Author: Sonia Knits

A colourful weekend

| Sonia Knits

I’m still going on my Stripes! sweater by Andrea Mowry. For some reason I thought I would be done by now, but a week for a sleeve is probably fair. Thank you for your kind suggestions, about knitting the sleeves 2 at a time. I just really detest knitting anything 2 at a time! I also got fed up with having to grab the next colour. So, I wound all of the yarn (in the correct order) into a gobstopper ball for fun.

The long weekend has been a good time to get a few things done. I’ve been dyeing, or rather over-dyeing some yarn and a sweater! I’ve wanted to correct some dye jobs (that I did) for a while now. Every time I looked at my yarn set aside for sweaters in my stash. I haven’t wanted to use the ones I dyed… so it was either fix it, or donate it.

These are the ‘Before’ skeins. I no longer like variegated yarn for sweaters, my tastes have changed…

This is the ‘After’

I’m much happier with these… but some of the skeins are still not quite right. The tarragon skeins look pretty good (phew!), but the ‘night’ ones have a few light patches in them. The bloodwood skeins were all good, except for one with a shocking flash of red. This was due to it being missed in the dye pot.

And here’s the Dragonfly sweater I knit, originally dyed in dusk.

Whilst I love the sweater, I never really liked all the white bits. So I attempted to over dyed in fuchsia. I kind of messed up the dyeing on this one too. I put in 50gms of dye for the 500gms of the sweater into the dye pot. Ten minutes in, I began thinking the colour was not deep enough to cover up the dusk colour. So what did I do? I dissolved the rest of the dye in my glass jar and threw it into the dye pot. Amateur! The result is uneven dyeing, there’s some really dark bits, and some not as dark bits. Dyeing is hard work! I have so much more appreciation for hand-dyers after this weekends escapades. The sweater may have gotten smaller as well…

Not to worry, I’ve ordered more dye, and the touch-ups will continue next weekend. Then I may never dye again.

Here’s my cast-on for March, I’ve casted on today. I’m knitting Wool and Honey by Andrea Mowry for my knitting group’s Bendigo sweater. If you’re not from here, The Australian Sheep and Wool show is in Bendigo, a large regional town in Victoria. It takes place every July. This is the 5 or 6th year my knitting group has made this tradition. I absolutely love this colour. This will be the second time I’ve made this, it was super fun the first time 6 years ago.

I think I may lengthen the sleeves on both versions. It’s been a week of improvements.

Strategic yarn chicken

| Sonia Knits

It’s the 2nd of March, and as expected I haven’t finished my Stripes! sweater. Why can’t we have a few more days per month?! We were short-changed in February after all.

I am on the first sleeve of the sweater, and I’m playing Yarn Chicken, boo hoo. I never like to cut it this fine, the yarn is from an Advent calendar, so there’s not much I can do. The stripes on the body are 8 rows in length. I feared that I wouldn’t have enough yarn for 8 rows on each sleeve.

And I was right. I’ve made 7 rows on the first complete stripe past the body divide.

Thanks to my trusty new scale, I’ll be weighing each colour, to know when I’m almost at the halfway point. I think I’ll be able to make 7 row stripes for all colours.

I have not cast-on for my March Sweater yet, but I will this week. Now that I’m on the sleeves, the stripe colour changes are happening more rapidly which is very motivating.

Have a great week!

Progress on my Stripes! Sweater

| Sonia Knits

With less than a week to go until February is done and dusted, my Stripes! sweater is coming along. It won’t be cast off for the start of March. But, I hope to be at least halfway through the first sleeve. Aren’t knitting goals fun?!

To be honest, I’m not sure I’m loving this knit. This week, I have asked myself more than once, am I too old to be knitting sweaters with this much colour? Should I have knit this for a niece instead? Probably. My friends disagree. And then there’s the self-doubt over my order of colours, should I have put it in a proper colour sequence… I think once there’s sleeves, I’m going to like this more. I’ve placed barber cords on the ends of the needle and tried the sweater on a few times, and it looks to be a good fit. I’m excited to get it finished, and then I can truly decide if I’m going to like wearing this, or it has been a terrible mistake.

My other striped project, vanilla socks with yarn by Danni of Halfbaked Hand dyed, is being worked on intermittently, mostly when Damian is bbq’ing a feast for us. I’d love to have these cast off soon as well, they’re just too pretty to be on the needles for too long.

Back to knitting!

