Liesl Redux

Redux

Was

Remember I wasn't complete happy with how Liesl turned out, with the tight shoulders and sleeves and all. I thought about how to fix the sleeves, so I ripped them out. Then I ripped out the body up to the end of the yoke increase, re-did the armholes, re-knitted the body on larger needles, now re-knitting the sleeves. You can't tell from the picture that well, but the armhole area is much more roomy now. I made a major mistake the first time around, so bad that I would not admit it. We agree to let it go.

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, and leave me a comment!

Ginkgo Crescent Finale 银杏月亮

Project:  Ginkgo Crescent 银杏月亮
Pattern:  Ginkgo Crescent by Jade Keaney
Yarn:  Knitpicks Color Your Own, hand dyed by my friend Jocelyn 
Yardage:  about 350 yards
Needles: Size 7
Cast on: April 17, 2013
Cast off: May 2, 2013

Cost: None! 

Previous entry: here

Notes: In the designer's notes she mentioned there "may" be a bump in the center of the neck where you cast on and start the decrease, but a good blocking would stretch it out. When I finished knitting, there was a significant bump, make that some major mis-shapen going on in the center. It took A LOT of pulling and tugging and stretching to smooth it enough so the shawl looks crescent shaped. I'm so glad the yarn is strong enough to endure this. If I knit this again I would definitely recalculate the increase so there is no "bump".

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, Tami's blog, and leave me a comment!

Playing with Ellen's Yarns

Nightsongs (Gail) got a nice soak the other day, and I pinned it to a yoga mat to block, since I can't find the foam blockers except for used kiddie mats (who knows what's been on them!). The stitches really opened up after blocking. Isn't it gorgeous? And if you still can't find the error, I think I'm getting away with it! This is one of my happiest projects from Ellen's Half Pint Yarns.

Next, turning knitting back into yarn. From this:

To this:

To this:

The sweater was ripped, yarn skeined and washed. I have:
- 9.75oz, 792.2 yards variegated Ellen's Half Pint Falkland merino
- 6oz, 487.5 yards lavender Ellen's Half Pint Falkland merino, custom dyed
- 50g, 146 yards Misti Alpaca Sport

We are having the first heat wave of the season. It's been in the 90s this week, the shawl and yarn both dried super fast. This picture was sunset on the lake I walk to regularly, looks like the sun was ready to explode behind the hills.

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, and leave me a comment!

Ginkgo Crescent 银杏月亮

My cute puggy stitch marker

Project:  Ginkgo Crescent 银杏月亮
Pattern:  Ginkgo Crescent by Jade Keaney
Yarn:  Knitpicks Color Your Own, hand dyed by my friend Jocelyn 
Yardage:  440 yards
Needles: Size 7
Cast on: April 17, 2013
Notes: There is a story about the yarn. It went something like this: there were a few skeins of pink cashmere/merino yarn on sale at Newton's Yarn Country at Stitches West. I cannot pass up sale yarn, especially when it's nice cashmere/merino. The yarn became Muir, and because it's pink, it found its way to Jocelyn, who loves everything pink. Jocelyn liked the shawl and said "you can have whatever yarn you want from my stash." You'd know the significance of that statement only if you know the size of her stash, which, let's just say, a few times bigger than mine. This hand dyed yarn is one of the skeins came home with me from my visit.

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, and leave me a comment!

Nightsongs Finale

Project:  Nightsongs
Pattern:  Nightsongs by MaweLucky/Jane Araujo, Ravelry free download
Yarn:  Ellen's Half Pint Farm 100% Merino Sock 
Yardage:  560 yards
Needles: Size 7
Cast on: June 20, 2012
Cast off: April 14, 2013
Cost: $20 for the original skein, Ellen didn't charge me for the second skein (about 100 yards) that she dyed for me this year.
Previous entries: last year, revival 
Notes: The shawl is finished in good time. It wasn't hard to figure out where I left off, but now that I see the result, I know there is a major error in the edging. It still needs a good wet blocking to open up all the lace, but I'm in a big hurry to show you the pictures and get this post out, so here you go, a pretty shawl in all her glories, errors and wrinkles and all :-)

Happy Friday! Join the party on Andrea's blog, Tami's blog, and leave me a comment!