Wing of the Moth Blocked

Being blocked:

It measured 36" down the middle and 82" across the top. I didn't block it too severely, I could have easily gotten it a bit bigger. I started on the living room floor (on the two big towels) and then moved it to the bed after it was pinned and dried a bit. There's a lot more circulation in there. I left it there for several hours (showing it off to my mother and my neighbor), and then when it was dry I unpinned it.

Afterwards, it only sprung back a bit, but I didn't remeasure. I just like how it came out.


You can go through the blog and get all the details, but I'll try to recap. I had 4oz Superwash Colonial Wool from Ashabee's Creations. The color was called 'I've got the Blues' and 2 oz (and then bought another 2 oz) of White Angora from Copper Moose (who shipped SO fast). I spun them up and plied them together. I ended up with just over 1000 yards. I chose to use the Wing o' the Moth shawl pattern from KnitSpot. I knit on US 3 (Bamboo Circulars from Clober).

I started spinning in late May, and finished by June 18. I started knitting on Monday evening, and then knit straight (taking Wednesday off, just knitting that evening) and then I finished last night (Sunday) and washed and blocked it today!

Just as a quick note, it started with 5 stitches and the last row had 497 stitches. It had 204 rows if I added correctly. It was fun to work on and I am SO excited that it's done!



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Update on Moth Shawl

I finished!

...in its unblocked state - measured 61 across and 32 inches down the center - blocking will hopefully be done tomorrow!
[EDIT]: I have 114 yards (7/8 ounce) left - wow I used the right needles, eh?


And since these have been patiently waiting in my basket for some ends-weaving-in since mid-week (sorry, I was obviously busy knitting.... and yes, he could have finished them, but we were in a waiting game and I will enable my husband to knit in any way possible - such as finishing stuff that he dislikes to do... whatever it takes to get socks made for me) here are the most recent socks that my sweet sweet husband made for me.


Tofutsies, US1 and US0, Priscilla's Dream Sock pattern, nice and snug on my feet.


Very comfy! :) I plan on wearing them tomorrow.

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No picture post

Thanks for the compliments on the shawl... I have now knit monday evening, tuesday day, wednesday evening, and thursday day. I managed to finish the first chart of the shawl and the transition and have now started the second chart. I've got less than 61 rows in total... of course, I'm up to over 350 stitches per row...

I've been knitting a lot - and on only this one project. When this is done it will be nice to take a break for a couple of days... but I am still enjoying it for now - especially now that I figured out the reading the second chart (the pattern has both chart and text - I followed the first chart, but the second one is a bit more complex, I had to follow a couple of rows of text before jumping to the chart)

I'll take some pictures mid-day tomorrow, but it's hard to see, as it can't really stretch out on the long needles any more. I have a nice small deflated pile of yarn, but I am still working on the first skein of home-spun wool/angora.

Oh right, I never said what pattern I am working with... that would be wing of the moth. I didn't realize it until I had already made my decision, but I was reading Wendy's blog back when she made it, and Cara is currently making one also (go down to the bottom of that post). Pretty, eh?

btw, I am not just speeding through this for my health, I do maybe have plans for it (if it looks nice enough when it's done, otherwise I'll just keep it) which involve it being done next week.... so, back to knitting

No post tonight

Why no real post tonight?



This was started last night - I think I had 24 pattern rows done last night (and the 20 set up rows). I am now done with pattern row 70 (it's 8 repeating rows - done 15 times total).

...this was written quickly during an ice cream break... ...now returning to knitting...

Spinning and more spinning

I have been spinning. and spinning. and spinning. I think it's because i'm still trying to decide if i like the pooling on the pirate sock, or if i should rip back and do it with 4 less stitches. While I ponder that you can see the pretty fiber.



That's some angora (done spinning) and the blue superwash colonial wool. I got the wool from Ashabee's Creations etsy shop. I split the 4 oz I had, and ended up spinning just over 2 oz. I then winded up a 2 ply ball, I did this before spinning them together because they kept curling up and I wanted to make sure they would play nicely together. I am now spinning that ball... maybe yarn pictures within the next day or two, and then I just need to pick a pattern. (This is moving fast because I have given it priority - trying to finish it by the end of June - and then maybe one for me - this one is not - by the end of the summer?)


I also decided to do the latest Sunday-Spin-a-Long exercise. The goal was to create some crinkly homespun yarn. I did up a 30 yard sample. Some of the time it just looks uneven, but at least some of the time I feel like I got it. I understood. and it worked.


You start with two ply of yarn - one thin, one thick... I think I want to try it again, as I was having a hard time getting thick yarn, and I can tell it turned out much better when the yarn was consistently thick for a while.



While plying I played with different tensions - it seemed to work best when I held the thick yarn lightly, and the thin yarn a bit tighter. The part that helped the most in her tutorial was that we didn't want to hold it taut and smooth while plying.



Like I said, trying to relearn to spin thicker didn't work so well with this project, but I got the taste of it, and once I'm done plying for the shawl, I think I want to try again!



...but it is pretty and was lots of fun to try!