I Don't Like This Shawl

I made another shawl and I'm not at all happy with it. Except for the colors, which are gorgeous. And the pattern, which I'll definitely be following again.

This is going to be more of a yarn review than a post about a finished project.  Yarn Bee Wildstreak comes in gorgeous colors, but it's loosely spun and I had to focus on every stitch to keep the tips of my needles from going through the yarn. The second of three skeins had multiple knots and stretches where the fiber wasn't twisted at all.

I need to learn that it's okay to give up on yarn that just isn't working, especially when it was 75% off in the first place. I spent a whole lot of hours on a project that's probably going to wind up at the thrift shop because I don't feel like it turned out well enough to donate and it's not quite bad enough to throw in the garbage. (I'll make the final decision after seeing how it holds up in the wash.)

So much for trying new yarns...at least this particular new yarn. 

Neutral Hug Shawl

Remember the Hobby Lobby Incident? I've used up four more skeins of yarn from that pile. 

Yarn: Yarn Bee, Alpine Authentic (Neutral)  

I used the cast on and increases from the Gramma's Hug pattern, but left out the lace bits and ended it with a wide border of k2p2 ribbing. Ribbing at the bottom of shawls may be my new favorite thing.

Halfway Home Shawl

Can we all just agree that taking flattering pictures of large shawls, especially asymmetrical ones, is difficult? This one has fantastic texture and looks much better in real life. 

The pattern is Halfway Home and it's free on the Universal Yarns website. There's a simple lace panel that you can knit from memory once you're past the increases that form the shawl's point and the rest is garter stitch. 

I could happily knit a lot more of these mostly garter stitch shawls. They're perfect for working on in the evening while the family watches television. (Anyone got a Hulu or Netflix recommendation for us once we're done with the original Lost in Space?) 

This is definitely a stash-dived project. I had three skeins of Red Heart Designer Sport that I bought at a Michael's clearance sale back in 2008. There must've been a plan for it at the time, but whatever that might've been was long forgotten....along with the yarn itself. That was tucked into one of the darkest corners of my stash. 

But it made the best shawl! I'd planned on donating this one, but now I'm having second thoughts and feeling guilty about that...even though I know there will be lots more shawls to donate and to keep. 

Almost Back to Where I Was

The pictures look a lot like the shawl I showed you last week, but trust me. This version is completely different and whole lot prettier. And I'm going to make myself put in a lifeline before the lace pattern changes, so I hopefully won't be knitting this skein of yarn a third time. 

The pattern is Wailea Shawl, a free download from Crystal Palace Yarns.

Blue Basketweave Shawl

Maybe by the end of the year I'll have improved my shawl photography. The shawl itself is thick and warm and amazingly perfect, especially considering that the yarn was originally purchased to knit a sweater for one of my little boys. 

Yarn: Bernat Softee Chunky, Faded Denim, 4 skeins  

I knew I wanted basketweave, so I didn't even look at patterns for this one. I cast on seventy stitches, did seven rows of seed stitch, then placed stitch markers to keep the seed stitch border separate from the body of the shawl. (Okay, I did swatch first just to make sure that my finished shawl would  meet the width requirement for Twelve Shawls Forever. But it was just a little swatch and I didn't do it in the stitch pattern so it barely counts.)

If you've never knit basketweave before, it's ridiculously easy. This is five rows of k5, p5 ribbing, then p5, k5 ribbing for another five rows. I alternated that until I had just enough yarn left for another seven rows of seed stitch and cast off.

I didn't realize that I was playing yarn chicken, but I wound up with a little over ten yards of yarn left in my skein. If it'd been much tighter than that, I would've played it safe and left off a row or two of the seed stitch on one end.

The goal with these shawls, aside from keeping myself warm, is to use up stash yarn. Preferably with as few leftovers as possible.

Hufflepuff Lace Shawl

I'd come up with a different name, but the shawl was for my daughter and when I handed it over she said that it had Hufflepuff colors, so I guess we'll go with that. 

About the Yarn 

The yarn is Loops and Threads Chameleon in the Creme Brulee colorway. It comes in huge, fluffy 429 yard  skeins -- or did until it was discontinued about thirty-eight seconds after we found it at Michaels and my daughter hinted that it would make a nice shawl. It was also dirt cheap. I think I paid a sale price of four or five dollars.

