Tag Archive | lace knitting

FO: Scottish Highlands Shawl

Feb25

I’ve got another finished object to share and I don’t want to wait for next Friday. I bound off and blocked my Scottish Highlands shawl a few days ago but today was the first day warm enough to get outside for good photos. This a beast of a shawl — look at it all pinned out!

I didn’t weigh my leftovers but I’d estimate I used probably 85% of the purple and 95% of the cream. The purple was from gnarledpaw, a skein of Frida Helix Fat that was 600 yards and had a bit of cashmere in it – yummy!!! The cream was Deluxe Sock from Honey Girl Farms and was squishy and soft. It had flecks of purple and burgundy that perfectly complemented the main color. I loved knitting this shawl, except for the last bits of garter stitch where I got a bit bored and ready to move on to the fun lace. And I love how the lace turned out!

This was a satisfying project from start to finish, and honestly, it really underscores for me how different knitters are fulfilled by different things. I adore knitting big shawls with complicated lace but several of my knitting friends don’t. So it makes sense that it would work the opposite way for other things. I can let all you colorwork lovers make your beautiful sweaters and cowls, and know that it’s not for me. Heck, why would I stress myself out trying to knit colorwork when I can make things like this, and enjoy the process??

Other things I’ve loved lately: Book: The Bookish Life by Abbi Waxman. It’s a light read but perfectly delightful, particularly for book-loving introverts. I’ve already started the sequel. Movie: The Lost City. I expected it to be silly and slightly ridiculous, and it was, but it in the best way. It was my kind of absurd humor. TV: Extraordinary, on Hulu. Bonkers and absurd in good ways that make me laugh, but also explores some deeper topics. I haven’t finished the season yet but probably will soon. I also started watching the first season of Abbott Elementary. It’s not quite as good as I expected based on everything I’ve read/heard, but it’s getting better as I go on, and makes for good knitting background.

Happy Saturday, friends.

It never fails

Jan21

I feel like I do this every year: I cast on ALL THE THINGS in January and I’m so excited about all the variety … and then I get toward the end of the month and feel like I’m not close to finishing anything because I’ve just been flitting about between all my different WIPs. Progress this month was also slowed because I got kind of obsessed with my sock yarn scrap blanket. I guess I shouldn’t say progress was slowed, because I made great progress on that blanket, and I do want it it to continue, but now I want to resume progress on my main WIPs.

This weekend I hope to be watching some tennis so simple projects will be the best. I think I’m going to focus on my Turtle Dove II (still in increase phase) and my Scottish Highlands Shawl. I didn’t realize how much garter stitch this one had because my eye was so entranced by the lace border, but I have at least one more garter section to get through before I get to that.

The birthday dinner with my mom last night was very nice. She seemed to have a wonderful time, loved the margarita and queso, and the company of course! I also treated myself a bit yesterday and bought tickets to see KT Tunstall, a Scottish rock musician I love. You’ve probably heard a couple of her songs – Black Horse & the Cherry Tree, or Suddenly I See, from The Devil Wears Prada? I’ve listened to her for years and can’t wait to see her live. The closest she’s coming is Des Moines, which is only about 2 1/2 hours away from me. But she’s from Scotland — who knows if she’ll ever come this close again?? I knew I’d regret it if I didn’t go. Life is short, friends — do the things that bring you joy! Live music does wonderful things for my heart and soul. Anyway, I’m not sure yet who will be my date. I’ve asked a friend but if she can’t come, the husband said he would. Even if the seat next to me is empty, I’ll be there!

I’m looking forward to a lazy weekend. The only thing I want to accomplish is go to the library to pick up a book for my book group (Talking to Strangers by Malcolm Gladwell. So not excited about this one but I’ll give it a shot.) and maybe wash my sheets. Other than that, it’ll be knitting and tennis all day long over here. Hope you all have the weekend you want, too!

Happy Saturday!

FO Friday: Great Diamond Authority Shawl

Dec30

The Great Diamond Authority shawl was my last big finish for 2022, and for a while there I wasn’t sure I’d get there! I started this shawl back in June, I think, and it kept revolving in and out of hibernation. It’s a BIG project, for one thing, and sometimes I needed to not be knitting lace. But after I finished the MKAL at the beginning of December, I made a big push to get this one finally done, and I’m so glad I did!

