FO: Haruni Shawl

Phew. Been awhile? I'm an on-again/off-again blogger. I've got no excuses. Okay, I've got a ton of excuses, but I'll not go into them.

During my hiatus there has been knitting. I have always loved the Haruni Shawl, so I finally knit one. I finished the main leaf portion during my August vacation, but stalled out a bit on the edging motif, mostly because I found my initial read through of the instructions confusing and put it aside to do something more straightforward. But it is done now.

I knit it from Naturally Dawn, a wool/silk blend which I quite like. In fact, I have enough of it in white for another project yet. Needles were Addi Turbo Lace, size 5. I followed the pattern except for the crocheted loops/bind off where I just did what I knew and not precisely what the pattern said.

Unblocked with hank of Lorna's Laces sock for scale:


Blocking with same scale (and cat):


And finished:


Details - I love the leafy edging:




And now I'm feeling a bit mad, so I thought maybe I would commit myself to a large scale lace piece with all the bits that drive me batty - patterned on both sides, knit on edging, needles below a size 5...


I haven't cast on. But I will.

FO: Ishbel.2

I finished my first Ishbel scarf at the end of March. Then I finished up spinning some merino/silk I had been working on. I ended up with about 350 yards of more or less lace-fingering weight yarn, with some areas so thin as to be threadlike and a couple of noticeably thicker slubs. It was enough for a project. And, while I usually don't like to knit the same pattern twice, Ishbel seemed just right. So I started knitting it. Then I stopped for a long time. But now it is finished.


The fiber spun up into a lovely mostly-blue-but-with-shades-of-greens-and-purples that I feel is quite nice. Because of the thinness of certain areas, I did not block as aggressively as I am wont to for fear of breakage. It seems to have come out intact.


I feel especially proud of this because I did take it from fiber to finished. It's my first project from my own handspun. Yay!

Block(ing) Party

Woo hoo! Blocking party going on in the Spare Oom at my house!


Ishbel.2 and Clapotis blocking at the same time. Clapotis is being blocked rather firmly, and unevenly (yes, I know), while I took care to be firm but quite gentle with Ishbel.2. Ishbel.2 is made out of my own handspun, which is generally a laceweight, but there are a few places where is decreases down to fine thread. So I tried to be a little more gentle with it.

I started my felted cat bed. Turns out I have a lot of partial and odd balls in red and brown. But mostly red. And I've probably got enough more to do a second on in mostly blue... In fact I think I might just do that.


I think I'll finish the knitting of the cat bed today, most likely. And I've got the itch to cast on something new, but I have two brand spanking new books that ought to arrive in the mail tomorrow, so I think I'll definitely be waiting for those before beginning a new project.

Two, two, two socks at once!

Okay, I'm over that knitting hump I had. I've cast on for a pair of socks, in my favorite method, two socks at once on one long circular needle!


(Coincidentally, I'm teaching a class on that technique at the Dancing Ewe on Saturday.) I also cast on for a new sock to knit in movie theaters. I did much of this one while watching The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It's a great film, although with a couple of scenes that are really brutal. At one point I jumped in my chair and stabbed my finger with my knitting needle. Knitpicks Classic Circs. They're really sharp. I still have a mark on my finger.


Anyway, that's the sock. I kind of hate how it's pooling. I also started a project out of my very own handspun. Another Ishbel shawlette!


It's thrilling to be making something out of yarn I made. But I also gave in and got a couple of hanks of Malabrigo Sock. I held out for over a week, but I gave into Bubblegum Pink and a color I call, in the most loving way possible, algae.



Mmmm... it's just so soft. I want to knit with it now! But the two-at-once socks are top priority, as they'll be a late present as it is...

FO: Ishbel Scarf

Everybody's doing it. Or has done it. And now I'm going to be starting a two part class on it at the Dancing Ewe starting a week from Saturday, so I figured I ought to knit one up.

I went stash diving and came up with three balls of this:


That's Baruffa Bollicina, a yummy 65% cashmere/35% silk blend yarn. I must have bought it as a treat, and I bet it was on sale at the Ewe when I did. Anyway, it's lovely stuff, although I did find a knot in one of the balls.

Ishbel is a lovely little pattern - very clear and easy to follow, although the lace pattern is not one I was able to memorize. My only change to the pattern would be to do a provisional cast on in the place of a regular cast on. I think it would be cleaner, although not too functionally different.



As I am wont to do, I blocked this within an inch of its life. It ends up just under four feet long and maybe 20" wide center to point. That's a little smaller than I usually prefer, but very functional.



