Follow my Arrow shawl

Looks like I never posted about my pretty grey shawl:

This is from the Follow My Arrow 2 pattern by Ysolda Teague.  It offers two patterns for each of five sections of this shawl. So there are 25 different ways of knitting this.

I really enjoyed it!

I loved the edging a lot - this is what attracted my attention to this pattern in the first place. That one was a must. I think that the other four sections go realy well with the edging, it was almost like they picked themselves and I just had to listen to what they were telling me: pick me, pick me!

Grey lace blob - progress!

So I was knitting this in January last year - I might as well blog about it, finally! Even though it is now way after the fact. Oh well.


I am getting on very well with my grey lace project:

I've got the flower done, but I can't believe how much there is still left to do:

I thought this would be finished when I reached the part that shows just a top right hand corner under the pink Post-it. My first photocopy didn't cover the whole chart, this second copy captures the top.

Once I get to the top of this third row of flowers, then I should be done!


And would you believe it: even though I had a full two skeins of this Fyberspates lace yarn, I still ran out. Gah. The colour name turns out to be nothing like steel, or grey or silver and whatever I had fondly imagined, nope, it is water. 'Water'. Oh. Okay.

I bought the two skeins at Alexandra Palace at least three years ago, probably longer. I couldn't get the same dye lot anywhere. So I had to go with a contrast.

I chose the dark blue colour which is called 'midnight'.

Here is the final project photo:

And it is a really, really big size. Almost too large to wear as a shawl - it's more of a table cloth. Hm. Not much use to me right now but at least I had lots of fun knitting this.

Too big

I was complaining about how my Lucca shawl keeps coming out way too small, and I mean wayyyyy too small?  Here's the opposite problem:

I made another curtain, gah!  All that work and I can't really do anything with the finished item?

This was meant to be a shawl that's up to 100cm across. Instead it's a good 150cm diameter!
I can't wear that!?

Just look at my tippy-toes at the bottom edge of the photo, for size comparison (okay, you don't see much of my foot, you'll have to imagine it - each foam tile is about 50cm across).  I could have easily stretched this to even bigger, my constraint was the foam tiles. The area where the middle flowers are is a bit dense - I could have pulled this further on the outside points.

It is a pretty pattern though, I got lots of enjoyment out of knitting this.  Except when I ran out of yarn.  And that should have tipped me off about just how big this was going to get: I had two massive Fyberspates Scrumptous lace yarn skeins and got too close to running out - I used the dark blue yarn (also Fyberspates lace, this colour is called Midnight, my main light grey colour is called Water).

I wanted to switch to the contrast colour at a point in the pattern where it wouldn't look too horrible - this seemed as good a place as any.

I was glad to use up a stash yarn that I've had a number of years, so long in fact that I couldn't get more in the same dye lot and had to buy yet more in this dark blue. So I am left with the rest of that.

I was thinking that it might be nice to make a shawl like this in a few colours: different colorus for the centre and for portions of the outside.  Not in stripes or rings of the same width, perhaps one ring that's just an inch or so if it's a good spot between two other portions of the pattern?  It could look really good.

But that means that I would have to buy even more!  Yikes.

But I like the idea of a shawl in different colours: I would love to use this dark blue, a light pink, a small area in white and then some other colour for the rest.  I even saw a Niebling pattern that would be suitable.

But let's be honest: should I be buying yet more yarn?  I mean really?

The answer to that has to be no.

But I am still tempted now that I had the idea!

It's being able to see the finished product in front of my inner eyes, that's the problem.  I see something I like and I want it.

Finally using this lace yarn

I am finally using this Fyberspates Scrumptious lace yarn in slate grey*:

And I am making this:

I am so happy I am using up a yarn that has long lived in my stash, always waiting for the 'perfect' project and never getting used.


Now I am using it and it knits wonderfully well.  I am so pleased I am finally giving this a go.

The pattern is a Niebling pattern from the orange Kunstrick-Decken book.


PS *: Except that this colour is not the Slate Grey colourway but their shade called 504 Water.  It even says so on the label, as clear as day...

