Wicked weather and project update

It has been awhile since I’ve posted to this blog. This is because my computer has been responding so slowly making me so frustrated. I’ve downloaded a program that should make it more efficient and organized but I don’t think this is helping much. I haven’t wanted to deal with it and avoid the frustration. I feared that I may eventually throw it across the room to deal with it.

Soo…I’ve taken a break and now feel the pressure to come back to update on what I’ve been doing……

Projects still on my needles….

Swallowtail shawl: I’ve enjoyed working on this up till now. My handspun merino is making it so soft but a little springy. I think perhaps this yarn would have been better suited for a baby sweater, but I am determined to use it for the shawl. I keep wondering if it will block correctly when finished because of its springyness.
I’ve finished the budding lace pattern adding 5 pattern repeats to make it larger. And now I move on to the Lily of the Valley lace pattern and I hit a wall! The purl 5 tog are so difficult and somewhere I ended up at the end with the wrong stitch count! I’ve frogged it back to the beg of this pattern and haven’t had the courage or concentration to attempt this part again. I’m trying to think of an easier way to do this stitch. Perhaps with a crochet hook?

Pinwheel baby blanket in seafoam green: This is my TV knitting that doesn’t need a lot of concentration. It’s about 18” in diameter so far. I’m using Lion Brand Pound of Love which is a very soft acylic. It will be perfect for my grandson to be born in August.
Socks: I started some socks but after knitting about 5 inches of the calf, I realized it was turning out too big! The pattern I’m using, Flip Flop Socks from Knitted Socks, called for Size 2 needles and sock yarn that matched the gauge. I only had Size 1’s and Size 3 dpns available, so I decided to use the Size 3 and came down one size in the pattern. I realize now that I should have come down two sizes. And so I ripped it out and started over. After several unsuccessful restarts I decided to bite the bullet, change to Size 1's and attempt the Monkey Socks by Cookie A.
My current UFO’s: Woodland Shawl, Celtic tote, Bell Curve Skirt, Tofustsies socks, Candlelight Scarf in doubled lace wt, Adult Surprise Sweater, and Walters Sweater. These have been languishing from neglect for a few weeks.

I am feeling the need to finish something again. So I dug out my Branching Out scarf I’m knitting in handspun Mohair/Wool. I have about 10 more inches to go. This is the project that is closest to being finished.

Wicked Weather

Warmer weather is coming, although one would think California has been a bit schitzophrenic lately. Over the past two weeks, the weather has changed from hot (over 100 degrees) to 60-70s about 3 or 4 times. We had a downpour the other day, which flooded my office building. Itd rained 4 inches of peasized hail and generated a couple of tornados in the area. The picture below shows our feable attempts to dam to water with a blanket, but it kept raining and water continued to seep under the doors. I heard Baldwin Park, which south of us, looked like a winter wonderland in May! Can you believe it?!!! Stranger weather has not happened in my lifetime. This can’t be good for our health! Soo….. among this resurgence of winterlike weather, I’ve been getting the itch to spin again.
Looking over my stash I found some Romney Roving. It seemed a little dry and rough so I spun it very fine in a lace wt. I also found a box of white mohair in locks of 4-5 inches. I think it is time I did something with it, so I decided to spin it fine and ply it with the Romney to soften the yarn. It came out very nice. The mohair gives it a wonderful shiny sheen. The first skein about 180 yds. I want to try to make another skein, enough for a scarf or shawl. I wonder how it would look dyed? Stay tuned…….

Swallowtail

I finished spinning up the merino handdyed yarn. I spun it as fine (thin) as I could. There was some neps in this roving, but I tried to remove as many as possible as I spun. It totaled about 350 yds when I 2-plied it. Three-ply would have made it too thick for what I intended it for…….the Swallowtail shawl.


It is so soft and bouncy. The lavender streaks in it are not as defined as I was hoping. If you look very close you might see them. The yarn has been staring at me longingly to do something with it. Everyday I would wake up admiring it, feeling its softness, hearing in my mind the yarn silently whispering “Knit me! Knit me!” I thought what would it hurt to study the Swallowtail pattern? Hmmm, seems simple enough. I went to Ravelry to study how the shawl came out for others. There were hundreds and hundreds of beautiful loveliness. It simply hypnotized me. I did notice, however, that most were using alpaca or a silk blend. I didn’t see too many with a pure wool. I was still determined to use my merino wool for this.

I came home one day wanting to escape the stress of the working world. My husband went to bed early and my son was off to college. I had the whole evening to myself and finally gave up resisting the temptation to cast on.

The cast on was a little different from what I was familiar with but I plugged on. This actually made a sturdier beginning for the shawl. This is a triangular shawl and I’ve made lace shawls before, but as I did the lace repeats, my counts were wrong and I had to rip back. The pattern only gave the total count of stitches after whole sections of rows, which was not helpful. In frustration, I finally sat down and using the Excel software program calculated how many stitches I should end up with after every other row. This also helped me keep track on the number row of the pattern I was knitting. At any moment, I could count my stitches and know which row of the pattern I was on and how many I should have ended up with. If it was off, I could find the mistake with 2 rows and correct it. This was so much better than ripping back 6-12 rows. If I can figure how to embed an Excel chart in this blog I will try.


Here is the start of my shawl……

Winning the Race!

I won.! My goal was to finish 24 inches of Candlelight scarf within 7 days and I finished in 5 days! It was a race to the finish and I won! I am blocking it today.

I really need to work on completing my UFO(Unfinished Objects). I have so many and I am starting to forget how to do them, so I thought I would make a concentrated effort to knock them off one by one.

Although……I keep seeing new ideas and projects that I would love to make. Interweaves’ Knitting Daily has come out with the results of its Reader’s Choice poll for the Best Of Interweave Knits and has posted them for free. One of the designs I have fallen in love with since I’ve seen it and have been trying to find the sold out magazine to get the pattern to no avail. I was thrilled when I saw it and downloaded it as fast as I could…..the Swallowtail Shawl. I had put it in my Ravelry queue a long time ago. Photo from Interweave Press: http://www.interweaveknits.com/preview/2006_fall.asp

I’ve been trying to figure out what in my stash is worthy of being the Swallowtail shawl. Finally, it hit me. I am spinning the handdyed merino on my wheel right now. I am spinning it fine, trying to decide if I want it to be 2-ply or 3-ply. Since merino will shrink and felt if mishandled, I don’t dare make a fitted garment out of it. A beautiful shawl will be perfect.

Last weekend my husband and I went to the movies and I was desperately trying to find something I could knit in the movies. In vain, I could not find anything thing already on needles, so I decided to use up my spinning stash and grabbed a few balls of handspun wool and #8 circulars and headed out the door. On the way I cast on for a simple striped hat. By the end of the movie, about two hours later, I finished about 5 inches of hat. Today I finished the rest. I like how it looks. In the dark, its hard to count the rows, so I guessed and thus the result, but I still like it. It is made of a Cotswold wool and an unknown mix of wool for the other colors.