Shawl #2 or How to Give Yourself a Yarn Heart Attack

I was given a lovely skein of pink silk/seacell blend laceweight. 700 yards. Good stuff. And I wanted to make Haruni. What a beautiful shawl! The perfect combination for Ravelympics, a challenge to make something during the Olympics - something that wouldn't be too easy, but doable. You have to finish before the torch is extinguished - to get your virtual medal. I would be at Stitches, but armed with an iphone and a little help from Alex to get the photo posted, it should all work out. Right?



I cast on as the opening ceremonies began, and started my project. It went well. The pattern calls for arond 450 yards of sock yarn, so I knew I had plenty (red flag! Danger!) so I made it bigger. The first section has "stems" and the pattern called for 12 and to make it bigger you had to increase in increments of two stems. I made 16. On to the edging.

"Ooooh, this is taking lots of yarn," she thinks to herself while knitting merrily along. (danger! danger!) "Oh, but I have 700 yards!" NO PROBLEM. By the time we were leaving for Stitches I had a wee little ball left and about 5 rows to go. Five LONG rows. I knit in the car, keeping the little ball hidden from Tracy so she wouldn't shriek in horror at the amount I had left. After every row I squeezed and felt how much I used, and it seemed like it could POSSIBLY work. Right? Gotta have faith, right?



I was on my last row during the opening session at Stitches. While listening to Jane Slicer Smith talk miters and design options, I started the bind off. The pattern calls for a crochet loop bind off which is really pretty, but I knew I was pushing it to have enough for a regular bind off. It took most of the session, since it was close to 500 stitches, and the wee ball was now more of a wee lump, but I did it (and resisted the urge to stand up and cheer when the last stitch was done!).

I steam ironed/blocked it in the hotel room and wore it the next day. Photo below taken on the bed in the hotel.



With several days of the Olympics to spare, I might add.

Now I want to make one with the loops.

Tracy had a birthday!

And I have been knitting her a little something without her even knowing about it. Aren't I sneaky?

It is a little shawlette/scarf called Damson, designed by Ysolda Teague, a favorite designer of mine who lives in Scotland and must have a cool life - living in Scotland and designing knitwear.
It uses one skein of sock yarn, and I chose a skein of Malabrigo sock in a lovely blue/black color that I hope goes with jeans or black or both.

I modified the original pattern by inserting a lace pattern into every other little triangle at the bottom. I had seen this on ravelry, and the originator had permission to give it out to others which she did, and there you have it! I think it made a lovely addition to the overall look. I also like the scallop edge.

Such a fun knit, and it looks good on Tracy. She modeled it for me at Whole Foods (our knitting group spot). The folks at the grocery store are getting used to a bunch of knitters being there, and now they are getting to see a bunch of knitters photographing shawls in front of the carrots. Good times!

Chugging Along

It is knitting time on the blog folks!

I finished my "sand art" socks. They are Kaffe Fassett yarn, self-striping socks knit as a plain tube with an afterthought heel. I did that to preserve the sand art look to the stripes, and it worked well. They are photographed here on my new socks blockers from KnitPicks, which are great and not expensive which makes them even better. That makes pair number 2 done for this year. SLOW progress.

The nice folks at Ancient Pathways are doing a knit-a-long to make the Aeolian Shawl (ravelry link) and though I initially resisted I gave in. I am usuing stash yarn (Baruffa Cashwool 100% merino) but I did buy some beads. They didn't have size 8 black beads so I got triangle shaped beads in black but they have a irridescent blue/green cast to them. I am knitting a long more with Janice than the AP gang, because I'm behind due to the resistance thing. Anyway, I am on the first set of charts and here is progress so far--

Such as it is.

I also started a new sock with yarn I overdyed at Janice's. This yarn used to be yellow/red and with some chestnut over it, it turned a lovely brown/russetty red. I am making the Leyburn socks. This pattern goes FAST. I started yesterday. It is toe-up, and I used Judy's Magic Cast-on for the toe. Happy toe! The rest is going great too. It really helps when you are in love with the yarn.

I'm also set to cast on another Clapotis. More on that next time.

Raspberry Silk

I think I love lace. It is a mental challenge, at times irritating when you mess up, but for the most part it is like mental exercise. Then when you are done, the payoff is huge. After you block it, it turns into a beautiful piece of knitting. The only drawback is it is not good social knitting. You have to pay attention.

