There's Just Something About Lace...

Shawls have become my knitting of choice. I'm not sure why they appeal to me so much, other than all the lovely lace. I like knitting lace. I like knitting sweaters and socks, too, but there's just something about lace.

The shawl shown at right is the Farm Shawl by Michelle Miller. I test knit this pattern, but apparently didn't block my gauge swatch aggressively enough because my shawl turned out to be a lot larger than expected, even though I didn't block the shawl aggressively at all. (As always, click on any photo to enlarge.)

I knit the shawl using Dream in Color Wisp, a lace-weight yarn, in the Valentine colorway. I used 910 yards, although the pattern calls for 640 yards. Gauge generally isn't a big factor in shawls---unless you're likely to run out of yarn. Or if you're test knitting the pattern.

The shawl was a fun knit, and fairly fast. I started this shawl on 22 May and finished on 01 June. The final dimensions of my shawl were 77 1/2 inches by 30 1/4 inches.

The next shawl I knit was also a test knit for Michelle Miller, the Be Sweet Shawl. I especially like the deep, ornate edging on this shawl. I knit this shawl using Knit Picks Shadow Tonal, a lace-weight yarn, in the Deep Waters colorway. I used 475 yards of yarn, and the resulting shawl is 58 inches by 30 inches. I started the shawl on 01 June and finished on 09 June.

The next shawl I finished was Color Affection by Veera Välimäki. This was my project for The Loopy Ewe's Camp Loopy, the first (of three) project for this summer's "camp." For this project, a knitter could choose any pattern by a designer who was born in a country other than the country in which the knitter was born.

Being an engineer, symmetry appeals to me, but despite its asymmetric design, something about this shawl just called to me. Plus, it's all garter stitch, so I could knit without watching what I was doing, and since it's baseball season, most evenings my eyes are glued to baseball.

The Color Affection pattern calls for three different colors of yarn, but I used four: The Loopy Ewe Solid Series in oyster, Fiesta Baby Boom in the Pansies colorway (the variegated purple that begins in the second section), Monkeypal Superwash Sock yarn in Deep Purple (the dark blue color in the bottom section), and Lorna's Lace Shepherd's Sock in Grapevine (for the bottom border). The latter two yarns were left over from other projects; the first two were purchased a year or two ago for...something.

The bottom border was supposed to be 2 inches wide, but due to the limited amount of yarn I had, my border is only 1 1/4 inches. I used a total of 624 yards of yarn, and my shawl is 59 inches by 17 inches. The final size was limited by a slightly too tight bind-off. I started binding off using Jeny's Surprisingly Sretchy bind-off, but it seemed too loose, so I did a standard bind-off using a big (US11) needle. But the bind-off needs to be very stretchy to create the curved shape of the shawl, and my bind-off was not as stretchy as it should have been. If I knit this shawl again---and I probably will---I'll use Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind-off.

The photo at the right shows my shawl staked out on the blocking board. It doesn't have quite the desired shape, but I like it.

I started this shawl on 20 May and finished on 15 June. That nearly caused a problem because the dates of this year's Camp Loopy are not the same as last year, and I jumped the gun. I emailed the lovely ladies at the Loopy Ewe, and explained my dilemma. Since I'd started and finished a week early, my shawl was deemed acceptable for my first project.

As the dates show, while I was knitting Color Affection, I was also knitting the two previous shawl and test knitting the pattern for a summer top.

I finished one other shawl in June, but I'll talk about it next time. It was my first mystery knit-along, and I'm doing two others this summer.

What have you been knitting?

Susannah

Knitters Outraged after Olympic Committee Quashes Knitting Olympics

Do you believe this??? The U.S. Olympic Committee thinks Ravelry's Knitting Olympics, known as the Ravelympics, denigrates real athletes.

http://gawker.com/5920036/us-olympics-committee-is-mad-at-knitting-olympics-for-denigrating-real-athletes

Does this make sense to anyone?

Knitting a man's Aran sweater between the opening and closing ceremonies of the Olympics does not rank with running a four-minute mile or a finishing a marathon faster than anyone else in the world, but it isn't something most people can do. Like the marathon, it's something only a small percentage of people even attempt.

