Look What I Made

I knitted on my 198 yds. of Crazy shawlette on Wednesday night until I was falling asleep. Thursday morning I did the knitted bind-off,




and then I soaked it and blocked it, so it was dry and ready for modeling and showing off today. Ta-da!




It's not perfect, not by a long shot.

And I'm not sure I like how it feels all stretched out and blocked to within an inch of its life.










But it's pretty and warm and I'll love it come chilly fall and winter nights.










I think with a little math (and a consultation with the Yarn Whisperer) I could make a bigger one.

Shawl Daze

Hi, my name is Barbara and I'm addicted to knitting shawls. I shift from one to the other to the other like some demented machine.



Last night I knitted the first 3 rows of the border of 198 yds. of Crazy. It's going well. 13 more to go!







I've found out on 198 yds. of Mochi that it's addictive knitting to find out what color comes next and how it'll look with the ones that came before. I also discovered that it's easier the second time.









And the Spring Fling Wrap is much more pleasing to me now that I've frogged it and reknit it on US17s. I fear that it won't be very long since I only have 261 yds., it'll be more like a necklet than a wrap, but I'm anxious to get done so I can knit the fuzzy ruffles onto the short ends. Ooh, I just had an idea; I could knit one of the ruffles in the green and the other in the purple Filatura di Crosa. Tres cool.


Now it's time to write an article about sinking a ship in Lake Michigan. Later, dudes and dudettes!

Learning

You know you've ripped and restarted a pattern too many times when you don't need to get out the pattern until the 4th row the next time you make it. I have been eyeing the bag of 3 skeins of Mini Mochi I got from Dusty all the while I worked on the 198 yds. of Crazy shawl and now that I've finished the body and am starting on the border, I thought I'd cast on another one with the pretty, rainbow-y yarn. It's DK instead of worsted so I went down a needle size, but it's going to be gorgeous, I can already tell. And I can also tell that I'll make fewer booboos that I have to either frog or fix. I also want to hurry to knit to the next color change. Teehee, it'll go fast.










See my 198 yds. of Crazy? 56 rows done. Yay! I'm anxious to knit the border (only 16 rows!) and then soak it and block it so I can see the wonderfulness that is my first lace project.

First Harvest

The other evening Durwood was out on the patio and when I walked into the kitchen he motioned for me to look at the sky. Oooh, ahhh. The sunset was reflecting on the clouds breaking up after the storms. Very pretty.



On my way back from the parking lot taking the above pictures I saw these, the first few ripe raspberries.






Seems like time to dribble a bit of bleach in the fountain to eradicate the algae. Most of the sparrows have adopted the fountain saucers for bathing rather than the birdbath. The chickadees like it too. I keep hoping to catch sight of a hummingbird flying through the drips.

Drat!

I think I'm so smart sometimes--and then knitting rears up and slaps me in the face. I found a hoodie pattern in a book DD has and borrowed it. Then I found this yarn on sale. It's alpaca and wool, it's red, I love it. I cast on the required number of stitches and I got gauge. But it looks too small to cover me, way too small. I closely examined the yardage per skein of the suggested yarn vs. the yardage of the skeins I have. Grrr, my beloved yarn has twice the yards per skein as the suggested one. Which means I have to rip out what I have (fortunately only an inch or so of ribbing) and figure out a way to make that red hoodie that I'm dying for. It was just too good to be true. *sigh*











I am making big headway on my first lace project. The 198 yds. of Crazy shawlette is knit through 2 repeats of the rounds, I'm going to do another full repeat instead of the half in the pattern because it's pretty small and I've got a whole 'nother skein of the wool so I won't run out two inches from the end of the border. Dusty, whose idea this whole thing was, decided that it wasn't the pattern for her and is moving on to other projects. I don't mind, I'm enjoying the challenge




I decided to keep going on my Sun Visor cap even though it's looking pretty big. You knit an i-cord onto the back that you use to adjust it so I'm figuring that I've got a pretty big bean anyway so I'll just knit away and see what happens. I think the yarn's a bit more worsted than the suggested one so that explains that.