PS2: The shawl is coming along very nicely!

The colours in my wardrobe

I am inspired by a blog post I came across, written by Roobeedoo.  It is endearingly entitled 'Daisy Monsters in the Closet'. Love that.

She discusses knitting a garment to go with others in her wardrobe but running into the issue that those other items go to the Happy Huntingground that those clothes go to when we can't wear them anymore - long before the knit is ever finished. So frustrating.

It's not that I have a problem with the speed of my knitting (I get teased about being pretty fast, continental knitting gives you an unfair advantage in that), but I certainly don't finish projects when I could.  I will just keep putting it off, and putting it off!  It's damn embarrassing.

Take my turquoise jumper, look:

It's almost finished, which would be terrific, except that's exactly the problem!  I get to this fardling ALMOST stage and then my mojo goes on holiday. Gah!

I sewed the sleeves in which was a total pain in the butt (one of them twice because I got it twisted. I'm miffed about that. I should know better) and most ends are even woven in!  (How often do you think I manage to do that while it's still a WIP?)  I mean: what else do you need to do to finish the blooming thing? Not much: just the neck.

Now most garments I have 'follow-through' problems with because I happen to enjoy the knitting process itself a lot, the wearing of said garments unfortunately not quite as much. I seem to knit for the knitting part, not for anything that comes after. Silly, right?

But here I suffer the creeping anxiety that the neck will be too tight and I won't be able to A) get it over my head, or B) feel like I'm getting strangled when I do.  I must tell myself: it is not a solution to put off the inevitable outcome!  It's not gonna change anything to just leave that poor WIP lying around, it's not!  Until you know what it is you can't deal with it. So for flipping heck's sake woman: just get on with it!

Sorry, I had to get that off my chest there. I feel better now.


So back to the lovely blog post by Roobeedoo: I think it's genius to decide that you'll combine other things with your knitwear once the knitted garment is all finished and done!  (Revolutionary, right? Just what I needed to hear)  Why try and put yourself through the stress of feeling you need to finish a knit because an outfit is waiting to be completed?  Much better to plan things the other way round.

I found the post inspiring for another reason as well: I would love to plan my wardrobe a lot more rather than grabbing those clothes to wear that I happen to own. I have a few single pieces that I'd love to wear more, unfortunately they only go with black or maybe grey.

I have plenty of black and grey clothes, - but I'm getting rather fed up with those.  A bit of colour in my wardrobe would be so very nice! I imagine it to be really cheery and uplifting: you open your wardrobe and you feel inspired to wear a specific outfit. That sounds nice, doesn't it?

So now I'm looking at a shawl I love, this one:

...and I'm trying to come up with colours to go with this, in blouses or dresses, that I can buy or even sew.  I have a feeling that a sewing project would come together much more easily when I can't wait to wear  the result of my efforts! Motivation!

A rich darkish blue would be lovely, royal blue should go as well, white would look good (maybe a white and black checked skirt?), and certain purples too. It would have to be a very distinct purple though: with lots of blue in it, none of that yellow crimson that I can't stand.  Maybe even a really dark sparkling green?  Ooh, and petrol!
Dainty colours would probably get overwhelmed by this strong, dominant colour.  I'll have to hold a light lilac or mint next to it to see.


I can't wait to see what I'll come up with!


I could perhaps wear this shawl with this colour (it is more navy or dark blue in real life though):

I also have a few pieces in petrol, like this one, which is notoriously difficult to photograph for its colour:

It should look like the colour at the centre of the second picture, and not like the blue on the right hand side of the second photo, or in the third photo.

This is a very rich, dark, even greeny petrol. But it just won't show on most photos (like the third one) - they make it look like a mid blue.  You'll have to use your imagination.

I was going to show a photo of my dark purple dressing gown but when the colour looks good on the photo, it changes to a different colour once uploaded. Most frustrating.

Love grey or silver, and pink (pink is probably my most favourite colour of all)

I also love this colour, a very light blue:

And I don't seem to find a project or RTW garment in royal blue. But I reckon you know that colour.

