Showing posts with label sockyarn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label sockyarn. Show all posts

Saturday, April 19, 2008

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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Wednesday, April 09, 2008

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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Saturday, March 29, 2008

ISE6 - Yarn Purchased

The yarn I ordered before Easter arrived yesterday, all beautifully wrapped and packed. Two yarn cakes of 4ply merino sock yarn from Sarah (Gemini Knits) in various shades of blue, blue and blue!

Sarah is lovely and extremely helpful, even winding the skeins into lovely center pull balls for me (I really don't enjoy winding skeins of 4ply yarn by hand off the back of a chair!)


Blue seems to be the dominant colour on the ISE6 blog so far and I'm amazed at the progress some people have already made!


Now, as per usual, I will be 'umming' and 'awing' for the next few days trying to decide which colourway to use for my pal's scarf. Time to knit me some swatches!

TTFN

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Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Swaps: ISE5 Angel scarf & goodies - piccies!

It's been a busy few days in Casa Craftybernie. In between sleeping as I get over the dreaded 'lurgy and keeping Katie busy during half-term, I've been slowly working my way through all the recent finished projects and swaps, posting photos of everything that I have received or completed.

About 1/2 an hour ago I finished uploading the photos of everything that I received from my amazing ISE5 Angel, Martha.

Check out the results of Martha's hard work starting with this beautiful scarf in Rowan Felted Tweed. The scarf pattern is Eugen Buegler's 'Streaming Leaves Lace Scarf'. And it is DIVINE! It's so soft and squishy. Martha was a little concerned about the alpaca guard hairs but it's not a problem - it feels lovely and soft against my skin. Beautiful! I love it.


Martha also kindly included a second scarf, Edgar from the fall 2005 issue of Knitty knit in Silk Garden Lite, for Katie. I guess I could have claimed it for myself but I will probably end up borrowing it anyway and this way Katie feels spoiled too! She was seriously stunned that a stranger across the ocean remembered her in this way and she asked me to say that she "absolutely loves the colours and the pattern". Thanks Martha (from Katie!)


Another indication of Martha's thoughtfulness, is the undyed wool and Kool-Aid packages that she enclosed so that Katie and I could dye the wool together. How lovely is that!! Katie was very interested in testing the Kool-Aid for herself when I explained that we would be using it to dye wool and not drinking it! "Imagine what it does to your insides", she said! Kids. Lol.

The box was absolutely stuffed full of thoughtful little extras and I know that Martha & her hubby had a lot of 'fun' squeezing everything in. By no stretch of the imgaination was this a small box. There is enough fiber, yarn, beads and more to keep me going for months of projects!

I put together this little photographic collage of the items that my amazing Angel sent me. Working left to right, starting with the top row we have:


1) Clover Natural Wool Roving
2) Bluefaced Leicester
3) Dream in Colour Sockyarn
4) Precious Petals
5) Tubes of Street Bead Connections
6) Naked Cat Fiberworks
7) Edgar Scarf in Noro Silk Lite
8) Patchwork Fat Quarter Bundle
9) a Beautiful Notebook (has graph & plain paper inside!)
10) Sugar'n'Cream Dishcloth Cotton

There's an element of crafty Kharma that goes with being a swap Angel. Stepping in at the last minute to make and send to somebody across an ocean is a challenge-and-a-half, especially when everybody else has had months to get to know their pal and work on their projects. The kindness of our swap Angels is invaluable. It takes a special person to fulfil their duties in a swap, only to do it over again for a second pal.

Thank you Martha for being a true Angel. xx

About my Scarf Angel: Martha lives in Vancouver Washington, with her husband, 2 dogs, 3 cats and 1 or 2 of her 3 children.

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