I blocked the Heaven Scent shawl last weekend, and the lace opened up beautifully!
I still have to sew in the ends, but it was a good day for pictures.
It blocked out to a really nice size. It’s about 20″ deep at the middle back, and that long curved edge is about 84″ long.
And one last detail shot. 🙂
There are three more shawls in this pattern bundle. One is rectangular, so less interesting to me, but I’ll have a hunt through my stash for candidates to knit the other two crescent shawls.
I told you last week that I’d cast on this shawl, Heaven Scent by BooKnits in Freia Handpaints Ombré Shawl Ball. (That post is right here.) It turned out to be a compulsive knit and I charged right through the charts. I knew it would be a close call to make it out of the one ball, and ended up playing yarn chicken.
Could I finish with the one ball of yarn? As with many crescent shawls, you increase the needle size at increments in this pattern, which opens up the lace even before blocking. Keeping an eye on my diminishing ball of yarn, I didn’t change needles for the border, but kept on with the ones I’d used for the body.
I made it to the final row and chose not to do the picot edge, hoping I’d still make it.
Nope.
The cast-off is on a wrong side row, so I made it all the way from the left edge to where you see the last 8″ of my yarn. It’s maybe 3/4 of the way around. I lost yarn chicken.
I also played bead chicken at the same time, but I won that. I added more beads to the border then realized I might run out. I have five beads left in the vial. Phew!
I went through all my stash, and my bits and ends, but couldn’t find anything to match that shade of red in a single ply wool. I couldn’t even match the colour. (The colours of this yarn have photographed to look more vivid than they are in real life. They’re bright, but not this bright.) So, I picked back the cast-off row and cast off again. I thought I’d cast off in purple, a contrasting edge that matched the centre of the shawl, and couldn’t get the shade of purple right either. So, I used two strands for the cast-off, one in Sugar Bush Drizzle in Monsoon Mauve (which is a bit light) and one of Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Black.
And here’s the result.
It’s funny that in this picture, the cast-off edge looks too dark. The purple in the middle of ths shawl appears to be the same shade as Monsoon Mauve. You’ll have to trust me that in real life, the colours are matchy-matchy.
Next up, a good soak and a blocking. I’ll show you the finished shawl when it’s done.
I’m kind of amazed that I knit this shawl in less than three weeks. I guess that’s what happens when I concentrate on one project, instead of working on a dozen things at once. (Actually, I had two on the go at the same time and finished the other one, too – it was the mittens and scarf of Patons Rumor. I’ll show you that tomorrow.) There’s a lesson there that I should take on board. 🙂
I haven’t knit a shawl in a while, lace or otherwise – well, I’m still plugging along on my Water shawl, but it’s not a very fun knit at this point. I don’t think it counts anymore. 🙂
A LYS had Freia Handpaints yarns on sale, and I simply can’t resist gradient dyed yarns. I ordered some and cast on.
I chose a pattern by BooKnits. I wanted to knit a lace shawl with some beads and I had The Close to You Collection of patterns already. (That’s a Ravelry link.) I had knit Snow Angel from this pattern collection, also in Freia Handpaints yarn, but in their Wool/Nylon Lace which is discontinued. The colourway was Autumn Rose.
Here’s my Ravelry project page for the project.
And here’s that Snow Angel shawl:
There’s a blog post for it, which is right here.
This time, I’ve chosen the pattern Heaven Scent, which is in that same collection but also available on its own. (That’s a Ravelry link.) I’m knitting the smallest size, with the stockinette stitch top.
This yarn is Freia Handpaints Ombré Shawl Ball Merino. The colourway is Vamp. Here’s the Ravelry yarn page.
Here’s my progress so far:
The camera is really emphasizing that hot pink. The colourway ends in a bright red.
Of course, it’s curled on the circular needle in the opposite direction of its shape – the shawl will be a crescent curved the other way when it’s off the needles and blocked. (Much like Snow Angel, shown above.)
The yarn is a loose single ply. It’s very soft but tougher than expected – there is the usual thick-and-thin of single ply yarns but it hasn’t been splitty to knit and it hasn’t broken.
And here’s a detail view. I’m using 6/0 purple Czech glass beads in dark purple, which match the beginning of the gradient pretty well.
I did make a slight change to the pattern. The shawl grows quickly in width because you add four stitches on every right side row and two on every wrong side row. The additions are at the beginning and the end of each row, and the pattern uses make-one (slanting left or right). I found that two M1s with just a knit stitch between them, then another M1 on the purl side pretty close by made for a tight edge. I switched out the two M1s on the purl side for YO’s, then the outer M1 on the right side rows to YO’s as well. I’m curious to see how this blocks out. It feels better to me.
I’m almost halfway through the second repeat of the main chart, then have the border chart to knit. I’m thinking I might run out of yarn (the pattern notes that 400m is close) so if I do, I’ll have to find something matchy to finish.
Another project off the needles. The Which Way Shawl is done and here it is:
Here’s the pattern on Ravelry again.
Do I love this shawl? Mmmmm, I dunno. The design is interesting – I’d probably go down a needle size if I ever made it again, though it is nice and squishy. That contrast colour is a different choice for me – while it’s a good idea to try new things, I think I would have loved the result more if I’d gone with my original impulse of using a navy or black for the main colour. Maybe it will be just the right bright thing on a winter’s day. I do like the colours better at the ends than in the middle.
The shape of the shawl is unusual, but it makes a manageable cowl when wrapped around the neck. I expect I’ll wear it that way when I do wear it. I added tassels to the points that I’ll probably tie together.
Now to choose another project. It would be best to finish up something already started. There’s a little summer cardigan that would be a good choice to finish right now, and I love the colour of it. It’s a Martin Storey pattern called Peridot, which I’ve been knitting in Patons Silk Bamboo for half of forever. (Lots and lots of stockinette stitch.) That’s a Ravelry link, btw. Also my chunky No. 9 pullover in Blackstone Tweed still needs sleeves – funny that it’s almost the same shade of blue as the little cardigan. More blue on the needles with my Water shawl that needs finishing. That’s a blog post link. And of course, there’s my Wild Grass pullover which is at the point of needing acres of stockinette knit.
While considering all of these options, I cast on the purple version of the Quintessential cardigan. I’d bought two kits, one in green and one in purple, so will knit the second one with a few changes. It also requires miles of stockinette, but it’s purple and I need a purple cardigan. 🙂
I have been making progress on the Which Way shawl. I first told you about it in this post than updated you in this post. This is a whole lot of knitting.
Today’s milestone is that I’ve run out of yarn. 
Both bundles of gradient-dyed yarn are used up and the shawl isn’t done. This is likely because I’ve somehow mucked up the decreases. I want the lower edge to be decreased to nothing before binding off, as I think it might look odd otherwise. This requires a lot more repeats than specified in the pattern.
I have a persistent feeling that I’ve made a mistake, so took the shawl off the needles to have a look.
Here we are. It’s a dingy day and raining too hard to take the shawl outside for a pic. Also, it’s huge, and I couldn’t get it all in the shot.
It’s that bottom wedge that I’m diminishing until it vanishes. At this point, there are 18 stitches there so I’ll need another 9 contrast stripes to finish that out. The pooling is from the main colour, which is hand-dyed, but it seems to have worked out pretty evenly. I don’t mind it. And I don’t mind the size of the shawl. I’m just wondering where I went wrong…
You can just barely see the orange marker in the middle when the decreases were started. The shawl from this point should (I think) be rectangular, and it looks like it will block out that way. I pulled that right tip out longer when I was laying out the shawl.
The pattern specifies 22 contrast stripe repeats after the decreases begin (where the orange marker is). I’m currently at 43. Following the directions, the decreases would have stopped around the point that the contrast yarn (the gradient) started to get darker. (Eyeball a halfway point between the orange marker and the live stitches at the right.) I think the shawl would have been too small then, and an odd shape. There are some finished project pictures on Ravelry that are shaped the way my shawl is now, which does nothing to explain the 21 contrast stripe difference.
Here’s the pattern on Ravelry again. It calls for 4 oz of the main colour, a sport weight yarn, (that’s 113g) and 5 oz of the gradient skeins (let’s call it 150g), knit on US 6 needles (4.0mm). My yarn is fingering weight so I used 3.75mm needles. (I could actually have gone down another size as it’s a loose garter stitch, but it is nice and drapey this way.) I had 144g of the gradients, and 2 skeins of the main colour for 220g total (732m). I’m into the second skein of the main colour and I guess it was predictable that I’d run out of the contrast.
Fortunately, I have another skein of sock yarn in a mulberry shade that is pretty close to the gradient colourways – probably more like the fifth shade than the sixth (maybe even the fourth. You can see it on the right.) I’ll go with it anyway. The fiber content is the same.
I’ll keep knitting and will show you better pix once it’s completed. I still have no clue what I did wrong, but the end result looks okay, so it will be what it will be.
Things have been quiet here at the blog, because real life hasn’t been very quiet of late. Add spring cleaning and my annual bout of reorganization and it’s been busy around here.
I have, however, been making progress on the Which Way shawl. I first told you about it in this post. Here’s what it looks like now:
Still on the needles, so it’s not laid flat, but you can see the orange marker on the decrease stitch in the middle. That’s the point where the pattern changed, from increasing at both edges to decreasing on the right edge and increasing on the left. I have to believe the result of this is that middle stitch takes a bend to the right when the shawl is laid flat. After 22 garter stitch rows, the pattern will change one more time to decrease down to a point again.
The colour combination is unusual for me. I’m not sure I love it. I might have been happier pairing the gradient dyed skeins with kettle-dyed black or plum, but that would have been a predictable choice. I’m also wondering if I should have done the progression in the opposite direction, having the darkest hue in the middle, but I’m not frogging it back now. I’ve just started into the second bundle of skeins, so the contrast will get steadily darker now.
It’s interesting how the whole shawl looks paler as the gradient skeins get lighter, even though the main colour is consistently the same. The main colour is pooling a bit, but it seems to be small pools evenly spaced which is fine.
Here’s a detail picture:
I’m hoping it works out that I use the full bundle of gradient yarns, and the contrast gets all the way back to the darkest plum. We’ll see!
On Wednesday, I’ll show you something else I’ve been working on, for the girls.
The Water shawl by Sylvia McFadden has been in my queue for a long time, even though the stitch pattern in the inserts is one that always gives me trouble. (That’s a Ravelry link.)
I made her Waiting for Rain shawl in 2017 in two colours of MadTosh Dandelion. It looks like this:
It’s a very long and skinny shawl, and better if I can wrap it around my neck twice.
Here’s one of the official images for Water:
It’s so pretty!
I decided to knit mine in Fleece Artist Anni, a mohair and merino blend. (That’s a Ravelry link.) I’m using the colourway Frozen Ocean, the perfect mix of blues. Here it is in the skein:
I also bought a colourway called Plum. It’s a light fingering weight which makes it a little bit skinny for the pattern’s specifications. As a result, I dropped down to a 3mm needle (instead of the specified 3.75mm) to get a fabric I like. My shawl, of course, is coming out smaller, so I’m thinking I’ll need to do more repeats.
Here it is so far:
The lead edge is at the top and it’s pretty tight at this point. I hope it relaxes when the shawl is blocked.
I think I’m still having trouble with that pattern stitch. It doesn’t look like the photo from the pattern:
But I like it enough to keep going. It’s all twisted stitches so reknitting it isn’t an appealing option. I’ll just continue and be consistent. 🙂
Overall, I’m pleased. It has a wavey watery look to it that I like a lot. Onward!
There’s an unusual confluence of variables in my life right now, which means I’m starting both new writing projects and new knitting projects. It’s amazing to me how similar the two situations are. It’s not just about choosing the project—the bigger issue is getting the combination of variables right. Possibilities abound! I need to get some of them settled so I can start creating effectively.
Let’s talk about the knitting project here.
First off, I finished another pair of socks. These are knit in my usual pattern, the one I have memorized, in Fleece Artist Kiki. (That’s a Ravelry link.)
The tag says the colourway is Pansy but I think it’s really Nova Scotia (there’s no purple in this skein). I was excited to get this yarn on sale and realized later that it’s discontinued. It’s quite a thick sock yarn, so I went down to 64 stitches from my usual 72. I knit another pair of socks in another colourway of Kiki and showed them to you earlier this year. It’s a nice squishy yarn and good to have another pair of socks done for the winter. (I may have to cast on another pair of socks, just to have an anchoring project in my currently chaotic world.)
I also cast on a new shawl. Water is a pattern I’ve wanted to knit for a while (that’s a Ravelry link) and I finally found the perfect yarn for it. The designer is Sylvia McFadden and one of the official pix of the shawl is at right. (Click through on the Ravelry link to see more.) You can see that it’s in garter stitch with lovely wavey insertions.
I bought a collection of her patterns and knit Waiting for Rain from it – that’s the Ravelry link for the pattern and this is my blog post about my shawl.
In case you don’t feel clicky, here’s my Waiting for Rain shawl.
In that pattern, the insertions were of a different lace pattern and they were knit in a contrasting color. There was a lot of stripe-y goodness in that design.
I’m knitting my Water shawl with Fleece Artist Anni (that’s a Ravelry link), a limited edtiion yarn that is also discontinued. It’s fingering weight and a blend of merino and mohair. It’s a bit more itchy for me than anticipated, so is a better choice for a shawl than a sweater. The colorway is called Frozen Ocean, which seems very apt.
Here’s how it looks so far:
The color is really not true in this image. It looks very green here, but is actually turquoise. I made good progress but am now at the first insertion and need to pay attention to the lace stitch. This bit isn’t TV knitting. 🙂
Which meant (inevitably) that I was casting around for a TV knit, since we’re binging mystery series these evenings. I’d been thinking of making an asymmetical sweater for the girls, which reminded me of this pattern. Portia is another sweater I always intended to make. (Yes, that’s a Ravelry link.) It was designed by Norah Gaughran for Berroco and has such an interesting design.
I actually have the specified yarn, Berroco Peruvia, but don’t have quite enough of it. I could make the smallest size, but that seems overly ambitious. It’s unlikely that I’ll lose a bunch of weight, sitting on the couch knitting. (That’s a Ravelry link because yes, Peruvia is discontinued.)
So I ended up auditioning yarn candidates from my stash – which is awfully similar to auditioning opening scenes for a book, my daytime task this week. The first candidate was some Rowan Felted Tweed Aran, which is exactly the same weight as Peruvia. (That’s a Rowan link as my colorway is discontinued but not the yarn itself.) Mine is a rosy colour, though, and I’m not sure I’ll wear a sweater coat in that shade. It’s a lot of pink. Beautiful yarn, though. I need to figure out what to do with it now.
Next up, some Debbie Bliss Donegal Luxury Tweed Aran in a scarlet shade. (Another discontinued yarn; another Ravelry link.) Very pretty but I thought the yarn looked too thin when knit to gauge. I could use smaller needles, but then the dimensions of the garment would be changed. Given the design of this sweater, it’s tough to anticipate how to adjust the fit.
Next candidate: Noro Nadeshiko. This is lovely squishy yarn, an angora, silk and mohair blend. It’s a little heavier than Peruvia but I really like the firmer fabric when knit to gauge. I had bought this to make another sweater coat, this one from the original Noro magazine, designed by Mari Tobita, at left. It’s called #18 Shawl Collared Coat. (Yes, more Ravelry links. The problem with a well-aged stash is that everything is discontinued.) This coat has really pretty shaping in the back.
The colourway I have is less stripey than the one in this picture. It’s mostly shades of grey with a little bit of brick-red and a bit of white. I’m concerned that it might look too stripe-y in Portia, but am giving it a try. Here’s what I have so far:
This is the centre-back braid, knit down from the back yoke, so it’s going to taper from here to that lowest point. The red looks more emphatic in the photo than in real life.
After this triangular piece is knit, you then pick up the side panels along the edges and knit toward the front. If I continue with the Noro, I’ll have to make sure that the stripes are symmetrical. I’m just too matchy-matchy to be happy with the result otherwise. I’ll see how it looks when the triangle is done.
With any luck, I’ll soon have both a knitting project and a writing project launched!
Things have been quiet here on the blog. I’ve been writing a lot and solving a lot of publishing things – I’m still knitting and crafting but have been waiting to have a finished project to show you.
Here’s one.
This project jumped onto my needles after our trip to the Koigu Tent Sale in August. You might remember my acquisitions:
Those three reds were screaming to become a shawl, along with the grey/red mix and one of the lighter greys off to the right. (Not the lightest one.) Those two light greys look like a progression in hue, but they’re actually two dye lots of the same colourway. The right one is a bit more blue.
I showed you the shawl in progress, but here it is again:
I used a longer colour transition than the one recommended in the pattern: this is the one that The Unique Sheep suggests with their graduated colourways. It takes 24 rows when you’re working back and forth, 12 if knitting in the round. When changing from A to B and knitting back and forth:
With B, work 2 R.
With A, work 6 R.
With B, work 4 R.
With A, work 4 R.
With B, work 6 R.
With A, work 2 R.
In the round, the row counts would be 1, 3, 2, 2, 3, 1.
It’s interesting how much evident the colour changes are in a photograph than in real life.
Here it is, fresh off the needles:
This used pretty much all of those five skeins of Koigu KPPPM – the bind-off I-cord is knit in the leftover red from my Lunenberg Cardigan. My Ravelry project page is here.
Here it is, stretched out to block. I was amazed that it blocked to 80″ – wingtip to wingtip – by 45″ deep.
Here it is finished up (well, the ends need to be stitched in.)
And a detail shot:
I did think it was too stretched after I’d blocked it, so I tossed it into the dryer with some towels that were finished up. (Just for about 10 minutes.) That took it down 4″ in the length and about 8″ across the top, and also improved (to me) the look and feel of the stitches.
I want to make another shawl, maybe not with the same stitch pattern, from those skeins to the right of the reds. I’ll start with the almost-black and work down to the pale grey. That will give me four skeins, so it will be a bit smaller than this one. I have a partial skein in a lovely purple-pink mix that will be great for the I-cord bind-off.
I’ve also been working on an Entrelac scarf for the mister in that Noro from the thrift store. I’ll show you that next week, whether it’s done or not. 🙂
I’m a day late this week in posting. Holiday Mondays tend to throw my game. I wrote on Monday, but didn’t get the other things done.
One thing we did in August was run away for the day to the Koigu Tent Sale. We always take a picnic and enjoy the scenic drive – plus, of course, there’s yarn that comes home with us.
Here’s what I bought this year:
It’s all Koigu KPPPM. (That link will take you to the Koigu site.)
I’m always looking for purply-blue yarn, esp since I used up the Koigu KPPPM that I had in blue for my Halo cardigan. I think this lot on the left will replace that lot 🙂 for a Latitude sweater. (That’s a Ravelry link.) I still have a lighter blue and white for the contrast.
The turquoises on the bottom row coordinate with the leftovers from my Navelli and will likely become a shawl.
The row with the burgundy through the black will become two shawls with gradient hues – the reds have already jumped onto my needles for another Charlotte’s Web shawl. (Another Ravelry link there.)
Here’s a picture of it in progress:
So far, these are in the order of the stash pic above, but I’m going to end with one of those pale greys. They’re the same colour but different dye lots – the left one will finish out my red shawl and I have scraps of another red – from my Lunenberg cardigan – for the I-cord bind-off. I prefer that to a fringe. The black and grey shawl will only have four skeins, so it’ll be a bit smaller. I have bits of a purple-pink mix to bind off that one which will be fun.
It’s interesting how much easier it is to see the colour changes in a picture than in real life. I’m using a 24R transition instead of the 16R one suggested in the pattern, the same sequence recommended when using Unique Sheep gradients. (My Urdr shawl is an example, though knit in laceweight.)
I also found some Noro Silver Thaw at the thrift store recently (that’s a Ravelry link) which will probably jump queue and leap onto my needles.
There are three skeins but I’ve already balled up one of them. I wanted to see how the colourway would work, whether it would stripe or fleck. It will stripe, like most Noro yarns, so I’m going to make an entrelac scarf and hat from this lot.
Alive & Knitting 