skein

In Dreams Shawl, clue 3

Clue 3 is finally finished!  It ought to have been finished on Wednesday night, but various stuff got in the way - fell over, caught a cold, brother taken ill, dropped stitches.  It meant that i've only just finished this morning.  

 

Here it is, agaisnt the window. It's a semi circular shawl, knitted from the top down.  The egding on the right is the top edging.

It's very red, not burgundy!  I had another go at taking a photo of the beads, but again, they don't show up.  They match the coclour of the year exactly. 

I have another day and a half to finish my April goals - that's half a sock, a whole glove (with a very long cuff)  and a pair of mittens.  I think not!

Herbivore Shawl

My third shawl for 11shawls2011.

Pattern: Herbivore

Yarn: Wollmeise, Miss May,  about 140g,  529yds.

Needles: 3.25mm instead of the recommended 4mm.  Which is why it was a pain to knit, and didn't grow quickly, I suspect!

Started: March 30th

Finished: April 20th

I really like the finished shawl, but didn't like knitting it!  It's the twisted 1x1 ribbing, and the st stitch sections - I kept overshooting each section and having to tink back. 

I managed to persuade Mr C to model it, and he loves it too, wants it for cooler weather. THis one,, and Foolish Virgins, better watch the shawl and scarf box come Autumn!

A close up:

 

In Dreams Mystery Shawl clue 2

Aaahhh!  The beads!  I did a quick adding up and there's over 900 beads in this clue, and I've added them all with a needle and thread!  It seems more fiddly than with a crochet hook but it probably works out about the same amoutn t of time = I can thread a  row's worth onto the yarn at one time, and as long as I don't split the yarn or thread with the needle it's not too bad,.

the border on the right is going to be the top border.

I do like knitting with beads, but I have to admit that I was a bit fed up by the time I reached the end of clue 2! 

I do have some ver long circulars, but don't use them for lace knitting (they tend to come undone) - though I might on the last row of each clue, so you can see the marvellous pattern, Loving it, love the red, love the sparkly beads.

I'm having a break, until this next weekend.  I need to get other things done before the end of the month! 

 

Oh, and I have cast on another shawl. It's Andrea.  A bottom up shawl, starting with this border. 

I'm using wool, and it'll be blue and black, not very summery is it?  I wound this up a few months ago and am determined to knit with it, regardless of how tempting it is to find lighter, more summery yarns!

 

Herbivore progress report (again)

I said I would knit and knit and knit on this shawl until it was finished, and I have!  It's my lease favourite type of knitting - 1x1 twisted ribbing and st st sections.  Ok on the right side  (apart from overrunning the sections as I don't use markers) but I do not like the wrong side knitting!

Other things were calling out, notably my In Dreams Mystery shawl, whose clue six has just been released, and I've just started clue three.  Kim Hargreaves new book is out, lots of lovely summery garments in there too. But I did resist. 

I've got to block this yet, and I'm seriously worried about the curling and ruffled edges! 

The colour isn't as bright as this, but I took it this morning, indoors, with the mobile, and needed to lighten/brighten it up a little.

We're not doing much over Easter, so I anticipate blocking this over the weekend,   I'm going to be sorting through winter/summer wardrobe and yarns first though, so let's see how that goes. The problem with getting out the cottons and summery stuff is that I'm awfully tempted to start new projects!  I've decided to keep out all the sock and laceweight yarns, and just pack up the winter woolly type yarns in dk or aran weight. That should minimise the stirring of the stash and keep me in check!

Herbivore progress

This is my third shawl for 11shawls2011, and I truly thought that this weekend I wou.d finish it. And my second sock. And the cuff of my second glove.

The glove and sock didn't get a look in this weekend. I have worked on Herbivore Friday to Sunday, and there's still knitting to be done on it.  I thought I had maybe a few rows to go and then it would be the garter stitch edging, but when I weighed my remaining yarn this morning, I have 65g left!  That's about 43% of the ball! 

I'm using 3.25mm instead of the 4mm called for, as I wanted a fairly tightly knit textured shawl (blocking will open it up a bit, but not a lot). It feels as if I'm knittng a garment! 

Another big dislike is 1x1 twisted ribbing, fine on the rhs, but I do not like purling tbl!  Oh, and I keep overshooting the ribbing section, so on every row I am tinking back. 

This is my plan. I will work on just this until it's finished. I will still have my sock for commuting, but all other wips are on hold. Until it's done!  I'll love it when it's finished, just not the process, for once!

knit knit knit knit knit ,,,

Another new project

Just started this week, another new wip, bringing the number of wips to five.  My limit, these days, so I'll be finishing off a few things before I cast onything else on!

It's the Mitered Crosses blanket, ravelry link here.   My hands want to type mitre not miter!

I'm using stash Noro Kureyone, but have had to buy the background yarn, oh dear. It's Cascade 220 in Lavender, a colour that looks terrible on me but should be ok for the blanket.

Noro inner squares:

And with some of the edges:

I'm going to finish the plain socks before I do any more knitting on these squres; they can then become commuter knittng. 

I was a bit worried about the background colour, but it's light enough to go well with these shades.

This pattern's a bit addictive, I'd forgotten how much I enjoy mitres!  Better get that second sock knitted!  I'm going to concentrate on socks, Herbivore and gloves this weekend.

 

Mystery socks

No, not a mystery kal. 

Mystery yarn!

 

I asked Mr C if he fancied socks in this colour, and he said yes, so they're for him 

Here they are knitted up:

Nice, simple commuter knitting.  From stash, a big plus.  I;m trying very hard to use up the less popular or unlabelled sock stash.  I hae some Regia stretch, in khaki, which is next on the needles, and some Lorna's Laces (not that that is horrible) lined up too.  that's another goal this year, knit the Lorna's Laces stash!

Blue Hands gloves progress

These are going well,  Much easier, and less fiddly, than the Eisblume gloves.

I'm on the fingers of the first glove. I love this pattern!

Here's the  progress photo on Sunday morning  11/2 fingers knitted  I hope to finish these this month, so I'd better gget a move on!

In Dreams mystery shawl kal

My latest obsession!  

It's the In Dreams mystery shawl.  Not too late to purchase the pattern!  I was tempted to sign up for this when it first appeared, the beginning of February, but resisted, the thought of all of those beads!  But having seen one in progress a few weeks ago, I quickly succumbed, and cast on this past Wednesday. It has taken me three evenings and half of Saturday to knit clue one! 

And the rows are getting longer ...

It's a shame that the beads don't show up, they match brilliantly.  And the red isn't true.  Pattern is a semi circular shoawl, knitted top down. I've cast on provisionally as theis part is grafted together. The broder you see is the top of the shawl.

 It's the beads which are taking time.   I initially put them on with a crochet hook, but had gone down to a size 0.50m, which kept catching my yarn, so I'm now using a blunt needlea and some button thread. It's slow, but the yarn isn't spitting now. 

I bought the beads from a company called  Beads Unlimited.  They are cheaper than the other sites I looked at, and so far the beads have all been regular, no funny middles or broken ones.  Sold in 100g packs.   I know nothing about beads, except that I use size 6.0 for lace, and 8.0 for 4ply!

 

Fallberry Mitts

Pattern: Fallberry Mitts, from Knitty.

Started: 30th March

Finished:2nd April (a quick knit!)

Needles: 2.75mm dpns

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, 52g.

A very quick pattern!  My fifth pair for fgf11in2011kal.