AnotherPurl :: a knitter's life

No book for me

So, I have overspent my yarn and other knitting-related things budget, and thus can't get the Craft of Lace Knitting book. Unfortunately, this means I am borrowing this copy beyond the point of reason and will most likely be told to bring it back soon before the ILL book police start knocking on my door.

On the other hand, I am nearly done with Bridesmaid Shawl #1. If I am incredibly motivated, I might be able to finish it tonight sans blocking, in which case I should be able to finish them all before the end of February. A very cool thought, because not having any required (deadline knitting isn't as much fun as regular knitting) knitting to do would be a really great feeling.

New order

I just ordered The craft of lace knitting through Amazon.com.

I have been using the book constantly since I borrowed it from the Hingham Public Library (yeah for Interlibrary Loan) and do not want to amass the same amount of late fees as it would cost to buy. So, I have paid for the book and soon it will be winging its way to my doorstep!

(Hopefully arriving around the same time as the yarn from Habu!)

Vine Lace!

I was going to make three shawls for my bridesmaids. Each was going to be in a different style (two triangular and one rectangular). I started working on the clove lace one, and I hated it. I have decided I don't really want to work with the p3tog decrease, so I tried a combination lace with a miniature leaf (Italian version) and a little leaf lace border (actually garter border, lace border, main lace pattern, etc.).

I pull that one out too. The shawl was much wider than mine, so I ripped it all out and started to work in the vine lace.

The pattern is easy:

Row 1 and 3 (WS): purl
Row 2: K3, *yo, k2, ssk, k2tog, k2, yo, k1; end k1
Row 4: K2, *yo, k2, ssk, k2tog, k2, yo, k1; end k2

The pattern is over a multiple of 9+4 stitches. The pattern is from The craft of lace knitting by Barbara Walker. I need a copy of this book for myself.

Here is my progress so far (I will hopefully have better pictures tomorrow when the light is better):

The pattern is approximately 16 to 20 inches wide (I haven't actually measured that part) and about 2 feet long currently. I am not quite done with my first ball of the Chasing Rainbows yarn. It's no surprise that I have yarn left! Each skein is 280 yards. Makes the price a little more worth it.

See my pretties!

I picked up the yarn I had ordered from Circles today. It is 9 hanks of yarn in the colorway Dove from Chasing Rainbows, which ended up being a bit darker than I thought they would be based on the color of the roving.

I used a swift for the first time as well. It worked well, quickly winding 8 of the 9 hanks into those cute little center pull balls. Unfortunately, one of them decided to tangle something fierce and is a normal ball of yarn. But such a pretty normal ball. Tonight I will finish the current repeat for the Kimono shawl and then I will pull out the offensive hand-wound ball and start on the first of the bridesmaid shawls.

Felting shtuff

I needed to do something simple, and I don't have the yarn yet for the other wedding shawls, so I figured I would make a needle case. I obviously need a spot where I can stash my knitting needles, so I can find them later.

I am using the Paton's pattern (as mentioned earlier), but I am using Brown Sheep yarn I bought for a felted hat. I started it initially, but I didn't have a plan for it. The kitten took the yarn off the needles and got it all tangled up, so I started over.

Now I am making stripes. 2 rows of grey, 2 of light blue, 2 of grey, 2 of dark blue and repeat. I need to make 36 inches worth of knitting for the felting process, but I still need to felt my swatch (bad me, not doing that already). I have about 3 inches done, but this isn't a horribly time critical project.

What I want to do is decorate it with felted flowers and ribbons, but I still need to decide on the pattern. There are plenty of alternatives available. I have tons of fabric, so I need to pull out what I want to use for the different needle pockets (really not time critical until much closer to felting time), and I want to find some clear plastic zipper pockets that I can sew in for a few circulars or knitting notions. I wonder where I am going to find those?

Wedding shawls

I am on repeat 10 (I don't know how long I am going to make this. I will probably stop sometime closer to when I am running out of time no matter how far away I am from the ideal 25 repeats).

Here is what it looked like at the end of repeat 9:

It is starting to look like something really special, and the lace mohair isn't really as hard to work with as I was afraid it would be. I might want to try this again with a similar pattern and then dip dye it at the end.

Picking a sweater

I made a post on the SnB yahoo group a few days ago, wanting to know people's favorite sweater or cardigan patterns. I really wanted to know what people had made that they really liked (rather than patterns they were planning to make someday). I kind of got a mixed bag. Some suggestions for books, a few people who said that x pattern that they made was really good, and a few links to free sweater patterns on the web, including this one from Blue Alvarez Designs.

The problem is this: I am chubby. I know this. So, I ideally want something loose enough to cover my stomach without too much showing (if I close it at all), and I specifically want to use the Starz yarn I have (only one skein, though I could get another one) for black fuzzy and sparkly cuffs.

My mythical sweater (or technically cardigan, though I don't want any form of closures) would have long sleeves, close to my finger tips and the last 3 inches would be the fuzzy yarn. It would have to gently skim the body, probably standard fit or a little bit looser. I would want it to be at least 2 to 3 inches past my waist. My best bet (so my thinking goes) is that I need to make a standard boring looking cardigan and then pick up and knit the fancy yarn into the cuffs and along the bottom and up the button band for completeness. Then it should be almost perfect at the length I have made it and the little bit extra from the fuzziness would finish making it perfect.

The problem is I don't have the foggiest idea where I should start (and I don't have anything other than the fuzzy yarn on hand unless I want to make an entire sweater out of black crochet cotton).

This requires some thought.

Habu Habu

I called in my order last night for 2 skeins (1.2 ounces a piece) of NS-18G, a degummed silk organzine lace weight yarn.

What a mouthful.

I am having one skein wound onto a cone, so I can work from it direct. The second skein I want to dye. I am not sure which dyes work best for silk, so there is some research in the offing. I might use it straight as well and dye the finished product. But I was thinking of using them to make my sweater (though lace weight is probably too light for anything that I could wear to work).

Yes, my sweater. I need a sweater for the office. I wear too many short or no-sleeve shirts, and the vents don't seem to get turned off. (Though now that they put the server under my desk it is a little warmer.)

Tonight I need to pull one of my easy knitting projects out, because I have game (need something to do with my hands)!

Pictures of the Kimono Shawl progress coming soon! Promise.

Staff meetings = no knitting time!

Boo!

We had a staff meeting in the library today (yes, I work in a library - law library, actually, as a Library Department Assistant, a position that is much fancier sounding than the work I do). Staff meetings mean I don't have to bring my lunch in, but they also mean that I don't get my hour of lunch-time knitting in.

I miss my hour of lunch-time knitting. It helps provide a period of quiet, and sometimes even contemplation, to a day that is full of unending piles of work that hardly varies from day to day or week to week.

I love my job, but I would hardly say that it is glamorous and full of new and exciting things every day.

Getting into a groove at 5:30 a.m.

I have done nothing but knit and cook at home for the past three days. Earlier this week I fixed my mistake in the middle of repeat #4, and then motored on. I am now half way through repeat #6 (1 repeat a day is very, very good for me) and could quite possibly finish that repeat today either over lunch or on the train ride home.

One of the reasons the knitting is going so well is I am back in the groove. When I made Touching the Autumn Sky for my mom a few years ago, I got most of my work done at lunch breaks and in the early morning. I usually got up at 4 or 5 a.m. and got a solid hour or two of time on the project before needing to get ready for work. It wasn't as onerous as it sounds either. I would have the entire apartment to myself, and could drink hot cocoa or tea and watch silly anime that I had seen many times before. I mostly watched Escaflowne, resulting in my ability to mostly quote the first 4 episodes over and over again.

Now I am sort of there again. I don't normally turn on a video or TV, but I can get up early, punt going to the gym, and just knit. The kitty usually needs a few minutes of cuddling, but seems to understand that once the knitting is out that she will be forcibly removed from my lap as many times as it takes (usually not more than 2 times). I finished repeat #5 and started on repeat #6, getting halfway through by the time I decided I had to get ready for work. I love working like this, because it makes the math portion of my yarn life much easier. This shawl is for my wedding. I last calculated that I needed to do 3.6 rows a night for the shorter length and 6 rows a night for the longer. If I keep it up, then I can have it done at the end of the month whatever length I decide I want it at.

That's beautiful.