WIP Wednesday 178: Haruni Test Knit

World Spirit Tarot

The last test knit I did was for Emily Ross, and the result was a beautiful Arlington Shawl:

I seem to be kinda sorta back on track, and Emily has a pattern that needs testing, so I thought I'd take part; it's a revision of her free pattern, Haruni, made with a stockinette body.

I have just completed the body section, and am ready to start the beaded lace border. I'm using Regia Hand-dyed Effect in a lilacy-grey-purple colorway, and purple-lined crystal size 6/0 beads from Highly Strung Beads. The charts look a little bit confusing, so I think I'll probably take a nap first, yanno, just so I can devote proper awake attention later.

While I'm doing that, you can pop over to Tami's Amis to see what else is being made ....

WIP Wednesday 166: Juggling

Halloween Tarot

Yes, you are totally correct - I have been unusually quiet: I'm sorry. Last week was mainly taken up with the hassles  grief  excitement of making sure the house was presentable for Destructo Boy's 8th birthday and sorting out the bits and bobs that surround such a celebration. 

You'd be surprised how judgmental a group of 8 year old kids can be - and what they tell their parents. I remember Mini Diva telling me about a particular child, that she thought his mother was either drunk or dead as he was always grubby and never seemed to have a coat or sweater (yes, I did stick my nose in and speak to the school when I saw him arrive like this on a wet, cold November morning). Which is why there was a panicked cleaning frenzy so we might appear as superficially normal as everyone else.

On Sunday, we actually took them ie. a group of 6 boys, 1 girl swimming for about 2 hours, then brought them back and fed them lots of sugary-additive type foods before handing them back. I did indeed put my bathing costume on and joined in the watery high jinks, while Titch aka DH bailed to the accompaniment of clucking chicken sounds .... quite frankly, I am amazed they I survived the whole experience. Destructo Boy tells me it was the best birthday party ever.

But back to the important stuff ! Clue 3 for the SusannaIC Autumn MKAL was released, and I had it done by Sunday evening:

I switched back to using straight needles, as although the Addi tips are lovely and sharp, they are quite slippery for laceweight yarn with no counter-balancing weight of work. Now the project is reaching a stage where it will have enough 'body' to resume using the Addis.

As you know, I am not one to sit idly. Well, I am ... but not with empty hands. So I have started a Romanesque Shawl - my choice of pattern kindly gifted to me by Emily Ross as a thank you for test-knitting her Arlington Shawl:

I am using a yarn from a Spanish company new to me, Lanas Stop Baby Wool, which is 25g/140m/153yds of lovely squooshy 100% extrafine merino superwash, competitively priced at £2.71/$4.33 a ball in my local posh LYS. Why yes, those are rather gorgeous Knitpicks Symfonie (Harmony in the USA) circulars that I am using. I found those old things at the bottom of the wardrobe, Titch. No, I don't promise, don't you know lying is a mortal sin ?

I had bought 3 balls, and of course found myself needing a fourth. So while waiting for Monday to pass and the LYS to open, I started Linda Choo's  Forest Pansy Shawl, using the Jamiseon & Smith lace 2ply that my MIL sent me from Shetland:

I have not been able to capture the true vibrancy of the color, more's the pity.

Well, yes, of course I have talked too much now, the pendulum swinging away from silence, and so must run to catch up with all these projects. After I have been over to Tami's Amis for tea and to see what everyone else is up to .....

FO Friday 112: Testing, Testing, One, Two ...

Silver Era Tarot

This lovely card from the Silver Era Tarot portrays for me part of the experience of test-knitting. For my non-knitterly friends, this is the process where a designer creates a design and pattern for an item, and then floats the sheaves of instructions off through the aether to jonesing twitchy fibre addicts with no lives, so that they can knit said design according to the prototypical instructions, discovering along the way any typographical errors, design errors, actual gauge vs. imagined and desired gauge, stuff like that.

Just imagine test pilots, but instead of jets, there are knitting needles with the accompanying excitement and dangers, and I believe you have got an accurate picture of the experience. 

Some while back, my friend Denise from Voie de Vie asked me to test a scarf pattern she had designed; it so happened that I had the perfect yarn on hand for it, so I was glad to comply. It was a Super Secret Mystery Test Knit as no-one was allowed to put up any kind of information about it until Denise did her big reveal. So this was completed some time ago, but I'm doing my big reveal now:

The Piaf Scarf

I used one 200m ball of the ruby red 70% wool/30% silk aran weight yarn the Twins got me from Kingcraig Fabric; the eyelet pattern knitted up quickly on 5.5mm needles, and blocked out it measured 72'' long and 7'' wide. I think the smooshy soft yarn, color and pattern complement each other really nicely. The Piaf Scarf pattern - which I would rate as easy/beginner - also includes instructions for a fringe, if one wishes to add it, and is also available from here.

And then in the miniscule interval where I had completed one project but had not yet started the next (I know, right ? so hard to imagine a gap in time that small and empty), my friend Dianne sucked me along with her into the next test-knitting vortex, for Emily Ross (knitterain), testing her Arlington Shawl pattern using Rico Superba Poems:

It looked like that, until it was finished and blocked, when it magically transformed to this:

 

 
You'll remember I had been stressing a little bit about the I-cord bind-off; but when I got there, I realized I already had used this bind-off on other occasions, I just hadn't known it's name.

 
Lots and lots of double yarn overs in this pattern, including the bind-off itself, which I found challenging but absolutely worthwhile for the unusual effect it creates: it's mainly for this that I'd classify this shawl as an intermediate knit. And once you get into the swing of it, any mistakes you make are almost instantly obvious and therefore much easier to correct. 

Statistics for this shawl are:  
                                 1 repeat of Chart A 
                                 8 repeats of chart B 
                                 4 repeats of Chart C 26g of yarn left 
                                 1 repeat of Chart D 14g of yarn left after Row 10 
                                 9g of yarn left after Row 12 
NB. I did not do row 13/14 of Chart D as I was worried about the yarn running out; and after the i-cord bindoff, I had 4g of yarn left: so that was a pretty accurate guesstimate. When blocked, it measured 16 1/2'' top to bottom, and about 44'' edge to edge.

The Arlington Shawl pattern is not yet available to buy, but will be here when it is.

I believe I have puffed off enough for now, so kindly go and see more loveliness over at Tami's Amis.

WIP Wednesday 116: Black and Blue

Tarot of the World Spirit

So Bloody Vlad has been washed, blocked and dried ready for the big reveal on Friday; and just before I started ripping my eyelashes out one by one from sheer boredom, my friend Dianne alerted me that  Emily Ross aka knitterain was looking for test knitters for a new shawl she's designed.

I moseyed around some and discovered that she is the designer of some other shawls that I have admired from afar: mainly Haruni, and Romanesque, which has been in my queue for some while now.

So I leaped at the chance to test knit her new design; I had intended using my lovely purple Artesano, but I think it would have run a little short. Fortunately, I had this in my stash:

 100 grams, 420 metres/459 yards of slightly rough, slightly fuzzy 4ply sock yarn in a bluey-black colorway (apparently called 'Denim'): Rico Superba 'Poems'. It can be a little tricky to tink back - especially the dark and/or black parts, at night, when it's a complete row of nearly 300 stitches. You don't have to ask me how I know, you have already worked out how I know, haven't you ?

 Anyway. 

In between Mini Diva's Victorian Sharing Day (I never knew Tiddlywinks was such a difficult game) and Destructo Boy's Savannah Sharing Day (learning to play djembe drums and drawing a jungly lion), I have reached Row 11 of Chart D. I have 14 grams, 10 rows and an I-cord bind off to go. I can feel my comfort zone imploding at the mere thought of this I-cord bind off, so like any good ostrich I am pretending it doesn't exist until I actually arrive at it.

Of course, since I'm using straight needles it looks like a mushy lump of inky bruises right now; but I am rather chuffed with the photo.

Pop on over to Tami's Amis for more yarny loveliness ....