A shameless plug for a friend’s new business: totally knitting related.

Hi there. I am shamelessly going to plug my friend’s new business venture in this post. Please don’t hang up; and don’t worry, this call is not being monitored for quality control.

My daughter has a friend who has become my friend, a professional graphic artist whose real love is the fibre arts. Her name is Joanna and she is happily married to another nerdy artist and they have between them a toddler who is, for the most part, cheerful and affectionate. Joanna started out sewing mostly, and her first website reflects that: The Happy Seamstress. She has since branched out to her other love, yarn, and everything that yarn entails: spinning, dyeing, knitting and designing knitted things. I, personally, have made at least a half-dozen of her knitted beards. They make great gifts.

The above was made for an acquaintance who took part in a Santa Shuffle to raise money. It was my contribution in lieu of a monetary donation.

Joanna has recently started a subscription box service. The deal is you give her your credit card number and every month, or other month—your choice—she sends you a box filled with goodies. I have signed up for the every-other-month service myself because I’m not usually at a loss for projects, but this would be perfect for the knitter who doesn’t know what to make next. She has been in touch with a number of yarn companies to try to get discounts on their products so that her boxes will be reasonably priced. She’s also finagled the best price she can on shipping, which was not easy.

August’s box, the introductory one, is discounted and the shipping is free. It contains this lovely beaded shawl pattern, plus all the yarn and beads you need to make it (and a bonus surprise or two).

I know that it’s beautiful because that’s my arm underneath that lovely drapey fabric. The yarn is Sweet Georgia Merino-Silk lace. The colour above is one of the possibilities, but there are also skeins in purple and a yellow-green. You don’t get a choice, as distribution is random, but I’m sure they’re all lovely. I can’t wait to get my box so I can start knitting that shawl.

If you are interested, and I hope you are, you can get all the information you need at Yarn Crush. Please support my friend. She’s worth it!

A tale of three shawls

I have completed three shawl test knits already this summer, which is pretty crazy, even for me. The first is Mad Blood by Mary-Anne Mace. I adore Mary-Anne’s lace shawls. This one is no exception. My version took one skein of Sweet Paprika Messa di Voce in Georgian Bay, a 3-ply yarn of 100% merino wool. I am exceedingly pleased with the results.

The second shawl is Heather Anderson’s The Turtles’ Journey, a crescent shawl that tells a tale. Hers calls for a 4-ply sock yarn and I was all set to dive into my stash but couldn’t find a colour suitable to baby turtles making their way across the sand to the sea. So I went to my local yarn store and bought a couple of skeins of Julie Asselin Piccolo, 80% merino, 20% nylon, in Ooak, a colourway that doesn’t seem to have any consistency. Mine was variations on brown. It reminded me of how a beach looks after a rain. Also, I messed up one turtle’s shell and didn’t want to rip back to just reverse a couple of knits and purls; so I decided to give it red beads for eyes to show that it was different (and possible evil). While looking for my red beads, I came across the leftover coppery ones I’d used in my Serendipity and realized they were the perfect colour for the other turtles’ eyes! The result:

Heather is hosting a KAL in September as part of her group on Ravelry for this shawl and I have received over 600 views because she linked to my page for people who are interested in adding in the beads for eyes.

The third test-knitted shawl was a “gift” from my friend Bonnie who had just finished a test for a designer and pointed out that she had another to be tested right away. I loved the shawl Bonnie had worked on and had asked for an earburn when it was ready, so I jumped at the chance to try out the new one. The designer, Yellow Mleczyk, wanted a very open knit with big holes which she created with a series of double yarn overs. Her result is the Double Bubble Shawl.

I found this to be a very challenging knit. English is not the designer’s first language, so there was a bit of a hurdle getting past her quaint terminology. There were errors in both the written out directions and the charts, which we caught as we went along. After all, that’s what test knitting is all about. She has allowance for a stockinette section before the lace begins, but I just jumped right into the lace to knit it as she had done, with five iterations of the first chart before beginning the next. I used a single, 100 gm. ball of Saki Bamboo by Wisdom Yarns with about three grams left over.

