Winter Dress

Once I got back I cast on my Winter Dress using Winter Amethyst on Luxe from the Unique Sheep.  There is a create along in the Gorgeous Gradients group on Ravelry that I'm participating in.  I cast on yesterday.  It took me two tries to get it right.  The first time I twisted it when I joined in the round.

This afternoon I finished up skein 6 and started on skein 5.

Project:  Alita Dress by Adrienne Larsen from Knitter's Magazine 116, Fall 2014
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Winter Amethyst
Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Lilac Pullover - Body and One Sleeve Done

Whenever I go on trips I agonize over what knitting projects to bring.  I can't bring everything so I have to choose carefully.  In the end I brought this project, and enough yarn to make another one, just in case.  I finished the body on the drive and one sleeve while I was there and started the second sleeve.  I'm about a third of the way done with the second sleeve.  I use a bolster made of paper towel rolls wrapped in plastic bags (from yarn shipments, of course) to block the sleeves.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Practically December Vest - Finished

I finished up the vest on Christmas Eve and left it blocking while we went to visit family for Christmas.  I haven't trimmed the woven in ends yet.  I'm not sure about the cap sleeves.  They feel a bit unfinished to me.  I do have a little bit of yarn left over, so I may try and do a little edging on them.  I like the way the colors worked and it is a lot harder to tell where I switched skeins.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich
Yarn:  Dream in Color Classy with Nylon
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Practically December Vest

Sunday afternoon I frogged my giant gauge swatch and skeined the yarn and soaked it to get rid of the kinks.  The skeins from the upper back and left and right fronts dried quickly and Monday morning I was able to wind them into cakes.  The full skein that was the lower body took longer to dry and after I had wound the others up into cakes I put that last one on my swift and spread it out so it would finish drying.  I was able to wind that one into a cake yesterday afternoon.  I switched to that skein before I bound off for the cap sleeves, but you can't really see where it occurred.  I didn't feel like putting it on a longer cord, so it is a little bunched up on my dress maker dummy.

I did yarn overs for the increases on the yoke instead of knit front back.  When doing a lot of increases I think that the knit front back can leave the fabric looking pinched, and I like the effect of the yarn overs.  After I started working the body I did a quick yarn usage check and I will have enough to finish the pattern, with a little left over.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich
Yarn:  Dream in Color Classy with Nylon
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

December Vest or Extra Large Gauge Swatch

I finished up the body of the December Vest yesterday morning.  I had my doubts when I tried it on before blocking it, but I blocked it hoping things would improve.  It's not so bad from the back although you can see where I switch skeins, but not so good from the front, and doesn't look near as good on me as it does on the dress maker dummy.

I couldn't figure out what I was thinking when I started this one.  Oh well, at least I can frog it and re-use the yarn, and in the meantime it is a great gauge swatch.

So I spent this morning browsing Ravelry for a new pattern to knit with this yarn and found the Practically Vest by Kelly Herdrich.   This is a top down pattern, a design feature that I love, and if I have extra yarn I could always add sleeves.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich
Yarn:  Dream in Color Classy with Nylon
Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

December Vest

I would have made more progress on my Lilac Pullover but I was distracted by this beauty.  This is the latest Dream Club color from Dream in Color and for some reason the colors just really spoke to me.  It is worsted weight so I ordered two skeins, which I figured would be enough to knit a vest.  I did a quick gauge swatch and whipped up a pattern in my Sweater Wizard software and cast on.

I just love the way the colors are pooling.  I did 2 x 2 ribbing (I'm not a fan of 1 x 1 ribbing) and am in the stockinette section.  I still have to figure out what I want to do on the front and armhole edges.  I may do a button band, with some pretty buttons.

