Mirror, Mirror Vest - One Skein Done

I’ve mostly been working on this vest last week, and I’m actually almost half way through skein 2.  It makes good work knitting as it is pretty mindless.  I do love the colors, but they are definitely my sister Virginia’s colors, so this will go to her when I’m done.  I won’t make her birthday, which is tomorrow, but I will get it to her soon after.  So, a belated birthday present.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Cressida, color is Mirror, Mirror from the SpaceMonster Club

Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Lamina Wrap - Ten Skeins Done

Even though I have been busy with other projects, I have not been totally neglecting my Lamina Wrap.  I’ve knit ten mini skeins, the leftover skeins from my Xuan Wrap - skeins 22, 23, and 24 and the first seven skeins of the Advent set.  I do love the color progression.  I also realized that I am using a US 6 needle, not a US 4 as I had noted in previous blog posts, and also not the US 5 the pattern calls for.  I did notice that my fabric was a bit more open and at one point I thought about starting over on smaller needles, but I like the fabric I’m getting, so I’m just going to go with it.

Pattern:  Lamina Wrap by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Rare Breed Christmas Carol Advent Set

Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Walk on the Moon - Beauty Shot

It can be a real challenge to capture the beautiful colors of these projects, but yesterday I managed to get a good photo of my Walk on the Moon shawl.  I have to take the photo in the early morning before the full sun hits the deck.  This one finally shows how rich the colors are and you can really see the purple pop, as well as the variegation in the blue.

Pattern:  Walk on the Moon by Arlene’s World of Lace

Yarn:  Rohrspatz &Wollmeise Pure 100% Merino Superwash

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Lunar Fade MKAL - Clue 7 Done

We put the pieces together in Clue Seven.  It is hard to get a full picture of the shawl.  First we placed markers on the crescents in the lace swirl sections.  Then we started with the tips.

For all of the stitch picks ups, I picked up a stitch in each of the I-cord stitches.  For the tips I ended up with one more stitch than the pattern called for, but I just went with it.  Once I had one tip done, I tackled the other tip.

I made sure that I had the same number of stitches for my second tip so they would match.  Then we connected the two pieces.

Here I ended up with four more stitches, two on each side, then the pattern called for, but again I just went with it.  It means that I end with my Color D instead of Color B as the pattern called for, but I’m good with it.

Pattern:  Lunar Fade MKAL by Larissa Brown

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Silk Single

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Mirror, Mirror Vest - Cast On

Once I finished up my Walk on the Moon I needed another easy project for knitting while working.  I’ve had these skeins caked up for a while, so it was easy to just grab them and cast on.  The project is one I’ve done a number of times before so it is all set up in knitCompanion.  The yarn is one of the SpaceMonster shipments, complimentary colorway to Take a Bite.  It is called Mirror, Mirror and is just gorgeous.  My sister Virginia covets the color and I was thinking I would make it into a vest for her, but I’m going to have a hard time parting with it.  We’ll see what happens when I’m done.

Pattern:  Practically by Kelly Herdrich
Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Cressida, color is Mirror, Mirror from the SpaceMonster Club
Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Walk on the Moon - Finished!

I focused on my Ramp up to Camp project last week and finished it up this past Wednesday and took it off the blocking mats this morning.  The last few rows were very long because before I started the ribbed edging I essentially doubled the stitch count to over 1000 stitches.  I pulled out a circular needle with a 60-inch cable to handle all of those stitches.  Working those rows in that dark purple was a bit of a pain, and I got off a stitch for a little stretch.  Fortunately I spotted it as I was working a later row and was able to fix it as I went.  I was very happy to bind it off, in pattern.  I love the Wollmeise yarn.  It feels really wonderful, and the colors are great, especially that green.  I needed to use 400 yards and I used 1073.  I guess I’m a bit of an over achiever.

One of my points is longer than the other.  You can see that it in the top picture.  The longer edge is the right hand edge, the starting point when working on the right side.  I tried not to make the left hand edge too tight, but was only partially successful, and I tried to keep the right hand edge neat, especially when changing colors.  It was not easy.

Pattern:  Walk on the Moon by Arlene’s World of Lace

Yarn:  Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Pure 100% Merino Superwash

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Lunar Fade MKAL - Clue 6 Done

Clue Six finished up the other crescent and instructed us to block them.  Clue Seven comes out today and presumably there will be much picking up of stitches and casting on to join the pieces together.  I did not pin anything out when I blocked, just smoothed and stretched and straightened things to make them look nice.  Most of the ends are woven in.

Pattern:  Lunar Fade MKAL by Larissa Brown

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Silk Single

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

The Journey - The Cabin of Complacency

I have been getting the emails from Expression Fiber Arts for a while now, and buying her yarn and also some of the patterns, but hadn’t cast anything on with them yet.  Then earlier this month Chandi unveiled a new pattern - The Journey, knit in DK, that came along with a story.  She had some beautiful sets of DK weight yarn dyed up for the pattern and was hosting a knit along on Ravelry.  I fell in love with one of the sets and ordered it, even though I really don’t need any more yarn in my life.  The yarn is a blend of 60% Superwash Merino, 20% Baby Camel, 10% Cashmere, and 10% Silk.

The shawl is designed as a Journey, and there is a story that goes along with the pattern.  It is a neat idea.  The first part of the shawl is The Cabin of Complacency, where we all start out.  You can’t see it very well in the top picture, but the squiggles are actually squares, like cabin windows.