What do you think? Does a knitting olympics denigrate the world's athletes?

Update: The U.S. Olympic Committee apologized for their cease-and-desist letter after two million outraged knitters with pointy sticks set up a world-wide howl. And posted to the U.S.O.C.'s Facebook wall, tweeted, called, and wrote letters.

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/06/21/155508908/after-knitters-get-in-a-twist-usoc-apologizes-for-cease-and-desist-letter

Is that a pitiful excuse for an apology or what? And how about that request for knitters to send the objects the U.S.O.C. scorned yesterday to the athletes? Badly done, U.S.O.C. Your mothers would be ashamed of you.

Susannah

Shawls!

This year my goal is to knit at least twelve shawls. Last year my goal was to knit eleven, and I ended up knitting 24, plus finishing three large ones I'd started in 2010.

I started 2012 knitting Jared Flood's Bridgewater Shawl, but ran out of yarn (after 1250 yards) near the end of the first lace chart. So far, I haven't been able to find more of the yarn, but I'm still looking.

The next shawl I knit was Storm Fir by Erica Jackofsky. This shawl was designed for bulky yarn, so it knits up fast. The shawl could probably be knit in one day, but since I was knitting other things at the same time, it took me three days. I started on 29 January and finished on 31 January. I used just over three skeins (381 yards) of Brown Sheep Lamb's Pride Bulky in the Blue Blood Red (M-80) colorway. (As always, click on any photo to enlarge.)

Next I knit the Ballerina Shawl by Michelle Miller. I knit this as part of a knit-along with several other people on Ravelry. I used just over one skein (1.06 skeins, or 475 yards) of Dream in Color Smooshy in the Rose Smash colorway. The shawl was fun to knit, and it worked up pretty quickly. I started on 08 April and finished on 13 April.

Then I decided to knit the Sabrina Shawl by Marisa Hernandez. I test knit this shawl last year and loved it, then gave it to my son's fiancee's grandmother because she fell in love with a photo of it I'd posted on Facebook. I decided I wanted one of these shawls for myself, so I knit another one. This time I used Monkeypal Superwash Sock yarn (1.33 skeins or 506 yards). I started the shawl on 20 April and finished on 25 April. I like the shawl just as much the second time as I did the first.

Then I knit Fluid Velocity, another shawl by Michelle Miller. As an engineer who took a lot of fluid dynamics classes on the way to my B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering (but none for my Ph.D.), the name of the shawl appealed to me---as does the resulting shawl. I knit this shawl with Colinette Jitterbug yarn (1.48 skeins or 554 yards) in the Blue Parrot colorway. I started the shawl on 26 April and finished on 30 April.

Next I chose the Baah Shawl, another Michelle Miller pattern. Like the Ballerina Shawl, I knit this with other fans of Michelle's shawls on Ravelry as a knit-along. I used Dream in Color Starry in the Flamingo Pie colorway (0.89 skeins or 400.5 yards). I started the shawl on 01 May and finished on 04 May.

I chose some-thing slightly smaller for my next shawl: Victorine by Cindy Guggemos. This is more of a scarf than a shawl, at least for someone who is 68 inches tall (which I am). I knit this scarf/shawl in Dream in Color Smooshy in the Some Summer Sky (VS170) colorway (0.72 skeins or 324 yards). Although it's difficult to see in the photo, the color is glorious. And the pattern is lovely, too! I started this scarf/shawl on 11 May and finished on 13 May.

Six shawls in four and a half months, not counting the waiting-for-more-yarn Bridgewater. Not bad, especially since I knit two sweaters and have had two more sweaters, a baby surprise jacket, and a started-but-nowhere-near-finished lace scarf on my needles during that time period.

What have you been knitting?

Susannah

Na Craga Cardigan: Part III

The continuing saga of my Na Craga-inspired cardigan.

Once the sleeves were knit, I picked up the left front stitches from their holder, picked up and knit the stitches under the left arm (the stitches added with the flat section of the sleeve), picked up the back stitches from the yarn holding them, picked up and knit the stitches under the right arm, then picked up the right front stitches from their holder. In picking up and knitting the stitches under the arm, I again used the FLAK pattern's recommended three stitches in every four (which, as discussed in the previous post, I shouldn't have). The result was far more stitches than necessary for the circumference I wanted.

