (Minis)
  4. Pom Pom Hat Kit (not yet started)

In queue:

  1. sock projects in whatever order I feel like knitting them in
    • #1-Ricky’s ugly socks – I’m going to rip these up and start all over.
    • #2-Astrantia socks
    • #3- Sock it to me
  2. Sweaters-
    • #1 – Soldotna (WIP)
    • #2 – Purple Yarn
  3. Hats / Mittens
    • #1 – Pom Pom Hat Kit (WIP)
    • #2 – Jamieson’s color work (hat pattern picked but I still have to buy the pattern)
    • #3 – Mitts in a bag – Yggdrasil Miits by Skeindeer Knits (pattern is already in the bag with the yarn)
    • #4 – blue and white colorwork mitts? (no pattern and yarn is already wound up)
    • #5 – Yarn Cafe Creations (DK) – no pattern selected. just set aside with a note that says ‘hat’
    • #6 – Blue Manos and mohair. no pattern. intended to be knit together to create a halo (probably purchased around 12/2019 when our LYS was closing.)
    • #7 – Red Malabrigo – no pattern already wound up
    • #8 – woolly yarn (can’t remeber what it’s called and there’s no label except “lost city knits” purchased at 2019 Socal Stitches. note says it’s for mitts and I intended to use a Skeindeer pattern but I’m inclined to make a hat as I don’t use mitts a lot.
  4. Shawls / Cowls
    • #1 – tranquility (red)
    • #2 – Outlander shawl
    • #3 – Advent yarn calendar from mindy (needs pattern)
    • #4 – blue (original tranquility but then frogged it because I didn’t like how it was coming together so I need a better for this)
  5. Dailies- these are larger projects that I was doing one a day until J got tired…
    • #1 – advent calendar throw
    • #2 – coziest memory blanket
    • #3 – corner to corner throw (crochet)
    • #4 – coziest memory (minis) (WIP)

LONG TERM: go through my stash. give away what I no longer want to knit and re-stash what I want to keep.

Knit on friends,

Melanie

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12

Dec. ’25

Knitting new start: Soldotna

Since finishing Gardengate earlier this year I’ve been wanting to start a new sweater. But as my previous posts have said, life has been overwhelmingly crazy. And I’m still after 30 years, trying to figure out how to stop the crazy. I know I need to start saying no to things and I’m slowly doing that but not quick enough. Anyway, that’s a whole different post. After going through my 2 knitting project bins, I put the Soldotna at the top of my WIP list and started shortly after pulling it out.

Soldotna – started: 11/2025, here’s the current progress in Dec. 2025.

I do not play with it every day. I have 3 knitting WIPs and I’ve been alternating them from day to day. The fingerless mitts is the furthest along as for a short while, it was my only project I worked on and it was my daily knit. But it’s not a fun knit and it was just something to do while I figured out next knitting steps. It is also my travel knit as its small and portable. The third project is my cozy mini blanket. I’ll talk more about that on another post.

This is where I’m at currently, I’ll be starting the yoke when I pull it out to work on next. I can’t wait to start the colorwork as it’s my favorite part.

Yarn: Berroco Ultra Wool purchased when my LYS closed in Dec. 2019. The brown is color 33115.

Cheers! Knit on my friends.

Melanie

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26

Sep. ’25

Knitting WIP#4

1st set of heels done
second set of heels done

And this long term WIP can finally be put in the done pile. Heels were done and then I wove in the ends. Here’s my current Knitting WIP to do list:

  1. finish burying the ends of the last fingerless mitten – Done 9/2025
  2. Take a picture of my GardenGate sweater. It’s not finished until this is done.
  3. finish repairing the sock that Willow chewed up – Done 9/2025
  4. Add heels to 2 sock tubes- 9/2025
  5. 3 kitted sock projects in whatever order I feel like knitting them in
  6. go through the 2 bins of yarn projects. From memory, the yarn is set aside but some may have a pattern name with it, but most probably do not. I doubt any of them have actual patterns with the project unless I bought the project kit as it was.
  7. LONG TERM: go through my stash. give away what I no longer want to knit and re-stash what I want to keep

I’m starting one of the three mystery socks from #5 but I’ll need to write up a new list.