Each section has a slightly different diamond lace pattern, finished with a knitted-on lace border. Now, friends, I think I can say with confidence that I NEVER want to do a knitted-on lace border on a shawl ever again. It took ages and ages of knitting the same little 12-row repeat across the width of this massive shawl, decreasing six stitches each repeat. BUT. (sighhhh) Oh my goodness, it’s stunning. Why is it that my favorite FOs are often the ones that gave me the most grief during the knitting process??

I just wish I could capture the sparkle. The yarn is from Polka Dot Sheep Fine Yarns, and it’s their Rime base which has that delightful 2% stellina that I’m unable to photograph. Just look at their photo and then imagine my shawl just glittering away! I can’t wait to wear this one out into the world!

Happy Friday, friends. I hope you all have fun and safe New Year’s Eve celebrations this weekend!

FO Friday: Kassiani Shawl

Jul9

My latest finished object is my purple Kassiani shawl. This was a fast knit, despite its generous size– I cast on June 5 and bound off two days ago, so just about a month for a two-skein lace shawl. But this pattern was so fun, and even though it looks complicated, it’s not really a difficult lace. And it was just the kind of lace I’d been craving, so I found myself knitting on this whenever I had the brainpower to spare.

I used a skein of Lolodidit Everyday Sock in the color Prince, as well as a mystery skein of almost-matching yarn with a sparkle thread. They’re both a rich, deep purple with a hint of black, and it’s really hard to capture the sparkle in photos. But it’s there, I promise! I used the Lolo yarn for the first four sections (including that small cast on/set up section) and then with the big lace section I alternated the Lolo and the sparkle. When I got to the final lace chart, I switched to just the sparkle. Overall I think I used about 750 yards, give or take a bit.

Blocking is the real magic for shawls like this — that’s when they go from okay to magnificent. I’m really proud of this one and can’t wait to wear it out and about. Maybe this is a good reason to work from the office sometimes! This pattern is by Dee O’Keefe, who also designed the Dowland shawl I knit with my Bonny Lass yarn, and I loved knitting both of them. She’s got a few patterns on Create2Thrive but not all of them — most are on Ravelry — so I hope she starts selling in other places before I need to knit another big lace shawl!

Happy Friday, friends!

A new project

Jun5

Even as I noodle along with my simple socks and stockinette sweater, I’ve been itching to cast on a big lace shawl. I may not wear them very often, but I find them so gorgeous, and I realized I don’t have a big purple lace shawl. Yesterday was a shitty day and I needed the distraction, so I found a pattern, pulled yarn from the stash, and cast on for a shawl called Kassiani by Dee O’Keefe. (I can only find the Rav link so I’ll share a photo of it too. It was in my pattern library from a while back.)

Because I tend to buy yarn in single skeins (“It’s so pretty!!”) I didn’t have any matching skeins to pull, but I got pretty close. I had a dark tonal purple called Prince from LoloDidIt, and some time later I’d found a mystery skein in a destash that was the same colors but with a thread of stellina. I swear it could be the same colorway. I’m going to do the top portion of the shawl in Prince and then do the big swoopy lace section in the sparkly purple. I think it might be magical. Like my own personal superhero cape or something. To remind myself that I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!

Happy Saturday, friends.

FO Monday: it’s a thing, I swear

Apr5

You can decide for yourself what the FO stands for in this case!

I shared my socks on Friday, so I don’t have any to share today. I mean, I did get about three inches of a new sock done but that’s not very interesting, is it? And I have an actual finished object to share. This little cowl kind of flew under the radar. I didn’t post about it too much and it hung around for ages and then after my socks were done, I decided it was time to get this done too.

This is the Gris de lin cowl and I used my single special skein of Malabrigo Mora, which is 100% Mulberry silk, and the color is Sabiduria. I wasn’t good about weighing the yarn as I knit and I wasn’t in the mood to play yarn chicken, so I skipped the last pattern repeat and don’t feel the lack of it at all. It’s the perfect little silky cowl.

In exciting home renovation news: we have painters here today! They have been power washing the exterior to prep for paint and at first I was very excited and now after six+ hours of near-constant noise, my excitement has faded slightly. But as soon as they start painting, I know it’ll come back. No word yet on when the demolition will start on the back of the house, but surely it will be soon, if they’ve begun the painting process? All in due time, I guess. Maybe I’ll have a painting progress photo to share by the end of the week!