Pattern:  December Vest, created in Sweater Wizard
Yarn:  Dream in Color Classy with Nylon
Needle:  US 6 (4 mm) and US 7 (4.5 mm)

Lilac Pullover - Making Progress

I'm almost up to the underarm on my Lilac Pullover.  It goes quickly, even with the lighter weight yarn, and I can knit while reading (Book 4 of the Game of Thrones series), or while watching movies (Edge of Tomorrow and Maleficent).  The migraine lasted through last week as well, but was manageable with some Excedrin Migraine and avoiding fluorescent lights as much as possible.  At least I was able to work the whole week, and by Friday it seemed to finally be going away.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Lilac Pullover

After a week of not knitting I was so desperate that I cast on a simple pullover.  This is the third one of this design that I have knitted (Crimson Lake and Goldenrod are the other two), and I have yarn for two more.  It is a classic, elegant design and is great to wear to work.  It is nice to have some simple mindless knitting right now.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Some Simple Beading

This has been a bad week from a knitting perspective.  I've had a migraine most of the week.  I actually missed work on Monday and Friday.  Friday I pulled out some beads that I bought from Artbeads and did some stringing.  This necklace is a variation on the Tunisian Bazaar Bracelet.  I bought extra beads and made a necklace instead.  I really like the green arrow heads.  I added some glass beads that I had bought at Bead and Button a couple of years ago.

This set is based on the Nebula Bracelet and Earrings.  I bought extra beads and an extra clasp and made a matching choker.

Watership Down II - Halfway through the second border

Last week I frogged the Rosebud cape that I was knitting and while I was waiting for my Snow Queen yarn to arrive I picked this one back up and got back to work on the border.  I wasn't really happy with how the Rosebud Cape was turning out, although I did enjoy working with the Marici Lace.  I think I'm going to knit Nightblossoms, from Romi's Pins and Lace Club 2014, with the yarn instead.

I didn't get a great deal of knitting in over the weekend as we had to do some yard work - raking leaves and trimming bushes - but I did manage to get past the half-way point on the second and final border.  And then my Snow Queen yarn arrived on Monday with my Christmas Club shipment and I dove into my test knit.  The yarn is just gorgeous - Dusk on the Fjord on Marici Fingering - and I have lots of beads.  Lots and lots of beads.

And I'm going to use lots and lots of beads with this one.  There are already beads in the pattern, and a lovely pattern it is too, but it just cries out for more.  Lots more.  This is the first time that a pattern has really spoken to me in that way and it is very exciting.  And that's all I can say about it, except that this is my first time knitting with Marici fingering and I love it.  Bye now.

Pattern:  Watership Down by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Eos in Moulin Huet
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Rosebud Cape - Chart 2 Done

I've been working on this as well, off and on, and finally finished up Chart 2 last night.  I'm going to skip Chart 3 - not crazy about cables in lace, especially with a pure silk yarn.  Fortunately it should be pretty straightforward to match up Charts 2 and 4.  I'm also going to repeat Chart 4, working it two times instead of one, and I'll probably do the same with Chart 5.  This should make the shawl more of a Pi shawl.  That was one of the things that threw me with this pattern - you're doubling stitches between charts until you complete Chart 4, but the number of rows in each chart do not follow the traditional doubling that you would see with a Pi shawl.

Pattern:  Rosebuds A-Flying by Heatherly Walker modified to be a cape
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Marici Lace in Rosebud
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Boho Blue Necklace

I decided to take a little break from knitting and do a little bead work.  This is from the Learning Center on the Artbeads web site.  It is the Boho Blue Necklace, I guess I've been in a blue mood lately - color-wise anyway  The instructions are explicit on the first strand, with the large oval gemstones, but on the other two strands they tell you to "randomly string" various elements.  I hate that.  I cannot do random.  Here is a list of components pulled from the project page.  I used Soft Flex to string the beads on.

