Tea Rose Shawlette - Chart B Done

Another not so great photo taken with the flash last night.  I first knit Chart B on May 28, 2012 and then again on July 15, 2012.  The pattern at this point is not that hard, my issue the first time around was that the lace was not open enough.  On Charts B and D there are a number of instances where you have to do a yarn over between a knit stitch and a purl stitch or vice versa, and wrapping the yarn in those scenarios has always been a little problematic for me.  Add to that the fact that there is lace patterning on both right and wrong side rows and the situation becomes even trickier because those yarn overs don't always lay nicely and now you're trying to work something like a purl 2 together through the back loop through one and you just have a recipe for frustration.  But I'll worry about Chart D when I get to it, for now I have Chart C to work, which is just more rows of Chart A, and that is a very easy stitch pattern.  In fact it looks like a variation of the Daisy stitch, except instead of working a purl 3 together, yarn over, purl 3 together in the same 3 stitches, you knit 3 together, yarn over, knit 3 together in the same three stitches.

Pattern:  Tea Rose Shawlette by Julia Temiseva
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tea Rose
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Tea Rose Shawlette - Chart A Done

Here's hoping that the third time is the charm for this shawlette.  I received the pattern and yarn on April 7, 2012 as the second shipment of the Unique Sheep Smell the Roses Club.  I knit Chart A for the first time on May 7, 2012 and for the second time on July 15, 2012.  I've never gotten past Chart C.  This time around I scanned the pattern to pdf and imported it into my Knit Companion iPad App.  More and more I find myself using the app when knitting lace.  It is just so easy to read the charts, you can make them bigger with just a flick of your fingers and you never lose your place.  This is not the best picture, taken with flash, but I want to be able to start Chart B and I won't be able to get a decent shot until the weekend.

Pattern:  Tea Rose Shawlette by Julia Temiseva
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Tea Rose
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Bigger on the Inside - Finished!

This was a pretty easy knit, kind of boring, actually.  The lace bit stayed interesting because of the increases and decreases, even though the lace pattern was an easy one to memorize.  Picking up stitches along the curved edge was fairly straight forward.  I hit on an easy way to pick up the correct number of stitches evenly.  I use my Knit Evenly app on my iPad and just pretend that I'm decreasing stitches, but instead of doing a decrease I skip a stitch.  Once I got past the Tardis pattern I could read while knitting, which made the last bit go quickly.  I did a gentle blocking job, pinning out the shawl and spraying it down with my spray bottle (seen in the top of the picture).  The glints at the top of the Tardis are beads.  I replaced the nupps (I don't do nupps) with beads.

Pattern:  Bigger on the Inside by Kate Atherley, published in Knitty, Issue 39, Spring-Summer 2012
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Pashmi in Doctor Blue
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Crimson Lake - Body Done!

I have been working pretty steadily on this sweater and finished up the armhole and shoulder shaping Wednesday night.  I blocked it prior to picking up stitches for the ribbing around the neck opening.  I have already started a sleeve.  Knitting this sweater a second time has allowed me to write my notes up a little more thoroughly.  I always make notes while I'm working a project, but I don't usually write them that clearly and they aren't always easy to interpret a second time around.  This time I actually took the time to put them on my Ravelry project page, usually they are only kept on Post-It note pad sheets and stuck on pattern pages or in pattern books.

Pattern:  Ladies Sweater - 1838 from Moments No. 005
Yarn:  SMC Select Extra Soft Merino Fino
Needles:  US 2.5 (3.0 mm) and US 3 (3.25 mm)

Bigger on the Inside - Vortex Lace Done

Oh look, it is a scaly blue snake digesting its lunch.  This is the Time Vortex Lace section of the Bigger on the Inside shawl by Kate Atherley.  I am making it for a friend of mine who is a major Dr. Who fan.  I am using The Unique Sheep Pashmi in the color Doctor Blue.  And here it is blocking.  I love the transformation that blocking performs on lace.

The lace section is knit from point to point and then stitches are picked up along the bottom edge to knit the rest of the shawl.  That is why I decided to block it.  It is just so much easier to pick up stitches after blocking.  The lace pattern is pretty easy to memorize, although I couldn't knit this and watch the Graham Norton show last weekend.

Pattern:  Bigger on the Inside by Kate Atherley, published in Knitty, Issue 39, Spring-Summer 2012
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Pashmi in Doctor Blue
Needle:  US 3 (3.25 mm)

Brachyura - Finished!

The garter stitch body was a quick and easy knit.  I did not bother wrapping stitches when I did my turns, I never do when working short rows in garter stitch.  I did not do a stretchy lace bind off but instead opted for a regular bind off using a US size 6 (4 mm) needle to give the shawl more of a crescent shape, which I prefer.

So, after finishing up this shawl I pulled out the first Zodiac Club offering - Taurus.

The colors are good - a lovely blend from spring into fall, but the pattern...well, the pattern just didn't appeal to me.  The construction is certainly intriguing, but the lace pattern didn't look complex enough to hold my interest long enough to finish the shawl.

So I went looking for another pattern to knit.  The yarn is a generous 1500 yards, so I had a lot to choose from, and a base that I have never used before - Green Sheep Fingering, 100% superfine merino wool.  In the end I picked a lacy cardigan by Bergere of France.  I love their patterns.  The good news is that I could get the pattern, and for free.  The catch?  The pattern is in French.  I did take a year or two in high school, but that was a long time ago.  The pattern is 343 - Cardigan Ajoure.  So along with the fun of translation, I also have to figure out how I want to use the gradiance yarn.  But first, I need to knit a project for a friend of mine.  Fortunately it also uses Unique Sheep yarn, so I will be able to get my fix.


Pattern:  Brachyura by Trish vanKuyk
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Moonshine (lace edge) and Stardust (body)
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm) lace edge, US 4 (3.5 mm) body, US 6 (4 mm) bind off

Brachyura - Lace Edge Finished!

Actually, the entire shawl is finished, and is upstairs blocking, but it is too dark to get a picture.  All week long I have been chipping away at the lace edge and this morning I finished up the last two repeats.  I will confess that it was getting a bit boring.  That is my only complaint about patterns like these where you're repeating the same lace motif over and over.  They are lace, so I have to pay attention, but they are boring, so my attention wanders.  It works best if I have something to watch or listen to while working on them.

Pattern:  Brachyura by Trish vanKuyk
Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Luxe in Moonshine (lace edge) and Stardust (body)
Needles:  US 3 (3.25 mm) lace edge, US 4 (3.5 mm) body