Zorzal - Finished!

Once I finished the short rows, the stripes went quickly as well.  After working the wedges I had 45.9 grams of Color A left, and 30.7 grams of Color B.  I was able to work 7 stripes of Color B, ending up with 1.3 grams left.  I was able to work 9 stripes of Color A, so I worked extra rows of Color A after using up all of my color B, ending with 2.9 grams of Color A left after the bind off.  That is what I call a perfect project.  I really hate having leftovers.

The shawl is a nice size and lays well on your shoulders.  I will wear it to work tomorrow.  I always pick out my outfit the day before so I don’t have to think about it when I roll out of bed at 5am.

I did block fairly aggressively, for me.

And I do like the way the garter stitch was opened up.  I did knit this on US 6 needles, which is a size larger than I typically knit this yarn on for shawls.  Jezebel supervised the blocking.

Pattern:  Zorzal by Lisa Hanes

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Oriana 8-Ply

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Zorzal - Two Wedges Done

This shawl is working up very quickly.  Garter stitch is great when I have a good book to read.  I used German short rows instead of the wrap and turn.  I am now ready to work stripes until I run out of yarn.

Pattern:  Zorzal by Lisa Hanes

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Oriana 8-Ply

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

 

Zorzal - One Wedge Done

This project is working up quickly, partly due to the fact that it is easy garter stitch and I can work on it while reading.  Bruce and I are reading Naomi Novik’s dragon series, which are enjoyable, if not of quite the same caliber as Spinning Silver or Uprooted.  We like the dragons the best.  When I was working the stripes I just carried the other color up the side, but when I worked the wedge I knit the first stitch with both colors to carry the lighter color along and avoid having more ends to weave in.  I like the look of knitting the first stitch with both colors and will use that for the rest of the shawl.  For both methods I always stretched out the edge to make sure that it wasn’t pulling in.  Now I work a similar wedge from the other side in the lighter color, and then I finish off with stripes to use up the rest of the yarn.

Pattern:  Zorzal by Lisa Hanes

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Oriana 8-Ply in Fresh Light and Cold Sky

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Zorzal - Cast On!

One of the other things that I have been doing lately is cataloging and putting up some of my more recent stash acquisitions (recent being a relative word).  As I was cataloging my SpaceCadet yarns I came across this pair from the Interstellar Yarn Alliance November 2020 shipment.  As I needed a simple project to take to work I decided to cake up the lighter of the two and throw it in my work bag along with a US 5 circular needle to start another Boomerang Garter Stitch Shawl.  But as I was working on it during a meeting I decided that I really wanted to use both of the colors together, so I did a quick Ravelry search and found the Zorzal pattern, which was already in my Ravelry library.  When I got home from work I caked up the other skein and started over.  The colors are Fresh Light and Cold Sky.  It starts out with stripes and then has two sections of short rows that highlight each of the colors and is finished off with more stripes.  This is the end of the starting stripes, and I’m almost done with the first short row section.

Pattern:  Zorzal by Lisa Hanes

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Oriana 8-Ply in Fresh Light and Cold Sky

Needle:  US 6 (4.0 mm)

Opinionated Cardinal Shawl II - Finished!

 I finished this shawl up on January 2.  As this is for my sister Virginia, I only did the lace on the cast off edge.  I went with black as this shawl is a companion to her Woodsman Shawl that I knit for her about a year ago.  I used the same edging on both shawls, and the same yarn for the edging.

Pattern:  Improvised - Boomerang

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Oriana & Simply Socks Simply Sock

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Opinionated Cardinal Shawl II - Border Started

 

After I finished up the body of my second Woodsman Shawl, I grabbed this skein of yarn, which had already been caked up and cast on another garter-stitch boomerang shawl.  Well, actually, I tried a scarf in Fisherman’s Rib first, but that just wasn’t working out, so I frogged and went with old faithful.  I needed a mindless project for knitting while reviewing documents.  I almost frogged this one because I already have one and don’t need another in this colorway.  I even thought about making socks with it.  But in the end I kept going and now I’m on the border.  I’m only working the border on the cast off edge as I’m going to send this one to my sister Virginia, and that is how she wanted her Woodsman Shawl edging done.

Pattern:  Improvised - Boomerang Shawl

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Oriana 8-Ply

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 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)

Woodsman Shawl II - Body Done!

 

I’ve been working on this one lately and managed to finish up the body last night while watching the latest season of The Last Kingdom.  I ordered a skein of basic black sock yarn for the border.  Now I need another mindless project.

Pattern:  Improvised (Boomerang shawl)

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Oriana in Woodsman

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Woodsman Shawl II - Cast On

 

I needed another mindless knit for work knitting, so I pulled this skein out of my recent stash.  I made a simple boomerang shawl for my sister with this colorway, and I so loved the color that I purchased a second skein to make a shawl for myself.

Pattern:  Improvised (Boomerang shawl)
Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Oriana in Woodsman
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Hope Springs Eternal - Finished!

I finished up this shawl this past Tuesday.  I love this yarn.  It is SpaceCadet Yarns Maia and is a 80% Rayon from Bamboo and 20% Merino.  It is very light and airy, and has a nice luster to it.  It works up beautifully.

Pattern:  Marinna by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Maia

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Hope Springs Eternal - Striped Section Done

This project has taken a bit of a back seat while I worked on my July Camp Loopy project and my test knit, but I have been working a row here and a row there and today I finished it up while also finishing a book (Starship Troopers by Robert Heinlein).  I am now all set to start the leaf lace section.  As with the flower section I made the chart symmetric through the magic of knitCompanion.

