Show and tell!
Here are the two Shetland Shawls, side by side. Smaller needle version is on the left; larger needle version on the right:
Closeup of small version (Shetland I)
And Shetland II:
Which do you like better? I like the look of the smaller one, and the airy gossamer feel of the bigger one. I keep changing my mind, though. They both make me really happy, and I hope the gift recipient likes hers!
All of my yarn pictures are brown today! I’m sending this spiral rib cap to a friend, and I needed a picture of it to go with its pattern before I send it. The hat is the loveliest, softest cotton blend: Classic Elite Premier, 50% pima cotton, 50% tencel. I think it will make a great chemo cap because of its softness, or just a great knocking around cap.
It looks like it’s flared at the brim, but really it’s not. It’s a head-hugging cap. I hope she likes it.
My mailbox had a surprise in it yesterday: handspun yarn from Melissa at Days of Tea and Knitting. It’s beautiful! Thanks, Melissa. I’m waiting for the yarn to tell me what it wants to be, besides gorgeous out by the bamboo. The first picture is a little more true to the color.
I bound off Shetland Triangle 2 last night. I remembered to take measurements this time. Unblocked, it’s 39″ wide by 19″ tall. It’s on the blocking wires now, and it’s 70″ wide by 35″ tall. That’s a lot of stretch! Here are the details for this shawl:
Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark, from Interweave Knits’ Wrap Style.
Size 7 26″ circular Lantern Moon Ebony needle
One and a third? skeins of Silver, Silk, and Superwash Merino Sock Yarn from Painted Skeins (skein is 100 grams, 420 yards). Twelve repeats of the body section, versus 8 in the pattern. I left off the last two rows of the edging to make the edge less pointy (thanks again, BrooklynTweed) and I cast off knit-wise on the wrong side to counteract stockinette’s tendency to roll. I used a size 9 needle as the working needle to cast off.
Summary: Like my first shetland triangle, but one more repeat of the body section, and needles one size bigger. The first shawl is 54″ wide and 26″ tall. The extra repeat and the bigger needles made a big difference. I may reblock the first one to see if I can make it a little bigger and lacier, but I’ll have to wait until the blocking board is free.
Just to keep with the brown theme, I should let you know that this colorway is Brick on Brown. And it’s gorgeous. Picture will have to wait until it’s off the multi-colored beach towel. Don’t want to mess with the brown theme!
It’s not really cheating, is it? I bought yarn yesterday at Close Knit for my next project, the Josephine top from last summer’s Interweave Knits. I bought the same yarn called for in the pattern, which I hardly ever do. It’s Karabella Vintage Cotton, a DK weight mercerized (shiny) cotton and it’s the color of raspberry sorbet. Yum. Today I bought some new Lantern Moon ebony circulars in smaller sizes for this project. But I haven’t cast on, so it’s not cheating. Yet.
In fact, I was very diligent last night, and did a lot of knitting on the second Shetland Triangle Shawl. So much knitting, that all I have left to do is bind off.
I’m still working on washcloth samples, too. So there. I want to give a couple away with nice soap as thank you gifts, but I think I’d better wait until I can photograph them all together first. The lighting will be the same for all the pictures; always a good thing. So on I knit. But these don’t have to be done before I cast on the Josephine. I try to have a mindless and a mindful project on the needles, and these will be my two. After I bind off the shawl. Really.
Now *this* is cheating! Yesterday I bought a baffle for my bird feeder pole, to keep the squirrel off. This morning I looked out the window and saw this.
I think he’s thumbing his nose at me. Kids say he’s a ninja. We’re all impressed. But this means WAR. I’m plotting alternative disincentives.
And in other fun news, I won a contest! Sock yarn from a blog drawing at Days of Tea and Knitting. Thanks, Melissa!
Good friends, a beautiful day, food, wine…perfect!
