skein

Forest Path Stole update

Another three tiers knitted yesterday, bringing me up to tier 15.  I think my biggest problem with this stole is that it's quite boring to knit, the yarn is oiled and therefore not as nice as other lace weights to knit with, and although I've switched from innox to bamboo, making the knitting (very) slightly more easy to see, it's still not ideal, and I much prefer knitting this in daylight. I thought I'd try to knit one square each day, but it's not working out. By the time I get home in the evening, and sit down to relax, I'm usually really tired and not up to any sort of knitting where I have to look at a diagram or follow a plan. So it ends up with me spending alternate Sundays knitting solely on the FPS. Anyone who knows me knows that I prefer to skip from one project to another, otherwise my old bones seize up!

So here's the progress pic. There really are three more tiers, though I know it still looks the same as the last time I posted!

Only another 8 to go, then that seed stitch border!

Louisa Harding yarns

I'm rather behind on my posts, but on Monday we went to a Louisa Harding yarn tasting at Stash, which involves wine, nibbles and yarn tasting of some of LH yarn range.  It's a great opportunity to try out new yarns.  Louisa Harding has a lot of what I'd call Novelty yarns.  It's difficult to judge from a photo in a book just how the yarns feel and look knitted up. None of my squares were washed, which might improve their qualities somewhat.

Mariposa (52%viscose, 48% cotton) 4.5sts/inch
  Not a winner. It looks and feels shiny acrylic, slightly plastic.  I don't like the knitted fabric either. It's an aran weight yarn but even at tension my fabric looks quite open.  I imagine this might look good as an accent yarn, maybe with the main yarn in cotton. 

Coquette (85% polyester 15% pailettes - little sequins I presume) 5.5sts/inch
This was a nightmare to cast on (those pesky sequin things kept getting in the way) but the yarn was surprisingly not a problem to knit with. I took things slowly, and pulled the knitting down as I knitted the stitch.  It felt a little like knitting with thin string.  The ends frayed a lot, and the sequins fell off. I can't imagine a whole garment in this stuff, though it might work with lace on small areas.

Glisten (97% nylon, 3% polyester) 5sts/inch
Sparkly! It felt like knitting with a narrow ribbon yarn. Again, a great accent yarn, not so sure whether I'd want to wear a garment made of 97% nylon in the height of summer. 

My favourites, all 5.5sts /inch. All lovely to knit with and all produce a great fabric.
Kashmir DK (55% wool, 35% microfibre, 10% cashmere).

Kimono Angora Pure (70% angora, 25% wool, 5% nylon).  A good job that I like this one, as there's a pack in my stash! 

Grace (50%silk, 50% wool). This is gorgeous, my #1 out of all of the LH yarns!  I'll be buying some of this in the Autumn for my cool weather knitting.

The rest

From centre top, a mini skein of Sari Ribbon. I'm saving this for wrapping presents!  At under £4 for 60m, it's a bargain!

Nautical cotton (turquoise) 5sts/inch 100% cotton - a nice cotton to knit with, I'll probably get some over the summer.

Kimono Ribbon (bottom). 4.5sts/inch, 100% nylon. Looks nice but I've not had time to knit with it. I reckon that this will look fabulous as an accent, again.

Impression 5sts/inch 84%nylon, 16% mohair.  I've used this before and it knits up well.

And finally Kashmir Aran, which I'll enjoy as much as the dk, when I have time to knit it up.

I think I may have to knit a Louisa Harding design now! 

Another pair of socks finished

Thank you for the compliments on the Diamond Fantasy Shawl. It's a dead easy knit, just two real lines of lace to memorise, and the small shawl only takes about 350yds (but please check, this is a guess!).

