Ripple Leaf

Finally a finished pair of socks. For some reason I've had a hard time getting into a successful sock knitting mode. There was a recent encounter with one sock pattern that resulted in giving up after three frustrating tries. With Cookie A's Ripple Leaf pattern, however, there was no frustration, just enjoyable knitting. My first time knitting socks with Wollmeise Pure was also fun. I'm aware that without nylon these socks might wear out faster than otherwise, but I don't expect my knitted socks to last forever, so it's ok. Socks wearing out only means I will have a reason to knit more of them (not that a lack of necessity has stopped me from knitting countless shawls). I only wish I'd used larger needles or knit a larger size, because the lace pattern on the leg is so tight they barely go over my heel. I was careful not to make them too big, because I expected the superwash yarn to stretch in use, but I think I left a bit too much room for stretching here. However, they do fit, and they will get a lot of use.

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Prickly Thistle Mittens

I love everything about these mittens: the pattern, the colors, and the fit. The Prickly Thistle Mittens pattern by SpillyJane was also a joy to knit, and I think these are my favorite mittens ever. Knit with Wollmeise Pure in colorways Maus jung and Moses WD, using my DyakCraft Darn Pretty 6" DPNs (my go-to needles for colorwork mittens nowadays).

To deal with the tendency of Wollmeise Pure to twist on itself, I've started using a Yarn Pet from Nancy's Knit Knacks, where you unfold a yarn cake from the outside, and that has helped tremendeously. But knitting these mittens I only had one Yarn Pet (another one is in the mail), so one cake had to be worked my usual way by pulling the yarn from the center, and the difference was noticeable. With most yarns, pulling from the center is no problem, but with Wollmeise, the added twist is remarkable. I also have a habit of re-caking yarns several times (because I like neat cakes), and if you do that by pulling from the center, more twist tends to be added by each winding.

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Camilla

After my tension issues with my previous pair of mittens, I decided to try two-handed knitting with my next pair. So, the Camilla pattern by SpillyJane was the first time I tried holding one yarn in my left hand and the other one in my right. Previously I've done all my stranded knitting with both yarns in my left hand, which has its problems: The yarns keep twisting around each other, and when they are used in different amounts and one yarn gets eaten up more than the other, you have to keep adjusting the tension. I've never knit holding yarn in my right hand before, and I don't think my self-taught technique is quite by the book, but it's surprisingly easy. And regardless of how it felt like my right-hand technique was slow, the mittens knit up pretty fast. Maybe because I saved time by not having to untwist the yarns all the time. My tension seems slightly better, but there are still bunching up problems at the points where needles change. So, there is still room for improvement.

Picking the right color combination took some time and frustration, but I'm quite happy with the Wollmeise Pure Wolke WD and Spinaci combo I finally ended up with. I previously thought the Spinaci looked kind of boring on the skein, but combining it with Wolke seems to liven it up. It's surprising how the right kind of contrasting color can make a yarn look a lot more interesting.

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Ravensfoot

It took me more than a month to knit this hat, even though it's not a particularly difficult or time-taking project, and the pattern is well-written. I just wanted to work on it in small fractions, because, for some reason, I didn't particularly enjoy knitting it. It was, most of all, a utility project, because I needed a black, slouchy hat. The color wasn't particularly inspiring to knit, but I wanted a black hat, so I had to get over the boredom! It's the Ravensfoot pattern by Leila Raabe. Turned out kind of huge, but it seems to be OK, and the brim is still tight enough. I used Skinny Bugga! by Cephalopod Yarns in the colorway Rhinoceros Beetle.

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Isidora

Knitting these mittens has made me realize my stranded knitting technique might still need some polishing. Blocking smoothened out some of the uneven knitting, but it's still obvious these are not exactly professional looking. However, I think there will be more colorwork in my near future, so I will be getting the much needed practice soon enough.

The Isidora pattern by SpillyJane was written for more colors, but I decided to knit all the flowers in one color, since I couldn't find a satisfying combination for more colorful mittens. Colors I had originally planned did not work out as a combination when I started working on them, so I had to make some last minute changes. Picking suitable colors for stranded knitting is still a bit of a challenge for me, but I'm quite happy with this final combination of Graf Ratz, Maus Jung and Meilenstein WD.

This was my first time doing stranded knitting with Wollmeise Pure. It was easier than some previous experiences with stranded knitting, but the crisp stitch definition doesn't exactly make it any easier to hide uneven tension!

