Smaug Shawl - Border Started!

I am very happy with how the border is looking, although the colors are not quite right in the picture.  Reds are hard to capture, it seems.  I am using red beads on the border and I also changed where I placed them.  For the Wyvern Shawl I placed them at the tops of the centered double decreases, but for this shawl I am placing them between the ssk and k2tog that lead up to the centered double decreases and I really like how that looks.  Just 29 more repeats to go.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

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

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Joy to the World - Dragons - Cast On!

As I was getting close to starting the edging on my Smaug Shawl I grabbed the rest of this 2018 Advent set, a 12 skein set called Dragon.  The skeins go from 1 to 12 from left to right, with 1 to 6 on the bottom row and 7 to 12 on the top row.  Given the variety of color I had already decided to make another Joy to the World shawl. 

This is the one that I made back in 2021.  It was an Advent set from Biscotte & Cie.  I had made a mistake when I was knitting it, knitting 10 rows of each of the mini skeins, but I liked how it had come out and decided to do it again with this set.  I have worn this shawl several times and it really is a joy to wear.  It sits nicely on the shoulders and is a nice size.  So, I went in search of a color to use as the center of the main triangles and border.  Given the variety of colors in my mini skeins I knew I wanted something on the neutral side, fortunately I had some neutral skeins of Unique Sheep Kiri in my stash.  The full sized skein is the darkest of a neutral trio that I picked up at some point.  The other thing that I had to figure out was the number of rows to work with my mini skeins.  My original Joy to the World had 10 mini skeins of 25 grams each, but for this one I have 12 mini skeins of 20 grams each.  Based on my yarn usage I knew that I could not get 10 rows out of each mini skein and still work the design as I wanted, so I decided that I will work 8 rows.  This will give my 96 rows total for the mini skein section, instead of 100 rows, so I will work 4 extra rows of the starting triangle.  Based on my yarn usage numbers it should all work out.

And here is the start of my first triangle.

Pattern:  Joy to the World by Louise Robert, modified

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

Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Smaug Shawl - Four Skeins Done

I am now working on the sixth and last skein of the shawl body and will be setting up for the edging soon.  And then I will be casting on another shawl with the rest of this Advent set.  I do love the colors of this set.  The edging color contrasts with the final skeins.  After finishing the Wyvern Shawl I quite like the effect.  The yarn for the lace edging is another skein of Sundara Yarn Extra Fine Fingering Merino that was part of the temperature blanket/shawl kit that I never knit.  I will use red silver lined beads for this shawl.  I think the result will be quite dramatic.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Ramea - Front Halfway

There are two supplemental lace charts provided for the front and I finished the first chart.  I am excited to be making progress on this top.  The construction is so very interesting.  Once I get across the front I will work the left sleeve, joining it to the front with short rows exactly as I had joined the front to the right sleeve.  I will then work the rest of the sleeve and graft it together, before working the colorwork band on the left side and the back.  The back will be joined to the sleeves with short rows and the right side will be grafted.  The back is straight stockinette stitch, which should go quicker.  I will block it as I finish each stage to make the grafting easier.  I did not block the right sleeve before grafting and I think it would have been easier had I done that.

Pattern:  Ramea by Jennifer Beale

Yarn:  Karabella Yarns Aurora 4

Needles:  US 1 (2.25 mm), US 1.5 (2.5 mm), US 2.5 (3.0 mm)

Wyvern Shawl - Finished!

I finished this up last Sunday afternoon.  It is hard to get a photo that does the colors justice.  In the natural light the colors and the beads glow, but that is hard to capture.

I used bright blue silver lined beads on the edging, and they pick up the other colors of the shawl.  I did discover, after the fact, that for 10 repeats of the edging I inadvertently used a US 3 (3.25 mm) needle.  It was in the wrong needle pouch.  Fortunately it didn’t really have much of an impact, if any.  I certainly couldn’t see any when I blocked, and that may just be due to the fact that I was knitting lace.  That needle is now safely put up in its proper needle pouch.  I should have listened to my fingers when they were telling me that the needle was smaller in diameter than the needle that I had been using.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

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

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Smaug Shawl - Skein 2 Done (Almost)!

This has been the project that goes in my work bag so that I have something to work on while reading documents or sitting in virtual meetings.  I have almost worked all of the second skein and am almost to the last increase row where I double my stitches.  This pattern isn’t quite an Elizabeth Zimmerman Pi shawl because it has increases on the edges on the right side rows, but for the increases rows it does follow the basic Pi shawl formula.  Once I do the next increase I can just knit as established, until I use up all six of my mini skeins.  They are not enough to require another increase row (thank goodness) as I end up with almost 500 stitches as is.

I did have a bit of an “oh no” moment when I pulled it out at work this past week because I had forgotten to load the project in to my knitCompanion app on my phone, which is an Android device.  If it had been an iPhone it would have just been there for me to use, but as it is not I have to upload it to Dropbox and download it onto my phone and I had forgotten to do that.  So I grabbed the pattern from my Ravelry library and had to do the set up all over again, and then figure out where I was.  Fortunately the pattern has stitch counts for all of the repeats so it wasn’t too hard.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)
 

Wyvern Shawl - Edging Halfway Done (Almost)!

This has been my TV knitting this week and although this picture only shows 12 repeats of the border chart I am actually halfway through repeat 16, so I am halfway done with it.  I was glad to be able to spread it out and get a sense of how it was going to look when it is finished.  I am very pleased with the colors and the beads.  I almost bought new beads but ended up finding something in my stash, which made me very happy, as I have a lot of stash and it does feel good to use it.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

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

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Indivisible MCAL - Loop On!

Expression Fiber Arts is doing another year long Mystery Crochet Along and I signed up, even though I have lots of other projects going and planned for the year, I just really enjoy these.  This time we can make a blanket or a shrug.  I haven’t decided yet which one I will do, but I am leaning towards the shrug.  They have three different colorways this year and I went for the jewel tones.  The first color is Mountain Stream and I really love it, it looked great sitting next to the yellows in my Smaug shawl.  The yarn is Crema Worsted, which is 70% Merino, 30% Silk, and it is very lovely to work with.

This square took me several tries to get right.  I started out on a 4.0 mm (G) hook, but that was coming out a fair bit smaller than the pattern called for, so I went up to a 5.0 mm (H) hook.  My square is still a little smaller than the pattern calls for (14 inch instead of 14.5 inch) but I would not want to work it any looser.  I had originally done the Foundation Double Crochet as recommended in the pattern, but didn’t really like how it looked, so when I went up a hook size I did a chain and double crocheted in to it.  The pattern also called out a Chainless Starting Double Crochet, which I managed to work, but didn’t really like it either so I went back to just chaining at the start of the rows.  The pattern also had some chains at the beginning of the rows that were not counted as a stitch, which made for some asymmetry and some bulgy edges, so that required another rip back when I decided to omit those.  But all of that ripping (really just three restarts) was worth it as I am very happy with how it has turned out.  The pattern came with a chart, which I used.  I love charts, so much easier for my brain to wrap around than written instructions.

Pattern:  Indivisible by Johanna Huck

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Crema Worsted

Hook:  5.0 mm (H)

Seahorse - Head Done!

I also finished up the head last weekend, and attached it to the body.  Bruce doesn’t think it looks like a seahorse because it is not bright colors, and of course the head is definitely not very seahorse like, but I didn’t feel like working the one that was more seahorse like.  I have already completed one of the side fins.  I need to make all of the other little fiddly bits that will get sewed on and give this guy some more personality.

Pattern:  Seahorse by Megan Lapp

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Luster Worsted

Hook:  4.0 mm (G)

Orchid Tea Doily Rug - Loop On!

Back in 2019 I swatched for a pattern out of the Spring/Summer 2008 Vogue Knitting Magazine called the Medallion Top.  It uses Cascade Yarns Pima Tencel yarn.  Back on Christmas Day in 2020 I finally cast on the top, and managed to knit a bit before I set it aside.  I decided to come back to it last weekend, just to see if I was going to finish it or not.  Well, the decision is or not.  I just was not enjoying knitting the combination of the yarn and the pattern so I went out on Ravelry and did some pattern searching and came up with a Tea Doily Rug.  Just a fun crochet project (I think Cotten yarns work so much better in crochet), so I grabbed a fresh skein of yarn and looped on.  It is fun, the pattern instructions are very detailed, and so far it is looking good.

Pattern:  White Tea Doily Rug by Tatsiana

Yarn:  Cascade Yarns Pima Tencel

Hook:  3.5 mm (E)

Smaug Shawl - Cast On!

As soon as I had finished the body on the Wyvern Shawl and had started the lace edging I cast on the next set in the queue - a six gradiance set called Smaug.  I have another skein from that Sundara Yarn temperature set to use for the border.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

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

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

 

Wyvern Shawl - Border Started!

Last week I was able to finish knitting the body of the Wyvern Shawl and have started on the lace edging.  This time I have decided to add beads, just because.  I am using a lace edge that I modified from another pattern, and it is one that I have used on other shawls of this type.  One repeat done, thirty more to go.

The yarn for the lace edging is Sundara Yarn Extra Fine Fingering Merino, part of a set for a temperature scarf/shawl/whatever that I never did, but I have had no problem finding other uses for the skeins.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

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

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

 

Winter Wonderland Dress and Cowl - Finished!

I finished up the dress back on Christmas Eve and managed to get a decent picture of me wearing it once it was off the blocking mats.  I have even worn it to work this year.  It is very comfortable.  The cowl was cast on as soon as I finished the dress (Christmas Eve), and was finished and blocking on January 3.

Once it was off the blocking mats I was able to get a decent picture of me wearing both.

Styling the cowl is a bit of a challenge.  It is 21 inches tall and about 55 inches in circumference at the bottom and about 48 inches in circumference at the top.  The red turtleneck is what I wore under the dress when I wore it to work and I really like how it all comes together.  Yesterday I went through all of my Unique Sheep Advent sets (except the most recent one) and have them all sorted and bagged up ready to be turned into beautiful projects.

Pattern:  Githa by Linda Marveng

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering

Needle:  US 2.5 (3 mm)

Seahorse - Body Done!

I started this project almost a year ago (January 27, 2023), and was making great progress until I got into the belly region and somehow confused myself and couldn’t figure out what I was doing wrong, so I set it aside.  Yesterday I picked it back up, figured out where I was and continued without any issues, and now I can’t even remember what was confusing me.  I am now ready to work the head.  Then it will just be figuring out the other features and assembly.

Pattern:  Seahorse by Megan Lapp

Yarn:  Expression Fiber Arts Luster Worsted in Time Traveler

Hook:  4 mm (G)

Ramea - Front Cast On!

I have been focused exclusively on my Winter Wonderland Dress and Cowl, but now that I’ve finished those I decided to get back to my Ramea.  I knew that I was going to need some quiet time to do the cast on and knit the colorwork, so yesterday morning I finally tackled it.  It isn’t too hard, but it does require focus, and it is a bit fiddly, especially securing the steek before cutting it.  I did notice a mistake in the last row of my color work once I had it steeked and could really lay it out and examine it, but it was just two  stitches that needed to be swapped and that was easily fixed by dropping the stitches down and pulling up the colors in the correct spots.

Then I started on the lace front.  I had downloaded the supplemental charts for my size and had already set them up in knitCompanion, so I was ready to go.  Joining the side band to the arm was a bit magical (sort of like turning the heel of a sock).

This is definitely not mindless knitting, but it is such fun seeing how this pattern evolves.

Pattern:  Ramea by Jennifer Beale

Yarn:  Karabella Yarns Aurora 4

Needles:  US 1 (2.25 mm, lace), US 1.5 (2.5 mm stockinette), US 2.5 (3.0 mm, colorwork)

 

Wyvern Shawl - Cast On & 3 Skeins Done!

Working up one of my old Unique Sheep Advent sets in to the Winter Wonderland Dress and Cowl has inspired me to pull out other old Unique Sheep Advent sets and knit them up.  So, I dug some up out of my stash, along with some solid/semi-solid skeins (from a Sundara Yarns temperature blanket kit that I never knit, but I love the colors and have used the skeins for other things).  This six skein gradiance is part of a dragon themed set and is called Wyvern.  I found a semi-solid green that matches some of the greens in the gradiance.

At first I started one of my garter stitch boomerange shawls, but quickly realized that garter stitch was hiding the beauty of the colors and that I need to work in stockinette stitch.  So I pulled out an old faithful:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak.  I have knit five other shawls in gradiance sets using this pattern, three in leftovers from test knitting, one from another Advent set, and one from a series that worked through the letters of the alphabet (Jazzberries was the name of that set).  I always finish them off with a knit on lace border.  This one I shall probably gift to my sister Liz, as I think the colors will suit her.

I believe this photo was taken right after I had started the second skein.

And this one I believe was when I started the third skein.

And in this one I have finished the third skein and am working on the fourth.

I have two other sets queued up:

This is another six skein set from the dragon themed Advent and is called Smaug.  This one may go to my niece Erin (Liz’s daughter).

And this set is from an Advent set that was inspired by The Nightmare Before Christmas, and is called The Electric Oogie Boogie, and will probably go to my sister Virginia.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)