Mostly working on socks right now, but a few other things of note for this week.
Socks: I have 2 pairs on the needles right now. I have finished sock #1 of the Cliff Walk socks (design by Helen Stewart) using The Woolen Rabbit Sock in Pussywillow (a favorite color I’ve had languishing in stash for years and a very good reminder exactly WHY I should shop my stash – there’s some great stuff in there). I want to try to get this pair finished up this month for the January Socks from Stash challenge prompt. The second is a self-striping sock, yarn dyed by Desert Vista Dyeworks in the Time Out and Take Five colorway. My mum specifically requested another pair of striped socks and wanted something with these colors. No deadline specifically on these, but I have sock #1 of this pair done as well and will work on the second one if I can get the Cliff Walk pair finished up later this month.
If you visited my FO Friday past, you’ll see I finished up the Evening Dew hat for our pet-sitter. I dropped it off Saturday at her house and it was good timing as she had gotten bad news about their lovely golden retriever’s health (our dog’s BFF) and he is not doing well, so she definitely needed something to brighten up her day and I’m glad that I could at least do that for her. I had what I hope (fingers crossed) is just enough yardage to squeak out a small beanie-style hat with the remaining pink yarn, so I’ve cast on for a Pussy Willow Hat (my third) to try to use up all of this lovely yarn. Additionally, I cast on 2 other projects for my cast-on January. The khaki green is the Spirea Shawl, with yarn from A Verb for Keeping Warm, and the multicolored one is the Pebble Beach shawl, for which I’m using my own handspun yarn. Not much progress on either of these, but they are on the needles and ready to pick up again when I am. (No pics of these – there isn’t much to see yet.)
Also still chipping away at my Beach Walk Blanket. I have 3/4s of the final round of 52 granny square blocks done, and I’m working on the final 13 that I need. My goal was to get the blocks completely done this month and then I can join them to the blanket and add in the LONG final rounds of granny stripes in February and have this finished up in March!
Progress as well on my sashiko project. I am really enjoying the slow meditative vibe of this craft and I have been using this as a morning wake-up project with my tea, before work. I’m maybe 50% finished? I’m not holding myself to a strict deadline on this one, but would like to have the stitching done this month and then I can move on to another 30-day new-to-me craft. I did have a couple of folks ask me what I’d be doing with the finished piece, and I think I’m going to combine it with some other indigo scraps, plus white, and make a table runner out of it, with the sashiko as the center motif of a rectangular piece. Pretty sure I have enough oddments of fabric (and if not, can trade with some friends with bigger fabric stashes) to do a pieced/striped section on either side of this center square. That will probably be another 30-day project, but later this year.
Finally, I have put in just over 2000 stitches into Winter’s Encounter as my focus cross-stitch piece this month. I’m very happy with the progress I made (although sadly not on track for a finish this year with those numbers – but that’s okay… all of these full coverage pieces are long-term projects), and I’ll be switching off to another piece for the remainder of the month.
That’s a wrap for this week YOP’ers – have a great one!
Knit One, Spin Too 
Wow…where to begin? The xs is gorgeous. A full coverage piece really has a dramatic effect. The socks sure did happen quickly. You have many projects on the go and still manage to touch each of them weekly. I am impressed.
Oh thank you! I’m really loving how detailed the cross stitch is looking. 🙂
Still loving the Cliff Walk Socks. You have so many amazing projects. I may need to develop some new craft hobbies as I overdid my thumb yesterday with too much knitting. Course guess I could just start reading again. 🙂
Oh no! I hope your thumb feels better soon. A peril of too much of the knitting for sure!
Ooh now I love the idea of the stitching on indigo and I have some cotton I indigo dyed last year on a day course. Have you got another piece of fabric underneath or is it single layer you are stitching on.
That would be a brilliant use of what you’ve got! It’s just a single layer, although you could of course, add a secondary one to make a thicker fabric (and if you were using this as a true mending technique and not as a decorative one, you’d have a second patch fabric underneath.
These all look great! I love the crocheted squares (and yet am trying to not look at them too closely until I finish one of my blankets-in-progress… I don’t need to cast on another… 😉 )
The sashiko is really a neat project. I might have to get a kit later this year and make a throw pillow or two with that technique.
Thank you! I am delighted to be in the home stretch on this blanket. I have a very deep queue of other blanket projects I’d love to make.
I think a sashiko pillow (or throw) would be a great project. There are a ton of beautiful designs out there for the stitching.