When I cast on, I was following a completely different pattern and made it more than halfway through before I knit the wrong row from the lace chart and things went very wrong. This yarn is sticky and a pain to unravel. For your own sanity, try to pick out a project and stick with it. It's not too splitty to begin with, but after it's been unravelled once or twice, the two loosely spun plies get a little challenging.

If I had another skein to play with I'd definitely wind it into a ball before casting on. That big fluffy skein was pretty, but I spent a lot of time unwinding yarn to knit my next row.  And I had a knot. Mine didn't mess up the self-striping sequence, but over on Ravelry there are reports of multiple knots in each skein.

Want to Knit This One for Yourself? 

I didn't set out to create a pattern, so the setup rows I'm giving you don't match what I did on my shawl. (I followed someone else's instructions for the first dozen rows or so and then got an idea of my own...and by the time I realized how much I liked my own version the shawl was halfway done and I wasn't re-knitting it a third time just to get pictures that match the instructions.) The body of the shawl is the way I did mine and that's  the part you need.

If you've knit a triangular shawl before, this will be easy. If you haven't, but know how to knit, it will still be easy. Just bear with me for my version of the setup rows.

The shawl starts with a garter stitch tab. I couldn't do a provisional cast on to save my own life, so my version isn't how everyone else does it. If you know how to do it, please do it that way. Or, in an absolute pinch, you could cast on stitches and place markers and go from there, but that's what I did on my shawl and I really wouldn't do it that way again. It makes the shaping wonky...as if anyone is going to look at the nape of your neck and critique your shawl.




After you do the set up, which is explained in the video, you'll have twelve stitches, divided by stitch markers into five sections.

Right Side -- Slip the first stitch as if to purl, knit the second stitch, slip marker, make stitch,  knit to next marker, make stitch, slip marker, knit two center stitches, slip marker, make stitch,  knit to next marker, make stitch, slip marker, knit two.

Wrong Side -- Slip the first stitch as if to purl, knit the second stitch, slip marker,  knit to next marker,  slip marker, knit two center stitches, slip marker,  knit to next marker, slip marker, knit two.

Repeat these two rows five times, ending after a wrong side row.

If you cast on the way I did in the video, you'll have an odd number of stitches in the body of the shawl. Just increase one extra stitch in each body section on the last row and you'll have the even number of stitches you need for the lace.

Knit a lace band, then a seed stitch band, then a lace band, then a garter stitch band...and keep repeating that sequence, ending with a seed stitch or garter stitch band. Bind off loosely.

Lace Band (repeat these four rows twice)

Right Side -- Slip the first stitch as if to purl, knit the second stitch, slip marker, make stitch,  **knit two together, yarn over** to next market, make stitch, slip marker, knit two center stitches, slip marker, make stitch,  **knit two together, yarn over** to next marker, make stitch, slip marker, knit two.

Wrong Side -- Slip the first stitch as if to purl, knit the second stitch, slip marker, purl to next marker, slip marker, knit two center stitches , slip marker, purl to next marker, knit two.

Right Side -- Slip the first stitch as if to purl, knit the second stitch, slip marker, make stitch,  **yarn over, ssk** to next marker, make stitch, slip marker, knit two center stitches, slip marker, make stitch,  **yarn over, ssk** to next marker, make stitch, slip marker, knit two.

Wrong Side -- Slip the first stitch as if to purl, knit the second stitch, slip marker, purl to next marker, slip marker, knit two center stitches , slip marker, purl to next marker, knit two.

Seed Stitch Band (repeat these two rows twice)

Right Side -- Slip the first stitch as if to purl, knit the second stitch, slip marker, make stitch,  **knit one, purl one ** to next marker, make stitch, slip marker, knit two center stitches, slip marker, make stitch,  **knit one, purl one ** to next marker, make stitch, slip marker, knit two.

Wrong Side -- Slip the first stitch as if to purl, knit the second stitch, slip marker,  **knit one, purl one ** to next marker,  slip marker, knit two center stitches, slip marker,    **knit one, purl one ** to next marker, slip marker, knit two.

Late nights and missed increases gave me problems with this band. Watch your stitching and make sure that you're knitting the purls and purling the knits to get the seed stitch.

