Tag Archive | shawl knitting

Testing, Testing

I have my selfish knitting, my commissioned knitting, my review knitting, and now I have test knitting! It’s kind of cool how each type feels kind of different, and I enjoy each one for different reasons. But my selfish knitting has definitely fallen by the wayside thanks to all this knitting with deadlines. I’ve finished my commissions, I only have one review project in the works, and I have my two test projects. And one test is almost done!

This Paddington Station sock just needs a toe, which I should be able to finish tonight, and then I can pass on my notes and let the second sock wait until I have more selfish knitting time.

My other test knit is newer, a shawl for Under the Olive Tree Knits. I found Jem on Instagram and have been following her for ages, and her designs are gorgeous. Even though I wasn’t sure I had the time, I really wanted to test one of her shawls. I haven’t gotten to the really fun lace section yet, but I adore the top edge already with the slipped stitches and big yarnovers. As soon as the sock is done, this project moves to the top of the list.

The yarn for this one is Araucania Huasco in a divine dark green.

The only downside to all this knitting is that I’m pretty sure I won’t have much time for gift knitting this year. Sure hope my family isn’t expecting anything!

Delicious Yarns Review: Yum!

Oct23

A couple of months ago, I was offered the opportunity to review Delicious Yarns‘ newest offering, their pairings of two complementary colors. I was going to skip this one, since I had so much going on, but of course I had to take a peek at the yarn. Oops! That first glimpse of the pink and orange sealed the deal: I needed to knit those yarns!

The first impression was charming, with that cute ribbon around the skeins and the tags like nutrition labels. Then I was impressed by how vivid and saturated the colors are; they’re gorgeous. I chose Pairing 1, and while the site doesn’t specify which colors are in each pairing, these colors are Raspberry Swirl and Burnt Orange Frosting. I also received the pattern for the Piece of Cake shawl, designed specifically for these pairings. I love the jagged teeth and that lace section the best!

The pairings are available in Fingering, Sport, and Worsted. I chose the fingering since I’m all about shawls these days. The colors make this a perfect fit for my wardrobe. The yarn is crisp and smooth, making it a pleasant knitting experience and giving good stitch definition too. It has a little bit of spring to it, so the drape is a bit more firm, if that makes sense.

The yarn is 100% superwash merino, hand-dyed in California, and each color is designed to create different patterning when knitted or crocheted. I especially liked watching the Raspberry Swirl shift from dark pink to light pink to white and back again. There are short sections where you work two rows of each color to blend the colors. That plus the short row sections make for a nifty effect when you stand back and look at it, almost wavy. It makes me think of candy, for sure!

I only have two small caveats. One: as the tag warns they might, the yarns definitely bled when I blocked the shawl. They recommend steam blocking if you’re concerned about bleeding but I wanted to open the lace aggressively. Fortunately it didn’t seem to affect the white tones, but I’ll handle it carefully in the future. And two: the pattern had a couple of small errors. I was able to work past them pretty easily, but they did make me stop and think and scratch my head for a little bit. Still, I liked the yarn well enough that next I’d love to try their Speckles Chunky!

The colors were absolutely the best thing about this project for me, and they have so many other delicious colors on their website too. Plus I can’t help but be enchanted with the “delicious” theme and the idea that each skein is one marvelous sweet treat! The fingering runs around $31 for 450 yards, making this comparable to many of the other high-end, small-dyer yarns I buy, and the high quality is comparable too. I really enjoyed knitting with this yarn!

If you’re tempted to partake, you can use the code DYBK2018 for 10% off all online orders through the end of November. And if you sign up for their newsletter here, you’ll get two free patterns plus a “sweet surprise” within a few weeks of signing up.

A very special thank you to Stitchcraft Marketing and Delicious Yarns, who generously sent me 1 pairing (2 skeins) of Superwash Merino ($61) for free. I received no other compensation for this review. All opinions and photos are my own.

