Calming the Storm - Finished!

As I was working my way through the first skein I thought I would never make it to the end of this project.  But by the time I got into the second skein things seemed to go faster and I cranked through the third skein in no time at all.  I finished this up this past Sunday, with the month only barely half over.  I used 816 yards, which gives me a little cushion on the 800 yards required for the third Camp Loopy project.  I really enjoyed camp this year, and I’m a little sorry to see it end.  While I’ve made a lot of shawls, I’ve only made two out of yarn that is heavier than fingering.  I like the heavier weight shawls.

Pattern:  Calming the Storm by Lisa Hannes

Yarn:  Magpie Fibers Swanky DK in Drops of Jupiter

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Calming the Storm - One Skein Done

I finished up the first skein this past weekend, and have been working the second skein.  I really like this yarn, but this color is coming off on my hands and my clothes, which is a bit annoying, especially when I’m wearing a white T-shirt that starts taking on a pink patina.  Fortunately it washes out of cloth easily enough, I’m not so sure about my fingernails and cuticles.  My first skein weighed 119.7 grams, which equates to 260 yards.  Only 540 more yards to go, minimum.

Pattern:  Calming the Storm by Lisa Hannes

Yarn:  Magpie Fibers Swanky DK in Drops of Jupiter

Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Calming the Storm - Making Progress

I neglected this project last week, instead working on my Adventurous Wrap, but I’m back on this one today and making progress.  I picked it up last night and made a mistake I couldn’t fix (lost a stitch somehow) and ended up frogging and restarting but I’m making progress now.  I’m on the chart that is the eight row repeat, so no more increases in the patterned part, just increases in the garter stitch part that is to the right of the stitch marker.  I like the texture and the Swanky DK is very nice to work with.

Pattern:  Calming the Storm by Lisa Hannes

Yarn:  Magpie Fibers Swanky DK in Drops of Jupiter

Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Calming the Storm - Cast On!

It is August 1, so time to cast on my August Camp Loopy Project.  This go around the options are Physical Sciences Lab, Earth Sciences Lab and Life Sciences Lab.  I’m in the Physical Sciences Lab. The pattern I picked is Calming the Storm and the yarn is Magpie Fibers Swanky DK in Drops of Jupiter.  Originally I was going to do a lace pullover called Venus by Martin Storey, but I was a little worried about making the yardage requirement, so this morning I went through my queue and found a shawl pattern that I could use the yarn for and I can just knit until I meet the yardage requirement.

Pattern:  Calming the Storm by Lisa Hannes
Yarn:  Magpie Fibers Swanky DK in Drops of Jupiter
Needle:  US 6 (4 mm)

Lizard Eyes - Finished!

I finished this up last Saturday and blocked it Sunday.  An eleven hour work day and storms prevented me from getting a beauty shot yesterday.  But I took today off (I have leave to burn before the end of the year), and got one this morning.  It almost does justice to the vibrancy of the colors.  

I am completely smitten by Rohrspatz & Wollmeise yarns and am already eyeing colors for another shawl.  I will do some mods on that one, chiefly I will not slip the first stitch of the rows.  A straight garter stitch edge is a lot easier to pick up stitches in.  I have ordered more 2.75 mm needles - one with a 24 inch cable length - I worked the body of this shawl on 16” cables because the only needle I had in that size was one of my sock knitting sets - and one with a 40 inch cable.  I had to use my Chia Goo interchangeable set to work the edging and my cable length wasn’t really quite long enough for comfortable knitting.  Plus the tips screw on to the cable, and I have problems with getting them tight enough that they don’t unscrew while I’m knitting - so I have to keep checking them and tightening them.  You do need sharp pointy tips for this pattern because there is a stitch where you are picking up the purl bump from a previous ridge.  It creates a cool textural effect, but it a bit of a pain to do.  I also used removable stitch markers a lot.  I used them to mark where to turn on the short rows in the body and the eyes, and also to mark where to work that stitch into the ridge below.  Counting before starting the row is a lot faster and easier than counting while you’re knitting.  I also worked German short rows instead of wrap and turn, so I knit the stitch that the pattern indicated I should wrap, and that is the one that became the “doubled” stitch when I turned and slipped it.

Pattern:  Lizard Eyes by Ursa Major Knits

Yarn:  Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Pure

Needle:  US 2 (2.75 mm)

Lizard Eyes - Body Done!

I finished up the body yesterday.  Part C, the final part, was a bit of a puzzle, until I realized that I needed to work across the entire bottom part of the shawl.  The instructions were not quite clear on that, and given that the rest of the pattern is worked a section at a time, it was not an unreasonable interpretation.  If I were to knit this again, I would not slip the first stitch of the rows because I think a straight garter stitch edge is easier to pick up stitches on, and there are a lot of stitches to pick up on that bottom edge.

Pattern:  Lizard Eyes by Ursa Major Knits
Yarn:  Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Pure
Needle:  US 2 (2.75 mm)

Lizard Eyes - Nine Sections Done

Other than working on my test knit on the weekends, I’ve been working pretty steadily on my July Camp Loopy Project - Lizard Eyes.  I’ve just caked up the second skein of my main color.  I like the way the color shifts on the eyes.  The construction is clever in that you don’t have to cut the accent color, but I think if I knit it again I would cut the accent color, and then work the I-cord across the top, work the I-cord bind off on the last wedge and then work the I-cord edging on the bottom.  I just think it would give a smoother finish.

