Barely. I finished knitting my amended Pacific shawl this morning, binding off a bazillion stitches. I wasn’t sure I was going to make it. Here’s the yarn I had left.
I don’t think there’s enough for even one more complete row. Glad that worked out! Now I need to block it, and then I can show it to you. I’ll be writing the pattern for several sizes, too, now that I know the outer limits of the skein…
What’s this?
A beautiful basket from Lantern Moon.
And inside is the group project for Lorajean’s baby-to-be. She’s temporarily named him Bubba, so this is Bubba’s Blankie. It’s modeled on one I saw on the Yarn Harlot’s blog. Simple garter stitch strips, sewn together.
They’re matched at the center, and the ends stop when they stop. The gauge varies wildly, but it doesn’t really matter.
We had 14 strips, because we had 14 knitters. When Lorajean and I laid out the strips last week, we realized that this blanket was bigger than life! So the plan shifted, and she’ll have two blankets, nearly identical.
I slip stitch crocheted the strips together. I thought this would be the back of the blanket, but I like the look of this the chain loops. The other side of the blanket just shows little blips of color; it’s equally handsome.
Edit: Apparently I single crocheted the strips together. I don’t crochet much, so I never remember what the stitches are called. Sorry for the misinformation!
Lorajean loves it! She dyed the yarn for this project; it’s wonderfully soft superwash bulky merino. The colors seem to glow.
I have almost all the strips for the second blanket. One piece left! And then it’s time to get cracking, because the baby is due in two weeks…
Crochet like the wind!
Thank you to all the other knit nite knitters on this blanket: Shari, Shannon, Leigh, Marilyn, Peggy, Toni, Helen, Margaret, Cathy, Charlotte, Sarah and Paula, and special thanks to Cathy for providing the beautiful basket.
I love this so much more than the first try, it’s ridiculous. Lemons to lemonade…
It’s not rain; it’s the Pacific Ocean.
The waves are rolling. The sun is shining on the waves. It reminds me of Crafty Mom Weekend, watching the endlessly undulating ocean. (I wrote lyrics for a song that weekend, and the waves were in the lyrics, too. I sense a theme.)
I love working with beads. They’re so small, but they add such nice sparkle.
This is definitely a shawlette rather than a shawl. I had a fair amount of yarn left. I’m knitting this again with another skein of the same yarn, making it a bit bigger but still trying to keep it as a one skein project. I’m also fine-tuning a few things on it. I’ll eventually write up the pattern, and I’ll also do a video tutorial on adding beads. I like this “add as you go” method rather than pre-stringing all my beads at the beginning. Have you used beads in your knitting?
Posted in beading, Knit, pattern design
That’s what they say. But it’s pretty sweet to get an additional reward.
Dez over at Knitting Asylum had a drawing for people who donated to Doctors Without Borders for Haiti. I won a prize! Pen and tape measure, and a beautiful stitch marker necklace made from Czech glass and shell. These are really pretty, and what a great way to keep track of them.
Thanks, Dez!
I was away for the weekend up at Menucha Retreat Center, working at our annual women’s retreat. This one was filled with music! We sang through the Holden Evening Prayer Service on Friday evening, which was lovely. Some of my Day Old Pastries were on hand to help with the music for the rest of the weekend. I love my Pastries.
I did get some knitting done. See my prototype shawl on my knee, and the new one in my hands? The new one is coming along swimmingly; I really like it. I’ll show it to you, soon. Check out the handknit socks, too.
My favorite thing at Menucha, besides the view…
…is the labyrinth. It’s a good place to be silent and meditative.
It’s always interesting to discover a new epiphany when I reach the center.
This beautiful garden is across from the dining hall.
There’s a hidden space up there, with a rock bench facing this.
I love spring, in all its glory.
How was *your* weekend?
I was overcome by the photos of Passiflora in the new Twist Collective blog, so I ordered the pattern and yarn online. It was nearly instant gratification. The yarn made it to my doorstep in 3 days.
I chose the same color as the sample knit. Choosing color online is difficult; you never know if your monitor is giving you the real deal.
This is gorgeous. It’s called Persian Violet. The yarn is Elann Incense, a worsted weight blend of wool, silk, and bamboo.
I’m trying to not cast on just yet. I get jangly if I have more than 2 or 3 WIPs, and I have that many already. Another shawl, the April sock, and the baby blanket stripe…on top of that, it’s a really busy week at work. I don’t have time to knit, or play the piano, and I have to practice guitar for this weekend’s women’s retreat.
How long do you think my will power will last?!
Posted in Knit
Lorajean (Knitted Wit) is expecting her second baby in June. The knit nite group wants to knit a blankie for Bubba-to-be. Our first group project was a blanket for Little e, two years ago. I learned some valuable lessons about group projects and gauge back then!
