When Tupac Met Scheherazade . . .

He reallllly loved her. She was so soft and lovely, that he just couldn't resist.




I was having a big tidy in my bedroom the other day, and this is what I found.




Yup, my dog Tupac had somehow managed to get the stole off of the table where it was, and hide it just beside his bed, inbetween it and my bed, so that he could use it as it pillow. Now, it's a big dog-hairy mess!

I was so gutted when I saw that. But at least he only likes to use my knitting as a pillow. I've seen some horror pics on ravlery of puppies chewing knitting to death, so I guess in the grand scheme of things, this is not too bad. Just annoying.

Oh well, all it need is all the hairs picked off (how can all that hair fall off a dog and he still be fluffy, I don't get it!), and a good wash to get the dog stink off. Sigh.

I guess it's kind of cute, that he liked my stole so much he had to rest his head on it, but oh, it did not seem cute when I found it! I'll have to be more careful about where I store my knitting!

Scheherazade done and Wicked begun!

Schehrazade is blocked!




It's HUGE, at least lengthways - I had to clear a big space on the floor to get a decent photo, and even then there was still crap in the way :( (I'm having a few issues with the whole spring-cleaning thing that's going on. Please ignore me while I have a tantrum or two)

But I have to say, I think this is the most beautiful thing I've ever made (all thanks to the wonderful pattern). I really want to make it again, in some proper laceweight. The yarn I used was really thin cobwebby 2 ply, so I think it's a bit thin widthwise.

Some close ups:




I really need to try take better pics of it.

So anyway, I've been working on Wicked for the past few days. I'm using the last few balls of the Wendy Aran that I made Rogue with. I wasn't sure if I was going to have enough for the pocket, but then I got down past the shoulders and realised that it was going to be far too big. I totally forgot all about negative ease :) So, it got ripped back, and I'm making a size smaller. Now it fits fine, but I'm trying it on every inch or so cos it's my first top-down sweater and I'm totally paranoid about shaping. Right now, I'm past the pocket and have done some shaping for the hips, but I've got a feeling that might need to be ripped back and re-shaped. I'm just not confident right now with shaping. I guess I'll need to get over it though, since this arrived from amazon the other day:



I do have a picture of wicked just past the chest, but I'm not posting it cos my bf took it and I look lopsided and weird :)

More Baby Knitting

I made some hats for my cousin's baby, who was born healthy on last Sunday! Yay!



I used two patterns in the making of these - the tinkerbell hat pattern (the one with the crown in my photo), and this beanie pattern. I changed this pattern a bit - cast on 80 sts instead of 92, and then I used this formula for making the larger one - same pattern just with bigger yarn and needles. I've no idea what the yarn was, it was just in the stash, and is now gone! Yippee!

So that's my baby knitting done for a while. The sproglet has loads of clothes given as gifts from various people, plus what my cousin bought herself, so I don't think she'll need any more for quite a while! There's another baby due, but that's in the bf's family, and frankly I can't be bothered making the effort knitting for it. I think my cousin will appreciate the hats and other knitting, whereas I don't think the other soon-to-be-parents would. So I'll just buy them something instead. I'm too busy knitting for myself!

Scheherazade is finished but not blocked. I cast on for the celtic knot stole, but then realised I'd made a mistake about 20 rows ago, and threw it in a corner, where it is ahem, 'resting'. I cast on for that one so quick cos I had to go to my parents' house overnight (when I also dropped off all the baby knitting), and I have this weird fear that if I leave the house on a big journey and don't have anything on the needles, then I won't be coming back. Weird, I know. So, the celtic knot stole was the thing I cast on to ensure my survival on the trip. God, writing that makes me sound so weird, but I guess everyone has theire little quirks, right? Right? (looks round to see everyone backing away slowly)

Scheherazade Halfway Done!

Well, more than actually! Here's a photo (unblocked of course!) of the centre detail:



The edges are rolled in too (blocking will take care of all of that), but I'm well chuffed with how it's turning out. And the provisional cast on went brilliantly! I picked up the stitches, and I had the exact number I was supposed to have! I was very surprised at this, because something always goes wrong just when you think it's all working out ok, doesn't it? But it worked fine, and the join is utterly seamless! Yay! I'm totally going to use this as an alternative to grafting from now on, since my grafting is all crap and seamy :) Assuming I can reverse whatever pattern it is, of course!

Scheherazade (the stole)

Last year I took part in the Mystery Stole 3 KAL, and I loved it! The pattern was really pretty, and it was my first 'proper' lace project. I had problems, documented previously, but overall, I had fun. So around that time I bought the pattern that Melanie had created for the Mystery Stole 2 KAL - Scheherazade. I mean, it's really pretty, AND it's named after the heroine from Arabian Nights! How could I resist?

And now, after what feels like ages, I've finally got around to knitting it. Here's a couple of (unblocked) detail shots:




It has a provisional cast on, which I got much practice doing when I was trying to do the Print O' The Wave Stole (update on that: it's waiting to be frogged, because I didn't have enough yarn, and it looked silly being so small. I will make the pattern again, with enough yarn, but not yet. Too busy with Sheherazade.)

Right now, I've nearly done the first half - you do the provisional cast on in the middle, the do both halves outward from that, so I'm nearly at the top edge. Or the bottom. Whatever, they're both the same. :) I'm using many lifelines, since I learned from at least some of my mistakes with the last lace stole. I've only had to rip back a couple of times, but I'm not getting complacent. That was one of the mistakes last time :)