Knit Knackers

A couple of weeks ago a great friend took me on a road trip to Ottawa, Ontario.  We visited the Byward Market, had lunch in one of the cafe' stores and then we went to knitknackersyarnwarehouse.  This place is a spinners/weavers dream come true.  Wall to wall yarn, knitting supplies, patterns, and at the very back of the store a lineup of spinning wheels just sitting there for anyone to give them a spin.  And even a line up of different fibres to test spin with.  I don't remember anything else about the store because as soon as I rounded the corner and my eyes saw the bins and cupboards of fibre on display, I was awestruck, and I quickly made my way to the back of the store.  My friend was interested in yarn, which was there also and at great prices but I was interested in the the spinning fibre which was priced at  unbelievably low prices.  For instance Suri Alpaca $7.25/100 grams, I bought 400 grams.  There was mulberry silk in bins which I also bought, with a relatively long staple length, South African fine wool which the clerk tells me spins beautifully.  Black alpaca for $12.50/100 grams, purple corriedale which cost $5.95/100 grams. There was so much more, love that store. We were like two kids in a candy store! 
 I couldn't wait to get home to start spinning.  I wanted to try spinning the suri alpaca first, it has a long staple length and is very fuzzy. I'm spinning it worsted which means keeping the twist out of the fibre zone.  Hoping to keep the fuzz down and also there is cabling in the project that I have in mind to make and I want the stitch definition to stand out. It really wanted to be spun woolen, which means letting the twist enter the draft zone, but this made it too fuzzy.  I'm not an expert at this and this is just trial and error for me at this point.  After Spunning/plying and setting the twist I have 280 yard finished for this sweater. My yarn turned out a bit heavy, wondering if  maybe I should have spun it woolen.  Can't seem to find that middle ground! 
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Another cowl

Just another cowl!  That's what I've been up to these days.  I purchased 137 grams of alpaca/Birds of Paradise Silk at the Sheep Dog Trials this past summer with the intentions of making another shawl.  The fibre was a very pretty grey alpaca with silk dyed blue, purple and I think pink carded into it on a drum carder.  I decided to spin it worsted, which means keeping the twist out of the draft zone.  I began to notice that the single of yarn was becoming what I hate to call "barber pole."  A very nice color for socks or even scarves or mittens but not for shawls.  So a change of plans!  I had a good friend have a look to see what she thought and she said she thought I should ply it 3 ply.  what a great idea!  This would give the finished yarn more spots of color throughout, hopefully filling in the colors.  It worked, it really worked!  I didn't get the yardage needed for a shawl but what I came up with was 420 yards of a very pretty blue/purple yarn with hints of pink throughout. Enough for this cowl and maybe even a pair of mittens to match!

                                                     

                                                Finished the mittens   
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Barad Dur shawl a bit of a disappointment

If you're planning to knit this shawl using the written instructions don't.  They are different from the chart.   The charted instructions are correct but I'm still waiting for the designer to get back to me with her erratas on the written instructions!
It's been an okay knit but because of the kfb stitches in row 19, I've had to put in a safety line after row 18.  It's very easy to make mistakes at row 20 because of all the k2tog and ssk stitches.  And correcting mistakes at this row is very hazardous to your health, or anyone else's who might be in the room/house, if you don't have a saftey line in place.  Just sayin!

I spun  some  wine/brown corriedale fibre purchased from Rose Haven Farms in Picton, Ontario for this shawl.  What a great fibre this is, the colour is so rich.  Actually I don't really know the color, at the store in the lights I thought I was purchasing red, when I got home it appeared wine and in the night lights it appears brown.  So it's a mystery, and I love a mystery!

Can't wait to wear this shawlette this fall/winter, who knows what color it will be in that light!

