Tag: shawl

This lace pi shawl was my heirloom knit. How do I define an heirloom knit? I think it’s one that I wanted to invest a lot more in terms of the material and the time. I did invest more in the yarn and pattern, but I had to rush to finish it as my September became hectic. I was knitting it everyday for about a week to finish it. I even had a little cramping. I finished this two days before the ceremony and the blocking was finished drying the day before. I really wish I had more time to enjoy the knitting because it is absolutely beautiful.

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Pogona

I really enjoyed this pattern overall. It only had two rows and was very easy to knit with while watching movies or TV. I didn’t feel pressured to finish it and loved going back to it. I don’t always wear my Stephen West shawls, but I’ve enjoyed knitting everyone of them.

Shortened mine from the pattern because I had read many people ran out of yarn. I went to about 12″ rather than 14″ before doing the final garter rows. I did four garter rows instead of the six. Finished off with an Icelandic bind off which was new to me and stretchy. I’ll use it for socks next time.

The yarn is lovely. It didn’t bleed very much and the photos don’t capture how nice it is. It was soft and knit up so well. No issues with knots, abrupt colour changes, or ply issues. I’d definitely use Fleece Artist again.

Pogona

Pogona, started December 16, 2015, finished February 3, 2016. Ravelry Project Page
Pattern: Pogona by Stephen West Ravelry Pattern Page
Yarn: Fleece Artist Merino 2/6 – 350.0 meters (382.8 yards), 125 grams – in Sangria
Needles: US6/4.0mm
Measurements: Post blocking 18”/46cm from centre stitch to BO edge. Wingspan: 46”/117cm which is ten inches less than the original, but mine is longer at the centre.

Pogona

Modifications & Notes:

  • Alternate cast-on method from KarenK (The No-Garter-Tab Method): Cast on 3 sts. Row 1: K 3; Row 2: K1, M1 (using backwards loop increase), K1, M1, K1 (5 sts); Row 3: K 5; Row 4: K2, M1, K1, M1, K2 (7 sts); Row 5: K3, P1, K3; Row 6: K3, YO, K1, YO, K3 (9 sts); Start with Set-up Row 1 (WS) in pattern
  • Slipped slevedge. Slipped first stitch of every row and knit tbl on the last stitch.
  • Used KFB instead of YO at the edge stitches so that my rows would be: Sl1pwise, K1, KFB… KFB, K1, Ktbl
  • Going from purl to knit: Purl st through the back loop. I didn’t find any benefit to this one.
  • 12” before garter rows.
  • Do 4 garter rows rather than 6.
  • Paired lifted increases
  • Icelandic bind off

Pogona

Tools/Notions: Many stitch markers.
Lessons Learned: Icelandic bind off.
Cost of Project: $16CAD for the yarn.
Would I knit it again? Yes, but doubtful I would. Recommended pattern for easy project.
Helpful Links:

Shetland Triangle

One of my best knit items yet. Last summer, I tried making Evelyn A. Clark’s other popular pattern Swallowtail Shawl and ran into a lot of problems so it has been hibernating. I am ready to tackle it again after this wonderful project. Popularized by Brooklyn Tweed’s version of aran lace, I decided to do some stashbusting with my Patons. This was one of my most enjoyable knits; it’s easy to knit up and remember. It’s also very classy and great pattern for gifts. Usually, I make a few noticeable mistakes and due to my never ripping back policy, I don’t fix them. With this project, I made one or two mistakes, and I don’t even know where they are. Even the invisible/provisional CO worked out, and I hate provisional COs. The heavier yarn makes the knitting flow better. Good signs for my lace future; other than Branching Out, I’d never done a real big lace project until now. I am going to be making BT Hemlock Ring Blanket as well. Hopefully it’ll turn out as beautiful as this project.

Shetland Triangle bottom edge

Shetland Triangle, started February 26th 2008, finished March 5th 2008 Ravelry Project Page
Pattern: Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark from Wrap Style Ravelry Pattern Page
Size: approximately 65″ wide x 35″ long blocked (unblocked, it was 10″ less wide)
Yarn: Patons Classic Wool Merino (100g – 204m/223yds – 100% wool) in 00240 Leaf Green – 2 skeins and a bit
Needles: #9/5.5mm 100 cm bamboo circs and 7.0mm circs for BO