And I cast on yet-another project the other day. It's a Spring Fling Wrap using the pattern I got in Goshen and some of the yarn I bought at Loops on its last day. Once again the yarn's thicker than the suggested one but I like it so I'm keeping on. It'll be pretty with the mohair ruffle on the ends. I've got some forest green with a hint of purple that I think will be just the thing. See? I have purple too. Maybe I'll use that.






I'll decide when it's time to add the ruffle.

The End

Today's the last day for the best yarn shop in the area. Loops and Links in DePere is closing because the owner needs more time with her growing children. Everything in the store was 60% off so I made one more trip, spent another $20 bill, one last time. I found some lovely yarns to use to make the wrap pattern I bought in Goshen (I am amazed that the pattern's not on Ravelry so I can't even link to it to show you). It's a rectangular wrap knit slightly on the bias on really big needles (and we all know how much I love knitting stuff on big needles) with interesting yarn, and then when you're done, you pick up stitches along the short ends with smaller needles and use kid merino (skinny and fuzzy yarn) to knit a ruffle on the ends. There was a sample in Ewe-Nique Knits that really attracted me and the pattern was only three bucks. I got the purple Nashua Daylily to go with some Filatura di Crosa Multicolor I've got on hand. I'm not sure what I'll put with the coral Urban Silk but it was too gorgeous to leave behind. Besides, 60% off!













I made excellent progress with only a few stumbles on the 198 yds. of Crazy shawlette yesterday. See? I'm through the first 22 rows and almost halfway through the next 22. The pattern calls for 2 1/2 repeats but I think I may add another one since I've got another skein of the yarn. Only time will tell.

A-a-a-and, We're Off!

Vroom, vroom, vroom! That's the sound of all the projects starting around here. I told you I'd do it and I did. I tried to resist the lure of all that yarn and all those empty needles but I was too weak. And it's hot and humid and windy so I need to stay indoors and cast on knitting projects.


I started the second Cartoons sock at work on Wednesday. Of course I forgot to take it along on Thursday, but I was busy most of Thursday so I probably wouldn't have gotten any further anyway.





Dusty and I decided on Tuesday that we're doing a KAL (Knit-A-Long) of the shawlette (kind of a triangular scarf-ish sized lace thing) called 198 yds. of Heaven. It's supposed to be easy and it's on bigger needles and calls for worsted weight yarn, instead of the toothpicks and spiderweb yarn most of them do. We were foolish enough to imagine that we could start them at Friday Night Knitting Circle. Hah! After a few tries, Dusty put hers away but I persevered, casting on, knitting a few rows, realizing I was short stitches or doing it all wrong, and frogging it--probably 5 or 6 times. (frogging means ripping it out to start over) After I got home I worked on it a bit more, had still made a fatal mistake and put it away. Last night (after driving up to the tip of Door Co., diving with friends, and then driving home) I tried again and bollixed it up again. This morning I frogged it and started over, for about the 12th or 15th time. This time I followed Durwood's suggestion and chanted the stitches out loud. It works. I can't watch a movie or listen to a book while I knit on it, but I have hopes that eventually I'll get better at lace knitting and be able to. I was getting so tense that my fingers were cramping and my shoulders were hunched up around my ears. Thanks for the idea, dear! I'm stubborn enough to stick with this through all the initial frustrations and console myself that the bit at the back of the neck will be really soft from all the frogging and reknitting it endured. Way to rationalize!

And I want to knit that red hoodie I keep dreaming about and have the yarn for. It's the Judi sweater from Knits Three Ways and I've decided to see if I can't knit it in one piece on circs instead of back and forth on straights. I hate to purl and the body of a sweater's a lot of purling when you have as much acreage to cover as I do. I cast on the right number of stitches for my size and I'm getting gauge, but it looks small. For now I'm going to trust the pattern. *fingers crossed*





I met friends at Garrett Bay in northern Door County for a dive yesterday. Here I am after we'd done an hour underwater. I still love diving but I'm getting too many hobbies, too many claims on my time. I need to open up a branch Barbara so that I can do EVERYTHING all at once!