Mab Shawl

May24

No socks this week, guys. It’s so weird, after I finished my happy scrappy socks, I didn’t want to cast on a new pair. Instead, I wanted LACE. Lots of lace. The Supernatural Kindness shawl gave me a little taste, reminding me of how much I love it, so I wanted to do something that was almost completely lace. I searched through my Ravelry queue and found the Mab shawl, and I’d even planned out which yarn to use. (I love when past Bonny does that.) It was perfect!

I started it last Thursday and that’s been my knitting ever since. I even brought it to work, thinking surely I could manage to knit lace during our lunchtime knitting group. (I couldn’t. Ended up having to tink back a row.) And you fellow lace knitters might relate: last night I was stressed out after a crazy drive home, plus our AC is on the fritz so we’re all a little grumpy, so I was trying to chill out with my pretty lace knitting both before and after dinner. As happened with knitting group, having other people around making conversation hindered my lace knitting abilities. The third time I cursed and started tinking, the husband looked over and said, “You don’t seem to be enjoying that very much.” Maybe you’ve also heard that once or twice before? How do you explain how much you can love something that occasionally makes you curse? Wait…that could also describe the husband…and the children…and the dogs…

Anyway, thanks to my knitting monogamy, the shawl is almost done! I have 17 rows and a bind-off left, and that’ll be easy to get done by the end of the week. My goal is have it blocking by Sunday morning.

And boy will it need blocking! It doesn’t look like much now, but the lace is going to open up so beautifully once it’s washed and pinned out. I’ll have to get a close up of the yarn too, because it has the most beautiful thread of purple stellina in it. The yarn is Canon Hand Dyes Oscar Sparkle Fingering, in a color called Isobel Crawley (from Downton Abbey, I think). It’s from an indie dyer in Portland and was a gift from a lovely friend, so it makes me even happier to knit it up into this lovely shawl.

Happy almost-Friday, friends!

Happy Socks

May20

This might be the fastest pair of socks I’ve ever made: a week from start to finish! These were the project I worked on 90% of the time last week, and there were concerts and other things where I could sit and knit while listening. Plus they were totally mindless knitting, which is perfect for me right now.

fullsizeoutput_19d8

I did my usual 64 stitches, a 1″ ribbed cuff, then 3 plain rows before going into a simple slipped-stitch heel. I was using up two scrap balls of sock yarn and the only tricky part was trying to use the variegated (Hedgehog Fibres in Medusa) evenly between the two socks.

fullsizeoutput_19d7

I failed, because I wasn’t clever enough to weigh the ball before I started. Next time I’ll definitely do that. These aren’t evenly balanced; there’s a bigger green (Madtosh in Sea Glass) toe on one than the other. But that doesn’t bother me too much. I think I’ll still love wearing these. I especially like having the bright colored accents, which makes me think I need more solid colors in sock yarn.

Today will be spent on a brand-new lace shawl project and then I’ll pull out a sock WIP that’s been languishing (poor sock monkey socks) for this week’s travel knitting. Happy Sunday, friends!

Finished: Supernatural Kindness Shawl

May19

This was a quick little shawl to make! That might be because so much of it is stockinette stitch which goes quickly for me, but it might also be because I loved the project so much. For someone who says they don’t like orange, I loved this yarn! There’s something about pink and orange together that just makes me happy, and the green balances it out and makes it all springy, reminding me of flowers. Then there’s the thread of sparkly stellina and I do love a good sparkle.

fullsizeoutput_19a4

I also liked the two kinds of lace. It made it fun to knit and interesting to look at too.

fullsizeoutput_19a6 fullsizeoutput_19a8

I did have a couple of hiccups with this project. First, I ran out of yarn before I could do the three rows of garter stitch at the end and I should have done an edge with another yarn because even after blocking, it wants to curl. I suppose I could pick up and knit an edge if it bothers me. Second, when I blocked it, I discovered a dropped stitch in the stockinette section. Once I recovered from the initial panic, I let it dry and then picked up stitches until I got to the first lace section. I had a bit of yarn leftover so I threaded some through the stitch and wove in the ends, hiding and securing that loose stitch. Given that shawls typically get light wear and don’t get washed often, it should be fine. Today is slightly cool and the girl has a flute recital, so I might just have to debut it today!

fullsizeoutput_19a3

Pattern is Kindness KAL Shawl (and I just realized I didn’t block the scallops into my shawl! Dang it!)

Yarn is Supernatural Yarns Gryffin Sock in the color Listen, Dammit! Love their yarns.

Mother’s Day Recap

May17

This is very belated, but that seems to be the norm for me lately: did all you moms out there have a lovely Mother’s Day on Sunday? I hope so! Mine was quite nice, I have to say. The kids got up early to have breakfast with me (waffles and bacon cooked by the husband, yum!) and we hung out at the table and talked for a while after. It’s funny; when my kids were very little I just wanted alone time for Mother’s Day. Now that they’re older and don’t see me/need me very much, I do want that time with them. And then some alone time, right? Anyway, then we opened gifts (yes, I got yarn, which I’d picked out, but I also got chocolate and some fun colors of ink cartridges for my fountain pens). I even got gifts and cards from both kids! I felt very loved and appreciated and it was the perfect morning.