“Progress” on my Shawl

Oct10

I have been working on my Mermaid shawl for a few weeks now, sporadically. The last photo I shared was this one, though I’d made it a few more rows after taking this:

Now, please, allow me to show off the progress:

Isn’t it impressive? (heavy sarcasm there, you can hear it, I’m sure.) Sighhhh. I had just figured out how I wanted to split up the five colors, instead of using six like the pattern calls for, and on my next row I checked my stitch count and it was WAY off. Like more than 30 stitches too many. ARGH. My conclusion is that I cast on too many (maybe 462 instead of 426?) and there was no choice but to frog and start over. Silver lining: I was only 11 rows in and I feel confident in my stitch count this time. Should be smooth sailing now!

Travel Knitting

Oct9

I understand now why knitters always pack so many more projects than they think they’ll need. The unthinkable happened when I was visiting the girl last week: I was at risk of running out of knitting! *gasp* How did I let that happen, you ask? Well, you see, I finished a second sock on the plane there and cast on another sock the next day, but I had a lot of knitting time so that sock got done by mid-Monday.

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Mostly it’s the fault of the mermaid shawl: I hadn’t realized I was so close to needing the second color, and hadn’t brought it, so I was only able to do two rows on that shawl, which is what I’d planned on knitting when I was hanging out in the dorm by myself. That left one project, my Hogwarts cowl, and I confess I didn’t even finish it. I’m actually a little stuck on it because it’s getting so tall. I was basing it on this pattern which is also a tall skinny cowl and it’s coming out like it should, I think, but I’m not convinced I’ll enjoy wearing it. I’m half tempted to frog and make a wider, shorter cowl. Thoughts?

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But we made a stop at the Longmont Yarn Shoppe on Sunday and I bought a beautiful little skein of Baah! super bulky Sequoia and had to knit that up right away. (See my two-hour cowl.) And after knitting with super bulky, I wanted more, not my fingering weight Hogwarts cowl. So yeah, I made another detour to Joann and used a coupon to buy a $3 skein of super bulky for a quick gray cowl that I left for the girl. It must be getting cold if I’m itching to knit all the bulky yarns! Still, when I got home and cast on a new project (because of course I did), it’s a sport weight, not bulky.

This is my new Manos del Uruguay Feliz and I’m loving it so far. The pattern is Late Harvest and I’m excited to get to the lace section. I’ve also made good progress on my boy socks, once I had him try them on and I measured his foot. The first one is *thisclose* to being done, and the second one should go a lot faster.

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But I swear, the bulky knitting will be happening soon!

Shawls and Socks

Sep15

That’s all I’m making these days, shawls and socks! I’m not complaining, though. They’re both pretty fun projects. The boy’s marching band had a football game last night, so I had a couple of hours to work on his sock and I’m past the gusset and into the long foot portion. Before I go too much further I’ll have him slip it on and make sure the cuff and heel fit all right, and then I’ll measure his foot to see how long I need to knit the foot.

This is a very mindless project, especially with the ~~boring~~ solid color yarn, but it pleases me to think of him wearing them and enjoying them.

My current shawl project is the Piece of Cake shawl with my Delicious Yarns. It’s going slowly, and I’m blaming the wrap & turn short rows. Those are not my favorite, you know. But the yarn is indeed delicious.

The photo doesn’t do the colors justice. When it’s done, I’ll work hard to get the colors as true as I can, but this will have to suffice for now.

It has turned hot and muggy again, and the car is in the shop AGAIN, so I’m going to hide out in my dark cool living room and knit the day away as much as I can. Happy weekend, friends!

Shawl progress

Aug20

I chose poorly. Not the yarn, not the pattern. Both are heavenly. But I’m trying to modify a 5-color shawl to 3 colors and it’s not going as well as I wanted. I’m talking about my Dotted Rays shawl with the gorgeous Zen Yarn Gardens Serenity 20.

