From the Land of Lace to Colorwork

Since I finished my Shetland Lace Stole, I have contemplated starting another lace project. I was going to start on the Mystery Stole 3. The main attraction for me, however, was the beads. Since I would either need to order them or go to the local bead store, I am beadless. My local store is a 1/2 hour away and only open during hours that my kids would be with me. You can imagine what fun a 2 and 5 year old would have in a bead store. I guess I will be picking a different lace project.



Now I have moved to colorwork. I have finished the body on Katherine of Aragon. I will be cutting the first steek at my knitting group tonight. Since the thought strikes fear in the hearts of many I told them that I would cut the first steek there. Now I need to do two sleeves, the button band, and then finis. I guess I am counting my chickens too early though.









I am also starting a self-designed intarsia project. I am thinking of submitting the design to Knitty or such so this is all I will show you:









I have also started a Latvian mitten. The fringe and braids have been a bit of a challenge.









Finally I have finished my Horcrux socks from the Six Socks Knitalong in time for the movie and the new book. My feet shall be toasty warm while I am enjoying my new book.

Shetland Lace Stole in all of her glory

I finally got around to posting the pictures of my Shetland Lace Stole. My daughter is 5 now and as we speak is pestering me to play Webkinz on the computer. I guess my computer time will be infringed upon until I get her off to college. Sigh.










Shetland Lace Stole
Pattern: Self-designed, but inspired by Sharon Miller's Unst Stole and Hazel Carter's sampler stole.
Size: 35 inches by 90 inches.
Needles: Aero size 2.75mm circular.
Yarn: Lacey Lamb in natural, approximately 1800 yards.
Time to complete: over a year working sporadically.

Shetland Lace Stole Blocking . . . Finally!

After over a year of on and off work, I have finally completed my Shetland Lace Stole. It is my own design although you will probably notice the similarity to both Sharon Miller's Unst Stole and Hazel Carter's Sampler Stole from Gathering of Lace. It is my own creation but like most Shetland Lace I can't call is completely original. None-the-less I learned a lot about designing lace and am excited to begin the next project. Sharon Miller's book, Heirloom Knitting, was a great help.

I used just over two balls of Lacey Lamb for the project. I probably used around 1800 yards or so. Lacey Lamb is a cobweb weight superwash wool and I knit is with a size 2 needle. I would not recommend superwash lace weight yarn because you aren't going to put delicate lace through the spin cycle anyhow. It also makes is much more difficult to splice the yarn. Lacey Lamb is easy to knit though and it blocks beautifully. My only recommendation if you are going to use Lacey Lamb is to work from the outside of the ball. Had I known that it would have saved me hours of untangling yarn.

As for blocking, the final measurements were 35 inches by 90 inches. A little longer than I was aiming for. I used 96 pins to block it. After the painful process of waiting for the stole to dry I will add some more pictures to my blog.

Unblocked

Border

Center

Edging

Victorian Lace Socks and Other Good News

I have some good news today! My Victorian Lace Sock Pattern is the June / July 2007 pattern for the Six Socks Knitalong. If you want a copy of this pattern you will need to join the Six Socks Knitalong and download the pattern from the files section. I am very excited to have people knitting my pattern. It was a lot of fun to design and a nice lacey summer project. The pattern is also fairly elastic so it should work well in a cotton blend sock yarn.

In other news, I went to my LYS to attempt to solve the Shetland Lace Stole yarn crisis. Miracle of miracles the store had another ball of the same yarn in the same dye lot! I should play the lottery with that type of luck. Hopefully I will finish the stole soon and then on to the magic of blocking.

Some Good News and Some Bad News

As the title indicates, I have some good news and some bad news. My friend is having a baby any time now. I knit the baby a tiny cotton cardigan to keep off the evening chill. It took me longer to sew on the buttons and snaps than to knit the entire sweater. This is why I love knitting in the round. Less sewing. The pattern is from Knitty in the smallest size and without the optional hood.




Now the bad news: I am working on the last edge of my Shetland Lace Stole. As you can see I have to finish a loooong edge.








This is all of the yarn I have left.

Sigh.

A Spring Update

I have been slowly plugging along on my projects. Here's a bit of a photographic update:

Katherine of Aragon is coming slowly along. I am working on the arm steeks now. Everything seems to go faster for me when I get to the sleeves. I guess because the end is in sight. By the way, I am so bummed about the news of Jamieson & Smith discontinuing so many colors. I have written a letter to the company but the situation does not seem very hopeful.




As for my Shetland Lace Stole, you might notice that the edging was not laying flat in the last picture. I ended up having to rip it out and start over. I have just about finished two sides and I am quite pleased. I will have to get it finished and blocked soon for some summer wear.



















Finally, I have been knitting socks for my children with leftover sock yarn. After running out of yarn on the first attempt, I decided that toe up is the way to do it. My daughter dyed her own yarn with Easter egg dyes. Although at 5 she has trouble mastering knitting, she can still contribute to her own socks.