Obligatory knit content: I knit in the car on the way out (no, I wasn’t driving). I’m trying to finish editing a washcloth sampler set that I wrote for a class a couple years ago, and I need pictures of the finished items to include in the pattern. I gave away all the samples as gifts, way back when. So I’m making new ones, but there are six of them, and I’ve only finished two…keep knitting! Still working on the second shetland shawl, too, just have to finish the border, and block it. I need to finish by next knit nite so I can return Helen’s blocking wires to her. A self-imposed deadline. I can’t wait to get these done and start something new. Why is it always faster to knit in our heads, than with our hands?
The Shetland Triangle is done; it’s drying on blocking wires this very minute. I love how this turned out.
See the subtle sparkle in the yarn? Love that silver!
Blocking wires really help pull this into shape and show off the pattern of the lace. Here’s the shawl before blocking:
Cats don’t really help much with blocking; the wires are pretty tempting. But Mookie thinks she’s helping, and that’s what counts.
I’ll post a picture of the shawl in action after it gets off the wires.
Details:
Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark, from Interweave Knits’ Wrap Style.
Size 6 26″ Lantern Moon circular Ebony needle (love these!)
A bit more than one skein of Silver, Silk, and Superwash Merino Sock Yarn from Painted Skeins (skein is 100 grams, 420 yards). I added three extra repeats of the body section; if I had added only two (10 total), I could have done this with one skein of yarn.
I left off the last two rows of the edging to make the edge less pointy (thanks, BrooklynTweed) and I cast off knit-wise on the wrong side to counteract stockinette’s tendency to roll. I used a size 8 needle as the working needle to cast off.
I must really love it; I’m going to make another one starting tomorrow. This shawl is going to be a birthday present. I want one for me, too. There’s a Shetland Triangle KAL (knitalong) group on Ravelry, and the cast on date is May 1. I’m ready! I might use a size 7 needle and make it a little bit lacier.
And I’ve found a piano piece that’s pulling me back to the bench: It’s Beethoven’s Sonata in G Minor, Op. 49 No. 1. Just the first movement for now. Yummy.
Edited to add pix:
It’s really hard to take a picture of yourself!
I had tea with Anna on Monday. She’s cruising along on the entrelac socks. The first is done, and the second is halfway there. A completed first sock means that the pattern is readable and knittable, so the entrelac sock pattern is ready to be published. It’s now available on the sidebar.
Anna says that she only knits with dirt-colored yarn. I think it’s good looking dirt! Although we prefer to say, “earth tones.” We bought this yarn at Coastal Yarns in Cannon Beach, Oregon during Crafty Moms Weekend in February. I bought some in variegated blues. It’s Hacho hand-dyed merino wool, DK weight, from Mirasol Yarn, spun in Peru. Yum. I’m trying to finish the Shetland Triangle shawl before I jump into another pair of these socks, but the siren song is strong.
I’m working on Evelyn Clark’s Shetland Triangle from Interweave Knits’ book, Wrap Style. Wow, this lace knitting is really addictive! The pattern is easy to remember, except for the first few stitches of the odd numbered rows, but other than looking at those few stitches on the chart, it’s cruise control knitting.
I love how the knitting looks like a crumpled blob on the needles, but when I spread it out a little, I can begin to see what the fir cone pattern is going to look like. Blocking will really bring out the pattern after I finish knitting. Soon!
The yarn I’m using is Silver, Silk, and Superwash Merino Sock Yarn from Painted Skeins. It has a thread of real silver in it, which appeals to the magpie in me.
I worked on this a little last week on the Amtrak train from Seattle. I went up to see Perri Knize read from her new book, Grand Obsession, at a piano party at Classical Grands. The book is the story of her search for the perfect piano, falling in love with one, and the journey that begins when the piano, Marlene, arrives having lost her distinctive voice. Perri is a member of a piano forum that I frequent, and it was nice to meet her in person! The trip also gave me a chance to catch up with some other piano friends.
Knit on!
