TwistedLoops

I recently finished blocking my Citron Shawl.  I’ll have to admit that I was glad to finally be done with this one.  The rows of stockinette seemed never ending.   I almost gave up in the last few rows.

Overall, I’m ok with the shawl, but it’s not one that I love.  Even after a very strong and forceful blocking, the top edge of the shawl rolls unmanageably.  I’m not sure why I expected anything different from stockinette.  For my yarn the three garter stitches at the edge are not enough to stop the rolled edge.   Now as I look back at the pattern photos, you can see that the edge on the original shawl top edge rolls in the 2nd photo – the one where she is holding it up to the window.  The effect is less drastic than on mine. 

There aren’t many issues/concerns/complaints about this rolling in the project listings on Ravelry, so perhaps my issue is partially due to the yarn choice.  I haven’t knit a shawl in alpaca before, and it doesn’t block the same way that wool does.  In the end, I’m not happy with this project because of the edge.  I don’t think I’ll ever wear it.  But, that means this will become a gift for someone who will appreciate the frilly purple shawlette and not be concerned about the rolled edge.  I’ve already got someone in mind.

Pattern: Citron
Designer: Hilary Smith Callis
Source: Knitty, Winter 2009
Yarn: unknown laceweight alpaca in stash
Yardage: 350 yards
Color: Lavender
Needles: US5 (3.75mm)

Started: December 22, 2009
Completed: January 22, 2010

Pattern modifications:

• I added one extra repeat of the pattern.  I felt that with the laceweight yarn the shawl was not as large as I wanted.
• I added four extra rows of the final ruffle to lengthen it a bit more.
• I used the k2tog bindoff to ensure the bind off was stretchy enough for the ruffled edge.

Back in May on Fiber Fun Day, I made some watermelon colored batts.  I’d given these batts to my Mom as a Mother’s Day present with a promise that I would take them back, spin them and knit them into something for her.

I started spinning them back in July.  I decided to do a simple two-ply yarn.  I spun each batt as a single and plyed them together.  I wasn’t aiming for any particular weight, and I ended up with approximately 275 yards of mostly aran weight yarn.  Like all of my yarns so far, it suffers from some inconsistency in thickness.

After the yarn was spun and plied, I then faced the challenge of what to make.  Mom and I had discussed making a “modern lace” wrap for her.  She wasn’t into the idea of a traditional shawl.  I spent some time wandering through handspun lace projects in Ravelry and stumbled upon this project.  It was a heavier-weight Wisp modeled as a off-center wrap.  Mom loves ponchos and the like, so I knew this was perfect for her.

For my project, I originally cast on more stitches than the pattern called for and had a wide (top-to-bottom) Wisp, but not enough yarn to give it length to fit around an adult.  It would have fit like a glove instead of draping nicely.  So, I ripped out all of the knitting.  For the second attempt, I cast on fewer than the original a pattern and knit until I ran out of yarn.  When I finished, I had less than two or three yards of  yarn remaining.

The biggest challenge for this project was finding suitable buttons.  We don’t have a great button supply locally.  Since I didn’t shop for buttons until mid-December, and I wanted Mom to have this for Christmas, I had to settle for what I could find.  I ended up with these shell buttons.  I would have preferred to have 5 of them, but I could only find 4 in this size and color.  I may continue to look for buttons and send Mom some new ones.

I heard from Mom on Christmas day and she was excited about the present.  I don’t have any photos from her, so we’ll have to settle for a quick shot of me modeling it before shipping it off.  In the end, the project ended up to be what I was looking for.  It’s lace and open, but without the frilly, old-fashioned look that Mom was looking to avoid.  I think this will work perfect to keep her warm in those air-conditioned Arizona buildings.

Pattern:  Wisp
Designer:  Cheryl Niamath
Source:  Knitty, Summer 2007
Yarn: Handspun Wensleydale
Color:  Watermelon
Needles:  US 10 (6mm)

Started:  October 7, 2009
Completed:  October 24, 2009

Ever since the 2009 Winter Knitty came out, I’ve been thinking about Citron.

