Ruffled Scarf with Fingerless Gloves - Finished!

I finished up the second glove, and also the first, last night.  I saved the thumbs for last just because they are a bit fiddly to work.  I did them on double pointed needles (2 needles, working with a third), and it wasn’t too bad.  All the ends have been woven in and trimmed.  I didn’t bother to block them as they really don’t seem to need it.

Pattern:  Ruffled Scarf with Fingerless Gloves

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Precious

Needles:  US 8 (5.0 mm), US 6 (4.0 mm), US 4 (3.5 mm)

Fingerless Gloves - One Almost Done, Second Cast On

Once I had finished up the Ruffled Scarf I immediately cast on the first Fingerless Glove.  These are knit on US 4 (3.5 mm) needles.  The ruffle went quickly.  After completing the ruffle, the cast on and bind off edges are sewed together and stitches are picked up to start the glove.  I used double point needles for the ruffled section and my ChiaoGoo Twist Shorties for the body.  I still need to do the thumb, but didn’t feel like dealing with it yet, so I cast on my second glove.

I am almost done with the ruffle.  The first glove fits nicely.

Pattern:  Ruffled Scarf with Fingerless Gloves

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Precious

Needles:  US 8 (5.0 mm), US 6 (4.0 mm), US 4 (3.5 mm)

Ruffled Scarf - Finished!

I took a break from my other projects and decided to focus on this one.  I had to rip back a considerable amount when I discovered that I had only partially worked one of the short row wedges that create the ruffle.  But once I had done that and gotten everything back on the needles and restarted it went very quickly.  The next step in the pattern was adding the I-cord loops to run the silk scarf through.  Sadly, the instructions there were a little less than satisfactory.  I quote:

“Cast on 3 sts, k2, attach to cast on edge of scarf at the straight edge of scarf.  Knit 8 rows of free I-cord and attach at corner.  *Knit 8 rows of free I-cord and attach, to straight edge of scarf where ruffle starts.  Skip 8 slipped stitches and attach cord*.”

Looking at the picture it appeared to me that the I-cord was attached on the slipped stitch edge that is the inner circumference of the scarf - the non-ruffled side.  It seemed to me that there should also be some I-cord at the beginning and ending edges, to help pull the scarf together when worn.

In the end, the above picture shows how I decided to interpret the instructions.  Before I wove in any of the ends, I threaded the silk scarf through the loops and took some pictures to see if I liked it.

Overall, I am quite pleased with how it has turned out.  I have not blocked it, but have woven in all of my ends.  The scarf itself was knit on US 8 (5.0 mm) needles, the I-cord was knit on US 6 (4.0 mm) needles.

Pattern:  Ruffled Scarf with Fingerless Gloves

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Precious

Needles:  US 8 (5.0 mm), US 6 (4.0 mm), US 4 (3.5 mm)

Ruffled Scarf with Fingerless Gloves - Cast On!

I finished up my Fan Shawl 3 on a Tuesday, and Wednesday morning as I was packing up my rolling backpack to go in to the office I had a brief moment of panic when I realized that I did not have a knitting project to throw in my bag.  Fortunately I had caked up another of the Hand Painted Knitting Yarn kits in my stash.  This one has been sitting on my cutting table for a while now, and I knew that I would need it at some point in the not too distant future, so I caked it up when I was down there one day caking up other project yarn.  So all I had to do was take a quick peek at the pattern and see what needle size I needed, grab those needles and throw everything into my work bag.  This is a fun little knit, good for meetings, but not for reading documents because of the short rows.  I am using German short rows, although the pattern doesn’t specify any kind of short row treatment.  The nice thing about the German short rows is that they provide a clear visual, which helps me keep track of where I am if I get interrupted in the middle of a wedge.  I am enjoying the colors. 

Pattern:  Ruffled Scarf with Fingerless Gloves

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Precious

Needle:  US 8 (5.0 mm), US 6 (4.0 mm), US 4 (3.5 mm)

Fan Shawl 3 - Finished!