Update on the Shetland Lace Stole

I seem to be zipping along on my Shetland Lace Stole at the moment. I don't know why sometimes I stall on some projects and just get inspired on others. I would guess that Katherine of Aragon is stalling because I have finished to repeats of the pattern and still need to do 1 1/2 more before any variety comes into the pattern. (In the form of a steek.)

The Shetland Lace Stole has provided a lot more interest lately, however. The border includes a different motif in every pattern repeat. So, of course, I zipped along on the border and have started the edging. I edging is perhaps a little wider than I was hoping for but I felt that the elements went well with the rest of the design. The sad part is that I feel as if I am almost all done which I am not. Sharon Miller says that she only does 4 edging repeats per day. At that rate the edging would take me about 20 days. I am not sure that I can knit that fast, however. The good news is that maybe the stole will be ready for a spring unveiling.

Projects in Progress Update

I've been working a bit on my Shetland Lace Stole lately. I am up to the first border. Since this stole has been self-designed I have knit sections of the border only to discover that I wrote my chart wrong. After briefly cursing to myself, I have commenced with frogging that portion and rewriting the chart. In addition the yarn has been awful in that the skeins get tangled easily. It is Lacy Lamb which is cobweb weight with over 800 yards on a ball. Imagine 100+ yards of fine wool all in a big knot. To make things worse it is superwash so you can't even spit splice it if you decide to cut a knot out. I am past the tangles and the chart seems to be working better so I am having more fun now.


I have also been plugging along on my Katherine of Aragon. I'm about half way to the arm steeks. Happy knitting everyone!

Katherine Off and Running

I have finally received all of the right yarn for my Katherine of Aragon cardigan and have started knitting after a long wait. This pattern uses 5 charts so I made myself some stitch markers with letters corresponding to the chart letters. This has been very helpful although I have finished a full repeat of the charts and which chart I am using is much more obvious. This has been a fun knit so far and I would agree that the colors are quite engaging.

This cardigan is quite long which seems to be out of fashion at the moment. I am not sure if it would look right if I eliminated one repeat of the charts. The length of the cardigan seems to make it look elegant. Any thoughts on that issue?

Out With the Old, In With the New

As the old year comes to an end, I have been taking stock of my WIP and planning for the upcoming year. You might remember my Shetland Lace Shawl from Gathering of Lace.

Wish it farewell because it is slated for frogging. I had completed. One edging, one border, and maybe a third of the center. At this point, I realized that early in the border I had made a noticeable mistake. I see no way to fix it except to frog it and although it is not horribly noticeable it has sapped my enthusiasm to finish the project.



The good cluster (quite blurry).





The mistake (also quite blurry).




I am also planning to frog my Amble socks. They have been sitting around too long and I don't like them. Good bye also.




On a happier note, I received my Jamieson and Smith yarn for Alice Starmore's Katherine of Aragon sweater. After swatching I have decided to substitute one of the background colors with a Jamieson color. For more info see the Tudor Roses Knitalong.

Happy New Year and Happy Knitting!

Christmas Knitting Completed! Now what?

Well, Christmas is done and I have completed my meager Christmas knitting goals.

Gloves for my aunt. My aunt always talks about gloves that my mother knit for her 35 years ago. She described them as being knit very tight and being very warm. Apparently they caught on fire during a bonfire. She has been mourning them ever since. She and my mother have always referred to them as gloves. Come to find out they were actually mittens. I told her I am not knitting her a pair of those also.



Yarn: Nature Spun worsted in silver sage.
Needles: Brittany dpn size 1 1/2 (2.5 mm)
Pattern: Belinda's Gloves, my own design
Size: women's large

I also knit my husband his first pair of socks.


Yarn:
Needles: Knitpicks Options dpn size 0 (2.0 mm)
Pattern: my own basic sock pattern
Size: Men's 10 1/2








Finally, I knit my neighbor some socks. She has been a great help to me since our move to Michigan.

Yarn: Knitpicks bare, 75% superwash wool and 25% nylon, handpainted with Kool-Aid
Needles: Knitpicks Options dpn size 0 (2.0 mm)
Pattern: my own basic sock pattern
Size: Women's medium






I also was quite lucky myself this year. Instead of my husband buying his usual toilet brushes and brooms I received:

1. Fair Isle Knitting by Alice Starmore
2. Tudor Roses by Alice Starmore
3. Sweaters from Camp by Meg Swanson

I can't complain.

My next goal is to take stock of my current WIP's. I will be doing some frogging and some finishing hopefully.

WIP Wednesday

The Mara class has started a WIP challenge to encourage all of us to work on our unfinished works in progress. I have elected to work on Fulmar which I have been tackling on an off since March 2006. Although I have put countless hours into it I have only reached 40 cm out of 60 cm on the front. I must still finish the back and sleeves.

The time consuming part of this sweater is the gauge (252 stitches for each row) and the numerous cables (every right side row). This was something I really wanted to make so I figured that I would just continue plugging along until I was done.