I could imagine making the larger laceweight version of this someday. Also, while knitting it, I had the opportunity to try AddiClick Lace needles - interchangeable needles from Skacel with Addi Lace heads. I loved how light the needles were, and adored how flexible the blue cords are (my own addi lace needles are the old red cord, which is great, but not so nice as the blue ones, apparently). And I liked that I had no concern whatsoever that the needle tips were going to fall off. But I did find the my yarn was catching at the join between needle and cord, a very unfortunate impediment to their use. It was interesting to compare them to others I've used.



Next up: Finish the foot on the sock I'm making for this Saturday's class, and then get to work on the socks I promised my aunt! Excited, because I'm going to do the Rivendell Sock - a pattern which I have loved, but not had an excuse to get until now.

FO: Olympic Rose of England Tea Shawl

As you may have guessed, the radio silence has meant that I totally failed to complete my Rose of England by the end of the Olympics. I was going crazy knitting Thursday and Friday before the Olympics ended and realized that I wasn't having any fun. So I eased up, and just enjoyed the ride. It's taken me until today to finish the last dozen or so rows and the crocheted bind off.

Pattern: Rose of England (tea cloth) from Marianne Kinzel's Second Book of Modern Lace Knitting
Yarn: Baruffa Cashwool, most of one hank (~1400 yards)
Needles: Size 6 Knitpicks options, Size B crochet hook for the edging.
Size: Blocked to 58" across, pulled back some once off the pins

Kinzel's pattern is clear and well written, but that didn't stop me from having trouble wrapping my head around it. The charts have a slightly different style from most modern lace charts, which threw me for a bit of a loop. Then there's the matter of casting on for such a small diameter, which is always a bit tricky.

After the first day of knitting, I found that I had completely missed... something. I'm still not sure exactly what happened, but I had to rip out completely and start over. So I lost some time there. It was all pretty much smooth sailing after that. Except for the problem of the Extremely Long Rows toward the end. And that was just a problem of inertia. I did get hung up a bit at the crocheted edging, but after reviewing multiple instructions on how to do a double crochet, I found About.com's the most useful, and off I went.

The yarn was lovely. It's been in my stash for years, and I was glad to use the Olympics as a chance to use it up. I didn't run into any knots or slubs, which is very nice over that length of yarn.

Preblocking, the usual crumpled mess:


Blocking. It took all my T-pins, and most of the safety pins I could dig up to pin out the crocheted loop edging.


Draped over a chair:


Hanging off the side of the fridge:


Edging details:



Center details:



And now onto the next!

Knitting Olympics update 2

I'm at row 96 out of 152 (including the bind off row). I have 56 rows left. I'm aiming to complete a little over 9 rows per day. That way, all I have left to do on Sunday is block it. Now, this goal may be a little far fetched considering the length of the rows I have now... and that they're only going to get longer.

Luckily, this evening, I'm aiming to complete about 14 rows. I'm just at the point where I have 6 rows plain knitting, followed by two pattern rows, followed by 6 more rows plain knitting. Hopefully I can power through it.



It seems that this house gets almost no natural light. However, there's a window right next to the refrigerator. White background + natural light = halfway decent pictures. It works nicely for lace, in any case.

Knitting Olympics update

I had a false start on my Knitting Olympics project. There are seven charts and, as I began the second one, I discovered that I had borked... something. I was short a double yarn over somewhere back, 7 stitches short at the end of the row. And I couldn't fix it.

I spent some time being angry at my knitting and then I started over. And did more counting. I'm now on the fourth chart, row 56 of 152 rows (and bind off) with no major errors. What was really annoying was that I had to cast on twice. Casting on 10 stitches on size 6 needles is a pain! But I did it! Twice. grr.



Am I on track to finish by the closing ceremonies? I have no idea. I have a very busy week at work, so I'm maybe not getting in as much knitting time as I could. And then I'm teaching a knitting class on Saturday, for which I need to prepare materials.

Oh, didn't I mention? I'm now teaching knitting classes at the Dancing Ewe. I had my first class ever last week and it was great. This week's class: a basic hat. I'm really looking forward to it!

FO: Laminaria

It's done! Yippee!!

FO: Laminaria by Elizabeth Freeman
Yarn: Blackberry Ridge Silky Merino in Samarkand Blue
Needles: Size 5 addi lace needles
Cast on: May 18, 2009
Cast off: February 9, 2010

I have loved this pattern since I first saw it. And I love the pattern; it's gorgeous. And Blackberry Ridge's Silky Merino is one of my favorite lace yarns I've used (this is my third shawl with it so far). But for all that, I really didn't love knitting this shawl. With this shawl, I wanted the product. And there are a lot of stitch maneuvers that require a lot of concentration. So I found bits of it fiddly, which is why it had such a prolonged period of hibernation. But, gosh, the end product is gorgeous.

