FO: Big Bad Bubbles Baby Shawl

Today I am super pleased to share that I finished the big white blanket.

 The pattern is a very old one from Patons. Like the original pattern suggests, I knit the shawl in 3ply, but instead of using Patons I used Bendigo Woollen Mills in Luxury 3ply in Frost (about 180g of a 200g ball). I used 4mm needles. 

There were a few things that I did in this shawl that I would do differently if I did it again. When I cast the shawl on, I had just moved and I didn't know where any of my crochet hooks were (I still don't - I ended up buying a new set). Therefore, I used Tin Can Knits' directions for a circular cast on that uses knitting needles instead of crochet hooks to do Emily Ocker's cast-on. I'm sure the fault is with me and not the instructions but my cast-on is really loose and looks a bit gappy in the middle of the shawl. I wish I'd waited till the crochet hooks arrived and I'd started the way I'm more familiar with.

 The construction of the shawl is quite easy. In the centre panel, you increase eight stitches every second row until you have 220 odd stitches. You then use the principle of the Pi Shawl and double the amount of stitches in one row and then just knit until you get to the edging, so there are no increases in the feather and fan pattern at all. While I was knitting that section, I used four stitch markers, with one marking each quarter of the shawl. That was super useful and allowed me to catch mistakes when they happened. Then, once you have finished knitting the 440-odd stitch rows to the desired length, you knit about an 880ish row knitted on border.

I hated knitting that border. Flipping a giant blanket back and forth every eight stitches almost 900 times was not fun! I powered through most of it in a few marathon podcast sessions (thank you Knitting Go - the first and only video podcast I have ever watched but I wouldn't have been able to finish without it) and ended up three stitches short. I knew I'd started with the correct amount of stitches, so I'd obviously lost three stitches along the way. The thought of undoing the border made me want to cry so I just fudged it and hoped they weren't very important stitches. Once I blocked it, it was pretty easy to see each of the three stitches I dropped (in the middle right and bottom right of the above picture). However, since the recipient is a non-knitter and so they won't know it's a mistake, I've decided to call it a design feature and let it go.

All in all, I'm pretty happy with it. It looks all pretty and shawl-y now it's blocked and stretched but, once it's been washed a few times, it'll be soft and round and more blanket-like, which is perfect for a baby's security blanket. I just hope the mum-to-be (since she's American, really mom-to-be) likes the Bubbles Baby Shawl as much as I do.

Happy New Year and 2014 FO #20

Happy New Year! I hope everyone had the kind of New Year's Eve they wanted to have and enjoyed yesterday's public holiday. I managed to stay up until 10 past 12, which is fairly amazing for me, so I am quite chuffed. I was even more chuffed when I reached my FitBit step limit for the first time today, which I choose to take as a sign that this year I will meet all of my set goals and maintain my fitness. 

Of course I will!

New Years Eve was the first chance I've had to wear the final thing I finished last year: my EZ 100th Anniversary Hearts Half-Circle.

It's quite huge and very shawl-like.

But truthfully, the only way I ever wear my shawls is like this...

I think the shadows in this next picture make me look like Jack Skellington but, you know, a lot fatter!

I absolutely loved knitting this shawl. The pattern was clear and easy to follow and lace is always so satisfying when it's blocked out. 

However, there's just not that much call for them in my wardrobe, so I think it will be a while till I make another one. More's the pity :(

Look how happy Lucy was to be part of the photo shoot!

Pattern: EZ 100th Anniversary Hearts Half-circle by Mwaa Knit
Yarn: Paton's Gem 4-ply cotton, approximately 175g
Modifications: None, knit exactly as written

Gail (Nightsong): close and slightly smelling like feet

Finish it February powers on with yet the discovery of yet another project that is embarrassingly close to being finished.

On 1 January 2011 (over two years ago!) I unravelled the yarn from this bag that I never ever used and cast on for a shawl I'd been wanting to knit forever, Gail (Nightsong). I knit and knit until I ran out of yarn but I didn't want to buy any more because it seemed to counteract the frugality inherent in using repurposed yarn in the first place, so I grabbed the yarn leftover from these socks, figuring that I could overdye the project when I finished. Then I ran out of that yarn and, rather than make a decision as to what I would do to conclude the whole thrifty mess, I bundled up the whole project into a bag and hid it at the back of a drawer.

