Queen Conch Shawl - Finished!

Even though I always have lots of projects going at once, when one of them gets close to being done I will often focus on it until it is finished, and that is mostly what happened with this shawl.  Once I had found a good border color and a good bead color and got the border started I ended up coming back to it and working on it to the exclusion of the other projects that are high on my “to do” list.  I am very happy with how this one turned out, and I’m also happy to be using up my old Advent sets.  The rest of this particular set is really two 9-skein gradiances, although I could have used them as a single 24-skein gradiance, if I had wanted to.

This is the Queen Conch set.

The Sea Urchins set.

The Beyond the Breakers set.

The Beyond the Breakers set flows in to the Sea Urchins set (right most skein to left most skein) and the Sea Urchins set flows in to the Queen Conch set (right most skein to right most skein).  But figuring out something that takes all 24 skeins is non-trivial.  I’ve done it twice.  For the two 9-skein sets I’m thinking about some short sleeve top-down pullovers.  I’ve been collecting patterns.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve and Sundara Yarn High Twist Sock

Needle:   US 4 (3.5 mm)

Queen Conch Shawl - Body Done and Border Started!

Once I had finished the border on the Cindy Shawl, I transferred this project to my Della Q Hatbox and started working the border.

Finding a good color for the border was quite a challenge.  The yarn of the shawl is The Unique Sheep Verve, which is a fairly hard sock yarn, so I knew I needed a similar yarn for the border.  I searched in my stash for all of my sturdier sock yarns and made a list of likely candidates, and where they were stashed and then just went diving.  In the end I picked Sundara Yarn - HIgh Twist Sock in “Oh, The Places You Will Go”.  The next challenge was the beads.  It took me a while, but in the end I settled on Matte/Raku Teal/Plum.  The colors were not something that I originally thought of, but I’m very happy with how it is all coming out.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve and Sundara Yarn High Twist Sock

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Joy to the World - Cindy - Finished!

I finished this shawl up on this past Sunday (October 27) and got it on the blocking mats that morning.  The border went very quickly and I just love how it came out.  The colors are so beautiful, and bright, and they make me happy.

With the completion of this shawl, I have used up all of the Grinch Advent Set.  Yay!  Another Advent set knitted up (I have so many!).

Pattern:  Joy to the World by Louise Robert

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering and Kiri

Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Wallflowers - Dark Corners Done!

I finally finished connecting the corners for my blanket.  Of course I worked in production mode style on the flowers themselves.

I finished them up back on September 29.  Jezebel helped by curling up on the blanket when I was attaching them.  Now I’m on to Chapter 8 and making 68 puff hexis, once again working in production mode so I’m making all of the center rings (round 1), and then I’ll do all of round 2, etc.  So far I’ve made 17 of round 1 rings in my B4 color.

Pattern:  Wallflowers by Sue Maton

Yarn:  Rowan Felted Tweed DK

Hook:  3.75 mm (F)

 

Joy to the World - Grinch - Finished!

I actually finished this shawl back on October 12, but when I was laying it out to block I received a nasty shock.  An insect had gotten at it between the time I had finished the body (June 18) and when I started working the edging (September 28).

I was dismayed and horrified.  What was I to do?  I used up all of the yarn, so there were no scraps for darning.  After it was dry I carefully folded it up and put it in a zip lock plastic bag while I thought about possible ways to fix it.  Given that this is superwash, how would I secure my fix?  Even if I found a yarn to use.  In the end I decided to get some silk mohair in a similar color.  Of course picking a color from the web is always a challenge, so I erred on the dark side.  Here is the fix.

You can still see the ends that I haven’t secured.  Fortunately the whole was not too big and I was able to duplicate stitch and fill in what was missing.  The mohair makes the yarn sticky so I’m not too worried about it working out, and the silk makes it strong, plus it is lace weight so it doesn’t add bulk to the repair.  This will now be my go to method if something like this happens again.

Pattern:  Joy to the World by Louise Robert

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering and Kiri

Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Joy to the World - Cindy - Body Done and Border Started!

I finished up the body back on October 13 and started the edging not too long after.  I really love the colors of this one, it just make me smile.  I did actually run out of the miniskeins on the last row of the center triangle, so I just finished up with the blue, which made the three needle bind off convenient as the yarn was already attached.

Pattern:  Joy to the World by Louise Robert

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering and Kiri

Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Kalona - Body and One Sleeve

I finished up the body (up to the arm holes) almost a week ago - lots of knitting time in the office - and immediately cast on the first sleeve.

I knew that I was probably going to be starting the sleeve, so I had grabbed the appropriate needles and made sure I had the pattern in my phone knitCompanion app, but forgot to grab a stitch marker, so I had to improvise with a piece of yarn.  Of course once I got past the lace the sleeve went quickly.

I’m almost done with what the pattern calls for, but I’m debating making the sleeves full length, and adding more increases to give me a bit more room.  I need to check the schematics on the sleeve diameter and the width for the shoulders and see if more room would be a good thing.  I did buy an extra skein of yarn, so I have plenty.

Pattern:  Kalona by Alison Green

Yarn:  Berroco Ultra Wool Fine

Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Kalona - Cast On and Lace Done!

Back on September 21, I received an email from one of my favorite craft stores - Yarn Barn of Kansas (I purchased my floor loom from them) - and in the email was a blurb about Berroco’s Cardigan Make Along, a Cardi Party, that started on October 1.  So I went and checked it out, if you joined you got a free cardigan pattern, but you had to use Berroco yarn - which was not a hardship for me at all.  I went to their web site and checked out the possible patterns, narrowed it down to a couple, and then went looking for yarn from their list of stockists, and settled on the Kalona pattern, which uses Berroco Ultra Wool Fine.  It is a raglan cardigan with a shawl collar and lace at the hem and cuffs.  I picked the color Sour Cherry, which doesn’t look Sour, or very Cherry, more of a Burgundy.  The yarn arrived quickly and I set about knitting a swatch.

The pattern called for a US 5 (3.75 mm) needle and a gauge of 24 stitches and 32 rows in 4 inches in stockinette stitch.  Knowing that this is a fingering weight yarn I checked the ball band, and noted that the recommended needle size was a US 2-3 (2.75-3.25 mm), with a gauge of 26-30 stitches and 38-40 rows in 4 inches.  I started out on the US 5, just to see what kind of fabric that would give me, but quickly ripped that and pulled out a US 3 instead, and got gauge.

Now that I’ve finished the lace at the bottom of the body I can throw this project in my work bag as I now get to knit 68 more rows of stockinette.  Then I get to knit the sleeves and join them to the body.

Pattern:  Kalona by Alison Green

Yarn:  Berroco Ultra Wool Fine

Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Queen Conch Shawl - Body Almost Done!

This shawl has been in my work bag and I’ve been making progress on it.  At this point I am almost done with the last of the six skeins, and am contemplating border colors.  The yarn is a bit firm, being a sock yarn with a fairly tight twist, so I want a yarn for the border with similar characteristics.  I’ve been diving in my stash and have come up with four alternatives, so far.

These are all Zen Yarn Garden Superwash Sock Yarn.

I still haven’t decided if I want to pick one of these, or go stash diving some more.

I also need to think about bead color.  This morning I’m going to finish knitting the rest of skein six, and then slip the stitches on to a Knitting Barber Cord so I can spread the shawl out to really get a sense of the colors, and then I will search my stash for all possible border skeins and see if I can come to a decision.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

 

Joy to the World - Grinch - Border One-Third Done!

This shawl has been waiting for its border for a while now - since June 18, to be exact - so a week or so ago I pulled it out and started working the border.  I am using one of my go-to borders, which I think looks a bit like the Eye of Horus.  It is pretty good TV knitting.  I have to pay some attention, but not a great deal of attention, to it.

Pattern:  Joy to the World by Louise Robert

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering and Kiri

Needle:  US 3 (3.25)

Wallflowers - Daisy Chain Done!

Once I had given my elbow a rest, and finished a couple of other knitting projects, I got back to my Wallflowers.  For the next step I had to make 50 popcorns using two of my leaf colors.  Once again I did them in production fashion, Working all 50 of the first round, and then working the second round.  Working the last two rounds and joining them to the blanket took a couple of nights.  I printed out the schematic that showed their placement and crossed them off as I joined them.  As you can see, Jezebel approves.

Here they are in progress.  You can see the first round rings on the right, and the second round popcorns on the left.

And here they are all finished, neatly lined up in five columns of ten.

It is so hard to get a good photo of the blanket.

The next step are the dark flowers that go in the corners.  I am making good progress on those, working them once again in a production fashion.  There are only 12 of these, 4 in one colorway and 8 in another colorway.  I did not get a picture until I had already started on the fourth round.

But you can see the two different colorways.

And here I have finished the fourth round on the 4 to the right, and have started the fourth round on the 8 to the left.

And here they all are with their fifth rounds completed.  They use the same colors, but in different order.  At this point I have woven in all of the ends except the ones for the fifth round.  I like to wait until I have worked at least the next round just in case I made a mistake.  I did actually make a mistake on the third round on one of them and had to rip back and fix it.  Fortunately I leave a pretty good tail and it was just one double crochet that I was missing.

Pattern:  Wallflowers by Sue Maton

Yarn:  Rowan Felted Tweed DK

Hook: 3.75 mm (F)

Queen Conch Shawl - Cast On!

After finishing up my Lock, Shock & Barrel Shawl I immediately caked up this set of yarn from another Unique Sheep Advent Calendar set.  This gradiance is called Queen Conch, and the rest of the skeins are also similarly themed.  This set is a bit different in that the other two gradiances are both 9 skeins.

The top photo is Sea Urchin, and the bottom photo is Exploring the Breakers.  All together they actually form a single gradiance, so the rightmost skein in the bottom photo is the transition to Sea Urchin, and the right most skein in the top photo is the transition to Queen Conch.  This was one of the 2020 Advent sets.  I am considering making tops out of the other two sets.  I have some good candidates in my Ravelry library.  Since casting on I have made a great deal of progress - lots of knitting at work while reading documents plus some car knitting on the way to and from my step daughter’s wedding last weekend, and I am on the 6th skein.  I will have to pick a border color and beads soon.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Verve

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Lock, Shock & Barrel Shawl - Finished!

I actually finished this shawl up back on September 8.  I was making rapid progress on my Joy to the World - Cindy shawl, and new I had to clear some of the knit on border backlog, so after finishing up the Canby Cardi I decided to focus on this project.  I also had some tendinitis in my elbow from intense crocheting on my Wallflowers and knew I needed to give things a rest.

Blocking these shawls is pretty straight forward, it just takes a little bit of time to pin out all of those points.  The choice of color for the border and the beads was a bit challenging, but I’m happy with how it all turned out.

I really do love these shawls as they are so easy to wear.  They stay in place and they provide just the right amount of coverage without getting in your way.  I have knitted 11 of them so far, and have a 12th one on my needles.  With the completion of this shawl I have used up all of the Nightmare Before Christmas Advent Calendar set.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering & Sundara Yarn Extra Fingering Merino

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Canby Cardi - Finished!

I finished up the Canby Cardi back on September 1, which was my deadline, as it is a gift for my step-daughter, Amy, who is getting married on September 14.  I offered to knit her a wedding shawl, but she wanted a cardigan.  I have tried it on (we are basically the same size) and it fits beautifully.  The yarn is Knitting for Olive Heavy Merino held together with Soft Silk Mohair, and it was my first time doing that, and I really like the result.  The pattern calls for an Aran weight, but the two yarns held together gave me gauge on the called for needle, and it has lovely drape.  For the closure I used a button from my stash, Czech pressed glass.

For the collar I did a knit 2 purl 2 rib, instead of the twisted knit 1 purl 1 rib that the pattern called for.  I just thought it would look better.

Pattern:  Canby Cardi by Robin Melanson

Yarn:  Knitting for Olive Heavy Merino and Soft Silk Mohair in Bordeaux

Needle:  US 8 (5.0 mm), US 7 (4.5 mm)

Canby Cardi - Raglan Shaping Finished!

After a number of false starts I am finally making real progress on the Canby Cardi.  I did make several tweaks to the pattern.  I did not use the backward loop cast on, instead I did lifted increases, even when the pattern called for multiple increases, and I only did increases on the right side.  For the increases I would k1, LL1, work across to the last stitches and work RL1, k1.  When I had to work more than one increase I just repeated the pattern, starting it however many stitches early I needed to.  I think it makes the increases look much more organic.  I am also not slipping the first stitch.

Pattern:  Canby Cardi by Robin Melanson

Yarn:  Knitting for Olive Heavy Merino and Soft Silk Mohair

Needle:  US 8 (5.0 mm)

Wallflowers - Large Flowers Done!

I actually finished placing all of the large flowers back on August 5th, but things have just been a bit busy lately and I didn’t get around to blogging about it.  I did all of the flowers production style - working all the rounds of each color until I got to the point where they needed to be integrated.

Here are flowers ready to be integrated.  I think that is all 14, and the picture was taken back on July 21, so it took me a little while to get them all integrated.  I typically did one or two a session.

Integrating the flowers was also complicated by the fact that if I set the blanket aside my cat would settle on it almost immediately.  She really likes to curl up on my wooly things.

I have started the elements for the next part - the Popcorns for the Daisy Chain.  I have all of my centers done and am working on the popcorn part.  I’ve taken a little break from this project to finish the Canby Cardi, which is a present for my step-daughter for her wedding next month.  I’ve also been experiencing a bit of tendonitis in my right elbow, which the crochet aggravates, but the knitting does not, so a break from the crochet is also necessary to allow it to heal.  I am looking forward to getting back to my Wallflowers!

Pattern:  Wallflowers by Sue Maton

Yarn:  Rowan Felted Tweed DK

Hook:  3.75 mm (F)

Lock, Shock and Barrel Shawl - Border Started!

I have been obsessing over the color for this border for months now.  I have tried and discarded several different colors and finally went with a skein of Sundara Yarn Extra Fine Fingering Merino in Saguaro Sunset.  It is hard to get a good sense of the colors in this photo, but I think it will work.  I’m using Hot Pink Lined beads, although they are hard to see in the photo.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering and Sundar Yarn Extra Fine Fingering Merino

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)