Progress on Ginkgo

I put this project to the side while I finished a couple of other things (chullo, chullo, cap and scarf, sea anemone) but now I am back to it. I have made pretty good progress and am through the first two sets of leaves. I really like how the leaves are formed.

The lace on this shawlette is created on both sides of the knitting -- no resting on the purl rows. I have already had to "tink" back several times to fix where I have put in the incorrect decrease. This pattern uses four different single decreases: k2tog, skp, p2tog and ssp. (Click on link for videos of each decrease.) There are two knit decreases that slant in different directions and 2 purl decreases that also slant in different directions. If you get them switched up, the lace just doesn't look right.

For as many times as I have had to knit and re-knit some of the rows, the Sakkie yarn that my daughter selected is quite resilient. It is taking the beating well. I might just have to try some for a pair of socks.

So far so good. Only two more sets of leaves to go.

Happy Knitting.

Another Ginkgo -- Custom Ordered

As you may remember, my beautiful daughter came home for Thanksgiving and while she was here we made a trip to my LYS. She picked out yarn for the Chullo that I made for her as well as some yarn for a shawlette. She had seen my Fall Colored Ginkgo that I did knit last year and wanted me to do one for her.

The yarn that she chose is a beautiful, variegated sock weight yarn by Plymouth Yarns: Sakkie. This yarn is a soft, slightly fuzzy and tightly twisted two ply yarn made of 40% Merino, 40% Mohair and 20% Nylon. This yarn is machine washable. The color that Jacklyn selected is the Fiji colorway; it is mostly a medium grey with splashes of magenta, lime and tangerine.

I started knitting yesterday evening and I already like the yarn. Lots of definition in the stitches and the fabric is knitting up very evenly on size US 6 needles. Maggie Magali's design starts out with a very simple stocking stitch triangle. So, for the moment, I am just blasting through the knitting.

Looks like I have lots of knitting left to do, so Happy Knitting!

Grandmother's Wrap Update

After a long Thanksgiving vacation, I went back to work today and back to my commuting project, Haruni by Emily Ross. On the way home this evening, I completed row 28 of Grandmother's Wrap which is 3/4 of the way through the 1st repeat of Chart A. It is looking good and you can see the leaf detail clearly, but there is a long, knitting way to go. I am so glad I got the Addi Turbo Lace needles -- they have really made a difference.

Another lace shawlette finished -- Summer Nightsongs

Wow, I thought that I would never finish another project. Summer Nightsongs just seemed to take forever. Yes, I was sick; yes, I had a baby quilt to finish; yes, I was trying to work on two projects at the same time. But regardless of everything that was going on, this project seemed to take longer than sweaters I have made. For some reason, I had a really difficult time with this pattern. There were a couple of rows -- 9 and 11 -- of the edge chart that just about finished me!

But that does not mean I am finished with lace knitting. No! Actually, I would try THIS pattern again! And I would make it much larger for a full sized shawl. Besides a change in the size, I would also knit it in a solid color or tonal so that the pattern stands out more than the yarn. As you can see from the picture below, the pattern is lost a little in the stripes.

By the end of the project, I was much happier with the Crazy Zauberball yarn than I thought I might be. While I loved the softness of the yarn right from the moment that I picked it up, I was afraid that it would split a lot as it was knit. But the yarn held up surprisingly well considering how many times I ended up knitting some of the rows.

I made fewer repeats than called for in the pattern. Using a spreadsheet, I calculated out how many stitches were in each row, then, being the accountant (read: "nerd") that I am, calculated out what percentage of the pattern that I had completed for each row. As I finished every couple of rows, I weighed the remaining ball of yarn and it seemed as though I was completing a smaller portion of the pattern than I was using up the yarn. So, when I was at the point where I would have had to make another repeat, I started the edge row. I did end up with 28 grams of 100 left over. I might have had another repeat worth of yarn left -- but I might not have either!

The author of this pattern, Jane Araujo, links to some good tips from other knitter from the pattern's Ravelry page. You will do well to read them too. I ended up following the pattern modifications suggested by fascine.

Well, I am on to finish the Alexandra that I tried to do simultaneously to this shawl. We all have to learn from our mistakes!

Happy Knitting!