HEEEELP!

I've been meaning to post for a while about my finished Victorian Ruby, but a catastrophe has nudged me to cry for help.

When I was blocking my Alpine Lace last night, I discovered some holes. Not dropped stitches ... I'm quite happy rescuing those. Not a broken thread ... that's doable. But a plurality of broken threads. My best guess is that gentle squeezing did it in.

There are 5 or 6 holes, scattered throughout the shawl. Can anyone offer advice as to fixing/not fixing, method of fixing? Potential repairs are complicated by the fact that the yarn is gently shaded from blue to purple over hundreds of yards.

Then there's my finished Victorian Ruby, with Kid Silk Haze in a pewter-y color. It doesn't have any recalcitrant holes.

Scarf w/French Trellis Border

Scarf w/French Trellis Border
Yarn: Knit Picks' Alpaca Cloud in Horizon Heather (pale blue)
Blocked size: 15 1/2 inches by 57 1/2 inches

I'm quite happy with the results which is good since I made this one for myself [wink]. It really didn't take all that long......I wasn't in that big of a hurry to finish it and took time out for reading and viewing the Harry Potters. The only issue I really had was the center section, which is my favorite part. But I had to concentrate to keep from dropping yo's for some odd reason. All in all, I love this scarf....but then again, it's VLT...what's not to love about it. And, I know you are shocked by the mere fact that it's not red, pink or fuschia....I actually can knit in another color. HA!

Another red scarf with No. 20 border

I finally finished my scarf. It needed to sit and mature for about six months before doing the second half. Then it only took two weeks to finish. The yarn is Misti Alpaca Lace. More details are on my blog.

Thank you, Jacqueline and Stephanie, for the fun knit-along!

Finally got off from CO

Curved Shawl w/ Diamond Edging

I'm knitting this Curved Shawl with Diamond Edge using JaggerSpun Zephyr Silk/Wool in violet color for about 3 days now. I couldn't got off from the CO at all. The pattern called for loop CO and using size 3 (3.25mm). After ripping off so many times, I sized down to US 2 (2.75mm) and still used the same CO, it was a success. I'm now on 1st 12-row repeat plus 6 rows. Yay. I find 2.75mm needle is easier for me to manage the sts.

Watermelon

WIP: Another melon shawl, this time in Malabrigo laceweight.

Knitting Through the Looking Glass: Alpine Knit Scarf

Knitting Through the Looking Glass: Alpine Knit Scarf

Gorgeous Pamela!

Alpine Knit Scarf

Here is the finished 'Alpine Knit Scarf' I knit for my ISE4 pal, photographed relaxing on a bench in the Sydney sunshine...


And up close, to show some of the lace pattern detail a little better...


And finally, a close up look at the diamond patterned ends...


Project Details:

'Alpine Knit Scarf' - from Jane Sowerby's 'Victorian Lace Today'
Approximately 5 and 2/3 balls of ONline Linie 164 'Java' in shade #05
KnitPicks Classic 3.0mm circular needles
Cast on 103 stitches instead of the original 121, and worked three double rose leaf patterns across the centre panel instead of the original four
Total number of repeats of double rose leaf pattern in centre panel: 58

I am beyond happy at the way this scarf turned out, as the final drape of the lacy, knitted fabric in this yarn once it was blocked was incredible and by far exceeded all of the expectations I had when I first started the project.The scarf turned out so well that Michael (my husband) still can't believe I gave this scarf away, but I knit it for someone who has had bad experiences with swaps in the past so I'm glad I was able to send her something to help restore her faith in people.

And of course I can always knit another one for myself, as for once I've had the foresight to buy enough extra yarn to do just that -- I always knew giving this scarf away when the time came would be difficult.

As you can see...


... I've already cast on and worked the first diamond pattern repeat of the second scarf, mostly as an encouragement to myself to work on it from time to time between other projects.

For anyone who is interested in more details on the 'Alpine Knit Scarf' I knit for for my ISE4, and some of the (mis-)adventures I had knitting it, they can be found here.

Alpine Lace Scarf - finished!

Helen's Lace in the Purple Iris colorway, knit on size 4 Addi lace needles. I added a few extra repeats of the rose leaf center; the blocked shawl is 21" by 74".

I really enjoyed this project. It's challenging at first, but not at all difficult, and keeping track of two patterns made it interesting to the end.

It was a good exercise in blocking too. I tried threading waste yarn through the long sides of the border, which helped make the edge straight. Watching the pattern open up was a thrill.

This is a birthday gift for my sister. I can't wait to give it to her!

Scarf w/French Trellis Border

I'm not one to actually have a lot of projects on the needle. Two to three is the norm for me, but with the completion of my last two projects I actually found myself without anything on the needle, as it were. I mean, come on....my duty as a knitter is to immediately find something and get it started. It didn't take long, all I had to do was open up my Victorian Lace Today. What's not to love about this book. It didn't take me long, since I have my 'must-do' items marked by a post-it note. Next up: Scarf w/French Trellis border...page 98. This is something that caught my eye from the beginning, but I wanted this one for myself so I moved it behind some other projects. So far, it's by the book, the only thing I might change would be the length, we'll see. The yarn, is Knit Picks' Alpaca Cloud - in Horizon....it's a pale blue in case you can't tell.
I will share the little helper that I've used before. See that yarn holder in the upper left corner...here it is up close....

You recognize that don't you?? Yep, it's a CD holder....it's keeps the skein from rolling all over my lap. It's perfect for lace weight yarn....for heavier yarn, you might put the top back on with a hole cut in the top for the yarn to feed out of.

Victorian Ruby, er, Blue

I finally managed to log in and post. I finished this one in early June. This is the Victorian Ruby that I did in a smokey blue. I followed the book exactly (I think) using Kid Silk Haze. The only change was the color. This was a gift for my son's music teacher. She is taking a year to teach music in China so this was for her to remember us and perhaps to keep her warm in the winter.

Curved Shawl Started

I've started on the "Curved Shawl" from Victorian Lace Today, using the Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb used in the book, but I'm knitting with US2 needles instead of US3 since I knit loosely and don't want to run out of yarn. Sheesh, it's like knitting with thread. In fact, I used quilting thread as lifelines. But the yarn is amazingly stretchy and elastic. I'm hoping that it will be the perfect complement for a cute little red-and-white silk dress I bought recently.

The first few rows were really hard for me - I wasn't used to working with such a super-fine yarn, and with the loop cast-on, it was pretty sloppy at first. And of course, I couldn't tell if I was making any mistakes since the pattern wasn't established yet. But once I had a few repeats done, and a couple of inches of fabric on the needles, it got much better. The lace pattern isn't too difficult once you get into it, and now I can at least read the lace enough to usually notice pretty quickly if I've made any mistakes.

It doesn't look like much "at rest", but when stretched out, you can really get a good idea of what the lace will look like when blocked.

Progress, at last

I finally cast on something from this lovely book, but it wasn't the intended first project. I needed something to do on the plane to London and planned on knitting another Clapotis, but it wasn't to be. Instead, I cast on the trellis shawl (page 62, I think) using Cider Moon's Icicle in Pandora's Rose. Not sure if I like the variegated yarn with the pattern, but so far it is a very simple project and I am about a third of the way done. There's more info about in on out blog.



Next up (after finishing my Sockapalooza socks) will be the melon shawl in Habu Textible's Cashmere. If I don't start it soon, Lola might kill me.

Ava