Behold, the Raspberry Silk Scarf:

I made this to give at the Good Things gift exchange, but couldn't part with it. At least, not yet. It could become a Christmas present. Shhh, don't tell.

Yarn: Redfish Dyeworks, 20/2 Silk
Pattern: Asphodel Lace Scarf by Misti International

I started this on May 25 and finished June 15. Not too bad for less than a month!

When is a pair not a pair?

I finished my Marlene socks. I actually finished them awhile ago, but just now am getting photos of them on the blog. They are the longest socks I have made, and took FOREVER. But I love them. They will be so nice this winter when it is cold and I'm wearing brown shoes. You can't wear wacky color socks all the time (well, you actually can, but sometimes I like to be a little more discreet).

Pattern: Marlene by Cookie A. (ravelry link)
Yarn: Dream in Color Smooshy, Color: Cocoa Kiss

My goal this year is to knit 12 pair of socks. This is actually the first pair I have completed. Pretty sad, huh?

I actually finished another "pair" but I don't think you could count it as a pair. On the left is some Lorna's Laces yarn knit into a plain ole' sock, a la Yarn Harlot Sock Recipe. On the right is a plain sock, knit from Kaffe Fasset's sock yarn. I made this one with an afterthought heel to better preserve the sand art look of the stripes. I had never done that before and really liked the effect. With any luck, I'll knit another two socks and then have three pair done.


I also wanted to blog about a swap I did with my Cindy Knitter group on Ravelry (yes, there are enough of us Cindys who knit to form an entire group). The rules were you were given the name of a Cindy and were supposed to spend around $30 and get them some yarn and some other goodies. We were given a deadline, and I mailed mine off to Elizabethtown, PA in time. And then I waited. And waited. And nothing. So I contacted the Cindy in charge and she called upon two "angels" who had signed up to rescue someone in the event someone flaked. So I got the above pictured lot of goodies from two different people! It ended up being way more than I would have gotten originally, so I went from feeling left out to guilty for getting too much. Then about a month later the original Cindy who had flaked sent me some stuff too. It was good stuff, but over a month late. So I ended up with 3 packages. So much for my first swap experience.


I'm starting a new lace project - this one is a little lace scarf I'm going to use in a gift exchange. This pattern has the two end pieces knit first and then they are grafted on to the center section. The ends went fine, but the center section is driving me crazy. I'm looking forward to blocking it to see how it is going to look. The yarn is Redfish Dyeworks 20/2 silk. Such a pretty color!

Caution! Slow Knitter Ahead

Top five excuses for not blogging:

1. Maurice took the camera on two long overseas trips.
2. Working on long term project with no finished objects to show.
3. Busy with driving across town 42,000 times a day (see #1)
4. Facebook (and Carey beating me 19 times at Pathwords)
5. Kindle software on the iPod, making reading a new mega-portable hobby

Those are my excuses - and a good summary of what I've been up to.

My main excuse is that after Stitches I started on a lace veil for Grace's First Communion. I am using the Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting's Altar Lace pattern for the center panel and then doing a knitted on border from Victorian Lace Today. Sounds complicated, and it is. The center panel is done,

and wasn't really hard, lots of repetition on the lace by the cross, and easy to see if you've gone astray. I've never knitted a border on after the fact, and there is where I am now. Thankfully, VLT has a very nice back section on how to do this, and that is what I'm doing. Or at least trying to do, as I am on row 7 after starting and ripping a few times.

That leaves precious little time to finish Marlene, my sock by Cookie A., sock knitting hero. I really like this sock, but I have set it aside a lot, first to do the Feb Lady Sweater for Stitches wearing, and then to work on the veil. Every time I pick it up again I have to refresh my memory on what I'm doing and that usually involves messing up a few times before I get going again, and about that time I put it down for awhile. Not good in progress department.

I have, however, turned the heel, so I'm hoping progress will start to pick up soon.


Next on the agenda is knitting a sock out of the new Cookie A. book. LOVELY. And in general, cranking out a few projects to boost the knitting self-esteem. I really wanted to knit 12 pair of socks this year, but so far I don't even have one sock, much less one pair to show for myself.

Living with traveling husband means I'm the single mom at home a lot. And the kids aren't slowing down any, so I am running around in high stress mode frequently. And next on our family agenda includes First Communion, graduation from 8th grade, and two birthdays. Not to mention Easter, Alex and Maurice's trip to Washington DC etc.......Yikes. June is looking pretty inviting.

