Tag Archive | shawls

The Hitchhiker is DONE!

Now I know why everybody has made one: it’s FABULOUS. The pattern is so simple, but the end result is just stunning. It’s absolutely perfect for variegated yarns, but it would look equally gorgeous in a solid too. I loved knitting this, didn’t get bored or tired of the endless garter stitch. It was perfect TV knitting, and even though Rafa lost (so sad!) I was happy because I finished this! The photos aren’t great, sorry. It’s raining and very wet outside, but someday I’ll get better pictures. I guess I need to paint my craft room so the walls are a better backdrop color. I wanted purple, but maybe I should consider white. Or maybe a very pale gray? That could be cool. Anyway. Love my Hitchhiker. Already perusing my stash to figure out which yarn to use for my next one.

Last night I decided I needed a super-fast instant gratification project, and I wanted to use my new Marblez straight needles. I chose this Leafy Washcloth pattern and it was done within an hour. I wasn’t crazy about it at first. But then I got it wet and stretched and tugged and flattened, and voila, it became a leaf!Mine’s not as dense as the photo, so I think I’ll use smaller needles for the next one. And as much as I love knitted washcloths and dishcloths, there will definitely be a next one. This is a fun, unusual pattern.

Our new sod is enjoying the rain, I think, but the puppies are not. They did get a walk yesterday but Grace still woke up with plenty of energy for mischief.
I’ll be going out today to buy a cheap rug for her, and she will be sad because she’s a spoiled little princess who thinks she needs a cushion to sleep on. Well, too bad for her! I’m not giving her anything else that can be torn open and have its innards removed.

Today is the women’s semifinals of the French Open and I think I will work on my black and white chevron scarf. It’s becoming the neverending project! How do the rest of you find the motivation to work on those projects that seem to take forever?

My First Hitchhiker

May30

Well, I broke my own rules. Instead of working only on current WIPs, I started a new project yesterday. I couldn’t help it. I’m going to a party tonight and I need a new simple travel project. (Yes, this is how you party when you’re old. You get together and eat, play games, and knit. I’m okay with it.) I also had a craving for garter stitch. The Hitchhiker shawl was near the top of my library and I had my new Frolicking Feet yarn handy, and before I knew what had happened, I’d cast on. It’s marvelous! I love that nifty sawtooth edge there, and the garter stitch is so squishy and dense with the size 4 needles I’m using, and wow those colors! This is my new favorite project and I’m sure it’ll be finished before I get back to those other, older WIPs.

But sadly, Hitchhiker is not a good travel project for me, at least not a good party project. You have to keep track of which row you’re on, and I’m not good at that when I’m distracted. So instead I’ll cast on for AndreSue’s KitKat Hat with some brown Malabrigo Worsted and that’ll be my happy mindless knitting for the evening.

And also sadly, I had another needle mishap. I have the worst luck with needles lately! Especially this set of Knitter’s Pride Trendz acrylic needles. I already have one with a broken tip, now I have one that came apart. Apparently you need to be very careful when you tighten these. I love the colors of these needles but they’re definitely not as durable as others I have. At least this one I can glue back together.

Oh, and big news in our house: the girl got her learner’s permit! Now I have to let her drive my car, eek! She’s been out once in my car and once in the husband’s truck, and actually she’s doing well. We’ll just stick to parking lots for a while, I think.

Mother’s Day Knitting

May11

Yes, yes, I know. I have six WIPs going right, including two that are paid commissions, and I have another order I need to start. But that didn’t stop me from casting on for a new project yesterday. Mother’s Day should be the epitome of selfish knitting time, right? I had some quiet time between brunch with the MIL and dinner with the mother, so I happily wound my newest splurge, the Baah Chocolate Cherries, and cast on for the perfect little shawlette.

