BEGINNING AGAIN

Ok,

here we go again with the second half of this Advent Knit.

Day 14 is this yummy blend of yellowy oranges

with the cutest sheep bag to store it in.

The bag snaps so you can wear it over your wrist and walk and knit 

if you want to.

It even has a great side pocket for storing extra tools and yarns.

HALF WAY DONE

At almost 400 tiny stitches across each row

(about 20 minutes per row),

and ripping out so many rows that I made errors on,

I finally reached the half way point.

Woo Hoo!!!

Days 9, 11 & 12 brought in some wonderful forestry greens...

and then Day 13 thru me for a real loop with a very pale grey,

 but a pleasant surprise of a new tapestry needle.

Because I haven't blocked this half below, 

I had a really hard time laying it flat enough for it's photo.

But at least you can see how those greens worked in between the white and black which I loved.

And here you can also see the pale grey next to the white.

It's easier to see the difference in the photo then it is in person.

The very bottom is so sweet 

but in this pix it's hard to see the detail 

of the black bobbles along the edge. 

There was a real surprise for me at the bottom edge.

Amanda of Buku Yarns only had us bind off 1/2 of the 400 stitches.

The rest remain live on a cord to be knit together at the very end

 of the second half of the shawl.

Sounds pretty darn cool to me!

DAYS 10 & 11 ADVENT KNIT

I'm almost to the half way point on this shawl 

with 315 stitches across my needles.

Loving the way the black knit bobbles look

 giving the piece even more interest and dimension.

They are a pain to make, 

super time consuming

which of course slows me down even more.

Ha ha

And in this next white row I will be doing another round of them.

I'm also enjoying the pop of black and white check surrounded by that lovely darker green.

Day 11 (above) is a couple of shades of lighter greens 

mixed with a bit of yellow green.

Gorgeous colors.

Amanda Rios of Buku Knits in La Verne, Ca.,

 you are a genius with your dye pots!

Oh and Day 10 came with a bonus surprise,

the black and white check yarn surround for the white ball.

Love it!

ADVENT UPDATE

Well I'm really truckin' along now boy!

Ha ha

Only 42ish days behind.  :(

Here are Days 7, 

a gorgeous shade of dark turquoise,

Day 8,

a solid black

with day 7 knit up,

and Day 9.

I personally would never be brave enough to put this luscious dark green

with the turquoises,

but wait till you see it knit up in a couple of days.

It really works!

Bravo Amanda for choosing such bold colors together,

and then dyeing them up for us.

I think I'm currently knitting across almost 300 stitches in each row.  

I should time myself.

ADVENT KNIT DAY 5 & 6

Finished up Day 5 here with a close-up below...

Love those tiny pops of color.

and opened Day 6 which looks so much like Day 5.

But after knitting with it I do see a subtle difference.

Above (from bottom to top) you are seeing the remainder of Day 4 & 5

with Day 6 not balled up yet.

Oh, and there was a surprise in day 6's bag,

the cutest little tin of rubber loops for putting on the end of your needles

to prevent the stitches from falling off.

Just finishing up Day 7 tonight.

ADVENT KNIT DAY 4 &5

Day 4's yarn brought out darker values of aqua with a smattering of green

along with another prize,

a collapsible scissors in the sweetest pouch.

Have I mentioned I collect scissors?

Love them,

 especially antique ones.

I like the idea that someone used them before me

 and I'm bringing them back to life again.

Day 5's envelop is showcasing many variants of light to medium blues.

So very pretty.

In the photo above I've started my first row with #5.

I wish you could reach thru your monitor and feel the squishiness of the shawl.

It's so yummy!

ADVENT KNIT DAY 3 AND A BIG OOPS

Like I've said many times,

not the first time to mess up a pattern.

Above is Day 3's lovely and subtle mix of light blues and aquas.

And below is my oops.

Pattern makers always tell you how important it is to check gauge.

That means how many stitches across a row are there per inch.

The required number in this pattern is 6.

But as you can see below it looks like I only have about 5 1/4 to 5 1/2 p.i.

I really did think I had made gauge when I first started but apparently not.

I guess my tension loosened up as I kept going.

So what bad thing happened as a result?

I began running out of each color way of the previous day's yarn

 in the last row and a half before it was time to.

What to do?

Rip everything out?

NO WAY!

Ha, not me.

Way to lazy to start over again.

I got really lucky on the 3 colors I ran out of.

I scoured thru my stash and found scrap balls from other projects 

that were similar enough that it's not noticeable unless you point them out.

Designer Amanda recommended I go down a needle size for rest of project,

and tah dah,

it worked. 

 I'm no longer running out of each color.

Phee Shoo.

And I will be able to even it all out when I block it

 since it's a forgivable stretchy pattern.

OK,

back to knitting.

Oh, btw,

I started a new series on Netflix called The Empress.

Binge worthy and Fabulous!  

ADVENT KNIT DAY 1 & 2 & A TINY BIT OF DAY 3

Only ripped out Day 1 three times before I got the hang of the pattern.

When opening Day 2 packet I found the cutest Xmas stitch markers.

You can see below I'm already using the red one to mark my center of pattern.

And also in the much nicer picture you can see

not only the colors in the yarns better, 

but how the fade is flowing from Day 1 into 2. 

Loving the change in stitch pattern too.

And didn't realize I photographed Day 3's start here 

without showing the packet first. 

Oh well.

I was surprised at the big jump in color families already.

I just wish I could keep up.

But I did find out from owner Amanda 

that there are others who are even further behind then me.

Yah!!!!

TIS THE SEASON WITH AN ADVENT KNIT

Ok, 

I know you are thinking,

doesn't she already have at least,

I don't know,

25 projects on her knitting needles?

Perhaps even 50ish?

Probably.

I've even finished 1 or 2 projects that I haven't posted yet.

I'm trying to get better about being more present here.

I know, I know, I always say that.

So anyways,

super excited about this new project

 put together by owner and designer of Buku Yarns in La Verne, Ca.,

Amanda Rios.

I picked up my basket of surprises a few days before December 1st,

hoping to get a head start.

But it turns out I'm much slower then the average participant in these things.

I want to blame it on my hearing loss.

Even though I finally broke down and got hearing aides a year ago,

I still find myself reading the closed caption

 on all my newsfeeds and Netflix shows 

which slows down my production time a lot!

Oh well,

I've got to do what I have to do.

It only took me five days to get through Day One,

ha ha!

Package One (top photo) not only came with this delicious subtle multi-shade of aqua and yellow greens,

but Amanda included a very sweet combo ruler and needle sizer

which I immediately hooked onto my knitting bag that goes everywhere with me.

Currently I'm supposed to be on Day 16,

but sadly it's Day 5 bag that I'm hoping to get to tonight.

Hoping to do a post everyday till I finish this gorgeous piece.