Mary Jane Is A Star!

I finished my Pine Star hat. Mary Jane Mucklestone designed it, and, as usual, did a terrific job. It came out really lovely! I like the way the top decreases; very easy to knit it, and it is beautiful. 

Mary Jane is participating in a  new thing, Knit Stars, a thing that shows promise. It's a retreat with lots of cool designers and other fabulous people from around the world, and you can go without ever leaving your home. I think that is a great idea! Unfortunately Knit Stars for this year is closed, as demand caused it to fill up very quickly, but there is hope for the future years!

In other news, I got another foot of the blanket done; it is now three feet wide.

The rows are getting longer and the blanket is getting heavier and the temperatures are getting warmer. I noticed that it took me a lot longer time to get the third foot done than the other two, and there is still one more foot of width to knit before I start making it longer instead of wider .... but at least I won't be adding stitches to it! Onward and upward!

I knit two whole rows on my Line & Shadow shawl and loved it. Not worth a picture though. Maybe next time.

 

 

Finish A Shawl, Learn Something New

Somehow I got some steam up, and working well into the night -- well, 10:00 p.m. -- for several nights, I got my Beachcomber Shawl done! (Usually I'm in bed at 7:00. I am a total wuss.)

This shawl is HUGE, and it is beautiful!

I love the drape and feel of it.

I love the lace sections. I love the picot bind-off ... kind of a pain to do, but those little points just make me smile.

I love doing origami with my shawl!

Since this shawl was knit with a cotton/linen blend yarn, I wove the yarn in by piercing the purl bumps on the wrong side, because I thought it would hold the yarn better and keep it from unraveling. That got me thinking about doing a Russian join on the places where I ran out of a color and had to start a new ball with more of the same color. I could just cut the yarn on the edge, but I thought that this yarn would be the perfect place to use a Russian join.

I never did one before, but I thought one day I would; it just looked very cool, something to file away for a day that I needed it. Then, I had a stroke, and I thought that I never would be able to do a Russian join without my right hand. I was bummed. Like most things that I "can't do", it simmered away on my back brain burner. I decided to try it, and voilá, it worked! A perfect Russian join! (I like iknitwithcatfur's videos. Subscribe! :)

 

March Marched By Me, Now It Is April!

Happy Easter and April Fools! Two for one holidays! 

Sorry for not posting in a while. My very dear mother in law, Arline Collins, passed away on March 8, and I wasn't much into paying attention to my blog (sorry), but now I am back. Arline was truly a great craftsman.

I finished the Close to You shawl by Justyna Lorkowska that I was knitting with Lynne. She finished hers first! We didn't take a photo of them together, silly us. Here is mine:

I like how it came out. I wear it a lot!

I started an easy cowl pattern after Arline died, one that was all knitting with just little eyelets. It is the Still Waters Cowl from the Swans Island Design Team, and I used Swans Island Natural Colors Merino Fingering to knit it. It feels so soft and wonderful! It feels like cashmere, but it is merino. 

That is the only photo I have of it so far. I finished it March 29 and wore it every day until April 2 ... then I spilled blueberry jam all over it, and it has been in the wash ever since (we are temporarily out of Eucalan). It is indigo blue, so at least the stain matches!

I have four WIPs going on right now. Four is not many for some people; heck, I had up to thirty WIPs in progress at one time, pre-stroke! Now, I like to keep my WIPs  to two or three. Four is borderline crazy.

First of all, my turquoise zebra blanket (pattern: Make A Long Story Short by Wanda Sowizdrzal) is languishing. It is still in the same place; I haven't touched it in about two months. I love that blanket, and I yearn to work on it, but I can't seem to do it. It bothers me, but I have got to get other things done first.

Secondly, I started Mary Jane Mucklestone's Pine Star Hat with some leftover blue and white worsted weight yarn. I started the hat a while ago, but haven't finished the ribbing yet. Sigh. This hat will be soooo much fun to knit! But I feel I must get some things finished first. I started it in a fit of startitis, overcome by the yarn fumes of excitement, but I managed to save myself.

Thirdly, I started the Beachcomber Shawl that I was lucky enough to receive as a Christmas gift! I love the colors of this shawl. It is a Knit Picks yarn called Cotlin (70% Tanguis coton, 30% linen), DK weight, which means it knits up quickly on size US8/4.5mm needles! I like the drape of  yarn; it feels soft with the cotton, yet has the heaviness and fluidity of the linen. I will be able to drape it and feel elegant and beautiful. The pattern Beachcomber is by Chelsea Berkompas and it's available on Ravelry.

    

I figure it's about 45% done.

I find that there are a lot of ends to weave in, so I started right away to weave them in as I go. That way when I  finish it, it'll be well and truly done, and I won't have a week's worth of end-weaving to do!

Ends

Ends Woven In

 

Finally, my Line and Shadows shawl is 49.98967% done ... it is almost halfway! I knit and knit and knit on this shawl, but it seems to never make any headway. I love to knit it though, so that is okay.

Line and Shadows by Elizabeth Elliot; Swans Island Sterling Collection fingering in Amethyst, and Filatura Di Crosa Superior in Black.

I'm almost done the decreases on the black "lines" side. Then somehow I begin reversing the shaping, and starting with a few stitches of the black lines, growing them inch by inch until they overtake the "shadow" columns entirely.

This shawl feels very light and airy and dreamy. Swans Island yarn is so soft and luscious, and Superior is cashmere, silk, and a little merino all fluffed up together, so that you don't knit with it so much as direct it into place neatly. 

I love all my knitting projects. I just wish I could get something done! Partly because the projects that I have waiting in the wings are soooooo fabulous! But those will have to wait til I start them :))