                                                       
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Cockle Shell Moebius

Cockle Shell Moebius is a very nice cowl/moebius free pattern from Lankakomero and can be found here:  pattern

I've spent the last week trying to figure out row 11 in the pattern.  I sent a message to the designer a couple of times and finally after a lot of praying I've had one of those ohh (hits her head with hand) moments.
 From the designer:
Hi again!
You work row 11 as follows: k1, k1, 2yo, k2tog, 2yo, k2tog, 2yo, now you slip next stitch to the right hand needle and slip double yo off from needle,* repeat till you have slipped all 14 double yos and then slip those 14 elongated sts back to left hand needle and now knit 15 sts together. The 15th st is the last st of k10 from row 10(or the next stitch to left of the 14 elongated sts on left needle) Then 2yo, k2tog, 2yo, k2tog, 2yo, k1, 2yo, k2tog, 2yo, k2tog, 2yo, and now again slip next stitch to the right hand needle and slip double yo off from needle, repeat till you have slipped all 14 double yos and then slip those 14 sts back to left hand needle and now knit 15 sts together. This time the 15th st is the last st of k7 from row 10 ( or the next stitch in line, on left needle to the left of the elongated stitches). Then 2yo, k2tog, 2yo, k2tog, 2yo, k2.
K15 together includes 15 actual sts and 14 double yos between them.
Greetings, Päivi

This is one of the great things about www.ravelry.com you can not only download free patterns but you can contact the designer of each pattern for clearer instructions.

I REALLY wanted to knit this cowl/moebius because well frankly I didn't want to be defeated by a pattern and it's knit in garter stitch and as we all can testify about cowls/moebius they do drop down the neck and most times turn insideout making them look well.. funny or insideout.  I don't like that look.  Not so with cockleshell!  I can't wait to wear it this fall/winter, which is by the way my favourite time of the year.
 I'm using my own handspun to knit this which is what I have left after knitting the Harani shawl.  I only have 300 yards left so am keeping fingers crossed that I will have enough!!  100% merino 27 wpi spun semi-woolen.
I've knit cockle shell on smaller needles than the pattern suggests quite a bit smaller because my handspun is lace weight 27 wpi and I thought that large needles would be difficult to knit this handspun yarn with. When I've knitted to the end of my 300 yrds. I'll block really hard and then do the twist thing with the needles and graft the ends together.
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Haruni Shawl by Emily Ross

I've had the Haruni Shawl pattern on my mind to knit for some time now.  I really liked the look of it.  But for some reason kept putting it to the back of my mind and knitting others instead.  Don't really know why, it could have been the fact that there were 15 pages to this pattern or that I didn't really like the picture on the front.  But those reasons are what I would like to call wrong. 
So two weeks ago I bit the bullet and started to spin some of my blueberrypie 19 micron merino fleece that I purchased from RoseHavenFarmStore in Picton, Ontario  What a dream to spin this fleece, just like butter and this is the third fleece that I bought from this store and it has all been well worth my money.
The Haruni Shawl Pattern is a freeravelrydownload and well worth trying!  I really enjoyed the knit.  The pattern was clear, hense the 15 pages, her notes filled you in on anything that might go wrong and there were written instructions in case you aren't familiar with following the charted instructions.  I used the written instructions.  There was one little minor glitch on row 17 where the edge stitches change a bit but if you read the notes it is all explained.  I didn't have to go searching thru Ravelry discussion boards to find the answer.  And I didn't need a safety line.  Didn't make too many mistakes either. It was difficult enough to keep it from being boring but not difficult enough to make one want to set it aside either. In the end you will have a very lovely shawl or scarf  for very little effort.  That works for me.  Oh and Emily Ross states in her pattern that if a person wanted to sell the shawl that would be okay too as long as a link was posted back to the pattern, I've never seen that before.  Humm now there's an idea!
 This pattern receives 5 out of 5 stars from me.

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Aeolian Shawlette

I chose the Aeolian Shawl because of the edging. Quite unique and lovely.  And it didn't let me down.  Lots of beads and not so many nupps.  But it does have it's challenges.
Row 23 is where I hit the first challenge.  Because there are so many stitches at this point it was hard to tell if I made a mistake when I ended up with one extra stitch @ the beginning of the first repeat.  Fortunately I had put in a safety line at row 10 of the Edge set-up chart and I ripped back to that row twice.  Before realizing that I hadn't made a mistake that you just move the stitch marker over to the right one stitch and continue on using this stitch for the s2kp, which is the beginning of the first repeat.  Clear as mud right!
Then you continue moving the marker one stitch to the right after every repeat because you will have one extra stitch at the end of every repeat. 
It is mentioned in the pattern notes, "there will be points in some charts where decreases within the pattern will necessitate moving the markers." Very important to read that part.
You have to do this stitch marker moving in row 25, 27 and row 45.
I also noticed at this point that the two sides of the shawl were not the same. And they are supposed to be.  What happened here was that I was starting the second half (of the shawl) with the repeat instead of going right back to the first of the rows deleting that part.   That's also the reason for my ripping back to row 10.
Shawl is blocking for the next couple of days because of the humid weather, but already I can see the beauty of this shawl.  Enjoyed the challenging knit!

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One Thousand Nupps and counting..

That's how many nupps I've knit so far. My Queen Silvia Shawl has 1,000 of them.  So one would suggest that I have them mastered.  Not really I have to say that I still cringe at the thought of nupps and that I can still see them when I close my eyes.  
Here are some pictures of my Queen Silvia Shawl finished.

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How to knit a Haapsalu Sall

A Haapsalu Sall is a title for a lace shawl or scarf in Estonia. Made with openwork lace patterns.  If there is a lacy edge it is always knitted separately and sewn to the completed center section by hand.  A newer style of construction is to pick up and knit the lace edge onto the completed shawl center.  I'm planning to knit the nontraditional style by picking up and knitting the lace edge.  The pattern is called Queen Silvia Shawl and was named for Queen Silvia of Sweden.  It is a variation of the lily of the Valley motif.
I purchased 1/2 pound if white merino top that is 19.5 micron from Rose Haven Farm in Picton and have spun and plyed about 1000 yards semi worsted.  24 wpi. The pattern calls for 1300 yards so I plan to spin as needed because with the first ball of 350 yards, I've completed 9 repeats of the pattern so I am wondering if I will need as much as the pattern calls for. 
 I used cotton waste yarn and a crochet hook to cast on 117 stitches and began knitting the center portion of the shawl.  That was three weeks ago and thus far I have only knit 9 repeats of this 20 repeat center section.  Although I  have to add here, that I have really knit about 14 repeats because I've had to rip back to my safety lines a couple of times.
It's not that the nupps are hard to knit, this video:  is an excellent how to, but I seem to be dropping stitches somehow and I can't figure out how I am doing that.  It is very difficult to fix mistakes, without making more mistakes, that's why safety lines are a must.  I found this video to help explain safety lines.
Guess I'll keep plugging along/muddling thru, and longing for the end result.  That's what knitting is all about.  Soldier on!!!

Ta-dah!

   Another lace project, what a surprise!!  I just can't get enough of this lace, it is so addicting!  This one's not a shawl, it's a sun hat for my niece's upcoming summer, cottage  wedding!  She plans to marry in the sunshine and I thought I would carry my shade around with me.
The hat's from the book "A gathering of lace" gathered by Meg Swansen.  Another reason for the hat, my niece's fiance is from UK and his family is from England so I was thinking I would wear this hat in their honour.  Crazy eh?
The pattern knit up fairly easy and quickly.  My handspun is 23 wpi.  Pattern called for crochet cotton or fine linen so my yarn was a bit thicker than called for so I used size 2.5 mm needles.  Pattern wanted size 3.25.  I found using this tighter knitting gauge kept the hat together more when blocking, and wow did I block!

Progress so far!!

 I was worried while I was knitting, wondering what sort of hat block I would use.  But, I found  a plastic pretzel container that I had saved for some reason, I guess this is the reason.  My dh used a dremel tool and cut the top off the container @ 3" in height and the circumfrence of the container was 22", just my headsize.