I finished this up this past Tuesday, but didn’t get a chance to block it until yesterday.  I have three of these shawls now because originally I had planned on giving two away (to my sister and her business partner) at my annual trip to the Bead & Button show.  But, alas, that show is no longer happening.  The Bead & Button magazine stopped publishing in October of 2020, and the last show was in 2019.  Not that I would have gone anyway.  I stopped going after the 2018 show.  I still have the show program for the 2020 show that never was.  I cast this on back in March, so it’s taken me almost two months to finish it.  It took me about a month to get through the first skein and about a month to get through the second.  At least I’ve been consistent in my attention to it.

Pattern:  Fan Shawl

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Superwash Fine Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Fan Shawl 3 - One Skein Done

After I finished up Fan Shawl 2 back on March 8, I caked up the third kit and cast on.  I kept forgetting to take a photo as it was usually tucked in my work bag.  I finally grabbed this shot after finishing up the first skein during a day of meetings while on telework.  Once I finish up this kit, I will grab another one of the Hand Painted Knitting Yarn Kits that I have in my stash.

Pattern:  Fan Shawl

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Superwash Fine Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Fan Shawl 2 - Finished!

I actually knit most of the second half of this shawl twice as I screwed up the decreases - decreases after the eyelet row instead of before.  I didn’t realize it until I was completely finished and bound off.  Fortunately when I did it properly it actually took a little less yarn.  I do like the colors of the Hand Painted Knitting Yarns, too bad it appears that they are no longer available.

Blocking is always a little bit of a challenge with this design.

But I think I’m getting better at it.  Maybe.

Pattern:  Fan Shawl

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarn Superwash Fine Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

 

Fan Shawl 2 - One Skein Done!

This project has been riding around in my work bag, and I did manage to make some progress on it this past week, finishing the first skein and starting the second, so over half way done now.  When I laid it out to take a photo my cat Jezebel immediately settled on it.  Thankfully she is a pretty good kitty when it comes to my knitting and crochet.  She likes them, and will chew on dangling yarn if given the chance, but does not go out of her way to abscond with yarn or play with it.  Curling up on it is another matter.  But I certainly don’t blame her there.  She likes to watch me block projects, but does not mess about with them while they are blocking, stepping carefully around the knitting.  She also likes to lay on my blocking mats when they are not being used for blocking.  She likes to follow me around to see what I’m doing, and definitely likes to photo bomb.

Pattern:  Fan Shawl

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarn Superwash Fine Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

 

Fan Shawl 2 - Another section done

I have also been working on my second fan shawl, and completed another section, thanks to some meetings at work.

Pattern:  Fan Shawl

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarn Superwash Fine Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

 

Fan Shawl 2 - Cast On!

My winter break from work was very productive.  I finished up six WIPs.  Unfortunately I had to go back to work this past week, so I needed an easy project for my work bag.  Having finished up the first Fan Shawl, and liking the result, I promptly caked up one of the two remaining kits and cast on.  I’ve made some progress thanks to a couple of meetings last week.  I have absolutely no idea what the colorway is, as it is not labeled, and it turns out that the colorway identified on the pattern insert is the colorway of the sample.  Oh well!

Pattern:  Fan Shawl

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Fingering Weight Superwash Fine Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Fan Shawl - Finished!

My last finished object of 2022.  I cast off on Sunday and blocked on Monday.  Blocking was a little trickier than I thought it would be.

I started out pinning the circle for the neck edge, then I started pinning out the spokes.  I did tweak the spokes after taking the picture, but had trouble getting another in focus picture, so gave up and went with this one.

I like the size of mine.  I did add repeats and increases and used up almost all of the yarn.  The back comes down to a nice depth, and the front hangs to the elbow, which works quite well.  I have two more of these kits to knit up, so I will cast one on tonight to tuck into my work bag for knitting during meetings or while reviewing documents.

