What a Tangled Web We Weave...

I had the pattern to make this scarf for MONTHS.  And I had the yarn almost as long.  For some reason this particular project psyched me out a little and made me doubt my knitting skills.  It had cable-needleless-cabling.  And drop stitches.  Heavy on the drop stitches.  Drop stitches scare the living daylights out of me.  I was always taught that dropping a stitch was a bad thing, and even if it was intentional could possibly have disastrous effects on your previously knitted fabric if it was dropped at the wrong point.  Yes, these are the things some knitters fret about.

But at the same time, it had a spider.  Even as a kid the Greek Myth of Arachne and her weaving skills had always been my favorite story in Ancient Lit. class.  And it had webby bits.  And lace weight yarn...my fave.  So I finally pulled the yarn and needles out and gave it a go.

It was actually much simpler than I expected, other than rows 126-140 of the pattern being ill-written and needing to be done over for accuracy.  It took only 4 days time to finish it!

The spider bit was done on size 6 needles with 4 strands of merino wool lace weight held together.  I used KnitPicks Shadow lace in basalt, a deep grey color with hints of burgundy, black and violet mixed throughout.  This involved back cabling, twisted stitches and a "cluster" stitch that I had never done before but was quite simple.

The opposite end looks like the spider's web has fallen into disrepair, created by dropping a strand of lace weight , maing intentional holes and runs, and increasing your needle size as you go.  (I used sizes 6, 8, 10.5 and 13).  Even the fringe at the ends are reflective of this:  One side is neat, the other end is straggly and tattered looking...

I had SO much fun with this project!  I'm thinking of making pillows by modifying the yarn and needle sizes and just doing the spider bit framed with seed stitch...

What Do Ye Do With A Drunken Knitter?

Erlye in the mornin'?  Yeah, the whole pirate-y theme really isn't really going anywhere cool, just trying (and failing) to find a clever way to talk about my newly completed 'Shipwreck' Shawl.  I know, I know.....fail.  I'll stop now.....arrrrrr.

Anyways...Tah dah!  My Shipwreck is done!!!

I had wanted to make this shawl for quite a while, and don't really know why I had put it off for so long. It's a great pattern, my first Pi shawl , too!  It has each and every element in a knitting pattern that I adore: lacework, thin yarn and beads!  Yay!

I bought some of my favorite yarn for this, the suggested fingering weight in a soft muted purple by Berroco Ultra Fine Alpaca.  Now the pattern actually suggests buying undyed yarn and dyeing it yourself with a vinegar solution to create a kind of mottled ocean-ey appearance...yeah, not really my thing in this case so I decided to go with a shade that I like, pre-fabricated.

They also suggested buying 5,000 or more size 8 seed beads to put along the "fishnet" outer lace, which I did in a rich amethyst color to match my yarn, but I'll get to that later...

So, I cast on my initial nine stitches on my size 4 DPNs, excited to start this new endeavor.  I tried to put out of my mind the many comments I had read on Ravelry about this pattern being tedious, taking months to finish, having been put on hiatus for an indiscriminate time, blah blah blah....not me...oh no, I wouldn't get weary, I would have this done in no time, those knitters were just whiners.  There was no way I would get bored with this pattern!  Those nine stitches were just too easy!  And the following lacework to create the inner medallion was a cinch....and so exciting, too!

Then I got to knitting the outer lace.

Actually, let me go back and preface my rant with my tale of those 5,000 beads.  I DID buy them,  and fully intended to use them...but of course I'm picky about beading my work.  The pattern says to pre-string your beads, as they are being used in yarn overs (YO) in the pattern.  This makes perfect sense, adding visual interest to what could have been dull fishnet lace.  Well, I pre-strung those suckers....all 5,000 of them.  And began knitting with them.  And realized that in a border of about 80 rows of continuous YO K2Tog, I would have to move 5,000 beads up my yarn about every 6 stitches, which on fingering weight yarn is no easy feat.  AND, to add insult to injury after attempting this for 2 rounds I realized my amethyst beads did not even really show up on my Plum colored yarn.  Sigh.  I decided to cut off the string with all of my beads and continue on after re-connecting my now beadless skein.  Oh well.

Then came the monotony.  The inner lace medallion only led me into a false sense of security in thinking that I would not tire of this pattern.  The consecutive 79 rows of yarn over, knit tow together, yarn over, knit two together, ad infinitum, ad nauseum quickly quelled that.  It wasn't that it was difficult.  In fact, it was mindless...tedious...brain-numbing, one might say.  increasing each round ending with about 1700 stitches.  All of which had to be bound off after finishing what I had thought was a cathartic task.  Gah.

  But in the end it WAS admittedly a lovely shawl.  HUGE, but lovely.  So huge in fat that blocking it was a bit of a pain.  I had to use two whole repeats of the alphabet toddler mats that I utilize to block my projects (and that I utilize to confuse my non-knitting friends who wonder where my baby is, considering my child is now 10).

Here it is blocking:

 It ended up taking 3 weeks to complete, I finished blocking it day before my birthday, and not having to do any more of that border was the best present EVER!

 It did turn out lovely.  It hangs nearly to my ankles, which is a bit large for me but very dramatic, which suits me just fine!  I think next time I will make it again only in a lace weight to suit the small bead size and make it easier to slide up the thread (or possibly add beads at the K2Tog's with the crochet hook method, which I prefer exponentially), and I will probably decrease my needle sizes, both to suit the size of the yarn and the size of the shawl's wearer, as I am only 5'2"!  Oh, and I will NOT wear the second one I make to work, where I snagged it's predecessor a record breaking 5 times on sticky-outey-pointy things in the shop.  For those of you who knit, you know that a snag on a newly completed project produces low guttural cursing, accompanied by trying to pull the snag back into shape, accompanied by much gnashing of teeth.  It's not pretty.

At least the shawl is!

An Old Dog Learns New Tricks

A few months back I became pretty intrigued by the concept of convertible clothing:  If a garment could be worn two ways, wasn't that just twice as cool?  Lucky enough for me one of my various knitting books had a pattern for a convertible shrug that could SUPPOSEDLY also be worn as a shawl, scarf, cowl or hood.  I began my attempt at the Shape Shifter Shrug from Vampire Knits.

I decided to use one of my favorite yarns, Plymouth Select Worsted Merino Wool, to make this pretty little sweater....then, as I am known to do, the pattern modifications began.

The pattern recommended to put 10 buttons/buttonholes up each arm.  A good suggestion, and I'm sure it had a reason, but as I scrutinized the instructions I realized that if I were to wear the finished product as a shrug I would have buttons around my neck hems, tangling in my hair.  I decided to make only 6 up each arm, only enough to button up as long as would need the sleeve to be.  I also lengthened the sleeve dimensions, thinking that if I did happen to wear this as a scarf or shawl I would prefer more coverage.

And then, of course, came the "I know best when it comes to knitting my own clothes" flub.  The pattern suggested knitting the garment in 2 halves, beginning at the lace portion, working some rows in stockinette, then grafting both halves together with Kitchner Stitch, a method of grafting two ends of live stitches done in stockinette together seamlessly.  Well, knowing best, of course, I continued on thinking "Kitchner Stitch my butt......I'll just work the lace pattern backwards when I get to it....I'm just that cool."

Yeah.  Lesson is, I am NOT that cool.  This lace and it's varying row end count is not one to be done in reverse.  So after some frogging, picking up stitches and, I will not lie, mild cursing I attempted Kitchner stitch.  Lucky for me I have some fabulous co-workers to talk me through it.  Even taught me this handy little ditty to chant along while I wove the pieces together:

Yarn on Back Needle

Set up: 

FN: Purl, Stay

BN: Knit,Stay
Chant:

FN: Knit, Slip, Purl,Stay

BN: Purl, Slip, Knit, Stay

End:

FN: Knit, Slip

BN: Purl, Slip

Yes, I know it may sound like gibberish, but if you sing this along with grafting you're less likely to forget where you are....Like I typically do....

