One By One

Leaf Lace Shawl

DH and I escaped to Idyllwild this last weekend for a much needed break from our everyday lives. We stayed at the same inn from our trip in April (minus the snow). I cannot speak highly enough of this wonderful getaway. It was a perfect trip.

In addition to the nothing-ness that was accomplished over the weekend, I brought with me the Leaf Lace Shawl. I do have to say I have made some pretty good progress:

I am working on the smaller version using fingering weight yarn, and have completed six of the ten row repeats. According to the pattern twelve repeats is what I'm supposed to be shooting for. I do have 770 yards (compared to the 600 recommended for the pattern), so I may do an extra repeat - we'll see.

BTW - Does anyone have a "shawl calculator" that they like to use? I'm not sure what percentage complete I am at and since the goal for the month is 50%, I would like to know how much further I have to go :)

50%

I've been plugging away at Cozy... really the only knitting project I have been spending time on the last couple of weeks. She is currently 50% done, measuring in at 26":

At this rate, it will be 52" long unblocked. It looks like Cj's grew 15" when she blocked her's, so with any luck mine will be over 65" long when finished - perfect for the recipient!

The pattern for Cozy is pretty mindless, but upon reaching the 50% point I needed more stimulation, and beads seemed to do the trick:

This is the Double Drop Necklace kit that I purchased from Earth Faire last week. Talk about a speedy knit! Including stringing all 1800+ beads, I have spent about seven hours on this baby, and the knitting is officially done. I'm a little stuck on the casting off / finishing directions, but perhaps I'm just over-thinking it (no, not me!). I could not find any errata or clearer direction, so I might just give it a whirl - and if it is wrong and the whole thing comes apart, that's okay - I only spent seven hours on it, right?

A Case of Start-itis

What happens when I finish two projects within days of each other???

I start three more!

I really could not decide what I wanted to work on next, I was being extremely indecisive. I really wanted to start Gatsby Girl, and while the weather here in San Diego has been pretty mild, the idea of holding a wool in my hands for an extended period of time did not sound like fun. But, somehow, I talked myself into mohair! Well, mohair on a speedy project. In comes some Tess' Mohair purchased at Stitches West in February and the Garnstudio/Drops Mohair Jacket. After two knitting sessions, the back (and it's sleeves) is almost done:

And although this is a speedy knit, the big needles (US19s!) and endless stockinette take its toll.

So, then I recalled that I had some ArtFibers Golden Chai (which is 100% silk - loverly!) in the stash that was reserved for the Greek Pullover in IK's Fall 2005 issue. I pulled out the yarn and re-tested my swatch. I. Was. Not. Happy. The yarn was slubbier (is that a word?) than I remembered, which caused an extremely uneven fabric. I did not want to have to wear something underneath this pullover, so I scratched it, but left it out for inspiration....

Along comes Stitch Diva and the release of the Simple Knitted Bodice. I fell head-over-heels for the short sleeve version. And the bonus is that a cami of some kind is required underneath this one!

See where I'm going??

Yep, so I swatched on smaller needles (US3s) and found that I liked the drape and the fabric, which still requires a little something underneath. So, after a little math (my gauge is off from the recommendation from the pattern), I'm knitting a slightly bigger size. Hopefully it will work out, I'm a little concerned because the bodice is knit in one piece, top down:

Okay, so I need to take a better picture, perhaps in natural sunlight so you can see the lovely-ness that is the color of the yarn! I am half way through the first increases, and I may need to add extra rows. We'll see, I'm almost at the point of a test-try one :)

And last, but certainly not least, I've started another shawl/stole project. Well, barely - just two rows:

I'm going to give CJ's recommendation a shot and try Cozy. I tested a couple different stitch patterns, and the variegation really doesn't do the pattern justice. So a Cozy stole it is!

So, there you have it. Way too many projects going on (oh, let's not forget about the second Mock Crock) and not enough time - I hope to get one of these finished before starting Gatsby Girl - maybe I should just have started that one anyway :)

Happy Dance!!

Mountain Peaks is officially done!

   

It turned out beautifully and I'm extremely happy with it!

Pattern: Miriam's Mountain Peaks Shawl. Finished dimensions: 62" wide, 33" long.

Yarn: Tess's Silk and Ivory yarn, one hank (150g/665 yds.) - 15 grams left over. Purchased at Stitches West, February 2006.

Needles: Addi's US6, circular 24"

Alterations: I altered the needle size and substituted the yarn from the original pattern. This left me with quite a dilemma when I discovered I did not have enough yarn to do the entire border edge as written. I decided to alter the original border chart which made it shorter, but still allowed for some peaks.

Impressions: This was my first lace-chart reading project. I needed some help from Kris and Miyon along the way - but I made it through! I lovelovelove the shawl! Miriam's pattern was fantastic and produced beautiful results.