One of the advantages of the FLAK method of construction is that you can try on the sweater as you knit. Unfortunately, my longest circular needle at that time was 40 inches, and anyone slightly larger than 40 inches in circumference attempting to try on the sweater loses stitches right and left. I realized that before I lost too many and gave up trying to check the fit. (Another mistake I won't make again. I now have a longer circular needle, so losing stitches while fitting a sweater won't be an issue.) Confident in my math and measurements (see first post), I knit on, finally reaching the ribbing.

When the ribbing was finished, I knit the neckband. I tried the sweater on the judge the length of the neckband, but my husband, who took the photo below, didn't comment on the sleeves or the circumference. (Have I mentioned that, although great with details at work, he's pretty oblivious to them at home?)

After finishing the neckband, all that remained were the button band and buttonhole band. I tried the sweater on after I finished knitting it, but before sewing on the buttons. Since I took the photo standing in front of a mirror, I could see the problems with the sleeve and the circumference. 

The lovely pewter buttons I bought for this sweater have not yet been sewn on. I intend to rip back to the start of the sleeves and re-knit it. I just haven't been able to face all that ripping.

The sweater was a surprisingly fast knit. I started it on 12 January and finished on 11 February. If I'd knit a sweater of the proper circumference, I'd have finished several days sooner.

The moral of this sad saga is to start with reliable measurements---measurements taken by someone who knows what they should be measuring---and check the fit as you go, even if doing so is tricky. And if something looks like it might not be right, stop and double check.

If not, you may end up with a sweater large enough for your brother-in-law, if only he'd wear that color.

The photographs were taken at various times of day and in different lighting. The third photo (the one of the neckband) shows the sweater's color accurately.

Susannah

Na Craga Cardigan: Part II

Continuing the story of my Na Craga-inspired cardigan from the last post. Once I had knit the back from the saddles down to the bottom of the armholes, I put the stitches on a stitch holder (a piece of yarn), then picked up and knit the stitches along the front edge of the saddles and began knitting down. (As always, click on any photo to enlarge.) In this photo, the stitches picked up and knit from the front of the saddles are on the needle.

Knitting down the front was a little more involved than the back, due to the shaping required for the front neck. A stitch had to be picked up on each side every few rows, until the desired neck shaping was achieved, then the additional stitches required had to be cast (knit) on.

When the front panels were knit down to the bottom of the armholes, I put them on a stitch holder. The fit was still good at this point, but it was about to take a turn toward disastrous, due to inaccurate measurements.

Next, I picked up and knit stitches along the right side, from the base of the armhole in the back to the front. The FLAK pattern advised picking up three stitches in every four, so that's what I did. The FLAK pattern had moss stitch as the filler stitch; I had seed stitch. What I should have done (hindsight is 20/20) is look at the stitch and row gauge for my filler stitch and pick up stitches according to that ratio, which was 4 in 8. That being said, extra stitches on the sleeve is least terrible place to have them, since the extra stitches won't drastically effect the size of the sweater.


This flat section of the sleeve was supposed to be half the difference between the half-chest measurement (24 inches, including ease, on my sweater) and the cross-shoulder measurement (19 inches), or 2.5 inches. (Remember, the cross-shoulder measurement was one of the bad ones---two inches too large.) At the shoulder, this section of the sleeve covers the shoulder from the blade to the upper portion of the arm. Underneath, these flat sections are later picked up, along with the fronts and back, to become part of the body.

Once the flat section had reached the desired length, the sleeves were knit in the round down to the wrist. The number of stitches was decreased every few rows to shape the sleeve. I started off with more stitches in the sleeve than in Ms. Starmore's pattern, so for the first two pattern repetitions (38 rows), I decreased every other row. In hindsight, it was probably too rapid a decrease, or it continued for too long.

The sleeve was pretty boring to knit. Once the sleeve was nearing elbow length, I set it aside and picked up and knit the stitches for the left sleeve. Once the left sleeve was the same length as the right one, I put both sleeves on a long circular needle and knit them together (a la Magic Loop).


When the sleeves were long enough to reach about midway down my forearm, I realized that I had slightly fewer stitches than I'd expected to have when I reached the wrist. (My row gauge was tighter than in my swatch, probably due to cabling without a cable needle on the sleeves). The sleeve was going to be snug, but it fit. I ceased decreasing and knit the sleeves down to the cuff.

The next day I checked the sleeve fit. It was snug, but it fit. Because the back and fronts were still on holders, I only tried on one sleeve, which I had to put on a different needle than the other sleeve in order to try on. If only I'd realized it, I could have seen from the photo that there was a problem with the sweater size. The neck edge was against my turtleneck, despite the lack of a neckband. There was a wad of material between my shoulder (the flat section of the sleeve) and some gathering on the upper arm. I, however, was concentrating on the sleeve fit, and didn't notice the warning signs.


The color of the yarn varies in these photographs, due to variations in ambient lighting conditions. The color of the yarn in the fourth photo is the most accurate.


The next installment of this saga will appear in a week or so.


Susannah

Na Craga Cardigan: Part I

This is the saga of a sweater that started off beautifully, but when finished was much too big. The sad part of the story is that the end result could easily have been prevented, with more accurate measurements and/or with more fittings as it was knit.

I hadn't planned to knit Na Craga this year; I intended to knit Ms. Starmore's Eriskay and Norfolk sweaters. But two of my Ravelry groups started Na Craga knit-alongs in January: one group knitting it bottom-up, as Ms. Starmore intended, the other knitting it top-down, using Janet Szabo's FLAK-style method. I chose to knit the sweater top-down for two reasons: 1) I've wanted to learn that method for a while, and 2) several people in the group were planning to knit cardigans, which was what I wanted to knit.

For any well-fitting garment, swatching is essential. While knitting my swatches---I ended up knitting four---I decided to modify some of patterns used in the sweater. Each time I did, I had to knit another swatch. The photo (above) shows my last two swatches. On the bottom, the four patterns on the right are the patterns Ms. Starmore used, while the two on the left are others I considered substituting. On the top half of the swatch are the patterns I ended up using, plus two others I considered but didn't use.

On the bottom, the pattern on the far right, the moss stitch and ladder combination, was Ms. Starmore's filler stitch; I used the seed stitch pattern on the far left instead. The second pattern from the right on the bottom was an eight-stitch braided cable with two purl stitches on either side; I used the eleven-stitch hoofprint pattern above it instead. I used the flying-geese pattern for the center panel of the sweater, just as Ms. Starmore intended. Instead of the honeycomb pattern (third from left on the bottom) I used a ten-stitch braided cable with two purl stitches on either side (third from left on top).

Another essential for a well-fitting garment is accurate measurements. This, I realized after the fact, was where my well-crafted plan began falling apart. My husband measured me. DLSH is a wonderful man, but not particularly obsessive about details. In this case, I discovered afterwards, his cross-shoulder measurement was two inches too big, and his neck opening measurement was one inch too big. But I didn't know that until the sweater was finished, so with the measurements he'd taken, I launched into knitting the saddles (shoulder section) of the sweater.

Once the saddles were knit, I picked up and knit the stitches along the back edge of one saddle, cast on stitches for the back neck edge, then picked up and knit the stitches along the back edge of the other saddle. Once I set up the pattern, I started knitting down the back, as shown below.

I tried the sweater on at this point. Although the neck opening seemed large, which, of course, it was without the neckband, the width of the saddles spanned my shoulders perfectly. Blissfully ignorant, I knit on.

The color of the yarn varies in these photographs, due to variations in ambient lighting conditions. The color of the yarn in the bottom photo is the most accurate.

The next installment of this saga will appear in a few days.

Susannah

My New Motto

The photo says it all.

Another Shawl from 2011

The final shawl I knit in 2011---shawl #24, counting only those shawls started and finished in 2011---was the Flambe Shawl by Michelle Miller, a.k.a.  Fickle Knitter. This shawl is a fast, fun knit, and the result is gorgeous. (As always, click on any photo to enlarge.)

