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!

Quilt top finished -- Guilt Eased

My twin sister came to my house for the weekend. While the last few times she has come, we have been knitting fools, this time I told her that I HAD to FINISH the baby quilts. So instead of pulling out the needles, she bought her sewing machine and it was a quilting weekend.

When I last posted about "A is for AUTUMN", I had gotten the letters placed and the machine blanket stitching around them done. I had finished the little pictures and fused them together, but there was still a lot of work to be done on the quilt. So, I finished all the stitching around the pictures on Saturday and this afternoon after church, I put the top and bottom boarders on the quilt and added all the fallen leaves.

My original plan was to place the leaves around the edge at regular intervals (that is the accountant in me) then my artsy-fartsy twin suggested that I put the majority of the leaves along the bottom of the boarder of the quilt with a few still "falling down". Thank goodness for a smart twin sister who made me think outside the box because the results are much better than I had planned. (She was always my favorite womb mate!) I sent the quilt home with her as she will give it to another of my sisters to quilt up on her long arm quilting machine.

We had just a few minutes left before she started her drive home and she helped me square up the other baby quilt that I have yet to finish, Heartfelt. It won't take me long to work up the binding and get that applied to the quilt. That is something that I can carry back and forth on the train and have it done in no time.

Well should be back to knitting in a couple of days. I was sick all last week and knitting was a chore as I could not see the stitch and my dizziness and headache caused me so many mistakes that I tinked everything that I knitted.

Happy quilting (or knitting if you aren't much of a quilter)!

Alexandra Gold

I have started another of Dee O'Keefe's beautiful patterns: The Alexandra. I am doing the full sized shawl version as opposed to the shawlette size that is also included with the pattern. I am using Knit Pick's Shadow tonal in Golden Glow. It is a lace weight yarn in a beautiful pale yellow with peachy tones. However, I seem to be having a dickens of a time getting started. I think that I have been very distracted and seem to start and stop and tink and reknit over and over again. Although I took this picture several days ago, I have not gotten much farther than this. 

I like the yarn. It is soft and the color is wonderfully rich. However, it is a little "sticky". When I have had to go back and tink something that I did the prior day, it seems to have already settled in and stuck together. I imagine that it would be a very easy yarn to felt.

I am doing some work on my other project Summer Nightsongs. Maybe that is part of my problem, I keep switching between the two projects and it is messing with my rhythm. For the last few months, I have been trying to stick to working on just one project at a time. Maybe that has made me a better knitter because I learn the pattern easier. Too late now!

Happy Knitting!!!

One Shawlette Done, Another on the Needles.

I finished my Fall Colored Ginkgo shawlette last Monday, but did not have time to block it until today. It is upstairs drying as I write this. I ran by Jo-Ann Fabrics this afternoon and picked up another 50 pins. I am glad I did, because pinning this one out took every pin in the house. I should have put more pins along the straight edge at the top of the shawlette, but I did what I could.

I should have called this the Tiger Eye Shawlette! I like the way the stripes look now that it is stretched out. For awhile I thought that the stripes were too pronounced and too dark, but now that you can see more light coming through, it is much nicer.

I bought yarn on Monday night to start the Alexandra Shawl and the Haruni. The Alexandra is Dee O'Keefe's latest design. It is beautiful -- very geometric. The Haruni is a shawl by Emily Ross. It has a lovely "star" at the center tip of the shawl. Both these shawls will be summer shawls -- light and airy. For both I selected Knit Pick's Shadow Tonal. For the Alexandra I picked Golden Glow and for the Haruni I picked Blue Violet. The golden is a very pale yellow and the blue violet is more lavender than violet.

Since I did not pay for express shipping, I knew that the yarn would not get here until the end of the week. This put me in a dilemma as I knew I wouldn't be able to not knit for four or 5 days. What would I do on my train rides? But if I started a new project, it would not be done before the yarn for the Haruni and the Alexandra arrived. This meant that I either I would have to wait to start the Alexandra or I would have two shawls going at one -- as if that has never happened before.