Pattern:  Marinna by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Maia

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Hope Springs Eternal - Flower Lace Section Done

I finished up the Flower Lace section and have started on the garter stitch stripes.  I am actually over half way done with the striped section at this point.  It is good knitting for reading, so that is what I’ve been doing this morning.  I love the yarn and the colors.  It really is a great pairing of color and yarn, and also the two colors.  The yarn is 80% Bamboo and 20% Wool.  It has a wonderful sheen to it, and feels smooth and silky in your hand.  The knitted up fabric is light and ethereal, and the colors suit the feel so well.  I know it is going to drape and flow beautifully.

Pattern:  Marinna by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Maia

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Hope Springs Eternal - Cast On!

I finished up The Winter Violet this morning and it is currently blocking, so I cast on another Ambah O’Brien pattern - Marinna.  I’m using the SpaceCadet Interstellar Yarn Alliance March 2020 shipment Eternal Spring and the complimentary color Hope.

The yarn is Maia, 80% Bamboo and 20% wool.  When I was working the set up for the first chart I noticed that there was a deliberate asymmetry.  One side had one more stitch than the other side.  I had to restart it because I made a mistake, so I took the opportunity to make it symmetric.  I also made the first chart symmetric, thanks to the magic of knitCompanion.  I mirrored the right hand side of the chart and combined it into a new symmetric chart.

Pattern:  Marinna by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Maia

Needle:  US 4 (3.5 mm)

Opinionated Cardinal Shawl - Finished

I spent Friday and Saturday finishing up the edging on this shawl.  It actually goes pretty fast once you get going.  I had five hours of meetings on Friday, which gave me a lot of knitting time.  Working from home has definitely increased my productivity on several fronts.  I have another skein of this yarn and will make another of these shawls.  I have some red that I recently acquired that may actually work for the border.  If that color doesn’t work, I have a darker gray on order.  Before I pulled this project out last week, I hadn’t touched it since April 20.  I actually cast it on way back in January, so it has been languishing for a while, although it is not the oldest work in progress that I have.

Pattern:  Improvised (Boomerang shawl)

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Oriana in Opinionated Cardinal

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Delphinia Shawl - Finished!

I restarted this shawl on May 9th, and finished it up on May 13th.  That’s right. Four days.  Once I had modified the pattern to only work the increases on the right side rows things went very smoothly. The pattern is easy to memorize and I never worried about missing my increases and my Eyelet lace sections always worked exactly as expected.  It was really a joy to knit.  Worry free and stress free.

This is one of my favorite shapes for a shawl, and I’m really going to have to try my hand at designing one sometime.

Pattern:  Delphinia by Ambah O’Brien
Yarn: SpaceCadet Yarns Ester in Ice Cream Truck and Chalk Doodle
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Delphinia - Cast On Take Two

This one has been sitting in a bit of a time out.  When I started this shawl I thought about modifying it  so that I worked all of the increases on the right side rows and none on the wrong side rows, but I was feeling lazy and didn’t.  I thought I was being careful about working the increases but when I got to the second Eyelet section the pattern didn’t line up the way it was supposed to.  I could see that this was just a taste of things to come so this weekend I did the pattern modifications.  It gives me two more stitches on each row than the pattern calls for.  We’ll see how that affects my yarn usage.  I start each right side row with k2, (k, yo, k) in the next stitch, and end with (k, yo, k), k2.  This gives me a nice garter stitch edge.  When I restarted the shawl I decided to keep the central spine in garter stitch as well.  I did make one goof when I was copying and pasting, the final row in the Eyelet section is supposed to be knit, but I have purled mine.  I went back and looked at the pictures of my first attempt, and apparently I did it there as well.  At least I’m consistent.

Pattern:  Delphinia by Ambah O’Brien
Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Ester in Ice Cream Truck and Chalk Doodles
Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Delphinia Shawl - Cast On

I think that these skeins may have been my first Interstellar Yarn Alliance shipments.  The one on the right was the May 2019 club shipment, and the one on the left is the coordinating colorway.  At that time I thought that they would make a good Delphinia.  Even though I have plenty of projects on the needles, I decided to go ahead and cast on another one.  I wanted something pretty simple, with some nice sections of garter stitch for reading while knitting.

The yarn is SpaceCadet Ester, a nice sock yarn.

This picture shows how nicely the garter sections in the Ice Cream Truck colorway frames the Eyelet sections in Chalk Doodles.

Pattern:  Delphinia by Ambah O’Brien

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Ester in Ice Cream Truck and Chalk Doodles

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)

Opinionated Cardinal Shawl - Body Done

I finished up the body of this shawl while walking the neighborhood with Bruce.  He has taken to walking every day for exercise, and when I can I join him.  I think I finished up the body before we even went on the mandatory telework, so that would have been back in March.  It then got to sit for a while so I could ponder how I wanted to finish it off.  I purchased a second set of the color ways because I really liked the colors, so I had some options.  At this point I think I will use my second skein of Opinionated Cardinal to work the border on this one.  It will be interesting to see how the colors pool with the shorter rows.  I then plan on knitting another Boomerang Shawl for myself with the Woodsman color way, and probably using the rest of the Opinionated Cardinal for a border on that one as well, unless I decide to go with black, as I did for my sister’s shawl.

Pattern:  Improvised (Boomerang shawl)

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Oriana in Opinionated Cardinal

Needle:  US 5 (3.75 mm)