My Flambe Shawl was knit with one skein of Dream in Color Starry in the Honey- moon colorway. I love the added sparkle that Starry brings to this shawl, as shown in the photo at right. (I hope everyone's browser shows the shimmery aspect of this yarn.) I started the shawl on 11 December and finished on 18 December.

As with many of Ms. Miller's shawls, the body is knit first, then the edging is knit on. The resulting shawl, shown at right, is lovely.

I haven't worn my Flambe Shawl yet, but I'm looking forward to doing so.

I still have one shawl and one jacket from 2011 to block. Readers of this blog have no doubt guessed that the actual knitting appeals to me more than blocking or finishing. Partly the delay in blocking these two garments was due to the holidays, when I put away my blocking boards, my swift, and my ball winder. But partly it has been due to my interest in knitting new projects, particularly a modified cardigan version of Alice Starmore's Na Craga. More about that later.

Happy knitting!

Susannah

Too Good Not to Share

How much of your knitterly self do you see in this picture?
(As always, click on the photo to enlarge.)

It's cold and snowy in northeast Indiana. I hope you're staying warm and knitting a lot.

Susannah

Knitting in 2011

I use Knitmeter.com to keep track of how much I knit on various garments. I usually don't update my projects there until I finish a skein of yarn (for multi-skein projects) or until I finish a garment (for single skein projects). On Saturday evening, Knitmeter informed me that in 2011 I had knit 24,788 yards. That's 14.1 miles! A pretty productive year, I'd say.

I'm making knitting plans for 2012. So far, I plan to knit 12 shawls (but only 12), at least one sweater, and several pairs of socks. The sweater will be mine. So will a pair or two of socks, and probably a few of the shawls. The rest will undoubtedly be Christmas and birthday presents.

What are your knitting plans for 2012?

Susannah

More Finished Objects: Sweater & Jacket

I finished a sweater for my oldest grand-nephew before Christmas. Last year, when I knit a sweater for his older cousin, he (at the ripe old age of 5!) asked me if I could knit him a sweater that had buttons in the front. (He doesn't like pullovers.) Green was the color he requested, and green was the color of the sweater he got.

The sweater was a modified version of Ann Norling's Basic Kids' Sweater and Vest pattern---the same pattern I used for his cousin's sweater. The cardigan was knit with 3.5 skeins of Plymouth Encore Worsted yarn in color 054. I was not there to see him open it, and my niece has not yet sent me a photo of him wearing the sweater, so this photo of the sweater blocking is the best I can do. (As always, click on any photo to enlarge.)

I knit the sweater in one piece to the armholes, then knit the back, then knit both front sections simultaneously. I used a three-needle bind-off for the shoulder seams, then I picked up and knit the sleeve stitches at the armhole and knit the sleeves down. This deviation from the pattern required minimal finishing and produced stronger seams, making it perfect for an active, six-year-old boy. I started the sweater on 11 November and finished on 17 December.

The next finished object was a jacket that had been lan- guishing on the needles for about 18 months until I started my "race to the finish" back in October. Long-time readers of this blog will recall that it was one of my entries in last year's Ravelympics---one that, regrettably, was barely touched during that time. The photo shows its state in February 2010.

I call it the Coat of Many Colors, for obvious reasons. The pattern is Elizabeth Zimmer- mann's Adult Surprise Jacket.

My jacket was knit with seven different colorways of Noro Silk Garden. I started this project on 28 December 2009, made good progress until late January, when only the placket remained to be knit, then ignored it for far too long. I had a difficult time with the shoulder seams: the fourth attempt did the trick, but I'm sure I gained some grey hairs in the process! I finished the jacket on 19 December 2011 and wore it for Christmas.

I chose not to extend the sleeves, making the jacket more kimono-like. That decision led me to rip out the placket and the buttonholes therein, and re-knit it without buttonholes. I finished the jacket with a border of single crochet. Since I never liked crocheting, that choice was a difficult one, but the crocheted edging gives the jacket a more finished look.

Since finishing this jacket, I have knit (start to finish) a shawl (currently on the blocking board), finished a shawl of my own design I started last year (waiting to be blocked), a pair of socks (blocking), and another jacket (waiting its turn to be blocked). The Coat of Many Colors and the latter three garments were the main focus of my "race to the finish"---my attempt to finish a number of garments that I hadn't touched for months, so I could start new projects in the new year.

