May 12, 2008

FO: LILY OF THE VALLEY SHAWL

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Pattern: Nancy Bush's pattern in Lace Style
Needle: Addi turbo Lace US6
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace, 2 skeins
Finished size: 65" x 30" (I knit one extra pattern repeat)
I'm really happy how it turned out.


October 30, 2007

ENID SWEATER PROGRESS

I've been working on Enid. I have the sleeves waiting for me and the body is more than half way completed. I'm scared of the colorwork part of the yoke -- I've never done it before and I'm scared of the steeking.
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Yesterday, I found this cute ornament at Anthropologie -- I know Halloween isn't even over yet and they had Christmas ornaments out! But I had to get it. Isn't she cute?
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September 17, 2007

FO: FROST FLOWERS & LEAVES

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I really enjoyed knitting this shawl. It took my whole summer!
Pattern: Frost Flowers and Leaves by Eugen Buegler from "A Gathering of Lace"
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr in Sable (from my stash)
Needles: Addi Natura Circular US3 3.25mm, US 3 dpns
Size after blocking: 52" square, 68" at the diagonal (measured 36" square before blocking)
Start: June 14, 2007
Finished: Sep 15, 2007
Notes: I only repeated chart 2 five times not the seven repeats called for in the pattern. The circular beginning and lace grafting are two new techniques for me. See entry on grafting here. It really helped to join the Knit-Along.

See some blocking pics and comments in the extended entry:

Continue reading "FO: Frost Flowers & Leaves" »

September 13, 2007

FROST FLOWERS - GRAFTING IS DONE!

I still have to weave in ends and dress the shawl, but the grafting of the edging is DONE! I read all the advice on the web I could find here and here and all the advice on the knit-along, but I really struggled with this bit. I also studied the good advice from Robert Powell in A Gathering of Lace. I knit a repeat of the edge pattern, using waste yarn in contrasting color I knit the first row of the edging before re-joining the edge to the body of the shawl with the main color. The row knit in the contrasting color is the path to follow as you graft. I also knit a swatch with US 8 needles to help me visualize the join and pinned it out.
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Even with all the reading and re-reading all the advice, poking, prodding, turning the edging over to see how it all comes together, it took trial and error over three nights to finally get it.
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August 06, 2007

FINISHED SEWN OBJECTS

I finished a sewing project a couple of weeks ago. It's the A-line Barcelona Skirt by Amy Butler -- I love her patterns.
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Here's a detail of the invisible zipper. The lining is cotton muslin and gives the skirt some weight.
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I bought this dress from H&M for about $35. I never wore it (see price tag) and the 30 days return date had passed.
I felt like this dress made me look like a British prison matron.
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I changed it into a skirt! I think I will get more use out of it. (Sorry it's so wrinkled - I had it just laying around waiting for the photo shoot.)
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June 29, 2007

FROST FLOWERS & LEAVES

I started the Frost Flowers & Leaves shawl two weeks ago. This is the first shawl I've ever knit circularly (is that a word?) I'm using Jaggerspun Zephyr in sable - I have a lot left over from my Peacock Feathers shawl. Beginning the shawl on DPNs is so dang fiddly, but once I got past that - I'm really enjoying the knitting. It's almost nicer than having to turn your work over to knit the wrong side.
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A whole bunch of false starts. It took me two nights and many more false starts to get going.

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Here it the center of the shawl - still on the DPNs (yuck). You can see the pattern forming. So pretty!

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This is the end of the first repeat of chart 2. Yeah!


January 29, 2007

TRINKET

I received the Trinket Scarf kit for Christmas.
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Here's a detail of the beading.
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Although I have some Kid Silk Haze in my stash, this is the first time I've used it in a project. It wasn't so bad. I think I'm ready to take on Birch.