The first chart, eight RS rows of lace (WS rows are all purled), does not look difficult. However, the rows are all very similar and it is easy to think you’ve knitted the second one when you haven’t. That’s what happened to me in the first iteration. I left out a row. I did not realize this until I got to the second chart (with over 250 stitches on the needles already) and my stitch count was wrong. You see, it’s a crescent shawl that increases by six stitches every two rows. By missing out that one pattern row, I was short six stitches and the pattern in the second chart was in multiples of 12. Not good at all, and nothing I could just fudge by adding stitches. So I ripped back to almost the set-up row and started again. This time I kept track of every single row, with stitch counts, and it all worked out perfectly. But this error of mine showed up a serious problem in the draft pattern: for the stockinette section, the designer had said that one could start the first pattern chart on any RS row. If there were not a multiple of 12 stitches between the edge stitches, then the knitter would run into the same issue I had when she reached Chart B. So I alerted the designer to this and she was thoroughly mortified. Hopefully it will be corrected when the pattern hits the stands. Here’s my Double Bubble, Toil and Trouble:

2015 Toronto Knitters’ Frolic

Score!

Clockwise from left:

Sweet Paprika: Messa di Voce - “Georgian Bay” (100% superwash merino)
Hand Maiden: Lino - “Morning Mist” (65% silk, 35% linen)
Fleece Artist: BFL 2/8 - “Blue Lagoon” (100% blue face leicester)
Raventwist: Neith - “Dragon Gold” (70% baby alpaca, 30% silk)
Sweet Georgia: Toughlove Sock - “Berry Tart” (80% superwash merino, 20% nylon)

A new technique: Mosaic knitting

Recently I volunteered to test knit a pair of fingerless mitts for Greenethumb on Ravelry, her Frozen Mitts, which she designed and knitted for the same stash-busting knit-along for which I designed and knitted Kristina’s Pink Piano Mitts. They involve a colour-knitting technique called  “mosaic” or slip-stitch knitting. There’s a very good article in Knitty magazine which I read before I began. The technique involves alternating two rows of each colour and slipping the stitches of the previous contrasting-colour row. In the third row, those slipped stitches are knitted and previous-colour stitches are slipped. It’s much better explained in the article than what I’m doing here.

It turns out I had done slip-stitch knitting before with Ashley Rao’s Biarritz Cloche to create the houndstooth look of the body; so I was not a total stranger to the technique.

Ms. Greene’s instructions are excellent. She includes two charts in the pattern, one with just one line for the repeated pattern rounds, and one with both, using carets to distinguish the slipped stitches from the knitted ones. I followed both charts (one for each mitt) and found them to be very clear. I had only one issue with her instructions which caused me some grief.

The pattern calls for fingering yarn. I used Phildar Preface in cream for the main body and Spud & Chloë Fine in purple for the contrasting design. For the test, the specified needle size was 2.75 mm throughout, gauge 9 st/inch. The designer did suggest that tight knitters might use a larger needle size for the mosaic pattern, since it is by nature tighter than regular knitting.

I did not test for gauge. Mea culpa. I am also, apparently, a rather relaxed knitter. The small size, which I tested, called for 56 stitches to be cast on. I should have smelled something fishy right then and there, since I generally knit fingerless mitts for myself with 2.5 mm needles on 48 stitches. I think you can see where this is going.

I finished the first mitt and thought it looked pretty, but it fit terribly. The wrist was nice and snug, but the hand pouched and was enormous! As you can see from the photo below, the knitting tightened up again at the band of mosaic before the ribbing, but the ribbing becomes too loose afterward.

Not to be undone by this failure, I cast on for the second mitt with the 2.75 mm needle and proceeded as per the first one to the last row of the charted main colour. For the solid purple band, I switched to a 2.25 mm circular and proceeded to follow the directions for the thumb gusset and hand, switching back to the 2.75 mm needle after the first solid purple rows of the next mosaic pattern, and back to 2.25 mm for the closing purple rows. This produced a much tighter tension for the plain knitting which resulted in a nice snug fit for the hand.

I was so pleased with the new mitt that I unravelled the old one to the top of the wrist and reknit it as per the one I had just finished. Voila!

The designer and I have been in correspondence and I have strongly suggested that she specify changing needles for this problem to not be a problem.

I now have only one complaint about the pattern, and that is that the thumb gussets are knitted at the sides, meaning that the pattern is not centred when worn. I have a lot of the purple and a little of the cream left over. I may knit them again in the inverse, but this time make right and left mitts by moving the thumbs toward the palms.

