it is good

Behold the finished Kimono Shawl:
Here are more glorious views:












It is everything I thought it would be. It is made of Henry's Attic Cascade Petite (100% silk and shiny) held together with JaggerSpun Zephyr (50/50 wool/silk and matte) on a #6 U.S. straight needle. Thanks to a suggestion from The Scarlet Knitter, I stopped knitting after 17 repeats. The shawl blocked to 22" wide by 68" long - an excellent length. Guided by Laura, I realized that a longer shawl would look like a costume. This one looks, again, perfect.

"More pictures?" you ask. Why yes, I do have more photographs. The one below is of the shawl being blocked on towels which are set upon my nifty new pinable floor squares. The next photo is of the squares themselves laid out in a rectangular shawl configuration. I didn't need to use many pins; I used a yardstick to straighten the edges.

Stay tuned to this space for stories to come featuring short row heels.

frenzy

I'm on a finishing frenzy. It's the Kimono Shawl. I have finished 16 repeats of a 24-row pattern, and the shawl is nearly my height (63"). I figure to get to 20 repeats and be done with it. The pattern calls for 25 repeats, but maybe 20 will be enough. I have the drive to get this off my needles, and I'm on a tear. Here is progress to date:

Below is the shawl on March 27 and January 19 respectively. I do expect to find this shawl beautiful even if I did knit it myself. It has the hushed quality of its photo in Folk Shawls.

However, I don't expect to make any more shawls. Of course this is a lie. While I have gone off of shawls because they just don't look that good on me and I don't know anyone else who would wear one, I do have plans for more shawls. I have yarn for one or two more Clapotis. Maybe these don't count as shawls because they are a little scarfy. I also have yarn for a shawl I have long, long admired, a Shetland shawl knit in two right angles around a middle square. But this can be more like a blanket. I also have a warm spot for the Stonington shawl as created by Laura, The Scarlet Knitter, in her exact shade of pink. Luckily I don't have yarn for this. From now on, mostly, I'll confine lace knitting to scarves and sweaters.

In looking forward to the completion of Kimono though, I sensed an emerging question. Where would I block such a large garment? Where the cats couldn't lie on it. The sewing room is the only place I can easily keep the cats out of, but there is not a good surface there for pinning. To that end, I found a company that sells interlocking foam mats, Soft Tiles. They seem to have low prices. I ordered 24 1' tiles, which should be enough for the Kimono shawl and any other project.
I am happy. I am always happy when I can buy something.

I will close today with some garden shots. We had our 20 year old crab apple tree trimmed. The little pink-flowered shrub is Weigela florida 'Minuet', a charming 2.5 foot shrub with purple-ish leaves. It is also quite old in my garden, and a stellar performer.

nada. rien. bubkis

Perhaps the title of this post has made you decide to skip it. I hope not, but I can't promise much. Let's see if I can make something out of nothing.

Below is the progress of the Kimono Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls. This has become my in-between project that I work on mostly in between other, more engrossing projects. It is now just under 30 inches long. I have two balls of Jaeger Zephyr Spun wool/silk (about 1,200 yards) and 1,500 yards of Henry's Attic Petite Cascade silk. It looks like this quantity will make a long enough shawl. I wanted to buy more Zephyr Spun, but the Mosaic Yarn Studio only had two balls. The clerk assured me that 1,200 yards was plenty for any shawl. She is no doubt right, but I prefer to have too much just in case.

This shawl will be perfect for warm weather. I don't expect to make many more lacey shawls for myself. Solid wool ones like the Wool Peddler are more practical, although I do love Oberle's Bird's Nest shawl as well.

April is the month when I should begin my Christmas gift project, that is if I do one this year. In 2006 I made around 15 scarves as presents for everyone at work and other friends. It was a large but satisfying undertaking. I learned a lot about yarn and knitting techniques by doing it. That project was, in fact, the inspiration for this blog, because I wanted some place to show off. (This was before I got on to Ravelry.) I skipped 2007. That is, I only made a few of my presents from that year. But I promised myself that I would do a big project for 2008.

My first thought was socks. Hence my sock experiment from the previous post. I do love my socks, but I realized that fit is crucial in sock knitting. I wore my socks for the first time yesterday. They are wearable, but too big. I would have to know the foot measurement of every recipient to make them socks that they would really like, and that will not do. I want it to be a surprise.

So here is what I am thinking now: mittens. Fit is not that important in mittens, and everyone can use a pair for really cold, snowy conditions even if they don't wear them regularly. I would make gloves, but I fear the fingers. Maybe next year or 2010.

Just casually surfing Ravelry and Knitty produced 8 free mitten downloads. How cute are these from Elliphantom:

Or these from Hello Yarns:

Elliphantom also has a free squirrel pattern, and Hello Yarns (inventor of the Irish Hiking Scarf) has a skull and crossbones. And of course, being obsessed with knitting books as well as knitting, I am getting Folk Mittens to complete my collection of the Interweave press Folk series. The only one left to go after that is Folk Knitting in Estonia.

So, am I committed to mittens now? I guess so.

odds, ends, and a plan

Not much to report from Bev's world of knitting today, but as always, I have some ideas rattling around in my head. Since finishing the Klara Bird sweater this past weekend, my sole knitting project has been the Kimono Shawl pictured above. The photo shows my progress, which is poor, but I haven't been working on it that much. It should grow faster now that I don't have another project to compete. I think it will be almost as beautiful a shawl as I pictured it to be. The mostly silk yarn is soft and cottony feeling with some heft.

In seeking a second project to start, I got to thinking that, while I read and collect knitting magazines almost as obsessively as I knit, I rarely knit items from their pages. So I got the idea to pick up a magazine at random, pick my favorite item from its pages, and go ahead and cast on. My first pick was this from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2005:

It is a flame-stitched cardigan from Shirley Paden, whose designs I always admire. I have been thinking about a design with tall ribbing at the bottom, and I have yarn that would work for this, some dry, crunchy silk from Colourmart Cashmere:

This is undoubtedly a good plan. But then I started to swatch the lace motif and Whoa Nelly! It is really hard, not simple and serene like the Kimono Shawl. The lace patterning occurs on both the knit and purl sides, and it features purls through the back loop, my most hated stitch. So maybe another time. I really do want to knit this sweater and will tackle it before the summer, but not yet.

It occurs that what I really want to make is a design for a tailored cardigan that I have had in my mind for about a year. It is not worked out yet, but I had swatched a sample ball of RYC Cashsoft DK and found it perfect. Here is the swatch:

Perfect. Perfect color, perfect weight, perfect stitch definition, perfect everything. So what do I do? I am seduced by the price and I buy 14 balls of Knit Picks Merino Syle DK. So I eagerly swatch the Knit Picks DK yarn and What do I get? This:

The Knit Picks swatch is on the bottom. Each has about the same number of stitches. I think the Knit Picks one might have 2 more. The Knit Picks swatch measures about 6 inches, the RYC about 4. Knit Picks DK is horsey and coarse. My parents generation had a saying, "penny wise and pound foolish." So this week, I ordered the RYC Cashsoft DK with the plan to work up that cardigan design.

Meanwhile, what to do with the Knit Picks DK.? I am thinking about it.

about the blogroll

I have to start off with a bit of knitting porn (ie: a photo of knitting) because this will be a rather photo free post. I want to talk about my blogroll over on the right, and how I chose the blogs to include there. But first, here is a photo of the Kimono Shawl in progress.

Not much progress you say, and you would be correct. But there is enough here to make me think that I'm liking it. When I started this shawl previously with the lace weight (Cascade Petite) alone, I was not liking it. Too whispy. Now it is a little stout. Can you see the glintiness of the shiny and matte yarn combined?

I am making the first sleeve of Bird Doo Klaralund. I knit the back and decided to make a sleeve before I knit the front to make sure that the horizontal seam would hit at the right place - above the bustline. The front that I made blocked out larger than I had planned, but that is ok. The alpaca/silk blend lacks elasticity, so I don't want body cling. To give you something else to look at, here is the sleeve in progress.

Now, on to the blogroll. I am trying to be selective in providing links to blogs that I think are really good. There are two rough categories of blogs: what I call Fug Fashion Blogs -- those that make fun of dress styles, especially celebrity dress, but also focus on fashion- and knitting blogs.

For either type, I do not link to blogs that do not post regularly, although there are exceptions to this rule. For knitting blogs, I favor blogs that focus on design and give you practical information about how to do things. I tend not to like blogs that cover a lot of different subjects, but rather stick to knitting. There are so many blogs out there, numbering in the multi millions, that I hope to highlight lesser known blogs that are worth reading.

Here is a rundown on the blogs I currently have up on the blogroll:

Fashion

Go Fug yourself - Jessica and Heather post daily (except on weekends) photos of celebrities trying to look good. The Fuggers point out how they fail in this. I think they are really funny. This blog provides vicarious nastiness.

Project Rungay - extension of one of my secondary obsessions- Project Runway. Tom and Lorenzo are both hilarious and instructive as they critique the designs that parade down the runway on this show. They also provide gossipy little tidbits and previews of upcoming design challenges. I love them.

The Thoughtful Dresser - New to my blogroll, this blog features somewhat philosophical but entertaining observations about fashion. I like that it takes fashion seriously.

Knitting

The Girl From Auntie - Jenna, who writes regularly and instructively for Knitty, posts infrequently. However, her website contains all kinds of good things: free patterns, tips and techniques, widgets, and l a link to her wonderful Knitty articles. An ultra educational blog.