I haven't decided whether to start 2012 knitting a sweater---I've narrowed it down to two patterns---or a shawl---choices narrowed down to three---or both. What are your knitting plans for 2012?

Susannah

More Finished Objects: Shawls

I've been busy knitting and, therefore, not blogging. Since my last post, I've completed four shawls: A Little Jazz, Peruvian Central, another A Little Jazz, and a test knit I can't talk about yet. I've also knit a sweater for my oldest grand-nephew and a jacket. This post is about the shawls.

A Little Jazz, designed by Samantha Roshak, can be worn as a shawlette or a scarf. The first one I knit was a Christmas gift. This one was knit in Dream in Color Starry in a unknown colorway (possibly Honeymoon). It's a pretty rose color. (As always, click on any photo to enlarge.)

A Little Jazz is an easy, fairly fast knit---all garter stitch. It is con- structed with "no-wrap" short rows. Although I knit it as the pattern stated, I think it would be as easy or easier to end each short row with a wrapped stitch. I started the shawlette on 20 October and finished on 10 November, and it was not my main knitting project during that time. This shawlette used 446 yards of yarn, a few yards less than the full skein.

Next up, and another blip in my "race to the finish" (an attempt to finish a number of projects that have been languishing on the needles for a while), was a test knit. The Peruvian Central Shawl is crescent-shaped shawl with a garter-stitch body. Mine was knit in Alchemy Juniper in the Autumn Ecstasy colorway and used two skeins of yarn.

I wanted this shawl to be usable as a scarf or shawlette because I knew the recipient would most likely wear it as a scarf. For that reason, I blocked it in a rather unusual way, as shown in the photo to the right. The photo was taken at night, under artificial light, which washed out the color. The resulting shawl had a 60-inch wingspan and was 13 inches deep, and the recipient loved it!

I started Peruvian Central on 21 November and finished on 26 November, so it, too, was a fast kniit.

The third shawl was another A Little Jazz, this one for me. I call it A Little Jazz II. This one was knit with Fiesta Baby Boom in the Spring Chill colorway. I cannot get a good photograph of the yarn color variations, so this photo is the one on the front of the pattern.

Based on the size of the first A Little Jazz, which was knit on a US5 needle, I knit A Little Jazz II on a US6, since I am 7 or 8 inches taller than the recipient of the pink A Little Jazz.  A Little Jazz II used 438.5 yards of the 440-yard skein, and I was holding my breath during the the last half of the bind-off, hoping I would not run out of yarn. This shawlette is not as deep as the pink one: 9.5 inches compared to 10.5 inches for the first one. I started A Little Jazz II on 10 November and finished on 10 December, and it was not my primary, or even my secondary, knitting project during that time. It's a great carry-with-you-and-knit-anywhere project.

I'll post about the final shawl, a lovely lace confection, when the pattern has been published.

What have you been knitting?

Susannah

Molly Nosegay Shawl

In the midst of my "race to the finish"---trying to finish projects that have been languishing on the needles for a while---I took time out to test knit another shawl. This shawl, called Molly Nosegay, was designed by Jennette Cross. (As always, click on any photo to enlarge.)

Molly Nosegay is what Ms. Cross calls a "combination shawl." It is based on what many knitters call "the Pi formula," which governs the size of circular shawl (i.e., the number of stitches must double when the radius of the shawl doubles). Molly Nosegay is semi-circular, but the same theory applies: when the radius doubles, the number of stitches along the bottom edge of the shawl must double.

Nerdy engineer that I am, I found Ms. Cross's method of sizing very interesting, and I love the shape of the shawl. The shawl is knit from the top down, starting from a garter tab and ending with a seemingly-infinite 577 stitches.

This is not a shawl for the faint of heart, nor for anyone who does not like to read charts. Molly Nosegay has twelve charts: some of them are only three rows long, others are twenty rows long. One of the short, three-row charts is repeated five times. The charts are well sized. My aged, never-very-good eyes did not have difficulty reading the charts. Even better, once the first few rows of a pattern section are established, it is easy to read the rest of the pattern from your knitting.

