Calorimetry

I'm still working on the Adamas Shawl but I've also been experimenting with the Calorimetry. My first attempt was ripped down before pictures were taken. It was too big. 120 stitches on size 7 needles with worsted weight yarn. It was very stretchy. This picture shows my second attempt. It was done with sock yarn, size 2 needles and 88 stitches. It was a wee bit tight but works ok for a headband for a small 9 yo.












This next picture is same yarn, same needles but 120 stitches. Worked row 5 until I had 10 markers on each side (not counting the first 2 sts on each side). The fit was good. I say "was" because the day after it was finished it was lost. I'm thinking it will turn up sooner or later. But until then a new yarn was picked to make a second one.

I've made two others...no pictures?!? Plus I've got the replacement one made. I'm going to do some modeling shoots today.

Diamond Fantasy off the Blocking Board

Approximate finished measurements:
Top to tip: 27"
Tip to top corners: over 36"
Top edge: 52"

The Miracle of Lace

Here is my Diamond Fantasy shawl (really more a scarf size again) right off the needles. Looks cozy and warm and all but not anything like it is suppose to look. Even the color of the yarn is not portrayed accurately in this photo.





Here it is after a bath and a good stretching. It is still pinned to the blocking board. This is one of those folding cardboard boards that I used to use for cutting fabric. To protect the cardboard from the wet shawl I covered the board in a medium weight clear plastic. That's the stuff you can get at Wal-mart or a Ben Franklin type store located in the fabric section by the large rolls of vinyl tablecloth. This board worked WAY better than the gingham checked fabric I used previously. Hope it's dry by bed time! (Oops...I cut the sheets out of the picture. It's blocked on the bed!)


Now about the pattern....


The Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding can be made scarf size or shawl size. The one I made is scarf size and only uses 350 yds of fingering weight yarn. I used one skein of Mountain Colors-Bearfoot . I love it for socks and thought it would be pretty for this scarf-sized shawl. The color name is Pheasant and it is made up of 60 % Superwash Wool, 25 % Mohair, 15 % Nylon. The dye did bleed out a bit when I soaked the shawl before blocking. I used size 5 circular needles (3.75mm).

I followed the pattern exactly and had about 20 yards of yarn leftover. I was worried that I was going to run short so I placed a lifeline at one half pattern repeat on the last repeat. If I ran out of yarn I would have then ripped back to that lifeline.

Doing the lifeline was easy. I just threaded a piece of thread (still attached to the spool) through the keyhole of my KnitPicks Option needle. Tied a knot so the thread would pull along while I knit the next row. When the row was finished I just had to be sure to leave the thread long enough, cut the thread from the spool, and cut it free from my needle. This also meant that my stitch markers were trapped on that row. But as I used a thinly sliced soda straw (which makes about 50,000 markers...okay maybe not quite that many) I just pulled out some more markers to place on the next row. I also used my row counter that I made with jump rings. The thread was thin enough to just slide through the crack of the jump ring. So I didn't need to let that dangle.

Undulating Rib Socks

I've been a bad blogger. These socks were finished April 29th and I'm first blogging about them now. Oh, well...better late than never.

This sock was my March entry for the SKA (Sock Knitters Anonymous Raverly group). The challenge for March was either an Ann Budd pattern or entrelac. They needed to be finished by April 30th to qualify. I just squeaked under the deadline. (Yeah, I knew to steer clear from the entrelac based on my raveled entrelac dishcloth experience. Here's a link if you want to see entrelac and how it's done.)

This picture doesn't show the pattern very nicely at all. It doesn't look too bad if you click on the picture to make it bigger. I was hoping to get a better picture on my feet. All I managed was a close up shot.

The pattern is from Favorite Socks. It is written to be knit from the cuff to the toe. I knit it the other way...from toe to cuff. So I didn't follow the pattern 100% as written in the book. I used size 0 circular needles...that's 2.0mm for you metric people out there.

This was my first time knitting with SWTC TOFUtsies. I liked the yarn. It was a little splity but not so much that it bugged me. This yarn is 50% superwash wool, 25% soy silk, 22.5% cotton, 2.5% chitin. What's chitin? Something made from shrimp and crab shells. Never thought I'd be wearing that on my feet.

I loved the color (#847) of this yarn. It would make a nice wrap on those cool weather days...or a summery sweater. But I'm all out.

I bought this yarn at Loose Ends Yarn Shop in Mayville. (NB: This shop will be moving at the end of May but luckily the new store front is just south a block or two...on the river side of the street.)

Oh and for a little teaser of what's coming next.
Well, I guess it's not much of a teaser if you look at my "in progress" projects on the side bar. The knitting part is done. I've got to block it yet...get it wet and stretch the dickens out of it. This picture shows the color fairly well.