For some reason, the yarn color is impossible to photograph. It's a lovely teal-ish blue. The photo on the vendor website is pretty good, but imagine it slightly iridescent.

This is the second shawl I've knit with this yarn, in this color. And it was a close thing. I had only yards left after binding off.


And the preblocked shawl didn't look altogether that very large. But it was quite bumpy.



Then I gave it a good soaking in my tiny bathroom sink:


I found blocking to be a bit challenging. I had trouble figuring out exactly what shape the shawl wanted to be. Eventually, I settled on this shape, but I'm not 100% sure it was the best option.


Off the blocking board and onto the fence!


Details:



So that's lovely (if I do say so myself). On to the next. Can I knit a circular shawl in 17 days? Or at least use up 1400 yards of laceweight on size 6 needles? We will find out! Knitting Olympics, here I come!

FO: Damson Shoulder Shawlette

I finished my Damson Shawl, a pattern from Ysolda. I began knitting it while finishing up my Diamonds and Triangles stole. I had seen Veronica's finished Damson on Ravelry and lurved it. I figured it might be just the thing for the Trekking Hand Art (color 503!) that I had been hoarding.

So Damson became my mindless knitting relief. And now it's finished and off the blocking board and onto my shoulders.


It took almost exactly the full hank of Trekking - I don't think I could have knit another full row with the tiny bit I have left over. I love when that happens, but it's nerve wracking. I was mentally going over my sock yarn scraps for a possible match at the end there.



While I loved this yarn in the hank, I'm not 100% in love with how it pools as it knits. I think it would have been better in socks. But since this is a scarf, I can handle the pooling. All in all, I think variegated yarn in scarves is best in a Montego Bay type pattern.



Blocking was interesting. I wasn't really sure what shape the shawl wanted to be, so I kind of felt like I was forcing it into this shape. I think I achieved more or less what the shawl wanted to be.

Although it was a very simple shawl overall, and easy to knit, I learned something new! The loops at the edge have an unusual construction. I had assumed, from looking at pictures, that it was a crocheted bind of, but no... far more interesting than that.



Now that this is off the needles, I only have four projects on the needles, three of which are active. I'm knitting the Amelia Cardigan lightly modified, the Laminaria shawl, a pair of stockinette socks, and the lap blanket my mom started some time ago. I have this crazy idea. The idea is to finish all four of these projects before beginning a new one.

This idea may be impractical - I do have some air travel at the end of the month, and I usually like to bring a pair of socks in addition to a lace piece. So there may be another sock cast on before I finish everything. But then I would finish those supposed socks before starting new projects. I don't recall a time while I've been knitting when I didn't have something in the works. Should be interesting...

DONE! FO: Diamonds and Triangles shawl

DONE!

Pattern: Diamonds and Triangles stole from Victorian Lace Today
Yarn: Baruffa Cashwool, nearly a full hank
Needles: US size 7, three brands.
Cast on date: November 2007
Cast off date: September 24, 2009

That's right. It took me nearly two years to finish this behemoth. I began it, finished the center and put it aside, worked on the edging, got bored and put it aside. Rinse and repeat until a couple of weeks ago when I decide that it will be perfect with the dress I've bought for the opening of my museum. At that point I have the edging complete on two sides, so I've about half the edging to go. And I kick it into high gear. I finished knitting it on the 24th and had it ready to wear on the 25th.

If I were to knit this again (which I don't plan on) I would absolutely use smaller needles, and probably a slightly thicker yarn. It was very fiddly. The pattern itself is quite straightforward. I find that I have a strong preference for shawls knit in one piece, instead of having to knit an edging on after knitting the body.

Technically speaking, there are problems with this shawl. I had some difficulty with the corners - I had to fudge one or two things here or there. There are a couple of mistakes in the edging. And my weaving in of ends isn't very good. In short, this isn't a fair piece. But I don't worry about it because the shawl is black, which makes a lot of things hard to see, and because of the size.

One thing this piece is, is enormous. I blocked it out to about 3' by 7'. And I didn't even block aggressively... It's also very warm. The wool is soft and kept me warm all night long at the opening.

Preblocking, with a meter stick.


Blocking on my alphabet foam blocks, with a meter stick. You can also see the line created by grafting. I pulled the kitchener tight, rather than making it invisible.


Blocking cat deterrent devices. We had a little problem the last time I blocked...


Post blocking detail


Wearing the shawl with my dress from the opening. Not the shoes though. My feet were tired from the heels.


Higher contrast posing:



Fluttery detail shots: