Parade of Christmas FOs - Part Three

And, finally, I knit my grandmother a lace stole: This was the last of the Christmas knitting to be completed - there was definitely some stress there as I was finishing the second half and grafting it the day before I flew home. The grafting? Major hassle and I can definitely see the line. While I like the concept of identical ends, I don't know if I can be bothered with that in the future. Someone remind me I said that as soon as I cast on something that will require it...

Project Stats: Waves of Grain Stole

Pattern: Waves of Grain, by Rosemary Hill, from Knitty Fall 2008. Raveled here.

Yarn: Zephyr Wool-silk, colorway Curry, purchased at Acorn Street.

Needles: Knit Picks Harmony bamboo straights, size 4.

Time to knit: October 15 - December 20, 2008.

Modifications: Aside from making it shorter (only 52"), I also added extra beads on the first row because I misread the chart and thought that the "b" meant bead when it actually meant knit through the back loop. So, I repeated that error on the second half, and I think it's nice actually. I would do it again - it adds extra weight to the end of the stole and it's shiny.

Impressions: This was fun! I really enjoy knitting lace even though (or perhaps because) I do it fairly infrequently and generally complain about it when I'm not physically working on it. I decided that I wanted to knit my grandmother something nice this year, and I had this yarn laying around from the Swallowtail Shawl I made my aunt (her daughter) last year, and it was a match made in heaven. The Knit Picks Harmony needles are great for lace - nice sharp tips, not too slippery. The only problem, and this is likely just me, is that they're 10" and I prefer 9" because I knit with my needles propped on my stomach and 10" is a tad too long. But, I got used to it. You can get a lot of lace out of a skein/ball of Zephyr. I believe I started with 4 oz, knit this and the Swallowtail, and still have a ton left. Probably enough for another thing of similar size, which makes Zephyr an absolutely great deal. I think I paid $17 for the ball and that's a lot of bang for the buck!

My only real issue with this was that I had a tough time with the grafting. It was completely nerve-racking the entire time (almost 2 hours) because I was SO worried about screwing it up/dropping a stitch/not lining it up/etc. Part of that was because I was finishing this close to Christmas and I knew there wasn't really any room for error, but I think it would have been stressful regardless. And I thought grafting was supposed to be invisible, and although my line of stitches matches really well and looks like perfect stockinette, there is definitely a shadow there that I wish wasn't. But, it's certainly not something that detracts from the piece and maybe it's just an inherent problem with grafting in thin, light-colored yarn? Feel free to reassure me on this, or contradict it - if I need to figure out a better way to graft I'd like to know now before I screw it up again!

My grandmother loved the stole, and was totally impressed with it. I'm glad that she liked it - I'm always really happy when people like and appreciate the things I knit for them. I knit this for her because I knew she would both appreciate it and use it, so I'm quite satisfied.

Oh, and these photos, with the actual snow, were also taken when I was in PA, when it snowed again just before I came back to Seattle. The weather was really all over the place...

So ends the parade of Christmas knits - now onto the more current projects, although there will still be gift knitting involved!

Scarf of Procrastination, and Amber Waves of Grain

So, I finished the scarf of procrastination, which I gave to Daisy in honor of her successful thesis defense last Wednesday. Congratulations Dr. Daisy, although I'm sad that this means you will no longer be obliged to come visit Seattle to finsih your thesis! Here is the scarf: I also took a photo on a dark background because I couldn't really tell which one showed the colors most accurately. Really neither of them are that great, but such is the lighting in my apartment, especially at night.

Project Stats: Noro Striped Scarf for Daisy
Pattern: Noro Striped Scarf, made popular by Brooklyn Tweed. Raveled here.
Yarn: Noro Silk Garden, colorways 205 (2 skeins), 245, and 249. Yarn purchased at Weaving Works last fall.
Needles: Size 8 Clover bamboo, 37 stitches.
Time on Needles: 12.1.08-12.12.08.
Impressions: I love this! Thankfully Daisy also loved it :) It was really fun to knit, and I've already got the yarn to make another one while I'm home at Christmas. I'm going to use this yarn: It's also Silk Garden.

I know I've been slacking, and I have no excuse. I've been a bit busy preparing for the holidays and, once I was finished procrastinating, finishing up the Christmas knitting. Here is my finished Waves of Grain stole, which is for the grandmother who appreciates my knitting: The photo is of it blocking this afternoon (I fly out tomorrow, weather-permitting). I hope to get some good modeled shots after it's gifted. Be assured there will be a project wrap-up when I have more photos. The other things I knit are still absolute secrets but will be revealed in good time...
I really hope I can get out of Seattle tomorrow but I'm not confident. We're having the worst winter weather in a decade, and it's actually winter weather, not just Seattle fearmongering. A lot of flights were canceled today and although things are supposed to taper off tomorrow I'm concerned about getting to the airport. Plus, I'm flying through Chicago, which is also having severe weather, and into Cleveland, where the bad weather that snarled Chicago today should be arriving just in time to greet me. Lovely. I fly every year at Christmas and I've been really lucky for the most part, so fingers-crossed and send good travel vibes if you can spare them!

The Montego Bay Scarf

I'm thinking that maybe I'll start labeling everything starting with "the" like the Hammacher Schlemmer catalog. Just for kicks. Not to worry, I doubt it'll last long. I mentioned in my last post that I had in fact been knitting, if not writing about it, and here is some of the evidence, the Montego Bay Scarf, which was a gift for my cousin Danielle:

Project Stats: Montego Bay Scarf
Pattern: Montego Bay, by Amy Singer, from Interweave Knits Summer 2007.
Yarn: Knit One Crochet Too Ambrosia, colorway Blue Lime, 3 skeins. Yarn purchased at Weaving Works.
Needles: Size 7 Clover bamboo straights.
Modifications: None, although my scarf is shorter than the pattern version.
Time on the needles: May 11-June 11, 2008.
Impressions: This was a fun, quick knit. The pattern is deceptive - it's really simple, almost too simple, which is the trouble. The whole thing is k2tog, yo, repeat, with different numbers of plain stitches on the ends, which is all you have to keep track of (I did not want to end this sentence with of, but I couldn't figure out a better way that wasn't really clunky. This is not English class.). There in lies the problem, trying to recall which right side row you're on. I solved this by always knitting in groups of four rows, so that whenever I picked the scarf up I was starting row one. It was a good strategy. The yarn was great - it's baby alpaca, silk, and cashmere, and it feels about as good as it sounds. It's not quite as drapey as the recommended yarn, but I think it worked okay, especially after a good blocking. I was intending to use a more "summery" yarn, but I loved the colors of this and thought it would be perfect for Danielle, so I went with it. It was a bit success, she absolutely loved it and the colors were perfect for her. I have some yarn lined up to make one of these for myself, but we'll see when I actually get around to that!

Last night I finished an adorable baby project that I can blog about after it's gifted tomorrow. I love the baby knits - they go fast and they're cute because they're tiny!

The Elegance of the Swallowtail

I have to preface these photos by reiterating that this shawl isn't for me, although I kind of wish it was because I really like it! I didn't think I'd be able to pull off a triangular shawl (and honestly I'm still not sure it's something I would actually wear) but it's pretty in the photos. Dave took a ton of photos, most of which got thrown out due to my arms looking more akin to those of a linebacker or the sudden appearance of a double chin, but some were good enough to display on the blog: I think this is how I would be most likely to wear something like this, and it certainly adds a degree of elegance and sophistication to an otherwise very plain black dress. Here's a good "from the back" photo. Please ignore my apparently gigantic arms. I think some of that is the light. Hopefully.
And then a "demure" pose, although I was probably glaring at the wall or sticking my tongue out or some such silliness that is thankfully well-hidden.
And finally, a close-up of the nupps which I went on and on about in so many posts. You can see that they really do add quite a nice texture to the lace and thus were well worth the effort.
Project Stats: Swallowtail Shawl
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl, by Evelyn Clark, from Interweave Knits Fall 2006.
Yarn: Zephyr Wool-silk, colorway curry, about 475 yards. Yarn purchased at Acorn Street in Seattle.
Needles: Size 4 Knit Picks Harmony bamboo. These needles are great - I can't say enough good things about them. You should get some.
Time to knit: Mid-January to March 24, 2008, with about a month of laziness mixed in. It went pretty quickly considering it was my first real lace project, but there was a deadline involved which provided motivation not to slack.
Modifications: The shawl as the pattern directs is pretty small, so I made mine larger by adding five repeats of the budding lace pattern (the main section), for 19 total repeats. I followed the instructions provided in this post by Pepperknit, and had no problems with the math working out correctly. I did the nupps as instructed in the pattern, and although they were tedious it wasn't so awful once I got used to them. I think the super sharp needles helped a lot in that regard. My shawl ended up being 60 inches across the top by about 27 inches long, which I think is a good size. It's perfect for me. The recipient is a bit broader in the shoulders, but hopefully it will be okay for her as well. I will be gifting it this weekend so I'll update about that soon!
Impressions: I love it! While it's not the first laceweight project I've started, it is the first I've completed, and I'm really happy with how it turned out. I made my only mistake early on and got it over with (bet you can't see it! I can't and I know where it is), and although I had to tink back a few stitches a couple of times, I really didn't have any issues. This is a very simple pattern because it's so repetitive, and I'd recommend to any new lace knitter. I put in lifelines but thankfully I didn't have to use them. I was a bit concerned about the color but I really like it in the end - the photos are fairly accurate, especially the close-up of the nupps. I was going for gold and this was the closest color I could find. I have a ton of yarn left, and gold is not my color, so I need to come with another gold shawl giftee! I'm all inspired to knit more lace, although I'm still not really sure it fits into my dressing style. I'm thinking rectangular stoles like the Hanami will be more wearable for me, but I jumped at the chance to make a triangular shawl when I thought of a recipient I knew would appreciate it.

We'll have a March goal recap and April planning post later today or tomorrow!

Something new...

Thanks for all your compliments on the Swallowtail Shawl! I'm really happy with it, and I promise, even though it's a gift, to take some modeling shots with it to post with the write-up (which is waiting for those photos). As soon as the shawl was off the needles I decided I needed to knit some more lace, so I cast-on for the Hanami Stole. I've been meaning to make this since early last summer when I first discovered the pattern, and I've had the yarn since August, but I'm just now getting going. It's good timing though, as the cherry blossoms are in full bloom here in Seattle! What I'm showing you here is just over one repeat of the first chart. I had some trouble with the beaded cast-on so I just did a long-tail and then added beads every other stitch on the first row. I think it looks acceptably similar and the beaded cast-on was really just too tedious to bear. Your eyes are not deceiving you - it is a bit lighter on the right. The yarn is a semisolid with variegations from fairly deep pink to almost white, and unfortunately it's pooling a bit, but I suspect it won't be that noticeable and as the lace pattern changes it will probably sort itself out. Fingers crossed!

Magic!

The Swallowtail Shawl is blocking! It went from this: To this:
in a matter of minutes. This was a group effort - I borrowed the blocking wires (which I only used on the top) from Jennifer, and Anne-Marie came over for moral support and to help with the pinning. We were both impressed by what a difference the blocking made. It is true that it's quite a transformation. I was able to block the shawl to about 60x27 inches, which is, I think, an acceptable size. It's still pinned to the futon although it's pretty much dry already. I must admit I'm a bit afraid to unpin it for fear that it might snap back to its unblocked state, although I know that's unlikely. I tried to get a good shot from the side but didn't really succeed. This is the best one. I'll take more close-up shots so you can all appreciate the nupps (and muse about the project) when it's finished blocking! I am, in all honestly, amazed that I knit this...

Something is missing...

Swallowtail Shawl, unblocked
Originally uploaded by Emily E.M.

The needles! I finished binding off the shawl last night, and I think it looks great, in that crumpled mess sort of way :) I'm going to get some more pins tonight and Dave is going to pull out the futon so I can get blocking. I'm really excited - first lace project almost complete, and I'm very much looking forward to the blocking magic. I have NO idea how big this is going to turn out, although I don't think it's going to end up much larger than the pattern even though I did five extra repeats of the main pattern. But, we'll see - I'm new to this, maybe it will grow by leaps and bounds? Fingers crossed!

Swallowtail shawl progress is afoot

Look what I'm making - a giant blob of orange gold! This is my Swallowtail Shawl, 14 repeats of the main lace pattern finished. I'm enlarging the shawl so I plan to do 19 repeats as per Pepperknit. This is a semi-secret gift project. Semi because I want to be able to blog about it, but secret because I'm not telling you who it's for. See, semi-secret? Right...

I need to figure out how to make Flickr embed photos in my posts without doing the weird formatting it's doing up there! Anyway, this is Zephyr wool/silk in curry. I think the color in the first photo is pretty accurate. I'm worried it's going to be too orange, but really it is a lovely color and hopefully the recipient will like it. I was going for gold but I couldn't find any gold laceweight in Seattle or on the internets. So, curry it is! I'm very much enjoying knitting this now that I'm into it, although that took a little while. Now the rows are longer and thus the stitches are more stable on the needles so I feel more confident, plus I have the pattern pretty much memorized and I'm learning to read the lace to make sure I'm on track. This has to be done in about a month, which should be okay at my current rate of progress, although the nupps may slow me down. Pepperknit also has a different nupp method that I think I'll borrow to avoid the purl5together stitch, which sounds painful even with the Knit Picks Harmony needles (which are great, and not garish as I initially feared). Here's a close-up of the pattern. Thanks to Dave for stretching it out so I could take the photo!

Now that I'm back and not that busy there's no stopping me - I'm posting all the time! Oh, and I've been messing with my sidebars a bit - if you're a blog I read and I haven't added you yet don't feel bad. My computer at work crashed when I was making the list and I haven't gotten back to it yet. Then again, I read a lot of blogs so I might not be able to list them all...

A bloggable project!

Finally, something I can blog about! I've been doing quite a bit of knitting, especially considering all the "work" related stuff I've had going on, but sadly none of it has been bloggable! However, I'm charging along on my January list. I've finished the secret gift project (#2) and the Carpathia Hat (#5). I have also started #4, the hat for Rembrandt, which is going to be a joint project between Dave and I. I cast-on and did the bottom ribbing, and now he is going to knit up to the crown decreases. This way the hat can be from both of us without me having to do all the work! Dave is a good knitter (albeit not the fastest), but he has no interest in purling (Nor do I, really, but it's tough to avoid if you want to knit anything interesting!), so he's doing, as he put it, "the part of the hat that doesn't require me to purl."

So, that brings me to item #8 on the list - "Pick out a pattern and yarn for a semi-secret gift that I'll probably blog about whilst being coy about the recipient and occasion."

I have done this, and had actually already done it when I posted the list, but once I get going on making lists there's no stopping me. Plus it felt good to have already accomplished something! I've decided to make the Swallowtail Shawl from the Fall 2006 Interweave Knits. I'm not going to mention who or what it's for, to keep it secret, but I'd like to blog about it as I go since it's my first triangular shawl. Plus, otherwise I'll have nothing to talk about. I cast on last night, and got through the first Budding Lace pattern and one repeat of the second Budding Lace pattern:

The color is less orange in person - more of a deep gold. I'm suspecting it's going to be a difficult color to photograph accurately. This isn't a color I would have chosen for myself, but light gold was suggested to me and I did my best to find appropriate yarn (Which was NOT easy - there is a dearth of gold yarn out there.). This is Zephyr wool-silk, the same yarn as I was using for the mystery stole (Yay, no need to swatch since I already know it'll work on these needles!), colorway "Curry." It's similar to Oliver's lighter orange bits, and he's pretty interested in it. Or in the blocking pins - just before this photo he had one paw on the yarn and one paw in the pins:I realize it still looks orange. God, now that I'm looking at it in these photos I'm a bit worried about the color. Eep. Last night I ordered some Knit Picks Harmony needles to work on this, but I'm using my Clover bamboos until they arrive. I'd continue with the Clovers but the tips really aren't sharp enough for the complicated stitches that are going to come up later in the shawl. I resisted the urge to even look at the Knit Picks yarn and just ordered the needles, which even with shipping were much cheaper than the comparably sized Addi Turbo Lace needles I was eyeing at Acorn Street when I bought the yarn. Plus, I really prefer wood needles, especially for lace with slippery yarn. I have enough problems keeping my stitches on the needles without the needles conspiring against me!

Yarn for Hanami (finally!)

The yarn for my Hanami stole finally arrived on Wednesday! It was packed in this little sausage roll of a container, which is really just paper wrapped tightly around the yarn. Paper. Good thing it didn't rain on the yarn during the month in transit from Uruguay, or I'd have had 950 yards of felted laceweight merino! Anyway, even though it was long in coming, I'm really happy with the yarn. The color is perfect and the yarn is very soft. I was a bit worried about fragility because it's single-ply, but I gave it a good tug and it held up okay. I had hoped to have a couple of weeks ago so I could start the Hanami Knitalong with everyone else, but alas. Now I'm behind and I have loads of other things to knit, but hopefully I'll get this on the needles soon. My experience with the Mystery Stole, which I doubt I'll finish because I really didn't like the slant (as it were) that the design took in the end, has inspired me to believe that I can actually knit lace and that it's enjoyable, so I'm excited about Hanami.
I'm 11" in on the Drops cardigan. I've been knitting it so much my hands are sore! Tonight Anne-Marie and I are going to see the Yarn Harlot. The Seattle Times says she'll be doing a 60-minute stand-up routine about knitting. I guess that's accurate, because she is truly hilarious, but I wouldn't really have called it stand-up comedy. This will be my second Harlot viewing (first was pre-blog), and I'm sure it'll make for a fun evening!

Status Report: Mystery Stole 3

Well, after some intense weekend knitting, I've finished clue 2! I realize it's difficult to tell what this is looking like, since it's all crumpled up, but since I'm knitting on straight needles it's hard to stretch it out properly. I know I could do it mid-row, but that makes me nervous, so I'm just waiting until the end to really see it. But, I'm loving it so far, and miraculously I'm quite enjoying the lace knitting. I'm finding it strangly addicting, and I've even signed up for the Hanami Knitalong, which will be starting just after the finale of MS3.
Oliver has been enjoying the lace as well, and has taken a shine to the Zephyr:

So much so that Dave had to ward him off with the extra knitting needle and crochet hook on Friday night:I realize he doesn't look threatening there, but I promise you, he was going for the stole before he got into watching the tv. By the way, Dave was doing that before I got out the camera, I promise! Note that Dave is also protecting the beads in his lap (in the red lobster dish, which was a gift from Amie as part of my Knitters Tea Swap package). Good man. All the right priorities...

Edited to add: Amie reminds me that it's a crab, not a lobster, holding the beads! My bad, it was late and I wasn't paying attention. Amie, I totally agree with you that crab is superior to lobster!

The third MS3 clue came out on Friday, and I'm hoping to get somewhere close to finished with that before the giant clue this week. We have two weeks for this next clue, due to the impending release of the final (sob) Harry Potter book on Saturday. But, this next clue will be over twice as long as the previous clues, due to the extra time, so I don't want to be too far behind when I get it. Melanie says this clue, while long, will be fast to knit, so there's hope!

Mystery Stole 3 - Chapter 1

Well, my most recent attempt at the endeavor we call lace knitting has been quite successful so far (knock on wood). I've made it to row 70 on my MS3, and I only had to tink back half of one row about 15 rows back because I forgot a k2tog. Here's the current state of affairs: Sorry that you can't see the pattern overly well. I'm using straight needles so I can't really stretch it out to its full width anymore. I'm SO excited about how this is going. I started it on Friday night and finished the first chart, up to row 50, that night. I was stretching it out and holding it up to the white wall after every single row. I'm not sure if Dave was actually impressed or not, but he made a good show of it. I'm really enjoying putting in the beads, and I'm hoping there are more in the latter parts of the pattern because they add so much sparkle. Yes, there is a lifeline in there, at row 70. Just in case. Better safe than sorry, eh? I was worried that my fabric was too lacy, but now that I'm looking at the photo it looks pretty good and the design is quite apparent, albeit a bit squished. I would like to have the first clue finished before I traipse off to PA on the Wednesday night red-eye, but we'll see. The rows are getting longer and the time is getting shorter, and I still have to pack and hunt down some Hemp hand lotion from the Body Shop to take home for my mother. Can I do it? I'll let you know tomorrow what the odds are...Now I must go rescue my stole from the sofa before Oliver removes it for me!

Mystery Stole 3 - The Swatch

I've signed up for Melanie's Mystery Stole 3. As might have been mentioned here in the past, I feel like I want to knit lace, but haven't yet done so successfully. Not because I've screwed it up, but because I've never really gotten going (Both times I've started I've used circular needles, and the combination of the fine yarn, large needles, and the way I knit has made that a tough combo. Straight needles are apparently much better for me with something like lace). However, I love a good puzzle, so I'm giving this a shot. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the mystery stoles, the basic idea is that the pattern is released a bit at a time over a several month period. You don't know what the final pattern will look like until the end, so the whole operation is a big surprise. The recommended colors for this year's theme are black, white, or variations thereof, but I've decided to go against the grain and use purple, as seen here: This is just a swatch, and bears no resemblance to the actual stole pattern. The idea was to determine if there is a good balance between stockinette and yarnovers, which I think there is. For the curious, this is Zephyr (a 50/50 wool/silk blend) in Plum, knit on size 4 needles. After blocking it is 5" across, which means, since the stole is about three times as many stitches, that my finished stole will probably be about 18" (Yes, I can multiply. 5x3 = 15, but more lace = more stretch). The other purpose of the swatch is to practice knitting with beads (recommended for the stole) and to find beads that match well. I bought two types of beads at Fusion Beads, some shiny ones (top) and some dull ones (middle). I'm going to go with the shiny ones because they pop out more and I don't think it'll be worth the effort to do the beading if the beads aren't obvious. The beading is really fun - I've knit with beads before but always used the prestringing method, where the beads were on the yarn and then you just used one when required. However, that method is a bit tough on the yarn, since it has to support the weight of all those beads moving around on it, and thus isn't good for fragile laceweight yarn like my Zephyr. So, I'm putting the beads on as I go with a tiny crochet hook (size 12). The way you do this is described quite well in this Knitty article, but briefly you put a bead on the hook, then pick the stitch up off the knitting needle with the hook, then slide the bead down over the stitch, and replace the stitch on the knitting needle. I then slipped the stitch to the right knitting needle without knitting it, which I think was right but if anyone knows differently please let me know! The first clue comes out on Friday, and I'm pretty excited about it. I'm really hoping that I can get into this stole project and keep up with the group so that the surprise isn't ruined for me. Jennifer is knitting it as well so I'm hoping that will keep me on task!

Showin' off the Madrona haul

Sorry it's been awhile, but I took a blogging break to acquire some yarn! The Fiberphiles and I descended on the Madrona Fiber Arts Festival in Tacoma, WA last weekend. We spent Friday night there, six of us in two adjoining rooms, and had a blast. For some reason that escapes me I didn't take any pictures (bad blogger, I know). On Saturday I met up with Marisol, and she hung out with the Fiberphiles all afternoon and much fun was had. She DID take photos, and I'll post them when I get some from her. This was my first meeting-of-someone-I-met-in-the-knitting-blogosphere, and it was great fun!

I know what you're really here to see, and that is the new yarn, right?!?

First there's the laceweight stash:The brown is Cashwool, 100% extra fine merino. There are 2700 m there, which is obviously quite a lot, but Karen at Acorn Street recommended knitting it double, even for lace. The greens are Zephyr, a 50/50 merino/silk blend. The top one is Peacock and the bottom Bottle Green. ~1250 yds each. Ooh, and I also got some Crack Kid Silk Haze in Liquor (dark burgundy), which I think will be used for the first lace project I attempt from Victorian Lace Today.
Then there's the Monarch sock yarn:From the left: August, Coulee, Purdy Plum, and Ivy. I couldn't help myself, there were SO many nice colorways. Kristen also acquired some Coulee, and I was lusting after it so much I just had to go back and get some for myself...
Last but certainly not least was the Socks that Rock:
This is: mediumweight Nodding Violet, lightweight Lucy (inspired by Lucy of Wendy Knits fame), and mediumweight Tide Pool.

Phew. All in all I got most of what I wanted, although I really wanted some solid(ish) sock yarn for lace, and there was pretty much none to be found this year. First fall off the yarn fasting wagon completed successfully!
While I was there I started and finished a hat, but I got a bit overzealous (distracted from all the knitterly chatting!) and it's way too tall for me and needs to be ripped back and refinished. I'll try to get on that soon! I also have another FO to show you, but for now I'll leave you to bask in the new yarn glow :)