We were stymied when it came to color, though. We asked Lorajean for input, and she said that she’d love to dye the yarn.
I love these.
There’s one more color, but it’s already in Cathy’s capable hands. It’s like the limeade green in the picture, but darker, and semi-solid.
We’re planning to knit garter stripes like the blanket at the end of this Yarn Harlot post. It’s quick (bulky yarn, 14 sts), easy, and gauge will not be an issue. We’ll have two stripes of each of seven colors. Yarn gets distributed at knit nite tomorrow. Perfect! And you can see that I’ve already started…
April is flying away from me, but I finally managed to cast on Star Athena’s April Fool’s sock before the month evaporated entirely.
This is Fly Designs Monarch sport weight yarn; the color is called Sailing. I’ve used this yarn before, for my Seafoam Socks. I’m reminded how much I like knitting with it; it’s quite bouncy! The sock is cast on at the toe, worked up through the cuff with a waste yarn bit before continuing to the other cuff, down the leg, and to the second toe. I love the elegance of Judy’s Magic Cast On. So simple, so tidy, so perfect.
Rather than a plain vanilla stockinette sock, I’ve added ribbing because I like snugger fit of a ribbed sock. I add a baby cable twist every 6th row, so I can see my progress, and it makes it easier to count rows and see if the second sock is the same length. I’ve decided against the short row heel; I’m going to knit my standard flap and gusset heel. I like how it fits my foot, and I know how many rows this takes me on this many stitches, so I know how long the flap will be, which means I know how long to knit the foot before I start the heel! No surprises, please.
Do you think I’ll be done before these are gone?
I had a lot of practice with tinking and frogging on this last project. I figured I should live true to the class that I teach at Twisted, ” Tink, Drop, Frog.” Yes, all those fixes really work, even on things more complicated than stockinette!
I frogged (rip-it, rip-it) 12 rows of lacy knitting when I realized that I didn’t have enough yarn to do an extra 16 row repeat *and* a border. And then I had to frog again when I messed up the border. While I was frogging that, I decided to take it back even further so I could have a deeper border. Here it is unblocked.
I love blocking. It’s like magic…
But I don’t love this shawl.
:sigh:
It’s pretty, but I think the pattern in the body is too bold for the more delicate border. And I love the undulating border, with its little sparkly beads.
This was my first experience with adding beads to my knitting, other than a one hour wonder class with Sivia Harding at Sock Summit last summer. I really like it! These are a little subtle with this yarn, but the blue on the inside of the beads was such a perfect match, I had to use them.
When I first envisioned this shawl, it was all about the pattern in the body. I was inspired by raindrops running down a window. So maybe that part of it needs a different border, but for now, I’m going to knit another shawl and play with this border some more.
Raindrop Shawl (my own exploration)
Knitted Wit Superwash Merino fingering weight, 100 grams
US size 6 needle
Size 6/0 Toho beads
The conversation this week:
Wow, I have a lot of yarn left. Look at the size of that ball. I’m sure I can get one more 16 row repeat done before I start the edging.
Are you sure? Right now you have 256 stitches, and 16 rows is at least 4096 stitches.
Yeah, but look at the size of that ball of yarn. No problem.
OK, this lace pattern is so much fun to knit; go for it.
Hey, I’m on row 11, and this yarn seems to be disappearing at a prodigious rate.
Um, maybe you should weigh the yarn before this next row, and see how much yarn you’re using per row.
OK, 21 grams; OK, now 18 grams. That’s 3 grams per row…
Um, that means you have enough for 6 rows, maybe. Which means the last 4 rows of the lace repeat, and, um, TWO rows of edging.
Carp.
And so, gentle reader, I took the whole thing off the needle, ripped out 12 rows, which is at least 3072 stitches, and got it all back on the needle.
This is the same picture, because I’m back at the same place. I took it after the big rip; I didn’t take one before because I didn’t really listen to that little voice, until it was too late. Sorry about the lighting; it was 1 a.m. But I had to do it then because I couldn’t go to bed knowing that it would be waiting for me in the morning.
Look at all those markers!
Onward.
Halfway through April, and I haven’t told you about the April Single Skein Club package from Twisted…tsk tsk. April just flew in on those blustery March winds, and I forgot!
April’s package centers on a sweet pattern by Portland’s Lee Meredith, also known as Leethal. She is always marvelously inventive, and this month’s package confirms it. This project is customizable to the max.
The yarn is from Imperial Stock Ranch in Shaniko, Oregon; it’s their Native Twist Bulky. This is a single ply, soft spun wool. It’s from the sheep at the ranch, truly a home-grown Oregon product!
You may be wondering how to get from this yarn to the hats pictured in the pattern.
This looks like it will be a fun project!
PDXKnitterati 