I’ve been playing with the Frog Tree Alpaca Sport, experimenting with garter stitch mitered squares. I like the idea of garter stitch, because it’s square instead of rectangular, and I want the squares to be square! More or less. It’s still a little diamond-y, but I think it will do. Blocking will help. Since this is a group project, I also want the square to be pretty simple. Here’s the square:
And here’s how I made it:
CO 72 sts with color A, knit one row (wrong side).
Row 1: K 34, SSK, place marker, K2tog, K34
Row 2 and all even rows: Knit
Row 3 and all odd rows: K until 2 sts before marker, SSK, slip marker, K2tog, K to end of row.
After first 6 rows, change to color B. There are 4 garter ridges on the right side. (Why not 3? Because the one row you knit on the wrong side before row 1 made a ridge on the right side, so there was one ridge before we even started the pattern. After this, it will take 8 rows to make 4 garter ridges.)
Continue in miter pattern, alternating between color A and color B every 8 rows (you’ll have four garter ridges on the right side). At the beginning of each right side row, bring the current color up under and behind the color not in use. This will carry the color not in use up the side of the block.
When you have 2 sts remaining (one on either side of the marker) after completing a right side row, K2 tog on the very next wrong side row. (Don’t change colors; I know there are 4 ridges, but we don’t want a little blip of color.) Cut yarn and pull through the last stitch. Cut the other yarn, too, leaving nice tails!
I’m using size 4 needles, but as usual, it’s all about gauge. Square measures 7 inches across the middles, and 10 inches point to point. Now we just need to make a lot of them! I’m guessing we’ll get three squares out of each set of two balls of yarn. Wish I had a digital kitchen scale…
The square I was experimenting with at Knit Nite was decidedly ugly (the corner looked like a wart), so we passed out the yarn and now I just need to send out this pattern.
ETA: Edited to add: There are many ways to go about this, but it works in garter stitch as long as you have two decreases, every other row. You could also do one decrease each row, always before the center marker. Or always after the center marker. You could also do a centered double decrease on every right side row, but then there’d be a lot of “moving the marker” activity. I wanted to make the square as simple to knit as possible. This is the way it turned out: easy!
I’ve been working on these pedicure socks for a friend’s birthday. I ran through three different design ideas before I came up with a stitch pattern that would let the yarn tell its story. This yummy yarn is Yarntini Variegated Sport, and the colorway is Mimosa. It just screams “orange creamsicle” at me. I love this yarn; it’s the same yarn that I used for my Entrelac Socks. It’s a little heavy for a sport weight yarn, but it has a wonderful springy texture.
ZigZag Lace Pedicure Socks
I hope she likes them! Pattern should be up in a few days. :edit: pattern is up!
I also put up the pattern for the log cabin baby blanket; I had already written instructions for knitting the squares for my knit group; it was just a matter of adding assembly and border instructions. Enjoy!
Lorajean brought a bounty of Frog Tree Alpaca Sport to knit nite last night, with a proposal that we all make squares for a blanket, perhaps for Afghans for Afghans. This is beautiful yarn!
![IMG_0819[1]](https://i0.wp.com/farm3.static.flickr.com/2009/2367906262_8c35f93508.jpg)
We kicked around ideas, and decided on ballband squares in alternating directions. But this morning I woke up and realized that ballband dishcloths are rectangular, not square. Back to square one, haha.
The other challenge on a project like this is to have everyone knitting to the same gauge. This is either easier or harder than it sounds, depending on how willing your knitters are to rip and re-do. I don’t mind it, but I know that some knitters are completely undone by the prospect.
Now I’m thinking that mitered squares might be the way to go. I’ll do a little more research, some swatching, and bring ideas to the next knit nite.
Last night I worked on my log cabin blanket. This is perfect knit nite knitting, completely mindless garter stitch that doesn’t go off track because of chat.
I have two more fun projects on the needles, but I can’t talk about them yet. They’re surprises!
PDXKnitterati 