Welcome back to "What's My WIP?" Wednesdays! Did you miss it?
It's okay if you didn't; it's been a while since it's made an appearance. I'm pleased to have it back in my posting lineup because it means I have projects in progress! Hooray!
Today, I'm bringing you my precursor project to upcoming sock knitting: yarn cake cozies! They sound awfully delightful, don't they? I hope they will be, because they're going to tame my beautiful Sockmas yarn starting Black Friday!
. . .
. . .
The Pattern
The pattern I'm using is Knitty Natty's Yarn Cozy Lite from Ravelry.
I mentioned it a couple times last month because I started working on this two-cozy project back then. I even managed to finish one in that time (yay me!). I still have the second on my needles, so I can only celebrate at 50% happy levels for now.
Natalie has three cozy pattern versions depending on your need: one size holds 100-gram cakes, one 50 grams, and the final 20 grams. Both of mine will be 100g because I prefer to keep my hanks of yarn as intact as I can in cake form. I'm not a fan of joining ends, but I also haven't mastered how to do it without making an ugly, noticeable knot. I've gotta work on that.
. . . . .
The Plan
I plan to have both cozies finished and over-dyed by Friday the 18th. That means I have about a week to complete the second cozy, then a few days after for dyeing.
Sockmas doesn't begin until the 25th, so I have a week's worth of wiggle room if I absolutely need it. I don't think I will though, because I've marked out my plan for the month a la Knitty Natty's method that she shares here. This is my first month trying her way of planning. So far it's keeping me on track, but I won't have a firm idea about it for at least another month. It's looking good, though!
To keep up with my self-imposed schedule, I've decided to knit five rows of the yarn cozy a day. This daily goal worked well for me when knitting the first one, so it felt right to continue it here. It was enough work on the smaller needles that wasn't hurting my hands, which is a big win.
. . .
Over-dyeing the Cozies
I only had two yarns of the right weight in my stash to do this project with: a yellow and pink. I picked the pale pink. Right now, it makes me want to lay down instead of pick up my needles, which is the opposite effect I need for Sockmas. I regret not choosing the yellow... But I have multiple bottles of RIT dye at my disposal.
I plan to liven up my cozies with "Tropical Teal" liquid RIT dye. The kind I have is thankfully for synthetics, which I need in order for this yarn to take color. I would have tried over-dyeing with a regular dye too, just to see what would happen, but this saves me from lackluster results. I'm hoping this dye overpowers the pink enough to make the cozies a solid color, but I won't be too mad if there's some variegation.
. . .
My Current Progress
As of today, I have kept up with my five-round knitting goal for Cozy #2. I'm well into the 3x1 rib at 25 rounds of the 40 needed. I have yet to do my five for today, so I will be up to 30 rounds by the evening. I am pretty confident Cozy #2 will be finished on-schedule, which is really nice to say!
I did experience a couple setbacks when setting up the rib row. I kept miscounting stitches, so my rib pattern wasn't lining up with the amount of stitches it needed. I had to tink (reverse knit, aka: frog a little) at least three times when making that row, which started to hurt my wrists a little. I'm on track now and haven't messed up the ribbing sequence since. Phew.
I'm looking forward to dyeing these cozies soon. I need to find a pot for dye use only pretty quick for that part. Perhaps the local thrift stores will have something?
. . .
Have you ever used yarn cozies before? What did you think of them?
Comments