My shawl was knit with 2.76 skeins (1247 yards) of Dream in Color Knitosophy yarn in the FK85 Discover colorway. As can be seen in the photo below,  my three skeins were not all the same color: the first one (the upper back) was a lighter blue than the other two.

I like the effect of the color gradations in this shawl. If, however, I had been knitting something else---a sweater, for example---I would have been very upset by the color change. My three skeins of yarn were not bought at the same time, nor in the same place. Remember this example next time you are judging the amount of yarn needed for a project!

Molly Nosegay is a big shawl. Mine required 1247 yards of yarn, but the designer used around 1000 yards. My shawl, which was blocked just enough to show the lace pattern (i.e., not aggressively at all), is a whopping 118 inches by 45.5 inches; hers is 91 inches by 25 inches. The other test knitters are still working on the shawl, but one who is nearly finished is projecting yardage and size like mine.

I was surprised at how quickly I knit this shawl. My husband, who rarely pays attention to what I'm knitting unless it's for him, was flabbergasted. I started Molly Nosegay on 27 October and finished on 08 November. But it was the only project I worked on during that time.

Molly Nosegay is the twentieth shawl I've knit this year. (My goal was 11, and I  reached that mark in late June.) I am only counting shawls knit from start to finish this calendar year, so the As One stole and Girasole are not included. I've also knit six pairs of socks.

At the moment, I have two shawls in progress, and I am about three-quarters finished with a sweater---a cardigan---for my oldest grand-nephew.

Have you had a productive knitting year? Have you started planning next year's knitting?

Susannah

Another Finished Object: Girasole

As the year winds toward its end, I'm trying to finish up several projects that have been languishing on the needles for a while. The most recent garment finished is the Girasole Shawl by Jared Flood. (As always, click on any photo to enlarge.)

Girasole is a large circular shawl, which can also be knit (with worsted or aran weight yarn) as a blanket. I knit my Girasole to be a shawl, using Noro Kureyon Sock yarn in the S40 colorway. The shawl required 3.6 skeins (1663 yards) of yarn. I did not like the "pointy" edging in the pattern, so I improvised another knit-on edging with fewer points. When I was blocking the shawl, I realized why Mr. Flood had used the pointy edging. More points (640 of them in the edging in the pattern) would have made blocking the shawl much easier. Below is a photo of my shawl during blocking.

The shawl is big---big enough that I had to put my blocking boards around the perimeter because I didn't have enough of them to lay beneath the shawl. My improvised edging had far fewer points than the edging in the pattern, and as a result, it was more difficult to block. My shawl is an oval, not a circle. (Major axis is 75 inches, minor axis is 70 inches.) The difference is not apparent when I'm wearing it, but if I knit this shawl again, I'll use the edging in the pattern.

I love the play of colors in the shawl. The edging pulls all the colors together, show- casing them in a way the shawl, for all its beauty, does not.

Girasole is a fun and interesting knit, but it isn't a quick project.  I started my Girasole last year in mid August, worked on it fairly steadily until October (through Chart F), then ignored it to work on holiday gifts. I picked the shawl up again in September, worked on it until I was ready to start the edging, then set it aside for  a couple weeks until I had mentally worked out the edging pattern. Once I decided on the edging, I finished the shawl in less than a week.

What are you knitting? Are you finished old projects or starting new ones?

Susannah

October Finished Objects!

I finished other three knitted objects in October, in addition to the Sabrina Shawl, which I blogged about last time. One of the FOs (finished objects) started as a shawlette, but ended up being a shawl; the other was a fun, I-can't-resist scarf; the final one was my it-seems-like-it's-taking-forever Girasole.

The shawl-shawlette I call the Shoulder Shawlette or Lorna's Shawlette, because it was designed by Lorna Miser as a practice piece for her Grandma Helen's Lace Shawl. Lorna did a workshop at my LYS (local yarn store) in mid-June. Before the workshop, everyone had to knit the body of the shawlette. How to knit the lace edging and crochet and bead the edging  were the subject of the workshop. (As always, click on any photo to enlarge.)

