Artsygal 1 - Half Way Done

When I don't feel like working on anything else, or I want to knit and read I pull this project out.  I'm about at the halfway point on the cake of yarn.  I'm liking the colors.  I've put together a stitch count spreadsheet so I can do some designing with this shape.  I'm thinking of two skeins, alternating garter stitch with lace.

Pattern:  improvised
Yarn:  Artsygal 3-Ply Merino
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Perfect Blend - Clue 3 Done

I finished up Clue 3 this past Wednesday, 24 July.  There were some fun stitches in this one.  I have never done the Indian Cross Stitch before.  It proved to be quite a challenge for most folks.  I did have trouble sliding the wraps back onto the needle from the cable, but I just did it one stitch at a time and made sure my loops weren't crossing each other.  I also had to be careful to make sure the elongated loops weren't out of order when I knit them.  It looked pretty sloppy when I was working it, but seems to stabilize itself once you've knit a few more rows.

Pattern:  Perfect Blend by Casapinka
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri
Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Harmonize - Finished!

I finished this shawl up a week ago, exactly, on July 21, but it always takes a while to get beauty shots.  I set it aside after getting through most of skein 4 because I was coming to the end of the pattern and needed to decide how I wanted to extend it to use up the rest of my yarn.  I ended up just working stripes of the main color and the contrast color until I was almost out, then working a couple of garter stitch rows of contrast color and ending with the main color, binding off on the wrong side row.

Pattern:  Harmonize Special Edition by Rosemary Hill
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Pashmi - Peacock and Amber
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Hampton Sleeveless Top - Finished!

I finished up my July Camp Loopy project yesterday.  It only took me six days.  I ended up using only two skeins of yarn, so the yardage came out at 546 yards.

I already have my yarn for the August Camp Loopy project, and a pattern picked out.

Pattern:  Hampton Sleeveless Top by Brian Smith
Yarn:  Cascade Yarns Hampton
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm), US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hampton Sleeveless Top - One Skein Done

I have also been working on my July Camp Loopy project.  This is the Hampton Sleeveless Top pattern by Brian Smith.  The pattern calls for 3 skeins of Cascade Yarns Hampton, 70% Pima Cotton/30 % Linen DK weight yarn.  On the face of it, that comes to just over 800 yards, but I will likely not use that much yarn.  This is not a fiber type that I typically work with, but I'm enjoying it so far.  The pattern is pretty simple, work two rectangles and seam them on the sides and at the shoulders.  Of course I'm working it in the round to the armholes and then I'll work back and forth and do a three-needle bind off to join the shoulders.  I also modified the ribbing at the bottom.  The pattern calls for 4 inches of k1, p1 ribbing.  I worked 3 inches of k2, p2 ribbing.  I did not work a gauge swatch.  I did use the called for needle size for the ribbing (US 3) but went down a size on the needle for the lace.  The pattern calls for a US 6, but I went with a US 5.  The pattern gives a gauge for the US 6 needle, but doesn't indicate the pattern stitch.

The real challenge came when I wanted to take a photo.  How to take one that doesn't come out as a dark blue blob.  I hit upon the idea of putting the knitting over one of my daybed pillows.  I then just leaned the pillow up against my swift.  I'm pretty pleased with how it worked.

Pattern:  Hampton Sleeveless Top by Brian Smith
Yarn:  Cascade Yarns Hampton
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm), US 5 (3.75 mm)

Perfect Blend - Clue 2 Done

I finished up clue 2 last night.  I really like the textures of those last two sections, and I really like how the colors are blending so perfectly.  I've gotten a fair number of positive comments on the Casapinka forum.  I'm thinking I shall have to knit some more of her patterns.

Pattern:  Perfect Blend by Casapinka
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri
Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Perfect Blend - Clue 1 Done

Last week Casapinka kicked off another one of her Mystery Knit Alongs.  This one is called Perfect Blend.  I resisted temptation and did not buy any of the beautiful sets that were on offer and instead went with stash yarns.  The set I selected is the Goblin Ombre set from The Unique Sheep.

Even though I have bought a couple of Casapinka's patterns, this is the first one that I have actually knit, and I'm even trying to keep up with the knit along.

Pattern:  Perfect Blend by Casapinka
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri
Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Artsygal 1 - Cast On

Once I finished up my Black Eye Galaxy shawl I decided I needed to cast on another.  These shawls are like potato chips, you can't knit just one.  I went stash diving and came up with some skeins from Artsygal that I had bought a few years back.  These are dyed up as knitted blanks, so when they are caked they still have some kink from the memory of the stitches.  I learned my lesson with the Sunny Sides shawl and know not to work this yarn in stockinette stitch.  Hopefully garter stitch will reduce the unevenness that can come with these yarns.  This is a fun, easy knit, and I enjoy seeing how the color changes.  I have two skeins of this colorway, but they are caked in reverse order so I thought I would knit them both and see how the color pools depending on which end you start with.

Pattern:  improvised
Yarn:  Artsygal 3-Ply Merino
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Starry Dreams - Halfway Done

Last month I saw a beautiful shawl pattern on Ravelry (I know, when don't we find beautiful shawl patterns on Ravelry).  This one was the called Hopes and Dreams by Ágnes Kutas-Keresztes.  You sign up for the knit along and you get the first clue for free.  If you finish the first clue by 25 July, you will get the full pattern added to your Ravelry library.  If you don't, you will have to buy the pattern in order to finish the shawl.  I went stash diving (I'm trying very hard to work from my stash as much as possible) and came up with two skeins of Dream in Color Starry from the 2015 January Dream Club.  I cast on July 4th, and finished up the first clue this past weekend.  I've caked up the second skein.  You can work the shawl in two different colors, but I opted for a single color for mine.  The yarn is a tonal variegated yarn, and the picture does not do the colors justice, or show how sparkly it is.