Fast-forward for today when I was looking for yarn to start a hat (ummm...not technically finishing but I'm on a deadline which always makes me want to start all the things) and I found the shawl again. The socks I made with Wendy Happy are seriously the most useless pair of socks I have ever made in my life. The yarn is very silky and smooth which feels nice in the skein but is awful to knit with PLUS it results in a sock that was all floppy (that's the technical knitter's term, I believe) so the socks continually fall down, meaning they never got worn. They suck. So, in order to get the yarn required to finish the sock, I hacked them up. It felt so. very. good. Plus, I now have lots of yarn (that admittedly does smell a little bit like feet...) with which to finish the shawl.

The one solitary row I now realise I have left to complete.

Hopeless, Belinda, hopeless.  Argh!! (although on the plus side, I avoided casting on for a hat. Yay for Finish it February!)

Where the first shawl of the year is completed and iPhone photos suck (2012 FO #1)

I cannot believe that it is almost the end of April and this is the first time I am doing this for the year.

I present my first finished object of 2012, the gorgeous Henslowe knitted in Wollmeise 100% in Cassis.

So pretty, even with an iPhone photo!

It's very pretty! It was much hard to knit that it should be, mainly because I'm an idiot who doesn't learn from my mistakes.

Oh, iPhone, I love you but your close-ups and flash really suck.
 I miss my camera :(

The lace is constructed by knitting a row just of yarn overs, then a row of yarn overs and k2togs and then a row of just k2togs, with a few straight knit and purl rows thrown in for good luck. This means that if you make a mistake with a k2tog or a yarn over in a row, then every stitch in the following rows is also affected, so if you make a mistake you can't just drop the offending stitch and ladder it back up - all off the offending rows need to be ripped back. The first mistake I made because I was knitting through a football match and not paying attention to my hands and I missed a yarn over. I ripped back, reknitted. The second mistake I made was missing a yarn over because I was knitting through a football match and not paying attention to my hands. Awesome work, B, learning from your mistakes like that! Keep up the good work.

As always, working with the Wollmeise was lovely and the finished shawl is super cute and stylish in a very luxe way.  I hope its recipient likes it as much as I do :)

Finally done! 2011 FO #4: New Start Shawl

Last year when I left one job and headed down a new pathway in my life, I started a new shawl.  It's only taken me nine months (!!!) but it's finally done:

As per usual, Lucy helped out as best she could during the blocking process.  

Finishing this shawl did cause me to evaluate the last nine months.  I certainly have not achieved everything I wanted - my work, though interesting, is infrequent, leading to weeks where I am crazy busy intersected by days watching repeats of Friends and Sex and the City.  I have lost weight, but not as much as I wanted.  Overall, even though I have some way to go, I am certain that I am on the correct path and heading in the right direction. Yay me.

Enough navel-gazing - here's the vital statistics:

Pattern: Bitterroot Shawl from Knitty

Yarn: Patonyle, three full skeins in black.  This sock yarn is terrible for socks, but perfect for a lovely, soft, drapey shawl.  Go figure.

Notes/modifications: Knitted the size large exactly as written.  The pattern was clear, easy to understand, and completely stress free.  A very nice project.

2011 FO#2: Holden Shawlette

Last Sunday I was in the rare position of having a whole day and the house to myself.  Since I believe that just because a person is alone doesn't mean they have to sacrifice any standards in terms of food, I whipped up a half-batch of my favourite crepe mix, used a single-serve package of frozen berries and some vanilla icecream  to make my own delicious breakfast.  Yum!

I then took the opportunity to do some housekeeping...knitting housekeeping, of course.  Bah for using my precious alone time to clean - as if!  I finished up and blocked my Holden Shawl...

Helped, of course, by Lucy.

Pattern: Holden Shawlette

Yarn: The purple 4-ply gifted to me by Yarnivirous.

Notes/Modifications: I knit the shawl exactly as written.  If I were to make it again I would make the stockinette section larger, as the shawl is a bit on the small side.  Otherwise it's fast, easy and quite pretty.