Pink Sundae Camisole Compleat

I finished it a while ago and took it with me on holiday to the Dominican Republic. I even wore it a couple of evenings but, sadly, no one commented on what a beautiful garment it was. This is not unusual. I see women wearing gorgeous clothes all the time and say nothing. But a knitter would have noticed. Believe me.

I did not knit the lace upper border separately and then attach it via 3-needle bindoff as specified in the pattern. Instead, I did an applied edging as I absolutely hate picking up stitches and avoid it whenever I can. It worked out fine. I also did not make i-cords for the straps. I wanted something a little more substantial, so made something up that was decorative as well as sturdy. Buttons are mother of pearl gifted by a friend. What do you think?

Kristina’s Pink Piano Mitts

One of my students was complaining that her hands are always so cold during her piano lessons and I was already devising a pair of fingerless mitts for Ravelry’s Fingerless Glove Fanatics February KAL, the theme of which was Bust that stash! A Valentine component was not necessary, but encouraged. I had in my stash two balls of Drops Alpaca in Raspberry which I had bought quite on impulse the last time I was at my LYS to pick up a replacement 3.75 mm point for interchangeable needles. I had already cast on when I decided they would be for Kristina.

I did not invent any of the individual components of this pattern, just assembled them from different sources. Still, they came together nicely.

Kristina’s Pink Piano Mitts

Yarn: Drops Alpaca (Raspberry) by Garnstudio -- 90 m (100 yds) [or just over half a ball]
Needles: 2.5 mm (US 1.5) dpns or circular
Size: small -- adjust size by experimenting with larger or smaller needles

Both mitts: Cast on 48 stitches. Join in round. Work feather and fan as follows:

Round 1: *k1, k2tog twice, (yo, k) 3 times, yo, k2tog twice* Repeat ** to end of round.
Round 2: knit
Round 3: knit
Round 4: purl

Repeat Rounds 1 to 4 three more times.

Left Hand:

Twin Leaf Lace Panel and thumb gusset:

Round 17: k9, k2tog, yo, k1, p1, k1, yo, ssk, k30, pm, m1R, k1 m1L, pm, k1
Round 18: k8, k2tog, k2, yo, p1, yo, k2, ssk, k to end
Round 19: k7, k2tog, k1, yo, k2, p1, k2, yo, k1, ssk, k to end
Round 20: k6, k2tog, k3, yo, k1, p1, k1, yo, k3, ssk, k to marker, sm, m1R, k to marker, m1L, sm, k1
Round 21: k5, k2tog, k2, yo, k3, p1, k3, yo, k2, ssk, k to end
Round 22: k4, k2tog, k4, yo, k2, p1, k2, yo, k4, ssk, k to end
Round 23: k3, k2tog, k3, yo, k4, p1, k4, yo, k3, ssk, k to marker, sm, m1R, k to marker, m1L, sm, k1
Round 24: k2, k2tog, k5, yo, k3, p1, k3, yo, k5, ssk, k to end
Round 25: k1, k2tog, k4, yo, k5, p1, k5, yo, k4, ssk, k to end
Round 26: k12, p1, k to marker, sm, m1R, k to marker, m1L, sm, k1
Round 27: k12, p1, k to end
Round 28: k12, p1, k to end

Repeat Rounds 17 to 28 twice more, continuing to increase thumb gusset until you have 17 stitches between the markers.

Round 44, place 17 thumb stitches on waste yarn and cast on one stitch (your favourite method) before rejoining the round. Continue in pattern until three patterns are complete.

Round 53: purl
Round 54: knit
Round 55: purl
Round 56: bind off loosely knitwise.

Thumb:

Place 17 stitches on waste yarn on dpns or circular needle. Pick up and knit three stitches from hand edge (one before the cast-on stitch, the cast-on stitch, and one after). k16, ssk, k1, k2tog. Last stitch knit will be the first stitch in the new round (18 sts). k 3 more rounds. Finish in garter stitch as for hand.