So there you go. That's most of the colours that are strong, bright and vibrant that I love and want to wear more of.


PS: Maybe the funnel neck of the turquoise jumper stops being such an obstacle if I can find something to wear with this jumper? Maybe it works that way round when you're almost done? Gah, there's that word again!  Excuse me while I go and wash my mouth out with soap and water...

Almost, pffff....


PS: Here is another interesting blog post by Coletterie entitled wardrobe architect about colour in your wardrobe.

Pink crescent shawl

I loved knitting this shawl, love the colour, love the yarn: Wollmeise in colourway Tutu Dark.

Unfortunately the stocking stitch made the edge curl up, some times all the way to where the lace starts.  I wouldn't have been able to wear it like that.  It would have felt like a thin bit of string that might threaten to strangle rather than warm the wearer.

So I picked up stitches all the way along the top edge and knit down, again in stocking stitch.

I had more yarn left than I thought and the resulting facing is almost three inches deep.  Once I ran out of yarn I sewed down each live stitch with cotton thread that matched in colour.

Blocking did wonders for this.  It really brings out the lace pattern beatifully.

The pattern for the lace came from a stitch book, it was called 'Branched Fern' there.  Although the stitch is quite logical it isn't exactly intuitive - I had to keep checking the chart even after quite a few repeats.

I love the way this shawl looks, I'm just not as convinced about the facing. Maybe I should have tried some kind of band as an edging.  Having hand sewn each stitch I won't re-do this.  I will give a different design feature a go when I try something similar in future.

The Velvet Damson Juneberry Triangle

Saw the pattern, loved it. Tried to get it, couldn't (the magazine was only available in North America, tut!). Waited till October, found it on Ravelry (yay!), bought it, downloaded it, picked a yarn from my stash...

...and guess what!
It's already finished.

I was chomping at the bit to get into this!  But I'm still very surprised that I managed to knit this up so quickly.  I was expecting it to take a month, or so, so imagine my surprise when it got done in a week.  Being on holiday and able to knit all day might have something to do with that though, funnily enough...

Here it is:



Isn't it gorgeous?

The yarn is Colinette's Jitterbug in Velvet Damson, I used a bit more than one skein (check the yardage given in the pattern, I think I'm very close to that).  I knit this on 4mm needles, the nice pointy ones from Hiya Hiya I think (if that's the silver ones? I get confused, I have so many).

The pattern is a little tricky: the WS rows are not just purl but lace knitting as well, but they are quite repetitive so not too difficult to do.  The edging is a bit more challenging, I needed to refer to the chart all the way round - it is easy to see what you're doing on the RS rows!

I realised quite late in the day (when it was too late to do anything about it) that the nupps didn't pop out on the RS very much at all.  Instead they just look as if the knitted fabric is a bit denser in those areas.  Must be down to my knitting?  In the edging I knit another row and only then decreased back to one stitch, that worked a lot better.  I'd like to make this shawl again and then I intend to get those nupps to behave!

One alteration to the pattern: I didn't like to miss out on the garter edge to cast on anew for the edging, so instead I knit up the three garter stitches, back and forth, for long enough to pick up 19 stitches along the relevant edge (3 per two loops), that together with the stitch from binding off those three garter stitches then gave me the 20 stitches specified to start the edging chart.  I should have probably started three rows into that chart to get to a similar point in the repeats when I got to the triangle's top point to get the nupps placed symetrical, but hey: it's handmade, what do you want.  Not perfection, that's for sure.

I'm loving it, I can't stop wearing it.  Which is the best sign that it's a successful project!  I love showing it off too.

PS: I just uploaded lots more piccies onto my Ravelry project page, if you'd like to take a look in closer detail.

Phew! Two shawls blocked...

Now that's got to count for progress!

Here they are:

My Aqua Malabrigo Lace Shawlette

Pattern:      Traveling Woman

Yarn:         Malabrigo Silky in Bobby Blue (27)

Needles:    4mm

I used just under 2 skeins. Bought from Loop Knitting in Islington, London. They just moved to gorgeous new premises!

Alpaca Shawl in Dark Red

Pattern:     Gail/Nightsongs

Yarn:        Artesano Alpaca 4 ply

Needles:    4.5mm

I must check the remainder of the yarn to figure out how much I used. I bought four balls but I've got lots left over.

I was quite worried that this alpaca wool wouldn't block well.  So far it's looking good but I haven't exactly worn it yet.  It's too warm outside for that, so I will need to blog about this shawl when it gets autumnal again (let's not think of that just yet).

Latest state of play:
16 WIPs
20 Completed projects (yay!)
 8 projects in hibernation (yup, chucked another couple in there for good measure)
 
I'm afraid I am sneaking a newly cast-on project in there.  I was desperate to cast on a Niebling doily pattern in a white cobweb yarn that is so wonderfully soft and beautiful to knit with!  I am hoping this is going to be a shawl.  Right now I'm at the stage where I have to repeat the same two stitches times two over two rows about 20 times, it's getting a touch tough to get through...
I really should complete a couple more projects - for the variety!

Hannelore plans

I saw a lovely lace pattern called Hannelore that Lacefreak blogged about. I fell in love!
I wanted, no: 'needed', to get this pattern and knit it just as soon as possible.
NB: there are also lovely pictures at Ars Una, Species Mille's blog.

I looked online, then at ebay, set up a search reminder for 'Burda Spezial E418', googled it again - but no joy. Then I found this project on Ravelry and realised that the pattern had also been published in 'Band 408' (that's volume 408 to you and me) by a company called Beyer Verlag. So back to googling and ebay and any other place I could think of.

Then Amazon posted the item: 'Kunststricken. Decken, Garnituren, Spitzen: Bände 408 und 760', saying: 'Not yet available but can be pre-ordered'. Hah!
Guess what? I did. (Big surprise)

It was supposed to arrive some time in late April if memory serves. It took a little longer - I got it some time in May. I don't mind: this is a treasure!

The two volumes are not bound books, they are more like brochures or folded booklets and come in a wallet that also contains the two sets of charts. And a loose leaf sheet of either errata or supplementing information.

Band 408 has more complicated, highly lacey looking doilies, the items in Band 760 are a little more robust looking, if that makes any sense. These patterns do not seem quite as complex with more stockinette stitch in them. The items in both are really lovely!

My Hannelore pattern that I was so desperate for turns out to be quite small. I must check Lacefreak's blog entry again to see how big you can get this if you use larger needles - I was rather hoping to be able to wear this as a shawl! The size in the book is that of a cushion cover, not quite what I had in mind!

I am playing around with yarn choices and have not yet decided what to use (my Silkbloom Extra Fino from BC Garn would be quite nice?) - I have this in undyed as well as my usual choice of strong pinks.
There are so many projects in these volumes I want to make that I started a medium sized one first: Image 20 on page 12 (I didn't find a name for this). I will post about this soon.

In the meantime, here's what the Silkbloom yarn looks like:

PS: I just realised that I didn't mention that these patterns are by a gentleman called Herbert Niebling. I think he was a genius! I've even found a picture* of him again (plus mini bio. He's not on Wikipedia!), though it took some doing - searching Google Images for his name brings up millions of doilies!

*: I just love that pot of Alpenveilchen on his table (on a balcony?) that he is apparently using to weigh the chart down! How endearing is that...

And very dapper he is too: the glasses and clothes are very 1950s/60s Germany.

My quickest project

I can't quite believe this but I knitted a shawlette in a day. This is the very quickest project I managed to do. I even finished sewing in the ends on the same day and now I am wearing it the following day.

Very satisfying!

The yarn is off ebay, I really like the colour (the purple is a little more 'electric' blue looking in real life, very striking). I hadn't knitted anything in mohair in a long time (a lemon yellow lace patterned jumper with butterfly wings comes to mind. It was my first major project and I think I even finished it at some point. Didn't wear it all that much though - that put me right off mohair).