Dakota Stones Lapis Lazuli 4mm Round Bead Strand (R0186, qty 1)
Dakota Stones Blue Apatite 6mm Faceted Roundel Bead Strand (R0440, qty 1)
Dakota Stones Blue Apatite 4mm Round Bead Strand (R0437, qty 1)
Blue Daisy Jasper 15x20mm Drum Bead Strand (R2351, qty 1)
JBB Antique Brass-Plated Brass Flower Bush Hollow Round Bead (BEAD-0387, qty 3)
Czech Glass 15x12mm Multi-Colored with Picasso Finish Oval Bird Bead Strand (BEADS-0422, qty 1)
Czech Glass 8mm Opaline Green Blue with Picasso Finish Faceted Round Bead (15pc Pack) (BEADS-0197, qty 1)
JBB 4.9mm Antique Brass-Plated Pewter Daisy Spacer (BEAD-1372, qty 33)
TierraCast Brass Oxide Pewter 3mm Faceted Heishi Spacer (BRO-0422, qty 21)
11x7.5mm Antique Brass-Plated Textured and Plain Link Chain By the Foot (BTF-0602, qty 1)
JBB Antique Vintage Brass-Plated Pewter 3 Petal Leaf Toggle Clasp (PBA-TOG004, qty 1)
8mm Antique Brass-Plated Open Jump Ring (BBA-OJR08, qty 4)
5.5mm Antique Brass-Plated 21 Gauge Open Jump Ring (BBA-OJR06-A, qty 6)
14K/20 Gold-Filled 2x2mm Crimp Tube (GF-CRM2, qty 6)
14K/20 Gold-Filled 2.5mm Crimp Cover (find-0022, qty 6)

Liken III - Finished

I finished this up last week, on Armistice Day, which everyone knows now as Veteran's Day.  It is one of the few holidays that doesn't move around.  It is always on the 11th of November, commemorating the end of World War I at the 11th minute of the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month, dubbed the war to end all wars by H. G. Wells.  He had written a book in the summer of 1914 called "The World Set Free" in which he imagined a world war, as well as the atomic bomb.  When the way broke out he was horrified and wrote a pamphlet titled "The War to End All Wars".  It became a national slogan.  And why are red poppies  associated with that war?  Because they were one of the first plants that grew back on those war torn fields - covering the devastation with fields of red flowers.

This week it seems that winter has finally settled in.  All October we had mild weather, but this week the temperatures have dipped.  Jasmine and I snuggle under the blanket on the daybed to stay warm.  She has reclaimed the space where Fred used to sleep.  The wooden box with the plaque in the background contains Fred's ashes.  I picked them up two weeks ago.

Pattern:  Liken by Sivia Harding, modified to be a circular cape
Yarn:  Abstract Fibers O'Keefe in Pearl, Smitten and Burnside Bridge
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Liken III - Charts B and C

I finished up 3 repeats of Chart B and Chart C this past week.  I was thinking about working 4 repeats of Chart B, as I had worked 4 repeats of Chart A but after doing the math it looked like that would leave me with very little margin and I really want to work a constrast bind off, probably with Color B, the variegated yarn.  I also don't want to be worrying about running out of yarn.  Knitting is supposed to be relaxing, not stressful.

I've worn my other Liken shawl several times, including with my Autumn Dress.  The shawl is warm and cuddly and so easy to wear.  I love it.  I may make more.  It is such a lovely design and it is so fun playing with colors, and I do have an awful lot of single skein sock yarns in my stash.

Pattern:  Liken by Sivia Harding, modified to be a circular cape
Yarn:  Abstract Fibers O'Keefe in Pearl, Smitten and Burnside Bridge
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Liken III - Charts A and B

This past Thursday I stayed home from work.  I felt like I was coming down with something and I have found that if I stay home and rest as soon as I feel something trying to get me I can usually kick it before it gets a hold of me.  My brain was pretty fuzzy so I spent the morning finishing up the frogging of my first Liken shawl.  Then I wound all of the balls of frogged yarn into skeins on my Niddy Noddy, soaked them and hung them up to dry.  Then I started knitting my third Liken shawl.  This time I am being more conscientious in my weighing of yarn and have my spreadsheet all set up so I can figure out how many repeats of the charts I can do.  The skeins for this shawl have 110 grams each, so I was able to work 4 repeats of Chart A.

