FO Friday 141: Blue and Green

Spiral Tarot

 ....should never be seen
Without a color in between.''

I seem to recall being told this sartorial advice sometime during my childhood. Along with, never apply your makeup or brush your hair in public. Not eating when walking down the street may have been practical advice as well as sartorial.

Oh well. 

I have finally got around to taking photos of my most recent FOs. Unfortunately, it was quite breezy and so you can also see my interesting choice of small garden implements used to weight them down - no fear, they were clean, no mud or earwigs.

The 3rd Summer Flies Shawl, Term Flies, in Sirdar Softspun DK, colorway 'Duskie. This came out beautifully, and blocked nicely so that it is a huggable size: 60'' across the top, and 20'' deep. This one was commissioned by Destructo Boy for his class teacher as an end-of-term present, and I have to agree with him that she is L'Oreal ie. worth it.

 

The 4th Summer Flies Shawl, Harvest Flies, in Drops Fabel Uni Color, colorway 104 'purple'. This was requested by a SIL via my MIL, for her birthday this summer. I gambled and bunged in another set of butterflies and eyelet lace, as using thetanull's modifications as I've done 3 times before still left the shawl looking small, probably because is it fine yarn. The blocked size is 58'' wide by 21'' deep. Much as I love this pattern, knitting it 4 times (the last twice pretty much consecutively) means that I am pretty sure this was the last time I have made it, and now it will be honorably retired..


 

However, the Afternoon Tea Shawl is definitely one I shall make again, and not just because it is free; I don't think too many of the pictures on Ravelry do it justice - you can't really see the pattern detailing. This is for Mini Diva's class teacher, made using Sirdar Softspun DK in 'Teal'. Blocked size is 51'' wide by 24'' deep.

You'll see I have actually bothered to measure all these shawls, which I don't think I have done before. Mainly it was to satisfy myself that these are a decent size, and ought to be difficult to confuse with a scarf. You'd be surprised how many recipients have thought they'd been given a scarf. But perhaps this only means that they are not 'on trend' like wot I am, and do not know how cool and amazingly fashionable a shawl is. Even if worn as a scarf. Or a belt, may they be forgiven for stretching it in such a cruel way.

While I ponder whether I am already retro and just don't yet realize it, because I can't find one article online saying that shawls are cool, you may pop over to Tami's Amis and see what else is being completed ....

WIP Wednesday 145: Frustration

Robin Wood Tarot

I've just been to pick Destructo Boy up from school, having received a phone call to tell me he had been sick; which means his half-term has started 2 1/2 days early. The spiky cat, Moonheart, also has an upset tummy, but hers is manifesting at the other end. Do NOT ask me how I know, because believe me, you do not want to know.

My American yarn has landed, but I must give in to the ransom demand, prop up more failure pay the extortionate Import VAT Tax before I can actually have it in my hot, greedy little hands. The tax is more than 50% of the value of the yarn. Which I can totally see why the Americans revolted (revoluted ?) - I surely would too, if they taxed my tea like this. I promise I have learned from this hard lesson, and will not repeat the errors I made this time, ie. being honest.

And above you can see the beginnings of my 4th 'Summer Flies' Shawl, which is definitely not in my KTQ2013 list. On this occasion I am calling it 'Harvest Flies' because of the rich plummy purple color of the Drops Fabel UniColor that I found for the ridiculous price of £1.30/50g/205m (approx. $1.96).

This stunning bargain blinded me to the fact that I thought I was buying 4ply/fingering weight yarn, when I guess really it is closer to a laceweight. I bought 3 skeins, thinking 615m would be ample for this shawl, but now I'm wondering if it is. Serves me right.






You, however, can find some yummy things to look at over at Tami's Amis ....

WIP Wednesday 143: Normal Programming is Resumed

The Whispering Tarot

Well, Knit & Crochet Blog Week 2013 is over; the Beltane 2013 Tarot Blog Hop is over; the Bank Holiday weekend was warm, dry and sunny - and all of that is over too: the temperature has dropped along with the much-needed rain.

Meh.

Which might also be translated as 'Bleurgh'. Click on this for today's soundtrack and rejoice in my eclectic taste in music:






For those of you who use a vocabulary of actual real words, anti-climax and ennui are two that are most suitable.

I need to kick my own butt and simply get on. But I'm fairly sure that maybe a cup of tea and a slice of cake are called for first, don't you agree ?

While I boil the kettle, you can see this Not In The Queue item - another Summer Flies Shawl, this time commissioned by Destructo Boy in this silvery shimmery dark blue colorway called 'Duskie', Sirdar Softspun DK for his form teacher's end of term gift:

It is incredibly soft, but as an acrylic-wool-nylon blend yarn it is machine washable, which I imagine is quite a necessity for a teacher.

 However, making that (using Thetanull's alterations to enlarge it) means that the current KTQ2013 (Knit The Queue) item is being somewhat delayed:

If you have an exceptionally good memory, you might recall that I received this book (Handknit Style II) from my Blog Hub Swap 2012 partner, Denise. There are actually several attractive patterns in the book, and I thought I'd start with the pink cabled cardigan, as I was able to obtain the specified yarn (Filatura di Crosa Brilla) fairly easily and at a reasonable price - just unfortunately not in pink. But at least the Eviller Twin will be happy about that.

And yes, the cardigan will be for me, while I have received two more commissions for specific shawls, which I am feeling very flattered about, as neither of them are from my children .... I shall have to squeeze them in somehow. It's good to have this kind of challenge, I must admit I enjoy it.

Do pop on to Tami's Amis to see what everybody else is up to 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 ....

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 ....