Knit on friends,

Melanie

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20

Sep. ’25

Knitting WIP #3

On my Knitting WIP List, this sock project was WIP #3 –

  1. finish burying the ends of the last fingerless mitten – Done 9/2025
  2. Take a picture of my GardenGate sweater. It’s not finished until this is done.
  3. finish repairing the sock that Willow chewed up – Done 9/20/2025
  4. Add heels to 2 sock tubes
  5. 3 kitted sock projects in whatever order I feel like knitting them in
  6. go through the 2 bins of yarn projects. From memory, the yarn is set aside but some may have a pattern name with it, but most probably do not. I doubt any of them have actual patterns with the project unless I bought the project kit as it was.
  7. go through my stash. give away what I no longer want to knit and re-stash what I want to keep

Yes, these socks were done and soon after, my dog, Willow, chewed up the cuff so I had to rip it down, pick up the stitches and start re-knitting the cuff. As I was re-knitting, I thought the cuff was knit knit purl purl (repeat) or 2×2 ribbing. But it wasn’t consistently matching the row below. So then it looked like it was 1×1 ribbing or Knit purl (repeat). So I quickly switched to that. But it still wasn’t consistently matching. I was not about to rip again so I just left it. Later after the 3rd or 4th row, I realized that I had not picked up all the stitches which caused the inconsistency. I still didn’t rip out again. I just put a yarn through the stitches to hold it in place and later when I buried the ends I buried those ends as they were. They aren’t perfect socks. You might be able to see on the right sock the imperfect knitting at the top part of that cuff but they’re my socks that I’ll probably use at night in the winter time. No one cares. I don’t and finished is better than perfect.

Knit on my friends.

Melanie

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17

Sep. ’25

Knitting WIPs plans

Now that my fingerless mitts are done, here’s where I am on my Knitting WIP list.

  1. finish burying the ends of the last fingerless mitten – Done 9/2025
  2. Take a picture of my GardenGate sweater. It’s not finished until this is done.
  3. finish repairing the sock that Willow chewed up
  4. Add heels to 2 sock tubes
  5. 3 kitted sock projects in whatever order I feel like knitting them in
  6. go through the 2 bins of yarn projects. From memory, the yarn is set aside but some may have a pattern name with it, but most probably do not. I doubt any of them have actual patterns with the project unless I bought the project kit as it was.
  7. go through my stash. give away what I no longer want to knit and re-stash what I want to keep.

Happy knitting friends,

Melanie

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26

Jan. ’21

Morning sock knitting

Just wanted to post an update on my current morning sock knitting and the progress I’m making.

Here’s a link to this project on Ravelry. You’ll find more details there but the yarn is Zauberball and the pattern is Taffy Toes by Tabetha Hedrick. This is one that I kitted up a long time ago. I have no idea when. I know I didn’t kit it up for last year so it might have been in 2018 when I put this together. Who knows…

Anyway, I don’t like the yarn. Nothing wrong with Zauberball. It’s all personal preference. It’s single ply and a little inconsistent. Some parts are thicker than other parts. But the color is knitting up amazing and I love the rainbow. I haven’t done cuff down in a long while as I prefer toe up but the pattern is written cuff down and I didn’t have the brain power to switch it. So I stuck with what was written.

I usually knit 15 min/day but the pattern is not too complex and I’m allowing myself 4 rounds per day which is a bit more than 15 minutes. I don’t really keep track unless I’ve got a meeting to attend so I am enjoying my morning knit. I’ve got about 20 more rounds to do before I start the heel which will make the leg a bit longer. It’s currently way longer than I normally knit the leg but I want the full rainbow to be visible so I’m okay with it.

~ Knit on my friends

Melanie

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19

Jan. ’21

2021 Knitting Plans

Morning Sock Knitting. I will continue to knit socks every morning. This is part of my morning ritual and I enjoy it.

My Weasley Sweater – Finally! it’s my turn to knit my Weasley Sweater. I admit I wasn’t looking forward to knitting this. But I am using a different yarn, Manos del Uruguay, and it’s so luscious! But I didn’t like how Ricky’s sweater came out. I followed the pattern exactly and what I found was that the sweater to pattern was cutest on my daughter Kayla as that was a small size. But as I went up sizes first for Jacob and then Ricky, the sweater didn’t come out right. Now for Jacob I admit I made many errors on his. But when I did Ricky’s I was certain that I didn’t make any errors and it came out weird. It works but it wouldn’t be something he or I would ever wear out in public. So I wasn’t looking forward to doing mine. I even considered doing a different sweater and then just sticking an M on it to call it Weasley. But I felt like that was cheating. What I ended up deciding to do was to take this opportunity to start learning how to customize sweaters according to my size. So that’s what I’m going to do. Now I’m excited to about this project again.

