The yarn for this shawl was purchased to make a memory shawl to mark a particular visit to the Manchester/High Peak area to visit friends and family.  I fell in love with it in the shop and despite it being designed to make socks from I decided that it would be a tragedy if no one was able to see the lovely colours in it.  It’s Rico Designs Superba Poems in the Lagoon colourway (005).

I really enjoyed this yarn, the colours are so beautiful and they really lend themselves well to the Goddess Knits Peasant Shawl pattern and best of all it’s free It seemed such a shame for it to spend it’s life being hidden by shoes!

It knitted up fairly quickly but I went a little off piste with the pattern as I had much more yarn than the original called for – I basically have done one ball of the garter stitch triangle and the other in the lace chart pattern, ending on the last row of the 4th full chart repeat. Many thanks have to go to Heather over at Knit Lace as her stitch count chart really helped in deciding when to begin the lace repeats.

A present for a 60th Birthday, the Summer Stream Scarf by Asami Kawa was a simple but beautiful project choice.

I love knitting with this yarn, it’s light and soft and smells beautiful because it’s dipped in essential oils after it’s been dyed. Machelle you are a yarn diva genius   If you want to get a some of your own it’s Chopped Tomatoes Heavenly Infusion Wool Cashmere, I used the Tropical Twilight colourway.

It grew quickly, but I had to start something else to break the monotony of the 2 row repeat.  I also didn’t graft in the middle but after one repeat of the body chart at one end.  I think it blends better and I don’t like the idea of having a seam, however well grafted it might be, in the middle of a scarf that can be quite obvious if you choose to wrap the scarf around your neck once and let the ends hang at the front.

The day before it was due to be gifted it was pinned out and drying on the living room floor – just in the nick of time! It looks really nice and because of the cashmere it’s light as a feather and deliciously warm

It’s a quick and uncomplicated knit that is fairly easily customised to accomodate a variety of sizes by changing the number of times lettered chart repeats are knitted.

I’m really pleased with the results, knitted with Knit Picks Shadow in the Sunset colourway.

This is a stunning pattern designed by Carol Young called Whispering Wings.  It has a 6 foot + wingspan and is very cozy and comforting.

I thought this was going to take me the rest of the year to finish, but it actually took a little over 15 days.  It starts with a garter tab cast on that provides a nice firm base for the rest of the knitting.

The yoke section is very quick to knit, becoming more time comsuming after the second set of increases.

The next lot of increases makes a lovely row of lace holes that mark the start of the next set of charted feathers.

The final set of wing feathers and ruffle edging finish off this beautiful shawl, and now all I have to do is clear a space in the house big enough to block it, although I have to confess that I’ve worn it out and about already – it’s so stunning, I just couldn’t wait!

]]> http://darkeststarlet.wordpress.com/2010/09/30/whispering-wings/feed/ 1 darkeststarlet http://darkeststarlet.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/green-fingers/ http://darkeststarlet.wordpress.com/2010/09/28/green-fingers/#comments Tue, 28 Sep 2010 12:20:26 +0000 Jo Gough http://darkeststarlet.wordpress.com/?p=52 ]]> This was a quick knit designed to be a little respite from the Whispering Wings project.  Made from donated yarn these will be given to a local charity for cancer sufferers and survivors.

The pattern is Waffle Stitch Fingerless Gloves by Jill Torporkiewicz and the yarn shall remain a mystery!

I first started at the end of July and was looking forward to knitting it. I originally had another pattern in mind, but an impromptu browse yeilded Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante and something in my head clicked and the decision was made.

The initial going was rough, I’d never knitted a trianglular shawl before and I’d also never used stitch markers and I seemed to be getting tangled in them a lot. So I ditched the stitch markers in favour of maths and counting. I’m glad I did, because I began motoring along nicely

Then I had a little incident and frogged the lot on a Sunday night and spent all of the next day knitting it back to where I’d gotten to in the first place. I got 4 rows into the first repeat of chart A without any hitches

Then I frogged it again. I was having hiccups in the lace chart at one edge and couldn’t seem to work out what I was doing wrong. So I frogged because I needed the cable for another project.

I restarted the project at the end of August, with stitch markers. After one false start ( I somehow totally missed out a YO) but I finished for the evening on the 10th repeat of the stockinette rows.  After a couple of tinking incidents I realised that I couldn’t do this project and talk at the same time as I just messed up too much.

By the beginning of September blocking was in progress. I enjoyed the bind-off for this as I’d never used it before, it’s really neat if a little tight, and I’ll remember that for next time and look for a stretchier bind off.

I started this easy lace knit as a break from one that despite it’s ease, I was totally befuddled by.  It’s Ember’s Embrace by Amy Wunx.

I enjoyed this a lot, more so since the yarn is reclaimed – another triumph from Grace over at RPM Fiberworks.  It worked out nicely and the simple repeats don’t distract the eye from the lovely patterning within the yarn. I ordered some hand printed covered buttons to make the shrug that is suggested in the pattern.

This project was made with my mum-in-law in mind and I’m really pleased with the way it turned out. It’s the Acadian Shawl from Melissa McCurley.   Made from recyled yarn from the fabulous Grace at RPM Fiberworks, it took a little over 5 days from start to finish.  It was my first project knitted using charted instructions so a little coaching was required and Heather of Knit Lace came to my rescue there.

After the cast on and increase sections were under my belt this shawl happened quickly, with the lace chart border easy to remember and speedy to repeat.

Once on the straight section I decided to weight the yarn and just keep repeating until I’d used 100g and then start the decreases.  It turned out that I did 11 repeats rather than the 9 suggested by the pattern.

All in all this was an easy knit and really built my confidence in terms of knitting lace stitches.  I enjoyed it a lot and will probably knit it again when the right yarn comes along.