Somehow I missed where the pattern suggested approximately 1400 yards for the Large size. I just saw the yardage for the Super Large and thought 1200 yards would be plenty for the Large. (Note to self: read patterns carefully!) So I knit with color A until I had about 40 grams left and did one wedge alternating colors A and B. I didn’t want too much of the cream at the expense of the green and purple, and since I was at wedge 10 of 15, I thought surely I’d have plenty of yarn. But those later wedges get BIG, guys. Long rows, even doing short rows. After one wedge of all green, I’m down to less than 40 grams, which makes me think there’s no way I can make it through the remaining four wedges with just a bit of green and one full skein of yarn left.

There are a lot of options. I could just end it when I run out of yarn, but I really really want the chevrons at the end. I could frog back to where I stopped alternating the cream and green, and add in the rest of the cream. But I’m not sure it’s worth having to frog and reknit. (It’s definitely not.) The best option in my mind is to add another color. Currently, it’s Speckle/Solid/Speckle, so I should be able to end with a coordinating solid purple and it will be perfect. I have a couple of choices in my stash (purple yarn? Of course I do!) but I’m going to wait until I get close to running out of the purple speckle to pick. It might depend on how much I need.

I don’t think I’m a “wing it” kind of knitter. I think I like having all the information to work with up front!

Vacation Yarn

Aug18

It’s a thing, vacation yarn. Or souvenir yarn, some may call it. Though I tend to think of souvenir yarn as like one special skein, and I bought…more than that. We left town Thursday and I didn’t even get to a yarn store until Saturday, and by then I was getting a little anxious. Fortunately I found Spindles, Shuttles and Skeins in Boulder. It was a little tricky to find, since it was on the second floor of a strip mall, but it was a nice big roomy store with a good selection of yarns. Still, my favorite part of that store was their shop dog, Nula. She was a good dog.

Sunday was our day to explore Denver and I went to Fancy Tiger Crafts and OMG it was a wonderful store! It had other crafty stuff besides yarn, like fabric and I don’t know what else because Yarn. I had plenty of fun there. And then our last day we made a special trip to The Loopy Ewe because no trip to that area is complete without a visit there. Plus it was their new location, which was better than the original if only because it was easier to find! I had even more fun there than at Fancy Tiger. Let’s see my haul, shall we?

These were all the random single skeins that I couldn’t resist. I tried to only get yarns I couldn’t find back home, but that one multicolored skein of Manos on the far right was just impossible to resist. And that Anzula on the far left? It’s sparkly! Then there’s this:

This will be a fade shawl, maybe another Stephen West pattern. It all started with that speckled yarn (second from left) and I built from there. These yarns came from all three stores, which pleases me. I’d still like to find a solid purple to go with it, but I think it would be good even without it.

Finally, here’s my favorite selection. A while back I read The Mermaid’s Daughter by Ann Claycomb and loved it SO MUCH. It’s a continuation of The Little Mermaid story, and the descriptions of the ocean water were so vivid and clear that I felt like I was right there, seeing it all with her. Ever since then, I’ve wanted to make an ocean shawl, using the colors she described. I found what I was looking for at the Loopy Ewe.

*shivers* I love this so so much. I just need to pick a pattern. I think it needs to be a semi-circular shawl (maybe this Karakorum?) but I’m not sure if I should start with the deep water (the dark purple-blue) and work out to the seafoam, or the other way around. Originally I thought I’d have the seafoam be the outer edge, but then I found this awesome Degreenify pattern and I’m not sure. What should I do??

So yeah. Colorado was definitely a success for me. And I can’t afford to go back to visit the girl for several months!

ShaZAM! It’s done!

Aug4

Wow, that was like magic: this project flew off my needles! I cast on three projects last Sunday, and suddenly I’m back down to one (a sock). You needn’t be too impressed at the speed of this one, given that it was a one-skein cowl in worsted weight on size 8 needles, with a very simple lace pattern that was really barely lace. It was my comfort knitting last night. It’s not been the best week, or two weeks, or summer, to be honest, for a lot of reasons, but yesterday I was in a serious funk. I escaped for Mexican food and a margarita with the sister, which was a lovely treat that helped a lot, and when I got home I picked up the cowl and turned on an old episode of ER. I didn’t expect to finish, but suddenly I was at the end and binding off before the show even ended.