Unveiling the Gryffindor Scarf

Along with the other obligatory Christmas knitting I have finished a Harry Potter Gryffindor scarf. I will be donating this scarf to my church for a silent auction on December 9, 2006. The scarf was knit in the round with Knitpicks Merino Style DK weight in hollyberry and harvest colorways. I think the colors are just perfect.

The scarf came out beautifully at 67" long before fringe and 6 1/2" wide. I will be sorry to see it go but hopefully it gets some bidders. My church is only five years old. The congregation is still trying to expand programs and acquire a permanent home. Although Unitarian Universalists were everywhere in Massachusetts, there has not been a Unitarian Universalist church in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 60 years. It is exciting to be part of the rebirth of such an entity.

If you would like to bid on my scarf, the All Souls Community Church annual Silent Auction will be held on Saturday December 9th at 12pm at New Branches School, 256 Alger Street SE, Grand Rapids, Michigan. It will be OPEN to the public. The auction will include a “strolling” lunch, which will consist of different pasta stations set up around the items to be bid on. Tickets to the auction are being sold at for $5/ family and at the door.

A Tale of Six Mittens

I have been knitting a bit of this and that lately. It seems too overwhelming to document everything, so I will focus on mittens for today. It has been getting quite chilly in Michigan so warm winter clothes have been inspiring.

First up are my son's mittens. I used my leftover Palette from Knitpicks and the book Fair Isle Mittens and Gloves to knit these up. The only thing I was missing was yellow yarn so I dyed the light grey yarn with lemon-aide Kool-Aid and voila we have yellow. My only misgiving is that it is probably silly to make such intricate mittens for a child who will probably loose them by Christmas.





Next on the menu is my daughter's pink fuzzy mittens. These are better suited for losing. I think they awful. I carried eyelash yarn with your basic acrylic. My daughter, of course, loves them.








Finally, my mittens. They are self-designed, tufted mittens using Naturespun worsted weight yarn. They are nice and cozy because of the roving tucked inside. I used a braided stitch on both sides of the cuff for the first time. I kind of like the effect.

Donegal: Part 2

My Donegal is officially blocked and it was actually cold enough to wear it today. So here is the official picture. As an aside, the wooly board is new. My husband helped me make it which almost makes up for past Christmas gifts.

On another topic, my little girl started preschool today. My baby is growing up. Sniff. Sniff.

Related links:
Swatching
More Donegal swatches
Even more Donegal swatches
Ribbing finished
Slow progress
More slow progress
Getting started
Body almost completed
Steeks
Donegal Finished!

Donegal Finished!

Pattern: Donegal from Celtic Collection by Alice Starmore
Needles: Addi Turbos 3.0mm and 3.25mm and Knitpicks 3.0mm and 3.25mm in a variety of circular sizes.
Yarn: Knitpicks Palette in 11 colors.

Impressions: This pattern was a lot of fun to make although the color pattern was so irregular that it was hard to memorize. This was my first stranded sweater in a small gauge and I had fewer problems with it than I thought I might. I am still not sure about the colors though. The sweater is a bit loud although perhaps that will come back in style when we revisit the 80's. The Knitpicks Palette was nice yarn to work with. It was sticky and the steeks did not run at all. It blocked out nicely and most the tension problems that I initially encountered blocked out completely. The problem, of course, is the color choices. Since this sweater uses 11 colors and Palette only comes in 30, it is very limiting. I also prefer the heathered colors found in Jamieson and Smith or Jamieson's. In the future, for the time I am putting into knitting, I will splurge on other yarn.

So my sweater is done in time for winter. For a next colorwork project I am planning to knit Katherine of Aragon although I still need to work out the colors for this sweater.

Quick Update

Just thought I would add a quick update. I am working along on my Donegal sweater. I am halfway through the second sleeve so I should be done in time to wear it for winter. Yeah!



I have finished a skirt for my daughter. Isn't it just awful? She loves it though. Colors hand-selected by a four year old girl. The pattern is from Greetings from Knit Cafe. A very quick knit for a little girl who loves anything frilly but who won't wear sweaters. The only thing that I would do differently is to use a hemmed edge on the bottom the next time around. (No pun intended.)



I have also finished my entrelac scarf finally. I am not much of a scarf knitter but I think that it came out nice thanks to the Noro Kuyeron yarn. My onlycomplaintt is that I like my scarves to be reversible and this one definitely has a wrong side.

In the future I have a lot of sock action that I have not yet blogged on. But that is for another day. . .

Donegal Steeks

I finished the body of my Donegal sweater . . .

















cut the steeks . . .















and started the sleeves.



So far palette does not seem very slippery and I have noticed no runs in my steeks. I am happy with the way the seem looks. I have only cut a steek one time before on a cardigan for my husband. At that time I didn't know the name for a steek and just did what the instructions told me to do. All came out fine. As other bloggers have said, it is easier not to be scared of steeks if you don't know that you are supposed to be. It is a bit like a short row heel on a sock though. At the end of it, it seems like such a miracle that it all worked out.