Sabela

| Sonia Knits

My Sabela sweater by Isabel Kraemer was off the needles last weekend and blocking. I’m super happy with how it turned out, there never was a doubt when it comes to an Isabel Kraemer pattern, they always fit really well.

The yarn is by Great Ocean Road Woollen Mills, Summer Fiesta in their 3/4ply. It was a pleasure to knit with this yarn which is a merino and linen blend. Whilst it is a light yarn, it has enough warmth to it, that I probably won’t wear it in the warmer months. Alas, it’s 18 degrees in Melbourne today, which is quite a change from the high 30 degree temperatures we’ve had this week. So maybe I’ll be wearing it sooner than I think.

Meanwhile I have cast on my ‘February’ sweater, Stripes! by Andrea Mowry. I’m using my advent calendar yarn from My Creative Garage.

I’m hoping to have finished the yoke and divided for the body and sleeves this weekend. It’s raining outside so this works with my plans. There’s less than 2 weeks left to February, so I’m hoping to get as much of this sweater knit as possible before the start of March.

I’ve also cast on for my Marlene socks, thanks so much for your comments on this project!

The yarn is beautiful, it has a lovely structure to it. I hope to pay more attention to this after I’ve done ‘enough’ knitting on my Stripes! sweater.

Happy weekend 🙂

Sentimental

| Sonia Knits

19 years ago I lived in San Francisco. It’s when I went from being a knitter, into being a Knitter with a capital K, which just means I became more obsessed. My husband was posted there on secondment, and I joined him obviously! I was unable to work for the first 6 months, which was great, depending on your point of view. We lived in the Marina district (right near Fishermans Wharf), with my local yarn store ‘Greenwich Yarn’, just a ten minute walk away. The whole experience is now dreamlike.

Laurie, who was the owner of Greenwich Yarn, was wonderful and so welcoming, offering help to her loyal customers. It was a small store, but it was very well curated. There was a lovely wooden table in the middle of this narrow store, that you were welcome to come and knit around during the day, even eat lunch there, which is forbidden by yarn stores these days! It almost felt like home. I spent hours there, which I had a lot of. When I made a friend at a Knit Night, separate to the yarn store, we would both hang out here together. What a time!

The oldest yarn in my stash comes from Greenwich Yarn. I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately, and now I think it’s time to cast on.

It’s Crystal Palace Panda Wool, it’s a sock yarn. Laurie recommended I get an extra ball, because of the bamboo content, the yardage is less than usual. Isn’t the colour dreamy.

I’ve decided to pair this with also one of the oldest patterns I own. It’s from a magazine, and it’s by my favourite sock designer Cookie A. She no longer designs patterns, but she also lived in the Bay Area at the time. I met Cookie at my very first Stitches West yarn show whilst living in SF. I bought a bundle of her patterns, that were print-outs in plastic sleeves; I still have them.

But for this yarn, I wanted to knit socks that were almost Mermaid like. This is how I selected to knit Cookie’s Marlene socks.

I haven’t cast-on yet, but I will in February. So this is a super sentimental knit for me after all these years.

I’d like to get through more of the oldest parts of my stash (as well as the new), so that I don’t have things that are 20 years old! And maybe they won’t be as precious as this project, but it’s time.

I hope to catch you up on my other projects soon, maybe this weekend.

Tennis and the slog

| Sonia Knits

I love watching the Tennis, and the Australian Open is providing the perfect distraction to knitting miles and miles of stocking stitch in the round.

I still have a fair way to go on the body, and I’m almost certain I’m going to knit the sleeves full length. I’m aiming to have this finished in time for my February cast-on!

All but one of my Advent calendars, have been packed away in the lovely box I received for my Louie & Lola advent. Just temporarily, so that I don’t feel the overwhelm, and so that D gets some of the living room back.

My Creative Garage advent is going to be my February sweater cast-on! I’m going to knit Andrea Mowry’s Stripes! yoke sweater. I think this will fly off the needles and I’m excited to start.

I’ve been arranging and rearranging the colours in different orders. I didn’t want a fade for this sweater, as it is meant to have the look of Stripes. I still might switch a few more colours around, but I think I’m close.

Last day of Craftcation

| Sonia Knits

As the saying goes, all good things must come to an end…

I’ve had a good break, and I’ve done lots of things in between crocheting, knitting and (a little) spinning. It’s been great!

