Mona's Knitting Room

OK, so I couldn't stand it a moment longer. Although I promised myself I would wait to start this project until we left for vacation, it kept calling me and I gave in. I justified it to myself in two ways. First, I finished the spiral petal shawl and so a new project is reasonable. Second, I had to go on a business trip and it's fun to start something new while I'm away from home. Here's the progress I made on the poncho:


The business trip was actually wonderful. It was held in Stowe, Vermont, at the Trapp Family Lodge. What a beautiful area of the country and a terrific place to stay. The mountains are very green and tree-covered. Stowe is a small town, population 2500, and very picturesque. Of course, it helped that we were able to stay at the Trapp Family Lodge... (Lodge pics from their website)




Here's the view from my room (jiggling my camera phone):



Of course, no trip to the Stowe area is complete without a stop at the Ben and Jerry's ice cream factory for a tour and a scoop. My trip was complete :)

I was on a business trip and in meetings that required my attention. Since the sleeves for the entrelac sweater are plain stockinette, I was able to work on them during the meetings. I knit both sleeves at the same time on a circular needle using two balls of yarn so I could make sure the color changes were occuring in about the same places. How can you can anything made of Noro Kureyon "plain"?

What a gorgeous weekend we had! It was incredibly hot at 96 degrees but it was beautiful and sunny. My parents came to visit for a few days to support my son while he took his black belt test in Karate. He passed! A black belt at 10, hard to believe...


Since it was so beautiful out, we spent quite a bit of time enjoying each other's company and the view from the deck of the house. The flowers in my garden are blooming nicely.


The goldfinches put on quite a show with up to 5 at a time on the feeder. You can just make out two on the red feeder.


I knit during the visit, of course, and made good progress on both the spiral petal shawl and the entrelac sweater. Here's my progress on the entrelac sweater:


I also finished the spiral petal shawl. All it needs now is a good blocking:

I had some time last weekend and this weekend to work on my Spiral Petal Shawl from Oat Couture. I now have just five rows to go on the body of the shawl and then will just have the border left. Every time I pull this shawl out of my knitting bag, I have to pet it because the mohair is so soft and cuddly. It's not as soft as angora but it doesn't leave fuzzies behind, either. We're going to watch a movie this evening as a family for Father's Day and so maybe I'll get those last few rows finished tonight. Here's my progress so far:

I decided this morning I needed to try some stitch markers to keep track of my position in the pattern for the LoSS stole and had to run to a LYS to buy some small ones. While there, I couldn't resist snooping around, especially since there was a big clearance sale in progress. I told the shop owner that I needed more yarn like a hole in the head but just had to check things out. She had the funniest comeback: "Holes in the head can be a good thing, like your mouth and nose." That got a belly laugh out of me. What an enabler!

She had some wonderful new kits from Sweaterkits. These kits include a pattern and yarn in a clear, zippered bag. One particular kit caught my eye. It was for a poncho and was made with absolutely gorgeous, hand painted silk and silk chenille yarn. It's called "Silk Waves Poncho". Although I certainly didn't need another kit, I bought it anyway. This is now one of two kits I've marked as "on deck", to be started next. Here's a picture of the pattern:


And here is the beautiful yarn:



I think it will be luscious and can't wait to get my hands on this.

# posted by Mona @ 3:14 PM 2 comments

I'm really enjoying entrelac knitting on my Debbie Bliss sweater from her Noro 2 book. With every rectangle, I feel a sense of accomplishment and it's so fun to watch the colors unfold. I've now gotten so comfortable with the method that this knitting is now truly mindless for me. I need to watch what I'm doing but don't need to think about the pattern at all. As a result, I was able to take this with me to a local SnB and work on it during several long teleconferences at work. I also got a few hours in over the weekend. I can't just chug away at this project for very long, though, because my thumb and elbow begin to get sore. Here's my progress:



I can't really tell any more which rows are knitted forward and which are knitted backwards. That's progress!

I love the yarn, I love the pattern but I hate the finished product! The shawl feels like it has endlessly long wings at each side. After completing the shawl pattern as written, I decided that I wanted a little more coverage. The written instructions indicated that one or two additional pattern repeats could be added to the basic shawl. After one additional repeat, here's what I've got:


The wings on each side extend past by finger tips and gradually end in a point. Even though the shawl hasn't been blocked yet, this is not the look I wanted. So, I now need to frog the last repeat and figure out what to do next. I was offered two suggestions when I brought the project to my LYS, either add a few more garter ridges in lieu of the addition pattern repeat or keep the last pattern repeat but do not increase at the ends. I think I'm going to try the additional garter ridges and see what I think. If I'd have know the this was the result, I probably would have modified the pattern from the beginning, adding one more garter ridge to each repeat. I hate fussing with things to make them work...

I did mention that I have a short attention span, didn't I? I was at a knitting group where one of the members was working on a entrelac sweater. I fell in love with the pattern, which is in the Debbie Bliss Noro 2 book. The sweater is made from Noro Kureyon, which is a beautiful, hand-dyed, 100% wool yarn from Japan. Here's a picture of the sweater from the book:



I saw the sweater in progress over a month's time. Even though I have so many projects in progress, I couldn't resist starting this project. I began to search on the web for the "right" colorway of Noro Kureyon. There are so many to choose from but I finally settled on #139:



I've never knit entrelac before and had some trouble trying to begin from the written directions. I looked on the web to try to find a tutorial to help me but none of them started from the very beginning triangles with pictures. My friend Paula happened to be working on an entrelac vest and she was able to help me get over the hump. I've decided that when I start the front of the sweater I'll take pictures as I go and create my own tutorial. This is not a pattern for someone who wants a quick and easy project but as you create each rectangle, you get a sense of satisfaction. It is fun and easy to do once you get the hang of it. Here's my progress to date:



A close-up:

Now, this is better! After recovering from my false start with a bad choice of yarn (see previous post), I returned to the yarn shop to find a different yarn for this pattern. My friend, Paula, helped me comb through all my options to find just what I had in mind, a mohair-like yarn that produces a lighter-weight and more delicate looking fabric. Rather than working with the chunky weight mohair that the pattern calls for, I decided to use two strands of a lace-weight mohair. It's called Douceur et Soie in color Velvet Rose by Knit One, Crochet Too. The yarn is 70% baby mohair and 30% silk. I'm using Crystal Palace bamboo circular needles in size 6.5mm (US #10.5). Here's my progress so far:


Speaking of Crystal Palace bamboo knitting needles, I love these needles. The wood is smooth and soft feeling in my hands. I like to use bamboo when I knit lace fabric because the needles aren't as slippery. Crystal Palace has photographs of the manufacturing process for these needles on their website. Really interesting!

Every Monday my friend, Paula, sends an e-mail that reminds me to work on my UnFinished Objects (UFOs). Since I have a relatively short attention span, I have many UFOs. I've set a goal for myself to finish up by the end of the year those projects that have languished for many months or years. Last fall, I started my first Shetland lace knitting project using singles yarn. It is a stole called Legends of the Shetland Seas, designed by Hazel Carter and distributed by Blackberry Ridge. Here's a picture of the stole from the pattern:


I purchased this as a kit from Beth Collins of Unique One at the 2004 NETA Knit and Spin SPA weekend in Portland, Maine. The kit includes the pattern, with a nice note from Ms. Carter describing the history of the design, and two hanks of Blackberry Ridge's Thistledown yarn (100% wool, single ply, 750 yds. per 2 ounce hank). This is the thinnest yarn I've ever knit!


Now, I don't know whether I will get this project finished by the end of the year because it is so intricate and time consuming and I have so many other projects in the works. It will be fun to make progress, though. Here's what I've accomplished so far:


I learned to knit from my Dutch mama on long needles, holding the right needle under my arm. Until recently, I used long needles for all of my projects. Then, when I decided to try to make socks, I used two circular needles. I'm finding that I knit more slowly with circular needles but it's a lot more comfortable for my neck and shoulders. I started my LoSS stole with long size 2.5mm needles (US #1.5). I tried to knit another row today and remembered why I put this project aside -- I'm having a lot of trouble manipulating the needles to knit the yo stitches and even more trouble trying to k2tog when the stitches include a yo. I think I'm going to change from long needles to a circular needle to see if that goes any easier for me.

Yuck! Yuck! Yuck! I hate it! After admiring the progress of my shawl through the first 50 or so rows, I began to be concerned about the broad stripes of color that were being created with the variegated Fusion yarn. The yarn changes colors abruptly and although the main color seems to predominate in the skein, it doesn't appear that way in the finished garment. I knit through all the color changes in an attempt to keep a positive attitude but just can't continue. I've decided that this is not at all the look I had in mind for this shawl.


In addition to the abrupt color changes, the fabric is turning out to be thick and blanket like. I really don't want to walk around with a blanket around my shoulders. It's time to visit the frog pond to rip it, rip it out and return to the yarn shop to exchange the unused skeins for something new.