Shawl progress

Shawl progress
a photo by franneyk on Flickr.

This crumpled heap is Roxanne, I have the Body pt2, then three repeats of the Body pt2 table and then the edging to do, that's 26 more rows til i cast off!
It's looking rather pretty but the rows are getting a bit long now :D

Taming the Monarch

Taming the Monarch
Originally uploaded by franneyk


I've finally got round to blocking the Monarch Shawl! Isn't it beautiful!
A little over two metres long and i managed to get rid of the "point" with some gentle persuasion and lots of pins!

Taming the Monarch
Originally uploaded by franneyk

My beautiful butterfly

My beautiful butterfly
Originally uploaded by franneyk

The Nymphalidea Shawl is finished and ready for a wash and block and isn't it beautiful! What an interesting pattern to make, i've loved it and i have to say that i have really enjoyed knitting from the Regia "scarves". Nice and tidy, no loose dangly bits or balls unravelling :D

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on O2

Nymphadelia Progress

Nymphadelia Progress
Originally uploaded by franneyk

Just 15" of the grey "scarf" left! It's looking really beautiful i think, i love how it changes from browny orange to the orangey red and scarlet.
Not a clue how i'll block it though!!

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on O2

Knitting at last

Knitting at last
Originally uploaded by franneyk

It's been a while to say the least. I've been crocheting but my knitting mojo completely abandoned me again until quite recently but now it's back so i've cast on a shawl and abandoned the crochet (for now) :D
This is Nymphalidea from the current issue of Knitty and i'm using two of the very bargainous "scarves" of Regia Creativ that i bought in one of Kemps amazing sales.
I *think* i've got the pattern straight in my head. There are two sections to remember: the welt in grey and the wedge in autumn leaves. I have missed a P2Tog a couple of times but that's fine, it's only for the shaping and isn't showing up as a glaring error so they're staying! Oh, and no wrap short rows ROCK! :D

Sent from my BlackBerry® smartphone on O2

Tattered and Bruised

There's a story behind this shawl. A story of greed and determination. A story of friendship and camaraderie. A story of love.

The story starts with an offer on Facebook of some tangled skeins of yarn which of course i stuck my hand up for. Free yarn? Untangling? Awesome! I find untangling very therapeutic, the challenge of getting each and every knot out of the yarn, the satisfaction of a freshly wound ball at the end of it.The colours in the yarn were gorgeously muted. Dusky burgundy-pink, muddy gold, purple and soft browns teased me as i unwound the skein. I took the skein with me to a craft weekend in Keighley where i spent a glorious weekend with online friends, friends who helped detangle the skein as it hung from a set of antlers above the fire. It seemed every time i went away from the skein someone else would come along and carry on!
This gorgeous skein full of memories made at our special weekend needed a special pattern, but which pattern?! The colours in the yarn reminded us of bruises and i knew a pretty lacey pattern wouldn't feel right and i remembered Tattered, a shawl which is aged prematurely and knew it was right. However, once i started i knew i couldn't knit the whole shawl like that so after a while i put in some rows of garter and then carried on in stocking stitch until i was close to the end of the ball and then i did garter rows to stop the edges from curling. I don't know what it was about the dropped stitches. I like the effect it just didn't "feel" right. It still doesn't feel right if i'm honest but i absolutely love the shawl and it has so many memories attached to it that i'll never change it. Besides, i'm not sure i even know what it wants to be other than draped around my neck!

Tattered and Bruised

Crow Waltz

I have had my eye on this pattern for some time and after buying some beautiful yarn from Nimu i decided to get stuck in. The edging is knitted first and then the body of the shawl is picked up from the edge and knitted upwards to the shoulders using a slip stitch pattern that creates a lovely dense warm fabric.

Crow Waltz

Sweet!

This month's shawl knitting has been my Barley Sugar Twist, it's a bit more slow going than the last shawl pattern due to the wonderful cables but i'm plodding along with it and am now only 24 rows from the cast off!

I'm trying to do a bit each day as i have learned that my knitting doesn't knit itself so even if i only manage two rows at least i've done something :D
I am really enjoying knitting with my Sushi Shawl Roll and watching the colour changes come out and the subtle colour variations are working really well with the cable pattern.

Swatching for crows

For The Crow Waltz shawl i am going to use the delicious Nimu Sella that i have bought at two different shows this year

The only problem was that the blue skein was REALLY badly tangled :(

It took just over 3 hours to wind it into this lovely yarncake!

So i made a couple of little swatches...

But i can't decide which way round i prefer the colours!!

So it's gone on hold while i decide and i've cast on the Sugar Barley Twist shawl instead :oD

Let's Twist Again

Well, not really "again" as i haven't made this shawl before but you know, it fits lol

I am really loving watching the colour changes of the Sushi Shawl roll and it suits the pattern really well :o)

The whole pattern is charted and not written out but i am coping OK with it, i've highlighted the right side rows so it's a bit easier to follow but i still have to keep referring to the key, hopefully i'll get the symbols memorised soon though!

I do have one gripe about the printed pattern that i bought though and that's because the charts for the left side are on the reverse of the page for the right side, i know i can scan and print the charts again but it kind of defeats the object of buying the printed pattern in the first place (for me anyway)

I coped OK with the first chart as it was easy to reverse but the second chart is a little more challenging so i think i am going to have to give in and do that today or my progress will be too slow and i'll get frustrated and chuck it in the corner!!

Autumn Cherries

The Shawl-Fest is progressing well and i have finished Cherry Surprise :)

Shawl Soup!

Some of the yellow colour came out in the water while it was soaking but it doesn't seem to have affected it overall

Blocking

I'm really pleased i managed to block the edges straight - it did take a lot of pins though!

Gratuitous close-up

It's just the right size to wear with the point at the front and the ends wrapped round and it's lovely and warm. Hopefully i have enough left to make a pair of mitts to go with it :oD

Crow Waltz

Another member of my Shawlfest is the Crow Waltz
I bought the turquoise skein from Nimu at Unravel back in February which i appear to have not blogged about which is a shame as i had a fabulous day and bought some lovely goodies :oD

So, anyway, for the Crow Waltz shawl i need two colours and i obviously don't have anything suitable in stash (that i want to use anyway!!) so i went back to Nimu at Ally Pally and bought a contrasting skein. Admittedly my choices were rather limited as i wanted the same yarn but i think they will look FAB knitted together :o)

All i have to do now is decide which colour will be my edging...

Cherry Surprise

a burst of autumn colour

I've set myself a knitting task!
There is nothing set in stone and if i change my mind that's fine, but i want to tackle my ever-increasing "want list" of shawls so i am gradually adding them to my project page with my yarn choice as a gentle reminder.
I saw this shawl hanging at the Yarn2Knit stand at Ally Pally last week and realised i had a skein of something similar at home - lucky for me it was a free pattern so all i had to do was remember either the pattern name or the name of the stand! I failed to do either so i had to go over the exhibitor's list when i got home and work my way from there!

It's a bit annoying as i had taken my notepad with me but left it in the car in my knitting bag for some reason and i never think to make notes on my phone!

Anyway, i tracked it down, found the wool i was thinking of which is Opal Herbstmelodie dug out my needles and got stuck in! I have downloaded the pattern on to my Kindle which was an exciting adventure and SO easy! Plug in the USB, open windows explorer (or in my case xplorer2 lite) and then drag n drop baby! :oD

I'm about halfway through the main body now and had memorised the pattern by about the second repeat, it is lovely and simple, even the *p2tog, k2tog* in the same stitch isn't that hard to do, although a sharper point on my needle would help with the first on the row as the YO is a bit hard to pick up but other than that it's going swimmingly :oD

Lovely texture

gratuitous close-up!

As we go into April

These are the projects i take with me :oD

 
Regia ribbed sock for travelling and knit group


Japanese Garden Shawl for the raffle


Badger Blankie for evening knitting


Kiilla sock for when i fancy doing something complicated after the shawl is finished!!

Mystery Hat A

I can finally post pics of my finished hat!
The pattern has been officially released now so if you like the look of it i can recommend you go buy it now ;o)

I used three different colours in Yarn Yard Hug as i didn't have enough of any one colour to complete it. It's a shame as i don't think the thick woolly hug is really suited to this pattern but it's produced such a lovely warm and pretty hat that i am going to keep it as it is.

