FO Friday 113: Lucky for Some

Made with the James C.Brett Moonlight Sonata yarn gifted to me by my MIL, I wonder if you remember this unprepossessing sack-like item from last week's WIP Wednesday ?

Look what magic can be wrought by blocking:

A Slice of Berries

 And here is a photo of the lace detail and edging, in which I think you may also be able to see the sparkles in the yarn: 

 

The pattern is A Slice of Autumn/Spring from Kay Meadors, and I may have had about 50m of yarn leftover. It came out a lot bigger in DK - 67'' wide by about 24'' deep. It is also interesting to see the difference that a yarn can make to a project; this is the last Slice of Autumn/Spring that I made, using Crazy Zauberball in 'Olive':

A Slice of Summer

 It looks the same size, but this is modelled by Mini Diva, whereas I am modelling A Slice of Berries. True, she takes the same shoe size as me now, and she is a tall girl, but even so ...

I am very pleased with how it came out: the yarn, the color, the size, and how easy it was. A brilliant pattern which I will probably use again.

Pop over to Tami's Amis to check out what other people are satisfied with today ...

FO Friday 96: Shawla-Palooza

Whimsical Tarot

So while I have been quiet, I have also been industrious, and completed 3 shawls. I have been experimenting with half-circle shawls, and either I have got way quicker at knitting, or the patterns are very easy, or half-circles are quicker than triangular shawls, or there has been a rift in the space-time continuum. Or perhaps a combination of all of the above. 

Anyway, here are the results:

The Celestial Shawl, using Crazy Zauberball in the colorway 'Cloud 7'.

And the 'Slice of Autumn/Spring' Shawl, which I re-named 'A Slice of Summer' as this olive colorway of Crazy Zauberball reminds me of leaves in high summer:

And last, but certainly not least, my 'Summer Flies' made from the YarnAddict Supreme Sock Yarn (50%merino, 50% silk) in the colorway 'Dream Blue' gifted to me by my friend Steph, modelled by it's recipient, my niece on her 21st birthday:

You may remember having seen this yarn before; now it's unrecognizable as the same one. Thank goodness. 

I am really pleased with all of them, and am very likely to make them again: quick, easy, pretty knits. Hop on over to Tami's Amis to see more loveliness ....

WIP Wednesday 99: Pebbles Galore

Tarot of a Moon Garden

So if you read my friend Steph's blog, you'll see some pictures of the beach at Aldeburgh. Yesterday after school it was hot and sometimes sunny, so we went to the beach at Felixstowe, where we picnicked, Mini Diva swam in the sea, Destructo Boy played with the waves, and - bonus - DH turned up to the amazement of all except me, who knew he would be back in time.

Anyway, as you can see, Aldeburgh is not the Champeen of Pebble Beaches, Old Felixstowe is; I promise it is not some random pile of stones, the sea really is just over yonder:

And just to show you, here is the white sail of a boat on the sea:

Of course, the plus side of pebbles vs. sand is that you can knit without worry of granular contamination; so I did. And I am 64 rows into the Celestial Half-Circle Shawl, using the 'Cloud 7' colorway of Crazy Zauberball; it's purty, isn't it ? 

I just need to find that they do this yarn in a peachy/russet/cream colorway, and I would be on cloud 7. Yes, OK, so I know it should be cloud 9, but that wouldn't have worked ... There are lots more pretty things to see over at Tami's Amis ....

Next, Please !

Hanson-Roberts Tarot

So today I had a To Do list with 10 items on it, and I have already completed 8 of them - without having to cheat: I didn't even put 'eat lunch' on there. And number 9 is to blog, which I'm doing right this minute.

One of the items on my list was to wash and block the 'Summer Flies Shawl', which I finished yesterday; I still love the yarn, and the pattern is a nice quick knit, but it would not have been as successful or enjoyable without thetanull's modifications to make it larger. 

As it goes, I added the extra section of butteflies and eyelets, but only 10 rows of the Knotted Openwork section, and 8 rows of the ruffle before I did the Picot Edge bind-off. And that left me with this:

Which is some tiny amount that most definitely would not have stretched to one more row. This is what's known as 'cutting it fine'. But anyway, it is washed and blocking as we speak, so there might be FO pictures come Friday.

Of course, although I finished knitting that yesterday evening, I couldn't cast on my next project right away, as first I had to squirm and suffer through England's penalty shootout defeat to Italy, and then console a very upset Destructo Boy. 

But as all my chores for today are done, I have printed out the beginning instructions for Wendy Johnson's Mystery Summer Solstice Shawl KAL - although I am not certain of which yarn I'll use yet - and also found a nice semi-circle shawl pattern called 'Celestial Shawl' that I think the 'Cloud 7' Crazy Zauberball will be just right for. So I'll be casting on at least one of these tonight when I watch the new episode of 'Grimm'.

WIP Wednesday 98: Yarn Feast

Vision Quest Tarot

So we're talking accumulation as we have gone from mojo-less without any ideas, to having a promising queue and too many ideas. Famine to feast. But we do not repine, as we are a glutton. Have you noticed, the royal 'we' gives us some unique grammatical and/or syntax issues ? Oh well. You'll have to live with it.

Having sorted out the snarls from winding, I very quickly got to the knotted openwork section of the 'Summer Flies' shawl, I ripped it all out and started over on 5mm needles, as the yarn seems more like a sport/DK than a 4ply/fingering, and was coming out a little ... thick ... on the 4mm needles. I am loving the soft, silky feel and summery color:

I have modified it already by adding an extra set of eyelets and another butterfly section following thetanull's notes, to make the shawl bigger. It's a straightforward knit that one can manage without errors even during the excitement of the England - Ukraine match when one is marvelling at the ineptness of Wayne Rooney and his several goal misses.

And in the post I have received as a super-late birthday treat from my Evil Twin and my Good Twin, this:

A beautiful crimson Aran-weight silk and lambswool chenille yarn. There is enough for a sweater for me: my idea being, that as they gifted it to me, that will be pressure to use the yarn, and I have not made anything for myself at all yet, and then also when I wear the sweater, I will think of them.

And in pursuit of my goal of making the four shawls for important ladies ( two down, two to go) I have found the appropriate yarn for the remaining two; I already knew that for one I needed this olive Crazy Zauberball:

But I was having trouble finding what I wanted for the other shawl, until I visited the Addicted2Knitting website, which stocks some unusual Zauberball colorways that I have not found elsewhere; it was here that I found the colorway 'Cloud 7', which is just right:

So yes, I am sitting in the sunshine gloating over my stash and my plans for it: a most enjoyable feeling, let me tell you. You can find other gloatees over at Tami's Amis ....

FO Friday 78: Buses

What with not having finished anything and the swap, it seems like ages since I've done a FO Friday - and in fact, it is: the last proper one was FO Friday 67; and there was that in-between Wednesday one. Of course, now it looks as if I have been stockpiling against some kind of craft zombie apocalypse.

You remember that Uber-Cool Brother confessed to losing the 2nd scarf I made him ? Well, the third time is the charm, so he has now received the scarf made from 2 skeins of scrumptious Drops Alpaca (such brilliant prices, very reasonable, purchased from Garn Studio with the aid of my friend Miss.Mags) in the colorway '6834 Dark Petrol'  using the 'Flemish Block' stitch pattern; unfortunately, I  cannot get the color right in any of the photos - it is really a navy blue shot through with turquoise/teal, not the flat charcoal back color presented here:

Then Mini Diva's birthday approached, which meant a slight hiatus from knitting that resulted in this:

And I have also completed my 2nd Lady Bertram, using Crazy Zauberball in 'Indian Red', destined for my Auntie Hazel:

I wanted more shawl body than edging, compared to last time, so I kept increasing the stockinette section until I had 122 stitches on each side of the 2 spine stitches; I completed the first set of charts, then repeated charts B and A once more, which left me with a mere 10 or 15 yards of yarn left after binding off.

So now I must focus on Chrissy's Lily's Slice of Pi KAL, and the other VIP (Very Important Project) that has a fast-approaching deadline ....both laceweight on skinny needles, both moving as dispiritingly slowly as the most turgid of molasses ....

Pop on over to Tami's Amis to see things finished more regularly and in a timely manner.

Yarn Yumminess #1

So there's been a bit of a bonanza on the fibre front just recently - all totally necessary, je vous assure. First on the doorstep was the yarn for my swap partner in this year's Blog Hub Swap :

Nope, I haven't even unwrapped it myself: it is one of the fabulous colorways available from The Abstract Cat, my favorite indie dyer. You will not believe my restraint when I tell you that I did not order anything for myself. Something I have regretted since, that's for sure.

The next immediately necessary yarn is this:

Nothing like my usual color choice, but this also is not for me. My friend and ex-assistant manager Haylie's second baby Freddie was born at 26 weeks, seriously and life-threateningly early, and was not able to come home until 9 1/2 weeks later  .... His first birthday is in March, and  to celebrate, Haylie is raising money for the ADAPT charity. I have offered to make a shawl for her to auction or raffle, and I thought this colorway 0009 ''Butterfly'' was not only pretty, but appropriate, as the butterfly is a symbol of transformation.

Also in the package was this:

A Crazy Zauberball in the colorway 'Indian Red'. I've been wanting to try out Zauberball for some while, and this one looks perfect to make a shawl for my Auntie Hazel, my Mum's youngest sister. I was staying with her when this was in the charts; she was wandering around Tesco singing it, not having paid attention to the words at all. She also taught me a zillion card games, at which she excels - especially those involving either bluffing, cheating, or both.

Both these yarns I bought from the High Weald Fibre Factory, who have really reasonable prices; the delivery time was quick, and a lovely little touch was the mini-pack of Loveheart sweeties tucked into the centre of the Jawoll Magic yarn. All of this added together means: