Silk Moon Crescent shawl from KnitCircus - Day 3

A new problem...

I’ll admit, the rows are getting longer. I know this is heading toward row=effort instead of row=progress, but I can’t say that I mind…yet.

The second color change—while subtler— was as delightful as the first. Some of joy comes from the fact that it didn’t take quite so long to get there, but most of the pleasure comes from the pure satisfaction of meeting a sub-goal. I love the ability to wave to a milestone as you pass it by, rather like when you enter a new state on a road trip.  Nothing substantial changes—you are still driving (or, in this case, knitting), but it feels different. If you’re the sort of person who loves the gratification of crossing items off your to do list (and I sure am), color changes give the same rush in a long stretch of garter stitch knitting. 

The eyelet rows do the same thing. I’d have been bored stiff through the long blue portion of this project without those eyelet stitches. Had the first pattern directions read “garter stitch for 100 rows” or such, I might have passed this beautiful piece up. That would have been a shame.

Ah, but here’s a new problem: the collapsing center pull cake. Because the color went from dark to light, I wanted to start with the blue in the center.  I know lots of knitters who prefer the stability of center pull, so you’re not continually watching the cake roll and tilt as you unwind. Only now I’ve gotten to the point where the cake doesn’t have enough center to hold the edges up.  It’s going to fall in on itself any minute, and I’m on the hunt for coping mechanisms.  If you’ve got any, please share?

Silk Moon Crescent shawl from KnitCircus - Day 2

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Cue the David Bowie.

The color change I've been waiting for has arrived!

The steady increase of rows is fine, the regular appearance of eyelet increase rows helps break things up into manageable subgoals, but let’s face it: we were all waiting for the color change.  I thought it would appear around row 57—the 5th eyelet increase row—but it took all the way until the 80th row for that hue to shift.

The color change isn’t particularly sudden—you do see hints of it showing up for a few rows and I found I couldn’t exactly pinpoint when blue became purple. It’s not a slow gradient, either—the shift completes in one or two rows.  In a smaller piece, the change might be more subtle, but in these long rows it happens in a perfect rhythm. I get the marvelous sensation that this fiber and pattern were made for each other. Because they were.

It’s a lovely piece, and I’m enjoying myself immensely. I’ve got a holiday party December 8, and I’ve already decided this will be my accessory of choice.  Will I get it done in time? You’ll just have to wait and see.

Silk Moon Crescent shawl from KnitCircus - Day 1

Feelin' good...

This is what I love about knitting. 

When the color is so rich it goes straight to your soul. When the yarn is so soft it takes your pulse down just by touching it. 

When even my dastardly nemesis the garter tab start can’t diminish my enjoyment of launching a new project. 

Delightful beauty. If knitting could be chocolate cake (oh, the very idea!!), this would be the chocolate cake with buttercream frosting of knitting.

I’m in the early, small row stages when progress feels easy and satisfying.  Oh, I know there are behemoth rows ahead of me, rows that take forever to finish, but today is not that day. 

Today the stresses of my life melt away under the gratifying accumulation of soft and pretty stitches. Rows of eyelets pop their eyes to say “Hello! It’s not all garter—we show up every once in a while, too, just to keep things interesting.”

This is “feel-good knitting.” 

Don’t get me wrong—I like “accomplishment knitting,” too.  I welcome projects that up my skill level or challenge me in new ways.

But there is always a place in my heart—and my knitting bag—for the knitting that just feels wonderful. And this is one of those.

The Asheville Scarf from Friends & Fiberworks - Day 2

The least crazy thing...

I’ve had the craziest of weeks. Plot twists (and not in my books!), surprise issues, things that didn't work the way they were supposed to…you know, life.

If I were knitting a complicated lace project right now, I don’t know that I could pick it up. I'm not sure I'd want to pick it up. Seriously, I don't seem to have enough brain cells left at the end of these days. 

But this scarf? It fits the bill perfectly. I was in another meeting last night (my 3rd!) and I could simply sit and listen and knit. I can’t express how wonderful that was. 

Even if nothing else went right in my day, that row would still be done, I’d be that much closer to the finish line on this project. I can’t say that about much in my life right now. Things seem to unravel as fast as I put them together.

Soothing. That’s the word for this project. The lush greens and easy stitches are soooo soothing. I smile as it grows into itself, stitch by stitch. My breath slows and my pulse rate goes down.

Ah, knitting. What would I do without you?

The Asheville Scarf from Friends & Fiberworks - Day 1

Say hello...

It’s rather satisfying to have met the people who make the yarn you’re using.  In the same way I adored meeting the alpaca who “donated” their fleece to my mittens, I feel a special pleasure in having met Lisa and knowing that her husband dyes the yarn on my needles. It's the knitting version of having the chef come say hello at the restaurant.  As an author, I deeply relate to the “here, I made this for you,” vibe that comes when artists connect with their customers or fans. After all, we who create do so to share. Yarn is created to be knit in the same way my books are written to be read. It’s a connective process.

I’m delighted to start a top down shawl without that pesky garter tab business. I never get it right. The simple increase employed by this pattern means I am off and running in the first handful of rows.  No pattern consultation needed after the first half-hour!  I can go nearly the entire row without looking down, and that’s especially useful in seminars and meetings.

You can tell this is wool. It has the spring, and at the moment, it has the scratch. This is a sturdy fiber.  Not much "ahh” factor between the fingers, but the lush colors and the promise of a softer post-wash texture make it worth the process.  

I’m looking forward to the finished product.

Summer's Shadow Shawl from Hemstitched Heirlooms - Day 6

Whack...

Still. Not. Done. 

And I’ve had one of those smack-my-forehead moments as to why.

Bella, asking "Why aren't you done?"

I was calculating a border row for each of the 342 garter section row stitches.  So I was figuring it would take me 342 rows of border stitches to work my way across the shawl, and set myself a corresponding daily row quota.

Only, I don’t “consume” (for lack of a better word) one garter section row per border row.  The slip-knit-pass-slipped-stitch-over that “attaches” the border row to the garter section only occurs on odd numbered rows.  Which means it takes two border row stitches to “consume” one garter row stitch.  Which means I have nearly 700 border rows to work my way through.

No wonder I feel like I have miles to go before I sleep—I really do!

I’m not going to make you slog through all of this.  I’m kinder than that.  I have one more knitting-filled weekend (long drive, car races, long meeting—all great knitting opportunities) ahead of me.  I’ll post a final installment wherever I land on Monday.  If I have to come back and show you how it all turned out at a later date, so be it.  I’ve got a new Texas installment waiting for you, and as everyone knows, you don’t mess with Texas.

Summer's Shadow Shawl from Hemstitched Heirlooms - Day 4

Life is like a row of lacework...

The nice thing about short rows of lacework is that you don’t really have to worry about getting lost.  This panel, as it flows along the lower edge of all that garter stitch, is definitely knitter-friendly.  Sets of P2s separate the three designs, giving you little milestones in each row.  Hit the P2s when you’re supposed to?  Good—you haven’t dropped a stitch, missed a yarn-over, or messed up some other way.  It’s as if each row has several built-in pats on the back to let you know you’re doing okay.  Not enough of life works like that, in my opinion.

I still can’t decide if the vibrancy of the color is going to overwhelm the clarity of the lacework.  Sometimes, you can have too much going on in a piece.  A textured yarn, for example, will often overpower cables or lacework. Long or subtle variegations generally work okay, but a crowd of color changes rarely allows for the negative space needed to let lacework shine.  Sure, the design will display if I hold this up to the light, or maybe if I wear it against a white blouse, but I usually want my lacework to be really visible.  I want all that hard work to be seen and admired.

That’s not to say it won’t happen with this piece.  You simply can’t tell until it’s blocked—it’s too bunched up right now to show its true character.  I always say it: lacework is like a lot of things in life—parenting, writing, gardening, baking—you never really know what you’ve got until you’re all the way to the finish line.

Forest Gumpian philosophy aside, I am enjoying the progress of this lace as I work my way across the shawl.

Summer's Shadow Shawl from Hemstitched Heirlooms - Day 3

Celebrating freedom--in more ways than one...

Finally, I'm free to turn that magical corner and begin the lace section! 

It’s so energizing to switch to 30-stitch rows, even though I realize I’ll have 342 of them.  The refreshment of something with a bit more substance than all that garter stitch is huge.

I’ll admit to a bit of worry that the business of all these colors—lush and lovely as they are—will hide the lace pattern.  Of course, it’s way too early to give in to such a concern.  This is lacework, after all—you can’t judge it until it’s blocked, much less two repeats in.

One downside is that this project just went up several notches in the concentration requirement department.  Row counters will take care of some of it, but if I lose my way mid-row (which, at 32 stitches per row is easily preventable but not impossible), I’m sunk. That may make the Summer's Shadow shawl a poor choice for public or meeting knitting.  I’ll need to get more familiar with the 12-row repeat before I feel confident venturing out of the house with this.

Lucky for me, it’s a holiday weekend and I have lots of relaxing, uninterrupted knitting time at my disposal. Happy Independence Day, those of you in the U.S.!

PS: I realized I've been using the wrong name for this shawl: it's Summer's Shadow, not Summer Shadow.  My apologies to designer Angelea McGarrah.

Age of Brass & Steam Kerchief from The Wool Cabin—Done!

The never-ending wow...

For the first years of my knitting career, I never blocked anything.  Some of that might have been because as a novice, I mostly stuck to inexpensive, acrylic fibers.  Not that workhorse yarns don’t have their place, but once you experience the beauty of a quality fiber, it’s hard to go back.  There is something in an exquisite natural fiber—how it feels and how it behaves—that can’t be synthesized with chemistry.

When I open a brand new box of my books, the magic of that first moment never fades no matter how many years I’ve been writing.  It’s always a wow moment.  The same is true for me when I block a knitted piece. When I’m done knitting, it feels like the fiber is ready, eager to become whatever it’s supposed to be.  It’s always a brand new creation when I pull it from the blocking wires.  As if the piece steps into its intended identity. Heady words, I know, but the wonder of blocking is never lost on me. The fibers relax—literally—and settle themselves into the shape and drape we’ve both been working to achieve.

This is a beautiful kerchief.  Just the right weight to take off the air-conditioning chill while enjoying a summer dinner.  Easy enough to be pleasant knitting, beautiful enough to be a satisfying result of knitting efforts.  Well done, Orange Flower Yarn and The Wool Cabin!  If I haven’t yet convinced you, try this free pattern out for yourself.

Next up, I cast on the more complex Summer Shadow shawl from Hemstitched Heirlooms.

On the Spice Market Shawl from Blazing Needles -- Done!

Done!

This is as gorgeous a piece as I’d hoped it would be.  I love the dramatic graphics and the lush, rich colors.  You know you love a shawl when you immediately start planning which tops and dresses go with it, or you get the urge to go shop for more.  As I’ve said before, people often remark that I have a shawl for every outfit, but the truth is I have an outfit for every shawl.  Quick, somebody host me for a book signing so I can wear this beauty in public!

The texture is perfect for Chicago’s finicky weather.  50’s one day, 70’s the next.  Or for those of us who bring our own “personal summers” with us wherever we go thanks to finicky hormones.  It’s got enough heft to offer warmth, but not so much that you can’t throw it over your shoulders to keep off summer air conditioning.

One bit of advice: I do wish I’d adopted the strategy I did for the Leftie shawl and wove in the gazillion ends as I went.  With all these color changes, it took me nearly two hours to weave in the ends.  It was tempting to get sloppy as I neared the end, but I dug in my heels (or, in this case, my craft needle and scissors) and kept at it.

All in all, a truly exquisite piece, and one I’ll wear as often as I can. Thanks, Blazing Needles, for one of my favorite new shawls this year! 

On the Spice Market Shawl from Blazing Needles - Day 5

Earning my stripes…

In the final section of this dramatic shawl, the color does all the talking.  Wide stretches of each of the contrasting colors, separated by a line of alternating main color stitches, cascade out to the edge. In essence, you end where you began—just on a larger scale.  I like the poetry of that.

It comes, however, at the cost of very long garter stitch rows. Not so bad if you’re sitting listening to a presentation, a bit more challenging if you’re trying to get two stripes done so you can put up your next blog post.  It took me longer than expected (no true surprise for a sneaky side-to-side version of a top down shawl), but I’m certainly enjoying the payoff.  One more strip of gray, and then on to the vibrant colors.

I’ve had people stop me and ask me what I’m knitting.  It’s the rich colors and the bold graphic design, I think, that catch their eye.  That makes me happy, because I know that if it’s that appealing on the needles, it will be even more so once it graces my shoulders.  I know I’ll be thrilled whenever someone asks me “Did you make that?” because I’ll get to smile and say “Yes!”

Meet me at The Ryman Wrap from Haus of Yarn - Done!

Worth all the work...

Like all things worked hard for, this result is particularly satisfying.  I wish that you could really see the beauty of the design, but the dark yarn makes it hard to capture in a photo.  The texture—the thing that drew me to the piece in the first place—is a marvelous combination of warm loft and light drape.  Perfect for the Nashville climate, or any other southern town.

And no, it doesn’t curl.  It blocks out flat and behaves exactly like I’d want a shawl to behave.  I’m grateful I went through the trouble of that extra length—it wouldn’t quite wrap the way I like without those additional inches.

It’s got the warmth of wool, but it isn’t bulky.  Just a touch of cover, which is what I look for in a shawl.  This is a versatile piece: the garter stitch middle has a casual air to pair with a pair of jeans, while the lacework edges add enough elegance to top a dress or slacks.  I think it just begs to pair with a creamy fall turtleneck and boots.

You presented a challenge, Haus of Yarn, and I’m glad I was up to it!  Thanks for the experience.

Next up, we meet November’s Reader Who Knits, then it’s on to Northwest Indiana.

Meet me at The Ryman Wrap from Haus of Yarn - Day 4

Managing the middle...

Now we get to the knitty-gritty of length. 

Many shawls aren’t quite long enough for me—particularly the rectangular ones like this—but every inch I add compounds the number of hours its going to take me to finish this.

A scan of the pattern tells me the Section 2 patch of 17-row repeats—17 of stockinette and 17 of garter—forms the true middle of this piece.  I’ve elected to add several more of these repeats in order to achieve the optimal length for a woman of my height.  It’s a guesstimate, however, because blocking will change both width and length.

I’m glad I didn’t choose just a solid yarn—the flecks of color in this Fine Donegal add just the right touch of interest.  I don’t think this wouldn’t work well with a variegated or self-striping yarn, but you might get away with a very subtle tonal fiber.  As it is, I feel like I have just the right yarn for the job.  

I’m worried, as I always am with stockinette pieces, about curling.  Lots of times pieces lay nice and flat when you block them, but curl right up the minute you get them around your neck or across your shoulders.  I’ve already put so much time in to this shawl—with as much to go—that I’d be truly sad to see it curl.

There’s nothing to do but keep knitting and await the outcome.  I very much like what I’ve got so far.

The Clincher Bandana Scarf from Ewe-Nique Yarns - Day 2

Colorplay...

The colors.

I can’t get over the colors.  In honesty, I wasn't too thrilled about the green at the beginning.  It felt way too close to the color of my Brassica shawl to be exciting.  Oh, but when it started to change—wow! The photo doesn't do it justice, trust me.  I kept stopping knitting just to stare at it.  If all the color changes I can see in the cake are as luscious as the ones I’ve seen so far, this is going to be one gorgeous shawl.  Between these and the clever i-cord trim, I bet this is going to be one that gets people stopping me on the street (I love that).

This week has been a travel week for me, and my knitting is always close to my heart (literally and figuratively) when I travel.  Nothing else ever softens the blows of travel—airport lines, long flights, endless waits or delays, all that standing around—like knitting.  It never fails to start up a conversation when I take out my knitting.  Either a fellow knitter wants to “talk shop,” or someone tells me a story about their grandmother or aunt or mom who knit them something.  It makes connections.  Even before I began deliberately seeking out yarn shops for DestiKNITions, I have always treasured the way knitting connects perfect strangers.  

Round two of travel starts tomorrow, so I’ll have more treasures in store—and hopefully more breathtaking color changes.

The Fog Shawl from The Fiber Universe--Done!

Did it double?

No, it didn't.  The side increased by 30%, the "hypotenuse" by 50%, but nothing became twice it’s size.

It’s still beautiful.  The colors are stunning, and I do love how light and open the latticework section feels.  

It’s the perfect thing to throw over my shoulders when a spring breeze or summer air conditioning gets too cool.

Thanks, The Fiber Universe, for a unique knitting adventure!

Up next, the inventive “Clincher” shawl from Ewe-Nique Yarns.

The Fog Shawl from The Fiber Universe--Day 5

Doubting doubling...

My week—and a pair of pesky migraines thanks to Chicago’s roller-coaster of a weather forecast lately—kept me from binding this off until last night.  But with a pair of of 11.23.63 episodes on Hulu, all was accomplished.  With such diverting television, it didn't feel as tedious as expected. I read the book and have enjoyed the adaptation immensely.

This morning’s church sermon was on “Doubting Thomas.”  I find myself right there with our friend Tom on this project.  Erin from The Fiber Universe tells me it will double in size once blocked.  Now that it’s off the needles and lying there looking well, small, I find myself harboring suspicions. Will it really stretch that far?  The lattice I can believe, but all that stockinette?  I can’t see it.

Time for science. Or at least math.  I measured the long side (I suppose technically that’s the hypotenuse of our triangle) and one of the angle sides. 

This way, once I stretch this thing on the wires, I can know for sure even before it dries.  

I’m anxious to see what happens.  I expect you are, too.  Don’t worry, I’ll be sure to share.

Brassica Shawl from Mosaic Yarn Studio--Day 6

Speedy happiness!

Oh, this is the best part.  

Rows start going faster and faster, and my pulse starts racing at the thought of making it to those final stitches.

A funny thing happened on the way to the finish, too.  I memorized the boarder pattern!  I didn’t set out to, but things were so marvelously simple once the middle section of each row became a simple decreased stockinette, I stopped using the row counter.  Then I realized I had stopped looking at the pattern all together because in both the stockinette decreases (ever 4 rows) and in the Petite Open Points border, I easily knew where I was by looking at the stitches.  Usually I have to work at memorizing a repeat pattern, take time to really see what’s going on in the progression of one row to another.  This one just seemed to settle itself in my brain without my noticing.  It was a rather wonderful surprise.

And the speed—everything goes so much faster when you don’t have to keep stopping to check the pattern or add another row to your stitch counter.  I’m flying through the rows!

It just occurred to me today, by the way, that I’ll have a lovely green shawl to wear on St. Patrick’s Day.  I hadn’t planned that, but what a delightful coincidence!

PS: I'm giving myself a seventh post on this project, because I lost so much time to the middle section rip-out disaster.  See you at the finish line!

Brassica Shawl from Mosaic Yarn Studio--Day 3

A worthwhile challenge...

This is harder than I thought.  The first dozen rows of this new section took a LOT of time.  Mostly because at the end of each row I had to stop, take stock, and record where I was in each of three areas:  the border repeats, the individual lace repeats, and how many lace repeats I had done.  That’s a lot of counting for one pattern.  

The good news is that the Sirka is the perfect tool to manage this.  All I had to remember was which color represented which set of counts.  Well, that and to shift each of the little tabs one “click” at the end of each row.  I’m astounded at how many times I almost forgot to do that.

It made for challenging public knitting—needing lots of concentration—and a great deal of my knitting time this week was in public.  That’s why this post is late…I didn’t make progress at the speed I’d hoped.  The good news about knitting, however, is that lives are rarely at stake, and all is well even if a few days behind schedule.

For all its challenges, it is pleasant knitting.  Engaging (if you’re not too distracted) and satisfying.  I’ve never done a shawl that looks so long and narrow in the making before—I am wondering if the shape will change at all once blocked.  The texture is lovely—not too delicate, but still elegant and with a nice drape.  And the fiber…ahh against the fingers.

I’m officially half-way done and very much enjoying myself.

Brassica Shawl from Mosaic Yarn Studio--Day 2

A question of taste?

I admit it, I’m glad the stockinette section of this is over.  Yes, I know there’ll be another one on the far side of the lacework section, but at least there the rows will get shorter and shorter rather than longer and longer.  The journey to 60 stockinette stitches in this portion was long.

Still, You had to pay a dab of attention at the end of every row to know where you were in the border pattern.  That kept it from being tedious.  I thought I’d have memorized the border pattern by now, but even after dozens of repeats, I still have to look at the directions.  Memorization might be a helpful goal before I throw myself into the lacework section.  That way I’ll only be reading one pattern at a time.

Just for fun, I looked up the word “brassica” since Darlene had told me the name comes from a botanical term.  Wikipedia informed me it’s a genus of plants in the mustard family.  Cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts—all of which I like—are all part of this family.  

Interestingly enough, that may be genetic: evidently there’s a compound in them which only tastes bitter to some people depending on their physical tastebuds.  I have brassica-friendly tastebuds.  DestiKNITters old enough to remember the Bush administration (W, that is) will recall that a certain Commander in Chief did not.  Do you?

Come to think of it, my yarn is in a very veggie-botanical color.  I love it when I get thematic without even trying.