Grumperina needs no introduction. She writes a lot about design and practical techniques, and I just can't resist her blog name.

Knitting Fiend - also posts infrequently - very infrequently. But like The Girl from Auntie Lucia has many knitting aids on her website. The primary focus of her blog seems to be educational.

Purlwise -Melinda of Purlwise posts regularly and links to variuos techniques. Her emphasis is on knitting technique.

Ruthless Knitting - Ruth (who else?) of Ruthless Knitting is majorly creative. Her blog focuses on design and links to her own original designs.

Slipped Stitch -UK knitter Alice Bell of Slipped Stitch is also a creative designer with links to her designs. In her day job, she is getting an advanced degree with a thesis on children's science writing, which is, to me, an interesting topic.

You Knit What? - Fugly knitting.

folk shawls

The Yahoo Folk Shawls Group has chosen the Wool Peddler Shawl for its 2008 knit along. I made mine (pictured above) last Fall. I went on the Knitter's Review Forum shawls and scarves section to get recommendations for yarn to use since the yarn specified in the Folk Shawls book has been discontinued. I got confused because knitters suggested a variety of yarns ranging from dk to aran weight. I wanted to reproduce the shawl pictured (below) as closely as possible.

One of the Knitters Review correspondents suggested that I e mail the author, Cheryl Oberle, directly. I was very excited to get a reply recommending Berroco's Ultra Alpaca as a substitute. Following the pattern directions, I produced a deep red shawl that was a little smaller than the dimensions given in the pattern.

The Ultra Alpaca is very soft and cozy. It was a good suggestion; I would recommend using it. However, I wish my shawl had a little more body. The original yarn has a high mohair content, but the Knitters Review people recommended against a mohair blend. As I am partial to mohair and mohair blends, I am sorry that I listened to them, even though they meant totally well. I think there is a bit of prejudice against mohair out there in the knitting world. I am slightly tempted to knit this again, but that might fall into the category of 'will do if I live forever'. I have so many other projects in mind. And I prefer rectangular shawls to triangles, so do I really want another?

Another issue with this shawl is the blocking. Actually there are two issues. One is that the alpaca blend does not hold its shape firmly enough. The other is blocking wires. I don't have any. Thus the edges of the shawl are a little wavy. Before I wash it or block another shawl, I will get blocking wires or else use threads to hold the edges. Pins stuck directly onto the edge give poor results.

Last night I cast on for the Kimono Shawl:

Online, I bought what I thought was the specified yarn for this project: Henry's Attic Cascade Petite, a stocky lace weight of pure, shiny silk. It turns out that the yarn called for was Cascade, not Cascade Petite. I think Cascade must be closer to fingering weight or a little heavier. So in my recent stash enhancement excursion to Mosaic yarn studios I bought some Jagger Spun Zephyr, a lace weight silk and wool blend that is matte, not shiny. Putting the two together causes the yarn to be glinty, neither shiny nor matte. I guess that is ok.

As this is a shawl, I didn't worry too much about gauge, but just wanted to get in the neighborhood. So I am in the neighborhood with a #6 US needle rather than the #5 Cheryl used. For obvious reasons I like that this is not a teeny needle project. I am still working on the Bird Doo Klaralund which goes on #4 needles. Actually that is one #4 and one #3, #3 for the purl rows, a trick I recently picked up from the Interweave Knitting Daily newsletter for working on stockinette stitch. So I have enough slow paced work in hand without making the lace knit even slower.

This is a long introduction to what I really wanted to say today. That is, I love the Folk Shawls book. The projects that Cheryl presents are more or less practical. She doesn't direct you to use lace weight yarn to make a spider webby piece that you can't even feel that you are wearing. Her shawls seem like they would actually keep you warm, and most of them are in the repetitive geometric designs I like best rather than the Victorian style of going out from the center in an overall flowery design. That style is gorgeous to look at, but lost in the wearing. And, since I'm all about the product, many of her shawls are the rectangular shape that looks best on me.

Apart from the patterns, Folk Shawls includes a concise and valuable introduction that teaches lace knitting techniques such as how to cast on (all important in lace making) and gives tips like the one I am using to write each row on a separate index card and flip the cards to keep place in the pattern. I prefer words to charts.

There is also something subtly and indefinably beautiful about the book itself, especially the photos of the shawls as worn by the author. The picture of the Kimono Shawl (above) is especially toothsome to me. It has a physical and spiritual beauty at once. Pictured below is the shawl I want to make next after the Kimono. I also love the Bird's Nest Shawl. The one below is the Icelandic Feather and Fan Shawl, an earthy interpretation of a Victorian pattern knit in unspun wool.