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 - 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 - 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 - 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)

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)

Opinionated Cardinal Shawl - Border Started

Working the border in Opinionated Cardinal just wasn’t going to work, so I cast about for an alternative in my stash.  I thought about working a border in red, but red is a hard color to match, and I didn’t want to use my Woodsman skein, as I have other plans for it.  So I pulled out a skein of gray, from Sunshine Yarns, appropriately the color way is called Feather.  I think it will work.

Pattern:  Improvised (Boomerang shawl)

Yarn:  SpaceCadet Yarns Oriana in Opinionated Cardinal

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)

Woodsman Shawl - Finished!

I finished this shawl up back on February 2 and sent it off to my sister Virginia.  She received it this past weekend and immediately called to tell me how much she loved it.  When I was blocking the shawl I noticed that the lace pattern in the edging resembled the Eye of Horus, which I knew would delight her.  I didn't really notice that when I was picking out the edging.  It popped out at me when I was blocking.  I found it on Pinterest and charted it up in PatternGenius on my iPad.

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

Woodsman Shawl - Body Done

Over the Christmas Holidays my sister Virginia informed me that she needed another shawl like the Black Eye Galaxy shawl that I had made her, but this one needed to be red and black, with a black border.  Fortunately I had recently received a club shipment from SpaceCadet yarns that I thought would work.  This is the coordinating color for the Interstellar Yarn Alliance December shipment and it is called Woodsman.  The main shipment is Opinionated Cardinal, and I have that cast on for another boomerang shawl, which may or may not go to my sister.

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