Garter Stitch Band (repeat these two rows twice)

Right Side -- Slip the first stitch as if to purl, knit the second stitch, slip marker, make stitch,  knit to next marker, make stitch, slip marker, knit two center stitches, slip marker, make stitch,  knit to next marker, make stitch, slip marker, knit two.

Wrong Side -- Slip the first stitch as if to purl, knit the second stitch, slip marker,  knit to next marker,  slip marker, knit two center stitches, slip marker,  knit to next marker, slip marker, knit two.

The Lonely Tree Shawl

Some people make dozens of quilt tops and fold them carefully into drawers. I make triangular shawls and tuck them safely away and forget to wear them. 

My latest finish is The Lonely Tree Shawl by Sylvia Bo Bilvia, and the pattern is a free download available at Ravelry. I used Knitpicks Telemark instead of the worsted weight yarn that the pattern calls for, so mine is a bit smaller than the designer intended.  In hindsight, I probably had enough yarn to do another repeat of the leaf lace, but I was afraid of running out. 

I've made leaf lace shawls before, but this is the first time I've done a  garter stitch edging with a picot bind-off. I really like the way it looks.

Remember all of the trouble I had remembering how to knit triangular lace shawls? I should have started with this pattern. It explains exactly how to follow the charts and when to knit what.

 This post is linked to I Gotta Try That, Sew Much Ado, Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Get Crafting Friday, Pinworthy Projects, and Freedom Fridays, Wonderful at Home, and Inspired Friday.

{Yarn Along} Atchafalaya Houseboat

A couple of weeks ago, Ginny at Small Things wrote about the book Atchafalaya Houseboat: My Years in the Louisiana Swamp. I reserved it from the library that same day.

Here's part of the book's Amazon description:

In the early 1970s, two idealistic young people—Gwen Carpenter Roland and Calvin Voisin—decided to leave civilization and re-create the vanished simple life of their great-grandparents in the heart of Louisiana’s million-acre Atchafalaya River Basin Swamp. Armed with a box of crayons and a book called How to Build Your Home in the Woods, they drew up plans to recycle a slave-built structure into a houseboat. Without power tools or building experience they constructed a floating dwelling complete with a brick fireplace. Towed deep into the sleepy waters of Bloody Bayou, it was their home for eight years. This is the tale of the not-so-simple life they made together—days spent fishing, trading, making wine, growing food, and growing up—told by Gwen with grace, economy, and eloquence.

I think it was the box of crayons that convinced me I needed to read the book. I wasn't disappointed. There are so many neat little details from their lives in the swamp. In addition to the brick fireplace, the library in their houseboat had a brick floor. The pictures are black and white, but it looks like it was gorgeous.

They washed their quilts by dipping them into the water and squeezing them out on the deck. Can you imagine?

My new knitting project is The Lonely Tree Shawl, a free download from Ravelry.  I'm using Knitpicks Telemark in Flame Heather. I'd originally bought this yarn intending to make the Cardigan for Merry sweater for my youngest. Time passed and he grew and I realized that I was intimidated by the cables. (Today, they don't look that bad. Maybe there's still some hope of making Arwen for myself someday.)

When I found the pattern, I didn't think I had any yarn in my stash that would work for it.  The Telemark isn't the weight that the pattern calls for, but it's what I've got on hand. And shawls are very forgiving.

For more pretty knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis. 

{Yarn Along} 198 Yards of Heaven

Remember that shapeless lump of red wool that I've been working on for the past few weeks? Look what it grew up into! Sometimes I'm really amazed at what you can accomplish with four bucks worth of wool and a free download.

 

 

Pattern: 198 Yards of Heaven

Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes (Firecracker, 2 skeins)

Needles: vintage nylon circular 

 

 

 

I love the way the lace pattern from the body of the shawl flows seamlessly into the edging. I think it's the first time I've ever used stockinette lace for the shawl and garter stitch lace for the edging.

 

Can you make out the knitting needle in this picture? All of the stitches from both scalloped edges were scrunched onto that needle. It works, but it makes it tough to get pictures of the shawl in progress.

For more pretty knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis. 

{yarn along} Gone Girl

 

Remember how Dark Places by Gillian Flynn absolutely blew me away? Compared to that one, Sharp Objects was a disappointment, and I almost didn't pick up Gone Girl... I'm so glad I did!