I chose a pattern called Find a Penny mostly for the round eyelet border, but also because it’s smaller and relatively simple. I’d hate to get bored with this lovely yarn. So far, it’s going very quickly. I’ve already got over four inches and this yarn is heaven to knit with. It’s soft and supple, and the resulting fabric is so nice and squishy. And the color? Yummmm. It’s mostly the dark red but the chocolately undertones give it an intriguing richness. I’ll definitely be keeping this little beauty. I got another thrift store goodie the other day too. I only found one thing but I’m quite tickled with it. Yes, another bag. But here’s the kicker: I didn’t buy it for the bag. I bought for the handles. I’d probably pay $5-6 for these at Joann, but I got the bag for a whole 99 cents! Haha! Yay me!

Before I stop for the day, I have to show off what I got from the kids yesterday. I think I’ve mentioned they’re big Doctor Who fans, and they both love to draw. From the girl, I got this delightful card. This one is from the boy. Our heights aren’t exactly accurate, but I sure love thinking of myself as Wonder Woman! I have good kids. I think I’ll keep them. And I have good puppies too. We had company most of the day, including small humans that move quickly and make loud noises, and the puppies did so well! No barking or lunging, just some inappropriate sniffing and a bit of exuberant licking. I was rather proud of them. Oh! One last thing! I had another request to feature a photo on a pattern page on Ravelry! I confess, I get excited every time. It’s my Funky Cowl and you can see it here.

Mindless Knitting: Barley Hat & Quadratic Shawl

Jan28

It’s Wednesday, right? I think so. I’ve already had a fair bit of waiting room time that needed truly mindless knitting, so I managed to finish the Barley hat I started almost two weeks ago. I really really enjoyed making it, so much I didn’t want to stop, apparently: the hat ended up as a major slouch hat instead of a normal beanie. I just wanted to keep knitting ’round and ’round! But I’m going to pretend I did it on purpose because I do love how it turned out. I’ll definitely be making more of these and maybe even manage to make some as a fitted beanie like it’s supposed to be! If you’d like to make one too, here’s the pattern on Ravelry. I made it as written for the adult medium except I knit the body at least 9″, I think.

My other mindless knitting was on the Quadratic shawl. I started this at the very beginning of September last year and got a good start before getting pulled away by holiday knitting. Since it’s all garter stitch, it’s perfect for when you need to be distracted but can’t follow complicated patterns. I’ve gotten a fair bit done, but you can definitely see where I stopped and re-started. I wouldn’t have thought my tension would be so different in the span of four months, but clearly it is. Here’s hoping it’s less noticeable after blocking.But the Quadratic is going back in a drawer for a little while, because last night I signed up to do a little event. Our local downtown has an event space called The Exchange, and once a month they host local Etsy sellers for a show. It’s only 4 hours, but it’s free, and I think it’s a truly awesome idea. I just learned about it recently and inquired last night, thinking I’d start with the March event, and they offered me a spot at the February event on Valentine’s Day! Woohoo! So until then my fingers will be flying on hats and boot cuffs to have a good variety for sale. My inventory’s a little low, so wish me luck on building it up in the next two weeks. (EEK!)

Knitting a Wedding Wrap

Oct26

My most recent FO is one of the coolest things I’ve done in a while: I got to knit a lace wrap for a bride. She wanted something to cover her shoulders and upper arms for her November wedding, something more like a capelet than a full shawl. She wanted it open and lacy, and I hadn’t done true knitted lace before. I spent days poring through Ravelry, looking at shawls and ponchos and wraps and capelets. I looked at knitted ones and crochet ones. I looked at fingering weight projects and bulky weight projects, though I was hoping for a thicker yarn so it would work up faster. We went back and forth until finally I found the perfect pattern: the Regalia Cowl Wrap. It called for super bulky yarn and has two size variations so you can wear it as a cowl/capelet, or a longer wrap. I chose the smaller size so it would hug her shoulders.

