Finished: Leafprints Shawlette

Pattern:Leafprints Shawlette by Anne Hanson
Yarn: Some lace yarn from Handpainted.com
Colorway: Wild Daisies
Price: don't know, but probably a couple of dollars
Amount: less than 850 g
Needles: 3 mm
Gauge: You should know by now that I rarely swatch when knitting shawls
Dimensions: big
Modifications:

• made the lace part symmetrical
• start at row 25 of lace chart until row 32, then do row 1 to row 32.
• 149 stitches (garter stitch) on each side, increase 38 stitches: 187 stitches on each side 36 x K4, yo, k5, yo

Comments:
Easy pattern. The yarn is not supersoft, but not that scratchy as I had assumed. It's not cashmere, but probably soft enough to wrap it around your neck. The color is gorgeous. It's really really nice. I have some yarn left, so maybe I will make a small shawl for myself.

The picture of the shawl were taken with a Canon Ixus 130. Honestly, I don't think I am that thrilled with the camera... The first picture was taken with a Nikon Coolpix and while I always thought that this camera wasn't great, I still find the colors of the pictures were better.

Finished: Feather and Fan Shawl

Pattern: Feather and Fan Shawl by Eugen Beuger. Published in A Gathering of Lace
Yarn: Schachenmayr Nomotta Alpaka Fashion
Color: 122
Price: I was lucky that about half of the balls I used were on sale
Amount: 10? about 475 g. I used a tiny bit of the last ball to bind off and one of the balls was not completely 50 g, because I had used some of it for a previous project
Needles: 5 mm
Gauge: -
Dimensions: about 162 cm diameter sorry, after that girl n's comment I checked and it's actually 144 cm
Modifications: I stopped after row 126 and started doing the last edging rows
Comment: I've heard that people knitting the Hemlock Ring Blanket had problems with the feather and fan pattern puckering too much despite blocking (a not so easy task from what I have heard. I got told that someone compared it with fighting with an octopus). My guess was that there are not enough repeats in the round and this causes the puckering (the other variation is that the blanket grows too fast in diameter/length). With this blanket I had zero problems with blocking, just the usual fussing, but there was no excessive use of force needed to whip this thing into shape as other knitters seem to have with the Hemlock Ring, and I also haven't noticed any puckering yet. It's nice and flat without any visible tensions.

I'm counting 8 repeats of the feather and fan pattern in the round for the Hemlock Ring and this pattern has 24 repeats in the round. I haven't looked at the feather and fan pattern version of the Hemlock Ring myself, but from what my friends told me it seems to be knit in a similar as the feather and fan pattern in the shawl. My conclusion is that if I wanted to knit the Hemlock Ring I probably would work in modifications.

The reason I chose the Feather and Fan Shawl was the play of light and dark in the feather and fan pattern (which I'm actually only realizing now as the thought that floated my mind when I saw the shawl the first time was, "I want to knit that one!") and because I liked the flower in the center better. With the flower and the bright color the blanket looks very sunny.

Next time I would choose a thicker yarn though. It's still more like an übersize shawl than a blanket. The yarn is great though. I have a wrap cardigan that my mom made for me in the same yarn and it's really really soft. It's a delight to work with. I have three balls in red which I initially wanted to use for a shawl; now I want to use them for a beret. We'll see.

I washed the blanket in the washing machine (washing programm: wool, cold) with a regular wool wash, because it was too big to wash it in the sink. By the way, I wash most of my wool stuff in the washing machine (cold), even when it's not superwash wool. If I want to give an item a special treatment and when it's not too big I handwash it with Kookaburra, but that's it.

Finished: Shetland Triangle 2

Yes, I still knit, believe it or not. :D I also have a couple of knitting projects on the needles, but they go so slow... This shawl I finished a while ago, but I kind of forgot to post about it.

Pattern: Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark, from Wrap Style
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace, 100% baby alpaca; 437 yd [ 400 m]/50 g
Color: #3140 "Pretty in pink"
Price: $5.95, bought at theknitter.com
Amount: Less than one ball
Needles: 3.5 mm
Gauge: Do I look as if I even knew the word "gauge"? :D
Dimensions: I made the shawl for my mom, so I don't have it here to measure it. It's small enough to work as a little neck scarf.
Modifications: When I look at the pictures it seems I made 9 pattern repeats.