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Scrappy Lengthwise Scarf

I like how this slip stitch scarf turned out, even though I didn't particularly enjoy knitting it. Maybe it was because slipping every other stitch means you're producing fabric at half the speed. It does produce a nice fabric, though. I used Cephalopod Yarns Skinny Bugga! in the colorway Montauk Monster, and The Uncommon Thread Lush Twist in the colorways Plata, Nimbostratus and Envy. And there was no weaving in of ends, because you can just use the ends as the fringe, which was a plus. To make the fringe fuller, I did add extra yarn to it, besides the ends. As an end product, I would like to have more scarves like this, but I'm not sure if I'll find the stamina for the endless slip stitch again.

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Play

I bought the Play kit from The Uncommon Thread, but ended up switching one of the two yarns to Cephalopod Skinny Bugga!. Not that I didn't like the original kit yarn combination, but I decided I wanted a shawl that wasn't identical to tens of shawls. I noticed that The Uncommon Thread Lush Twist and Cephalopod Yarns Skinny Bugga! have an identical fiber composition, a very similar plying, and they are very close in weight, so I chose to combine the two. The orange color is Skinny Bugga! in Bronze Moth, and the grey is Lush Twist in Plata. I quite like the combination.

The pattern itself is a pretty mindless knit, perfectly relaxing. I might end up knitting another one, because I would like to try out different color combinations.

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Cria #2

There has been some knitting going on, even though the updates have been sparse lately. This, however, is the first finished item in about two months. I liked the fit of my first Cria so much I decided a while ago I would knit a second one. However, enough time had passed that previous experience was of no help getting through the tricky beginning, since I'd forgotten pretty much everything about the last time (and the little I did remember was incorrect). So, the difficulty level was the same as the first time around, but I'm also equally happy with the results. Madelinetosh pashmina has a lovely sheen and drape, and I don't think this will be my only time using this yarn. And Ysolda's Cria pattern still holds its place as the best-fitting sweater pattern I've knit so far.

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Westknits Mystery Shawl 2012: Rockefeller

Finally finished, photographed and posted! My first mystery shawl, the Rockefeller by Stephen West, was an interesting knitting experience, even if it is the kind of style I wouldn't necessarily have chosen to knit had it only been available as a regular pattern and not a mystery. Despite many of the other knitters adding their own modifications, I did everything by the book and didn't change anything. Regardless of using a relatively small needle, 3.0 mm, I ended up using quite a bit more yarn than estimated for the pattern, 449 meters of the Ebenholz and 495 meters of the Mont Blanc colorway of Wollmeise Pure. I'm happy with my choice of color combination, and I also think this yarn works well with the pattern in general. This shawl will likely be gifted since I don't see myself wearing it.

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Damask

After developing a craving for a slightly more complicated, all-over lace shawl pattern, I cast on my first Kitman Figueroa pattern, Damask. Either I'm getting more comfortable with complex shawls, or this is one of those patterns that looks more complicated than it is, but I found it surprisingly enjoyable and relaxing to knit.

I think one of my key choices to success was to pick a non-splitty yarn, Skinny Bugga! by Cephalopod Yarns, and pointy needles to handle all those purl 7 together nupp stitches, since they turned out to be relatively painless. I also wanted a saturated color, although a more solid color might have been optimal. The slight variegation in the yarn is not as obvious in the photos as it is in person.

What makes the pattern different from most triangular shawls is that it's knit from the bottom up, so rows get shorter and shorter the further you get, as opposed to longer, so when you get anxious to finish it, it seems to, gratifyingly, progress faster and faster. I knit the medium size. The small one would definitely have been too small. I may knit the larger size some time in the future.

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Ishbel #4

The other one of the small shawls promised for my co-worker Marjaana is my fourth Ishbel. I think the madelinetosh tosh sock in the colorway Duchess works particularly well with the pattern. The fourth time around it was a quick knit, and this small version of the shawl only used up 270 meters of yarn, anyway. Maybe one day I will knit the larger version, but at the moment I have so many other shawl patterns in my queue that a fifth Ishbel will have to wait. It's one of those insanely popular patterns on Ravelry, and I guess I have no basis for questining the popularity, having contributed my own fair share of projects.

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Lyrica Euterpe

Lyrica Euterpe from Romi Hill's pattern collection 7 Small Shawls; Year Two: The Muses was a new experience for me in the way that this was the first time I've used beads on a shawl. And I love the beads along the edging, they are like dew drops! What I also love about this pattern is the shape, a shallow triangle, without a center spine. What I did not love about knitting this were the smocking stitches, particularly with Wollmeise Pure, which is a somewhat splitty yarn. What I also didn't love about this project was my choice of yarn color: I think the WD Meilenstein is too variegated for this. This is about the maximum amount of variegation I can tolerate in a yarn, but at this level it's usually best in garter stitch. But, overall, I'm still mostly satisfied with the end product. And it is the 11th shawl for the 12 shawls in 2012 knit-along. I did not expect to be this close to completion so early in the year.

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Pogona #2

My second Pogona is my tenth shawl for the 12 shawls in 2012 knit-along. I think it was also the second time during my knitting career when there was no left-over yarn; I used all of the one skein of Cephalopod Yarns Skinny Bugga! in the color Blue Lobster. After binding off I had just enough yarn to weave in the end.

I have to say, I'm feeling pretty smug about being able to optimize my yarn usage like that. I started the garter  stitch edging a little earlier than recommended in the pattern, because based on how much yarn I was using each row near the end, I was able to estimate how much yarn should be left for the edging. The part that was harder to estimate was the amount of yarn needed for the bind-off (it was about equal to two rows of regular knitting). I have to say, though, I felt like living on the edge while binding off and not being sure if I had enough yarn left.

This shawl was a request from my co-worker Marjaana which I was happy to fulfill. My shawl knitting enthusiasm has surpassed my personal need for shawls some time ago, so it makes sense to knit for other people, particularly those who appreciate it.

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Spruce Forest

I decided that some of the mustard yellow/rusty orange yarn that I've obsessively collected lately should be put to use to justify the spending. The Wollmeise Pure 100% Merino Superwash in the colorway Jeton, that I've particularly coveted, seemed like a suitable choice for the Spruce Forest pattern by Nancy Bush from the Brooklyn Tweed Wool People Vol. 2 collection. I did not expect the shawl to be this big from the sample pictures, or I might have chosen the Wollmeise Lacegarn instead (which I also happen to have in Jeton). This is about the largest shawl I would knit from the sock weight yarn, since it's relatively heavy. However, it worked out fine, I think.

The construction of this shawl is interesting, starting from the bottom tip of the center triangle. When you get to the top of the triangle, you put the stitches on hold while you pick up stitches from the other two sides and knit a lace edging (thankfully not a sideways knitted-on edging this time). Then you take the stitches on hold, pick up some stitches from the ends of the lace edging, and knit a narrow garter stitch edge to finish the top border. I like the k2tog bind-off, even though I think I made the top border bind-off a bit too loose.

While taking the pictures, I felt I might be running out of creative poses for showing off shawls. I'm basically doing the same ones for each shawl. You can spot the remote control in my left hand in the third picture!

This shawl makes my 9th entry to the 12 shawls in 2012 challenge. Now that I've just finished two shawls, it's time to cast on some more!

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Quill

My 8th finished shawl for the 12 shawls in 2012 challenge, looks like I have a good chance of actually making it to twelve shawls by the end of the year! The recently released Quill pattern from Jared Flood is quite similar in construction to his Bridgewater shawl, the main difference being that the center square is knit from side to side (instead of corner to corner), and that even the lace parts are in garter stitch, which makes this pattern reversible.

I enjoyed knitting this more than I did Bridgewater, but, not surprisingly, again I did not enjoy the knitted-on edging. I'm not sure what the hang-up is that I have with knitted-on edgings exactly, but I suspect it has something to do with the fact that I see it as a part of the finishing process instead of the "actual" knitting, and because it takes way longer than normal bind-off, it seems like it goes on forever. I kept counting how many repeats of the edging chart I had left ( the chart is repeated over a hundred times in this smaller version of the shawl I knitted).

What I'm particularly happy about is my yarn choice. I think the new colorway called Mäuseschwänzchen of Wollmeise Lacegarn is the perfect match for this pattern. I think the slight variegation works really well with garter stitch, although in the photos the colors kind of blend together. Interestingly, they have this color in the Braun-Schwarz-Grau category, while I would put it in the Lila group. Sure, it has gray in it (more than is obvious in these pictures), but it's so dominantly pinkish purple, that I would not call it a gray colorway. I think this color is perfect for mom, for whom this shawl is going to ge gifted (just don't tell her!).