But the highlight of the day came in the afternoon: the girl’s graduation from high school!!! Everything went well: we got decent seats and I managed to save enough for everybody and I got good photos and I cried a little (I think the husband even teared up a bit). The girl was calm and composed and gorgeous and I’m so proud. And relieved, to be honest. Relieved to be past all the end-of-year concerts and meetings and deadlines and this and that and the other thing and ohyesdon’tforgetthat! Relieved that now we can focus on the exciting going off to college bit.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I did have knitting time over the weekend, especially while waiting for graduation to start. I finished my Nebraska Roller socks and cast on a new pair of socks immediately. I know I said I was going to do some skimmer socks next but I lied. I cast on for another pair of shorties, this time with a ribbed cuff, and I pulled out some gorgeous little leftover balls that coordinate perfectly. The green is the Madtosh in Sea Glass and the blue/green variegated is Hedgehog Fibres in Medusa. Fingers crossed I have enough Medusa for two sock bodies.

Finally, I also had a good chunk of time to devote to my Supernatural Kindness shawl. I bound it off last night, sooner than I anticipated…mostly because I ran out of yarn too soon to do the three rows of garter stitch. I thought about having a solid colored edge, since the garter would help prevent curling, but mostly was too lazy to find the right yarn. I was ready to be done! I think blocking will help immensely. With any luck I can get it washed and pinned out tonight, and then I can take pictures to share over the weekend!

Graduation Season

May12

This week has been low on posts, I know, and I’d like to say I’m sorry but really I’m not. As you may remember, the girl is graduating high school this year and this week has been busy with ALL the things. We had the last band concert (I cried a little during the senior video but that was all). These are her BFFs (best flute friends).

9D+tTPtOQdCT3%ExIeldJg

Then we had Baccalaureate…

xF9UPeytRJaZ4zUFVBPHPw

Last night we had the choir concert. Choir is second only to band in her life, and I love that music is her passion. She sings beautifully and had a short solo last night, which was a delightful surprise to me. (She swears she told me about it, but I really think I’d remember something like that!) I didn’t really get emotional until right before the senior video, when I looked around and spotted her across the room, and she saw me and we just made a little funny/happy face at each other and it hit me that I won’t have as many of those little moments anymore. And then the video was showing a baby picture and a senior photo of each kid and the photo of my cute little toddler popped up and bam, there went the tears. (This is her choir director. We love him.)

Anyway, please forgive me for not having the time to blog this week. Today I’ll show the proof that I have definitely been knitting at all of these events, though! I finished my beautiful beautiful Girl Power socks.

Yarn is Show Me Yarns Bootheel in color Girl Power and I love everything about it. I mean, I haven’t worn them yet because it’s been 85 degrees here for days upon days and I can’t stand the thought of wool socks on my feet but somehow I know that they will wear beautifully too. And I’m almost done with my Nebraska Rollers too!

Tomorrow is Graduation (EEK!) so I fully expect to get these done by the end of the weekend. These I might actually be able to wear sooner, since they’re shortie socks. Next I want to make these skimmers to try with my flats!

Giveaway Winner

May10

Thank you to all who read and commented on the post for the Kraemer Yarns giveaway! Last night I pulled up a random number generator online and it picked my winner for me…

Number 9 is Rachel, who writes the blog From Bad to Worsted. Congratulations, Rachel! Check your email!

If you didn’t win but want to try out Kraemer Yarns, here’s a shop finder so you can see if your LYS carries it.

Thanks again to all who entered, to Stitchcraft Marketing for giving me the opportunity, and to Kraemer Yarns for sponsoring the generous giveaway!

Supernatural Kindness

May5

So I cast on a new skein of sock yarn last weekend. It’s beautiful sock yarn, pink and orange and green with a thread of sparkly stellina throughout. In fact, it’s so beautiful that I thought it could not become socks. As much as I love socks, this yarn was too pretty, too sparkly, to go on my feet.

I browsed through shawl patterns on Ravelry for ages and nothing looked right, so I went to Instagram and asked for suggestions, and got a good one right away: the Kindness KAL Shawl! It had lace, which I wanted, and it’s free, which is always good. I haven’t had as much good knitting time in the evenings as I’d like, but I’ve gotten most of the way through the stockinette/eyelet section.

Such pretty colors! (Yarn is Supernatural Yarns Gryffin Sock in color Listen, Dammit!) And it’s so lightweight and airy, especially knit with the size 6 needles. I have no idea what I’ll wear it with…maybe I need to buy a shirt just for this shawl. That’s not weird, right?

bonnyknits

I play with yarn! And my kids, sometimes.

Archives