Ashton Shawlette continues to grow

It has how grown big enough that I can't stretch it out too much or it will extend past my 47 inch circular. I have finished chart 3 and am about to start chart 4. That means there is only 19 more rows to go before I cast off! Yea!

I have been thinking about how I will block it. I really don't have the money to spend on blocking wires right now. I saw one of Dee O'Keefe's posts where she suggests using cotton yarn in place of a blocking wire for the top of the shawl only.  You would have to stretch it really tight and use pins to keep it in a straight line. Of course you would pin out each point on the two wings.

I am trying to pick which of the other yarns that I bought will be the next shawlette.

Happy Knitting!

Snowtop Mountain Shawl - The Ashton Shawlette

As a member of the message board, Knitting Paradise, I have been the recipient of a very wonderful gift from Dee O'Keefe, lace designer extraordinaire. She has been walking several of us through the process of learning how to knit lace with her Ashton Shawlette pattern. It is almost like being in a knitting class. I search the site for "Ashton" and I come up with several postings with other people's works in process, their questions on the pattern and Dee's tireless assistance and instructions.

Last week, I posted my experience of searching for just the right yarn. While I bought a handful of yarns that could work, my pick for the very first Ashton was the Kauni Effaktgarn wool from Denmark. The color is soothing and the picture does not do justice to the gradual change from dark to light. The colors seem to be all natural colored unbleached wool with the color change coming from slowly spinning in more and more light wool.

The yarn is not too soft, nor is it exceptionally clean as it still has occasional bits of hay and other fiber still stuck in the wool. It has a fuzzy aura to it and I think that it would felt very easily. The 2 ply yarn is not tightly twisted and does split occasionally, but not so much as to make it annoying to knit. I think that this yarn will block out nicely.

I am enjoying this project very much!

Happy Knitting!

Charlie's Muffler

Quick update, I finished the muffler for my husband! It turned out pretty good. I did end up blocking it, but it did not flatten out as well as I hoped. Oh well -- it isn't as if it won't be curled up around Charlie's neck!

Happy Knitting!

Yarn People are Crazy!

Saturday, 7:00 AM, mid January, 14 degrees Fahrenheit  -- and I waited for an hour to get inside. It was the LYS's biggest sale of the year: The "If You Think I'm Counting All This, You Must Be Crazy" Sale was a chance to buy some great yarn at 40% off; but only if you were in line by 8:00 AM.

Unfortunately, I did not go with a plan; I didn't go with a list of what I wanted; I didn't have any patterns. The only thing I had in mind was 400 yards of fingering weight yarn for The Ashton Shawlette by Dee O'Keefe. My feet were burning from the cold when I finally got in the store. And I have to admit, my mind went numb and I didn't know where to start! So I calmed myself down by referring to the short list of yarns that were not included in the sale. I didn't want to waste time looking at yarn that was not on sale. 

Noro! I ran for the shelf that held the beautiful Kureyon Sock Yarn. I grabbed two different color ways: Aqua/Purple and Pinks/Purple. This is a 70% Wool 30% Nylon blend that could be perfect for the Ashton Shawlette! I wanted to make sure that I would have either color to choose from should this be the yarn. Although I have never knitted with this specific Noro yarn, I have knitted two pairs of socks with the worsted weight variety: my road trip socks and my forest footies.

Not completely satisfied with my first possibility, I headed to the back room where most of the sock yarn is stashed. A beautiful variegated yarn caught my eye. This hand-painted 100% Merino Wool from Koigu Wool Designs, KPPPM ranges from a pale apricot through shades of orange into a deep burgundy. Yum! I picked up three hanks totaling 450 yards. This would be a gorgeous Ashton Shawlette in beautiful fall colors.

No sooner had I picked up the Koigu, then I saw a beautiful Kauni lace weight yarn from Danmark. There were several delicious colors, but I liked the chocolate to off-white that will have a self striping effect to most knitted items.

Wow! I had so many wool choices at this point -- maybe I should look at something different. Louisa Harding Yarns; Mulberry in Midnight Blue. The 100% silk yarn is so silky and slippery that the yarn ball won't stay together, but the yarn has a wonderful shine to it. Could this be the yarn for the shawlette?

Back past the Noro shelves. What was that? Did I miss seeing that the first time? I was so busy looking at all of the sock weight and lace weight yarns, I missed the beautiful bulky Noro yarn Hitsuji. Now why, if I was looking for yarn for a lace shawl, would I want to look at a bulky yarn? But it looked so good, with the rust and green and goldenrod colors. Hmmmm. What to do? What to do?

