Still Knitting

Still knitting. This


is in the process of becoming an Ink Heart Shawl. More on this later...

(Yeah, I know, it's being one of Those Weeks. Really, there will be more. Just, you know, later.)

My New Favorite Shawl Pattern

Went on a bit of a shawl kick last year - mostly in November (thanks, Uniquities retreat!). So, a shawl.

First up: Caroline Hockenberry's "Filigree Lace Scarf". I've done three of these (so far), with another few on the way. I think this is my favorite pattern for something to show off the luxe yarns out there - or even simple yarns. Anyway...


This one is made from S. Charles Collezione Crystal and Luna. It's the first one I finished, and it's soft and fluffy and I think I blocked it incorrectly because it still curls a bit - so it's a throw-around=your-neck for pretty rather than a shawlette. (It could be the artifical fiber I used that was mixed in with the soft fluffy natural stuff. Yeah, it was probably that. I blocked it fine, it just didn't want to cooperate.)


I turned it in for Chamber of the Keys last term; it does look rather like wings, I think!

Wisp!

Regular Quidditch has three paths this term: I took Oneiromancy - basically, if it's been in my queue or favorites BEFORE October 1, 2011, I can turn it in for 15 points; if it's a WIP started before Aug. 31, 2011, I can turn it in for 10 points. While I am going to try to finish at least three WIPs, and I have a backup plan of a Bunny Nugget Army of whatever size I need in the end, I'm taking the opportunity to get a few things done that I've wanted to make for a while.

First up is Cheryl Niamath's WISP from knitty.com. Here it is after Day One:


... and here it is the morning of Day Three, when I realized I had a hole in it. Joy.


Yep, a hole in fishnet lace. Yay.
Luckily, 100% invisible repair isn't necessary, which made this a LOT easier. Sadly, the center-pull on my little ball of green mohair (Neighborhood Fiber Company "Loft") wouldn't pull, so I actually had to cut the yarn to get a piece for the repair. (Luckily, few fibers felt-splice quite as nicely as mohair.) I used a crochet hook to weave the stitches to where they should be, then used a 6" length of yarn to tie them in place (yep, TIE), and wove in the two ends of that, one horizontally, one vertically. If you look really hard, you can spot the knot and the extra wraps around the horizontal threads:


... but from any sort of distance, nobody will notice. (And I had enough trouble finding it to take the picture that it won't bother me, either.)

So, disaster averted, and by the end of next week, I should have a lovely green Wisp!

50% Astronomy OWL!

First, hello to Natasha at Unplanned Peacock -I'll definitely be bugging you about getting more Kitty yarn! I just love it!

Now, to the Serious Stuff, aka OWL progress, I'm at 50% (actually 50-and-a-scooch%), obtained yesterday at lunch. I thought I still had one more row to go, so this is 3/4 of the way through Row 34 of Chart 3 - and the 50% mark (according to the Spreadsheet of Evenstar) is tucked inside Row 33. So I made it! This is going to be a very large, very fluffy, very light shawl:


I ended up pulling the thing completely off the needles, and running a perle cotton lifeline through row 34, making sure it was long enough to actually allow me to see how big the shawl is, and what the stitch patterns look like now. (My last lifeline, at row 25, was way too short, so the whole shawl kinda bunched up uncomfortably in places, and I was worried it would start to felt before too much longer.)


There's another forty or so rows until the edging starts, and I'm hoping to get that done this week, since I'd really like November to be All-Edging, All The Time. I've already decided that Catkin is my Yule Ball #3 project, and I will make ALL my classes fit the things I need to make for Christmas (several washcloth/facepoof sets, four more glass cozies, swiffer covers, knitted ornaments). In November, my sit-in-my-chair project will be this OWL (which will be getting beaded at that point, and will no longer travel well), the carryaround will be my BROOM plus one other project for class, and hopefully by Thanksgiving weekend I'll be in good shape to turn everything in first thing on the 29th.


Because otherwise, there's not going to be a lot of sleeping at the end of the month.

Oh, did I mention I'm also doing NaNoWriMo again, too?

O.W.L. Prep

It's almost time to submit my OWL proposal, so it was time to get all the stuff I'll need to knit the Evenstar Shawl together. Here are my eight balls of silver-shot twilight-blue mohair (Luna), four packs of iridescent beads (which should be well over 3,000), needles, steel crochet hooks, and the pattern.


This is a better photo of the actual color of the yarn; evidently, my iPhone camera isn't quite so into the whole "getting color correction working when faced with a BRIGHT ORANGE background".


You can even see the little bits of silver all through it. My proposal is mostly written - I have to add a few more things about how the lace elements actually represent Venus and lots of little stars even before the twinkly yarn and beads come into the picture - and I'm pretty sure it'll get approved. Mostly since the same shawl was approved for Astronomy last term at least twice, and at least one person (Hi, Headmistress!) is making it NEWT-worthy. I could probably put it in as a NEWT, too, except I'm not NEWT-qualified (not enough OWLs), and I really need Astronomy for the NEWTs I will have in the future. So, um, OWL for now.

O.W.L. Swatch - Evenstar Shawl

I finally did my OWL swatch for the Evenstar Shawl. The yarn is so soft and fluffy and mohair-y... yeah, I'd better not make any mistakes. It doesn't TINK well, to put it mildly. But, on size 3 needles, I was to get a 6" x 4" swatch and I pretty much nailed it. Once I got the hang of the kfb4-k2tog and kfb7-k3tog stitches, things went (a bit more) smoothly.