Actually, I think I may just start doing it that way because I accidentally cut my accent yarn instead of cutting my main color yarn when I got done with this wedge.  Accidentally cutting the wrong thing appears to be a theme with this project.  As I was nearing the end of winding the first skein of the main color, the end decided to grab hold of the yarn and when I resorted to cutting I cut the wrong thing and ended up with a little skein (11.2 g) of the main color.  If I hadn’t made that goof, I would have been able to work 10 wedges with my main color skein.

Pattern:  Lizard Eyes by Ursa Major Knits

Yarn:  Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Pure

Needle:  US 2 (2.75 mm)

Lizard Eyes - Two Sections Done

I’ve actually finished up three sections, but apparently I have not taken a picture of it.  This is a fun knit.  I like the cool shapes you can get with short rows, I just wish I knew more about how to design using them. I’m working German short rows, my preference when working garter stitch, and I count and place markers before starting the row so I don’t have to stop and count in the middle.  Makes for more mindless knitting so I can read while I work on it.

I also started a test knit this past weekend, but I can’t post any pictures because it is for the next Unique Sheep Mystery Knit Along.  That project is reserved for weekends when I am rested, and I have to knit two clues each of the next three weekends to make sure I get it done, well half of it done anyway, before the knit along starts.  So this project will be reserved for my weekdays, along with The Journey.

Pattern:  Lizard Eyes by Ursa Major Knits

Yarn:  Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Pure

Needle:  US 2 (2.75 mm)

Lizard Eyes - Cast On!

It is July, so time to start the next Camp Loopy project.  This month the lab choices are Zoology, Botony or Entomology.  The pattern and/or the yarn must reflect your chosen lab in the name.  I went with Lizard Eyes by Ursa Major Knits and picked Wollmeise Pure yarn.  I really like this yarn.  It feels wonderful to work with, although it is not tightly wound, so it can be a little splitty.  The plies are very fine, which probably explains why it feels so wonderful.  I selected Iris Sibirica (on the right) and Libelle (the two skeins on the left).  The Iris Sibirica is a plant, so I could double dip in the Botony lab if I wanted to, and according to Google Translate Libelle is German for Dragon-Fly.

Last month the lab choices were the Color Lab (two or more colors), the Material Lab (two or more materials, yarn and beads, for example), the Pattern Lab (two more patterns combined).  I went with the Color Lab.

Pattern:  Lizard Eyes by Ursa Major Knits

Yarn:  Rohrspatz & Wollmeise Pure

Needle:  US 2 (2.75 mm)

Omena - Finished!

I finished this up this past Wednesday.  I was going to work nine ripples of the Element 79, but when I got to six I decided it was the right size and cast off.  Getting a good shot was a bit of a challenge, from the front it doesn’t look like much.

 

Pattern:  Omena by Jill Zielinski

Yarn:  Dream in Color City

US 6 (4.0 mm)

Omena - Half Way

Having finished up my Mirror, Mirror Vest, I turned my attention back to my June Camp Loopy project.  This project is also great work knitting, and I have a lot of meetings this week, so I should make a lot of progress on it.  I usually try to remember to weigh my skeins before I start knitting, but sometimes, in my eagerness to get started, I forget with that first skein, which is what happened on this project.  I did remember to weigh my second skein, and partway through knitting that one I decided that I really wanted to know exactly how much yarn I had used.  So I weighed my knitting.  It came out to 201 grams, total.  I had 13 grams of my first skein, the Fancy, left over.  My first skein of Eaten the Plums weighed 116 grams total, and I had 28.4 grams of it left when I weighed my project.  So, doing the math: 201 grams - (116 grams - 28.4 grams) - 13 grams = 100 grams.  So I used 100 grams of the Fancy, less whatever my knitting needles weigh.

The pattern calls for an equal number of the ripples or ridges or whatever you want to call them, but because I could only get one skein of my first color, Fancy, I could only get three ripples out of that single skein.  I figured out that I needed to work eighteen ripples total to get the size I want, so I decided that I would knit six ripples in my second color, Eaten the Plums, and nine ripples in my third color, Element 79.

Pattern:  Omena by Jill Zielinski

Yarn:  Dream in Color City

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Omena - Cast On

It is June, so it is time for Camp Loopy!  This year the theme is Science Camp.  For the first challenge you need to combine colors, combine patterns or use beads with yarn.  I went for the Color Lab.  For the first project I picked something from my queue, the Omena Vest.  I’m using Dream in Color City in (from top to bottom) Fancy, Eaten the Plums and Element 79.  The pattern calls for two skeins of each color, but The Loopy Ewe only had one skein of the Fancy, so I bought two skeins of Eaten the Plums and three skeins of Element 79.  I’m going to work an I-cord edging around the armholes using Element 79 and also work an I-cord bind off in Fancy.

Pattern:  Omena by Jill Zielinski
Yarn:  Dream in Color City
Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)