Remnants

My sample knitting yarn still hasn't arrived yet (I'm starting to get worried), but that leaves me with a lot of knitting time. I've had to find projects that are fun, easy to memorize, but are quick to finish. That left me looking at all of my leftover lace weight yarn. I've looked through my stitch dictionaries and there are so many stitch patterns that I want to use. I've started to use them and the leftover lace weight yarn to make scarves. I don't have a plan for the scarves, but I'm going to keep them in my "last minute gift" pile. These scarves only take around 50-60 gms of lace weight and can be completed in a few days. I was working on more than one at a time since I couldn't decide on stitch patterns. ;-) After these two, I have a whole list of stitch patterns that I want to turn into scarves.

These scarves both used around 55 gms of lace yarn each. I used size 2 Knit Picks dpns with rubber bands on the ends to turn them into straight needles. They're the perfect length for these scarves. This is Remnant #1. Pretty original name, huh? Using this stitch and 55 gms of yarn, this scarf blocked out to be 9 inches wide and 60 inches long. This stitch pattern is in Barbara Walker's 3rd Treasury of Knitting Patterns and it's called Laddered Diamonds (p.164). This one took me a while to memorize, but I finally got there at the half-way point on the scarf. I would love to try this pattern again in a more solid colored yarn. This stitch would probably look good in a triangular shawl too. Hmmmm...

This is Remnant #2. Yes, another very original name. I figured that I would just keep on going with the numbers since I plan to do a lot of these. This scarf blocked out to be 10 inches wide and 60 inches long. The stitch pattern is from Barbara Walker's 2nd Treasury of Knitting Patterns and it's called Open Star Stitch (p.154). This one was really easy to memorize and this scarf was easy to put down and pick up. I love how the yarn pooled into some weird alien animal type print. I might have to keep this scarf for myself.

I also finished another shawl, but I'll save that for another post. I've started another scarf and that will probably be finished by my next post too.

In other news, our little garden is starting to grow. Living up on this hill, I love how the world starts to close in around us in the spring. It's starting and we'll be surrounded by leafy trees in a few weeks.

I've been working on E's end of the year portfolio. It's online and I will put a link up to it when it's finished. I'm pretty happy with how most of it turned out, but I'm not happy with some of the wording.

Edited to add: Remnant #1 is Cherry Tree Hill Cascade lace in Dusk. Remnant #2 is Cherry Tree Hill Cascade lace in Tropical Storm.

Hocus pocus...Crocus Pocus

I know that I disappeared again. Sample knitting was under way and I can't blog about that. That hit a wall when I ran out of yarn. :-( More is being sent, but now I'm free to work on other projects.

I'm test knitting this for Susan over at Sunflower Designs. This is her latest shawl and it's called Crocus Pocus. I was so happy that I had suitable yarn and beads on hand. I probably should have used smaller beads due to the weight, but I still like the way it turned out in the end. The yarn is Schaeffer Anne in Billie Holiday. I was concerned about a superwash yarn blocking, but this blocked wonderfully! It didn't try to spring back or curl while I was making it pose for pictures.

Every single bead was placed on by a crochet hook. There is one row where every other stitch is beaded and I thought that one would last forever. I was concerned about the weight of the shawl, but it is comfortable and it stays on your shoulders. This is the shawl that you want to wear on a windy day. Nothing will blow this off of your shoulders. ;-)

If you look at the full size photo of the edging, you can see that I had to mix in another type of bead. I ran out of the transparent rootbeer and mixed in some iridescent iris beads. It's not too obvious, unless you're looking for it.

Details:
Pattern: Crocus Pocus by Sunflower Designs
Yarn: Schaeffer Anne in Billie Holiday (approx. 105 gms used)
Needle: size 4 (3.5mm) Knit Picks Options
Beads: 8/0 transparent rootbeer and iridescent iris (approx. 180 gms used)
Hook: size 11 (1.05 mm)
Final size: 70 inches across the top and 32 inches down the center point
Start: April 12, 2008
Finish: April 15, 2008

Presenting....Arabian Nights!

It's done, blocked, and the ends are woven in and trimmed. Let's talk about the grafting. OMG did that take forever. Okay not forever, but about an hour and a half to do the actual grafting and then another hour to fix the wonky parts.