For my first Liken I used Berry-Lined Light Topaz beads throughout, but I wasn't sure I would have enough for this one, so I am using two different colors of beads, Nebula on the cream sections and the Berry-Lined Light Topaz on the purple sections.

Pattern:  Liken by Sivia Harding, modified to be a circular cape
Yarn:  Abstract Fibers O'Keefe in Pearl, Smitten and Burnside Bridge
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Oliver Twist

The final clue has gone out, so now I can reveal my Oliver Twist shawl.  This is my first time test knitting and it was a lot of fun.  I was very flattered and honored when I was asked if I wanted to test knit the pattern.  Before we even started knitting we looked over the pattern, finding the obvious errors and refining the directions.  Before I knit each clue I compared the charts with the written directions making notes on any errors I found.  I also weighed each skein before I started knitting and after each clue and after I had switched to the next skein.  I made a spreadsheet with stitch counts and calculated yarn usage and figured out where the skein switches should occur.  The yarn I picked is Jaded Jazzberry on Luxe.  This is one of the ABC club colors and had just been released to the public when I was picking my color.  I was really drawn to the jewel tones and the finished shawl is just gorgeous.  I also had a lot of fun with beads.  Ellen of Earthfaire always does a great job of picking out bead colors for The Unique Sheep Mystery Knit Alongs, but I had a lot of fun mixing and matching bead colors on this shawl.  I have a pretty decent stash of size 6 beads, and I had done an order of beads from Ellen a little bit before I started this test knit, so I had some really good colors to work with.  The one thing I did not have was enough to use the same bead color throughout the shawl.  So I had fun.

The pattern has a lot of nupps and I'm really not a fan of nupps.  I can knit them, and have, but I just don't like the way they look in a pattern, so I always replace them with beads.  When I replaced the 4 nupp diamonds with beads I used a contrasting bead color that matched the later skeins - Gold-Lined Cranberry.

When I got to the 9 nupp diamonds I switched to a bead color that matched the earlier skeins - Dragonfly.  Unfortunately I didn't have enough to do all of the 9 nupp diamonds in that color, so on the second set I replaced the center nupp with a Berry-Lined Light Topaz bead.

On the third set of 9 nupp diamonds I reversed the color scheme and used the Dragonfly bead in the center and the Berry-Lined Light Topaz beads for the rest of the diamond.  I also used the Berry-Lined Light Topaz beads for the beads that were actually called for in the pattern in the final clue.

I was already getting a little tired of mystery knit alongs, so I am happy that I will be test knitting them for the Unique Sheep.  The biggest reason I have gone off of the mystery knit alongs is that I like tweaking patterns and you just can't do that if you don't know the whole design.  Sometimes a shawl design will strongly suggest a certain colorway to me, or will seem to be perfect for turning into a cape (like the Mayan Garden shawl, or the Liken shawl), and it is a lot harder to see those things and make those design decisions if you are only getting a little piece at a time.

Pattern:  Oliver Twist by Janine le Cras
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Jaded Jazzberry
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Rosebud Cape - Chart 1 Done

This is the third shipment for the first round of the Inspired by Art Club.  The pattern is a circular shawl, but of course I don't usually do those so I am converting it to a cape.  Instead of starting with a garter stitch tab as I have done on other capes I just did a regular cast on and then knit 4 rows.  This is how the Liken shawl started and I really liked how that came out.  I also figured it would give some stability to the neck of this shawl.  On the fifth row I started the pattern, beginning on row 29 of Chart 1.  I'm keeping 3 edge stitches in garter stitch.  I also added rest rows (plain wrong side purl rows) between the lace rows of Chart 1, because the original has lace patterning on every row and I'm just not going there, especially with this yarn.  Why?  Because this yarn is pure silk.

As much as I love wearing silk and sewing things out of silk I'm not a big fan of knitting with pure silk, especially lace weight silk.  It is gorgeous and I love the feel of it and the sheen of it, but knitting with it is just weird.  It feels so insubstantial, almost ethereal, and I really have to watch what I'm doing and I knit slower.  I feel a bit like those actors in science fiction movies that are pretending they are in a low gravity environment so they move very slowly and carefully.

