Shimmer & Shine - Border One-Quarter Done

This has become my meeting knitting when I am on telecons.  I can look at a chart and at my knitting, so I can do simple lace while listening to the telecon.  This week I made some good progress  on it, finishing about one-quarter of the border.  It goes surprisingly quickly.

Pattern:  Woollsia by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  Sundara Yarns Extra Fine Fingering Merino

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Goblin Kalari - Over 300 Stitches!

I have not forgotten my two Ambah O’Brien projects.  My Goblin Kalari has become my mindless work knitting, and I am down to my last four skeins.  The stitch count is over 300 at this point, so those rows are long, which is actually perfect for when I’m reading technical documents.  I did have to put the project on a longer cable this week.  I’m still contemplating what color to pick for a knit on border.

Pattern:  Kalari by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri in Goblin Ombré 

Needles:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Garden Variety MKAL - Clue 3 Done

After spending last weekend finishing up Arabian Nights, I turned my attention back to this shawl and finished up Clue 3 yesterday morning.  The design is a lot of fun, and very inspiring and I like the fact that it kind of looks like a dress.  The fourth clue is out and it uses the first three colors.  I may add some rows in to use up my leftovers, depending on how much of my main color I have.  I like the asymmetry of the design, and I love the colors.

Pattern:  Garden Variety MKAL by Lisa K. Ross
Yarn:  Miss Babs Yummy 2-ply and Yummy 2-ply Toes
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Arabian Nights - MKAL Reveal

This past Friday marked the release of the eighth and final clue of the latest Unique Sheep MKAL.  As one of the test knitters (and also the tech editor of the pattern) I no longer can post about these as I knit them, and never think about posting the individual clues later.  For this one I knit half the shawl during the actual test knit, and only finished the shawl this past Sunday.  I started the test knit during my long Fourth of July weekend working two clues each weekend for four weeks in order to make the August 8 start of the MKAL.  During the week I worked on in my Camp Loopy knitting.  After Camp Loopy finished up in August, I started working on this again, working it in between other projects, with the goal of finishing up before the last clue came out.

The yarn is Luxe and the Colorway is Hazy Days.  It is a circle colorway and I just love it.  I got it from Earthfaire back in 2016.  I used two different colors of beads, that I also got from Earthfaire at some point in the past and pulled from my bead stash.  I used Amethyst Lined Crystal AB for the cooler blue-green side and Raspberry Lined Crystal AB for the warmer purple-pink side.  When I blocked it I was really blown away with how beautiful it came out.  I kept wandering in to my blocking room just to admire it.

The Luxe has really great stitch definition, unfortunately it is no longer available from The Unique Sheep.  They were having some quality control issues with the mill and dropped it.  I blocked the edges straight along the grid of my blocking mats, blocking one edge and then the other, starting from the center and working towards the ends.  The ends were a little bit of a challenge.  I tried points, but that didn’t seem right, so I ended up threading a blocking wire, picking up every other stitch, and then flaring out the ends so that the beads would show.  The last four rows are just 1x1 rib and after all of the twisted stitches they naturally open up more so I let them do what they wanted.  I don’t believe in forcing my knitting when I block.  I try to understand what the knitted fabric wants to do naturally and block it that way.  I also don’t block strenuously.  I block firmly, but I don’t over block.  If the knitting is pulling back from the pins when it is drying (making little scallops) I figure I blocked it too hard.  This one did not do that at all.

I worked the first half with the cool colors.

And the second half with the warm colors.  I did not work any transition rows.  I did work a plain knit row when I started the second half, so there are two plain knit rows in the center of the shawl.  If I were working it over again I would still work those two set up rows, but I would work them in a knit/purl pattern that matched the lace pattern.

Pattern:  Arabian Nights by Janine Le Cras

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Hazy Days

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Adventurous Beach - Three Triangles Done!

This project has not been getting quite as much attention lately as I’ve been focused on some other projects, but today I managed to finish up the last few rows.  I had to rip back though when I checked my stitch count just prior to working the last set of rows with Skein 24 and discovered that I was two stitches short.  I checked the edges and the center spine and discovered that I had forgotten the center increases on the first set of rows with Skein 1 in Section 6.  The thought of tinking back three rows at this point was daunting, so I decided to put in a lifeline to rip back to.  Instead of using yarn and a needle I used these.

There is a slender knitting needle on one end, attached to a cable with a stopper at the other end.  There is a hole in the stopper that you can thread the needle through to keep your knitting from slipping off.  If you don’t thread the needle through, your knitting will slip off when you aren’t looking.  I think I picked these up at The Loopy Ewe.  Given that this pattern is in garter stitch, it was easy to place this into my knitting and then pull the knitting needles out and rip away.  I did place the center stitch marker when I was placing my lifeline.  Then I put my knitting back on my original needles and got back on track.

Pattern:  Adventurous Wrap by Ambah O’Brien
Yarn:  Sunshine Yarns Beach Tones Advent Set
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Goblin Kalari - Six Skeins Done (Almost)

With the main knitting done on my Woollsia shawl I needed another mindless knit to work on during work, so I pulled this project back out and have quickly knit up several more skein remainders.  I’m almost done with skein 6.  I will likely work a knit on border on this shawl as well.  I just need to find a color that will work.

Pattern:  Kalari Shawl by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri in Goblin Ombré

Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Shimmer & Shine - Two Skeins Done

I finished up the second skein earlier this week and snapped a quick picture before I picked up stitches for the knit on border.  I’m using a skein of Mauve yarn that came as part of a kit for a temperature scarf that Sundara Yarns offered last year.  I decided not to knit the scarf - too much to track - and have been using the wonderful solid colors as accents for other shawls.

I managed to get a couple of repeats in during a meeting.  I think it’s going to look great.

Pattern:  Woollsia by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  Sundara Yarn Extra Fine Fingering Merino

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Garden Variety MKAL - Clue 2 Done

The second clue on this shawl was a fair bit of knitting.  If I were running the show I probably would have allowed two weeks for this one, just so folks didn’t feel rushed.  I did find some of the stitches not hard, but a bit tedious, so I took my time.  I did use a crochet hook on the second and third loops of the Dahlia stitch.  Now I have to do more or less the same thing on the other side.  There is still a clue left, and this shawl is not big enough to be a shawl, yet, and there are three colors that we haven’t used since clue 1, so there is more to come.

Pattern:  Garden Variety MKAL by Lisa K. Ross

Yarn:  Miss Babs Yummy 2-ply and Yummy 2-ply Toes

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Garden Variety MKAL - Clue 1 Done

Last month Lisa Ross (Paper Daisy Creations) announced a mystery knit along and I was captivated by the kits that Miss Babs put together.  This is the Morning Glories kit, and the picture above shows the order that the mini-skeins were packed, but they are not the order that I am using them in.  I used the monochrome filter on my iPad to order them from lightest to darkest, which was a technique recommended in the pattern notes.

Here is the first clue knit up.  The second clue comes out on Tuesday.

Pattern:  Garden Variety MKAL by Lisa K. Ross
Yarn:  Miss Babs Yummy 2-ply and Yummy 2-ply Toes
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Adventurous Beach - Two Triangles Done

I’ve mostly been working on this project in the evening while watching TV.  That way I have access to all my tools, most especially my scale so I can track the yarn usage.  I will now work the other half of the Advent set into two triangles and then I will figure out how I want to assemble them.

Here is the first triangle for comparison.

Pattern:  Adventurous Wrap by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  Sunshine Yarns Beach Tones Advent Set

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Shimmer & Shine - One Skein Done

This is mostly my work knitting project.  Pretty mindless and strangely addicting, you just want to knit another row.  It helps that the yarn is so pretty and feels so good to work with.  I almost stopped after one skein, just to finish.  I even started working a knit on border, but after sleeping on it I decided to rip the border out and continue with the second skein.  I also fished in my stash for more border color options.

I know that the mauve will work, as I worked a few repeats of the border with it yesterday, but the green would also look nice if I want more contrast.

Pattern:  Woollsia by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  Sundara Yarn Extra fine Fingering Merino

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)