Nick and Amy Dunne are living in a rented house in a almost empty development.  Both have lost their jobs to the recession. They've burned through Amy's trust fund, money from the Amazing Amy books her parents based on her childhood.  And on the day of their fifth anniversary, Nick comes home to find the front door open and signs of a struggle in the living room.

Amy is gone. And the husband is always the first suspect...

This is one of those books that I can't say too much about without spoiling the fun.  It's a psychological thriller that will keep you turning the pages to see what happens next. Is the story plausible? That's one of the complaints I keep seeing lately in reviews of the books I've loved. No, these things couldn't happen. But no one says they did. They're fiction, intended to be an entertaining read and not a depiction of real life.


The new shawl is 198 Yards of Heaven, a free Ravelry download by Christy Verity.

For a free download, this pattern is impressive, with written and charted instructions and stitch counts listed for every repeat. I've paid for patterns that were less complete. There are purl stitches on the right side of the shawl, which I fussed about for the first few rows, especially on the wrong side when I had to keep track of where they were to knit them. But they're stacked one on top of the other, which makes it incredibly easy to find and correct mistakes at 2am.  

I'm really hoping that my two skeins of Wool of the Andes will be enough -- it's gonna be close!

Silly disclosure -- the book came from the library.  For more pretty knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis.

Rose Ribbons Shawl -- Finished!

My Rose Ribbons Shawl is proof that half forgotten stash isn't always a bad thing. I bought Knitting Lace Triangles by Evelyn A. Clark back in 2009 (the print version of the book is no longer available, but there's an electronic download available on Ravelry), planning to cast on for the Sand Dollar shawl as soon as we got home. It was the perfect project for some yarn I'd bought at the Brown Sheep outlet the previous summer. But then there were other things to knit, and quilts to piece...that's the way it usually goes.

After I finished Treads in January, I wanted another halfway challenging project. I pulled out the book, and some skeins of Cotton-Ease that I'd bought on sale a few years back, and cast on. That old stash does get used. Sometimes not for what I'd bought it for, but if I use it for a project I love, I'm happy.

 

Pattern: Rose Ribbons Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, Taupe, 2 1/2 skeins

Needles: vintage nylon circular, probably size 8 

 

Now I've got a fabulously warm shawl to snuggle up in -- and the temperature is in the nineties.

I'll be linking up to Finish it Up Friday, Can I get a Whoop Whoop?, Get Crafty Fridays, and Freedom Fridays.

the rows are getting longer

With top-down triangular shawls, you start with a few stitches and increase on every row. The first few rows absolutely speed by, then they start to take a little longer...and longer...and longer...

That's the point I'm at with the Rose Ribbons Shawl. According to the pattern, I'm done except for the edging. But I've got another skein and a half of yarn, and room on my needles, so I plan on knitting another set of repeats to make it larger.

No new book to share with you today, since I just finished the Yesterday's Mysteries for the blog hop post on Tuesday.  For more fun knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis.

 

{yarn along} I thought I was in trouble

I set aside the Rose Ribbons shawl to work on socks for Judy's challenge and had an absolute blast knitting three pairs, one after the other. Until I hit the point where I couldn't even force myself to pick up the fourth pair and knit another row of that k2p2 ribbing.

I hadn't planned to put the shawl away  for so long. I hadn't written down the last row number and had a nagging fear that the magnet marking my spot had slipped. So between that and the sock, I haven't been doing any knitting. Until yesterday, when I decided it was time to pull it out and  compare the knitting to the chart and either knit a few rows or give up for good.

Sometimes the magnet has managed to remain on the right row and things are just as easy as they should be. It's a  good feeling.

 

I decided to read Yip/Tuck because the plastic surgery element intrigued me. Turns out that, although the customer Melinda Langston finds dead on the bench in front of her upscale pet boutique is a plastic surgeon, plastic surgery is  a very small element of the book.  That doesn't matter,  though, because the book was so entertaining that I barely noticed. Aside from trying to find out who strangled Dr. O'Doggle with a leash purchased from her shop, Melinda also has her hands full trying to reclaim an heirloom brooch stolen from her by her cousin Caro (after she stole it from Caro herself.)

 

Even though I started with the fourth book in the series, it was easy enough to catch up on the  characters and their relationships. I wanted to find out more of Melinda's back story, so I picked up  

Desperate Housedogs, the first book in the series. That one is from Caro's point of view -- and I think I might like her better than her cousin.