Happy Monday, friends.

There’s a lesson in this

Mar5

In my last post, I mentioned one of my new WIPs, the Water shawl that we’re doing as a Blogville KAL. Last night I was able to sit down and start working the lace short row section, and maybe I got off on the one wrong foot because she uses KT= knit stitch twisted and I don’t understand why she wouldn’t just say knit through the back loop (ktbl) if that’s what she means, but whatever. That’s easy enough. I got to short row five and things just weren’t right, I didn’t have enough stitches to complete the repeats before the previous turn, and I knew that wasn’t right. I tinked back two rows and tried again, same result. I messaged my Blogville friends to whine and ask them to see if the chart and written instructions match — maybe there was a mistake in the written rows that I could avoid by using the chart. When I couldn’t find an error in either my knitting or the pattern, I frogged the five rows of lace, back to the end of the garter stitch section. At least I was smart enough at that point to put in a lifeline!

I poured a glass of wine and started again, counting carefully and using stitch markers to denote my turns, and again when I got to the end of short row five, it didn’t match up. At that point, it was 9:15 at night so I put the shawl in time-out and finished my wine and went to bed.

This morning, I printed out the chart and the written instructions. I sat down with a cup of tea and compared them on row five. Yes, they matched. I looked at my row five — it wasn’t wrong. I tinked back my row five and examined row four, and I’ll damned if the mistake wasn’t right there: I’d missed the last repeat in row four. ARGH.

So why did I struggle so much last night? I’d put in a day’s work, I was tired, I had wine, the boys were watching TV, it was darker. This morning, it was before work, I was less-tired (I mean, I’m always tired on some level, you know), the boys were upstairs so it was quiet, I had tea instead of wine, and I was at the dining room table with big windows letting in good sunshine. And, maybe most importantly, I’d taken a break, had some space between me and the frustration. So I guess when they say things like, “Things will look better tomorrow,” sometimes it’s true.

The bonus is that I got to be the guinea pig making life easier for my Blogville buddies, and anyone else wanting to knit the Water shawl (Rav link): KT = ktbl, use lifelines before each short row section, use stitch markers, count carefully, each short row turns two stitches before the previous turn, do a Wrap & Turn instead of just Turning to avoid big holes.

Happy Friday, friends.

FO Friday: Manos Alegria Grande

Oct9

I’m excited to share my latest FO with you today! I got a chance to review some Manos del Uruguay Alegria Grande and I’m always up for that challenge. It’s a yarn I’ve used before, but they’ve released some new semi-solid and space-dyed colorways. I selected one of the resist-dyed colors called Gleam, which is black with purple specks. (Shocker, I know.)

Okay, first of all, what the heck do ‘space-dyed’ and ‘resist-dyed’ mean? I had no idea. The internet tells me that space dyeing is when multiple colors are applied along the length of the yarn which may or may not repeat after a fixed interval. Resist-dyeing is when a substance that is impervious to the dye blocks its access to certain areas of the fabric, while other parts are free to take up the color of the dye. Hm, okay, that sounds fun, and it sure makes some cool yarn. And that cool yarn can make a really cool shawl — look at how the speckles change direction between each section!

For my two skeins, I chose a pattern from Manos called the Serenità Shawl. It’s a free pattern on Ravelry and was designed for two skeins of Alegria Grande. I did the pattern as written and ended up with just a few yards left over. It’s a fun pattern that switches from stockinette to garter to lace.

Knitting with the Grande was a delight, as Manos always is. The Grande is a smooth, thick, squishy yarn. But here’s what I never realized before: it’s machine washable! It’s 75% merino wool and 25% polyamide, which means you could make awesome sweaters in gorgeous colors that are easy to care for! This has opened up a lot of new opportunities for me to use the Alegria yarns in my knitting.

For shawls, I’ll still hand wash, though. This one is a small shawl so I blocked it as aggressively as I could, and wow, the lace opened up beautifully. It’s got a great drape and I’m happy to wear it next to my skin, which occasionally has some wool sensitivities.

I did come across two frayed spots, one in each skein, where the yarn had thinned. I didn’t want to risk it breaking unexpectedly so I did break the yarn to skip those spots. I ended up with a couple of extra ends to weave in but I feel like those two spots are totally within reason. There are so many good reasons to knit with Manos (pretty! soft! colors!) but don’t forget the cool stuff like supporting the skilled women in Uruguay who produce the yarn, or that Manos is a member of the World Fair Trade Organization. It’s just a company I feel good supporting, and you can learn more here.

