Stillness Shawl - Finished!

 

With some focused knitting I was able to finish this shawl up last Wednesday.  The pattern has you work the bind off in color C, but I decided to just continue with color D.  Blocking was a bit of a challenge.

This original pattern is a circular shawl, but I would not have wanted to try to block it as one.  As you can see, mine came out as three-quarters of a circle, which is fine.

Pattern:  Stillness Shawl by Helen Stewart

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri

Needle: US 5 (3.75 mm)

Stillness Shawl - Halfway There

 

I finished up my test knit last week, so I’m back to focusing on my Stillness Shawl.  I’ve done the last increase, so I now have 577 stitches on my needles.  The rows are simple, but long.  This has been a very easy shawl to modify into a cape.  At this point in the pattern, and since row 100, the extra stitch I have is worked as a k1 for the first pattern repeat.  This makes the pattern symmetrical overall.  I used leftovers from two of my other trio sets (Granny Smith, from an Autumn Trio set and Thyme, from the English Garden Trio) for the Color D stripes.  I am almost out of the the Thyme and searched yesterday for a replacement.  I didn’t really have anything that would work in my leftovers bag, so I checked all of the Kiri in my stash for a suitable color.  I ended up going to my Yule Ombré set.  It turns out that the second skein of that set matches the Thyme exactly so I caked it up yesterday.  If I need more of Color D, I will have to decide if I want to go darker (the third skein) or lighter (the first skein).  I can go either way.  The Granny Smith is darker than the Thyme, so I already have a darker to lighter thing going with Color D.

Pattern:  Stillness Shawl by Helen Stewart

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Goblin Kalari - Finished!

 

I finally bound off my Goblin Kalari.  It has been sitting in my project bag for a while now.  I was going to do a knit on edging instead of binding off, but could not get a good color or a good border that seemed to go, so I gave up trying and just bound off.  I had to tink back one row to get enough yarn to bind off with, and I almost made it.

Fortunately I had some yarn in my Kiri leftovers that was a pretty close match.  I did not do a lace bindoff, just a regular bindoff done a bit looser.  I blocked pretty aggressively.  I love how it came out.  I may do more of these.  It is a great way to use up leftovers, and I like the shape.

Pattern:  Kalari Shawl by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri - Goblin Ombré 

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Pardalote Shawl - Finished!

 

I blocked my Pardalote Shawl yesterday morning and this morning it was dry, so I unpinned it and blocked my Goblin Kalari.  Once it got light I grabbed a quick picture on the deck.

A blocking picture in the early afternoon winter sun.  It is hard to do justice to the colors, but here are a couple more shots that get close.

Here you can see the contrast bind off.  I worked the last couple of rows in C1.  And I think this photo helps show the lovely subtle colors of the Haunted colorway.

Both of the colors are Dream in Color Loopy Ewe exclusive colors - Exploration Station and Haunted.

Here they are in the skein - Haunted is the one on top.

Pattern:  Pardalote Shawl by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere 

Needle: US 5 (3.75 mm)

Stillness Shawl - Cast On!

 

Yesterday I bound off both my Pardalote Shawl and my Goblin Kalari Shawl.  While I was straightening my project bags I came across the three skeins above.  They are the Valentine Trio from The Unique Sheep and they have been in my stash for a while now waiting for the right project.  I looked through my pattern library last night and finally settled on Helen Stewart’s Stillness Shawl.  I thought about doing another Snowmelt but I felt like doing something that I hadn’t knit before.  The Stillness Shawl is a circular shawl, but I’m working it as a circular cape, my standard modification for circular shawls.  For the B color I am not using mohair (can’t stand the stuff), or lace weight.  Instead I am using up some leftovers in the same yarn base.

Pattern:  Stillness Shawl by Helen Stewart

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep Kiri

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Jimmy Beans Craftvent 2020 - Tidings to Yew

 

I purchased a Craftvent set from Jimmy Beans Wool again this year.  This is the fifth year I have done this,  although I have only knit three of the projects.  I went a little Advent kit crazy this year.  Along with the past kits that I’ve bought that I haven’t knit up yet I think I can do a year of Advent, which is what I may do in 2021.  I haven’t even opened all of the Advent kits that I bought this year.  For some reason I decided to open this one, but obviously I did not abide by the open one a day rule.  I started this on December 3 and finished it on December 12.  I don’t feel bad about spoiling the mystery, as Jimmy Bean posts pictures of the finished project on their product page.  I think they learned one year that not everyone likes surprises.  This was an interesting knit.  The texture is a bit different because you have lace sections that are separated by slip stitch and fisherman’s rib.  I wasn’t sure how it was going to block out when I was working it, but am pleased with the result.  I couldn’t stretch the lace out as much as I normally would, but it still looks good.

170 g yarn used

Day 2 (A)- Filtered Day Dreams

Day 3 (B) - Eleven Dark

Day 5 (C) - Tiny House

Day 6 (D) - Saffron

Day 8 (E) - Donkey Ote

Day 9 (F) - Coffee Grounds

Day 11 (G) - Liquid Gold

Day 12 (H) - Ristretto

Day 14 (I) - Mars Rover

Day 16 (J) - Blood Runs Cold

Day 17 (K) - Glazed Pecan

Day 19 (L) - Oscuro

Day 20 (M) - Pink Clay

Day 22 (F) - Coffee Grounds

Day 23 (G) - Liquid Gold

Pattern:  Tidings to Yew by Amy Gunderson

Yarn:  Madeline Tosh Merino Light

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Woodsman Shawll II - Finished!

 

This week is my last week of work for the rest of the year, and it was a bit of a hell week packed with meetings.  Fortunately that gave me plenty of time to work on the lace edging on my shawl and I finished it up this past Wednesday.  For this shawl I bought some Cascade Yarns Heritage Solids in black.  We had a little bit of snow last night and I thought it would go well with the shawl.  This is just one of my simple garter stitch boomerang shawls.  Mindless knitting that is great for when I’m reviewing documents.  I made one for my sister Virginia, but she only wanted the lace edging on the cast off edge.  I loved the colors so much I bought a second skein to make one for myself.

Pattern:  Improvised (Boomerang shawl)

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Oriana in Woodsman

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)