Lock, Shock & Barrel Shawl - Finished!

I actually finished this shawl up back on September 8.  I was making rapid progress on my Joy to the World - Cindy shawl, and new I had to clear some of the knit on border backlog, so after finishing up the Canby Cardi I decided to focus on this project.  I also had some tendinitis in my elbow from intense crocheting on my Wallflowers and knew I needed to give things a rest.

Blocking these shawls is pretty straight forward, it just takes a little bit of time to pin out all of those points.  The choice of color for the border and the beads was a bit challenging, but I’m happy with how it all turned out.

I really do love these shawls as they are so easy to wear.  They stay in place and they provide just the right amount of coverage without getting in your way.  I have knitted 11 of them so far, and have a 12th one on my needles.  With the completion of this shawl I have used up all of the Nightmare Before Christmas Advent Calendar set.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

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

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Lock, Shock and Barrel Shawl - Border Started!

I have been obsessing over the color for this border for months now.  I have tried and discarded several different colors and finally went with a skein of Sundara Yarn Extra Fine Fingering Merino in Saguaro Sunset.  It is hard to get a good sense of the colors in this photo, but I think it will work.  I’m using Hot Pink Lined beads, although they are hard to see in the photo.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

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

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Electric Oogie Boogie Shawl - Finished!

I had gotten very close to finishing the border (10 repeats left) when I got sucked into creating Popcorns for my Wallflowers, so this shawl went on the back burner for a bit, but with the progress that I’ve made on the Grinch shawl I knew that I needed to get this one off the needles.  So last week I focused on it and finished it up Saturday morning and blocked it.

I have one more shawl from this Advent set to finish up, the Lock, Shock & Barrel Shawl.  I have picked a border color and have two bead color options to decide between.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering and Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Lock, Shock and Barrel Shawl - Body Done!

This is the last of the mini-skeins from the Nightmare Before Christmas Advent set.  I have about ten repeats left on the border of the Electric Oogie Boogie Shawl and then I can start working on the border for this one.  I still have to decide on a border color.  I am pretty sure I want to go with a dark purple, I just need to find the right purple in my stash.  I will use light pink beads.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Nightmare Before Christmas Sally Shawl - Finished!

I finished this shawl up on May 4, so two weeks ago.  I didn’t get any blogging done last weekend.  I am happy with how it came out.  At this point all of the mini-skeins from this Advent set have been knitted up into shawls and I just need to finish the borders on the other two.  Because of the way the mini-skeins were designed/dyed I ended up with four shawls - two of the garter stitch boomerang shawls, and two of the Over the Moon shawls.

Pattern:  Improvised Garter Stitch Boomerang Shawl

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering and Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)
 

Lock, Shock and Barrel Shawl - Cast On!

This is the last of the mini-skeins of the Nightmare Before Christmas Advent set, and it was setting up this project in Ravelry that clued me in to the stashing mistake I had made with this set and the Dragons set from 2018.  It took me a little bit to get it sorted, but it is sorted, at least on my project pages, even if it is still screwed up in my stash, which I’m just not going to worry about seeing as how when I complete these shawls all of the yarn will be used up.

Yesterday I started the second skein of the set while I was finishing up my latest read:  Dust Mites:  The Siege of Airlock Three by James A. Bacon Jr.  It was a wonderful read and I really want to see him finish the story.  So, if you like hard science fiction, with a realistic world (our own not too distant future) and characters and conflicts that make sense, I highly recommend it.

This is the set that is being used for this shawl.  I may change out the border color, but I will decide when I get there.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Nightmare Before Christmas Sally Shawl - Border Started!

I finally received the yarn for this border last week.  It took a bit of time to get here.  It was mailed from Loveland Colorado back on April 6, went from Loveland to Denver on April 7, left Denver on April 9, arrived in Richmond Virginia on April 16, and was delivered to me on April 17.  Usually my packages from The Loopy Ewe get here quicker than that.  But in any event, it did make it here safely.  I really like the color, it is Black Pearl, and it does have a sort of pearly quality to it.  It is quite interesting.

Pattern:  Improvised Garter Stitch Boomerang Shawl

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering and Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Electric Oogie Boogie Shawl - Making Progress on the Border

It is always nice to get a project like this to the point where you feel confident that you made the right color choices.  I really like the way that this is working up.  I’m about one-third of the way done with the border.  This shawl and the Speckles Shawl represent half of the mini-skeins in the Nightmare Before Christmas Advent Set, except that I realized when I was casting on the last project using this Advent set that I had totally screwed up cataloging it in my stash.  This mini-skein set ended up getting stashed with the Advent 2018 set that was really the Dragons set (which I just knit up).

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering and Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Nightmare Before Christmas Speckles Shawl - Finished!

I finished this up back on April 3.  I really like the red border.

It provides a nice dramatic finish.  I do think that adding a border to shawls like this helps bring the pieces together to make a more coherent whole.  The yarn for the edging is another of the Sundara Yarn skeins that I purchased as part of a temperature blanket kit that I never knit.  This color was for temperatures 91-100.

Pattern:   Improvised Garter Stitch Boomerang Shawl

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

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Nightmare Before Christmas Sally Shawl - Body Done!

I finished up the body last weekend.  Now I have to decide on the border color.  I have a color that matches the last mini-skein fairly well, but I’m worried that it won’t be close enough  and will look wrong, so I looked for other options.

I have also been thinking about just working a black border, so I went to the Simply Socks Yarn Company web site to get some, and they don’t carry that color in their simply sock yarn any more.  So I went to The Loopy Ewe web site and found a skein of Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere.  It isn’t solid black, but I think it will work.  The colorway is called Black Pearl.

Pattern:  Improvised Garter Stitch Boomerang Shawl

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Nightmare Before Christmas Sally Shawl - Two Skeins Done

I have also been making progress on my latest mindless project that I knit on at work, completing the first two skeins of the mini set and starting the third.  I like the color block thing that is going on here.

Pattern:  Improvised Garter Stitch Boomerang Shawl

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

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Electric Oogie Boogie Shawl - Border Started!

It took me some pondering before I finally settled on a color for the border.  I also considered a bright yellow, but in the end I decided to go for a gold.  I am also using dark purple silver lined beads from deep stash.  I tried a bright blue silver lined bead but it just didn’t work.  This skein is from my Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere collection.  The color is Gold Experience.  Loving color as I do, I do love Dream in Color yarns.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering & Dream in Color Smooshy with Cashmere

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Nightmare Before Christmas Sally Shawl - Cast On!

When I got home from my 10.5 hour day on Monday I knew that I was going to need another simple project for my work bag, so I caked up another six mini-skeins from the Nightmare Before Christmas Advent set.  This set was inspired by the character Sally.  There were two skeins that were labeled as Speckle even though they obviously were not so I guessed, based on the other skeins in the Advent set, that they belonged here and assumed that the number on the label was correct even if the name was wrong.  The dark red skein at the top is the one that I was hoping to use on both this shawl and the Speckles Shawl, but it doesn’t really go with the Speckles Shawl.  I was casting this shawl on just as I was signing in to my year end review with my supervisor.  She mentioned that she had sought feedback from my peers (the other Chief Engineers) and that someone had mentioned my knitting in meetings, and that folks might think that I wasn’t paying attention.  Fortunately she didn’t think it was a big deal, but she did feel that she had to mention it.  Some years ago a previous supervisor actually wrote me a disciplinary letter regarding knitting in meetings.  I explained to my current supervisor why I knit in meetings and when I’m reading documents (it helps keep me focused), and also mentioned that I was knitting in our meeting.  I’m retiring at the end of the year, so I really don’t care at this point.

Pattern:  Improvised Garter Stitch Boomerang Shawl

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

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Nightmare Before Christmas Speckles Shawl - Body Done, and Border Started!

I was in an all day class on Monday, so I got a lot of knitting done on this shawl, getting to the last mini-skein.  I finished it up Tuesday in some virtual meetings, so yesterday when I got home from work I picked through my stash and found a color for the border.  I knew I wanted red.  I was going to go for a dark red, but it didn’t really work with the colors of the shawl, so in the end I went with a brighter red.  It is another skein of Sundara Yarn Extra Fine Fingering Merino that was dyed up for a temperature blanket that I bought and never knit.  This color was for temperatures 91-100.

It definitely pops.

Pattern:  Improvised Garter Stitch Boomerang Shawl

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

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Nightmare Before Christmas Speckles Shawl - Three Skeins Done!

I managed to get a fair bit of knitting done this past week at the office, thanks to meetings, and having to read documents.  I am actually about half way through the fourth skein.  I do like the way that this is working up.  I have a skein of dark red that I may use for the border.  I have another set of six skeins from this Advent set that will also become a Garter Stitch Boomerang Shawl, and I can get the edging for both shawls out of a single skein.

Pattern:  Improvised Garter Stitch Boomerang Shawl

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering

Needle: US 4 (3.5 mm)
 

Nightmare Before Christmas Speckles Shawl - Cast On!

Of course, finishing up the body of the Electric Oogie Boogie Shawl meant that I had to cast on another mindless project for my work bag, so I grabbed another six skein set from the Nightmare Before Christmas Advent Calendar and cast on a garter stitch boomerang shawl.  This set is simply called “Speckles”, and the only thing to do with this yarn is a garter stitch boomerang shawl.  I may go a bit wild with the edging though and pick a nice pop color, as the skeins aren’t all monochromatic gray/black.  I do like the way the speckles are knitting up.

Pattern:  Improvised Garter Stitch Boomerang Shawl

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)
 

Electric Oogie Boogie Shawl - Body Done!

Even with being in the office every day, I’m still managing to get lots of mindless knitting done.  I finished up the body of this shawl last week.  I still have a little bit of the last skein to knit, but I doubt I have enough for a full row, and I need to decide on the edging color before proceeding.  I currently have a skein that continues the purples set aside, but I’m pondering a change, maybe gold or yellow, with dark purple beads.  If I stick with the purples I’ll use more of the bright blue beads that I used on the Wyvern Shawl.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Electric Oogie Boogie Shawl - Cast On!

Last weekend, having completed the body of my Joy to the World - Dragons shawl I needed another easy knit to throw in my work bag.  I’m back in the office full time again due to some technical/security issues with the VPN we use.  I don’t really mind that much.  I had never teleworked until COVID because I liked the clean break between work and home, and I’m enjoying that again.  It isn’t quite as clean as it used to be because I have a work phone that I can check email and MS Teams on, but I don’t bring the computer home anymore.  Anyway, I grabbed another six-skein set of minis that I had set aside for another Over the Moon variant shawl.  At this point I am working on skein 4 and don’t have to refer to the pattern anymore as there are no more stitch doubling rows.

This set is part of an Advent set that was inspired by A Nightmare Before Christmas.  This is the best set of that lot, the others are going to be more challenging to work with.  It was a bold choice for an Advent set, and bold choices don’t always work out so well.  I have a full sized skein picked out already, but I’m not sure if I will stick with that choice.

I may go for a blue skein, if I can find a good match.  Or I may stay with the purple, after all, purple is my favorite color these days.

Pattern:  Over the Moon by Vicki Mikulak

Yarn:  The Unique Sheep 4 Ply SW Merino Fingering

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)