Green Shetland Triangle

Modifications: Subbed yarn from 2ply lace weight to worsted weight, skipped last two rows of edging chart, 10 body repeats instead of 8 in pattern. Brooklyn Tweed apparently did nine repeats with 400m aran yarn. Doing nine reps would probably be enough with 2 skeins of this wool if you don’t mind using stretchy and bouncing merino. I BO on a 7.0mm using this lace nameless BO I found on Ravelry forums: “k1, k1, sl. both stitches back on left needle k 2 tog. through back loop, [k1, sl both stitches on left needle and knit tog. through back loop,] rep across row.” It looks okay so I may or may not use it next time.
Tools/Notions: 4 stitch markers
Lessons Learned: The aforementioned nameless BO
Cost of Project: $15 (though I only used a tiny bit of the third skein)
Would I knit it again? YES! Good for gifts, and I would love to make this in a silk/wool mix or with non-merino wool fabric such as alpaca. I’d prefer to stick to the heavier weight yarn rather than lace with this project.

Shetland Triangle closer up

YARN!!!

 On your left, is the two balls of Wendy Merino DK that I bought an hour ago, and on your right is The Bane of My Existence: a tangled mess of the Misti Alpaca Lace that I posted about buying in this post. I starting putting it in a centre pull ball using the toilet paper roll method, but let’s be honest, I have never had to use a reshape a hank of yarn, and something went awry. It just got steadily worse. I believe I am a patient person, but I don’t think I can untangle all this yarn; there’s 400m in a hank and I doubt I’ve gotten far at all. I think I’m going to give up and just shell out for another hank, probably in another colour because I feel the pink was bad luck. I’m going to buy it this weekend with the needles, and roll it in the store under the supervision of knitters far advanced than me.

The Wendy Merino is for a project I am going to cast on fairly soon, this weekend probably. I’ll post more about it when I do. I also bought US3/3.0mm 16″ circs and DPNS today for other projects. I know, I’ve basically planned out five (almost six) projects until the winter! Well, at least none of them are scarves.

Dewey has a fun blogroll game going on.

New stash

Here I am spending money again on yarn. One of my LYSs is having a clearance sale on Meilweneit Cotton sock yarn (45% cotton, 42% wool, 13% nylon) at 50% off so I bought a skein of the Spirit (knits wide stripes) yesterday. Who doesn’t like good, discounted sock yarn on sale? As for the Misti Alpaca Lace (100% baby alpaca), I bought that today because I was  inspired this morning to start Swallowtail Shawl, I even joined the knitalong! The fact that it only requires one hank (must do centre-pull ball soon) and is affordable yet luxurious yarn sealed the deal. I got it in pink because I wanted a shawl on the pastel side and my wardrobe lacks the colour. I don’t know if it’ll be the best colour on me, but the woman at the LYS did say I could make just make another one. Will get the #4/3.5mm for it soon at the other LYS, but probably won’t start project for awhile. It’ll probably take some time to do since it’ll be my first lace shawl.

The socks are going very slowly as they should, but I had to recast on them a couple times. I’m very glad I got bamboo needles for them because they would have been slipping so much.

I actually have a lot of things to do offline and online this week which I’m not really looking forward to.

Clap for Clapotis Clapotis Closeup
Clapotis, started February 26th, 2007, finished May 4th, 2007
Pattern: Clapotis from Knitty
Yarn: 100% mercerized cotton DK
Needles: #8/5.0 mm straight bamboo
Cost of Project: $10 for the yarn
Pattern Notes and Comments: One of the most well known of online patterns. I’ve wanted to knit this for awhile, and considered a lot about the yarn. The pattern uses a lot of it. I found a discounted cone of DK cotton at my LYS. See pictures below to see how much yarn it used. I didn’t intend to to use cotton for this, but this was a great deal and the yarn was even variegated! For $10, I didn’t think it would be bad. The pattern was easy, and I knit it slowly as I would often only knit when watching The Daily Show and the Colbert Report. My clapotis turned out pretty big of course, and I think it’ll be nice as a shawl for evenings in the summer. Possibly a good heavy autumn scarf. It’s just plain big though so we’ll see how I’ll wear it come fall.
Would I knit it again? Yes, as mundane as it is, it’s a nice pattern. It’s a good to knit when watching TV or a movie. I want to use a wool mix (wool/silk) it for it next time, and if I don’t have #8 circs by then, I’m definitely buying them for this project next time. I love my bamboo needles though.
Next Projects: I need to learn how to knit a pair of socks. A tea cozy for tea drinking in winter, and possibly winter gloves and scarf. Oh yeah, my weird attraction to wrist warmers even though there isn’t much of a climate for them here.
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