Pattern:  Hopes and Dreams by Ágnes Kutas-Keresztes
Yarn:  Dream in Color Starry
Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Black Eye Galaxy - Finished!

I also finished up this shawl over the fourth of July weekend.  This was a fun, easy, mindless project.  Perfect for sitting around with family and talking.  My sister Virginia agreed it was her colors, but said it needed some black to finish it off, so I ordered a 50-gram skein of black sock yarn from Simply Socks and did a few rows of garter stitch lace followed by a picot bind off.  I used the lace pattern from the end of Helen Stewart's Impressionists shawl.  It's a reasonable size for a little shawl, just enough to throw over your shoulders or wrap around your neck.

Now I just need to package it up and send it off to my sister.

Yarn:  Alcidina Stargazer in Black Eye Galaxy
Pattern:  improvised
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

She Sells Seashells - Finished!

I finished this up over the 4th of July weekend.  I love how it came out.  It is large, and I'm wondering if the next time I knit this I should leave out the extra repeats in the second section.  They do actually lead to a distortion when blocking because the mess up the Pi increase pattern, so the next section before the increase gets stretched out.

You can see what I mean from the blocking picture.  On the other hand, I do like the proportions of the design with my extra repeats.  Because of the way the shaping is affected it also makes the last section ruffly when you wear it, which I like.

I really did this modification the hard way - adding stitches, instead of just adding repeats of the lace pattern.  The result was that when I did the final lace section I did not end up quite symmetric.  Before I knit it again I will go back and revisit that modification.  I'm also going to add in the eyelet row in the first section that appears in the pattern photo, but not in the pattern.

Pattern:  Snowmelt by Helen Stewart
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri
Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Peacock Feathers Shawl - Finished!

After I finished knitting my Black Eye Galaxy skein I pulled this project out and worked on it in California, and on the flight back.   Our plane was delayed by 3 hours, which really sucked as we didn't get in until 1 am on July 2.  Needless to say I did not go in to work on Tuesday.  I like the pattern, but it is not very well written.  There are pretty good instructions for the first section, and even some not so bad ones for the second section, enough to get started anyway, but after the first section I did a lot of reverse engineering from the photos.  I don't think the stitch counts are correct either.  I also ran out of my Rowan yarn in the third section and was only able to complete 1 of the 3 ridges called for.  And one of my yarns ran when I soaked it.  I suspect the Rowan because it was blue.  I may play around with this pattern again, but if I do I will definitely rewrite it, and get more yarn so I can make it bigger.  The edge that is on the rail is 58”, the right side coming down to the point is 38.5” and the left side that includes the bind off is 40.5”.

Pattern:  Peacock Feathers Shawl by Aksenik Lyudmila
Yarn:  Schoppel-Wolle Zauberball Starke 6 and Rowan baby silk merino dk
Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)

Black Eye Galaxy - Skein Finished

The last couple of weeks have been a bit crazy.  I spent the week of June 17th in Norway (traveling for 3 days to attend a 2 day meeting).  This shawl came with me, along with my Sunny Side shawl and my Peacock Feather shawl.  I did manage to work on this one, mostly while traveling.  The other two almost got lost with my suitcase when British Airways didn't put it on the plane when it was gate-checked.  Fortunately it was delivered to my hotel the next day.  Still, it was no fun having no luggage for a day.  I had to find a store to buy some dressier clothes as I didn't think briefing in my cargo pants and Marvin the Martian t-shirt would go over very well, especially considering the brass that showed up.  The cool part about the trip was that it never got entirely dark while I was there.  Kongsberg is close enough to the Arctic Circle and I was there during the week of the Solstice.

After the week in Norway I had 4 busy days back in the office and then a 4-day trip to Half Moon Bay California for my niece's wedding.  My sister Liz had rented a huge house for the family to stay in and 4 of the 5 siblings stayed there.  Our brother David stayed at the hotel that the wedding was held at.  I showed the shawl to my sister Virginia and she agreed that they were her colors, but that it needed some black to finish it off, so I found some black sock yarn at Simply Socks.  I finished the skein up while in California.  I still need to do the finish work.  I think I will do a strip of garter stitch lace and a picot bind off.

Yarn:  Alcidina Stargazer in Black Eye Galaxy
Pattern:  improvised
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Sunny Side Shawl - Finished!

I finished this up on June 23 and posted it to the Loopy Ewe web site.  This is my June Camp Loopy 2019 project.  I like the colors, but am not so crazy about the yarn.  It is dyed as a knitted blank and then caked.  The yarn is kinky as it comes off of the cake and that kink translates into uneven stitches, especially given the amount of stockinette stitch in the pattern.  I think there was an option to work the body in garter, which might have been the better way to go with this particular yarn.  Regardless, I will still give it to Carol.  I showed her pictures last weekend and told her about the uneven stitches and she doesn't care.  And it is her colors.  I will try blocking it again to see if I can get things to even out a bit more before I send it to her.

Pattern:  Simone's Shawl by Annette Junge
Yarn:  Canon Hand Dyes William Merino Gradient
Needle: US 4 (3.5 mm)