Knitting: Icarus Shawl washed & blocked

I can't believe it's been 3 weeks since I last posted. Eek! Well, I have been busy.... busy riding the knitting mojo wave and making the most of it while it lasts. Seriously, you will not believe how much I have knit in the past few weeks. Oodles!

Here's the first of a long line of FOs and I'll post piccies of the rest as and when I get a moment.

I'm so pleased with this shawl and will definitely knit one for myself in 4ply or sockyarn. I have to admit that I'm a little less than thrilled with the yarn. There wasn't much give when blocking this shawl, unlike the FCS. Perhaps it's because the yarn was a laceweight single ply as opposed to the 4ply sockyarn that I used for FCS. Well, whatever. I think it looks great, even though the points are not as pointy!

I blocked it as hard as I could and hopefully my ISE6 pal will like it. For more information and details about this pattern, check out my Flickr photostream.

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ISE6: Forest Canopy Shawl finished

Listen very carefully, I shall say this only once more... I absolutely adore this pattern and can't recommend it enough as a great beginners lace shawl project. It would also make a quick knit for more experienced lace knitters.

To my surprise, my non-attention span coped with the pattern repeat. I took my time and completed the shawl in two weeks. I imagine the next one will fly off the needles (she says hopefully!).

FCS grows pretty quickly and I can't wait to start another one using DK weight yarn and bigger needles.

Blocking this shawl was fun, if a little bit of a challenge. I've never blocked a triangle shawl before and I got there in the end thanks to Yarnharlot, Eunnyjang and Morehouse Merino.

I do hope my ISE pal will like it.

• Pattern: Forest Canopy Shoulder Shawl by Susan Pierce Lawrence
  Needles: 4.5mm circular needles, knit loosely
  Yarn: 100g of GeminiKnits sockyarn in 'Pacific', 75g used
  Pattern repeats: Twelve
  Blocked size: 51" x 21"

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Knitting: Shawls & Caplets (with PHOTOS)

I recently finished the 'Comfort Shawl' for my mum. When mum fell and broke her arm and leg a few weeks ago, I immediately wanted to knit her something. I knew she needed a bed jacket that she could wear with the ease of a shawl. Thanks to the clever shaping of the 'Comfort Shawl' it sits comfortably on your shoulders. It was an enjoyable knit and I especially liked how it was constructed. I will try to post some photos later when things are a little quieter here.

Mum has had both of her casts removed - the leg cast was rmoved after 4 weeks and the arm after 6 weeks. Amazing! She's like a giant bandaid and heals so quickly. Lucky woman. The weather is still a little cool in the evenings in Spain so she should be able to get a couple of months wear out of the shawl before putting it away for the Autumn/Winter.

With my new found confidence for shawl knitting, I decided it was time to tackle something bigger. So after a bit of investigation, I chose the Icarus Shawl from The Best of Interweave Knits (the one on the cover). I'm about 25% in, using a laceweight merino yarn that I bought last year from Ebay (I think the seller was called 'Yarn Wise'). I am enjoying knitting this top down shawl and it feels right, you know what I mean?

Not happy with one WIP on the needles, I cast on the Forest Canopy Shawl this morning which I purchased and downloaded yesterday. I'm knitting this in 'Gemini Knits' sockyarn and the pattern is so easy to follow (I can see how more experienced knitters find this a 'quick' knit). What was I so afraid of?


Thankfully both of these shawls are progressing well so far. I clearly wasn't ready for lace shawls last year. Maybe this year I am!

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Bookmark Swap (2)

I received a lovely hand knit lacy bookmark from my swap pal, Terri. Trying to figure out who sent to me was a bit of a challenge. Until I opened my eyes that is! Lol.

I received the delicate gift, wrapped in pink tissue paper, held closed with a padded fabric dog. It took me a day to figure out who sent it and it wasn't until I started asking for help on the forum that I realised the dog was a Terrier and therefore my pal must have been Terri! I'm such a dufus!

The really cool thing about my bookmark, is that it makes a lovely wrist cuff and fits me perfectly. A bookmark and accessory in one!

It is knit in Kidsilk Night and is a lovely silvery grey. Terri has also kindly offered me the rest of the ball which is extremely kind. I've never worked with Kidsilk before so it will be fun to try it out.

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ISE4 - Progress on Lace Scarf (not Backyard Leaves)

It would seem that I have had a major breakthrough with the lace yarn I purchased at the beginning of this exchange. I finally tried out all the lace patterns that I liked and found one that really suits the yarn. I was also having difficulty finding the right size needle - the scarf was either knitting up too dense or too loose so it took some time to get it right.

The ball of yarn in the picture above is the nearest I can get to the true colours of the yarn. I love the way the colours of the yarn rise and fall with the stitches. I was worried that the yarn colours would look ghastly as can happen with variegated yarns and lace, but the colour repeats are fairly short (every 6" I think), and as they're all different shades of blue it doesn't look too bad.

In the meantime, I've made good progress on my Backyard Leaves scarf and it's simply a question of sending my pal whichever scarf I finish first. Although, I'm leaning more towards the lacy scarf as she lives in a fairly 'tropical' climate.

In a strange turn of events it seems that working on Backyard Leaves has helped me get to grips with all the YOs and left/right leaning decreases on the Gypsy Rose scarf above. So much so, I am able to work on this lace scarf without referring to the pattern. I admit it's only a 2 line pattern (well that's a big thing for me) but at least I can now recognise when to do a YO and when to do the S2K1PSSO without following the pattern! I'm learning, I'm learning.

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