Pattern:  Rosebuds A-Flying by Heatherly Walker
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Marici Lace in Rosebud
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Liken II - Finished

I finished up the knitting Sunday night and finished up the cast off and blocked it on Monday.  I ran out of the Divinity (the lightest color) about two-thirds of the way through the bind off, used up the rest of the Cherry Garcia (the variegated color) and then finished off the last two scallops with the Chestnut (the darkest color).  I really like the contrast bind off so I will use it when I reknit my first Liken shawl.  I've already frogged most of the first shawl, but will need to unkink the yarn before I can knit with it.  I'll do a spreadsheet for the repeats of the charts and the extra rows of the variegated.  It will be different than this shawl because it turns out that my skein of Chestnut was a little light.  It is a really great design for using up all of your yarn because you can adjust the clue repeats or add extra rows of the variegated yarn and it all just works out.

You can really see the contrast bind off in this picture.  I can't decide if I like the variegated or the brown better.

Pattern:  Liken Shawl by Sivia Harding, modified to be a circular cape rather than a semi-circle
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Divinity, Cherry Garcia and Chestnut
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Liken II - Charts C and D Done

I finished up Chart C last night and snapped a quick picture on the daybed under artificial light.  Once again I doubled the number of rows of Color B (the Cherry Garcia).  My yarn usage of Color C (the Chestnut) increased on this Chart, which meant that I had to adjust my plans because after Chart C I no longer had quite enough yarn to finish both Charts D and E as written.  Chart D has 8 rows of Color C and Chart E has 4 rows of Color C.  I had enough to do 6 of the 8 rows of Chart D and all 4 rows of Chart E.  On Chart D I switched to Color B two rows early.  The colors in the second photo are truer to life.

Pattern:  Liken Shawl by Sivia Harding, modified to be a circular cape rather than a semi-circle
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Divinity, Cherry Garcia and Chestnut
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Liken II - Charts A and B Done

I have been working steadily on my second Liken shawl.  I wasn't as diligent as I should have been when it came to weighing my skeins as I went, but I've gotten myself back on track.  I put together a spreadsheet after finishing 3 repeats of Lace Chart A and did some figuring to see how much yarn I needed to complete the shawl and how I wanted to work the rest of the charts. When I finished up Clue 2 I had enough of Color A (Divinity) to work the last clue (Chart F) and do the bind off.  Serendipity.

I then tackled Clue 3 - Chart B.  I decided to work 4 rows of Color B (Cherry Garcia) instead of the 2 called for in the pattern.  This lets me use up a lot more of Color B, plus I really like the color and wanted more of it in the shawl.  At this point I have enough yarn to work one repeat of each of the remaining charts, with extra rows of Color B for Charts C and D.

Pattern:  Liken Shawl by Sivia Harding, modified to be a circular cape rather than a semi-circle
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Divinity, Cherry Garcia and Chestnut
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

LIken II - Clue 1 Done

This past weekend was interminable.  Bruce was out of town and I had to cope with everything on my own.  I did a lot of projects around the house, but not much knitting.  But last week, before Fred became ill I did start my second Liken Shawl.  I pretty much winged the first clue, casting on 46 stitches and doubling stitches where it felt right.  I didn't do three sections like the original, only two.  This should cause the lace patterning to start at my shoulders.

As a reminder, these are the colors that I pulled from my stash.  From left to right - Divinity, Cherry Garcia and Chestnut.  All from Zen Yarn Garden, all Serenity 20, one of my favorite fingering weight yarns - a 70 % superwash merino, 20 % cashmere, 10 % nylon combo.

Pattern:  Liken Shawl by Sivia Harding, modified to be a circular cape rather than a semi-circle
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity 20 in Divinity, Cherry Garcia and Chestnut
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Rest in Peace Fred

It is with a very heavy heart that I write this.  My dear sweet Fred passed this morning around 2am.  He became sick this past week and declined very quickly.  The vets did what they could for him, but it was his time.  He was a very Zen kitty, a simple soul and one of the sweetest cats I have ever known.  I will miss him.  He was almost completely deaf when he came to us, but he still had one heck of a meow.  I will miss his talking.  I'm having him cremated and will get his ashes in a box with his name on it.  My other cat, Jasmine, is being very sweet and giving me lots of love.

Autumn Dress - Finished!

I finished this up this past Sunday.  I would have finished it last week, except that I was in Tucson all week for work.  I did take a small knitting project with me, but didn't pull it out at all while I was gone.  I did a lot of reading instead.  Before I left I had gotten this dress up to the point where I split it for the front and back of the bodice, so it didn't take me long to finish when I got home.  I did have some yarn usage figuring to do, though.  I put together a spreadsheet to get an idea of when I wanted to switch to the final skein.  With the addition of some hand-written notes I was able to use my spreadsheet as the shaping directions.

The pattern calls for a single crochet edging on the neck and armholes.  I did one on the neck, but didn't really like how it looked so I pulled it out and picked up and knitted around the openings instead.  For the neck I did two rounds of knitting before binding off and for the arm holes I did one round of knitting before binding off.

The finished dress comes down to mid-calf on me.  On the model in the magazine it only comes down to mid-thigh.  I'm thinking I would have to be a lot leggier and bustier to get it to do that on me.  The fit on my dress maker dummy is pretty much how it fits me, with the lace ending at my waist.  I thought about trying to shorten the next one that I make, but I would have to shorten it a lot, and I prefer longer dresses anyway, so I'm going to leave it as is.  I have also contemplated making a lining for it, just to give it a more finished appearance.

After I finished this one I immediately cast on my Winter Dress using the set of Silverlode on Luxe that I have had in my stash for a few years now.  I wound the first skein and weighed it and was shocked to discover that it was light, 4 grams light.  I don't think this has ever happened to me before with Unique Sheep yarns, usually they are heavy.  I hoped it was an anomaly and started knitting.  I got through most of the first skein on Sunday and went to wind the second skein, and it was also light, and once again by 4 grams.  Now I was really getting worried, so I wound and weighed the rest of the skeins and they were all light.  Instead of 300 grams I only had 280.  I need 288 grams for this dress.  Confronted with this situation I did the only sane thing, I ordered more yarn.  This time I ordered Winter Amethyst, which goes from purple to silver.  I thought it was even more appropriate than Silverlode.  It has "Winter" in the name, and it has purple, which is one of my favorite colors.  Keeping with this convention, the Spring Dress should be knit in Spring Grass, and the Summer Dress should be knit in Summer's End.

Project:  Alita Dress by Adrienne Larsen from Knitter's Magazine 116, Fall 2014
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Autumn for Ana
Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Autumn Dress - Lace work done

I finished up the lace work and I still have some of the 4th skein left over, pretty much as I predicted.  I go back and forth on the transition rows/no transition rows question.  For this particular colorway the first two skeins that I used blended quite well, but the next two have a more dramatic color change.  The photograph emphasizes it, so it is more dramatic than it would be in real life.  I have noticed that about photographs.  When I am blocking a shawl I take a photo of it to see if I have it laid out symmetrically.  I may not be able to see it when I look at it pinned out on the blocking mats, but it will jump out at me in a photograph.  I keep thinking that there must be some mathematical progression that would make the transition smoother, more organic, but I just haven't had the energy to pursue it.

Project:  Alita Dress by Adrienne Larsen from Knitter's Magazine 116, Fall 2014
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Autumn for Ana
Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Liken MKAL - Finished!

I finished up Clue 4 on Sunday and the final clue on Tuesday and just took it off the blocking pads tonight when I got home from work.  Unfortunately we're entering the time of the year when it is hard for me to get good photos during the week so I didn't get a shot of the shawl blocking.  It is supposed to be a semi-circular shawl, but I couldn't get the top edge to be straight.  Both sides of the shawls sloped away from the straight line after the stockinette section, where the lace section started.  The shape actually looked more like a shelf lichen.  I'm going to make a second shawl and I'm going to add repeats of the lace section to try to take care of that.  It means I will use more yarn so I will  play with the color changes to use more of color A - the pearl in this picture.