The pattern is lovely: Storm Cloud Shawlette off Ravelry, designed by a lady named Hanna Breetz.

I meant to knit a bigger ruffle all round, the pattern calls for 12 rows - running out of yarn I only managed three rows. I think that has its own charm. Those three rows make for a distinct edge even though a ruffle is nowhere in sight.

Haruni shawl in navy blue

I enjoyed finishing and wearing the pink shawlette so much, I thought I'd like another one in blue. Found some suitable yarn in my stash, retrieved this free Ravelry pattern that I've had my eye on for a while, and off I went!

I had ordered some yarn off ebay that was advertised as just 'navy wool', no band, no other information - and I am very pleased to find that it is lovely! Incredibly thin, so I knitted it double. Shame that I don't know what it is, I might get more. It was very affordable too so I am even more pleased that it gives a lovely finished texture and very slight colour variation. Because it has a slightly crepe-like feel to it I would think that it might a blend.

I love the detail of the pattern:

              

Candle Light Kerchief

The first time I checked out Loop Knitting, the yarn shop in Cross Street, Islington, London – I marvelled at the lovely yarns but also found them a touch expensive.  Then I spied some completely gorgeous wool hanging in long hanks over what looked like a broomstick above the stairs down into the stockroom.  This turned out to be a 100% merino wool called Colinette Jitterbug. Colinette being the company, and Jitterbug the name of the merino sock yarn.
I’d fallen into immediate adoration of the shade Rio – this is a bright fuchsia, slightly variegated in mainly bright pink, some streaks a bit lighter and other slightly darker or more violetty, and then there are short bits of an orangey red in there but only one stitch at a time.

It is gorgeous! I wanted it, I had to have it.

Having gotten the one skein home I wasn’t really sure what to do with it (as you do). In the end a pattern for a Candle Light shawl won the day and I started to knit this triangular shawlette. I was inspired after seeing a merino kerchief worn by a friend time and time again, with me getting more jealous each time I saw her in it! Also in a lace pattern, a touch smaller and in a gorgeously vibrant shade of violet.

I loved knitting this. The yarn feels really good when winding it, knitting with it and lovely for wearing it too! I managed to do a fair bit of it pretty quickly, then I got a little stuck when I realised I was running out of yarn. I thought I might want to get a second skein but resisted because the shading between skeins can be wildly different. You either buy the whole lot at the same time, making sure to compare them thoroughly!, or you you’ll get a very different shade or distribution of colours. So I did the border repeat and cast off. A very simple bog standard chain cast off. Which didn’t do the shawlette any favours and made it look a bit bland. Not as special as it should look!
I was going to unpick the cast-off row and try something different (I hadn’t cut the 'cord' yet) but then some experimenting with a crochet hook resulted in a picot edge that used up most of my remaining yarn (though not all, crikey!) and left me highly satisfied with the outcome. Result!

I probably wouldn't have finished the edge now in early March if it hadn’t been for the fact that I was suddenly desperate to wear it and show off to a friend what I’d made. I didn’t fancy carrying the still attached ball of wool around with me and I wasn’t going to cut it off either – weaving in three ends instead of the one was not something I fancied*. So it was off to meet the friend kerchief-less and then after that the sudden spurt of energy to finish.

I’ve been wearing it every second day since. I love it a lot because it looks so good! I wear a lot of black so my favourite colour brightens me up considerably! In fact, I like the whole shawlette thing so much that I fancy something similar in blue.
I’ve even cast on already, ahem, I’ve even done about a third of this by now! I might have another finished object to list soon.

This is educational (borrowing the words of Vinnie Jones in Lock, Stock…): if you want to get inspired then finish something. The pleasure you get from completing something might suddenly spur you on to bigger and better things: more joy, more knitting happiness!
I am very pleased with this.

* - I do a lot of weaving in of ends on my wave crest patterned cardie. I am getting plenty of practice on this project but I didn't want to waste even a few inches of this lovely Jitterbug yarn!