So, now it's time to start another shawl! I have some Brook's Farm's Harmony in the stash that was picked up at Stitches West in February:

It is crying to be a shawl or stole. I'm still deciding on pattern ideas though as it is variegated (blues and greens) and worsted weight. Anyone have any suggestions??

M-P Update

Upon getting really tired of seaming Marcella (I have just one sleeve to go!), I put quite a bit of effort into Mountain Peaks:

Almost. Done.

Just seven more pattern repeats to go. At the rate I'm going, that's a little over two hours to go! And the bonus is that there is no binding off - it's done as the repeats are completed. Maybe I'll get it wrapped up tonight and on the blocking board soon :)

Re-Worked

I spent some time yesterday on the border of Mountain Peaks. After a few trials and errors I think I've got it figured out:

I essentially just re-worked the border pattern to be shorter, but it still adds three inches. Each repeat uses 2 grams of yarn, and if my math is right, and the tip chart (which will also need to be re-worked, but I'm holding off until I'm there) uses less than 8 grams of yarn, I'll have just enough to finish it :)

Just not enough

The good news:

I finished Chart 3 on the Mountain Peaks shawl!

The bad news:

There's not enough yarn left to do the border! Each border repeat takes 4 grams of yarn, I have 57 grams of yarn left, giving me 14 border repeats - and I need 22! (Thank goodness for my scale, otherwise I really would not have been a happy camper half way through the border portion). This was the chance I took in substituting the yarn and changing the needle size. I'm a bit bummed about it, but not heartbroken.

So, I decided to put the live stitches on waste yarn and pin it out to see what I have so far:

It is beautiful! Current dimensions are 59" wide and 24" long.

So I think I have a couple options:

#1 - The easy option would be to do a couple rows of garter stitch, bind off, and aggressively wet-block to get it to expand just a bit more and define those points.

#2 - The more complicated option would be to try and design a different border, one that doesn't require as much yarn per repeat, and therefore isn't as wide. The pattern brilliantly attached the border perpendicularly by casting on stitches and binding off the live stitches with a 'k2tog' every other row. I just love the look of that. I'm not sure if I have the mad skills to create/design my own lace pattern border. I may be asking for a disaster here, but the easy option just seems too easy....

So I ask, what would you do??

Chart Two

On Mountain Peaks - Chart Two is FINISHED!

Yeah, the picture makes it looks like a big ball-o-shawl, but I can tell you that it is coming along beautifully, and I can't wait to finish it and have it all blocked out.

So, you may be wondering why I was having a problem with row 7 - I'm going to chalk it up to being blonde. Believe it or not, double decreases can traverse stitch repeats marked by stitch markers! Who, me, over-think??? Nah, not me :)

Sometimes....

...things don't work out the way we want them to.

First off, I'm stuck on the Mountain Peaks Shawl. Chart #2 is confusing me, Row #7 to be exact. But apparently I'm the only one with the problem, otherwise Miriam would have issued a revision (she's been fantastic about that). It's amazing that I've made it this far without incident, considering this is my first lace project relying fully on charts. It may be that I'm just over-thinking it. Kris is trying to help me via email. I'm lost. I may just need to knit Row #7 and see how it goes. I'm just scared - I don't want to have to rip out a zillion stitches. Maybe a life-line is in order.

Secondly, I worked my brain overtime to get all my homework and reading done for school so that I get some free time to finish the inspiration wrap dress. After playing with my new serger feet (the ones that attach bias tape) I realized that I'm not going to be happy with the width of bias tape I purchased. I do not want any raw edges showing on the bias tape, and the way the foot works (in order to prevent the raw edge issue) is to double the tape width. After checking with Joann's, they do not have 2" wide (unfolded) bias tape - lucky me. So, I've ordered it online... don't know how long it is going to take to get here, hopefully not too long :)

Not all is lost though! I worked on the rough muslin for the Marfy "free" skirt - and I love it!! The bottom panels are cut on the bias, which just puts the skirt over the top. I need to extend the seam allowances where the zipper is installed, but other than that the muslin is a perfect fit. Hopefully this will carry over to the garment fabric. I ended up placing an order for the zipper for this skirt, as well as one for a bag I need to make. I threw in a couple small zippers (8") to make little zippered bags, we'll see how that goes (Erika... just imagine one with an embroidered duck... how cute would that be?!?).

Finished Chart 1

Miyon headed over on Wednesday night, in an attempt to re-claim our weekly knit-night! After some yummy pizza from Mazara's, we settled in to knitting (yes, believe it or not, I knit too!).

Here's the progress on Mountain Peaks:

I finished up the last repeat on Chart #1, and made it into one row on Chart #2. I'm really having fun with this one.

As far as the weekend goes, I hope to get some time in to complete the inspiration dress. We'll see - I'm back at school (four weeks to go on my last summer class!) - and I have a ton of reading and assignments to work on (that's what happens when an online course in only six weeks long!). Plus, we have the final games of the World Cup and a couple stages of Le Tour de France. Hmm.... I don't know if I'll have time for the sewing machine!

In any case, I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend!