Rose Trellis Shawl

It is knit, blocked and photographed. In the end, I did not have enough yarn in the end for an elaborate edging so I did a simple garter st border with a (k2tog, yo) row in the middle, for both ends. It turned out quite respectably proportioned at 27 X 81 inches, blocked. I am very happy with it, looks prettier than I had hoped. Now, on to look for a new project.

Shawl In Progress

As I mentioned in a previous post, I opted to resume knitting the Rose Trellis Shawl during Ramadan, to keep me from starting any new projects (that has been mostly successful, except for a pair of baby sandals :)).

 

Knitting lace has been my way of winding down after a long day. I work on it after the kids are in bed and Isha and taraweeh prayers are said. I am happy to report that I am now at the last section of the shawl. If I have enough yarn, I might add an edging at each end to lengthen the shawl.

Shetland Baby Blanket/Shawl

 This project has been the cause of my recent absence. It took about three weeks of totally monogamous and dedicated knitting. We are expecting a baby in summer, inshaAllah. This blanket marks the official start to my baby knitting. I also plan to do a bit of sewing.

Coming back to the FO, the pattern is a vintage Shetland shawl pattern, rewritten and made available free. (edited 2016:  It is no longer available for free). I first stumbled on the Danish translation of the pattern whose ravelry  page has some gorgeous FOs).

 I used Knit Picks Palette (white) and 4 mm needles. I modified it to knit it in round (except for the edging). The details are on my ravelry project page.This omitted most of the seaming but called for very long rows/rounds. It did get a bit tedious in the end with the edging, though thankfully it was easy to memorize. Now that the blanket is done, I am again in love with it. It blocks out to a large size of 130 x130 cm, which is good, seeing how we will have the baby grown a bit, inshaAllah, by the time winter arrives.

Shawl Update

It seems to be taking so long but it is growing. I manage to work for an hour on it on weekdays, if I am lucky.  Just about to finish the first repeat of the repeat section at this point:

 I am also working on a cardigan but it is no more than a pile of plain stockinette stitch at this point. SO a picture will have to wait till its finished.

Beginning of a Shawl

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am working on multiple projects thanks to a recent spate of cast-on-itis. One of these is the Rose Trellis Shawl. I am still at the first chart but the pattern is already taking form.

 

Muir

I had a knitting marathon yesterday to help me finish the Muir shawl I had been working on for so long. I am happy to finish it before the weekend. The pattern is fun to do, easy and by the second half, I had it memorized. I especially love the picots around the edges. There were a few modifications I did to the pattern. Because the yarn is on the heavier side of lace weight, I used larger sized needles, i.e 4.5 mm then recommended and worked 2 pattern repeats across rather than three.I did 14 repeats instead of 13 to get a longer shawl.

So here it is in the unblocked state, about 24 x 76 inches:

Here it is blocking:

 It turned out to be approximately 31 X 96 inches after blocking. The post blocking glory:

Clap Splendor

The clapotis is finally done, alhamdolillah! It took one year to finish but turned out just the way I wanted it...light, airy and large. It is 31 inch (79cm) x 94 (218) after blocking. The yarn is Knit Picks Shimmer Hand Dyed Lace Yarn in Turquoise Splendor colorway. I used up about 2.8 hanks, single-stranded on 3.75 mm needles. The rule of fifths is an excellent guide to divide up your yarn for the increase, straight and decrease sections (1:3:1) of the pattern.

I have a feeling this stole will get a lot of wear as it is just the right size and color for me and I love it.

New Lace

So with my clapotis about 2/3rd knitted, I was itching to start a new project. And our warm weather does not encourage handling of heavier yarns, so i have picked another lace weight project. It is Muir and I have to say I am very pleased with it so far. It is easy, straight-forward and seems to knit up quite fast. The yarn I'm using is Shetland wool from a giveaway at the ravelry destash forum. It is much prettier in life than it appears in the photo.

I'm Back

The things are considerably more peaceful at home, but the construction works is not over yet. And my bane project is still not done though it has progressed quite a bit to outgrow its bane-ness.

I am hoping it will be done in the coming weeks. Confident in that, I have started another lace project. I will blog about it in a few days, inshaAllah.

A Knit Full of Adventure

Some might remember the shawl I was knitting last month, for which I ran out of yarn. A couple of my friends from Sporum Forum (ravelry)helped me find a matching skein and sent it to me. Only, when it arrived, we discovered it was a lot lighter than the original yarn. That's when I got the sound advice of dyeing the whole shawl with tea. You can see the finished shawl here, with the ugly color difference:

So, I brewed up about eight cups of really strong tea and soaked the shawl in it. You can see how early on during the soak, the color difference is still discernible:

I let the shawl soak for several hours, though I was too impatient for an overnight soak. Then I took the shawl out, rinsed it twice and the then gave it a gentle wash. Some color did ran out initially but it was negligible by the time of final rinse.
Next came the blocking, the shawl is quite large. (I was too lazy to measure it).

...And finally some glamor shots. The post tea dyeing color came out to be a nice honey color. And no discernible color difference !!I love the shine the yarn has after blocking. Also it is so light and airy, I am tempted to wear it right now!

Stuck At The End

I have been working on the clover pattern shawl for the last many days, hoping to finish it this weekend. The rows grew shorter as I progressed (this shawl is knitted from outer edge inwards), but my stress level rose as my yarn ball gradually diminished in size. However, I still could not be sure if I had enough yarn at this point.

But this little ball of yarn was good for only another 1.5 pattern repeats, leaving me short of yarn for the last 6 repeats. I am guessing I need about 100 m more. So, until I can find that amount of matching yarn, this project is on hold, sad really as I was hoping to finish it this weekend.
However I am taking this as the point were I have fulfilled my resolution of finishing two FOs before casting on any more. So I will be casting on a project or two over the weekend, inshaAllah.
On another note, Ramadan is just two weeks away and I have the intention of limiting my craft activities during the month and concentrate on the spiritual side of things, inshaAllah. I have started work on my Quranic Arabic and hope to read the Quran with understanding. I can manage some already but hope to polish it further.

The Gail Glory

After knitting solely and hard on it for the last one week, I managed to finish the shawl today. This project had it's own set of hitches, like after doing 6.5 repeats, I had to frog back to six because I suspected I would not have enough yarn. And as it turns out, I was right, I finished with just a few yards to spare. Also I ran out of beads twice, the last time, I just cut down the number of beads I was going to use as I did not want to wait for more beads.
Here it is unblocked, 30 x 64 inches.

While blocking, 38 x 90 inches:

A close-up:

And the final, blocked shawl:

Toothache and Gail Update 2

I am still here, working faithfully on my WIPs and adhering to my resolution of not casting on any new projects until I get two of the current ones finished. The going has been quite slow these past few weeks due to, besides other things, a toothache! The whole saga is quite painful and morbid, suffice it to say that I had a borderline cavity which had one failed filling and the second one pushed it over to the deep end, so that I am undergoing root canal treatment now. The number of painkillers I have popped in during the last few weeks has to be more than the total painkiller intake during my life (including the ones after the caesarian sections). Anyway, now the ordeal in almost over and I am not having anymore pain, alhamdoLILLAH!
Coming back to my knitting, I have worked most on the gail shawl. Right now I am working the sixth pattern repeat and though the pattern calls for seven repeat, I might continue until I run out of yarn, as I want a big shawl.

It does not look more than a big multicolored blob but stay tuned for the final post blocking metamorphosis sometime next week, inshaAllah!

Shawl Update

After working on it almost exclusively for the last week, this is how far along I have come in my Victorian Lace today's three-corner clover pattern shawl. As this shawl is started from the outer edge, the initial rows are very long and take a lot of time. I am already noticing that rows are taking less time now.

However, I think it is time for a break now and I might resume Gail for the next few days.

Gail /Nightsongs

Yesterday, I cast on another lace project, mostly because I was finding hard to pick up my DK yarn for Cece in this heat. I am using Knit Picks Shimmer that I got from a friend to knit up Gail (aka Nightsongs).

I am using gold colored beads in this knit. My first time with the beads. I had a great time knitting this yesterday, I haven't enjoyed a knit that much in some time. I have about 6 or seven pattern repeats to do yet and for the moment this is my favorite WIP.

Coatimundi KAL, week 5

The now-in-the-second-month KAL has suffered from neglect lately, but that is changing now as I push to get both projects done by the end of April, inshaAllah. I don't have any latest photos, but I'm done with the first half of the shawl, including the edging. And as for the coat, I'm right now working on the second sleeve.
Shells is well ahead now with her coat almost done and her shawl looks so pretty.

Because I missed Crochet

I has been a couple of months since my last crochet project (which was the Breath of Spring doily), and I was missing not doing crochet. Then, yesterday, I had a sudden urge to start something in crochet. So, I got out my huge ball of Jo-Ann Sensation Rainbow Boucle and started the Seraphina shawl. It is quite amazing how fast crochet goes, especially with a 6.5mm hook. I did not spend that much time on it, but it has grown a respectable size. And, was my family ever so wowed by the size of that 11 oz ball of yarn! LOL.