Pattern:  Fan Shawl

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Fingering Weight Superwash Fine Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Fan Shawl - One Skein Done

This has been my easy project to work on while reading or while in meetings (especially good for that!), so I have been making fairly rapid progress.  The pattern has you work 5 sections, repeat section 5 a total of four times and then start decreasing stitches.  When I got to the end of section 4 I weighed my skein.  I had 61.5 grams left, when I finished section 5 I had 41.6 grams left.  If you do the math you can see that I would be able to work three of those section 5 repeats with my first skein, so I decided to work another increase section.  At the end of section 6 I had 15.9 grams, which was a few grams more than I needed to work another half of section 6.  When I reached the end of the first skein I joined the second skein and continued on, finishing the second repeat of section 6.  I am about halfway through the third repeat of section 6 and then I will start working the sections with the decreases.  I should also add that I am not using the recommended needle size, which is a US 9.  I just don’t like working on a needle that large, especially with a fingering weight yarn, so I went down to a US 7.  I like the fabric that I’m getting.  I get very annoyed at the thinking that to get more drape you just use a larger needle.  If you want a fabric that drapes, use a yarn that provides that characteristic.  Knitting on larger needles just gets you loose stitches that won’t hold their shape.

Pattern:  Fan Shawl

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Fingering Weight Superwash Fine Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Fan Shawl - Cast On

Having finished the Void Socks and my Mermaid dress/tunic I was looking about for another project to cast on.  I have several of the Hand Painted Knitting Yarns kits, including three of this pattern - the Fan Shawl.  I grabbed one and caked up the first skein (the kit comes with two) and cast on.  It is a reasonably mindless knit, lots of short rows with eyelet lace in between.  My first go I was doing German short rows, because I like them, but working a row of YO, K2TOG when you have not done a plain knit row to work all those double stitches is a pain, and doesn’t look so good.  So I ripped back and did the pattern recommended wrap and turn.  You don’t have to knit in the wraps, as this is garter, and I’m not.  I am much happier with how it is turning out.  The pattern has you keep increasing with each new section until you have 5 sections, and then working sections 6 and 7 with no increases, and then decreasing.  I may keep increasing until I am almost out of yarn on my first skein and then work one section without increases, and then working the decreases, just to maximize my yarn usage and the size of the shawl.  The pattern calls for a US 9 needle, but I am using a US 7.  My gauge is pretty close to what the pattern calls for and I like the fabric.

Pattern:  Fan Shawl

Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Fingering Weight Superwash Fine Merino

Needle:  US 7 (4.5 mm)

Another Scarf-in-a-Scarf - Finished!

I had been making pretty good progress on my Scarf-in-a-Scarf, knitting during telecons or when I was reading documents, but yesterday I got a lot done because my work computer decided to do the Windows 10 1803 update.  All morning long I got to sit and knit and watch my computer update.  I actually made it to the last 20 rows yesterday, and then got a few more done today during a telecon, so I finished up the last half dozen rows this afternoon after coming home.  Now I'm going to need another easy project for my work bag.

Pattern:  Scarf-in-a-Scarf
Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Precious
Needle:  US 7

Another Scarf-in-a-Scarf - Halfway Done

Lots of telecons and some document review means that I'm quickly working my way through this project.  I'm already half way done.  I have to figure out what I can throw into my work bag next.  Not having knitting while on a telecon, or while waiting for my computer to reboot is just too scary to contemplate.

Pattern:  Scarf-in-a-Scarf
Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Precious
Needle:  US 7

Another Scarf-in-a-Scarf - Cast On

Unfortunately, finishing up the central panel of the Beluga Shrug means that I no longer have easy knitting in my work bag.  Fortunately, I have several kits from Hand Painted Knitting Yarns.  This is a Scarf-in-a-Scarf kit that I had previously caked up, probably to take on work travel, so I grabbed a knitting needle of the appropriate size and threw it into my work bag.  I did forget to throw in a row counter, but garter stitch is pretty easy to count.

I grabbed a locking stitch marker from my tin in my Beluga Shrug central panel project bag so I could mark a row to count from in case (when) I forgot to click my row counter.

Pattern:  Scarf-in-a-Scarf
Yarn:  Hand Painted Knitting Yarns Precious
Needle:  US 7