NOTE: Slightly mature knitting content ahead…

Happy Sunday! Today I’m checking in with a Year of Projects post. YoP is a a group of bloggers who plan their projects for the year, then blog about them. It’s a really supportive and awesome group. I’m joining up a little late this year, but I finally got around to posting my list last week. I wanted to say thanks everyone for all your comments on that post. There was lots of conversation around Ravelry’s accessibility issues, and I’m glad to have found such a great group of folks who are committed to ensuring this hobby of ours is open to all!

I’ve gotten a bunch of knitting done this week! I finished my summer crop top, I’ll plan to write about that one once it’s released so I can link up to the live pattern. I’ve also put in a teeny tiny bit of work on a lingering shawl which I’ll show off in Wednesday’s monthly WIP wrap-up. But this weekend I’ve been working on lots of different projects, but all slightly around the same theme. Which happens to be pride I guess, because LGBTQIA+ issues are not just constrained to the month of June. 😃 🌈

Ok so this started when I wanted to start my next pair of socks after finishing up the crop top. I knew I had some places coming up where truly mindless knitting would be a good thing to have, so I wanted to find a skein I could do afterthought everything socks with, so I pulled out the Asexual Pride colorway from Fully Spun. If you haven’t done afterthought everything, it’s basically where you knit from ribbing to ribbing in one long tube, and then cut the socks in half, put in the toes, and then put in afterthought heels. This technique doesn’t really work with self striping because the stripes would be going the opposite way (unless of course, that’s what you’re going for). I really like making socks this way because it’s the ultimate take anywhere knitting project. You literally knit like 2 feet of stockinette and it’s the most mindless thing. I also usually knit most of these on 9inch circulars, since you don’t even have to stop and do heels or toes until the end. It seriously is the most satisfying thing, though it can get a bit boring. I haven’t made any like this since starting the blog because we haven’t really had places to go. But I’ve recently had some DMV trips and rehearsals and things and so it’s time for them again!

I also finally tore out my 2021 pride socks, the heel was way too small. I tried to pick up stitches under the heel, but because I had done a slip stitch sole, it was really hard and so I just ended up ripping the whole thing out. It worked though because my first YoP goal was to keep my WIP/UFO pile to 5 or less, and I wanted to cast on something new (more on that in a sec) and I was at 5, so something had to go! I’ll get to these eventually and actually make them right.

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So last year (and I can’t believe it was more than a year ago), I made the Galewood mitts in the Merry and Mae non-binary pride colorway for an enby friend. I gave the mitts to them, and the bind-off on the thumbs was too tight. I took them back to fix…. and they promptly sat in my house for 14 months… Oops. Sorry friend. Anyway, I am finally going to fix the thumb issue, but it occurred to me that I still have 65 grams of this yarn left over, so that should be enough to make a hat. I am going to try to plow through making a Barley Light so I can mail it back with the mitts as well as the next project….

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…Ok so now that we’re finally deep enough into the post where I don’t think this pic will come up as soon as you click on it, I can finally share the other project I’ve spent most of my knitting time this weekend working on. This is the Soft Packer by Marianne Fournier (only a Ravelry link is available). I made this using less than 10 grams of Curio #10 from Knit Picks. It was a fun little make which I’m hoping my friend will get a lot of use out of and will make them feel good. If you don’t know, some people who are trans or non-binary like using packers to get the look and feel of genitalia. They can also be used, similarly to knitted knockers, for people who have had surgery because of cancer or other medical reasons. Knitting these in cotton is a lot less expensive and more comfortable than the silicone ones that are often on the market. I was really happy to give my friend this gift. And yes, I did appreciate the irony of working on this and asexual pride socks at the same time. 😉

So that’s it for me this week! Definitely lots of good projects, though I’m currently debating what I want my next big project to be? Try and finish my Grandma shawl (it’s kind of tedious)? Start a new sweater/shirt (I have so many things in stash)? Start to put a dent into the yearly sock subscription I got where I haven’t touched any of the sets? Who knows what it will be?! What are you all working on next? Do you have a theme in your knitting?

Otherwise life is pretty good! I am doing a small show right now, which is really amazing. My friends wrote a musical (!!) and we are doing a staged reading as part of an online theater festival. It will be streaming for FREE on Saturday, September 18, 6:30 eastern time, and then it will be available for viewing for a week after. It’s a really great show, and I am so excited to be a part of it. I am stage manager/ tech/ general whatever people need. You can find out more info here. Tonight I’m going to see some of my OTHER theater friends who started a singing group during COVID, and they are doing their first concert tonight outdoors in a nearby town.

Have a great week all!