The blob

I'm on a roll. I finished the first repeat of Chart C.

Here's my current lace blob:



The close-up:



The only mod so far is that I went down one needle size so it won't be quite as airy as some of the others out there. I'm a little worried that it may not block out as big as I would like but it is lace and blocking does amazing things to a project.

At this rate, I might actually be done by Christmas. Of course, its just for me. hee hee.

All quiet on the knitting front

The center pattern of the Alpine lace scarf seems to go much faster than the border pattern. However, when combined with a beer or perhaps some wine, it can be much more difficult. Some of you may scoff at using stitch markers, but I find that it makes it real simple for me to keep track of the stitches in a repeat. Well, after a glass (or was it two?) of wine, I was at the inside border part of the pattern and realized that there were only 4 stitches where there were supposed to be 5. I'm feeling daring so I drop down a few rows and see if I can figure out where I lost the stitch. No dice--I couldn't find anything wrong with the pattern. I look at the fabric and can't see where the pattern is off. I put the project away because when all else fails, I tink and I couldn't bear it at the time (maybe it was the blurry vision from the wine).

Anyway, a couple of days later I tinked back a few rows to where I knew for certain that the count was correct. I start knitting the pattern again and get to the inside border again. FYI, when I tinked, I kept the stitch markers in place. Why is this important? Because as I'm knitting and counting stitches, I realized that there had not been a problem with the stitch count. Apparently, while I was handling the fabric the split ring marker got caught up on the neighboring stitch and wound up moving over one. Duh. I thought I had checked the stitch counts for the pattern repeats on each side but apparently not. Needless to say, I needed to step away from the scarf again.

Here it is in its current state:



I think I need something like 30 more repeats to finish the center panel. Yeah, so not going to be done for my friend's wedding this weekend.

This weekend was "cold". It may have even dropped to freezing one night in the town over from us. As a general rule, we put off turning the heat on as long as possible. I would have turned it on this weekend except that we are in the process of upgrading our electric breaker box and hubby had not re-connected the heat pump. So what did I do? Started knitting some Fetching wristwarmers for me. Since its a small enough project, I figured by the time I made a swatch, I would be half done with the actual wristwarmer. My gauge (both row and stitch) is different from the pattern so I needed to add some cable repeats to the top so it would cover my knuckles. I like the way it looks but I'm not crazy about the loose bind off. I might use a less stretchy bind off or perhaps do another cable row and then bind off since the cable row pulls in more than the regular 4x1 ribbing.



I have to admit that the first wristwarmer really isn't wide enough--the hole by the bottom of the thumb is huge when I pull this on and the ribbing is pulled tight. So for the second one, I cast on an extra 5 stitches (50 total) to see if that helps. Considering this endeavor took a couple of nights of work, I think I can motivate to re-knit the first wristwarmer. So far, I'm still only using the first skein so I might be able to get a second pair done from my sister out of the second one.

KADD, check
KADD=knitting attention deficit disorder

OK, last week because of this contract work, I spent about 4 hours driving for about 3 hours of work. (1.5 hrs to get to the client meeting, 2.5 hrs for the meeting, .5 hr to get to my friend's office to meet for lunch,1 hr for lunch, .5 hr to drive back to contract office to meet with my colleague for .5 hr, and then another 1.5 hr drive back home. I can only charge for the 3 hours.) This blew my entire day so I decided I deserved a fiber reward. I stopped at the only LYS near my house. The selection is not ideal but the fact that it mostly has the same yarns as the big box stores means that I can keep from spending too much money.

So, what did I get?

This was in the sale bin and I think it is destined to become a pair of fingerless gloves of some kind. (KnitPicks Merino Style in Strawberry, (50 grams/123 yards each) Since this is a retail store, the sale price is roughly equivalent to what you pay KnitPicks only without the shipping.)


The Wool-Ease is destined to become a quick charity scarf and the Kona Bay Candy was just too pretty to leave behind. Thoughts on what it wants to be? Its 60% merino, 20% rayon, and 20% kid mohair, 50 grams/106 yards.


Apparently, I was having an orange kind of day. However, there was one lonely ball (also in the sale bin) of a green novelty yarn. That's right, novelty yarn called to me. I don't know what its called, its not a ladder yarn or an eyelash yarn--more like little flags of color spaced evenly throughout. Anyway, I decided that the Knitting Fever Spice needed to be an easy scarf. My brain could not handle charts last week.


Anybody recognize this pattern?


That's right, its the same as the center pattern in "Scarf or shawl with center pattern" (pl 16-17) from Victorian Lace Today. With a 2-row repeat, who couldn't relax doing this? I did this on 10.5 needles using just one ball of yarn. However, I think the scarf is too short and too wide so it probably needs to be re-done to be about half the width. I originally cast on 35 stitches so I think the revised scarf should only have about 17 stitches (multiple of 3 + 2). What are the chances I'll actually do this? Hmmm, my track record with do-overs is not great. (No, I have not re-blocked the Wide Triangle shawl yet. Maybe this weekend...)

Baby steps

With all the stuff going on around here lately, there hasn't been much knitting. I'm afraid the only knitting time was really on the plane ride back from our NYC trip. (I slept on the way there and was super busy the whole weekend.)

Can you tell that I got to the garter stitch border? I am almost done with the first repeat from Chart B. Obviously, I will need a few more repeats before you can really see the pattern.



I'm making this scarf with the hemp yarn from Elann. So far, the yarn starts out feeling like twine (no big surprise there) but after a while it seems to soften up with the warmth of my hands. There may also be some oils left from the hemp?? I don't know but my fingers do feel a little softer afterwards. I'm making this on Bryspun size 3 circs--I like the needles but hate the join. If I had another size 3 circular needles, I would switch them out in a heartbeat. I think the pattern is pretty visible and will probably only need minimal blocking. I actually don't want this to stretch too much since the recipient is smaller than me. I'm nearing the end of the first ball and I'm thinking there is another Russian join in my future.

I need to do some more knitting so I can have better progress photos.

Actual Knitting

As I mentioned, I actually finished the Wide Triangle shawl.



However, I was sloppy in the blocking and look at this:



Where I did the double decreases to get the shaping, it looks like there are two sets of yarnovers. It is really bothering me so I'm going to have to re-block. I think I need to run some thread (I don't have blocking wires) through the border before the yarnovers and then again through the points of the picots so that it will all lay out better. I do like the finished texture, hubby said it reminded him of mesh rather than a knit fabric. I'm hoping to re-block today or tomorrow so I can gift it this weekend. Since we have an actual guest (my little sister), my blocking board is in use and I may have to find an alternative.

Because my fascination with this book has not weened, I immediately cast on for the Alpine Lace shawl using Elann's Canapone (100% hemp) yarn.



The diamond detail:



The plan is to finish this by early Feb. (at this rate that won't be a problem) so I can send it to my friend in time for her wedding. I'm thinking this could be her "something blue" but either way, I think she will like it. It has been surprisingly straightforward and I like that you knit the border as you go along rather than adding it later.

More Victorian Lace info

Can you tell that I am obsessed with this book? OK, on the sidebar you will see an additional file, a document that lists the yarn substitutions that I have read on the VLT KAL site and anywhere I may have come across someone writing about their VLT project.

If you want me to add anything, just let me know. I will try to keep it updated.

OK, I have only bought presents for hubby and my inlaws (with whom I am spending the Christmas holiday). Yikes, I am so not ready for Christmas. Hope you guys are doing better than me.