The tree is packed away
Japanese BBQ
Sock knitting whilst BBQing
More sock knitting whilst BBQing
Kid sitting
Niece’s temperature blanket
Glamping
Tips for roughing it
Finished Socks
Rearranging advent yarn
Birthday pool party
Ice cream birthday cake
Sabela progress

I am so pleased with the progress I’ve made on my Sabela top. I’m past the sleeve divide, and I’ve tried it on, and I think it’s looking great. I’ve decided it’s going to have long sleeves, it’s going to be an in-between seasons garment. Whilst it’s light, 4 ply weight (closer to 3ply), the merino/linen blend is quite warm, so short sleeves (my original intention), doesn’t make sense. The yarn is Summer Fiesta by GORWM in case you want some for yourself.

I’ve also cast on a pair of Vanilla socks on January 1 (see above). So now, I’m thinking of attempting to knit a pair of socks and a garment per month again, how fun is that? I’ve made such great progress on this holiday of mine! I’m now contemplating my February cast-ons, whilst knitting my last stitches before work tomorrow. Do you have any knitting plans for the year?

Thanks Maureen for your comment on my last post about my mum and me looking alike 🙂 I’ll write more soon about my intentions for my Advent yarn… I think I’m changing my mind about one of the calendars!

2024 knit & crochet recap

| Sonia Knits

I love a good crafty round-up, don’t you?

This year, I knit approximately 2,000 more metres than I did last year, for a grand total of 7,158 metres. I cast-on and completed 4 garments for myself, 2 pairs of socks for me, 1 pair of socks for Damian, 4 hats for other people and a few Christmas decorations to top it all off.

Had I completed my Nimue blanket this year, my project yardage would have blown out of the water! Something to look forward to 2025, I make the rules 🙂

Apart from my blanket, I’m only left with one other UFO, my Painting Honeycomb socks by Stephen West. I’ve begun the second sock, and have made the double thick cuff, so now onto the fun parts. For keen observers, I’ve put my flower socks by Summer Lee into Hibernation Zzz (a Ravelry term). I’m going to restart these in a larger size sometime in the future, so that they can get over my heels more comfortably.

I have not done a stash count of yarn for a few years. Since March of 2019 to be exact. This is where you use Ravelry to total up your stash entries. I don’t think mine is going to be 100 per cent accurate, but doing a stocktake of odd balls and left-over yarns is not my idea of a fun time.

In 2019 it was:

Today it is:

397,809 Metres

Give or take a few thousand metres. Where do I put it all?! A number is just a number, and I’m totally not freaked out by it. Wondering how long I can keep my advent yarns displayed in my living room is where my mind is at right now. I think, I’ve settled on 3 projects for the 3 advents, and that’s a relief!

My Creative Garage
Louie & Lola
Fibresmith

2024 has been an interesting year, mostly a good year for which I’m grateful. I look forward to beginning a new year with hope and exciting new (self-imposed) challenges, none of the bad ones please.

Here’s a photo of my mum and my Melbourne siblings celebrating Christmas together

Happy New Year!

Holidays!

| Sonia Knits

The wait for the holidays is finally over! Gosh, how I’ve been looking forward to this Craftcation. 3 weeks of making, yay! Mixed in with family, friends and great food.

Last weekend was the Richmond Knitters end-of-year party!

It was super fun and it just keeps getting bigger every year.

I made another mouse for this year’s ornament exchange. Alan Dart’s Furry Fairies are just so cute.

Catherine was the recipient of ‘Angelina’ and I think she is smitten.

Danni of Halfbaked Hand dyed made an exclusive self-striping colourway for us once again (selected by Susanne!). So gorgeous, I had to get it in both 4 and 8ply.

This past week, I’ve been making more fairies, one for our tree and one for my niece Maz (it’s a surprise).

With just a few days left of advent… things are getting to the pointy end of the calendars, and I’m not quite settled on what projects to make with each. Ideally I’m thinking sweaters, because I love knitting colourful sweaters!

I have a few pattern contenders in mind, but I’m still thinking on it.

These are my unfinished projects at the moment. I think it will be too ambitious to think I’ll be able to finish any one of these unless I’m working solidly on a pair of socks. It’s probably not going to happen. My goal for the end of the holidays is to have my Nimue Blanket on track for finishing (I’m probably half-way through, maybe?) I also want to cast-on Sabela (haven’t done that yet). But in all honesty, seeing some progress in my projects will be really satisfying.