I added beads to the shawl, too. I wanted them to be *subtle* accents, and they're so subtle they don't show up well on camera. They twinkle ever so prettily in RL, though, so I'll be using them. Three thousand of them, evidently.


I can also use this swatch to turn in for my "S"-is-for Swatch tile in STUFF.


Which will leave me with the "F" for Fix, and the "T" for Tidy. Still have some work to do on both of those!!

"But I have to finish - I've got a blog post due!"

First up, for the stitchers out there: my friend M sent me a link to the HowAboutOrange blog (SO following this one now!), which, in turn, had a link to adorable Printable Cards for Embroidery Thread from Wild Olive. Check 'em out!!

Next up, a finished object: my little snowflake lace whatever-it-is. It was going to be a mobius-thing, but I found some cute little star buttons and was getting close to running out of yarn, so viola - it has buttons!


It's about 16" long, unblocked (and I'm not planning on blocking it), and very warm and fuzzy.


Here's my very best future-Hogwarts-professor look. The Slytherin glasses really help with the effect, no? (Well, ok, maybe not. I'm not as good at taking pictures of myself w/o a mirror as my cousin is.)


There's just enough yarn left to put in a shiny paper clip and keep in my desk as emergency stash. Because, for some reason, my desk felt empty without yarn in it.


But hey, one finish for December, either way!!

Forget-Me-Not is Finished!

Today, I've got a finish for you! This is Shui Kuen Kozinski's "Forget-Me-Not" lace shawl (from Elann.com), done in a mystery soft mohair for most of it, and about six inches in Kid Seta that mostly matched. I started this shawl in 2008, according to The List - July 29, 2008, according to Ravelry. (I love Ravelry!!) Finished it on the 24th of last month, and pulled out the pins Wednesday evening, with photos taken early this morning. (Photography Hint: lace with a flash just before sunrise against black clothing looks pretty danged good.)

Model chosen because she was wearing black,
which makes everything show up well!


Of course, blocking it took forever - and, since it was 6' along the edge, the garage again. I ran out of ball-head pins, and wound up using lace pins for over half of it. Tiny, sharp little lace pins. Which didn't much like the mohair, but I made it work.


halfway there...



Of course, I spotted a space where there was a hole that needed repair - this stuff was incredibly fiddly to work with! Luckily, it repaired just fine. *Phew!*


And, since I was working on this for a bit, if you click through on this picture, there's some pretty pink wallpaper for you, if you like pretty pink lace wallpaper.


Since I finished the knitting *before* classes started, this actually brought my UFO number down to 45 for a brief, shining moment. Woohoooo!!

First FO of 2009!

So, Danica. One, I love, love, love this yarn (Feza Iplik Cyprus Mohair - currently on backorder everywhere). It is so soft and fluffy and it actually keeps my hands warm as I knit it. In my slightly-above-freezing (exaggeration... slightly) house, this is a plus. This will NOT be a early-fall/late-spring scarf. This is a Scarf for Winter. Here it is on Friday, noonish:


Yes, it's just one strand of yarn.
Works great, doesn't it?

And on Saturday morning...	And on Sunday evening...
And on Monday morning...	And on Tuesday morning...
And on Wednesday morning...	And on Thursday morning...

And on The Recipient!!


The recipient wishes to withhold his identity until further notice.
But yay! First finish of 2009!!

Really good, soft fluffy happy yarn that just happens to fold itself into a beautiful scarf. I have been totally spoiled by my first foray into entrelac. That, and this is the PERFECT yarn for it. The color runs were long enough to make between two and three squares... and I just happened to hit the right place to start, since I got squares, not half-squares (which wouldn't look nearly as cool).

Not-Quite-Addis...

Well, if something sells, there will be imitators. Addi Turbos just rock, as needles go; I'm seriously considering getting a size 4 of the Addi Lace circs to finish up the Forget-Me-Not Shawl by Shui Kuen Kozinski. On the other hand, A.C. Moore is now stocking these:


Has anyone tried them? They're clearly trying to go after the Addi market (I mean really. Why else name them "Velocity"?). I didn't see a size 4 pair, which is what I need. Oh, darn, may have to give in and get the Addis anyway.

Which brings us to why I need them:

Couch Project	Commuting Project	Waiting Project
Peacock Scarf. (beads involved)	Forget-Me-Not Shawl (if on circs only)	Ninja Armwarmers
Titania Cardigan	Tiger Eyes Shawl	Koigu Scarf
Argyle Hearts Sweater	FTSC-1-III Socks

You see, I'm on the Forget-Me-Not shawl, but it's a commuting project ONLY if it's on circular needles. Right now, it's on size 4 straight needles - and you don't want to know how far down a train car those can roll. Plus, they're tiny. They get caught in the worst places. (Remind me to tell you sometime about my "suspicious behavior", the two Metro policemen, the Metro police dog and my grandmother's just-out-of-reach knitting needle.)

My carry-around waiting project for right now is my Ninja Armwarmers, because (a) it doesn't get any more mindless than "Knit in a tiny circle. A lot. Knit a tinier circle. Join. Knit more in a cirle. Knit another tiny circle. Join. Knit around and around until you have enough knitting to cover your entire arm."


The Evidence
Armwarmers, left, in black; Shawl, right, in HOT pink
It was supposed to be my Fairy Tale Sock Club #1 third socks - but I lost them in the house again! Arrrgh! And Fairy Tale Sock Club #2 is about to start! I managed to find them last night, and get them all together, so when I get bored of millions of circles of black (give it two more days, I think), I'll go back to the socks.