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
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
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...
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...
Monday, June 18, 2007
New Toy and New Yarn
I got a new toy over the weekend...
of course, the yarn on there is left over from a pair of socks my husband made for me... we figured that with the amount left, he'll just need to make me some short (summer?) socks with the next skein and he'd be able to maybe squeeze two pair out of each tofutsies skein.
isn't it pretty?
I thanked my husband (he specifically looked for it and asked about it during our trip to webs this weekend... more on that tomorrow perhaps.)
I swatched for the mysterystole3 project. The bottom is on US3, the top is on US4. There's about a 1/2 inch difference in widths.
Someone on the ms3 group had asked about this yarn (Webs 2/14 Alpaca Silk) - it's very loosely plied in general, and so the first bit (that has had a chance to loosen) I found a bit splitty - but within the first row or two that wasn't a problem any more - and I love the way it's working up! I'm trying to decide which I like more... there isn't a way to increase width in the pattern, and I'd prefer to size of the wider one (6 1/2 for the swatch, plan on three times that). I think I like the look of the smaller one a bit more though... I'll have to let that settle in my mind over the next week and a half until the first clue comes out.
...during that time I will be quite busy knitting. The yarn is done:
It comes in at just over 1000 yards, so that means I have lots of choices for the shawl. Every time I think I've made a choice I become wishy-woshy about it, but I do need to make my pattern selection soon and start knitting.
I also reached the half way mark on the shawl for my younger daugther - well, not half way, that doesn't include the edging. ...but I have two skeins of the yarn for the center panel, and I finished knitting one of them.
I probably won't be able to do the number of repeats specified in the melon shawl pattern (VLT), but I'm happy with the length at half-way, so I'll just need to figure out how to fudge the edging ...math... I'll delay that for a while... at least until I'm closer to being done knitting.
Julie, and others, have asked about the spindolyn. I am very happy with mine - and yes, I do have a couple of tips. I recommend watching the video to see it used by someone who knows what they are doing. I usually sit on my chair and hold the spindolyn between my legs about halfway to my knees. I have to make sure the spindolyn is upright while spinning, and then I like it at a slight angle as I spin the yarn on (this might have to do with the chair I'm sitting on). It's a bit tricky at the beginning, and then again as it is full... similar to a drop spindle. It is not as fast as my wheel of course, but is much faster than my spindles. I do a fairly short draw and can spin pretty fine on it... you just need to make sure the yarn has enough twist so it will hold together...
Hopefully that's somewhat helpful, feel free to ask any more specific questions. I'm not an expert by any means, but I did spin all the angora on it.
of course, the yarn on there is left over from a pair of socks my husband made for me... we figured that with the amount left, he'll just need to make me some short (summer?) socks with the next skein and he'd be able to maybe squeeze two pair out of each tofutsies skein.
isn't it pretty?
I thanked my husband (he specifically looked for it and asked about it during our trip to webs this weekend... more on that tomorrow perhaps.)
I swatched for the mysterystole3 project. The bottom is on US3, the top is on US4. There's about a 1/2 inch difference in widths.
Someone on the ms3 group had asked about this yarn (Webs 2/14 Alpaca Silk) - it's very loosely plied in general, and so the first bit (that has had a chance to loosen) I found a bit splitty - but within the first row or two that wasn't a problem any more - and I love the way it's working up! I'm trying to decide which I like more... there isn't a way to increase width in the pattern, and I'd prefer to size of the wider one (6 1/2 for the swatch, plan on three times that). I think I like the look of the smaller one a bit more though... I'll have to let that settle in my mind over the next week and a half until the first clue comes out.
...during that time I will be quite busy knitting. The yarn is done:
It comes in at just over 1000 yards, so that means I have lots of choices for the shawl. Every time I think I've made a choice I become wishy-woshy about it, but I do need to make my pattern selection soon and start knitting.
I also reached the half way mark on the shawl for my younger daugther - well, not half way, that doesn't include the edging. ...but I have two skeins of the yarn for the center panel, and I finished knitting one of them.
I probably won't be able to do the number of repeats specified in the melon shawl pattern (VLT), but I'm happy with the length at half-way, so I'll just need to figure out how to fudge the edging ...math... I'll delay that for a while... at least until I'm closer to being done knitting.
Julie, and others, have asked about the spindolyn. I am very happy with mine - and yes, I do have a couple of tips. I recommend watching the video to see it used by someone who knows what they are doing. I usually sit on my chair and hold the spindolyn between my legs about halfway to my knees. I have to make sure the spindolyn is upright while spinning, and then I like it at a slight angle as I spin the yarn on (this might have to do with the chair I'm sitting on). It's a bit tricky at the beginning, and then again as it is full... similar to a drop spindle. It is not as fast as my wheel of course, but is much faster than my spindles. I do a fairly short draw and can spin pretty fine on it... you just need to make sure the yarn has enough twist so it will hold together...
Hopefully that's somewhat helpful, feel free to ask any more specific questions. I'm not an expert by any means, but I did spin all the angora on it.
