I made another blanket :)

I don’t know why I can’t seem to make one at a time like normal people.  It seems that if I make one (like this one), I have to make another too.  Doesn’t have to be the same, but…

In this case, I did use the same crochet square - Chris Simon’s Flower Burst Square, but I handled it differently.  For one thing, I had no idea how far the scraps and bits I was using would go because there were so many of them and no real quantity to any one color.  So I just winged it, joining things more-or-less at random and working things out as I went along.

These are all animal fibers - wool, alpaca, llama, mohair and even a bit of cashmere and silk.

All except for the occasional rayon thread as in the block above, added for interest :) And let me tell you this is as warm and snuggly a blanket as you could ever hope for!  I had worried that the pink/purple palette would result in a kind of one-note feeling, colorwise.  I think if I had gone for black borders rather than natural, that might have been the result.

It’s the natural colored yarn, I think, that saves it.  Because the undertone of the natural is yellow, it nicely but gently highlights and shows off all the blue tones in the pinks and purples.  In any case, my stash cabinets are a lot lighter now, I have a blanket I’m thrilled with and I have space to legitimately contemplate filing with more yarn.  Heh…  I am going to try to vary my palette though - Some yellows, some of the less strident oranges, some reds and maybe even some greens.  Doesn’t mean there will never again be any pinks and purples - only that I’m trying to expand myself to include other things as well.

Working on the shawl last night, I ran across this.

A dropped stitch…  I should have fixed it then but I was so annoyed with myself that I was afraid I would just do further damage so I shall go a-tinking this afternoon.  Grrrrr….

I’m also thinking about making this project a shoulder shawl rather than a full sized behemoth.  One, while I never gave any thought to shoulder pieces (my mind running along bigger=better lines), it seems to me that I should at least try one :)  In fact, I have a little top this would look very nice with.  The other reason is eminently more venal though.  I’m just about finished with the second ball of yarn - which you’ll remember, started out as sock yarn.  You may also remember there were 5 balls of yarn to begin with.  If I use a third ball to finish and edge the shawl, I’ll still have two balls left to make matching socks out of.  For some reason this idea tickles my fancy no end.

Finally, Chatters is on for tomorrow evening!

See the “Knitting Chatter” button on the side bar for more information.

Bring your projects and come and enjoy!

And have a wonderful weekend :)

I think I’m back :)  At least for a post or two a week - which means that I’ve got my knitting mojo on and I’m actually futzing around with something simple and interesting.

The following swatches were all done in Caron Simply Soft on size 8 US (5.00 mm) needles.  The yarn is simply what I had lying around that I didn’t mind going for experiments.  Please forgive the fuzziness of some of the pictures - the spirit is willing but the hands are still a bit shaky.  First there was this:

I love the Fir Cone lace and have always wanted to use it in something.  However, there are a lot of Fir Cone shawls out there (for example, this and, in an unusual and very attractive shape, this, not to mention this) and they’d be a tough act to follow.  Also, I felt that the width of the three patterns didn’t balance well.  Definitely something needed to change.

So then there was this:

I narrowed the Razor Shell down to it’s absolute minimum and dropped the Horseshoe Lace entirely.  Definitely better but still…

I decided to shelve the Fir Cone for some other time and went with the Horseshoe and a slightly narrower-than-usual Razor Shell.  This came much closer to what I was looking for.  What was I looking for?  All I can tell you is I knew it when I saw it :)  Despite the fact that this isn’t terribly lacy looking, being worsted weight yarn on size 8 US (5.00 mm) needles, this one really tripped my trigger :)

Despite which, I went ahead and did a fourth swatch, narrowing the Razor Shell even further.  You know, just in case…

When I cast on for this swatch, I thought it was going to be the be all and end all - the perfect balance of patterns and proportions - but I didn’t like it.  I mean it’s okay, nothing wrong with it.  But the third one’s the charm.

Should have known :)

Remember the dyed Sockotta yarn from back in February?  I wasn’t awfully happy with the green color and so had stashed it in the closet to ripen for a bit.  And what do you know?  When I retrieved it last week, it had blossomed into the most beautiful Jade you can imagine!  Amazing what a couple of month’s distance can do :)

I can’t tell you how much fun I’m having with this :)  This is fingering weight (sock yarn - doh!) on size 6 US (4.25 mm) needles.  I’m into the second ball and have just joined a longer cable - thank goodness for Knitpicks Options needles!  I don’t know what I ever did without them :)

Of course I don’t expect to be finished with this for quite a while yet, being only a half-fast knitter :)  But it’s so nice to be able to knit again!

And to want to.

I’m going to open up Chatters on Saturday evening.  I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed it and missed chatting with you all.  I’ll post the banner later in the week.