FINISHED! Noro Shawlette!

I finished another project I have had on my needles for a few months. My Noro Shawlette which I started back in March. This is a free pattern on Ravelry that i have made several times called 22.5 Degrees by Martina Behm. Very simple, very functional and just wonderful!

I knit this from most of two balls of Noro Silk Garden Lite I had in my stash. This yarn had SO many bad splits and joins in it that I actually cut out a color join at one point. It made me a little hostile at Noro, but it's hard to be pissed off when the results are so pretty.

A shawl in the bush is worth????

Here it is blocking out. I soak it in Eucalan for about 20-30 minutes, squeeze it, roll it in a towel and then pin it to the mat to air dry. I only used about a dozen pins on this one - I wasn't trying to aggressively block it - I just wanted it to dry in a nice shape.

I love this pattern and am very happy with my finished product!

Kal Shawl Complete!

GLORY!

I have finally finished my Kal Shawl!

This was the Knit A Long put on by Vickie Howell in the Stitch.Rock.Love. group on Ravelry and with Knit Simple Magazine and Caron Yarns. A very simple shawl knit from the top down and then we got to chose one of three edging types. I decided to use the crochet edge and am really happy with the results.

Of course the day I finished the shawl it was 92F (33.3C) and 30 mile an hour winds. It made blocking a cinch though as I just tied it to my fence and sprayed it with water. It was dry in no time at all!

I really love the shawl. It took 4 skeins of Sheep(ish) yarn in Magenta(ish). Just over three skeins in the body and the bulk of the 4th went into the border. The border was really easy and I whipped it out in less than a day!

The shawl was supposed to be completed in one week. Seriously? I don't know how fast other people knit, but there was no way this was getting done in a week. I haven't done many KALS, so I have to wonder how they are run compared to the ones Vickie Howell has been hosting. I feel like there is room for improvement. The patterns for the two I have done are only available if you purchase the magazine. I think they should make them available for download for either free or for a minimal fee. Some people really struggle to find the magazine. The yarn (Vickie Howell's Sheep(ish) yarn has very limited availability. It's getting more available - but right now many people write that they cannot find the yarn. And this pattern in particular should have had a minimum of two weeks to finish.

I also have to say I felt like Vickie was not really there for us much. She didn't knit along with us. She complained of having guests at her house during the week she was running the Kal so she was having a hard time getting on the boards. (And she forgot to subscribe to the board where she posted the KAL for awhile - so people were asking questions about how much yarn to purchase for the shawl because two different amounts were given (oops!) and were met by silence.) And the last day of the KAL she flew out of town and was basically like "Help each other - I am out of here!" I kind of felt like she was happy to pimp her stuff at us and to use our photos and comments to promote her products, but she wasn't there all that much for us. Do I have unrealistic expectations? Should the host of a KAL actually be knitting a long with the group and there to answer questions? Maybe I expect too much.

The community on the other hand was wonderful! There were many great people I "met" on Ravelry and we all supported each other and encouraged each other. I would do another KAL through Vickie/Knit Simple/Caron yarns just for the wonderful community of people that it draws. I shouldn't be surprised about the community of wonderful people on Ravelry though, should I?

I have a ton of pictures on my Project page on Ravelry if anyone wants to see more of them or wants the details on the shawl. I really love the Sheep(ish) yarn and am tickled with my shawl.

YAY FOR Finished Objects!

Ladybug Picnic

My first finished object of 2012! WOOT! I started working on this WAY back in July of last summer, a simple project I started for a family picnic. The pattern is a free one on Ravely called Scrunchable Scarf and it's a pretty popular pattern. Wonderful use of a single skein and an easy pattern to memorize.

All that being said it was boring boring boring and I had to force myself to work on it. Which is why it took me about 6 months to finish a simple scarf.

The yarn is by Pagewood Farms and is called Kissi. 210 yards of 100% merino wool - it reminds me a lot of Malabrigo but more expensive. The colors in this and the squish of the yarn were so amazing that I had to have it.

The length after I soaked it in Eucalin (See bottom picture for a look at the dye that came out of this puppy!) was just over Six feet! I was surprised by how long it got. This made blocking a bit interesting. I was worried about laying my blocking blocks on the floor with oodles of pins sticking out. Our cat has never pulled out my pins - but I don't want to tempt her. So I folded the scarf in half and used a rolled towel to pull the scarf taut. I then pinned the towel and it worked just perfect!

The finished scarf is quite pretty and I am very pleased with it! Love the colors in it - I suspect it will "go with" almost anything since there is a ton of colors in there. It's quite soft and squishy still. And the length ended up making it versatile in how I can wrap it around my neck. I am very pleased!
 

And here is the "bath water" to demonstrate how much dye came out of this yarn after a soak. As usual, blocking made a huge difference in this project. I am more and more a fan of blocking even though it delays my gratification.

More specific project notes can be found on my project page on Ravelry.

Sunday Snippets

This is my first Sunday Snippets. It's hard to not explain each photo......