The pattern is sha-ZAM! on Ravelry. This was a fun knit. I love these one-skein cowls; they’re so easy and fun to wear. And it was a treat to get back to some squishy soft Malabrigo. Makes me look forward to fall, when I can actually wear things like this again. (NOT winter! Note the difference, please, Mother Nature!)

And now, with almost empty needles again, I am eager for my next shawl project, and it’s going to be amazing! I have 3 skeins of Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 Fingering in a gorgeous Vivid bundle that I’m itching to cast on. I mean, it’s a whopping 1200 yards of 70% superwash merino, 20% cashmere, with 10% nylon.

I’m pretty sure this is going to be my first WestKnits project, but I’m debating between The Doodler and the Dotted Rays – Speckled Fade. Have you made either? Both? How do I choose??

Fastest Shawl Ever

Aug1

I bound off my Denim Sprinkles shawl on Monday night, just eight days after casting on. I have never finished a shawl that quickly before, but the combination of the gorgeous yarn and addictive pattern meant I wanted to work on it all the time, and BAM! It was done!

I did have to improvise though: the pattern calls for 380 yards of fingering weight yarn on size 5 needles. My yarn was 437 yards of heavy fingering/sport, so I went up to a size 6 needle and assumed I’d have more than enough yarn. Oops. I ran out with three rows and a bind off left. Luckily, I had some sock yarn in white that matched perfectly, so the eyelet edging is all white, and I think it’s absolutely perfect. A happy accident, as the husband said. Even unblocked, I could tell this was going to be an awesome shawl, and it needed blocking badly.

In that before shot, the edge is undefined and wavy, and the shawl itself sort of squishes all together. But then you wash it and pin it out and let it dry and it becomes a whole new thing of beauty!

If you like lace shawls, I highly recommend Sugar Sprinkles. It’s easy enough for beginners, interesting enough to not be boring, and makes a wonderfully wearable shawl. I’m pretty sure I’ll be making this one again! The yarn is Ancient Arts Fibre Crafts Passion 8, in the color T-Shirt and Jeans, and I loved it. It’s definitely heavier than I would use for socks, but it’s perfect for shawls, and I bet it would make an amazing sweater!

I probably won’t ever make another shawl so quickly! What’s been your fastest shawl?

Denim Sprinkles Shawl

Jul28

This is my last new cast-on after clearing off all my needles last weekend. The Ancient Arts T-shirt and Jeans yarn was still high on my list of “must knit” but I didn’t want it to be socks. Partly because white socks never seem like a good idea, and partly because I wanted it to become something more visible than socks. While going through my Ravelry queue, I found the pattern for the Sugar Sprinkles shawl, which I’ve been wanting to make for quite a while, and it checked off all my boxes: Long narrow shawl, variegated yarn, lace, right yarn weight and yardage. I bought it, downloaded it to my pattern app (I use Knit Companion) only to discover it was already in there! I think I must have downloaded it when she did a short free period, but I forgot about it. Oh well, the $4 is totally worth it.

This is a really fun knit! I love making eyelets, and the pattern switches back and forth often enough that I don’t get bored quickly. This was my progress on Monday night, and it’s been my evening knitting (when I’m not too tired to knit). This morning I took it outside again to get a progress photo.

It’s so fun! I think it’s going to be a great addition to my shawl wardrobe. But here’s the thing: it’s gotten long. Like really long. There are over 250 stitches on the needle, and when I tried to spread them out to show the size of the shawl, about 10 stitches jumped off one end! And you know yarnovers just love to spring free. ARGH. I managed to catch most of them, and I got it kind of fixed, but I’m pretty sure my stitch count is off now and I’ll have to do some fudging to get it back. Thankfully this is a forgiving pattern where being a stitch or two off doesn’t really hurt the look of it.

So now I have three projects on my needles, and that seems like a good number for me, at least for now. What’s a comfortable number of WIPs for you?