I alternated the lighter colour with the main colour for the crown decreases which has produced a lovely effect, and i am sure it will look even lovelier once i actually get around to blocking it!
(I have two blocking projects awaiting a damn good pinning out at the moment. This hat and my orange Aurantium Blossom Shawl which i found neatly folded up in a project bag! It's been there for a year, it's about time it got shown some sunlight!)

Shame it doesn't suit me!!
;o)

Haruni is finished!

And i am so happy with how it's come out :oD

Such a beautiful lace edging, i am sure i will be knitting this pattern again!

I love the "V" shape, it sits so snuggly round my neck as i tend to wear shawls with the point at the front anyway, so it means there's not a huge amount of bulk under my chin :oD

Pattern: Haruni by Emily Ross
Yarn: Posh Emily in "Misty"
Sirdar Snuggly in green (oops, can't remember the details!)

Being brave!

So... i was fast running out of wool with just 2 rows (i miscounted!) and the crochet cast off to go, i picked up a ball of Sirdar Snuggly in a toning colour and then an Angel offered me a skein of unknown Posh in pale greens (i forgot to photograph it though! DOH!) so my plan originally was jus to use one or the other to finish the edging... Unfortunately i just know that i wouldn't have been happy with that so what i decided to do instead was to cut off the border and use the wool from the main body to finish off the edging!!

I started last night and got into a small pickle when i realised i hadn't picked up across the whole row but had jumped up a row instead but i got it under control and now my only problem is the edges and one set of YOs in the middle that i seem to have missed :o/

I'm hoping i will be able to fix that when i knit the body back on though...

I knew this was the right pattern for this wool, i think it looks stunning, i just can't believe i've had such a palaver with it!!

Nearly there!

But unfortunately i have run out of wool :o(

with just 4 rows and the crochet cast off to go!!

It's soooooo pretty though :o(

I was feeling rather despondent to be honest, it's a discontinued yarn and nobody has any stashed on Ravelry so i took it off to the wool shop and hoped they would have something in a suitable colour so i could finish it.

Fortunately they had a ball of Sirdar Snuggly in a toning green so i bought it with a heavy heart and then pondered cutting the shawl just before the lace border, picking up the stitches and knitting the stocking stitch section in the Snuggly. I was very tempted, believe me! :oO

When i got home from the woolshop i found a PM waiting for me over at CTnY from a dear Angel telling me she had something i might like. Some Emily in subtle shades of green that was a mis-dye purchased from Ebay and i was very welcome to it!! I can't tell you how much i am going to be stalking my Postie today :oD

I am so thankful for the wonderful friends i have, i shall try and post again this afternoon with an update but we are off camping later so i might not manage it!

Haruni Shawl

I won this skein of green gorgeousness from Harrysmum in the monthly prize draw at CT'n'Y and knew it wanted to be a leafy something so when i saw the gorgeous Haruni shawls that Abby made i knew that's what it wanted to be!

It won't be a very big shawl as there isn't much yardage with Emily but i worked out the maths and increased up to 169 stitches which left me with 60g left, so not enough for another increase section but it will be a lovely size to wear under my coat and it's soooooo squishysoft. I am a little bit in love!

I'm up to row 6 of 28 and it's looking rather lovely don't you think?

Aurantium Shawl - Finished!

Aurantium Shawl - Finished!
Originally uploaded by franneyk

Oh yes! After a slight delay the first of the SMSKAL shawls is finished and blocked and is currently draped around my shoulders :oD

I'd managed to get to the end of the last row of the last chart and then discovered that i'd lost both the .jpg and my printout of the last set of instructions, all i had was the chart!! It was very annoying and it stressed me out big time! All i wanted to do was finish the shawl and i didn't know if i had another repeat to do or if i was casting off! Luckily the lovely ladies in the Socktopods group came to my rescue and not only was i informed that now was the time to cast off i was also sent the complete set of charts for the shawl!! They are now safely saved on my hard drive :oD

The orange version is coming along, i have one chart repeat for the middle section to do and then it's just the final 30 rows of the leaf section, a wash and a block and that's done too! I can't decide whether to cast on my Ishbel now or if i should wait until the orange shawl is done ;o)
I probably should wait but i do have an ITCH!! ::lol::

In other news, Ladybird Linz sent me her leftover Fabel in the same colourway as the unfinished Baktus so that is now completed too - YaY!