Midwinter Moon - Section 1 Done

I cast on this shawl last week.  I’ve had the yarn set aside for a little while.  The colors are all from the SpaceCadet Gradient Explorers Club.

The colors are (from bottom to top):

...and the Russians used a pencil, April 2019

Very Van Gogh, November 2019

Steampunk, December 2019

I’ve been wanting to make this shawl for a while but have been waiting for the right colors to come together.  When I saw the November and December colors together I knew I had two of the three.  I had all of my Gradient Explorers Club colors laid out in chronological order and I grabbed the April skein and realized I had my third color.

Larissa Brown is starting another Lunar themed mystery knit along in April and I’ve already started looking for possible color combinations.  While I ponder colors I’ll continue working on this shawl.

Pattern:  Midwinter Moon by Larissa Brown

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Celeste

Needle:  US 5 (3.75mm)

Adventuresome Shawl - Beauty Shots

All done blocking.  It’s a challenge getting photos of shawls this large.  Here are a couple more.

Pattern:  ADVENTuresome Wrap by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock, 2019 Night Sky Advent
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm

Adventuresome Shawl - Blocking!

I blocked the shawl this morning.  Blocking these bias knit shawls is always a bit of a challenge.  I started with the top edge, stretching it out and pinning it along one of the grid lines of my blocking mats.  I then spread out the body trying to get things to line up as best I could and stretching things out some.  Next I pinned the right edge.  Then I went back and pinned the bottom edge, and lastly I pinned the right edge.  What I noticed is that the top edge is shorter than the bottom edge.  I'm guessing it is because the kfb increase does not have as much give as a yarn over increase would.  I may do some swatches to confirm this.  As my husband pointed out, you will never see it when you're wearing it.  Still, it always bugs me when I can't get things lined up.

The colors are:
1.  Outer Space
2.  Black Hole
3.  Dark Nebula
4.  Asteroid
5.  Horizons
6.  Blue Moon
7.  Aurora Borealis
8.  Equinox
9.  Orbit
10.  Crater
11.  Ursa Major
12.  Galaxy
13.  Neutron
14.  Constellations
15.  Orion Nebula
16.  Pink Sky
17.  Star Cluster
18.  Starburst
19.  Lyra
20.  False Dawn
21.  Satellite
22.  Comet Tail
23.  Heat Lightning
24.  Polaris
25.  Light Year

Pattern:  ADVENTuresome Wrap by Ambah O'Brien
Yarn:  Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock, 2019 Night Sky Advent
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Remnants Shawl - Body Done!

I finished up my Adventuresome Shawl last night, so I was also able to finish up the body of my Remnants Shawl night from the Night Sky Advent Set Remnants.  I also ordered a couple of different colors from the Sunshine Yarns site this weekend for the knit on edging.  Hopefully one of them will work.  I still need to find an edging to use.  I do have several already charted, but I might look for something new.

The colors are:
1.  Outer Space
2.  Black Hole
3.  Dark Nebula
4.  Asteroid
5.  Horizons
6.  Blue Moon
7.  Aurora Borealis
8.  Equinox
9.  Orbit
10.  Crater
11.  Ursa Major
12.  Galaxy
13.  Neutron
14.  Constellations
15.  Orion Nebula
16.  Pink Sky
17.  Star Cluster
18.  Starburst
19.  Lyra
20.  False Dawn
21.  Satellite
22.  Comet Tail
23.  Heat Lightning
24.  Polaris
25.  Light Year
 

Pattern:  improvised
Yarn:  Sunshine Yarns Classic Sock
Needles:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Botanical Exordium - Main Color Finished

I have been focusing on this project for the last few days and have finished up with the Main Color.  All that is left now is 8 more sets of the textured stitch (16 rows, plus the set up row) and a few rows of garter.  I have 1 gram of the Main Color left, which in my book makes this a perfect project as I hate having a lot of leftovers.

On another topic, my sister Virginia received the vest yesterday and is absolutely delighted with it.  She called me to thank me and also texted me, telling me how warm it is.  Now her husband wants one.  I told her to send me his measurements and I would see what I could do.