I spent the weekend finishing off some socks

These are the gift socks for May.
Opal Rodeo - 64 sts using 2mm circular.  Plain top-down with a short row heel. 
These will be going to a friend of ours who already owns one pair of hand knitted socks, but she's desperate for another pair, so here they are.
My second pair for this month will be Sockapaloozer socks. I cast on last Thursday, but have restarted three times!  The pattern calls for a ribbing long tail cast on (well, it's not called that exactly, but it looks like a ribbing, of sorts) and slipped sts in the the first few rows, which has produced a fairly inelastic cast-on edge.  I tried three times, but on this fourth time I'm using a long tail cast on and disregarding the pattern instructions.  Once I'm past the ribbing I'll take a photo. No point in tempting fate yet.

And what's this?

This turned up in the post on Friday - my niece Chloe's first attempt at knitting!   It's got everything going for it, hasn't it?  Cast on, cast off (these look like my sister's doing!), garter stitch, the odd ribbing, and even some lace!  I do hope that she sticks with it. I've knitted this niece some socks, and I think that these have inspired her to try to learn to knit.  Billy, sadly, wasn't at all eager to learn to knit, even with lots of encouragement! He once picked up some straight needles, when he was about 10, but only so that he could use them as spears on a knitted cushion cover!

ISE4 - finished!

Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding, using Seasilk in the Ocean Colour. This was a remarkably quick knit, it was finished in a weekend. The pattern is easy, the instructions are clear, and Seasilk is a dream to knit with.  I knitted seven repeats (after threading through a lifeline after the sixth repeat, in case I ran out of yarn) and had about 8g left over.

Here it is blocking on some interlocking playmats, which I'd seen on Heather's blog.  Great investment, it's much easier to pin out the shawl, and kinder to old knees than a carpet.

Now my resident shawl-wearer has left the company, and I'm afraid that the three alternative models didn't seem to know how to wear a shawl!  But here are lots of finished photos anyway. I went through 3 models!  My own shot (trying to take a photo of the back view in a mirror) was abysmal; let's just say that the shawl wasn't even in the shot, just a close up view of the side of my face!

And last, two shots of the shawl hung on the wall.

Hope my pal likes it!  It's in the post now, and *clue* it's going to the west coast of North America - is it for you???

On the needles

Nothing new, I'm afraid. I'm still chugging along on my current wips, which are growing slowly.  I have loads of things on my wishlist, but I want to finish a couple of things first. 

Summer braids cardigan in Debbie Bliss Rialto
I'm ready to divide for the armholes at long last.

Current socks
One down, one still on the needles

The Mystery Shawl
I'm knitting this until I run out of yarn. I have just over one ball of Jamieson's Ultra left - about 230yds - so surely it won't take much longer to knit this!  I think I'll be able to knit one more pattern repeat before casting off. 

It's a circular shawl, which is why it looks like a bundle of rags.  I hope it blocks out well, it's looking quite small.

My ISE4 shawl, the Diamond Fantasy, is blocked, but I've not taken any photos yet. I'll wait until I take it into the office and can get someone to hold it up - this week sometime as it needs to be posted to Western North America (and that's the only hint I'll give!)

Last, but not least, the Forest Path Stole!
It looks exactly as it did at tier 10, but I've now finished tier 12.  I've bit the bullet and changed needles, from grey metal circulars to bamboo circulars. These may be blunter than the Innox but they make for easier knitting, in this instance they work better with the yarn, more grip, and I can see the knitting a little better. Hopefully this means I might pick this project up more often.  I've already decided to knit the full 23 tiers rather than 19. 12 down, 11 to go = 49 rectangles!

I'm still pondering on my sockapaloozer socks, but at Stash yesterday I bought some potential sock yarn - Fleece Artist merino , in Burgundy.  I won't mention the other purchases, let's just say I grabbed the second from last skein of Handmaiden Camel Spin, in Renaissance along with other Handmaiden goodies. I'm glad to see that they're producing the Seasilk in larger skeins - 150g and 600m rather than 100g and 400m.