The color was the most important factor, since it needed to match her dress. She found some Bernat Alpaca in Peony that was the perfect shade, so I held two strands together to mimic the super bulky yarn called for in the Regalia pattern. Knitting lace was a little overwhelming at first: lots of wyif and k1tbl and p1tbl that I hadn’t done before. The first few rows were scary, and I thought I’d vastly underestimated the time I’d need to get it done. Fortunately, once I got going, it got a lot faster, and I managed to finish it in a little over a week. I loved watching the pattern emerge from these rows of seemingly random letters and numbers. I can’t imagine being able to design something like this, so I’m in awe of Brenda Lavell at Phydeaux Designs.

Blocking opened up the lace pattern immensely and it held its shape pretty well once I unpinned it, even though it’s 70% acrylic with only 30% alpaca. It was a little bulkier than I intended, so it came out as 14″ by 46″ instead of 12″ x 32″, but that ended up working fine. The bride has a brooch to pin in closed, instead of buttons, so she can pin it to make it hang just right.

Once the wrap was done and drying on the blocking mat, I made a quick pair of fingerless gloves with some of the leftover Bernat. They’re called the Iris Stitch Fingerless Mittens, and it’s my new favorite pattern for crochet fingerless gloves. It took some finessing to get the size right (I had to do the first glove four times) but I love the delicate lacy look, the simple little thumb hole, and how quickly they work up.

I’m so happy with how this project turned out, and I really hope the bride is too! It was a great excuse to learn some new techniques. Now I’m looking forward to seeing pictures from her big day!

This has been my focus project for a while. Really, the only other thing I’ve finished lately is an eye mask. My son had a mystery party at school where he had to dress up as a literary character. It had to be from a book originally, from a book the other sixth-graders might have read, and something not glaringly obvious (i.e. no Harry Potter). We chose Westley from The Princess Bride. It’s one of our favorite movies but the book is delightful too. If you haven’t read it, give it a shot. Anyway, the boy had black clothes, black headscarf, cardboard “sword” but needed a mask. Crafty mom was happy to oblige!

Progress Made (and a new WIP)

Sep12

Yesterday was quiet and cool, so I spent much of the day on the couch with my yarns. I managed to frog the striped hat from yesterday’s post, so it’s all ready for a redo. I’m waiting until after I open my birthday presents, though, just in case there’s a set of interchangeable 16″ needles in one of them. (*fingers crossed*) I also worked for a while on my Quadratic shawl, and I cannot wait until it’s done and I can wear it. After lunch, I pondered the many WIPs I have, and the projects I need to complete soon, and I decided I could cast on for just one more. It’s for someone I like (okay, all my knitting is for someone I like) plus it’s an unusual project for me. It’s called the Spring Lace Infinity Scarf and with any luck, it will end up looking like this.

Spring Lace Infinity Scarf by Linda Thach. copyright Purl Avenue

This is fingering weight yarn (i.e. very skinny, i.e. not bulky at all, which is what I normally use) and it’s a lace pattern. It will end up being open and delicate and lovely (I hope) but it will knit slowly and will take much time and attention to detail. I managed to get through the casting on of 360(!!!) stitches and knitting of five rows. This is what it looks like so far. So yeah, it will be slow going on this one, but I think it will be delightful. I’ll probably spend some time on this today … or maybe I’ll spend the morning reading my new book!

My Favorite WIP

Sep10

There’s a lot going on in my life lately and I’ve been feeling a bit scattered, unable to focus too long on anything. Maybe that’s obvious, given that I keep starting new yarn projects without finishing the others. (Current WIP count = 9) Partly I’m feeling a lot of creative inspiration where I actually know what a yarn is supposed to be. That doesn’t happen often for me so I want to start them before I lose the inspiration. And partly I just need different kinds of projects for different moods and needs. I need waiting room knitting, TV knitting, football game knitting, and quiet time knitting. I’ve got them all covered now! Plus I’ve got three orders in my queue; one is started and the other two are next in line. Clearly, I’ve got enough knitting to keep me busy for a good long while.

