shawl

Halloween Crafting

by CZeitler

So, in my last post I was trying to crochet wolf ears for my costume.  Yeah, less than 2 weeks out is not the time to start crafting for a costume, and I knew this.  I have decided to make my life considerably easier.  I purchased a quantity of Makeup and tomorrow morning I will use makeup, spray on hair coloring, and a bit of ingenuity to make myself into a ‘spinster’.  Since I am a spinner anyway, I believe that blowing out my hair instead of using smoothing products (maybe giving it a bit of a boost with the salt volumizing spray), putting a silk hankie in it (silk cocoons spread over a form, pulled apart further for spinning), and adding a spindle and bag to my velvet cloak should create an interesting effect.  If it is decent I will post a photo, if not we will forget I ever had this idea.

In other news, Jimmy Beans Wool had a scrap bag sale that I could not resist.  This means that I have started knitting a simple triangle shawl started with a garter tab, also with a garter edging.  I love how this is turning out.  Since I am going to be using scraps that are 20 yards or more it will be interesting to see where the stripes are going to end.  The progress photo looks a little cramped since I am using a DPN and needed to have some rubber bands to keep the stitches from slipping off the end when stored.  I will transfer this to a circular needle soon.

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October was known as Inktober, where artists decided to do their best to follow certain prompts and create ink drawings each day during the month of October.  Since I am not an artist, I enjoyed the concept and stuck with my crafts.  November, however, is also NaNoWriMo.  This is National Novel Writing Month.  The challenge is to write 50,000 words of a novel in a month.  The breakdown of this is: 1,667 words every day or, 12,500 words a week (not counting the first week which is 2 days long).  I sort of stink at making goals, however I think that I will make something of an effort to work toward writing down some of my ideas toward a novel.  The first draft might not be too coherent, however I think I have a chance.  Of course, I also have 4 Civil Service Tests to fill out, starting November 1.  It looks like my next 31 days are going to be busy.

Remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Pi Shawl Blocked

by CZeitler

Okay, so not everything blocks out.  This is not the 40 inch shawl I hoped it would be, let alone 60.  It is about 30 inches, I’m going to call it a shawlette.  Now that it is washed and blocked the shawlette is very open with amazing drape.  I will let my sibling know that if it gets dirty they can send it to me, I’ll wash and block it back out again.

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I love how this looks, with the arrows pointing to the left as they spiral around.  For my very first try designing a shawl, my first round shawl, and with just one skein, I believe that this turned out pretty well.  I have learned a lot from this experiment, always have 2 skeins of fingering weight yarn that are either complementary or the same if you want a full sized shawl is one.  Go big or go home, make sure you know what you are doing with stitches before you get started, count the stitches between repetitions, little things like that.  I am enjoying knitting more than I thought I would.  I like the challenges, I enjoy having a framework that I can be creative within, as well as the amazing knitting podcasts, lol.

Happy Crafting and remember to Live Life a Little More Abstract!

Socks, Shawls, and Squares, Oh My!

by CZeitler

So, for the Lots of Socks event I wore my worsted weight sock as well as my fingering weight sock. I crocheted each of these following a lovely formula/pattern from Interweave Press.  I love how easily they worked up, and hope to make many more in a similar vein. However, I do think I am going to have to modify what stitches I use on the bottom of the sock.

As you can see on my sock blockers, these stitches have loosened to the point of holes after only 2 wearings of these socks.  I am going to try and repair them, but I have to rip out quite a bit from my second pair (that were down to only the toes) and modify things entirely for my Baker Street Socks. Since I have (realtively) dainty ankles and hefty calves I am either going to have to greatly modify how I do the shaping on the legs of my socks or simply plan on making entirely ankle socks.  I think that the ankle sock option is what I will be going with, however only time will tell.

Onto happier news, I obtained a Miss Babs Yummy 2 Ply grab bag.

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I am extremely pleased with the selection I was sent.  It did come with three other mini skeins, but I have a BFF (best fiber friend) that I wanted to share the experience of working with Miss Babs Yummy.  As you can see I have started a Crescent Shawl using the basic shaping from Aroha Knits 5 Shawls in 5 Days, Bluprint Course Knit Shawls 14 ways, and a stitch guide my Aunt Kathleen and Uncle Jimmy gave me for Christmas to create my own unique design.  So far the yarn is an absolute dream to work with, it is taking everything in me not to order another couple of grab bags before they disappear.  However I hope there is enough yardage in this batch to create a decent sized shawl.  Then I might consider getting a single color/colorway for another, more complex, shawl in the future.

Finally, I am almost half way through my first Sherlock Square.

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I had to rip this thing out twice, but third time is the charm.  I appreciate that Salpal1 recommended KnitCompanion, it really is a useful app…just not for me.  It turns out that I work better when I can physically draw a line after every 2-3 steps in a pattern (k3, p1, k4, etc.)  This helps me keep track, where my little hitch was that in several parts of the pattern there is a k1, p1, k1, section, but in one particular line there was k1, p11, k1 that I misread twice before figuring out why I had so many stitches left.  Now that I understand how I work best, progress is being made.  I am 42 rows completed out of an 87 row pattern.  Since the yarn is worsted I am going very quickly and loving every stitch.  I am holding my Cascade 220 yarn in a Slipped Stitches Studio Sherlock Yarn Sock that I adore. The color and cables have combined to create amazing stitch definition, I do not think I could ask for anything more from this amazing square.  I can only hope the rest are as inspiring!

Until next time, remember to Live a Life a Little More Abstract!