knitting WIP update and 2 new to me techniques.

 I've got quite a bit of knitting done in the last two weeks.

I have a new cast on.  The Astrid socks by Tracie Miller of The Grocery Girls

I'm not happy with my contrast colour choices.  The green is too variegated and close in colour to the cream so the pattern gets lost.  I'm not going to undo them but for the rest of the pattern I will change that green to a darker green.

As I prefer kntting toe up and the pattern is for cuff down, I'm having to modify the pattern a bit, so reading charts from top to bottom, instead of bottom to top.

I'm going to try two new to me techniques on these socks.  I decided to try the Fish Lips Kiss heel - more on this below.  The pattern is for a heel and gusset, so I need to ignore the heel and gusset instructions.

The other new to me technique is I'm knitting these Two At a Time (TAAT) on a 100cm cable.  So far I'm enjoying knitting socks this way.

So many people seem to love the Fish Lips Kiss heel, no picking up stitches, no cutting into the sock.  I decided to give it a try.  At only $1 for the ebook what was there to lose.

The ebook tells you how to draw and measure your foot for where the heel is to start.  It then gives a formula to double check your drawing.  Well my drawing and formula were way off.  I tried redrawing, tried recaculating the formula.  Nope, it wasn't working.  I also wanted to check that the heel looked OK before putting into socks and that I could follow the instructions.  So I decided to knit a practice heel.  The practice heel tells me that the heel measures the same as my afterthought heel, so hopefully it should be a fit.  As the measurement matches it means I can knit my usual number of rows on the foot before starting the heel.

And now for progress updates on the other WIPs.

The Modular Inlay Wrap by Stephen West.  Completed section 4 and did sections 5 through 8, the pink triangles on the ends.

Up to the last colour on my second mitt.

Afterthought heel placed and started the leg.

Did quite a bit on the Habitation throw.  Was only up to the 3rd stripe last time.

Using the fourth colour on the body.  Just one more colour to go after this.

Alaska Hat finished and Knitting WIP update

I finished the Alaska Hat by Camile Descoteaux.  I made a pom pom in the 2 1/2" size but wish I'd gone bigger.  I couldn't redo it as this pompom used the last of my blue yarn - it was made with a mix of the green and the blue.

The green is Malabrigo Sock in Ivy and the blue was advent minis.

I thought it would be fun to show regular updates on where I am with all my knitting WIP's. Some of these I may not have shown before.

About to start fading in the 3rd colour on So Faded by Andrea Mowry

3 colours done on Habitation Throw by Curious Handmade

More than halfway through the foot of the second sock.  Toe up using Turkish cast on, afterthought heel, twisted rib cuff.

Cuff done on second of the mitts.  These are Rainbow Connection Fingerless mitts by Crazy Sock Lady

Look like a snake but sections 1 to 3 done and started section 4 of Modular Inlay Wrap by Stephen West

Start of year stash update

 I thought it would be fun to track my knitting stash through the year.  So for the beginning of 2021 my stash stands at

43 different yarns, either different colours or different brands

92.41 skeins

18150.4 metres remaining

6428 grams remaining

My project page shows in 2020 I used 5797 metres in 8 projects

I think I should have enough yarn to see me through this year!  However I'm sure I'll be buying more.