Pattern:  The Journey by Jane Vanselous

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Mirage DK in Arboretum Hues

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Delphinia Shawl - Finished!

I restarted this shawl on May 9th, and finished it up on May 13th.  That’s right. Four days.  Once I had modified the pattern to only work the increases on the right side rows things went very smoothly. The pattern is easy to memorize and I never worried about missing my increases and my Eyelet lace sections always worked exactly as expected.  It was really a joy to knit.  Worry free and stress free.

This is one of my favorite shapes for a shawl, and I’m really going to have to try my hand at designing one sometime.

Pattern:  Delphinia by Ambah O’Brien
Yarn: SpaceCadet Yarns Ester in Ice Cream Truck and Chalk Doodle
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Delphinia - Cast On Take Two

This one has been sitting in a bit of a time out.  When I started this shawl I thought about modifying it  so that I worked all of the increases on the right side rows and none on the wrong side rows, but I was feeling lazy and didn’t.  I thought I was being careful about working the increases but when I got to the second Eyelet section the pattern didn’t line up the way it was supposed to.  I could see that this was just a taste of things to come so this weekend I did the pattern modifications.  It gives me two more stitches on each row than the pattern calls for.  We’ll see how that affects my yarn usage.  I start each right side row with k2, (k, yo, k) in the next stitch, and end with (k, yo, k), k2.  This gives me a nice garter stitch edge.  When I restarted the shawl I decided to keep the central spine in garter stitch as well.  I did make one goof when I was copying and pasting, the final row in the Eyelet section is supposed to be knit, but I have purled mine.  I went back and looked at the pictures of my first attempt, and apparently I did it there as well.  At least I’m consistent.

Pattern:  Delphinia by Ambah O’Brien
Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Ester in Ice Cream Truck and Chalk Doodles
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Lunar Fade MKAL - Clues Three, Four and Five

Apparently I have been forgetting to blog about my Lunar Fade MKAL and here we are up to Clue 5. The photo above is Clue 3, and it is a bound off piece that will somehow get incorporated into the final shawl.

Clue 4 started another piece and had a modified version that preserved the symmetry of construction. I started out using the standard instructions, but decided I wanted the symmetry so I ripped back and started over.  The color use is different though - flipping the color schemes.

Clue 5 is almost the same as Clue 2 except the increases are at the beginning of each section instead of at the end.  I’m guessing Clue 6 will be almost the same as Clue 3, except the line of yarn overs will go in the opposite direction.

Pattern:  Lunar Fade MKAL by Larissa Brown

Yarn:  Zen Yarn Garden Serenity Silk Single

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Walk on the Moon - Color A Finished

Last week I focused mostly on this project and finished up the working with Color A, which is the dark blue.  I’ve since added Color C, which is the purple.  This is my first time working with Wollmeise, although I’ve been hearing wonderful things about it for a while now.  It is lovely to work with.  I am also enjoying this pattern.  The colors are perfect for it, the green practically glows (the color name is Absinthe).  I only used 60 grams of the blue.

Pattern:  Walk on the Moon by Arlene’s World of Lace

Yarn:  Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Pure 100% Merino Superwash

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Walk on the Moon - Cast On

A couple of weeks ago I wandered over to the Loopy Groupies Forum on Ravelry to see if there was any discussion of Camp Loopy.  Much to my delight I discovered that during May they are hosting a “Ramp up to Camp” knit along.  They have three different threads with three different themes based upon past camps - Pirates, Cowboys and Space.  I had to go check out the Space thread and in the discussion discovered a lovely pattern that had been shared “Walk on the Moon” by Arlene’s World of Lace.  It takes three colors and I happened to have three skeins of Wollmeise yarn that I had ordered from The Loopy Ewe last Thanksgiving.  These are imperfect skeins and all I could do was specify a color family - I went with blues, purples and greens.  The pattern calls for lace weight Wollmeise, but this is a light fingering so I went up on the needle size called for to a US 4 (3.5 mm).

I started with the blue and will end with the purple.

Pattern:  Walk on the Moon by Arlene’s World of Lace

Yarn:  Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Pure 100% Merino Superwash

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Albuquerque Spring - Finished!

I spent most of last week finishing up my Albuquerque Spring.  Once I got past the third section, the end was in sight and I wanted to get it done.  I started out the fourth repeat section with one less stitch than the pattern called for and ended that section with one more stitch than the pattern called for.  Looking at the picture of the shawl in the pattern it looks like rows one through eight were worked on the sixth repeat, although the pattern says to only work rows one through six.  I couldn’t get the slipped stitch rows to match what was given in the pattern, so I just worked them however they needed to be worked to make the pattern correct.  I didn’t even look at the pattern once I started that section, given how easy the repeat is.  I worked the extra stitch into the lace section at the beginning of the row.  The chart for the right (increase) edge threw me at first because of the way it was charted - the right hand edge of the chart was straight and the increases added stitches to the left, which is backwards.  Once the pattern was established I only had to refer to the chart at the beginning and end of the right side rows.

Overall I like the color and texture of the finished shawl.  I really like the yellow variegated yarn and almost ripped the project so I could knit a simple garter stitch boomerang shawl just to show it off.

Pattern: Albuquerque Sunset by Casapinka
Yarn:  Alcidina Momentum in Corona and Sundara Yarns Extra Fine Fingering Merino in Green
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)