Thanks so much to Stitchcraft Marketing and Fairmount Fibers, the North American distributor of Manos del Urugay, who sent me two skeins of Alegria Grande (retail value: $52) for free. I received no other compensation for this review. All opinions and photos are my own.

Sock It To Me Monday

Sep7

This could have been a Friday post just as easily, because today I’m sharing a finished pair of socks. I started these quite a few weeks ago, as soon as the yarn arrived, to be honest. But then they were lace socks and I got distracted by other yarns, so it wasn’t until last week that I really focused on them. Once I did, they knit up pretty quickly.

Here’s what I know now: lace socks are stretchy! I normally cast on 64 stitches for my socks. This pattern offered 60 or 72 stitches, and looking at other projects, it sounded like 60 would be too small, but I knew 72 would be too big. So I thought I’d be clever and just add one lace repeat, and cast on 66. It worked fine for the lace, but the heel flap gave me issues. The first time I did my usual 32, but that messed up the lace pattern plus things got weird at the toe when it was time to decrease and kitchener. So the second time I did 30, with made the lace behave nicely, and would have worked fine at the end if I’d moved the right stitches from one needle to the other.

I was trying to have equal amounts on the top and the bottom, you see, but my brain misbehaved and I ended up decreasing the first three times in the wrong place. I fixed it then and it’s not really noticeable when I wear them. But what is noticeable is that they’re loose — I should have done 60 stitches after all. So now you know: if you want to knit all lace socks, be sure to make the appropriate adjustments for size!

Or just do what I’ll do next time and keep the lace on the leg only! Pattern is Mercury Socks and the Ravelry link is here. The yarn is Show Me Yarn Bootheel in Stained Glass Menagerie, a special edition that came with a matching project bag. It’s no longer available but they have other pretty yarns on their Etsy site.

Oh and today is Duncan’s Gotcha Day! We’ve had him for three years now.

Today is a holiday in the States so I’ll be spending the rest of the day knitting and puttering around. Hope the rest of my US friends have a good holiday as well!

FO Friday: Hundred Acre Wood

Sep4

Today I will share the pretty photos of my latest shawl, the Hundred Acre Wood shawl. I am very glad this shawl is done. This is one of those projects where you look at it and think, “Well, at least the yarn is gorgeous.”

So let’s start with that: the yarn is from Molly Girl Yarn and is a set of Bass Line Minis in Jazz. I love these colors. LOVE them.

And honestly, the pattern was good too! I mean, after the first lace section, I looked at and it was clearly wonky and I thought, huh, I have NO idea what I did wrong. After the second one, I realized I was doing my yarnovers wrong, and on the next row they were sliding to the wrong place and I was knitting them in the wrong order. But I didn’t figure it out until late in the second lace row and by then I just shrugged. Whatever. Little eyelets, nobody around me will know what they’re supposed to look like.

Like I mentioned before, the pattern was nicely marked to show where you should have used certain percentages, so it was easy for me to mark each 20% section for each mini skein. The problem came when I had more yarn than each section called for, and I tried to get creative to use as much as possible. It went fine until the last section, and I tried to use up the pink, and … well, math is not my strongest subject. I added a few simple eyelet rows, all along weighing to make sure I saved enough (5%) for the picot bindoff. It didn’t seem like much but that’s what the pattern said, right?

Wrong. The pattern said 5% of your total yarn, not 5% of that one mini skein. Unfortunately, that light bulb didn’t go on until I had already started the picot bindoff and it was very clear I wouldn’t have enough yarn. ARGH. Of course that’s how this project would end. I unbound my cute little picots and did a normal, plain bind-off, and realized I should have just done a couple of garter rows at the end instead of eyelet rows because now the edge wants to curl even after a good blocking.

Sigh. It’s fine, though, really. Because look that that up there. It’s pretty. No one else will see any of my errors. But just in case you want to see what it’s really supposed to look like, or maybe you want to make your own correct version, here’s the Ravelry pattern link. This is the small size, which does work quite well for mini skeins, if you do it right, that is.

I’ll be casting on a new shawl this weekend; here’s hoping it goes better! Happy Friday, friends!