Tag Archive | Kitty Pride Fibers

Finished: Dowland Shawl

My Dowland shawl got blocked this weekend, and after the boy mowed the backyard I went out for a photo shoot. It posed beautifully, too. Prepare yourself for a photo-heavy post because it was hard to choose which ones to omit!

45957989-6B81-4A3B-BD04-6BAE994D1CBC_1_201_a I’ll start with the obvious: this is a huge shawl. I used all but 14 grams of my two skeins of Kitty Pride Fibers’ Ocicat Fingering in the color A Bonny Lass. The pattern says you can repeat section eight up to two times to use up more yarn, so I repeated it once. I didn’t want to risk running out of yarn, though I think I could have squeaked through just fine.

The last lace section gave me fits. I had to rip out thirty rows of lace the first time I knit it. The second time went better, but I still had three rows where I ended up off by one stitch, and I just fudged it. I couldn’t stand any more tinking or frogging. I did spot one of the errors when I was pinning it out, where the yarnovers didn’t line up just right, but no one will ever notice it while I’m wearing it, and it doesn’t detract from the overall beauty of the lace pattern.

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After I had it all pinned out, I realized I did not pin the scallops correctly, so there are more scallops and they’re closer together than the designer intended. But by then, it was mostly dry and again, I wanted this shawl just to be done, so I’m calling it a design feature.

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This was not an easy knit for me but it might be one of my proudest knitting moments. It turned out to be exactly what I wanted from my Bonny yarn, and I can’t wait to have somewhere to wear it to show it off!

It’s back…I think

Mar30

My knitting mojo seems to have returned (knocks on wood). I don’t know if it’s connected to finishing the puzzle and needing something else to occupy me, or if it’s coincidental, but I spent quite a while yesterday working on my Bonny Lass shawl and she’s growing nicely. I’m on Chart five of eight now.

The yellow strand is my lifeline, which I have been using faithfully and makes me feel more secure. Now watch, the one time I have a lifeline, I won’t mess up and need it! Actually, that would be great. This pattern is pure lace and I have no desire to tink or frog any of it.

It was a good weekend overall, really. Got some much-needed cleaning done, spent some time outside, got some knitting done, watched some Twilight movies for comfort, and the husband made bread for the first time. It was delicious, and made enough for pizza crust too. I have to say, there are some things about this enforced time at home that are not all bad. I mean, it sucks that we have to worry about whether we should use up our flour or milk on baked goods, but it’s lovely that we’re taking the time to do that baking, and it’s probably good for us to learn to appreciate what we have. I am very very lucky. I have a large, unopened bag of flour, three gallons of milk, and probably 20 rolls of toilet paper. (Don’t fret: we shop at Sam’s regularly. I had bought a package shortly before the pandemic started. I’m not a hoarder.) The boy is feeling restless and bored but oh, he’s being so patient and understanding about everything. He gets it, gets why it’s necessary, and he’s making the best of a hard situation. I’m so proud of him right now.

I am lucky, and if it weren’t for the background worries of infection and recession and deaths, I might be pretty content with this peaceful life at home. Maybe it just bodes well for retirement!

Happy Monday, friends. Hope it’s a good one for you.

WIP Wednesday: Bonny Lass

Mar25

I know it’s Wednesday because Blogville tells me so, with other WIP Wednesday posts! I wasted no time in winding my beautiful Bonny Lass yarn from Kitty Pride Fibers last night. I’d already done some pattern hunting while I waited for the yarn to arrive so I just had to make my final pick. I knew I wanted lace, and I felt like it needed to be a classic half-circle shawl shape. I ended up choosing Dowland and cast on last night.

This will definitely NOT be a watching TV kind of project, and in fact, might be the first project where I faithfully use lifelines! I’m about to start chart two of eight, and I’m thinking the first lifeline will go in at the end of chart two, just to be safe. Do you use lifelines for all your lace projects?

Well, this was a day

Mar24

I don’t even know what day it is. Tuesday, maybe? I think so. I woke up on the wrong side of the bed for sure; not grumpy but anxious and unsettled. I pushed through some work and made mac & cheese AND li’l smokies for lunch, and that was good. We had a team call this afternoon and I was surprised at how nice it was to see the faces of my coworkers. I walked Duncan in the fresh air, and even though it was still kind of gray, it felt good. And then I came home and made some chocolate pound cake. Somehow, through all of that, I’ve come out on a better side. It’s not great, not perfect, but not as dismal as this morning. My happy mail today helped a little, I’m sure.

The yarn is A Bonny Lass from Kitty Pride Fibers at Dye Hard Yarns and it’s just as gorgeous as I thought it would be. I can’t wait to wind it and cast on for a big, lacy shawl. The bags are from Aunt Steph’s Handmade Gifts. She was going to be a vendor at KITH, but when that was cancelled, I found her Etsy shop and managed to restrain myself with just these two bags. There were so many others that tempted me though, and I found the prices very reasonable!

As for actual knitting, this is my most recent WIP. It’s the Round and Round Cowl and I’m using a self-striping yarn from Biscotte Yarns. I love their yarns but have found that the socks I make with them tend to felt faster than other yarns, so I figured this nifty black and white would make a good neutral cowl.

But tonight I’ll be winding yarn before I do any knitting. Gotta get my Bonny Lass ready to go. Happy day, friends!