summer knitting – Daily Fiber

Unraveled Wednesday 6-25-25

Posted on June 25, 2025 by Laura Kate

Following along with As Kat Knits, I am posting this progress update on the project I cast on June 2nd.

This is Paper Dolls, a pullover by KDD & Co. As of today, I have knitted up from the bottom about 12 inches.

This is the point where the body is set aside and the cap sleeves are knitted on separate needles. The technique is reminiscent of Elizabeth’s Zimmerman’s Fair Isle Yoke Sweater as published in her 1st newsletter. Eventually stitches for all three parts are loaded onto one long needle and work continues for the yoke.

First sleeve cap complete and waiting for its sister before both join with the sweater body.

A design feature added by Kate Davies is the corrugated rib stitch worked in contrasting yarn for the hems of body and sleeves (as shown in my first photograph.)

This part of the project has been great for television watching, since no stitch counting or pattern checking is required. The next section will require undivided attention, and I work the very cute paper dolls while simultaneously decreasing the yoke stitches. (That makes it sound harder than it really is.)

I must add a shout-out to knitting blogger Alissa Makes who made and gifted me the cute Mer-people project bag.

I love using it – Thanks, Alissa.

As far as reading, I just finished a biography of Salvador Dali’s wife, Gala. It is titled Surreal and written by Michele Gerber Klein. I had no idea how crazy those early 20th century artists were. If you like soap operas, and are not easily shocked, you may enjoy this book. My main complaints are that it is a bit long, and could have used more photographs.

That’s it for me. During this hot sticky heat wave, I hope you, my dear readers, can remain cool, calm and knitting onward.

knitting

Cast-on Monday: A Kate Davies Sock

Posted on April 22, 2024April 22, 2024 by Laura Kate

Summer is on its way, and that means knitting small, portable projects. Reaching into my yarn closet, I brought out a stashbuster bag all ready to go, using Kate Davies’ sock pattern Mary Delany.

https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mary-delany

I purchased this pattern on Ravelry a few years back when KDDesigns was offering a sale. This will be my second cast- on using it. The first time I followed the pattern pretty closely, but substituted a more “manly” looking chart, since I was knitting socks for dear husband. This time I happily followed Kate’s stranded pattern of little flowers. So far, it has been a joy to work.

My yarns are acquired from three different companies. The beautiful deep tonal blue is Malabrigo Ultimate Sock in a color called Azul Profundo. I purchased it from Jimmy Beans. The aqua tonal yarn is Knitpicks Hawthorne. I’ve mislaid the band and so don’t know the colorway. And the tiny bit of red to be used in the toe and the ribbing is from Hobby Lobby. The box store briefly offered a line of wool + nylon fingering weight yarn in various colors. It turned out to be not-so-good and has since disappeared from the shelves.

Here’s my start. I cast on using the winding cast on method. It is described perfectly in Kate’s pattern, and I had no trouble at all finishing the first toe.

Yesterday while watching PBS, I managed to get most of the foot finished. It now measures 8 and 1/2 inches long.

**Back of foot showing the heel increases**

This pair of socks will be for ME. Wearing hand knit socks makes me feel pampered. It is a small and affordable luxury.

What new project are you undertaking? Do share.

colorwork, knitting

Cast-on Monday, Stash-Buster Style

Posted on August 16, 2021August 17, 2021 by Laura Kate

For some time now, I have been noticing that partially used-up sock yarn skeins have begun to accumulate in my stash. With sock yarns most commonly sold at 100 grams (about 437 yards) it’s obvious to me that my feet and the feet of those that I knit for are below average. I can use up only about 75% of a skein in my favorite sock patterns. Thus I have left-overs. Many left-overs.

It’s time to deal with the clutter. I’m searching for patterns that are written for small amounts of multiple skeins in fingering weight. Today’s project fits that bill to a T.

This sweet little cowl requires 3 light and 3 dark in fingering weight yarn – about 100 yards of each color. After pulling all of my leftovers out of the yarn closet, I managed to come up with six that could work.

The bowl contains a combination of Ewetopia Wisco, Cascade Heritage and KnitPicks Hawthorn. The colors don’t quite line up with those chosen by the designer. But I’m ready to give it a go WITHOUT MAKING A SWATCH FIRST. I know- this behavior is aberrant for me. It must be the summer heat getting to my brain.

You see my cast-on. I am three rows into the ten row repeat. I figure that I will know pretty quickly whether I’m going to like this or not. But then again, it probably doesn’t matter if I like it. I will likely give the cowl as a holiday gift to a loved one who lives in a colder climate.

Full steam ahead!

If you like the pattern, it can be found here on designer Lauren Savidge’s blog:

Pattern: Show Me Your Spots Cowl

FOLLOW UP: As I worked through this pattern, I realized that it had an error. The picture and the dimensions seem to indicate that the 10 row polka-dot pattern was knit twice in each color combination. The pattern did not say to repeat the pattern before switching colors. Now I used the pattern as it appeared in her blog, so maybe the pattern you can purchase has been corrected.

knitting

Finished Object Friday: Knitting – Reblogged

Posted on August 11, 2021 by Laura Kate

While visiting my daughter’s family last month, I had a chance to get the recipient’s reaction to her new vest. You can judge for yourself, but it looks to me like she is really pleased.

“Why, thank you Grammy!” “You are welcome, my love.”

Here is the post, originally published on Juny 12th.

Yes indeedy, today is Saturday But I assure you that I was able to finish this project yesterday, qualifying it as a Friday finish.:

I first wrote about this project in early May, having purchased the yarn while visiting Madison WI in mid spring. This Polkastripe vest is intended for my granddaughter.

The basketweave slip stitch pattern and general design I am using comes from Norwegian designer Anna Schei.

Ravelry: Polkastripe pattern by Trekkentar Deg

This pattern downloaded in pdf format. Consequently I was unable to use a translator to turn the instructions into English. No matter – what was important to me was the color chart. For the construction of the vest itself, I relied heavily on another baby vest pattern, also downloaded for free from Ravelry.

Ravelry: Milly Tank Top pattern by MillaMia Sweden

I recently learned that Lu likes wearing vests, and is practicing her buttoning skills. So I made sure that her summer vest included a front opening and button closure.

The pocket design is my own. You can read about it here.

Who Needs Pockets? – Daily Fiber (wordpress.com)

Now I can jump into some real summertime knitting: socks! Check back in on Monday for the next cast on.

knitting

F.O. Friday: Socks!

Posted on June 25, 2021 by Laura Kate

This project was begun about 2-3 weeks ago. In my initial post I brought up two main points:

An unconventional sock yarn.

This Berroco yarn is a dk weight, not a sock weight. It contains 52% acrylic, 40% wool and 8% nylon. The knitted fabric is soft, stretchy and strong, all of which are highly desirable in a good pair of knitted socks.

The other point is the method of sequential knitting:

I used two skeins, two sets of sock needles and worked the socks in sequence: leg, heel flap, gusset, foot and toe. Frankly, I loved this work method. It provided for variety in the knitting and resulted in finishing both socks at the same time without the use of a long cable needle. Given my fairly extensive collection of doublepoints, I would choose to use this method again.