But I’ve got a favorite right now. I know you’re not supposed to admit it, but I do. A few days ago I came across a post by yarnandpointysticks titled “The moment when something screams knit me” and the second project really did scream that to me. Look at this gorgeous shawl!

dokatron’s Quadratic on Ravelry. (Photo by Victoria Magnus)

This is the Quadratic published by David O’Kelly and Eden Cottage Yarns. It’s simple but striking. It’s also a lot of delightful squishy garter stitch, which I love, and just a tiny bit of stockinette to make the little stripes stand out. As soon as I saw it, my mind went to the two skeins of icy gray Quince & Co. yarn that I bought in DC this summer. A quick check in Ravelry told me it was a fingering weight, which is what the shawl requires. Plus, I only had *TWO* other fingering weight yarns in my entire stash, and they just happened to be colors that look gorgeous with the gray.Oh my, I just love those together. The only problem is that the shawl calls for 567 yards of the gray, and I only have 442. That didn’t stop me. I have a plan. I’m going to modify the pattern just a little bit. Instead of having all the larger sections be gray, I’m going to have one small one in the blue, and a larger one in the purple. I have no idea how much yardage those two sections will make up, so I’m really just crossing my fingers that this will work out favorably. If not, well, I’ll be begging for more of the gray yarn, I guess. I cast on the next day, and even though I’ve been working on projects for customers, I keep coming back to this one just a little at a time. I like it so much that I don’t think it will take me too long to finish. Check back for photos of the final product!

Vacation Knitting

Jun22

So, that’s me in front of the Reflecting Pool and the Washington Monument in Washington D.C. (pretty obvious, I know). We just got back from a two-week vacation there, and I’ve been going through photos and souvenirs and trying to get back into the swing of normal life. And by normal life, I mean finding time to knit!

I thought I’d have a lot of time to knit this vacation: we were traveling there by train, so I’d have two days on the train, plus I figured I’d have time in the evenings to pick up my yarn. So I packed six projects, one a WIP and the others new. Of those, I managed to finish the WIP and…that’s it. And that I finished on the train. I didn’t knit at all while I was in DC! We spent all day exploring the city, and by the time we got back to the room, I was exhausted with no energy left for my needles. But like I said, I did finish one project, and it was very rewarding for me. I’d started a shawl a few months ago with some gorgeous Simply Sweet Whipped Cream yarn in my three favorite colors and it was going swimmingly until my dog got hold of it.

I frogged and started over right away, but I’d lost some steam. I’d pick it up occasionally and do a few rows, but mostly it hibernated. I packed it for the train, hoping I could wear it in the evenings in DC, and I finished it that first day on the train. I had to fudge the end a bit, since I ran out of purple sooner than I anticipated, but I’m happy with it. No one would know if I didn’t point it out. Since I started it around Easter, when the colors reminded me of jelly beans, I named it the Jelly Bean Shawl. That’s my son helping me show it off.

Given that I mostly do small projects, I was quite pleased that I was able to complete such a large piece, and I love the pattern. The mohair makes it fuzzy and it sheds on anything it touches, and it’s a warmer shawl than I expected. I thought it’d be more of a summer shawl, but I think it will be perfect for spring and fall evenings. And it’s already seen some use: the girl got cold on the train and borrowed it. My mom also borrowed it later in the trip. I was always too hot to wear it but I’ve got it set back for cooler nights.

I did start another project on the train, a Purl Ridge scarf with one skein of vintage purple Malabrigo from an estate sale. It went quickly and smoothly, and the yarn was a joy to knit with. I pulled it out yesterday on the flight home and got almost to the end of the skein. The problem was I only halfway through the pattern. It has now been frogged and restarted with fewer stitches. It’ll just be a bit shorter.

Sadly, that’s all for recent knitting progress. But just because I didn’t have much knitting time in DC does not mean I did not have yarn time. My hotel was near old Georgetown, and we were a 15-minute walk from a lovely yarn store called Looped Yarn Works. It was a delightful store, and tomorrow I’ll try to post some pictures of all my lovely souvenir yarn.