I'm finally getting to tag along on one of those business trips, so the end of this week I'll get to go with Maurice on a quicky trip to Vancouver. Brrrr, I realize, but this year seems to be the year of being cold. And Canada promises some yarn stores, right? I really love Vancouver, and haven't been there since Emily was little and chasing pigeons in the park, so this should be a fun trip. We are staying at the same hotel we stayed in a lot back then, so it should be nice.

Now, should I take the sock along, or download a new book on my iPod?

Felted Soap and Juno Regina Revealed

I finished my Juno Regina for the Ravelympics WIP Wrestling, and it was like a wrestling match getting me to buckle down and do it. I was wishing I could move onto something more exciting even though I did enjoy working with the silk yarn and the color was lovely. I did hang in there and finish, but crazy schedules of this past week didn't permit me to properly block and photograph it once it was done.

Anyway, here it is! Blocking sure makes beautiful lace even more beautiful. Make sure to notice Vladimar in the background playing piano.

On another note, no pun intended, a few weeks ago Tracy, Carey, Mom, and I got together to try out another craft project for a potential project for our Good Things group. We covered soap with wool and felted it, making a little "sweater" for a bar of soap. It turns the soap into a combination soap/scrubbie, and when the soap is gone, it is a fragrant little sachet for your drawer.

I used a sampler pack of colorful fibers dyed by Angela of True Love Fiber, and we wrapped the bars, added a little hot water, and put the covered bar into a kneehigh nylon stocking, and then rubbed, rubbed, rubbed. Not long after, the wool had felted and voila! it was done.

Here are two of the bars, my first attempts. I did others, and Carey took photos, but they never seemed to make it on the blog (HINT HINT SISTER). It was a fun and easy project. Some of the felted soaps on Etsy are quite complicated looking, but ours were just our trial runs.

Ravelympic Update

My lack of posting has not been because I have been hanging out at the Ravelympic village, trading pins with other Ravathletes and visiting the Great Wall of China and the Water Cube. It has been due to REALITY! - that 4 letter word, WORK. School starts Monday and I've been in meetings and retreats, etc.... Not that I don't love work, ahem, [waves to readers at work] it just takes up time. Add the stress of school starting for the kids, and boom, no time.

I have however, been squeezing in some knitting at last minute appointments and during late night Michael Phelps watching. I even got to go to my new knitter friend Lisa's house and there I finished my Juno Regina Scarf. I then grafted it together last night (stressful, but doable) and it is done. That counts as the second of my three ravelympic events. Here it is in its unblocked blob-like state.

Not much to look at, but no time to block. Maybe tomorrow, my coveted day off.

My beaded scarf counts as two ravelympics events- Bead Balance, and Scarf Stroke. I am doing okay with it, but it is not done. I even ordered a 3rd ball of yarn in case it is too short after the second it done (soon) and I think I can finish before the flame is extinguished.

This whole olympic knitting thing has been corny but fun, and if nothing else, has gotten me to finish a few things before school starts and the serious drain on my time begins. And now I have medals to show for it - not as many as Michael Phelps, but can he graft lace? That's what I thought.

Truly Lovely Socks and a baby giraffe

My friend Angela dropped some of her yarn in my knitting bag on KIP day and I decided it needed to become a sock. I was looking for something easy since I'm working on lace too, so I first started the RPM sock. It wasn't working for me, it seemed much too stretchy, so I ripped back and made it into a good old standby Basic Sock Recipe. I had forgotten how satisfying it is to just knit. Although for some reason, I can't stand gussets. Odd.


Speaking of lace, I have finished both ends of the Juno Regina scarf and now need to do the long stretches of the middle part. I was actually looking forward to this, since I can then knit it when I'm out knitting with friends. Following charts requires me to be at home, with good lighting, when it is fairly tranquil around here. I say fairly, because it is rarely completely tranquil. We do what we can.



Speaking of children, Alex is now very close to being as tall as a giraffe is when it is born. Yikes! He is 13.

Lots going, nothing finished

I was cruising along in sock land, when I was reading the Ancient Pathways group on Ravelry and it was mentioned that lots of our group had the Juno Regina stole in our queue, and we should do a knit - a - long.

