twistedloops

Last March, I posted the fiber I got from Briar Rose Fibers for the Ply by Night Ravelry spin-along.  It was a mix of interesting colors, and I really had no idea how it would look spun into yarn.  The colors were misted throughout the top, not done in sections like most fiber I had worked with.  I decided to jump right in and see what would happen.  For me, the spin-along was all about the learning process, and I wasn’t concerned with what my finished yarn might look like.

By May, I had spun the four ounces into a single. After spinning, I was measured the length of the single and discovered that I had approximately 300 yards. I was worried that I wouldn’t have a good use for 150 yards of a bulky yarn.  I was also concerned that plying it would muddy the subtle color changes in the yarn, and I really wanted to preserve them.  So, I decided to leave it as a single, and try to find a pattern that would suit it.

Since I really liked the yarn I had spun, I wanted a project that would show the beauty of the yarn and not cause too much wear on the delicate single.  I settled on the idea of a small shawl.  That time last year predates the explosion of small shawl patterns that are now all over Ravelry, so it was a bit of work to find one that I thought would work.  I settled on the Little Arrowhead Shawl.  It had a simple pattern with basic edging, and could easily be adapted to the amount of yarn that I had.

This shawl sat unblocked in my closet until recently.  I blocked it and my Citron shawl at the same time.  This shawl was the first item I ever knit out of my handspun.  It is the project that really convinced me that continuing with spinning would allow me to create yarns that I would like to knit with.  Up until then, I enjoyed spinning, but wasn’t really sure where it fit into my overall crafting agenda.

I’m really pleased with the way the shawl highlights the color changes in the yarn.  I do think the two were a good match.  I wish that I had used a slightly larger needle to make it a bit more open and also a little larger, but it’s a nice, warm, small shawl. 

The pattern is available free online as one of the staff projects from the Interweave Knits, Summer 2006 issue.  It’s also in the Interweave Knits, Accessories 2009 issue.

Pattern: Little Arrowhead Shawl
Designer: Pam Allen
Source: Interweave Knits
Yarn: handspun
Fiber:  Briar Rose Fibers Blue Faced Leicester
Yardage: 310 yards
Needles: US7 (4.5mm)
Finished size:  22 inches tall x 48 inches wide

Started: May 3, 2009
Completed: May 10, 2009

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.

This shawl started with the best of intentions as my Knitting Olympics 2008 project.  Could I really knit Laminaria in laceweight in 18 days?  Sure, I thought.  I’d take it with me everywhere, and there should be no problem.  If I hadn’t modified the pattern, I think I would have made it.

I had so much of this yarn, and wanted to use as much of it as possible, that I continually decided to add repeats to make the shawl larger.  I added repeats to the blossom chart, but I should have added more.  Even after adding additional border rows, I still ended up with a lot of leftover yarn.  Because of all of this, it ended up a huge size.  It was actually difficult to photograph, it was so big.  The finished, post-blocking size is about 84 inches wide by 40 inches long.

I made it into the border pattern during the Olympics.  When they were over, but the shawl wasn’t done, I put it aside, feeling a bit defeated.  It sat for months.  I really wanted to finish it up before the beginning of the new year (I don’t really like carry-over projects), so in mid-December, I picked it up again.  I managed to finish the knitting in late December, but didn’t get blocked until the new year.  It finished blocking about two weeks ago, but I didn’t get around to photographing it until now. After blocking, it sat in the coldest room of the house, which is also a bit damp.  The shawl seems to have unblocked itself a bit while it sat.  It’s not nearly as open or crisp as it was when it was first blocked.

One of the major changes I made to the pattern was that I added an additonal repeat of the border chart to continue to use up more yarn.  I’m not sold on the way the border came out.  It was very hard to block because both the base of the shapes as well as the open area seemed to want to be the point at the edge fo the shawl.  In the end, I opted for the shape instead of the open area.

Pattern:  Laminaria
Designer: Elizabeth Freeman
Source: Knitty, Spring 2008
Yarn: Skaska Deisgns Superlamb (1315 yards/100g)
Color:  Midnight
Needles:  US5, 3.75mm

Started:  August 8, 2008
Completed:  December 29, 2008

Pattern modifications:

• Knit 10 repeats of the blossom chart to increase the shawl size and use more yarn.
• Modified pattern to add a repeat of both border patterns to use more of the yarn.  I didn’t really write down what I did, and winged it most of the way through.
• Because of the modifications, the points were blocked at the base of the shape in the shawl edging, instead of the large open area.

Yarn oveview:

I liked this yarn. It was easy to work with and has an amazing color depth.  It’s hard to capture in photographs, but the yarn actually has small flecks of a green and other colors in it.  It’s not just a flat blue color.  I’ve heard that this is actually repackaged Jaggerspun Superlamb, but having not used the Jaggerspun, I cannot compare the two.