24 days of Christmas Shawl from Jimmy Bean- This is the shawl I started last December (2019) with my Advent Calendar I purchased from Jimmy Bean. It’s not done yet but I’m very close. Based on what I have left to do, I imagine this will be done in February. I love this shawl and this is my priority project right now.

Jimmy Bean Advent Calendar Shawl – 2019 Status as of 12/20/2020

Water Lily

Water Lily Back 12/20/2020
Water Lily Front 12/20/2020

Beanie for Kayla – My plan for 2020 was to alternate every row to finish off a skein of yarn with a new skein of yarn. But I totally forgot about this project. I have the yarn in my bin waiting for me to work on this project. And it’s not high on my list for 2021.

Tranquil Mist – started when I finished the Mix Wave cowl twice before this one. The first yarn was a bit variegated but a teal/black and it didn’t look nice with the lace. So I ripped it back and started again with a new yarn. The second yarn was a silk and was so thin it didn’t look right. I got to chart 2 and then messed up. Finally I just ripped it all back and started again with a third yarn. I am loving how this is coming together now.

Tranquil Mist Finished Chart 1 2-3 rows into Chart 2 12/20/2020

Future knitting

Once the Advent Shawl is done I plan to start the Orient Express. And as I finish projects here is what I will work on in this order:

A blue hat that I started in 2020 and still need to complete. It is almost done.

Soldotna

Selbu Mittens

Purple Sweater that I have the yarn for but not a patter

Another Shawl

Hat #150 // Kayla’s Beanie…

Anyway, my plan is that every time I finish something is to start another something.

~Happy Knitting!

~Melanie

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17

Nov. ’20

Update on my current socks

Geeky Girls Knit 5th podiversary Current Status 11/17/2020

I’ve not been very good taking progress pictures and posting them anywhere, here Instagram, Facebook… So here you are. It’s been about 2.5 months since I started which is a really long time for me. Mentally, I’m already done with the project.

What you can’t see in the picture is that the heel is already done and I’m working on the leg. I realized that I can finish this now because I’m not one for a long leg and in fact, really like shorties instead. So, I’m finishing up the pattern and will start on the cuff shortly. I think I’ve got 4 rows or so left in the patter. I am very close to a finish.

You might be able to tell some weirdness in the toe area. The original pattern has you purling and purling and purling but after a weekend of purling the toes my hand/thumb/wrist were in so much pain I couldn’t knit for 2 weeks. I decided to turn the toes inside out and just purl where I needed to in the front to keep the pattern but then knit the back side.

~ Knit on my friends

Melanie

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22

Sep. ’20

Finished knitting projects

Every morning I knit a bit on my sock. The current one I’m working on, as detailed on this post,  is a lot of purling. And I was doing the toes (I knit socks two at a time on magic loop) and it just messed up my thumb and wrist. I probably do not purl correctly. But regardless, as a result it’s been tender and I am restricting my sock knitting (or purling at this point) to 1-2 rows a day. During the weekdays I do 1 row but over the weekend I do 2 rows because I have the time to do it slowly and not hurt myself.  I hope this will be okay with my recovery without having to completely stop knitting (purling) on it.

Every evening I work on my husband’s Weasley sweater. My goal for Q3 (which ends at the end of this month) is to finish the sleeves. I had about 20 rows of sleeve to do when I had hubby try it on. The sleeves seemed long. Now, I think that it might be the way he tried it on and the fact that none of the seams have been done but I have a feeling, he may want it longer once we’ve got it all put together nicely.  So, I started the cuff now and when I get the cuff to the length I want the sleeves to be, I plan to put them on cables and not bind off.  I will finish up the rest of the sweater in Q4 and then when everything else is done, we’ll do a try on and see how those sleeves are. By not binding off, I’ll be able to knit more cuff or tink back the cuff, knit more sleeve and then put the cuff back on depending on how much more I have to knit, if any.

I usually get to everything else on Thursday’s during our knit night on zoom.  Over the last few months I finished this cowl.

