Wednesday, May 03, 2006

What I did on my Spring Vacation

Still rainy and raw here in northern MA although, you know, after the heat and humidity of the equatorial region, it feels kind of nice for a change!

I did get some Dulaan knitting done while I was away:

Another Tychus hat - this one adult sized - in double strands of Classic Elite Waterspun (the hot pink) and Tahki New Tweed (the oatmeal).  I want to tell you this is a solid hat but it also has a nice, springy feel from the garter stitch which is enhanced, I think, by the double strand of yarn.  Fun to make but as with the child’s version, I only did four repeats of the basic pattern rather than the five the instructions recommend.  At four repeats, the hat fit me loosely and I have a larger-than-average skull.





Also, there are the standard socks :) The burnt orange ones are Classic Elite Wings and the violet ones are KnitPicks Merino Style, color Iris.  The Wings was, as usual, lovely and soft to work with and makes a nice cushy pair of socks.  The Merino Style was much firmer feeling and not quite as soft which leads me to hope these socks will be good and sturdy.

And there was a pair of not-so-standard stranded socks.  I have been wanting to try this for a while but was daunted by the small circumference of a child’s sock.  I didn’t really have anything to worry about - as is usually the case (I wish I could find a way to make the worry-wart who lives in my head just shut up sometimes!).  In typical Robbyn fashion, I flew by the seat of my pants until I was finished turning the heel.  Then, just because it kind of tickled me to do so, I decided to change the design at that point and simply knit the foot, changing colors every row.

These were also done with KnitPicks Merino Style, in colors Cornflower and Fog.  Both these colors are softer and loftier than the Iris was, despite them all being, putatively, the same yarn.  I love these socks and keep wondering how they’d look done in wilder shades and more than two colors per sock :) Heheh....

Most of my craft time on board the ship was taken up with this:

This is a circular, crocheted shawl based on this pattern.  The yarn is Madil Kid Seta, 70% kidmohair and 30% silk and I used a size F hook on the inner two thirds of the shawl and an H hook for the outer third.  I hadn’t realized how long this has been sitting around but I started it almost two years ago!  Myria had mentioned it once or twice since we started dieting and I realized I wanted to finish it for her...but I also wanted it to be a surprise :) So when I was packing for the trip, I sneaked it into my yarn/needle/hook supplies with Myria none the wiser.





I didn’t have enough yarn to complete the pattern as written so I changed the last 8 rounds (that I worked, not the last 8 rounds of the written pattern) or so to a sort of elongated shell ruffle to give it a finished look.  The piece is about 60” wide and while it’s not huge, it is surprisingly versatile and can be wrapped several ways.  It’s light as a feather and warm as a hug.  I’m very happy with how it turned out, but mostly happy that Myria loves it.  That was the idea :)

Knitting Chatters is tomorrow evening, from 7:30 - 11:00PM, EST.  Drop in if you can, we always have such a good time.  See you then! 

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1. Wowee!  You sure got a lot done.  And you even snuck in some secret crocheting.  Yay!  I guess all the rain helped out a bit. 
   My luck is such that I’d have been missing something vital for each of the projects I took.

   Posted by  on  05/03  at  10:31 AM
   Location : Louisiana



2. Glad you’re home safe and sound.  And what an absolutely gorgeous shawl that is!

   Posted by Colleen  on  05/03  at  11:39 AM
   Location : worky, worky



3. Aarlene - The trick is to not bring projects (well, okay - the shawl was a “project” but it only needed the hook and the yarn).  Bring yarn, needles and your notions bag.  Then decise, based on what you have, what you’d like to do :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  05/03  at  12:15 PM
   Location :



4. Colleen - Thanks!  It’s good to be home and I’m glad the shawl’s done - finally!

   Posted by Robbyn  on  05/03  at  12:16 PM
   Location :



5. Wow! All of the Dulaan items are FABULOUS!!

   And that shawl/centerpiece/however-you-are-using-it is beautiful, too!

   Posted by Ryan  on  05/03  at  01:19 PM
   Location :



6. Ryan - Thanks, I hope they keep some little feets warm :)

   The crochet is a shawl and the pale, pale pink against Myria’s deep auburn hair is just awesome :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  05/03  at  01:37 PM
   Location : ...waiting for Godot...



7. How pretty!

   Posted by Toni  on  05/04  at  06:00 PM
   Location :



8. Toni - Thanks, I’m pleased with how it turned out :)

   Posted by Robbyn  on  05/04  at  07:10 PM
   Location : ...waiting for Godot...

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