June 2, 2010

Lilac Leaf Shawl


In the past few weeks I've been knitting this shawl in a leisurely manner. I had the goal of finishing it before Saturday this week, so that I could wear it to my brother's high school graduation, likely the only somewhat formal occasion I will be attending this summer. That goal was reached quite easily. For the most part, the pattern, from Nancy Bush's Knitted Lace of Estonia, was easily memorized or at least followed. The nupps were the most challenging part for me (purl seven together, yikes), followed by the Kitchener stitching required to attach the top lace edge to the rest of the shawl. The mid portion, so, most of the shawl, was very easy.

I used a lace weight yarn called Elegant by teetee (which, I've found out, is the exact same yarn as Wetterhoff Silvia, which I also have in my stash in a different color). It's a "natural" shade of white, and I think I would have preferred pure white instead, but I think this will do. Pure white would have looked better against the black dress, though.

I'm interested in knitting other shawls from this book, too, at least ones with no more than a moderate number of nupps. However, I've signed up for the 52 Pair Plunge at Ravelry, meaning you will be seeing a lot of socks from me in the future, again.

May 9, 2010

Suit Yourself Socks


More Cat Bordhi socks, but this time from her new book, Personal Footprints. It's a totally new way of knitting a sock, which intrigued me, because I'm tired of the traditional sock construction. First you knit the toe, foot and heel as a closed tube, and then you cut it open at the top to knit the leg. I didn't actually make the cardboard footprint you're supposed to with this book, I just took measurements at certain points and it worked out fine. I like both the toe and the heel (which you can't see very well in these pictures, but especially the heel looks very different from your average sock's).

I'm not quite as enthusiastic about my choice of yarn. It was my first time working with Spud & Chloë Fine, which I was interested in because it contains silk, but it feels a bit like plastic to me. It was OK to knit with, but I don't think I'll buy it again, because I have so many other yarns like better. The needles were 2.5 mm circulars magic-looped once again.

May 4, 2010

Dove Socks

More socks! More socks based on New Pathways for Socks Knitters! This time knit with the Upstream method where the gusset increases form a V on the top of the foot. A pleasant knit. I've started to really enjoy knitting this heel; It's what I look forward to now. I know the heel by heart now, and I'm able to skip some marker placement manoeuvers to make it a bit more straight-forward. The yarn was Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock Solid (for the third time recently), and the needles 2.5 mm circulars magic looped, again.