Right Hand:

Round 17: k8, k2tog, yo, k1, p1, k1, yo, ssk, k10, pm, m1R, k1 m1L, pm, k to end
Round 18: k7, k2tog, k2, yo, p1, yo, k2, ssk, k to end
Round 19: k6, k2tog, k1, yo, k2, p1, k2, yo, k1, ssk, k to end
Round 20: k5, k2tog, k3, yo, k1, p1, k1, yo, k3, ssk, k to marker, sm, m1R, k to marker, m1L, sm, k to end
Round 21: k4, k2tog, k2, yo, k3, p1, k3, yo, k2, ssk, k to end
Round 22: k3, k2tog, k4, yo, k2, p1, k2, yo, k4, ssk, k to end
Round 23: k2, k2tog, k3, yo, k4, p1, k4, yo, k3, ssk, k to marker, sm, m1R, k to marker, m1L, sm, k to end
Round 24: k1, k2tog, k5, yo, k3, p1, k3, yo, k5, ssk, k to end
Round 25: k2tog, k4, yo, k5, p1, k5, yo, k4, ssk, k to end
Round 26: k11, p1, k to marker, sm, m1R, k to marker, m1L, sm, k to end
Round 27: k11, p1, k to end
Round 28: k11, p1, k to end

Continue as for Left Hand.

Darn in ends, soak in warm, soapy water for 20 minutes, rinse, squeeze out excess moisture and roll mitts in a towel. Lay mitts out flat to dry, stretching them into desired shape. Let dry completely.

m1R = Lift bar between stitches onto left needle, twisted so that the right leg is in back. Knit into front of loop (left leg)
m1L = Lift bar between stitches onto left needle, right leg in front. Knit into back of loop.

A most serendipitous shawl

Happy New Year to all my fabulous readers. You are all probably dying to know how I spent my Christmas vacation and it would be downright cruel of me not to enlighten you. 

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been suffering with tendonitis in my left elbow. This makes my life difficult, as something as simple as picking up a pot lid can cause a sudden flare of pain in my arm and my family is quite used to hearing me whimper at times. No amount of rest seems to improve it, but that could be because I can’t really rest it when everyone is depending on me for food preparation, laundry washing and various and sundry mundane tasks that seem to be in my job description. When my husband tells me to ask him to get something for me, or open a jar, I can only respond that he isn’t quick enough, nor is he always there. So, the elbow gets better by increments instead of by leaps and bounds.

The second week of December, my husband and I took a holiday in Costa Rica. It was beautiful: bath-water-warm ocean, volcanic sand, palm trees, monkeys, colourful (and noisy) birds and an all-you-can-eat-and-drink-inclusive hotel experience. Very luxurious. I decided to give my arm a rest, bringing only some novelty knitting with me which I did for maybe a couple of hours, tops. While my elbow definitely improved, it didn’t get all the way better; and not knitting was more of a hardship than having a twinge of pain now and again.

On December 18 I cast on a new project, Serendipity Lace Shawl by Hayley Tsang Sather which I had seen in the “Blocking - Before and After” thread on Ravelry. I fell in love with this pattern and commented on the post that I needed to obtain it so I could make it. The designer suggested that I might like to join the Serendipity KAL for December-January. So I did.

The shawl is shaped like a circle with a bite out of it. It is beaded and has a picot bind-off which gives it a very fractal quality. Here is a photo of one by one of the test knitters:

Sorry about the quality. But you get an idea of the shape and why I was instantly smitten with this design and had to knit it.

I used Drops Fabel in cream and No. 6 copper-coloured beads from my local craft store. One of the design elements requires the use of increasingly-larger needles as you go. The garter tab neck edge calls for 3.5 mm needles, increasing to 3.75 mm for the first five charts (up to and including the more “solid” stretch with the beaded ladders), then switching to a size 4 mm for the next little bit, and size 4.5 mm for the final lace edging. I didn’t realize that I had to switch needle sizes at the beginning of the sixth chart, and there was no way I was going to rip back, so I just incorporated them two-thirds of the way through. I don’t think it really makes that much of a difference, since my tension is pretty relaxed to begin with.

Here are my progress pics:

The picot bind-off took me a whole afternoon, almost four hours.

Finally, on the blocking mats.

The finished shawl, absolutely beautiful.

The intended recipient is the wife of the tennis pro at the resort we return to in Puerto Plata every March. Against her dark skin, it will be even more beautiful. 

Even though it looks complicated, it was not a difficult pattern. According to my Ravelry project page, it took me 12 days; but I had a couple of other projects on the needles and Christmas intervened (which seriously cut into my knitting time). Other FOs from the KAL are also incredibly beautiful. Some people used yarn with a long gradation, changing colour gradually from dark to light (or vice versa); there was lace versus fingering and all sorts of different materials, including an endless variety of beads. I will definitely make another one of these.