The End Of The Never-Ending Shrug

It's time to rip :)

This shrug has been on my needles forever! The pattern is from the Drops website, and is called the "119-29 Bolero in ”Safran” knitted from side to side with flounces along sleeve edges" (nothing like a short, memorable title, eh?) I was knitting it in fingering/sock weight yarn (trekking xll in colourway 341) on 2.75mm needles, and OMG it was taking forever!! I've been knitting on it on and off over the past couple of months (I cast it on at the end of May) and just can't seem to get any more of it done. I think for the past month and a half I've only been knitting two or three rows at a time, then getting really bored. I knit two rows this morning and it was the most boring knitting experience! I finally decided to rip it.

I really like this yarn, and I really like how it looks in k1,p3 rib, but I just can't face knitting any more of it. For this pattern, you knit from the sleeves up to the middle of the back, then do the same again, and graft it together. The thought of knitting all this again is just too much, it has to go!!

The flounces at the ends of the sleeves were actually quite fun to knit. But after that it just became miles and miles of ribbing, which it turns out is not that much fun to knit, even though it can look really pretty. Maybe I can incorporate the flounces into something else...

I don't know what the yarn will become now. Maybe a crocheted shrug as that would go a million times faster, or maybe a shawlette/scarf, or maybe even some socks ;) For now, all I know is that it will not become this shrug.

Stupid Mistake!!! :/

Argh!!

If I ever even think about using the sewn bind-off for the long end of a shawl again, please, please, please tell me not to be such an idiot!!!

Sigh. I'm making the Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West, as I thought this would be a great way to use up some grey wool that I have in my stash. I have a cone of it, and I've used quite a bit making this scarf, and it's going to turn out to be quite a nice, understated scarf in this yarn. I've been knitting diligently and monogamously on this shawl, and I really quite like it.

At the end of the pattern, it says that Stephen used Elizabeth Zimmerman's sewn bind-off and since this is one of my own favourite bind-offs, I thought it would be a fantastic idea to use it also. To cast off around 400 stitches....

Yeah. Not so much. For this bind off, you have to cut the yarn and thread it through the stitches using a darning needle. Did I mention the shawl has ended up with around 400 stitches? That means a looooooooooong piece of yarn being threaded through each stitch twice. It also means a lot of this:



A big knot in the yarn (and this is one of the small ones!), every two or three times that I pull it through the stitches. :( Which I then have to very carefully untangle, because the yarn seems to be a short staple wool, and snaps apart quite easily when any force is applied.

I've done around 40 stitches so far, and needed to take a short computer break before my head exploded. I'm trying to keep zen about it, because the more annoyed I get, the harder I tug on the yarn, and the more likely it is to knot, or even break.

Sigh. Never, ever again. Why didn't I just think to do a lace bind-off instead??? I love the sewn bind-off, but I'm thinking maybe it's not so appropriate for large amounts of stitches.....

FO: Gray Ribbed Shrug

I made this pattern before (Two-Tone Ribbed Shrug by Stephanie Japel, from the book Fitted Knits), and I've practically worn that shrug to death. Apparantly, I haven't blogged about it before (or at least, I can't find the blog post) but the ravelry project page is here. Actually, here's a pic of the black one to compare :)



(Hmm, I appear to have put on a little weight since the last version, lol! But just a little :) )

So I decided to make another one, since the black version is such a stable in my day-to-day wardrobe. I went for gray, since I had two balls of gray yarn in my stash (Robin DK yarn), and I really like this version too!

I changed it a little this time - I used smaller needles, since with the last one I had used 4.5mm needles with the DK/light worsted yarn and while the gauge was correct, the fabric was a little loose, and I think that's partly why it's worn out so much. So of course, by using 4mm needles with the gray version, my gauge was now different. But since I had the old one to measure against, I didn't have to bother doing any complicated maths to change the size :) I just kept increasing till the diagonal raglan line was the same size as on the black shrug, and the width and length ended up being exactly the same as the black one and completely proportional. Yay for the wonders of maths :) Then I just used the directions for the size that I had the stitch count for. And for the arms I just knit until they were the same length as the black version. The neckline ended up being just a little bigger than the other one, but that's OK.

I didn't count this as part of my IntSweMoDo2010, as it hardly took any time at all really, less than a week. I've got kind of a rule going that shrugs only count if they take a long time. I've got one I'm knitting in fingering weight yarn just now that definitely counts, it's neverending!! But it would feel like cheating to me to count such a quick project :)

Next time I go to the yarn store I'm going to buy some more black yarn and make another black one in the same way as this one. I really like this pattern, and it's something I wear a lot, probably the most out of all my knitted garments. It's a great thing to just slip on as I'm going out the door, or if it's just a little chilly but not cold enough for a whole sweater. Or if I just want covered up a little. I totally love it!

FO: IntSweMoDo#7 Women's Weekly Jumper

This pullover is from an issue of Women's Weekly magazine. I'm not sure which issue - my mum rips all the crafty patterns out from her magazines and saves them up for when I visit her, so I get a whole bunch all in one go. This is the first one I've made. When I saw this one in the pile last time I went down to visit her, I totally loved it.

I used Stylecraft Special 4ply yarn in black, and a 3.5mm hook (I think). I started by making the size I would normally make but then it soon became apparant that it was going to be too small. So I went up a size, but I think really I could have comfortably gone up even another one. The arms are a little tight, but I'm hoping it'll stretch out a little with wear. Maybe even a larger hook would be good as well to open out the lace. I'm kind of thinking of making another one, which is why I'm going over what I would do differently :)

The pattern worked up really easily. It was only written, no charts, but it was totally easy to understand, and there were no errors at all in the size I made. It's kind of sad that the lack of errors in a pattern should be a plus, but there are so many patterns that I've made from magazines where I've had to check errata or just fudge bits because of pattern problems. This one though, was perfect. It was definitely a good experience making this pullover, and I'd definitely use another Women's Weekly pattern.

FO: IntSweMoDo#6 Lace On The Bias

I finally got pics of my FOs!! This is one of my IntSweMoDo2010 projects, so it gets a post all to itself. I've got a feeling there will be quite a few FO posts coming over the next little while ;) (I really need to get better at documenting things as I go, lol!)



Technical details:

Pattern: Lace on the Bias by Sam Shubitz from Crochet Today! magazine Jul/Aug 2010
Yarn: Stylecraft Life DK, Olive colourway

I saw this pattern on Ravelry, and favourited a few people's versions. I didn't think I'd be able to make it as I don't normally see Crochet Today magazine in the shops here, but then I went to WHSmith and there it was! Yay!! So I started it immediately :)

I used this Olive yarn as I figured it would look nice in the open lacework pattern. I'd tried to use it for a cabled vest before, but it didn't really work with my colouring as a solid fabric, so I ripped that and made this instead.

The pattern, once I got into it, was quite easy to work up. The lace pattern was easy to "read" in the fabric, so eventually I wasn't reading the chart, just the fabric. Speaking of charts, the pattern was both charted and written, which is good. The way I tend to work with crochet patterns is to try to read the written instructions as I get confused going straight into the chart. Then I use the chart to verify what's going on in the written directions. By doing it this way, I'm hoping to get better at reading crochet charts. At the moment, when I first look at a chart in a pattern, I get a bit confused with all the symbols going in different directions, even though I know technically what each symbol means by itself. I think it's mostly the placement of each stitch, where you're supposed to work into the in row before. Sometimes that isn't very clear to me in a chart, especially in a magazine where there's limited space and the chart can sometimes be a bit squished up.

This chart was pretty good though, and using both it and the written directions, it was easy to work up the vest, and it went quite quickly too. Yay for the quickness of crochet!! :D

I changed the straps, as the ones in the magazine picture looked quite thin, and like they would stretch out. I just worked 5 stitches in US double crochet back and forth until it was a suitable length, then sewed them onto the back. And this way, if they do stretch, then they're thick enough to sew some grosgrain ribbon on to strengthen them.

I'd definitely recommend this pattern. It's quick, fun, and I just love the diagonal lines in the finished item! I even like the fringe, even though the only time I usually like fringe is on bellydance outfits, not normal garments :)

Fiber - Not Just For Spinning!

As well as being bitten by the drop-spindling bug, I've also become interested in needle-felting :) This I blame entirely on my friend. I was totally not interested in anything felty, either wet or dry felty. Then she got shown how to do it at Twist Fiber, and made tons of lovely stuff. Then, she broke her needles and I offered to go in and get her some more (well, it was an excuse to get more fiber and yarn that I just couldn't resist!) The pack had ten needles in it, so I ended up taking some of them for myself, and experimenting with stabbing fiber. And it's awesome!

Needle-felting basically consists of getting a long needle, with some sticky-outy bits on the end, and stabbing it repeatedly into fiber. OK, that's a bit of a rubbish description. Here's a better explanation from the Wikipedia page on felt:

Needle felting is a popular fibre arts craft conducted without the use of water. Special barbed felting needles that are used in industrial felting machines are used by the artist as a sculpting tool. Using a single needle or a small group of needles (2-5) in a hand-held tool, these needles are used to sculpt the wool fibre. The barbs catch the scales on the fibre and push them through the layers of wool, tangling them and binding them together, much like the wet felting process. Fine details can be achieved using this technique, and it is popular for 2D and 3D felted work.

The first thing I made was a little 3D tree:



This was so much fun to make, even though it's kinda basic and doesn't even have any leaves - I've decided it's a winter tree so I don't have to stick tiny little leaves on ;)

I love the structural aspect of 3D needle-felting. You just hold a bit of fiber next to where you want to add and stab it in. And voila, your item gains a whole other dimension! It's like magic. All those little branches just appeared and made a 3d shape!

My next project for needle-felting is more of an "art" project. I'm taking each of the four classical elements - fire, earth, air and water (and possibly adding a fifth one of life energy) and making 2D representations of them, which will be added onto some kind of art picture thing, I'm not sure yet ;) I've made air and earth already:





I really like how the leaf turned out :) The cloud again is kinda basic, but it's cute :)
Learning new crafts is fun :D
These turned out to be about the same size as my hand when held straight, both length and width-wise. Felting is ideal as something to do when I'm playing video games, which is good. I'm playing Pharoah just now, which is a city-building strategy game. You have to build huge pyramids and monuments, so it can take ages to complete a level, even though your city is totally built and self-sufficient, you still have to wait for your little guys to finish building. So needle-felting is good because you can just stab away for a while, then if you have to deal with anything going on in the game, you can just stop, and then go right back to where you were without having to think of dropped stitches or where you were in a pattern. It's just a perfect fit for that aspect of my life, which is awesome :D

My Tour De Fleece Spinning

My plan for the tour de fleece was simple, just to spin :) I didn't manage every day, but I got quite a bit done, and my spinning has definitely improved.

This is what I managed to get done:



and this is one of the chopsticks of single ply up close:



I bought a big bag of corriedale fiber from Twist Fibre Craft Studios. I bought 3 colours, because part of the thing that intrigues me about spinning is the ability to mix different colours, and create different effects. So what I've been doing with the three colours of orange that I have is just taking out a piece, spinning it onto the spindle, then taking a piece of another colour, and just joining it straight on. I've been choosing the size and colour of the pieces at random. Then, once I've spun up all the fibre (I probably have another chopstick's worth of fiber left, if not two!), I'll ply them into a 2-ply yarn. The colours should mix together totally randomly, I'm sure it'll be very interesting. But spinning gives me a way to experiment with colour in a way that I'm not too comfortable doing in knitting or crochet. I'm really enjoying the randomness :)

I've also spun some other singles:





I'm going to ply these together to make a barber-pole effect yarn - which reminds me, I haven't posted my other attempt at this sort of yarn yet! Must take pics tomorrow and post about it!!

I've been doing quite a lot of knitting and crochet as well, which is the reason why I didn't finish the whole bag of orange corriedale fiber in the actual tour de fleece. Of course, I need to catch up on photo-taking for that too :/ I'm so bad at getting photos, I just tend to get really excited about the next project and jump right onto it!