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Knitting Friday
Well, it's my birthday; which comes once a year. I woke up in a cold sweat the other night thinking about my b-day/Valentine's day present from hubby: 100 skeins of Palette yarn (fingering weight) from Knit Picks. It's sort of a sale/sucker bait deal. You get $20 off the regular price (that's the sale) and you get what looks like a bouquet of flowers with all the different colors (that's the sucker bait.) For in the real world, the practical world, what the hell am I going to do with 100 different colored skeins of yarn!
I know my knitting creativity got bumped up alot when I finished that green hued shawl recently. It was just wool yarn spliced together randomly but it looked so good blocked (more on blocking later.) Then Knit Picks decided to adorn their web page with the 100 skeins of Palette deal and I was so sucked in like a whirlpool you can't avoid. I'm thinking shawls like the green one and striped tops and........ I think I need a course in imagination.
On to blocking. Have I mentioned enough times how much I love my blocking wires from Knit Picks? A little back-tracking: when I made the boy his Mario blanket and then his Mario pillow (I have finally found the perfect in-house pillow to cover with it), I wound up making three orders to Knit Picks. It got pretty pricey since you need a $50 order for free shipping and I would have to add single skeins of yarn (lace) to just get over the $50 mark. Therefore, the pink yarn which is pictured here as a shawl, entered my life.
Now, I made this triangular shawl about a year ago. It's only from one skein, 440 yards, and it really was a weird shape. The body was too skimpy and the tails were too long so it didn't look good as a shawl or a neck wrap-around. Enter the Superman of knitting, blocking wires, and you can see the beauty on the right stretched as a medieval rack with all it's length and width pulled out. Now, it's a 70" arm span and 30+ inches from tip to top. (The hat's for scale.)
How do you wear it, you ask? Well, still has a neck wrap-around but now it ties and falls so luxuriously. It's gone from something the rat dragged in to an accessory I would grab to give that extra punch to an outfit.
Today, as I b-day present to myself, I may block my Advent Calendar Scarf. I was waiting for the extra 60 T pins I had ordered from KP to arrive and they're here now. (Note to self: You can get along with one order of 15 blocking wires but the 15 T pins which come with it are not nearly enough. I used 80 with a shawl smaller than the one pictured.)
Finally, a shawl link for today. And some background on this too: a few years ago, I saw the only other shawl ever which was worn by someone who was not I. We were waiting to go into a Parents' Visitation Day at the school so we were crowded in the hall by the main office and a women ahead of me had on a beautiful grey shawl. It wasn't handmade but it was memorable.
Fast forward to today and I found this shawl called Abyssal:
http://1petitbazar.canalblog.com/archives/2010/09/23/19134980.html
It's from a French site but scroll down for the English translation, if you have to. This shawl is the closest match to the one I saw that day. Unfortunately, the comments about it on Ravelry (yes, it's also on Ravelry) are mostly in French and the one VG one in English complains bitterly about the problems with the short rows. I'm thinking about re-working the short rows or eliminating them completely. Plus, if you decide to make this shawl, it might be wise to work a few rows of non-curling stitches (that is: no stockinette) before you bind off. Curling was another complaint.
It really is a very easy pattern to work up and short rows are not scary as long as you wrap and turn to avoid the dreaded holes. Annis at Knitty was suggested as an easier alternative to Abyssal but that edging is lacier with nupps - not the look I remember from my "inspiration" shawl.
Happy Knitting. See you next week.
Well, it's my birthday; which comes once a year. I woke up in a cold sweat the other night thinking about my b-day/Valentine's day present from hubby: 100 skeins of Palette yarn (fingering weight) from Knit Picks. It's sort of a sale/sucker bait deal. You get $20 off the regular price (that's the sale) and you get what looks like a bouquet of flowers with all the different colors (that's the sucker bait.) For in the real world, the practical world, what the hell am I going to do with 100 different colored skeins of yarn!
I know my knitting creativity got bumped up alot when I finished that green hued shawl recently. It was just wool yarn spliced together randomly but it looked so good blocked (more on blocking later.) Then Knit Picks decided to adorn their web page with the 100 skeins of Palette deal and I was so sucked in like a whirlpool you can't avoid. I'm thinking shawls like the green one and striped tops and........ I think I need a course in imagination.
On to blocking. Have I mentioned enough times how much I love my blocking wires from Knit Picks? A little back-tracking: when I made the boy his Mario blanket and then his Mario pillow (I have finally found the perfect in-house pillow to cover with it), I wound up making three orders to Knit Picks. It got pretty pricey since you need a $50 order for free shipping and I would have to add single skeins of yarn (lace) to just get over the $50 mark. Therefore, the pink yarn which is pictured here as a shawl, entered my life.
Now, I made this triangular shawl about a year ago. It's only from one skein, 440 yards, and it really was a weird shape. The body was too skimpy and the tails were too long so it didn't look good as a shawl or a neck wrap-around. Enter the Superman of knitting, blocking wires, and you can see the beauty on the right stretched as a medieval rack with all it's length and width pulled out. Now, it's a 70" arm span and 30+ inches from tip to top. (The hat's for scale.)
How do you wear it, you ask? Well, still has a neck wrap-around but now it ties and falls so luxuriously. It's gone from something the rat dragged in to an accessory I would grab to give that extra punch to an outfit.
Today, as I b-day present to myself, I may block my Advent Calendar Scarf. I was waiting for the extra 60 T pins I had ordered from KP to arrive and they're here now. (Note to self: You can get along with one order of 15 blocking wires but the 15 T pins which come with it are not nearly enough. I used 80 with a shawl smaller than the one pictured.)
Finally, a shawl link for today. And some background on this too: a few years ago, I saw the only other shawl ever which was worn by someone who was not I. We were waiting to go into a Parents' Visitation Day at the school so we were crowded in the hall by the main office and a women ahead of me had on a beautiful grey shawl. It wasn't handmade but it was memorable.
Fast forward to today and I found this shawl called Abyssal:
http://1petitbazar.canalblog.com/archives/2010/09/23/19134980.html
It's from a French site but scroll down for the English translation, if you have to. This shawl is the closest match to the one I saw that day. Unfortunately, the comments about it on Ravelry (yes, it's also on Ravelry) are mostly in French and the one VG one in English complains bitterly about the problems with the short rows. I'm thinking about re-working the short rows or eliminating them completely. Plus, if you decide to make this shawl, it might be wise to work a few rows of non-curling stitches (that is: no stockinette) before you bind off. Curling was another complaint.
It really is a very easy pattern to work up and short rows are not scary as long as you wrap and turn to avoid the dreaded holes. Annis at Knitty was suggested as an easier alternative to Abyssal but that edging is lacier with nupps - not the look I remember from my "inspiration" shawl.
Happy Knitting. See you next week.
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