For more fun knitting projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis.

 

My copy of Yip/Tuck was provided by the publisher.

{yarn along} not taking the easy way out

I'm still knitting away on the  Rose Ribbons Shawl from Knitting Lace Triangles and absolutely loving it.

The alternating bands of flower lace and leaf lace intimidated me at first because it's hard to see what's going on with that flower lace. Until you've got enough rows of it done, it just looks like a bunch of random yarn overs and decreases.

I was tempted to just keep the set up section of flower lace and do the rest of my shawl in leaf lace. It's easier to see where the stitches should fall in that one. But that flower lace is so pretty... and once I got enough of it done to get a good look., it started to make more sense.

The leaf lace is what I messed up on. There's a certain point, which varies from night to night, where it's just too late to knit lace. And that point is never obvious until it's just a bit too late and things have already gone wrong. I've got it fixed now, but it may be a few more rows before I stop holding my breath.

This week's books are The Mysterious Half Cat and The Riddle of the Double Ring, both from the Judy Bolton mystery series.

For more fun projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis. 

{yarn along} Rose Ribbons Shawl

After finishing Treads, I wanted to challenge myself again. What constitutes a knitting challenge for me has changed a lot over the last three or four years. Before the change, I could pretty much cast on and knit whatever I set my mind to. I had my limits, but they were a lot less....limiting.

These days, my results aren't so predictable. I think my knitting skills have atrophied, and I'm determined to build them back up.



My new project is the Rose Ribbons Shawl from Knitting Lace Trianglesby Evelyn A. Clark. That Amazon link is just so you can find information about the book -- apparently it's gone out of print since I bought my copy and the prices are just ridiculous. I might wish I'd seen that before deciding to write the abbreviations next to the chart in my own copy last night! Or not -- I wasn't planning on getting rid of it anyway. (I did a little more digging and it's available as a Ravelry download at a much saner price. I'm not going to even look at the patterns in the new version that aren't in my copy of the book...)

I'm using a worsted weight cotton blend from my stash. In one evening, I made it through the set up rows and the first flower lace repeat. Now it's time to switch to the leaf lace, which looks easier to follow.

 

 

And the reading for this week -- remember when I told you about the free Kindle download for Heaven Preserve Us? (It's not free anymore.) Before I had a chance to start that one, the kids and I made a trip to the library and they had the first book in the series. Might as well read them in order, right?

I absolutely loved Lye in Wait.  As soon as I can pry my Kindle away from the boys and get a charge on them, I'm starting Heaven Preserve Us. And I've already got the third book in the series sitting on the edge of my treadle.


  Cocoa butter soap, check. Lemon lip balm, check. A dead body?

That's just what Sophie Mae Reynolds finds in her workroom: the corpse of Walter Hanover, the neighborhood handyman. He died from drinking lye, something she has in good supply. But the police don't suspect Sophie Mae, a thirty-something widow who makes and sells beauty products. Instead they call it a suicide. But why would a man with lottery cash and a loving fiancée kill himself?

No one can stop the impulsive Sophie Mae from answering this riddle, not her sensible best friend Meghan or Detective Ambrose, who incites annoyance as well as stomach flutters. Sophie Mae's big mouth and sharp nose lead her to a peppermint-scented trail of arson, bigamy, and a shocking family secret that reveals a personal connection to Walter . . . and his killer

If you read horror novels, I hugely recommend Alex by Adam J Nicolai. It's a ninety-nine cent download for Kindle and it's one of the best horror novels I've read in ages. Ian Colmes can't manage to get to work on time because he can't drag himself away from the sounds of his happily playing son.  His son, who had been kidnapped and left dead in a ditch six months earlier.

 

There are things that his little boy desperately needs to tell him, but he can only communicate by repeating conversations from his past. The scene where Ian comes home with a ouija board and the ghost of his five year old stands there tearfully telling him that it is NOT a toy (replaying an incident when he'd gotten in trouble for playing with an eletrical socket) is seriously creepy.

 

 

I'm tempted to order the author's second book, but I'm not sure I'm ready for that one yet. I'm still kind of spooked by the first one.    

For more fun projects to drool over, check out On the Needles at Patchwork Times and Work in Progress Wednesdays at Tami's Amis.