So, I decided that I would go ahead and start a new project anyway and I would have to have two projects going at once.  I started a small shawlette called Gail or Nightsongs by Jane Araujo. It is a really beautiful with leaves that look more like peacock feathers than leaves. The yarn I selected was some that I bought myself for a birthday present. I was saving it for a very special lace project. It is a lovely blue, green and rust Crazy Zauberball. This yarn is two ply with each ply a different variegated color. Yum. Rich colors with a great effect. The plies do split a bit, but as long as you are careful, it isn't too bad.

The Knit Pick's order arrived yesterday and I spent the whole evening hand winding one of the Golden Glow hanks into a center pull ball using my Nostepinne. This meant that I did not cast the Alexandra on until this morning. I have only gotten about the 1st 30 rows done, but I did want to get started as the designer is hosting a KAL (knit a long) on Knitting Paradise.

Well, I have better things to knit, er, do; so I will close this post.

Happy knitting!

Falling Leaves -- My Fall Colored Ginkgo

This is a new shawlette that I am knitting. The free pattern Ginkgo Shoulderette Shawl is found on Ravelry and is a top down triangular shawl designed by Maggie Magali. I am using the Koigu KPPPM sock yarn that I bought at the big sale in January.

I really like this yarn -- it is soft and has a great deal of spring to it. In fact, I have double checked the label twice to make sure that there is no Lycra in it! I think that as I knit it rather loosely, when blocked there should be nice big lace holes.

I started this project on vacation and the first part went really went fast as it is all stocking stitch. However, I have to admit I am having some trouble now that I am to the charted pattern. It is a mirror image shawl and I keep getting mixed up on which side of the mirror that I am on and forget to switch on the other side of the spine. So I have tinked alot on this project. At this point, I am on the 16th row of the pattern. Only 18 more to go.

Well, I have more work to do, so Happy Knitting!

Deep Water Ashton -- On the road

Since I was traveling last week to see my family and friends in Florida, I never blogged about my newest Ashton. I finished it in the car on the way back home and blocked it upon my return. I used one of the Noro Kureyon Sock Yarn skeins that I bought at the big yarn sale and a US size 5, 47 inch circular needle. For all of the pictures, I pinned the finished shawlette on my blinds so that you can really see the pattern. Unfortunately, the brightness of the color is somewhat diffused, but the picture on the right shows the color much better than the one above.

Because of the nature of the yarn, the pattern is somewhat wonky as the yarn thickness varies from lace weight to as thick as worsted weight in a few places. I like the wonkyness as it makes any mistakes in the knitting disappear.

I think I am hooked on lace knitting for the moment. In fact, I have already started another Shawlette from a different designer. But that is a post for another day.

Happy Knitting!

Autumn Days

I have been trying to finish this quilt. I have been so involved in knitting, that I have been ignoring this quilt. But I have to get it done soon as the baby is already 4 months old and I haven't got her quilt done! Since I last posted about "A is for Autumn", I have gotten a little done. I have finished the three other motifs that I wanted to do on the quilt: pumpkins, a basket of apples and a squirrel gathering nuts. I have not put the top or bottom boarder on the quilt as it is less fabric to get the blanket stitching done in the center.



I use a sewing machine to apply the blanket stitching as I am not very fast when doing it by hand. Actually, I think that sewing a blanket stitch by machine is two slow and would prefer waving a magic wand. But since magic wands are expensive, I make due with a machine.

The thread that I use for the blanket stitch is mettler silk finish cotton thread. I must have about 30 different colors. It helps give some dimension to a bunch of red apples in a basket if you have more than one red.

But the blanket stitch is more than just a design element. It also helps keep the fusable edges of the quilt motifs from fraying and falling apart. I always tell the recipient of the quilt that if it falls apart, they should bring it back and I will fix it. Either people are really shy or the blanket stitch works because I have never gotten a quilt back from anyone to fix.

Happy quilting!