I've already used this pattern before and it's perfect for a quick knit, the pattern is very easy to memorize and it's a small project that you can carry everywhere. You might wonder why I knit the same patterns over and over again, it's because I know the patterns well enough by now and they can become mindless knitting projects, more or less. Some people knit socks and I knit shawls.

Misti Alpaca Lace is one of my favorite yarns. It's soft and drapes nicely, because it's alpaca, which is a quite heavy yarn. And it doesn't have this tendency to felt like the Jaggerspun Zephyr that I used a couple of times. Regarding color, the pink is a tad too pinkish for me, but my mom likes it.




I've embellished the shawl with some glass beads. They also add a bit of weight to the shawl, which helps to keep it draped nicely.

Finished: Paisley Shawl

Pattern: Paisley Shawl by Kate Gilbert from the book Folk Style
Yarn: Rowanspun 4 ply, 100% pure new wool, 148 m/25 g
Color: Squirrel (very light grey)
Price: about 1.6 € per skein
Amount: 5 skeins
Needles: 3.5 mm
Gauge: perfect, although I have no clue how many stitches are in 10 cm :D
Dimensions:
Modifications: None

It took me a couple of weeks to finish this shawl, because except for the repeats in the rows, there is no real pattern repeat, every row is different. Which means you have to pay attention to the knitting instructions. People are always so afraid of lace, but a lot have nice pattern repeats that you can memorize well and even if it's not nirvanalike blissful mindless knitting, it's still ok. The Flower Basket Shawl or the Shetland Triangle consist of stitch patterns that are quite easy to memorize. After a while you realize that what you knit is related to the previous row, meaning the stitches in your previous row lead and guide you in your current row. This pattern though requires you to pay attention, you can memorize the repeats in the rows, but you can not really rely on the previous rows much to help you forsee the next stitch you have to knit.

Nevertheless, I have to say this is probably one of my favorite knitting projects, not so much for the knitting fun, but I love the end product. While I was knitting I was wishing a bit that I was knitting with alpaca, because the yarn was not as smooth and had some slubs, which slows the knitting down a bit. The grey was also not a true grey, but has a little bit of a yellowish base due to the natural color of the wool shining through. And all the grey was also boring me a bit. My Mystery Stole - light grey (I haven't posted yet, because I need to reblock it properly, my lazy approach with a few pins didn't work very well this time...), my Esther Williams hat - light grey. But after seeing the finished shawl I'm convinced, the yarn is perfect for this pattern and the color is great, I don't notice the yellow undertone anymore - what can I say, I'm blinded by the beauty of my shawl :D. It's perfect, it's flawless, it's simply lovely! :D And can you believe it? I get such a nice warm shawl for about 8 €! I need to stock more of this yarn, I really like it.

At the moment I have another Paisley Shawl on my needles, this time it's alpaca in a lovely dark green, but I think I will have to frog it. Alpaca is a heavy yarn and this is a big shawl that is mostly knit in stockinette stitch. I'm therefore a bit afraid that it will turn out too heavy. A more lacy project might suit this yarn better.

Finished: Flower Basket Shawl 3

Pattern: Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark, from Interweave Fall 2004
Yarn: Alpaca Fashion by Schachenmayr Nomotta
Color: #122
Price: around 5 €/50 g
Amount: 3
Needles: 5 mm
Gauge: MIA :D
Dimensions: It's 118 cm wide and from the top center to the tip it measures 59 cm.
Modifications: I knit the second chart only 4 times instead of 10. I also did not start with the recommended provisional crochet cast-on. I tried another cast-on that does not require waste yarn (good, very good :)) You start with a circular needle and a slip knot. Then you take your working yarn and wind it around the two needles. Every loop will become a stitch. In the picture you can count three loop on each needle. Pull the second (lower) needle, the one with the slip knot, through all the loops till they rest on the cord. Start knitting the stitches on the first (upper) needle. I found my edge looked a bit nicer, but that might also be due to the thicker yarn. But in any case, you do not have to have to use waste yarn, which means you do not have to look for it (waste yarn is not always there when you need it, in my case at least).

Comments: What can I say, I have already knit two other Flower Basket Shawls, I just like the pattern. When I saw the yarn, I immediately thought it would look beautiful in this pattern. It's also easy to memorize and I wanted something that would knit up quickly (my aunt saw the Hydrangea Lace Scarf and mentioned that she also wanted to have something to wear around her neck). I also love the color. It's a very warm deep yellow with slight variations in color. And of course, nothing beats the soft cozy feeling of alpaca.

P.S. I think this cast-on only works well if you use thicker yarn. I did another Shetland Triangle with Misti Alpaca in laceweight and tried to do the cast-on with this method and it was a very fiddly thing. The crochet cast-on is probably preferable if you use thin yarn.

Finished: Lala Scarf

Pattern: "Lala Scarf" from "Greetings from Knit Cafe" by Suzan Mischer, pattern by Kat Coyle (she has a couple of other nice patterns in the book)
Yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze
Color: #580 "Grace" (main color), #606 "Candy Girl", #592 "Heavenly"
Price: $ 12 for 25 g (thank God you don't need that much yarn for the scarf)
Amount: plenty left for more Lala scarves
Needles: 6 mm
Gauge: looked ok to me
Dimensions: it's small (good grief, I'm lazy today, am I? :D I'm not going to measure it, but it's a cute little thing that is big enough to wrap around your neck)
Modifications: none

Lala scarf, originally uploaded by projektleiterin.

The scarf is a quick knit, except for the border, nearly 400 stitches to bind off, plus the loops. And personally, I don't really like the mohair, it's so thin and I'm afraid of breaking the yarn. And knitting very thin yarn with huge needles feels a bit awkward, too. It's the second time I've knit this scarf and I appreciate that it's knit with big needles, so the pain goes over fairly quickly, except for the last part, which drags on and on. But I do love the end result, so it's ok. :) I'm a bit surprised that the mohair doesn't itch, especially since I have a sensitive neck, but it seems that if you apply some lotion on your neck before wearing it helps.

Lala scarf, originally uploaded by projektleiterin.

Pic is courtesy of fbz, taken at the textile market in Benediktbeuern, yep, I haven't posted about it yet... :o Still need to upload the pictures. In the meantime, keep yourself entertained with the blog entries of Alala, BockstarkKnits, Tini, Deknit, and Elemmaciltur, some of whom I had the pleasure of meeting them there for the first time (of course, they are all totally adorable :) )

Finished: Another Flower Basket Shawl

Here's another Flower Basket Shawl, this time for me? I put it in a drawer as somehow I have the feeling this will be a gift again.

Pattern: Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark
Yarn: Zephyr JaggerSpun 50% Merino, 50% Chinese Tussah silk, 2/18 lace weight, 630 yds/2 oz.
Color: white
Price: $5.75, bought at www.sarahsyarns.com
Amount: 2 oz. ball
Needles: 3 mm
Gauge: none, none, none :D
Dimensions: 124 cm wide, 59 cm from center to tip
Modifications: A couple of more repeats

Regarding my blocking method, I follow the Yarn Harlot's instructions, more or less. Not sure how much blocking wires cost and if they would be more helpful, but this method here works right for me as far as now.










She's watching me work. :) And seems completely unaware that a pin is pointing at her - eek. :o
























On the manufacturer's website it says "dry cleaning only", but I have washed this in lukewarm water with Kookaburra and it was ok. I had washed it before, but thought this shawl deserves to be washed with something really nice (I know, I know, I had really high hopes for this woolwash :D It's not the stuff that will cure everything, but I guess it does a good job). When I washed it the first time and started rinsing I forgot that the water had cooled down and it seemed to me that I had slightly felted the shawl, but it turned out fine as you can see here.

Finished: Shetland Triangle

Pattern: Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark, from Wrap Style
Yarn: Jaggerspun Zephyr, 50% wool 50% Tussah silk, 630 yd/2 oz or 576 m/57 g
Color: Garnet
Price: $5.50, bought at www.sarahsyarns.com
Amount: 30 g
Needles: 3.5 mm
Gauge: Don't know, I made two more repeats than the original, then blocked like crazy (I think I blocked it way way too much. I'm surprised the yarn didn't snap at some point, this shawl was so tense and tight like it was receiving a facelift)
Dimensions: 120 cm wide and 56 (? sorry, am not quite sure anymore) cm from the tip to the long edge
Modifications: Two more repeats. I also thought I'm going to skip the last row, because I also didn't want such pointy edges, but didn't realize until now that he said "the last patterned row". I skipped the row that was written out, but oh well, it looks ok. I think next time I would add more repeats. The shawl looks nice, but the blocking was hard work.

The book: It's wonderful, such nice patterns. I'm not a poncho fan, but all these little capelets and ponchos look cute. I think I nearly like it even more than the Scarf Style book. I'd definitely recommend it.

The pattern: Very easy to memorize. A fast and quick knit.

Here are some of the pictures in the book.




Honestly, I don't really know how to wear a shawl without looking like a granny. I like them, they look lovely, I like knitting them, but somehow I'm not really convinced that I'm wearing them the right way. The pic is blurry, because I turned of the flash; if I leave it on, my half closed eyes make me look like a junkie (also, you would see all the spots on the mirror :D)


Unblocked. Shall I complain again that the flash distorts the colors? Or was the light in my room so bad?

Blocking was a torture.


Looks like it has been blocked really tightly, doesn't it? But at least it drapes nicely.


So, what am I going to knit next? I started another Shetland Triangle with a beautiful blue silk that I got from www.colourmart.com (I didn't take this picture by the way, it's from their website, because my batteries are nearly empty and the color is well represented in this foto, the yarn is a bit more shiny in reality though. The color is azure.)


I have to say though, I'm not really a fan of needles smaller than 2.5 mm (which already seems somewhat painful). This shawl I'm knitting with 2 mm *eek*. I also am not really thrilled with the inelasticity of the yarn, especially since it's so thin (2500 yd/150 g). I think next time I will use it doubled.

Here are the other colors that I bought.



Melissa and Bonbon. Both are also cute colors.

Finished: Swallowtail Shawl

I'm so impressed by myself - I've finished another item. :D (Humility is simply something for weaklings :D Just kidding! :D ). Truth to be told, I'm usually working on several parallel projects and now it happens that I have finished them all around the same time.

Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark, in Interweave Knit Fall 2006
Yarn: Misti Alpaca Lace, 100% baby alpaca; 437 yd [ 400 m]/50 g
Color: #7120 sea mist
Price: $5.95, bought at theknitter.com
Needles: 3.5 mm
Gauge: Bah, for weaklings :D
Dimensions: 118 cm wide and 59 from the tip to the center of the bottom. I just blocked, I have no clue to what size I should have blocked it, but it looked ok as it was.
Modifications: I made a double yarn over after I made the nups, because knitting five stitches together turned out to be quite tricky for a tight knitter, which I am I think. With the double yarn over I could just slip one and loosen the stitches that were supposed to be knit together. I also changed the cast off method a bit. I used the same one as I did for the Flower Basket Shawl, which I did actually wrong by mistake. For the Japanese Feather Scarf I cast off using a method describe in an Interweave article by Eunny Jang (I think it was the Fall issue): purl two stitches, put them back on the left needle, purl them together, purl, put the two stitches back on the left needle, etc. The cast off method for the two shawls was similar: knit two, put them back on the left needle, knit them together through the back loops, knit one, put the two stitches back on the left needle, etc. What I did, was knit two, put them back on the left needle and then purl these two through the back loops, knit one, put back on the left needle, etc. I only realized it now that my cast off was different. I think it looks ok though, not too back actually. As it's still an elastic cast off I might use it again.





I think the colors are not well represented in pictures above. It's a bit more greenish, like in this picture. If I use the flash my pictures are on focus, but the colors look different. If I don't use a flash the colors look more like in real life, but the pictures are blurry.

Flower Basket Shawl

A shawl for my grandma (Flower Basket Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark, from Interweave Fall 2004). If you ask me nicely I can tell you where to get the pattern. ;-)

I'm too lazy to get dressed and model this shawl. The little one here is also doing a good job.



Yarn: "Rheumawolle", which translates as rheumatism yarn? by Wolle Rödel, 100% wool
Color: #4860
Price: 3-and-a-bit-more €, at Wolle Rödel (Wolle Rödel is what you might a yarn store chain? Not sure about the proper English term)
Amount: 1 ball and a little bit of the second ball, 280 m/50 g
Needles: 4 mm
Gauge: Ha, I'm an independent woman and I don't have to slavishly follow gauge requirements when knitting a shawl, hihihi :D
Dimensions: 142 cm wide, 72 cm from tip to center of bottom

The yarn is very light, airy (good for insulating and keeping the warmth, hence "rheumatism wool") and soft. It just doesn't have a lot of sheen though. It's ok for knitting, but well, there is just nothing really special about it. They also just had it in white, although other brands also carry other colors, like 'sand', 'light grey', 'weird light brown', etc. none that I find really thrilling.

I had tried to dye a ball with something similar to Kool Aid (they don't sell Kool Aid here), but the end result just wasn't that thrilling either. I have a yarn now that is partially a light weird green and partially a very very light pink, that is so light that it looks like a dirty white.