I used other ravelry's advice and mixed a concoction of distilled water, cornstarch and fabric stiffener.  Plunked the wet knitted hat into the container, squeezed out the excess, saved the excess for spraying on later after blocking, took the whole thing to the blocking board and blocked it out to circumfrence of 36".
It took a few days to dry completely but to my surprise it was stiff, really stiff.  I added a white bow, later I may change this to black as my wedding outfit is black and white.  And ta-dah here is my finished hat......

Get Ready, Get Set

Knit some more lace!..

I really am addicted to lace shawls, this time I knit a lovely pattern called Summer Affair by Carol Feller.  This is a surprise for my neice who is teaching in Saudi Arabia and coming home this summer to marry her fiance whom she met while teaching in UK.  They will be having a summer marriage at my sisters cottage.  I, of course  have this lace knitting frenzy going on and thought I would make her a little lace shrug.  Not to wear on her wedding day but just I guess to say that it's her wedding shrug and it's one that she can wear afterwards or maybe on her honeymoon.  This from the pattern:  "The delicate effect of lace weight yarn is hard to resist.  However if you don't wear shawls this shrug makes a great alternative."  Now who can resist that, right?  I can't decide whether or not to let the bride in on this surprise before hand or just give it to her as her bridal shower.  Maybe letting her in on it so that my feelings won't be hurt if she doesn't like it.  After all it is her wedding, not mine!  Right?  Would sure value any input, with thanks.

Next time knit the nupps

I think I might be addicted to knitting lace shawls. This Swallowtail lace shawl is my third shawl or shawlette since January and I can't wait to try another one.   Each one teaches me something new, well new to me anyway!.. With this shawl I learned about safety lines.  This shawl was knit over three times before I remembered about the safety line.  I used two safety lines with this knit, always taking out the bottom and putting it back into the top or the current working pattern.  This way when a mistake is made and not noticed I will alway have a safety line to go back to.  And the blocking! what a wonderful idea, who knew!! 

 I left out the nupps because my knitting is way too tight and doing a K1, YO, K1, YO  all in one stitch isn't too bad, it's the purling 4 stitches together in the next row that get me every time.  So I used beads instead of the nupps.  Using the super dental floss methed to insert instead of the nupps.  But next time I would try a bit harder to knit the nupps especially after watching this : video  

Holly and Ella Knits 2

I needed a gift for my "Secret Sister' at church and I needed someone to give my finished knitted/spinning objects to. I found this pattern for a shawl with butterflies in the pattern from http://www.hollyandellaknits.com/ which is a free ravelry download. It was easy enough and the pattern is very well written. One of the ravelers suggested that I stretch it as far as possible when blocking to make it light and airy and that's what I wanted light and airy!. I think it worked!. One thing I did differently was add some beads. I used the hook method to insert the beads into the butterfly to enhance the butterfly pattern. But I couldn't find a crochet hook small enough so I made a tiny little hook with some very fine wire and it did the trick. I purchased some blue faced leicester last summer from Louet and finally after hearing everyone rave about it thought it would work for me. I wanted 18 wpi or more. Wow this is great fleece makes one look like a great spinner!!

Holly and Ella Knits

In my 30+ years of knitting I have never knit lace. This year one of my goals is to spin a plyed yarn that is lace weight. The yarn in this shawl is 70 % lambswool/30% silk and is 18 wpi (wraps per inch) The silk was dyed with coolade and carded into the lambswool.

The pattern, called Little Shells by Holly and Ella Knits is a free Ravelry download.

Another thing I've never done before is blocking, I just thought it was a waste of time and besides I like the way the projects look right off the needles. This pattern has made me a believer in blocking. To take a tiny little shrivelled up piece of knitting and stretch it out to the size you want is amazing and guess what, it stretched my handspun yarn out and made it seem even thinner, maybe even 20 wpi. Bonus, big time!!!

So, I have several lace projects in mind and have begun spinning some blue faced leicester for another pattern from Holly Grifin-Weidner and Donna Griffin called Summer flies, another shawl, this time a bit more intense and larger. Planning on gifting it to my "Secret Sister" at church for her upcomming birthday. I've read over the instructions and there are butterflies in the instructions. And she apparently loves butterflies!!

The website can be found at http://www.hollyandellaknits.com/.