While it seems that the majority of Ravelry seems to be knitting it in fingering weight yarn, I’ve decided to stick with the original laceweight.  I’m using an unknown, unlabeled lavender colored baby alpaca laceweight yarn that my mom purchased  She knit a scarf out of it and decided that she was done using laceweight yarn.  Since I received it without a label, and mom didn’t remember what it was, I don’t know the yardage.  I made a guess about yardage based upon the popular alpaca laceweight yarns in Ravelry.  Those yarns seem to average 250 yards per ounce.  Since I have approximately 3 ounces, I figure I have around 775 yards.

Since Citron is a smaller shawl, I think that I’ll probably add a repeat or two of the pattern.  The pattern, as written, calls for 470 yards of laceweight, so I should have enough.  However, I’d like a little better knowledge of how much yarn I actually have and use in the shawl.  After some quick searching this morning, I found this article from Interweave’s Handwoven Magazine on how to make your own yarn balance (like the McMorran Balance).  I may just have to try this and see how much yardage it tells me I have.

I cast on last night and made it through the shawl body first section.  It went very fast.  But, as with all top down/center-out shawls, each section will be slower because of the ever increasing number of stitches.  I’m not sure if I’ll be able to finish this by the year end, but I’m going to try.  I’ve had a goal the last few years of not carrying projects over from one calendar year into the next.

I know I’ve been missing for a while (4 months!), but I plan to update more regularly from now on.  I’ll also post some updates for some projects I’ve finished while I’ve been missing.

It just came to my attention that I never posted the most recent market bag I knit.  Since my market bag category seems to be one of the most popular on my blog, I want to go ahead and post this project.

I made my mom a BYOB from Knitty.  This was a great stash busting project because it used up a ton of yarn.  Since I used the chocolate and cream colored yarns from cones, I don’t know how much I used.  I did manage to finish up all of my chocolate and teal colored yarn.  I did weigh the bag to get an approximation of yardage.

I didn’t knit the pattern to gauge, my gauge was larger. I used smaller needles than called for, but I must knit much looser than the pattern designer.  The original gauge for the pattern is extremely tight.  While this bag was a little floppier than I wanted, I think a trip through the washing machine would tighten it up.  The bag ended up much larger than I expected, much larger than other market bags that I’ve knit.  It’s a nice bag, regardless of my concerns.
Overall, I realized that I really don’t enjoy knitting that much seed stitch.  It seemed to take forever to knit the bottom of the bag.  Luckily, the lace part flew off of the needles.  I’m not sure I’d knit another of these, just because of the seemingly endless seed stitch.  If my mom asked for another, I’d make it, but I don’t think that I’ll make one for me.

Pattern: BYOB
Designer: Moira Ravenscroft
Source: Knitty, Summer 2008
Yarn: Peaches & Creme
Yardage: approximately 536 yards (11oz)
Colors:  Chocolate, Teal and Cream
Needles:  US 6 (4mm) & US 9 (5.5mm)

Started: April 22, 2009
Completed: May 1, 2009

I’ve finally gotten around to taking a photo of my finished Absinthe socks.

I knit them in the smaller size (56 stitches), but did add some stitches along the way.  On the foot, I only moved 2 stitches total from N2 to N1, giving me 30 on N1 and 26 on N2.  When I was in the foot chart, I increased one stitch in each of the two center cables on row 5.  To me, it created a smoother increase in the foot.  I knit the rest of the foot with 32 (N1) and 26 (N2) stitches.  I reduced two stitches in the sole before starting the heel so that I returned to 56 total.  As I progressed up the leg, I increased every once and a while (based upon fit), and the cuff was worked on 60 stitches.

Most of the errors were updated at Knitty last time I checked, so knitting them should be a little easier now.