No one had to twist my arm. Two days later, I have this:

I'm using Redfish silk in a fabulous green color. I got it two Stitches ago. I am doing the two ends at the same time on one circular, and then I will graft it together. Since I have two skeins, it was meant to be. Plus, I like the idea of having both come out identical. I don't enjoy tangles so much, so I may put one aside on a holder (Lisa's idea) once the lacy part at the end is done, then do the other, then graft. We'll see when I get there. That's the plan anyhow.

Anyway, sock guilt overcame me last night, so I picked up the Nutkin again and did a repeat or two just to say I did.

Oh, and just in case you think I had abandoned my My So Called Scarf, not to worry. I am at the end of skein one. I think two will be more than plenty, and I have three, so I need to decide if I want to make two or if I have something else destined for the third skein of this Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend that is too lovely to waste.

All three of these projects use lovely yarn that is a pleasure to work with. It is not so much knitting as yarn fondling. Yum!

Stork's Nest Scarf

Finished the scarf - and blocked it too, using my blocking wires I bought awhile ago but had not broken in yet. They worked well, but boy, it takes a long time to thread each stitch onto them! I don't have patience for blocking apparently.

Specs - Stork's Nest Scarf by Nancy Bush, from Piecework Magazine. I need to subscribe to Piecework, I really like the historical articles and they always seem to have Nancy Bush patterns.

Next up - back to the scratchy Noro sock, and starting tomorrow I start a knit a long at Ancient Pathways. We are making the Nutkin sock. I'll post more about that later.

Two four-letter words!

Lace!

Can you see some yarnovers in there? Such an easy pattern, amost as relaxing as straight stockinette.









Work!

A photo of me, with a bunch of cute kindergarteners at the first annual BOOKtastic day at our school. The best school ever, I might add. (Hi Kim!) Two more weeks of school, not that I'm counting or anything.
I was also tagged to do a meme, and if you want to read about me, click here.

Decisions, decisions

Can't decide between socks and lace?

Do both!

What's a little "startitis" between friends? I am trying out my Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn. Now if you don't know about Noro, it is this Japanese yarn that has fabulous color changes. Their yarn in my opinion is scratchy, even Silk Garden, which I used for my entrelac scarf. It even has bits of "organic matter" for good measure, mostly bits of hay I guess. I used Noro Kureyon worsted weight for my Chevron Scarf that has gotten lots of "hearts" on Ravelry, but it is so scratchy I have never even woven in the ends and worn it.

Anyway, the sock yarn is scratchier than ever. I can't believe it is supposed to be a sock that is worn on human skin. Why did I buy it? I guess I wondered what all the hype was about. Why am I knitting it? I don't really know. I have looked at all the projects with it on Ravelry and some people think it is great, and some don't. I guess I'm seeing for myself.

Then, just to shake up the sock production line a bit, I am using sock yarn (Pagewood Farms Yukon, color Navajo) to make the Stork's Nest Scarf by Nancy Bush from Piecework Magazine, issue Jan/Feb 2008. I haven't done lace in awhile, and it is fun. This is the first time I'm using sock yarn, so it will be a little more substantial than my normal Zephyr.

Anyway, I knew you would all be dying to know what I chose, so I thought I'd let you get back to wondering who the Bachelor chooses, if Kristi Yamaguchi can win Dancing, and which David wins American Idol. Too much suspense isn't good for the soul.

Evidence of Knitting Revealed

I have been knitting! Not as much as I would like, obviously, and I feel like I am not making much progress.

In the process of going through my knitting stuff, I encountered a lovely mohair/silk scarf I started knitting around a year and a half ago. I recall being driven crazy by not being able to see what was a knit and what was a purl due to the nature of the fuzzy thin yarn, and I eventually lost interest.

I've pulled it out again, and am dealing better with the visual thing, and am almost done. This little skein of Artfibers Tsuki is lasting forever, though, and I feel like I knit forever and nothing changes. Logically I know I will finish eventually.

Here is the up close--

As I mentioned before, I have started a lace project, this time the Swallowtail Shawl from Interweave Fall 2006. I have been wanting to do this one, and since I found the magazine, it made it much easier to start (no snickers, please).

This one is not going very well. It seems like the simple lace pattern in the beginning is driving me crazy. I guess I am out of lace practice. I am plugging away, but not very quickly.