Anyways, here's the finished result.  And, the seam is barely visible except for one BIG hole where I stopped singing and got lost, then had to sew up later.  Still not bad for a beginner!

 Problem is, even though I know it's convertible, I've only worn it as a shrug and have only seen demos of it being worn as a shrug.  Oh well.

I was also able to try a new product that I had my eye on for quite some time: Bone Knitting Needles.

These things are lovely.  Like, seriously lovely.   They have this glossy smooth amazingly cool feel in your hands, they glide through your stitches, and they have this amazing ability to make you feel like you've stepped back in time.  Despite the fact that they are horribly heavy....and not suggested to be bought other than in person due to the fact that a matched set is rare being as they are crafted individually with natural material.  I learned this after testing out a pairs of size 4 and size 6 "set" where one was nearly an entire size off from the other. Test for conformity with a sizer, and if you can find a set that matches you're set!

So pretty.........

A Needle Solution

A couple weeks ago I raved about my new KnitPicks Harmony interchangeable needle set...And I still love them.  In fact, I have a couple projects going on them right now!  The one thing I did NOT like about this set was the case that came with them:  It was flimsy, clear plastic that had the distinct odor of petrol emitting from it:

 

What was a girl to do?  Fortunately I had a bit of spare time and a bit of leftover fabric from making ring bearer pillows for my upcoming wedding. (Except for the pink...I had to buy the pink...'cause it was obnoxiously bright and cheery!)  and a bit of fabric interfacing, but other than that, all materials I happened to have on hand!

 

Let me begin by saying that I am NOT a good seamstress.  The extent of my sewing skills are typically hemming, basic costume making and pillows.  Nothing requiring skill so much as dumb luck. Fortunately I found an excellent interchangeable knitting needle case tutorial HERE for which I am extremely grateful!

And here's my result!

Interchangeable needle case

Close up of button Closure

Pockets for all my things!

Needle and Cable Pockets

Of course, I had to make a few tweaks to the pattern....'cause I NEVER do that, right????

Instead of the zippered invisible pocket on her tutorial I added a contrasting magnetic closure notions pocket on the top flap:

 

And I put a large open topped pocket across the back of the case to keep my chart keeper in:

Tah Dah!

Not too shabby for someone who doesn't know what she's doing!

Raves for New Knitting Products!

From time to time I have to just write a post to either rant or rave about products on the market for knitting...Here's one of them!

Item #1, Knit Pick Harmony Knitting Needles:

I just purchased these from my LYS (conveniently where I work!) after lusting after them for who knows how long after seeing them on knitpicks.com 

I had been using either fixed circular needles, which I love, or an older interchangeable set that I'd had for 10 + years.  The aforementioned needles were still lovely, but since I do more and more lace projects these days I wanted to find something with pointier tips (which the Harmony needles have, indeed!) and were still interchangeable so I could easily change needle sizes midway through a project.  AND, added bonus, they get pretty points for being a beautiful rainbow stained birch wood with purple cables...Squeeeee!!!!!


My photo does not do their beauty justice...

But, oh, lucky you, you can see them (and buy them!) HERE 



Item #2, The Barnes and Noble NOOK!

Ok, so a NOOK isn't INTENDED as a knitting product, but if I can make a hat with a pair of chopsticks and an old unraveled sweater while on vacation, I'm sure I can make it be!

When I bought this I actually had no idea it would only encourage my knit-geekiness...LOVE!
Not only can you buy books (Including popular knitting books), but you can take your pdf patterns that you download from Ravlery, etc. and store them on your device!  Gone are the days of lugging around my pattern binders!  I can store more patterns that I currently own on this thing of remarkable wonder!

I didn't go with the color version, though I'm sure patterns would be fabulous there.  I just went with the run of the mill basic model.  And I'm loving it!  PLUS, there are tons of free patterns to make cutesy little knit sweaters for them like the one I'm starting soon: