Yes, here's the trippingly named "Scarf with the open and solid lace edging from Weldon's 1904" completed and displayed on a very bright colored table cloth. That should wake folks up. I plan to block it today, so it will be interesting to see how it grows. I'll measure it before blocking. It's very pretty, even with the lumpy borders. I ended up doing 8.5 repeats rather than 6.5, since the sock yarn made it much smaller than it was in the silk in the book.
I put the Cat Bordhi socks on hold--maybe sis will get some for her birthday. I'll make myself some in my ample spare time over the holidays, when I can look at the book. In the meantime, WendyKnits' Double Eyelet Border socks are now on the needles in a happy Trekking XXL colorway with blues and oranges in them--subtly "Go Gators" for the sister, and do-able in time to mail for the holidays.
Tonight I really NEED to do something for me, so I will cast on Knitty's Juno Regina in my Claudia Handpaints silk. It looks really pretty in a yarn cake. It will be fun to figure out a needle to use. Of course, it won't be a wooden KnitPicks in size 3--I am still mourning the fact that a tip snapped off my needle!
Needy Me
I know this is a knitting blog, but I am asking for good wishes and vibes, as I found out yesterday my one-year contract is now an 8-month contract (funding cuts), so I will be out of work AGAIN, just in time for the holidays. I do have a couple of things being worked on, one that sounds really great, but all are contract jobs. I'd love an opportunity to try for a permanent position, though of course, these days any job a tech writer or trainer gets is among the first to get cut--I know that. Vibes that Lee will get the position he is one of the two top candidates for would also be appreciated. If just one of us had something more permanent, we'd feel a little less unsettled. I am trying to get used to the roller coaster of contract work, but it's taking a while.
Thank you.
Showing posts with label victorian lace today. Show all posts
Showing posts with label victorian lace today. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
Monday, November 5, 2007
A Lesson to Learn
And that lesson is: read the ball band when you buy yarn for socks.
I did not read the ball band when I picked the yarn for the socks in the photo. I just assumed two balls of yarn would make two socks. Well, 85 yards of worsted/aran weight yarn does not make one sock. It makes about 4 rows more than what you see here. If the LYS does not have more of this color, I will be MIGHTY sad. It's a manly blue, but a more interesting one than many blues, and I really wanted to use this for Lee's Dad socks. I do have another ball of navy Cascade 220, which I am positive will make him another pair, but wah, I liked this one.
I did make significant progress on the VLT shawl over the weekend and came to the conclusion that Shaefer Anne is so petite that I should add a couple of repeats of the inner pattern to it. I know it will stretch out when blocked, but especially since the recipient is not especially thin, more length would make it more likely to drape elegantly around her shoulders if desired. Since I have 110 more yards of yarn than the pattern calls for, I should be OK with this. I am on the 6th repeat now, and there's just no way that the blocked shawl would be 70 inches long if I only did the instructed 6.5 repeats.
The shawl is fun to do now that I have the pattern of giant holes memorized, so I may as well keep going on it. Plenty of time before Christmas!
Now I just have to get one more pair of sister socks done, and I can move on! I am really anxious to try one of those "new pathways" patterns!
I did not read the ball band when I picked the yarn for the socks in the photo. I just assumed two balls of yarn would make two socks. Well, 85 yards of worsted/aran weight yarn does not make one sock. It makes about 4 rows more than what you see here. If the LYS does not have more of this color, I will be MIGHTY sad. It's a manly blue, but a more interesting one than many blues, and I really wanted to use this for Lee's Dad socks. I do have another ball of navy Cascade 220, which I am positive will make him another pair, but wah, I liked this one.
I did make significant progress on the VLT shawl over the weekend and came to the conclusion that Shaefer Anne is so petite that I should add a couple of repeats of the inner pattern to it. I know it will stretch out when blocked, but especially since the recipient is not especially thin, more length would make it more likely to drape elegantly around her shoulders if desired. Since I have 110 more yards of yarn than the pattern calls for, I should be OK with this. I am on the 6th repeat now, and there's just no way that the blocked shawl would be 70 inches long if I only did the instructed 6.5 repeats.
The shawl is fun to do now that I have the pattern of giant holes memorized, so I may as well keep going on it. Plenty of time before Christmas!
Now I just have to get one more pair of sister socks done, and I can move on! I am really anxious to try one of those "new pathways" patterns!
Friday, October 26, 2007
Off and Running
I have to say that I love starting new projects, so I am glad to be off and running on two right now. Touching new yarns, figuring out new diagrams...oooh what fun. Sigh, still gotta finish that sock, though. I can't ignore it. All I did on it yesterday was erase two rows.
The Former Tangled Mess (hey, I think that will be the scarf's new name, since it has such a dud name in the book) now looks like the photo you see. Nice picture taken on top the clean white laundry basket! It doesn't look too bad, even before blocking!
I spent a bit of time pondering whether to make it with three border repeats (two are depicted here) or four. The Victorian Lace Today book's photo is of the scarf with three border repeats, while the instructions make a scarf with four. I was worried that I would not have enough of the yarn if I did four, but when I looked up how much yarn is in the skein, I knew I'd be OK--pattern calls for 400-something yards and I have 560. I should have enough left over for wrist warmers for ME or something. Jody volunteered to bring a scale to the LYS tomorrow and weigh the yarn to find out, too.
Though every pattern I have looked at in the VLT book has some "issue," I can't complain about the charts. They sure are easy to use (once properly interpreted) and keep me from losing my place! I haven't knitted a wrong row yet!
I also worked a bit on the Shedir hat last night and it is coming along nicely. Nice that I am not using a cable needle as instructed by the author, because one-stitch cables done that way are a pain. I think I can go back and knit that sock pattern with all the traveling twisted stitches (Circle of Friends--I totally gave up on that one due to tedious twisting) now that I can do the no-needle traveling stitches so much better. See, always learning! The Calmer yarn really is calm. It is a treat to knit with, because it is so soft, and even though it's one of those many-stranded cottons, it has enough twist in it that I am not splitting the yarn at all, even with all those twisted stitches. I should have a photo at some point this weekend--I'd have it done in a flash if i weren't also working on the scarf and socks.
I look forward to part 2 of my sweater class (though I finished the sweater) tomorrow and to getting some good knitting done. It is still pretty cold, so I doubt there will be much Homecoming Game knitting tonight.
The Former Tangled Mess (hey, I think that will be the scarf's new name, since it has such a dud name in the book) now looks like the photo you see. Nice picture taken on top the clean white laundry basket! It doesn't look too bad, even before blocking!
I spent a bit of time pondering whether to make it with three border repeats (two are depicted here) or four. The Victorian Lace Today book's photo is of the scarf with three border repeats, while the instructions make a scarf with four. I was worried that I would not have enough of the yarn if I did four, but when I looked up how much yarn is in the skein, I knew I'd be OK--pattern calls for 400-something yards and I have 560. I should have enough left over for wrist warmers for ME or something. Jody volunteered to bring a scale to the LYS tomorrow and weigh the yarn to find out, too.
Though every pattern I have looked at in the VLT book has some "issue," I can't complain about the charts. They sure are easy to use (once properly interpreted) and keep me from losing my place! I haven't knitted a wrong row yet!
I also worked a bit on the Shedir hat last night and it is coming along nicely. Nice that I am not using a cable needle as instructed by the author, because one-stitch cables done that way are a pain. I think I can go back and knit that sock pattern with all the traveling twisted stitches (Circle of Friends--I totally gave up on that one due to tedious twisting) now that I can do the no-needle traveling stitches so much better. See, always learning! The Calmer yarn really is calm. It is a treat to knit with, because it is so soft, and even though it's one of those many-stranded cottons, it has enough twist in it that I am not splitting the yarn at all, even with all those twisted stitches. I should have a photo at some point this weekend--I'd have it done in a flash if i weren't also working on the scarf and socks.
I look forward to part 2 of my sweater class (though I finished the sweater) tomorrow and to getting some good knitting done. It is still pretty cold, so I doubt there will be much Homecoming Game knitting tonight.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
Yarn Happy
[I mention so many yarns in this post that I am bolding them all.]
To show how happy I am, here's some happy yarn, Maizy in a deep rose colorway. I also got it in a multicolored version called "menswear" in the Woodland Woolworks catalogue (they name all the colors, even ALL 200+ of the Jamieson jumper weight Shetland yarn). None of my usual sources had this yarn, so I am glad my favorite backup source had it!
Ooh, it is very soft and it has that "dry" feel that Panda Cotton has. It feels much nicer than the A-Maize-ing yarn we had at the LYS. I look forward to making something lacy with this pink stuff.
Yesterday, as a reward for my yarn winding patience, I also got myself a skein of Claudia Handpaints silk laceweight yarn. The LYS got a whole bunch of Claudia sock yarn in (which I already have plenty of) and a bit of this silk stuff. It's over 1,000 yards and very thin and shiny. What a nice stole or shawl that will make. Only two colorways came in, one blues and one rainbow. You can guess which one I got! All I can say is it had better wind nicely into a ball!
Success!
All the ladies at Chicks with Sticks who had read about my Schaeffer Anne issue were very sympathetic, and I appreciated it a lot! I was also happy to read the blog comment that said it wasn't just me--others have had issues with that yarn. I am HAPPY to report that all the yarn got wound up last night after I got home from choir practice, and I didn't have to break it or anything.
At lunch break I tried to start the Victorian Lace Today scarf with good ole Anne. It looked too loose on size 4 needles so I went down to size 3. Then I learned a new skill, the crochet cast-on (not the provisional one, but rather the one that looks like a bound-off edge. The pattern uses that so it will look the same on both sides and the slipped edges of the main scarf will also match it. Very slick. And a fun cast-on, once I found my hidden crochet hook. Too bad I mis-read the chart and was making it stockinette stitch when it is really mostly a garter-stitch border. Oh well, good practice and all that--I only did a couple of rows. I will re-start tonight.
It's my month for humbling knitting experiences, I think. I cast on with Rowan Calmer in a coral color for the Shedir cap I am making for a friend undergoing chemo. It felt great, but, sigh, my new KnitPicks Harmony size 3.25mm were sorta squirrely at first so I didn't notice until row 4 that I had mobiused it. Oops. Well, it can happen to anyone, I guess! I worked on it at choir (a lot of bass practice and little alto practice), so I got well into it the second time around. Lots of little traveling stitches in that one, which are good practice for my new cabling with no needles skills.
Look at me, all these years of knitting and still there is so much new to learn! And THAT, reader friends, is why I still knit: there's always something new to try.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
I Had Blog Ennui
I haven't written anything in a couple of days, because nothing knitting-wise has really gotten me all excited. And I recently read about this very useful concept of blogging without obligation. The fellow who thought it up has a great point--it's a good idea to leave my blog right NOW and click that link. His main point is that you should blog because you have something to say, not just to make sure you get hits, inspire new subscribers or whatnot. I agree with that, so even though my hits have taken a tumble, I didn't write for a couple of days when I didn't get much knitting done and what I did was on the same old projects.
My projects are just fine, thank you. None of them are moving along very briskly, due to that pesky old "real life" getting in the way, but Mr. Greenjeans is over halfway through the cable section, and Pagoda Lace Sock #1 has at least grown a bit. The Knitivity sock yarn is coming out very soft--feels great--but it's a bit "splitty" and that makes it hard to re-do when I make a mistake in the lace. I ordered some ShibuiKnits semi-solid yarn from the good ole Loopy Ewe that I may try this pattern on again.
Speaking of yarn, I will have to photograph my two newest preciouses. One's a skein of 700 yards of fingering weight yarn from Knitivity in a collection of denim shades. I was going to make my stepmom her holiday gift from it, but then I saw this Schaeffer Anne in shades of turquoise that will look better in the pattern I chose (one of the rectangular shawls in Victorian Lace Today). I am going to make that really simple triangle shawl from VLT out of the denim for my own use.
I also got my first knittable sample from Color My Yarn Crazy, my friend Jody's soon-to-launch yarn biz (no, there's nothing much about it on the blog). It is an almost-indescribable color in sock yarn of my favorite highly twisted type. Both Lee and Beccano declared the color looks like a chocolate cherry cake, so I hope that helps. It is really a very dark mottled orange. My friend Saranda labeled it Rust. Someone nameless called it "poop brown" but if that is the case, it is VERY pretty poop! I will use it to make the frogged Diamond Waffle pattern. It will look good in this semi-solid.
At the LYS yesterday I purchased some Calmer in a coral color to make the Shedir (warning, PDF link) hat (photo is from a nice site with lots of chemo caps on it) for an acquaintance with breast cancer. I'll make that on the bus for the endlessly long band trip this weekend (where I have some crazed idea that I will finish ALL my WIPs). When I got the Calmer yarn and said I was making a cabled hat, Jody said, "Oh, you're making Shedir." My-o-my that woman has an encyclopedic memory for knitting pattern names! I was sure glad she made it to the shop, because talking to her and a couple other nice and friendly knitters really made a crummy day better.
I guess I have written enough that I don't have to go on and on about the weird patterns in the Holiday Vogue Knitting. At least there were 2-3 a person could wear in public without being laughed at or looking like a sausage. I must be too, too, old.
My projects are just fine, thank you. None of them are moving along very briskly, due to that pesky old "real life" getting in the way, but Mr. Greenjeans is over halfway through the cable section, and Pagoda Lace Sock #1 has at least grown a bit. The Knitivity sock yarn is coming out very soft--feels great--but it's a bit "splitty" and that makes it hard to re-do when I make a mistake in the lace. I ordered some ShibuiKnits semi-solid yarn from the good ole Loopy Ewe that I may try this pattern on again.
Speaking of yarn, I will have to photograph my two newest preciouses. One's a skein of 700 yards of fingering weight yarn from Knitivity in a collection of denim shades. I was going to make my stepmom her holiday gift from it, but then I saw this Schaeffer Anne in shades of turquoise that will look better in the pattern I chose (one of the rectangular shawls in Victorian Lace Today). I am going to make that really simple triangle shawl from VLT out of the denim for my own use.
I also got my first knittable sample from Color My Yarn Crazy, my friend Jody's soon-to-launch yarn biz (no, there's nothing much about it on the blog). It is an almost-indescribable color in sock yarn of my favorite highly twisted type. Both Lee and Beccano declared the color looks like a chocolate cherry cake, so I hope that helps. It is really a very dark mottled orange. My friend Saranda labeled it Rust. Someone nameless called it "poop brown" but if that is the case, it is VERY pretty poop! I will use it to make the frogged Diamond Waffle pattern. It will look good in this semi-solid.
At the LYS yesterday I purchased some Calmer in a coral color to make the Shedir (warning, PDF link) hat (photo is from a nice site with lots of chemo caps on it) for an acquaintance with breast cancer. I'll make that on the bus for the endlessly long band trip this weekend (where I have some crazed idea that I will finish ALL my WIPs). When I got the Calmer yarn and said I was making a cabled hat, Jody said, "Oh, you're making Shedir." My-o-my that woman has an encyclopedic memory for knitting pattern names! I was sure glad she made it to the shop, because talking to her and a couple other nice and friendly knitters really made a crummy day better.
I guess I have written enough that I don't have to go on and on about the weird patterns in the Holiday Vogue Knitting. At least there were 2-3 a person could wear in public without being laughed at or looking like a sausage. I must be too, too, old.
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