January Round Up

As January wraps up its time for me to stick to my resolution and make one blog post a month.

It's been a good month for yarn, if a bit of a hard month for mental health and the country I live in.

I got to go on dates with my husband quite a bit this month. Some of which involved dying yarn together.

And sushi.

Rasengan, the yarn my husband designed. 

The Kazekage 

I got to make a Voodoo Who Loves Me doll for myself with yarn I love from my friend I love. I decided to make 4 for my family for valentine's day and quickly changed my mind LOL.

Pattern: Voodoo you love me? by Susan Claudino.

I am making one of Rasengan for the husband for Valentines Day though! 

I made my sister a cat instead, which involved my first ever cable! 

I also worked on a pair of socks for my husband for Valentine's Day. They turned out lovely!

Pattern: Rye Socks  by TinCanKnits . Yarn is Kazekage!!

And I'm working on a PussyHat Project Hat for my sister on my loom!

I also decided to make myself a pair of socks every month this year. The first pair, January is a bit baggy on me. But they are cute. A pair of rye socks to match the husbando!

I have so much in store for next month too and so much exciting things to do with yarn this year overall!

Here is the round up:

January round up:
2 pairs of socks
2 softies (plushies)
1 charity hat
2 unrelated hats
4 dyed yarns


Year to date round up :
2 pairs of socks
2 softies
1 charity hat
2 unrelated hats
4 dyed yarns
0 shawl
0 blanket
0 sweater
0 scarf
0 cowl
0 glove/fingerless gloves
0 dishcloths

Total things knit = 4
Total dyed yarns = 4
Total things loomed: 3
Total things crocheted: 0

Things out of 2017 goal list completed: 4 out of 14

Until February friends! Xxx

My First Sock!

I've been knitting diligently on the Socktober sock, thanks to the encouragement of my instagram friends! And thanks to them, I am proud to say there have been a lot of firsts for me.

Like turning my first heel, and shaping the gusset!! 

My first time knitting in public AND shaping a toe AND using the kitchener! And not messing it up even a little! 

Which resulted in...............

MY FIRST EVER SOCK!!! TOTALLY COMPLETED!! AND IT FITS! Sure, it looks a little wonky, but it fits and it's comfy and it's mine and I made it and I'm so happy with it. I've dubbed it the I Want To Believe in Socks Sock because it reminds me of Aliens and the X-Files. It's super awesome and I really enjoyed knitting it and I can't believe I got a WHOLE SOCK DONE IN JUST THREE DAYS!!! 

I will totally knit it's matching patner as soon as I finish my Herald Shawl. I want to get the Herald Shawl done and wearable by my birthday, I have a bit to knit before then and I have to block it then. And my birthday is only 11 days away so the next socktober/operation sock drawer sock will have to wait just a bit!!! 

I leave you with these pictures (and shameless a little shameful links to my wishlist for my birthday) 

My Amazon Wishlist ///
My Knit Picks Wishlist  (this is under the husbando's name but is mine)

Socks, socks, socks, everybody!

I've been putting off trying sock knitting for a week now. I've got the yarn and the dpn. I've watched iknitwithcatfur's YouTube tutorial for dpn repeatedly now and I've chosen to follow Silver's Sock Class for the pattern.

So what's the big deal? Why am I procrastinating?

Well the truth is that I'm fairly worried about my knitting abilities. It's been happening for a while now. The slow creeping monster that is Doubt. It's settling into my stomach. It's there when I cast on too small. It's there when my blanket squares come apart. It's there with each wip that isn't finished yet. With each constructive criticism.

I've always been sensitive, I don't take to teasing well, and I yearn to be good at knitting. So somewhere in this process I've become extremely worried that my knitting Is Not Good Enough. Buttons have fallen off, hats have been too small.

But The Husbando sat me down last night and pointed out I've only been knitting since January, that's only seven months! And I am getting much better! I can do things like a mattress stitch now, it might not stay together but I CAN do it! Rome wasn't built in a day. I just have to keep going, keep practicing, keep knitting.

I've always been hard on myself, especially because of my bipolar disorder and ocd. When I'm in a mixed episode or depressed or whatever it's harder to not pick out my flaws. But I'm trying to do those things less now.

And in order to do that I think it's time to knit for just me for a bit. That way I'm less worried about what people think of my knitting. I'll still be working on Christmas presents and stuff but no one is getting those for months.

So my first order of Jack Self Care Knits is a pair of socks. Because I CAN DO IT! I'M SURE I CAN!

So of course the first attempt was a disaster.

I cast on way to tight and couldn't slip the stitches onto the other needle! I decided I needed a break and some horse love before I packed in my needles for good out of fustration.

Jay Jay and me 

So after mom and I filled and cleaned horse water buckets, put some of this hoof oil on them, fly sprayed them, cleaned the guinea fowl coop and the chicken coop. I felt ready to try again. Thanks scenic farm life for refreshing my soul.

This time to reduce my tight cast on problem I took the advice of casting on to TWO dpn. 

And we are off to a much better, if sloppier, start! 

Okay and then I tried knitting my first row and things went....er...not great...

So I didn't master the dpn today. But I did get father and a little better with them, and I'll keep trying. And that's what's important and what matters. Maybe tomorrow I'll try with a thicker yarn, worsted weight maybe, and save my prettyThePaupersCloset's Purple Pygmy Puff Sock Yarn  for when I'm sure I won't destroy it. 

But I will get better. I won't give up. I won't let the voice in my head that is mental illness tell me I won't ever be good at knitting.

Which brings us to today's blanket square.

Well a new week means a new Dishcloth Weekly Knit a Long  . This time The Rank and File Dishcloth . Which has some complicated stuff I've never done before like wyif sl1. But I looked it up and thanks to KnitWith Pat Youtube I think I understand it. I decided to try just the rank and file part for my blanket square today. The first attempt ended up a disaster. I tried it by casting on 14 and ended up with 17 stitches because I was y/o instead of wyif sl1. But like I said, determined to make this knitting thing work!!

Starting to see it come together! 

And tada! My blanket square for the day, in the color hopeful. Because I am hopeful that I will get better with knitting, hopeful I will continue to grow with my knitting. I really love the colors and think it's cute. I'm proud of how it turned out. Phew. One thing to be proud of today. I'll take it!