I am afraid of starting another project, although I'm dying to start a sock. I know my brain can only handle keeping two projects going or I am sure to mix them up and disaster will strike. So I will keep my tortoise pace going until one gets finished.

On the exciting front, I have received my Stitches packet, and am looking forward to going more than I can put into words. I really need a break from things around here. There is going to be a Ravelry meet-up, and I am going to connect with a few people I met last year.

On to Clue #2

To someone not knitting this Mystery Stole, these photos must be pretty dull. To the knitter, they signal monumental achievement. "I made it this far! Hooray! I didn't go insane or get knitocidal! See my beads?" This is my second official "Piece of Lace Knitting" and it doesn't seem all that difficult. I know I have just tempted fate in the most awful way (if you are knitting superstitious), but I am in the process of installing a lifeline in case of emergency.

The second clue chart looks laid out in a very logical manner, and you know I like the logical pattern. Wish me luck.

Getting right to the point

I finished chart A. So far it has not been difficult at all. I am not very far into this I realize, but so far I have been able to reach the end of each row without finding myself with too few/more stitches than I'm supposed to have. Hooray.

This marks row 50.

Summer Plums

I blocked the Shetland Triangle. It grew. It "bloomed". Blocking really brings out the pattern and makes it look like a completely different animal. Blocking lace is a pain, and I wish I really knew what I was doing. But it turned out okay.

I decided that I didn't want the points as pointy as the pattern. I also didn't bind off loose enough to get it that pointy, and I bound off as loose as I could. I should switch needles next time.

I love this color, a deep plummy purple, but it photographs different each time.

My swimmers!

Off the Needles!

The Shetland Triangle is done. I still need to block it and watch it grow (hopefully). It is pretty, even though it is petite and a little lumpy.

Specs: Shetland Triangle from Wrap Style, Dark Plum Zephyr Merino Laceweight purchased at Stitches West 2007. Size 6 Knitpicks Options needles. 13 pattern repeats instead of 8, otherwise knitted as per pattern. Love the pattern, like the Monkey socks, it made complete sense when I knitted it. Gotta love a logical pattern that you can see when you are right and when you are not. Had one little tink episode but other than that, it was a great knit, although it seemed to take forever to bind off the over 360 stitches at the end.

I am now a lace knitter. I had toyed with it before, but I have now knit a lace shawl with laceweight yarn. Stand back folks!

Now I get to start swatching and catching up on the Mystery Stole. And finishing up the sock.

On another note, I won a little blog contest over on the cutest blog Paper and String. She sent me (from England!) a very sweet little piece of paper art that is destined to be handed over to Nolamom the scrapbook goddess to end up in Grace's album. Thank you Paper and String! Go check out her blog, gotta love the cupcake felt goodies. She just posted her ideas for Christmas. Very cute!

Excuses, Excuses

Today is the start of Mystery Stole 3. Argh. Have I downloaded my clue? No. Have I swatched? No. Have I decided on beads? No. Have I finished the Shetland Triangle yet? No. Do I have my socks for June done? You guessed it. No.

Here are my excuses.

The Shetland Triangle pattern called for fingering weight yarn and I am using laceweight. It calls for 8 pattern repeats, I have done 12 and it is still little. I know blocking will stretch it, but since I am not running out of yarn and it is smallish, I press on. Here is what it looks like at this minute, after 12 repeats-

I haven't finished the sock because I have been knitting endless rows of lace. See excuse #1.

I am painting Grace's room. We are going with a "Hawaiian Monkey" theme (sounds weird, but it'll be cute, I promise). This involves modifying the existing Hawaii room of 8 years ago and two children ago (it used to be Emily/Alex's room, and recently was Alex's alone).

I am modifying the Pink Hotel painting (our family favorite Hawaiian spot) and adding the monkey girl in a hula skirt to the other wall. And I also painted the walls pink/green. For the record, I have done this painting project 98% on my own (Alex gets 1 1/2%, Grace 1/2%).

That's all my excuses.

I'm knitting as fast as I can, and yesterday that caused grief when I discovered I had missed a yarnover three rows back, which meant tinking back around 750 stitches to fix it. I was overjoyed! I am now back on track and after one more repeat I am going to do the edging. I have one more day to finish the socks in June. All is not lost yet. (Yes, I know the world will not stop turning if I don't finish on time but I have self-imposed deadlines).

Happy Friday!