Mix Wave Cowl
9/12/2020

And last week I finished this pair of socks. All I needed to do was take a picture of it. The picture doesn’t sow the pattern very well but neither does the yarn. I love these kinds of yarn and my stash is filled with speckled, variegated, striped yarn that just do not show off cables or lace very well.  Of course, I love to knit socks with cables and lace so… they don’t go well together.

Dragon Pox
Designer: Knotty Gnome
Finished, 9/4/2020

On my sock knitting post, I wrote about pulling out my sock knitting books and knitting socks from those patterns once I finish the 5 kitted up projects that waiting patiently for their turns.  The problem is that my stash is what it is and the socks I want to knit are what they are and I have decided that I will need to appropriate my yarn to more suitable projects.  And since I do not need more socks and I do not want to buy more yarn, I am not planning to knit socks out of one of my books at this point.  I am thinking of knitting hats or mittens or shawls.  I will pull out my yarn as we get closer to year end to evaluate what I’ve got and what I want to do with it and then kit them up so that I will have my plan ready to go once my sock kits are finally finished up.

Happy knitting, friends!

~Melanie

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10

Sep. ’20

My Sock Knitting in 2020

New sock for September
Geeky Girls Knit
5th podiversary

Last week, I finished my most recent socks. The ends have not yet been woven in and I have not yet taken a picture so that will have to wait for another day.  But I picked my new sock project and got it started.  As it’s been awhile since I’ve mentioned here what I do, I’ll go into detail as to what I’ve done.  For the last 2-3 years, around October or November I sit down and pull all the sock patterns and single skein sock yarn, match them up together and kit them up.  The very first year, I pulled all my knit picks Felici. I was part of Knitting Expat’s Sock Clubs (she had 2 that year). So it was easy, every month she had a new sock pattern and I would pick one of my knit picks felici yarn and start knitting.  I still have Felici yarn in my stash. Then that October/November, I printed all my sock patterns that I hadn’t knitted, chose yarn to go with the pattern and stuck them in a project bag with a number.  That first year, I had 15.  At that point I had been purchasing or getting free downloads of sock patterns I loved and I wanted to knit them. It was a shame to keep them in my Ravelry library and never actually knit them. So I made my own little club.  Every month, I would ask Siri to pick a number from 1-15 and I would knit whatever it chose. I do not remember how many socks I knitted that year. While part of the Knitting Expat sock club, I challenged myself to knit each pair within the month so that I could stay on track with each pattern as they were released.  Most of the time I was able to stay on track. Every once in awhile I slipped.  But as long as I knit a few rows (at least 5 sometimes more) every day, then I was able to get the pair done each month.  When I started my own mini club I tried to stay within the monthly challenge. This ended fairly quickly mainly because I now have a ton of socks and not enough drawer space. I even sent a lot with my daughter when she went away to college.  Anyway, I don’t need 12 socks every year so I do not push myself to knit a pair a month.  I think 6 weeks is a good time frame. Any longer and I get bored.  At the end of that first year, I think I had 5 projects remaining from the 15.  Then last November I did the same thing, I still had the 5 projects from the previous year and somehow I had more patterns.  So I kitted up more and I started 2020 with 13 kitted sock projects.  Now I have 5 in my project bin. So I’ve got the 1 I started for September, the 1 I still have to weave the ends in so I must have finished 6. I’m pretty sure I didn’t take pictures of all of them and post it.  I will try to do that one of these days.

I’m currently formulating my plan for next year but I do not have as many sock patterns to knit in Ravelry like I’ve had in the past.  My LYS closed this year and I helped buy all their remaining sock books.  I am thinking about picking one of those books and working my way through it and I’ll probably do that until I’ve gone through all the books.  I’ll let you know what I end up deciding. The end of 2020 can’t come soon enough. I’m done with it. I’m hoping for a better end to the year along with a great 2021.

The socks I started last week are from the Geeky Girls Knit podcast. I haven’t watched it in awhile so I’m out of date with them. But when I was watching, they were a mother-daughter team. They were based in Edinburgh when I started watching them but then moved to the Pacific North West.  It’s been a few years since I got this kit and it was sitting waiting for me to get to it.  One of the reasons why I love doing my socks this way is because it means that I will knit the things I want to knit, even when I forget about it.

~Happy knitting to my knitter friends out there.

Melanie

 

 

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