Since this was supposed to be a small practice piece, I chose a skein of yarn I didn't particularly like, due to green (which was, initially, the main color I saw). As I was knitting the body of the shawlette, however, all the lovely purples and greys appeared, making the shawlette a lot more interesting. During the workshop, I got most of the lace edging done. After the workshop, those gorgeous colors haunted---or, perhaps, taunted---me. Was this shawlette going to remain a small practice piece, or was I going to do more with it?

After two months, I finally decided: the shawlette was going to become a shawl. To make that transformation, I had to rip out the lace edging I'd knit, knit a larger shawl body, then reknit the lace edging. I did two pattern repetitions of the lace edging---and ran out of yarn near the end of the next to last row.

Catastrophe! I had chosen this yarn for this project because I had only a single skein. I dug through my stash, looking for more Kureyon Sock yarn, and finally found a skein that had a similar purple and a green that was close in color to the original skein. I'm delighted with the final result, shown above.

This was my first beaded shawl, my first crocheted anything in 20 years, and my first significant redesign of someone else's pattern. The shawl was knit with Noro Kureyon Sock in the S188 colorway, with the final row and crocheted edging in Kureyon Sock S219. I used 527 yards, and the shawl is 64 inch by 26 inch, excluding the crocheted edging.

I started the shawlette on 13 June, worked on it through 15 June, then set it aside. On 24 September, I picked it up again, increased the size, etc., and finished the shawl on 12 October.

My second finished object in October was a fun, I-can't-resist scarf. The yarn is net, with loops at one edge through which one "knits." I saw someone at my LYS starting one, and it looked fun. It would have been more fun for an English knitter; I'm a Continental knitter, and I had to "knit English" for this project. Even so, it took me only a couple hours to complete the scarf.

The scarf was knit with Filatura di Crosa's Moda yarn in colorway 18. The pattern can be found on the Filatura di Crosa website, under Moda Scarf or Ruffled Spiral Scarf (its official name). I started this scarf on 12 October and finished on 17 October. It requires one skein of Moda, which is about 16.5 yards, and the resulting scarf is about 54 inches long. I did not block my scarf.

My third finished object in October was a Girasole Shawl. This shawl's pattern was designed by Jared Flood.  I started my Girasole last year, worked on it fairly steadily for about three months, then set it aside while I tried to decide on an alternate edging. (Do you see a pattern emerging here?) I haven't blocked the Girasole yet, so I'll blog about it in a few days when it's ready for viewing.

What have you been knitting? As you can see, I'm been trying to finish up some older projects before starting new ones.

Susannah

More September Knitting

In addition to LeLe's Square Shawl, I started two other projects in September. One was a pair of socks, which I completed; the other was a shawl, which I started at the end of the month and didn't complete until early October.

The socks were Wendy Johnson's Diamond Gansey Socks, from her book Socks from the Toe Up. I knit these socks for a fellow knitter, with yarn she provided. The socks were knit with Knit Picks Shadow Tonal in the Dusk colorway. The yarn was 30 percent silk, and because of the silk content, the socks aren't as stretchy as socks made of all wool yarn or of wool-nylon yarn. The ankles (to me) seemed baggy, but they fit the recipient, which is all that matters. I started these socks on 15 September and finished on 26 September. (As always, click on any photo to enlarge.)

The shawl was a test knit. It's called the Sabrina Shawl, and it was designed by Marisa Hernandez. It was a fun---and fast---knit, and the shawl is lovely. I knit this shawl in Dream in Color Smooshy (one of my favorite yarns) in the Visual Purple colorway. My shawl required a bit more than one skein of yarn (477 yards) and was knit on a US5 needle.

I started this shawl on 28 September and finished it on 06 October, so it only took eight evenings to knit. In the photo at right, I'm modelling the shawl at my LYS (local yarn store) for the lace knitting group I lead on Tuesday afternoons.

I've been thinking about bigger projects---sweaters, specifically---but I'm trying to complete several projects that have been languishing on the needles for a while before I start a sweater. I've also been working on my next-to-last Christmas project (a shawlette for my son's fiancee).

What are you knitting or thinking about knitting?

Susannah