Fleece Artist

Handmaiden Camel Spin and Seasilk in bronze - gorgeous!

ISE4

Good progress!  I resisted all temptation (i.e. looking through stash/pattern stash/book stash) and knitted solely on my Diamond Fantasy shawl over the weekend, which meant that by late afternoon on Sunday I'd finished the knitting part, and another 20 row pattern repeat (rather than have loads of Seasilk left). 

I can't remember where I bought this pattern, but I have a downloadable version, so it's probably from The Knitting Zone or possibly from the designer's site?  Very nice pattern, and because the lace is so regular, it's easy to spot a mistake.  I made the smaller version, plus one extra repeat.

Unblocked, showing the colour of the Seasilk (Ocean, mainly blue with a touch of green).

Unblocked with the window as a backdrop, showing off the lace pattern.

I didn't like the I-cord cast off on the upper edge, and opted for the Icelandic cast off (I think that's what it's called, when you slip the two stitches back onto the left needle, and knit through the back of them). Nothing wrong with an I-cord upper edge!  It's just that Seasilk is slightly thicker than fine laceweight yarn and it was looking a little bulky.

I'm pleased with this, hope my pal will like it once it's blocked out. Now to gather together a few local bits and pieces to include with my scarf.

April Knitting

I think I may have been a little ambitious with my April knitting plans.

1) finish Persian Poppies Waistcoat
2) socks for Chris
3) PINK socks for me
4) GREEN Debbie Bliss cardigan for me
5) PINK baby cardigan for baby O

6) Finish the Mystery Shawl (conveniently forgotten!)

7) Work to tier 10 of the Forest Path Stole.

Baby cardigan wasn't even started. 
The Mystery shawl is still 1.5 balls of Jamieson's Ultra away from being finished.
The green Summer braids cardigan has 7" of the body knitted, a long way off being finished.

Just in the nick of time I finished my pink socks.
Finished socks # 8 for 2007.
 

Yarn: Lorna's Laces sock yarn, Tickled Pink
Pattern: Scales Skin Socks (SSS) from the Yahoo group Six Sox Knitalong.
Started and finished in April 07.

My May Goals?
1) Finish the gift socks for May. These are already on the needles.

Opal Rodeo, 64sts on 2mm needles.
2) Socks for me. Yarn: not decided. Pattern: not decided.
3) Finish Summer Braids before the summer starts!
4) Knit another five tiers, at least, on the Forest Path Stole, which would bring me to tier 15.
5) Baby cardigan
6) Finish my ISE4 Diamond fantasy shoulder shawl.
7) Not that I'll start this yet, but here's another stash acquisition! 
Kim Hargreaves Peace cardigan, in cotton dk, Ice Water.

 
I haven't mentioned my 2 year old UFO Martha, you'll notice. That's because Martha is temporarily misplaced!  I'll have to have a tidy up (and get knitting).

ISE4

I've been quietly, desperately trying to knit on my ISE4 scarf.  Remember the vote?

The outright winner was Cherry Tree Cascade Silk with the Lead or Follow pattern - which was an sorry failure. 

Since then I've tried several other recipes.
CTH silk with the Flower Basket Shawl  (no photo)
CTH silk with The Forest Canopy Shawl

I love the yarn, but don't like this pattern with this yarn. I tried larger needles, which didn't help at all.
Then I moved onto the Seasilk. Seasilk with Forest Canopy Shawl, started at Stash on Saturday, before leaving for Winchester, and it looked good... but no photo as it fell off its needles en route, twice.  This is bad news, and (although I'm not superstitious) I decided it was time to look at other patterns.
And I think I've found a pattern which I like!
It's the Diamond Fantasy Shawl (I'll be knitting the smaller shawl).  I've only just started this but it's looking fine as of last night.

Good thoughts, please, that this is a keeper!  I want to have this finished and in the post in a few weeks; it has a big ocean to traverse and needs to arrive by the beginning of June!