It's huge, but so pretty. For the first time, I tried blocking it to the specified size. It didn't look so good and I reverted back to my usual blocking method. I do a full wet-blocking for lace. Then I lay it out on the floor and smooth it out with my hands until it looks okay. After that, I start securing the crochet yarn that I threaded through the straight edges. From there, I start really stretching it to get the lines straight. This shawl was different because it has beaded sides that aren't straight. I pinned those out individually--ugh! That took forever. In the end it wanted to be around 35 inches wide (!) and 91 inches long.

Overall, I'm happy with the look. I do need to go back and reinforce the beaded fringe. Some of them stretched out during the blocking process. Actually, I would recommend not doing a full wet-block with beaded fringe. I need to add some beads to the center where there is a visible line in the beaded diamonds. I think it will look perfect after adding in a few beads to fill the gap.

Final details:
Pattern: Arabian Nights by Sunflower Designs
Yarn: Hengyuanxiang Knitting Wool - used 210gms
Needle: size 2 (3mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Hook: size 11 (1.05mm)
Beads: 8/0 Iris blue
Changes: I grafted the center.
Blocked size: 35 inches by 91 inches
Start: February 26, 2008
Finish: April 2, 2008

What I'm not happy with are the pictures. This purple yarn is so hard to get the color correct in photos. And why is it that the colors look different from Photoshop and Flickr? I take the photo into Photoshop, adjust the color and size, save it, and upload it. It seems that flickr must do something or my eyes are getting old. No laughing from you--Dwight. :-P

My secret project has been delayed in getting to me, so I have been trying to fill my time with small knits. I decided to try Anne Hanson's Orchid Lace mitts. I bought this pattern to use up leftover bits of lace yarn that I have saved. For my first try, I tried using the leftover Dream In Color Baby yarn from my Irtfa'a shawl. I only had a little under 40 gms of yarn left, but decided to give it a try anyways. I had enough--just barely enough. These mitts are so quick and easy. I finished these in one day. What was difficult was getting a good photo of my own arm with the whole mitt in the shot. I managed to do it thanks to the swivel lcd on my camera.

Details:
Pattern: Orchid Lace mitts by Anne Hanson (Knitspot)
Yarn: Dream in Color Baby in Gothic Rose - 36 gms
Needle: size 2 (2.75mm) Knit Picks Classic Circular
Start: April 1, 2008
Finish: April 2, 2008

I also finished a wash cloth--exciting! ;-) I still haven't gotten word on my project, so I'm off to find another quick knit.

Almost there...

No pictures today because I need to get some ideas down before they're gone. I've finished the second half of my Arabian Night stole. I stopped at row 39 of Charts G3 and G4. Why there? That's also the end of Charts B, C, and D. The next row would be a purl type row and I thought that might be a good grafting row. But that would leave some weird single beads in the center of the stole. One idea is to knit 2 more rows on one half and 4 more rows on the other half. That will make the beaded diamond in the center match the rest of the beaded diamonds. But that might make the side charts B, C, and D look funny. That might require some creative grafting too since the stitch counts wouldn't be the same. I think the only thing to do is insert a lifeline and try each option and see if I like how they look.

In other knitting news, there will be even fewer blog posts for the next few weeks. I have a secret project that I can't blog.

In the mail, I just received my order from Nordic Fiber Arts yesterday. Wow! I love all of the books that I bought. I bought Latvian Mittens, Folk Knitting in Estonia, Selbustrikk, and Stromper/Sokker. The last two are in Norwegian, but full translations were sent that were about the same size as the pattern booklets. Very cool. This order was placed in early March and it took nearly a month to get it, but it was well worth the wait. The wait was due to getting the translations.

In news around the house, E has started training for a 5k. She has done one 5k every year since she was 4. All of the previous years, she didn't train at all and it was just for fun. This year, she's training and we're hoping that she'll jog the whole thing this time. We're loosely following the couch to 5k training schedule that has you walking/jogging for 30 minutes a few times a week for several weeks until you're able to jog the whole 30 minutes. E wasn't too happy with the first day. She kept asking why did she have to walk so much and why couldn't she run more. She wants to jump right in and run. We're trying to pace her and build up her endurance.