So what did I bring home?

ALL OF IT! Happy Knitting!

Big and Burly

A few months ago, on a trip to my LYS, on impulse, I purchased a hank of Burly Spun by Brown Sheep Company, Inc. in the Prairie Fire color way. I didn't know what I would do with one hank, but I wanted to see what it was like to knit with a category 6 super bulky yarn. I found it the other day, when I was looking for something to knit on my daily train commute while I am working on the baby quilt for my co-worker.

The yarn is more like roving than yarn. There is no twist at all. The color has black and white hairs in it which gives it a rich depth of color. I have noticed that it does not take being knit over and over again well. So if you make a mistake and mess with the stitches at all, the yarn seems to wear somewhat. I think that this yarn would be easy to felt.

I decided that I would work on a muffler. A muffler is basically a woolen neck warmer/scarf. I know that different people have different ideas, but I have always thought that a muffler is more manly than a ladies scarf. One of my male co-workers has a beautiful one that his daughter made for him. It is only about 30 inches long and he wraps it around his neck and crosses the ends in front where his jacket zips at the front.

This muffler is done in a pattern reminiscent of my textured vest. The ends and sides has a garter stitch and the center is patterned in a waffle-like pattern.

Ledra's Big and Burly Muffler Pattern

1 hank Burly Spun yarn
1 set US size 10.5 needles

Gauge: 16 stitches, 30 rows per 4"

Cast on 20 stitches.

Work Garter Stitch for 5 rows

Then begin pattern row:

Row 1 - K4, P12, K4
Row 2 - K20
Row 3 - K4, *K1, P1* 6 times, K4
Row 4 - K20
Row 5 - K4, P12, K4
Row 6 - K4, *P1, K1* 6 times, K4

Repeat rows 1 - 6 until scarf is approximately 30 inches long and finish with 5 rows of Garter Stitch.

It is my habit to slip the first stitch of every row to get a nice tight, smooth edge. But this has made the garter stitch on the edge rather tight and the stitching in the center bows out. So after I am done with the muffler, I plan to wet block the scarf so that it lies flat.

If anyone tries the pattern above. I'd love to see your version.

Happy Knitting

A is for Autumn

Quilts are for babies! As I told you in an earlier post if there is another baby born to someone on my floor at work, I am working on a new quilt. Autumn Olivia is the future owner of this quilt. It took me awhile to figure out what I wanted to do for her, but one day I just thought that I would use her name as the inspiration for the quilt.

The quilt, which is only in the beginning stage right now, will be "all things fall". With various motifs showing things that are associated with fall. Like school books and school buses, a basket of ripe apples, pumpkins, falling leaves etc. All of the letters on the quilt are cut from fabric that features leaves.

As I have done for past quilts, I use internet coloring pages as patterns for the motifs. It is an easy way to design the quilt and there are several alphabet coloring pages and dozens of pictures so I had lots of designs to choose from.

I will go through the steps necessary to put together a picture with Pellon Wonder Under using one of the motif that I have selected as an example. As you can see, I have already put the apple on one of the books.

 I then trace the outline of the bottom book onto the Pellon Wonder Under. (I have lifted the sheet of Pellon slightly so that you can see the drawing.) I make the lines that would be against the top book inside of where the top book will actually be so that there will not be any space between the pieces. The two pieces will be layered one on the other.



It is important to cut out around the lines leaving some space outside the lines. I have selected a dark green fabric for the bottom book and I iron the prepared piece onto the wrong side of the fabric.

Follow the manufacturer's instruction for ironing the Pellon onto the fabric. If you leave the iron on too long it is possible to burn the paper and if you do not apply the heat long enough, when you pull the paper off, not all the glue will stick to the fabric.

 It is at this point that you cut out the piece on the lines. If you cut out on the lines before ironing the fabric, you may not have glue all the way out to the edge of the piece and it is more likely to fray.

In order to stick the pieces together, separate the paper from the fabric just enough to slip the new piece (bottom book) into position under the old pieces. It is always best to work from the front piece back as it easier to fit them together that way.

One last piece creates the "pages" in the book! Remember, when you are drawing the picture onto the Pellon, it will be the reverse of what ever the picture look like when done. So, if you need it to be reversed, like certain letters of the alphabet, you will need to turn the picture over and trace it from the back. Using a light box (or a window in the daylight) will make this much easier.

There are lots of ways to make quilts, but this is one of my favorites because it is only limited by your imagination!

Happy quilting!