Project:  Liken MKAL by Sivia Harding
Yarn:  Abstract Fibers O'Keefe in Pearl, Smitten and Burnside Bridge
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Liken MKAL - Clue 3 Done

I've mainly been focused on this shawl and managed to finish up clue 3 this week.  The lace pattern in this shawl has a really nice rhythm to it, a row with lace, a rest row, a row with beads, a rest row, another row with lace, a rest row, and then two rows of the variegated yarn.  Nothing too hard or complicated, and the yarn feels wonderful.  The purple has wonderful tonal variations that the picture just doesn't do justice to.  The final clue (clue 5) has come out with a picture of the blocking shawl.  It will be beautiful when finished, and cuddly.  I picked out some possible beads this week for my second Liken shawl.  Here is a picture of the shawl draped on my dress form, just to give an idea of how it might look when worn.

Project:  Liken MKAL by Sivia Harding
Yarn:  Abstract Fibers O'Keefe in Pearl, Smitten and Burnside Bridge
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Liken MKAL - Clue 2 Done

I finally finished up Clue 2 today, just in time for Clue 4 to come out.  I don't mind being in the slow lane.  I have discovered that I am not as big a fan of MKALs as I used to be - I like being able to make design decisions with full knowledge of the pattern.  On the other hand, I have discovered that I very much enjoy being a test knitter.  Here is a close up so you can see the beads.

They are Berry-lined Topaz.  I like the colors of the yarn and the beads, but they do make a rather fanciful lichen.  I really love some of the other color combinations that folks have come up with and am really looking forward to knitting a second one in the Serenity 20 yarn that I pulled from my stash.

Project:  Liken MKAL by Sivia Harding
Yarn:  Abstract Fibers O'Keefe in Pearl, Smitten and Burnside Bridge
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Autumn Dress - 3 skeins done

I finished up the third skein this morning.  Actually, it is skein 4 in the set because I started with skein 6.  I have about 50 more rows of lace work to do and then I will be on the bodice.  Based upon my yarn usage, this skein should get me through the lace work and into the bodice.

Project:  Alita Dress by Adrienne Larsen from Knitter's Magazine 116, Fall 2014
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Autumn for Ana
Needles:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Fred Update

I had a major break through with Fred last week.  Since we found him on our doorstep a little over a year ago he has been a sweet boy, affectionate, purring, but he didn't come looking for attention.  He would sleep in the spot that I had set up for him on the daybed, and sometimes I would catch him looking at me as if he wanted to come over and get some love but he was afraid to.  And when I would reach out to pet him he would turn away, almost shying away.  It was pretty heartbreaking to see that reaction.  It made me wonder about his past treatment.  I kept at it, giving him scritches and kisses and nuzzling him and he has really started to respond.  He actually has started to arch his back when you stroke him instead of going the other way.  Then last week he came over to me while I was sitting on the daybed and he curled up next to me and he has been doing that consistently ever since.  And this past Tuesday I was out in the kitchen looking at a recipe and I felt a bump against my leg and there was Fred.  He had head butted me!  And he is finally understanding and believing me when I pat the bed beside me or pat my chest.  This evening he was looking at me sitting on the day bed and I patted the bed beside me and up he came up using a different path then he usually does and once he got up on the bed he almost got up on my chest.  I could see that he wanted to but didn't quite have the nerve so I picked him up and he lay curled on my chest purring up a storm.  He's curled up next to me right now, and when I'm gone during the day he curls up in my spot (see the photo above).  He is such a sweet boy, I really don't understand how someone could have just thrown him away.  I'm so glad that he found us.

He and Jasmine are getting along pretty well too.  He's still a little afraid of her, but she has gotten pretty curious about him and twice this week I have had book end kitties while I've been sitting on the day bed - one curled up on each side of me and both aware that the other was there, but totally cool with it.