Thursday, June 14, 2007
No knitting here....
As I said earlier, the blue wool is done...
the white angora is being spun...
Not much has been accomplished today on my crafts though because I went to a cannery today to can for long term food storage...
(I did knit in the car since I wasn't driving, but I now have to undo about 6 rows of the current VLT shawl, won't take too long, and I still made progress today, just not as much as I thought)
...but while I was gone, the mail arrived!
now I just need to swatch for MS3, so I'll know what needle size to use.
Of course, if you need a new project, you can try the sidewinders. I plan to sometime.
the white angora is being spun...
Not much has been accomplished today on my crafts though because I went to a cannery today to can for long term food storage...
(I did knit in the car since I wasn't driving, but I now have to undo about 6 rows of the current VLT shawl, won't take too long, and I still made progress today, just not as much as I thought)
...but while I was gone, the mail arrived!
now I just need to swatch for MS3, so I'll know what needle size to use.
Of course, if you need a new project, you can try the sidewinders. I plan to sometime.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
Conversations not with myself
I do have progress - I've spun the blue wool, and I am spinning the white angora. I have several more inches on the shawl for my younger daughter. So yeah, progress all around... but today I had a short road trip with my mom - we went to a post office and a yarn store. During the drive many things came up that I need to give her more information on, so here is what I spent half my day thinking and talking about:
...but since that doesn't give her the information she needs...
Dulaan - you can see some good pictures here and here. It's wrapping up for the year...
...but, while we're waiting to hear what next year's goal is, you can always donate (nice little blue button on the left side) to help cover the shipping costs. The trip to the post office today mailed off a grand total of 86 items (I made a small number and collected many more from my mother and another prolific knitter - we're all glad that keeping our hands busy helps others)
We then continued down the road for a while and ended up at one of my LYS. She purchased some lace weight for the Mystery Stole 3 Knit-A-Long (I'm such a bad influence) done by Melanie. The group closes in early July - so join up now if you want to knit a beautiful stole over the summer.
She also purchased some sock yarn and wanted to know where to find some great sock patterns from Wendy - check out the patterns at the top of the page, and the detailed sock pattern a bit lower down.
We discussed different toe-up patterns... Here's at least one cast on. After casting on, you can either do a short-row toe or a more traditional increase toe.
One more link before I move on to the pics of my purchases... I mentioned LibriVox. One of the other blogs I read mentioned it a while back, but I can't remember who. They take books that are in the public domain and provide audiobooks for them. My daughter is in a kids book club and we ran out of time to sit and read it together this week, so she "read" the first half of Wind in the Willows by listening and following along. I've downloaded a couple of chapters of Pride and Prejudice to listen to while knitting or spinning. Take a look!
So yes, I bought some stuff today at the LYS....
That's two sock patterns by Cookie A, a shawl pattern, and two skeins of KPPPM that should go nicely with this...
I'm hoping the yarn that I have will do the middle of the shawl, and then the new yarn will be for the edging... I'm kindof making it up as I go (not the pattern, it's from VLT.. just making up the yarn requirements - since it's for a 3 year old, but I want it to grow with her).
I will now go back to the spinning and knitting... as soon as the girls are in bed.
...but since that doesn't give her the information she needs...
Dulaan - you can see some good pictures here and here. It's wrapping up for the year...
...but, while we're waiting to hear what next year's goal is, you can always donate (nice little blue button on the left side) to help cover the shipping costs. The trip to the post office today mailed off a grand total of 86 items (I made a small number and collected many more from my mother and another prolific knitter - we're all glad that keeping our hands busy helps others)
We then continued down the road for a while and ended up at one of my LYS. She purchased some lace weight for the Mystery Stole 3 Knit-A-Long (I'm such a bad influence) done by Melanie. The group closes in early July - so join up now if you want to knit a beautiful stole over the summer.
She also purchased some sock yarn and wanted to know where to find some great sock patterns from Wendy - check out the patterns at the top of the page, and the detailed sock pattern a bit lower down.
We discussed different toe-up patterns... Here's at least one cast on. After casting on, you can either do a short-row toe or a more traditional increase toe.
One more link before I move on to the pics of my purchases... I mentioned LibriVox. One of the other blogs I read mentioned it a while back, but I can't remember who. They take books that are in the public domain and provide audiobooks for them. My daughter is in a kids book club and we ran out of time to sit and read it together this week, so she "read" the first half of Wind in the Willows by listening and following along. I've downloaded a couple of chapters of Pride and Prejudice to listen to while knitting or spinning. Take a look!
So yes, I bought some stuff today at the LYS....
That's two sock patterns by Cookie A, a shawl pattern, and two skeins of KPPPM that should go nicely with this...
I'm hoping the yarn that I have will do the middle of the shawl, and then the new yarn will be for the edging... I'm kindof making it up as I go (not the pattern, it's from VLT.. just making up the yarn requirements - since it's for a 3 year old, but I want it to grow with her).
I will now go back to the spinning and knitting... as soon as the girls are in bed.
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