Pattern:  Exordium by Rebecca Picoult
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering in Botanical and Limes
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Botanical Exordium - Restart

I picked this shawl up again this past Monday, and despite what I posted back in December I decided to rip it back and start it over again.  I changed the shape to a boomerang shape.  I just couldn't see spending all that time and effort on a shape that I really didn't want to wear.  On the right side I work k2, (k, yo, k) in the next stitch, then work across in pattern to the last 4 stitches and end with a k2tog, k2.  On the wrong sides I keep the first and last two stitches in garter and work the rest in pattern.  I also figured out how to get my yarns on the correct edge without cutting them (which just offended my sensibilities).  When I got to the first textured stitch section I knit across with my contrast color working the increase and decrease as established, then I purled across with my main color.  Both of my yarns were now where they needed to be and I could start working the textured stitch by purling back with my contrast color.  I'll do something similar when I get done with this section and need to start working the garter stitch again.


Pattern:  Exordium by Rebecca Picoult
Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Superfine Fingering in Botanical and Limes
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Bootes Void Vest - Finished!

I finished up the Bootes Vest almost a week ago (February 6).  I've sent pictures to my sister Virginia and she loves it, so it is packed up and ready to mail off to her today.  I thought of her when I saw this colorway and am delighted that she likes the shape.  I love these vests.  This is the sixth one that I've made.  I did add some A-line shaping to the body to make it hang a little better.  When I sent her pictures of this vest I also sent pictures of some other Worsted Weight yarn that I have and she covets another color, so I'll be making another vest for her.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich
Yarn:  Dream in Color City in Bootes Void
Needle:  US 6

Woodsman Shawl - Finished!

I finished this shawl up back on February 2 and sent it off to my sister Virginia.  She received it this past weekend and immediately called to tell me how much she loved it.  When I was blocking the shawl I noticed that the lace pattern in the edging resembled the Eye of Horus, which I knew would delight her.  I didn't really notice that when I was picking out the edging.  It popped out at me when I was blocking.  I found it on Pinterest and charted it up in PatternGenius on my iPad.

Pattern:  Improvised
Yarn:  SpaceCadet Oriana in Woodsman
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Bootes Void Vest - Cast On

This yarn I also picked up from The Loopy Ewe last summer during Camp Loopy.  It is one of their exclusive Dream in Color colors inspired by space - Bootes Void.  I got enough to do another Practically vest, but I knew that the colors were more my sister Virginia's than mine.  Given that I'm finishing up a shawl for her I decided to go ahead and get this vest knitted up for her as well so I could send them together.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich
Yarn:  Dream in Color City in Bootes Void
Needle:  US 6

Woodsman Shawl - Body Done

Over the Christmas Holidays my sister Virginia informed me that she needed another shawl like the Black Eye Galaxy shawl that I had made her, but this one needed to be red and black, with a black border.  Fortunately I had recently received a club shipment from SpaceCadet yarns that I thought would work.  This is the coordinating color for the Interstellar Yarn Alliance December shipment and it is called Woodsman.  The main shipment is Opinionated Cardinal, and I have that cast on for another boomerang shawl, which may or may not go to my sister.

Pattern:  Improvised
Yarn:  SpaceCadet Oriana in Woodsman
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Out of the Woods Shawl - Finished!

I picked up this skein from The Loopy Ewe back in September.  I had to get it because it was by Evil Little Goat, and the yarn is called Squishy Goat and the colors are Carol's, and she keeps goats.  It hung around in my work bag getting worked on in here and there.  I finally focused on it this past month.  I found the edging yarn in my stash.  It was a prize from a knit along.  The yarn is Abstract Fiber Alex, and the color is Clover, which I thought was appropriate for goats.  The edging motif is a leaf motif that I found on Pinterest and charted up in Pattern Genius.

Pattern:  improvised
Yarn:  Evil Little Goat, Squishy Goat in Out of the Woods & Abstract Fiber Alex in Clover
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)