FO: Silvestre Mitts

Happy New Year! I hope you find 2021 is filled with laughter, joy, good health and nourishment for the soul after the rough year we had.

Here's another project fresh off the needles, just in the knick of time! These are called the "Silvestre Mitts" by Skeindeer Knits. See my project notes here. I purchased the pattern and recommended yarn at the London Loop yarn shop while on our 10 year wedding anniversary trip in October 2019.

 I love including the WIP photos in the FO post so that you can see the entire (1 year) journey:

 

I purchased these beautiful mitten blockers a year ago from the Etsy seller Mlyn Jedrow who creates them in Poland.

And there she is, all in her Norwegian glory. I think I upped my Norwegian heritage up a bit by knitting these. ;) It just snowed the other day, so these should keep my hands toasy warm!

Have a safe and healthy New Year. May it be everything you hope it will be. <3

FO: Christmas 2020 Socks

Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and (soon to be) New Year!

This year has brought many changes and trials that we have had to overcome. It's been a much slower knitting year for me due to spinal and joint alignment issues that I have been struggling with since March, but after many weeks of chiropractic and physical therapy visits, I am starting to feel stronger and able to heal more. I am hoping that the new year will bring my body back to normal.

Nevertheless, I have finished my Christmas socks in time for the holiday, and so let me share the finished knit with you:

Ironically they matched some my surroundings, such as my knitting basket, a rug at a play-place my kids were at at the end of 2019, knitting bags and such. I have been working on these socks casually for over a year, and that's okay. Life is too short to care about missing the boat.

You can find the project notes here.

These were knit two-at-a-time, which is nice for trying to get the socks to match up identically, but I find finicky in terms of yarn tingling management. I still go back and forth in my mind to decide whether or not to do future socks as singletons.

 

These socks took me a year, but I'm okay with that. Time slipped away from me this week and I intended to cast on next year's Christmas socks before the holiday, but I'll do that now that the crazy Christ-massing is done. 

Here's some photos that capture our merry-making this Christmas:

Spiced sugar cookies, kolaczkies (not shown) and really scrumptious peppermint macrons with fresh Italian (peppermint) buttercream.

 

One twin still wears Halloween and Thanksgiving wear, and the other twin is ALL about Christmas! Can you believe that they are 10 years old now?

 

No, we do not know how to make the appropriate amount of appetizer food for a small amount of people! 

Don't loose your humor and silliness people.

 

I know that the weather has turned cold, but don't forget to some fresh air and sunshine throughout the week to nurture your physical and mental health... and vitamin D3 supplements! 

I wish you good health and much happiness from this year into the next!

2020 BLACK FRIDAY BLOW-OUT Deal!

Happy Thursday,

I'd like to announce KUAS Design's 2020 Black Friday deal:

On Black Friday Day ONLY (11/27), All "KUAS Designs" patterns are listed for 99¢ to $1 on Ravelry.com!  That's up to 75% off most patterns! 

There's no catch, no coupons and no limits! Happy shopping! 

Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving, friends!

-Anna

FO: The Adventurer Hat

Happy Saturday, friends.

Here's the first version of my "Adventurer Hat," which will be KUAS Design's newest pattern release this fall.

 

What makes this an Adventurer hat, you ask? Well, it was designed with a super thick folded brim that is secured to the main body of the hat. I'm certain this will keep your ears snug and warm during the coldest of winters

 

Was your first thought that you dislike sewing? (I do.) Well, there's no sewing involved! The cast-on edge is knit together with the body of the hat. I have a special hack that makes this process easy. You can find this on my "Knitting Up A Storm, the blog" Facebook group. (If you haven't already joined, I welcome you to. Straightaway after releasing a pattern, I choose a person at random to win the newly published pattern for free. I also run exclusive promos and giveaways too.)

 

To give the brim a bit of a twist on the traditional 1x1 ribbing, I literally have the pattern work up a twisted rib. It's takes a few moments longer, but it looks so clean and tidy.

 

The hat will come in about three sizes, and will give you some choices: slouchy, fitted, traditional ribbing, no purled line at the edge of the brim, pom-pom, etc. 

Project Info

Pattern from KUAS Designs---COMING THIS FALL!

Size: M

Needles:

US 6 - 4.0 mm

US 7 - 4.5 mm

 

Yarn: Patons North America Classic Wool Worsted

198 yds/93 grams

Colorway natural Mix

 

Hobby Lobby Pom-Pom 

I am always one for simple textures.

Now on to knit another version in Madelinetosh's Daffodil colorway for fall!

FO: Great Falls National Park Socks

 Good morning!

I've been on a hiking kick for a couple of years now, so I was excited to get my hands on a couple of skeins from KnitWit's National Parks yarn collection. I got a skein of her Bryce Canyon yarn, as well as the Great Falls yarn, which is featured today.

I casted on this puppy at a week-long family reunion in beautiful Geneva, IL. There's rolling farmland hills that is so picturesque. We had such a great time kayaking, shopping, horseback riding, hanging with family and just "being," without being connected to the internet. I got so much knitting done on two pairs of socks and Dockhouse Sweater.

There was a stray cat that lives at the cabin, and he made a lovely companion for knitting outside.

Wine and knitting while watching sunsets...

 

I did a toe-up version of vanilla socks with short row heels.

This was my first time horseback riding. My horse had a mind of his own and got me in trouble with the lady that was instructing us.

My knitting matched my scenery at times.

Now this photo below was taken at our former house. This was the last time I spent quality time knitting in that backyard last summer before the weather turned really cold in October.

Materials & Information

Project: Toe-Up Vanilla Socks with Short Row Heels

Complete Project Notes

Judy's Cast on with 14 sts, 32 st short row heels, and Jeny's Stretchy Bind-Off.

Leg increases to 82 sts.

Needles:

US 0 - 2.0 mm

US 1 - 2.25 mm

 

Yarn: Knitted Wit Sock

1 skein = 420.0 yards (384.0 meters), 113 grams

Colorway Great Falls National Park

And today: voila! Finished! My only criticism is that the pairs of socks do not match the color intensity. The first sock is much darker, and the second is a lot lighter until toward the top of the sock leg. It's not a big deal, but I'm one that prefers near identical socks.

 

What next? I'm about to cast off on a hat that I'm designing. :)

FO: Sack Boy Dolls

What's another quick project that I finished last year? Little Big Planet Sackboys for my boys!

I started first with the brown sackboy, which has the open mouth and tongue details similar to the cover of the game. I'll walk you through the process, but you can find my complete project notes here.

I started knitting the doll at the base of the neck. Once I was at the level of the eyes, it was time to start the mouth. I basically treated the mouth area like an afterthought heel. I evenly put the mouth stitches on the circular needle before cutting the stitches between. I knit the mouth in black, and then decreased the sides of the mouth exactly like the toe section of a top-down sock. To finish, I grafted the leftover stitches together. (I added the KAM snap buttons before deceasing for the head after knitting the head for a few more rows.)

After the sockboy's body was knit and connected, I knit the legs and arms, attaching the 20 mm doll joint screws through the middle of a stitch before decreasing and binding off the limbs. They were snapped into place before stuffing the body.

The neck section proved difficult to support properly against the weight of the brown sackboy head. I ended up adding a pen to serve as the spine bone. Then, I stuffed the sackboy as much as I could without him looking like it was time to start a weight watcher's diet.

 

I choose a small inexpensive zipper and cut it to size and then hand-sewed it to the open chest cavity. Even a sackboys needs a heart, so I cut a small one out to place inside his chest! It's not practical to have the zipper freely zip up and down with no barrier between it and stuffing, so I sewed underneath the zipper with some thread so it was no longer functional.

The finishing touches were adding faux sewing accents and hot-gluing a tongue inside the mouth. I attempted to sew the black mouth parts into the stuffing to give the open mouth less of a bloated look, but was a bit unsuccessful. Overall, I was unhappy with the water the face came out, which is why the next one I made had a closed mouth.

Project Notes

Pattern: Sackboy by Alan Dart, heavily modified

My Complete Brown Sackboy Notes

 

Brown Sackboy Materials:

Needles: US 6 - 4.0 mm

Yarn: Patons North America Classic Wool Worsted

1 skein = 210.0 yardsin in the color Brown for the body

A handful of yards of Yarn Bee Must Be Merino in the Colorway 7 Black

20 mm Doll joints, stuffing, zipper, red felt for tongue/heart & size 20 KAM snap buttons

 

Tan Sackboy Materials:

Needles: US 4 - 3.5 mm 

Yarn: Can't find the label. It was sport weight yarn that was really smooth from Hobby Lobby. I wrote down "Symphony Yarn," but can't seem to find that online.

20 mm Doll joints, stuffing, zipper, red felt for heart & Size 20 KAM snap buttons

I'm not crazy about how the mouth panned out, so sackboy #2 was a big improvement, in my opinion:

Even he has a heart!