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Roskilde

As a temporary return to the manic one-project knitting, I cast on Karina Westermann's new pattern Roskilde on Friday night, and finished the knitting this afternoon on the train. Since I didn't expect to bind off this weekend, I hadn't even taken any finishing tools with me on the weekend trip, so the first thing I did when I got home was submerge the shawl in some water and wool wash in the sink, then pin it into a shape, and only after I already had the blocking started did I weave in the ends. Sometimes it's just really satisfying to do something from start to finish very efficiently, but I surprised even myself by completing it so fast.

I've never knit her patterns before, but I will likely in the future. A very well written pattern and a joy to knit (and fast, too, apparently!). What particularly drew me to this shawl was the way the lace pattern turns from solid to more "lacy" towards the edge. I like the visual effect of the diminishing material. The size is also very customizable, but I did everything by the book. This pattern might also look interesting in a lace-weight yarn.

My yarn choice was, again Wollmeise 100% Merino Superwash, in the colorway WD Ruby Thursday. I have this color in both the standard and the We're Different variety, and since the latter skein had slightly more variegation, I thought it might look more interesting with this pattern. Basically, I needed a red shawl to go with my red shoes, and both this pattern and yarn happened at the right time.

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Color Affection #2

You may remember that back when I knitted my first Color Affection, I said I would knit another one with drapier yarn and more saturated colors, and here it is. After I recently started collecting Wollmeise, I realised it would be the optimal yarn choice both for colors and drape. Particularly the 100% Merino Superwash in fingering weight. The colors are Golden Pear for the main color, Zimtapfel for the first contrasting color and WD Gianduia for the second. A fairly autumnal color range for a spring project. After my first Color Affection gained unexpected popularity on Ravelry, I'm interested to see how this version is received in comparison.

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Minati's Girasole

My third Girasole has been a year in the making. Last April, when I posted pictures of my second Girasole, my online friend Minati asked if I'd be interested in making a black one for her in exchange for some handmade jewerly (she can make all kinds of awesome things out of metal and other materials). I said I'd consider it, but knowing how promising to knit something specific usually makes it feel more like a chore than a relaxing pastime, I said there was no guarantee. After I made the decision to knit 12 shawls in 2012, I figured it makes sense to combine these two plans, so I asked her what kind of yarn she would prefer. She said she would like it to be delicate, something she could wear to a fancy restaurant, which made me turn to something luxorious and laceweight. I had just ordered some yarns from the Cassiopeia line at Pigeonroof Studios' Etsy shop, and figured the delicate merino/cashmere/silk blend would be perfect for this purpose. She didn't have any available in black, but I asked her if she could custom-dye two skeins for me, and she did, in one of her regular colorways called Soot.

The actual knitting started in mid-February, and I've been working on it a little bit here and there, along with some other projects. I've been moving away from the monomaniac knitting of just one project from start to finish to a more relaxed and varied pace, with my time divided between several projects in various stages of completion. I never thought of myself as a "promiscuous" knitter, but so far I'm enjoying it. I don't as easily get sick of one project if I can switch to another one for a while and then get back to it again.

I think I prefer the Girasole in a laceweight and drapy yarn like this. If I ever knit a fourth one, which isn't out of the question, it's definitely going to be laceweight. After the third time of knitting this, I still think it is a genius pattern. It's easier than it looks, while never boring (except maybe at the end of the edging). Before you get bored of repeating one stitch pattern, it moves on to the next section. Each round is easily memorized, so you don't have to be looking at the pattern all the time.

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Nuvem

1559 meters of yarn and thousands of simple knit stitches turned into this delightfully modern shawl. It's basically a very simple pattern, Nuvem by Martina Behm, and the challenge comes from the sheer number of stitches, not from complexity. The size and construction also require more needle than your average shawl. It's started from the middle with Judy's Magic cast-on, which I did with two 40" (roughly 100 cm) circular needles. When the narrow ends were rounded enough, I switched to just one 40" needle, which was just enough until the beginning of the ruffle, which doubles the amount of stitches. At that point I switched to a ridiculous 80" (about 205 cm) circular needle which I custom ordered from Signature Needle Arts some months ago when I first started planning on this project. That many stitches meant that each round of the ruffle took about 1½ hours to complete, and the bind-off took almost 3 hours. Moving the stitches around that kind of a circumference started to be a bit of a drag, literally. I think a stiffer and more slippery cable would have been better suited for this purpose, but it was manageable.

The yarn is Wollmeise Lacegarn, a turquoise skein labelled Neptun dark under the We're Different sticker. The shawl took up most of the 300 gram skein with just 8 grams remaining. Tackling the 1600 meters of yarn in one single skein was a challenge on its own. I managed to wind it into one solid cake, but barely. The plastic yarn winder was making some sounds of protest, and, when tightly wound, the skein almost touched the yarn guide in the end. After that experience I placed an order for a more heavy-duty winder to cater to my growing collection of Wollmeise Lacegarn.

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Herbivore

Neither my favorite knitting experience nor favorite finished item, but the third shawl qualifying for the 12 shawls in 2012 challenge is finally done. I wasn't aware until I started Stephen West's Herbivore pattern how many purls through back loop it would require. Purling through back loop is one of my least favorite things in knitting, so I worked on this only a couple of rows at a time, in between working on other projects, which is why such a small shawl took over a month to finish. Since the usual way of doing a ptbl is practically impossible for me to perform, what I do instead is first twist the stitch on the left needle and then purl it the regular way.

At least I finally found a way to knit up the madelinetosh tosh sock I received from a sock yarn club last year. Of the three shipments in that club, this was the only one I could imagine knitting with, even though it, either, is not exactly something I would choose to buy myself. Based on that experience I made a decision that it's probably better for me not to take part in similar surprise yarn clubs in the future. As if I already didn't know it, I'm quite picky about certain things, of which one is yarn. I generally don't care for variegated yarn, and especially not self-patterning yarn, and I'm also particular about the kind of colors I like to knit with. Surprisingly, though, I have yet to be disappointed in the yarn in Wollmeise grab bags, but with those I'm at least able to specify I want semi-solid colors.

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Fresh Squeeze Socks

My first project knit with handspun yarn! Not my own handspun, because I'm not capable of doing that, but by Micki (thing4string on Ravelry). I first contacted her in early January, based on a hint I'd received from another Ravelry member, if she could spin some sock yarn to my specifications. The process started with me choosing the fiber (superwash merino) and her dying it based on my wishes. I felt a bit guilty for being so picky about the colors, but she was patient with me. And then she spun the fiber into beautiful 3-ply sock yarn.

When I first had the skein in my hands, I felt it was almost too special to knit with. However, common sense took over, and I convinced myself that the primary purpose of the yarn is to be knit, not adored. I wanted to go for a very simple pattern to give room for the colors, so I cast on a generic pair of stockinette stitch socks. It was interesting to see how the colors behaved when knit into fabric. The yarn is very evenly, professionally spun, with minimal variation in thickness.

In the photos you can also see my first metal sock blockers. I'd been dreaming of simple metal sock blockers for a while, and when I saw these in someone's pictures on Ravelry, I was eventually able to track them down to Webs (after my email inquiry from another store was never replied to) after a helpful hint.

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Color Affection

I anxiously waited for this pattern by Veera Välimäki to be released, and cast on almost immediately it was. It's no wonder hundreds of other people have done the same. It's a very cool, geometric pattern to show off various color combinations. My color selection is not the most exciting, but this is going to be a gift, and I will knit another one for myself with more saturated colors.

I'm not 100% sure if my yarn selection of Brooklyn Tweed Loft was ideal for this pattern. My main reason for choosing that yarn was that I happened to have several matching colors (the ones I used were called Blanket Fort, Fossil and Soot) of it available in the right yarn weight. Certainly it produced a lightweight shawl, but it almost looks worn out before it's even been used. It does have decent drape, but I think my yarn choice for the second Color Affection will be drapier and less fuzzy looking. Also, not sure if it was the yarn or what, but this time I ended up using signifigantly less yarn than I was supposed to, and also ended up with a smaller shawl than expected. I didn't think my gauge was that tight.

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Sherilyn

Finally a finished shawl that actually counts toward my official 12 Shawls in 2012 goal! Ysolda's new Sherilyn pattern from the Whimsical Little Knits 3 collection inspired me. It's a great pattern, and I think I want to knit this again some time. I made the larger size, using 563 meters of Malabrigo Sock, almost a hundred meters more than the pattern estimate. My gauge must have been off, because it also turned quite a bit larger than I expected, with a wingspan of 182 cm after blocking instead of the 147 cm listed in the pattern. It didn't feel like I was knitting a big shawl, and it was quite enjoyable all the way through. I definitely recommend this, and it certainly deserves to become just as popular as some of Ysolda's other shawl patterns. It's slightly more difficult than Ishbel or Damson, but once you get going, most of the stitch patterns are quite easy to memorize.

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