Counting up, 1/2 way there

I have now finished through Day 12 of the Advent box, yarn sets and striped sock yarn, I want to find a pattern for the Advent mini-skeins. School is winding down, and I think that I will have time now to start one of the Advent mini-skeins. the Hue Loco one is calling me. My afternoon is searching for that perfect pattern.

Day 9

Day 10

These were Alpaca socks that I bought at the Michigan Fiber Fest last summer. Will be very cozy for the winter.

Day 11

Koigu skein of yarn, pretty Christmas colors. Destined to become a pair of fingerless mitts.

Day 12

I have not finished the 12th Advent stripe on the socks. Normally I knit top down socks, and have my lengths down to a science. Starting at the toe is not my go-to and I am not sure where exactly to put the salvage yarn to do the after-thought heel. I am thinking mid-point of the day 11 stripe. Still muddling this over. And the Herman the German roasted almonds are one of my favorite treats!

#HueLocoAdvent

#MoonglowYarnsAdvent

#TheCozyKnitterAdvent

#24-StripeAdventSkein

5,6,7,8

I need to catch up on my Adventing. I continue to surprise myself with what I put into the Advent re-used box.

Day 5

And the Advent self-striping socks from Cozy Knitter. This is absolutely the best Advent item. It is a very busy time of the year for me, and I can always find the time to knit 4 rows on the 2 pairs of socks. By Christmas, I will have a pair of socks to gift out. As a bonus, this yarn will make 2 pair of Advent socks. I still have the remainder from last year to knit up.

Day 6

Yummy caramels

Day 7

Needle point guards, and more beautiful mini-skeins.

Day 8

One of many Coco Knits products, stitch markers. And the Moonglow rainbow continues.

#HueLocoAdvent

#MoonglowYarnsAdvent

#TheCozyKnitterAdvent

#24-StripeAdventSkein

Adventing

Last year I participated in Knitting Advent for the first time. I did the Advent socks by Cozy Knitter, and the beautiful Advent box by Twice Sheared Sheep. I knew that I wanted to participate again, and was not sure I would find a knitter’s box for Advent, so I chose to take the box from Twice Sheared Sheep last year, and refill it myself. I started in the Spring, hoping to fill all of the 25 boxes. I planned on surprising myself by forgetting what I had purchased.

And then, I signed up for the Cozy Knitter Advent socks again. I truly enjoyed this last year, the perfect knitting challenge in this hectic time period. and the bonus, on December 25th, I had a pair of handknit socks that could be gifted out.

Next I was sucked down the rabbit hole. First it was Hue Loco and their Advent yarn collection, I thought that was enough. And then, Moonglow Yarns had to go and post their rainbow Advent. I was hooked again.

Here are all my Advents together. This is giving me something to look forward to during these busy times.

Day 1 & Day 2 together.

The project bag was purchased last summer at the Michigan Fiber Fest. I love the sheep fabric.

This is the Advent yarn all spun up. I was not able to start knitting until today, but was able ot catch up on both socks. I opted to start toe-up, which is not my preferred method. I find it very fiddly to get the toe started, but it worked. I figured that this would be easier to make the socks the correct length and use all of the yarn. Aren’t the colors so pretty!?

Day 2

Day 3

I surprised even myself with the CocoKnits needle gauge for Day 3. See, just a few months and I even forgot what I had purchased to surprise myself.

Day 4

i am finally caught up. Some Eucalan for my handknits, and more beautiful mini skeins that I am still at a loss as what to do with.

More Advent to come. I will attempt to blog on a more regular basis.

Happy Advent everyone. To those who do not celebrate, please have a safe and Peaceful December.

#HueLocoAdvent

#MoonGlowYarnsAdvent

#TheCozyKnitterAdvent

#24-StripeAdventSkein

Butterflies

I finished these socks using yarn from MoonGlow Yarn Co.

I really struggled with a simple motif to put on the socks until I landed on the butterfly pattern. I had a bit of white MoonGlow yarn left from my previous socks.

Really happy how these turned out.

And now I am finishing working on the Chicken socks.

This past week someone decided to “gift” me with 2 boxes of yarn. No name, no note, no text or email. The yarn was a box of small remnants and a second box with more salvagable yarns (for someone), and a 1/2 finished narrow garter stitch scarf. Many not natural yarns. So this meant that I had to take an hour out of my time to throw most of it away and deliver the remainder to a resale shop. Took about an hour of time total that I don’t really have right now. It was not a pleasant surprise to see on my steps. I guess someone thinks that I would be happy with any yarn. They have obviously not seen my stash!

#moonglowyarnco

Sweetheart Socks

I finished my Sweetheart socks, and could not be more pleased with them. They are so fun and playful. I have not decided yet if I will keep these or not.

I reversed the color sequence to make them a bit more interesting.

There were a lot of ends to weave in! When doing the heart section, I had woven them in as i knit, but it still required some more fastening.

And, there is enough yarn left for some anklet socks. I think that I like the rainbow in this sock using less rows better.

#moonglowyarns

#sweetheartsockalong

Sweetheart Socks

I have been working away on my Sweetheart Socks, but did not finish in February. I used size 1 needles, and 64 stitches. The socks looked beautiful and I love the heart pattern that I designed. I started with small hearts, but they just didn’t look quite right.

I enlarged the hearts and worked with a 16 stitch repeat. One heart open and one solid. On the solid heart, I added an extra row with the open center stitch.

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I knit one entire sock with size 1 needles for the colorwork, top sock. It looked too tight and did not fit well when I put them on. Before ripping that one out, I knit the second sock using a size 2 needle for the colorwork section, bottom sock. I think that it turned out much better.

I adore these colors, and the feet with have solid bands of each color. This has been a fun knit, wish that I had more time for them. I will finish soon.

#moonglowyarns

#sweetheartsockalong