Is it fall yet?

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Aug 11, 2019 at 2:29pm PDT

I really shouldn't complain because it hasn't been a bad summer. But I am so over it and ready for fall. Autumn is by far my most favorite season and sadly it seems to get shorter every year. *insert old lady voice* When I moved to western NY I swear fall started in early September and now it doesn't seem to hit until October.

At any rate because my knitting pace has slowed so much I decided to forego knitting socks this month and cast-on for a new cardigan instead. I bought the Magnolia Cardigan pattern back in 2017 but hadn't gotten around to casting on. I am using Miss Babs yarn that I bought at Fibre Space also in 2017, so you could say this project has been percolating for awhile. It feels really good to finally use the beautiful yarns that have been sitting in my stash and also the patterns that I've been hoarding.

If you want to know what I'm doing with the gradient, I'm aiming for colorblock stripes. I'm knitting from darkest to lightest. The gradient stripes are 20 rows or about 2.5" thick. Then I knit 4 rows of the MC then start the next gradient shade. I decided I wanted more of a distinct stripe effect rather than a smooth gradation of color. I'm planning to keep going until I get through the entire gradient and then do the bottom rib in the MC. If this ends up being a super long duster cardigan, I don't think I'll be mad about it. I will most likely omit the buttons. I never wear my cardigans buttoned anyway.

I have sweater fever at the moment with at least 2 more sweaters I want to knit for this upcoming winter. I'll be happy if I can finish just this one though. My husband has asked for a scarf so i should really cast-on for that as well.

July wrap-up and goals

Another month gone. I've been really busy and haven't made as much progress.

Stash Check

• Yarn Used: 752 yds / 186 g
  Yarn Added: 0 yds / 0 g
  Difference: +752 yds / 186 g
• Fiber Used: 0 oz
  Fiber Added: 0 oz
  Difference: -
• Fabric Used: 0 yds
  Fabric Added: 0 yds
  Difference: -

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Jul 28, 2019 at 2:03pm PDT

FOs

• July socks
• Lamby Convertible Mitts

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Aug 2, 2019 at 5:51am PDT

WIPs

• Superhero X-stitch
• Sock Yarn Blanket
• Fiber Optic Blackbird
• Magnolia Cardigan

Goals

2019 goals

1. Keep yarn/fiber/fabric additions to a minimum: No stash bought this month.
2. Knit from previously purchased pattern: Nope.
3. Make what I feel like: I actually didn't much feel like working on either project I finished this month but I did find the motivation to get them off my plate. I wanted to start a sweater for fall and made myself complete the 2 projects I had in progress first. It wasn't super fun but I am happy not to have them hanging around unfinished.
4. Spin 15 minutes a day: I nearly did this. I was on vacation in mid-July so I missed a couple of days but almost made it.
5. Knit more handspun: nope.
6. Finish Superhero Sampler: I have 1.5 motifs left. I can do it!
7. Taking care of my health: knee problems continue. i don't really want to talk about it.
8. Shop less: I bought a fairly controlled amount from the NSale and then picked up some items for fall at the mall when I was on vacation. I probably won't buy anything else for awhile.
9. Brush lettering/doodling: I didn't really do either of these at all, though I have been lettering in my memory planner.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Aug 3, 2019 at 7:22am PDT

yep, another new(ish) planner

So I won't get into the details but I came into a reasonably-sized unexpected windfall and decided to save most of the money. However I did treat myself to a new gadget. I bought an HP sprocket and a big pack of photo paper. To be honest I'm still ironing out some issues. I would say that the quality of the photos so far isn't the best, however it is very handy to be able to print sticky-backed photos and the sizing is the perfect width for my planner if I print 2 photos to a page.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Jul 24, 2019 at 5:20pm PDT

Originally I did not have a lot of interest in doing memory planning but because I bought the printer and I still had 6 months left in my Classic Happy Planner that were unused, I decided to give it a try. And to my surprise I really love it! I feel like it's the most creative of all my planners. I think it's because I don't feel as restricted to stick to the specific days or page layout and I just wing it until I see something I like.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Jul 25, 2019 at 3:27pm PDT

It's going to be nice to be able to look back through my memory planner. Although I do take photos and post them to Instagram I hardly ever look through them again. This will be a way to highlight the points of interest during the week and capture my favorite moments. I am still doing normal rewind spreads in my Erin Condren every week but this will be a fun addition to my planning arsenal. Not to mention I get to use more of my planning stash every week and how could that ever be a bad thing?

This post uses referral/affiliate links. I may receive a small credit or commission if you make a purchase using the links.

slow down summer

I had family in town last week so I was off work enjoying myself. This summer I haven't spent a ton of time on fibery crafts. 1) it's been pretty hot and not conducive to working with wool and 2) I've been focusing on my paper crafts more. I'm having a lot of fun so I'm not going to beat myself up about it, that I haven't finished as many projects this year as in years past.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Jul 2, 2019 at 2:44pm PDT

I'm still trying to complete 1 pair of socks per month but I may not make it this month. My vacation week really put a temporary stop to my progress. July's socks are the Stranger Things colorway from Desert Vista Dyeworks. I bought this colorway last year specifically in anticipation for Season 3, so it's kind of funny that we've only watched 2 episodes so far. Again, we've been busy in July and right now we're finishing up Big Little Lies S2 so I think after it's done we'll go back to ST. At any rate, I am enjoying the socks.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Jul 10, 2019 at 2:47pm PDT

I never officially participate in Tour de Fleece but I have been trying to spin a little every day in July. Because of my vacation week and a knee injury I suffered earlier this month I haven't quite made my goal, but I've come fairly close. I'm spinning a gradient wool/silk blend from Fiber Optic that I bought at Rhinebeck back in 2014, yikes. I believe this is the very last of my Rhinebeck stash from that year. Naturally I have been to Rhinebeck more recently than that but I'll take any stashdown progress over no progress. I am planning to chain ply this yarn to preserve the gradient.

June wrap-up and goals

We're already halfway through the year. i can hardly believe it.

Stash Check

• Yarn Used: 1102 yds / 354 g
  Yarn Added: -268 yds / -66 g
  Difference: +834 yds / 288 g
• Fiber Used: 12 oz
  Fiber Added: 0 oz
  Difference: +12 oz
• Fabric Used: 0 yds
  Fabric Added: 0 yds
  Difference: -

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Jun 24, 2019 at 2:36pm PDT

FOs

• June socks
• Tied Knots
• Aspyn Hat
• Nest targhee
• Hello Yarn Corriedale

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Jul 9, 2019 at 4:54pm PDT

WIPs

• Superhero X-stitch
• Sock Yarn Blanket
• Lamby Convertible Mitts

Goals

2019 goals

1. Keep yarn/fiber/fabric additions to a minimum: I still haven't bought anything. I've used over 4 pounds of yarn this year and almost 2 pounds of fiber.
2. Knit from previously purchased pattern: Check! I had purchased the Aspyn hat in 2017 but I had yet to use the pattern.
3. Make what I feel like: My general yarn-y output has gone down but it's summertime so to an extent I feel like it's a natural progression.
4. Spin 15 minutes a day: I may have missed a day or two in June but I mostly did this.
5. Knit more handspun: Yup. The Aspyn hat was out of my Hobbledehoy handspun I made last year.
6. Finish Superhero Sampler: Getting so close now. I'm down to my last 3 motifs.
7. Taking care of my health: I did pretty well in June but I injured my right knee last Sunday and it's been slowing me down. Hopefully it will be better soon.
8. Shop less: I don't think I bought anything in June. The Nordstrom Anniversary sale starts this week and I will likely buy a few items for fall/winter then, but I've been keeping my wardrobe additions pretty under control.
9. Brush lettering: I think this is like dog training. it does improve but it happens so slowly that you don't always notice it.
10. Doodling: I didn't do much of this in June. I've been busier overall and had less time but I'm hoping to dabble whenever I get a chance.

ever evolving

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Jun 14, 2019 at 2:36pm PDT

We're very close now to July, which means that I am getting tremendously excited about switching both of my planners. I'll be moving from the mini Happy Planner as my everyday carry to this Plum Paper planner A5 daily. I customized it so that each daily page has all of the sections I use so that I will no longer have to frankenplan and switch back and forth between different layouts. I'll also be moving into my Erin Condren life planner neutral vertical that I've shown before.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Sara (@knottygnome) on Jun 23, 2019 at 9:45am PDT

I've become more interested lately in decorative planning with kits and it occurred to me that it would be more cost-effective to print and cut kits myself than to order them through the mail. I bought a Silhouette Cameo 3 from Amazon on sale at a great price. I've since discovered more of the benefits to printing your own kits--1) instant gratification. sometimes it can take over a month to receive your stickers in the mail and 2) being able to edit the kits so that i only print and cut the stickers i actually use. it's generally less wasteful and i don't end up with lots of leftover stickers i'm never going to utilize. i had a lot of fun last weekend playing around with the editing software and cutting my first stickers.

I bought 2 samplers of sticker paper, the regular matte and removable matte from online labels. I prefer the removable kind and when my samplers run out I will order a full pack of the removable paper. So far I have purchased from the following printable shops: Print Petticoat Bandit, Paper Crown Planner, and Ramona and Friends. I've also played around with printing my own script stickers, which I think will come in very handy. I download most of my fonts from dafont.com

I do eventually want to buy a foiling machine but I think that will be a few months down the road once I'm more comfortable with the Silhouette. I'm really enjoying this new outlet for creativity and I can't wait until I can carve out some time to print and cut more stickers.

This post uses referral/affiliate links. I may receive a small credit or commission if you make a purchase using the links.

Vintage Circus

It took longer than anticipated, but this was a really enjoyable spin. The fiber is a Nest Fiber club braid from 2016. It's 100% targhee. I spun it as a fractal 2ply longdraw from the fold. I love how poofy and airy it is. I made an effort not to overply it and the skein is nice and soft. I got about 390yds/120g of a light sport weight.

If you're interested, this skein is available in the shop.