Barefoot Shepherdess

Baffled!

It's a very simple and straightforward pattern.  And yet.

In the end, I quelled the inner perfectionist and forged ahead with my Lacy Baktus.  After all, I didn't have so far to go...  So I knitted and knitted.  But the shawl never seemed to end and the error in the knitting seemed to only get worse.  When I laid it out to check my progress, what I felt was confirmed:

The shawl should have ended by now, or at least in a few rows, had it matched the first half.  But somehow, the rate of the decreases doesn't match the rate of the increases, though it looks like it does.  And the rows of holes have become noticeably slanted towards the working end too.  All this makes the mismatch even more obvious.

I'm following the pattern exactly as written... at least, I think I am.  The frustrating part is just that: I can't figure out what I did wrong and where exactly this all started.

This can't be so hard...  Have I really been away from knitting that long??

I think this project is going on the shelf for a while.

Out of Practice

So I'm working on a Lacy Baktus.  But it looks like I had been away from knitting a lot longer than I thought.  Too long, it seems.  How else do I explain...

1. Dropping a stitch, then not noticing until 90 rows later.  Naturally, in the widest part.

2. Making k2tog tbl and thinking that I was making regular k2tog and realizing it only halfway through the project.  At least it was a consistent mistake.

3. Apparently having grossly inconsistent gauge, leading to obviously mismatching halves:

This was supposed to be a quick and easy project to get me back into the knitting mode.  But it's not turning out that way, because added to the above is:

4. A much slower knitting pace.

I guess it's a good thing I decided to do a warming-up project before I tackled something major or something in a pair.  Still, I've got this to finish.  To rip or not to rip...?  Ripping means a few hours worth of work and a severely deflated morale, but not ripping means thinking about the mismatch every time I look at this.  Not a happy choice, either way.

Sunday :: Knitting

Stork's Nest Scarf.  Pattern from Piecework magazine, Jan/Feb 2008 issue.  Knit with my own handspun silk/wool yarn.  A first time, in fact, for knitting with my own handspun.

It's the perfect summertime accessory.  I love the result! 

Sunday :: Knitting

Or rather, blocking.  I finished this scarf last summer but never got around to blocking it until now.  Pinning out lace is such a long and tedious process...  But the result is always so beautiful.  I'm eagerly waiting for it to dry.

Shawl Season

And on occasion, I do knit:

The temperatures are warming up here now, and for me, there's nothing better to knit in the summer than a lace shawl.  Though I've seen some great new patterns I'd like to knit recently, I'm still working on the Thanksgiving Shawl I started last spring.  I'm on the border section now, and can just begin to make out the scalloped feather design:

My progress is rather slow as I'm only managing to knit a row here and there.  But a row now means more than 900 stitches, only to get longer still before the end...

I have about 70 rows left, so perhaps by the end of the summer...?

Knitting Too

I haven't completely abandoned knitting, really!  Over the summer holiday, I started something new:

It's the Stork's Nest Scarf by Nancy Bush.  Though I already had the Thanksgiving Shawl on the needles, I wanted a smaller, simpler project, one that I could easily knit even as I chatted with my relatives.  This one fit the bill perfectly.

I also wanted to make use of my handspun merino/silk, and I think this pattern was a good match.  The lace pattern is a simple one, and the slight variegation of the yarn gives it a nice depth and dimension for added interest.  It's gotten pretty long already, but I plan to keep going until I run out of yarn, as I don't want to waste any of it.  Still, I don't want it to be too long; after all, it'll lengthen a bit after blocking.  What do you consider a good length for a lace scarf, pre-blocking?

Swallowtail Encore

Because every completed shawl deserves proper modeled photos, I think.

Swallowtail Shawl, all modeled here by my patient and lovely mom.

Second Try

The nupps weren't nearly so bad the second time around.  I still can't say that I enjoyed them, but the resulting 'beads' of yarn are quite lovely.  I do think now that they were worth the trouble.

I finished knitting this shawl more than a week ago, but it was only today, that I got around to the blocking:

It's a good think I learned to manage those nupps with this project, as I've got this book on pre-order.  If the cover design is any indication, the designs inside are bound to be beautiful.  I can hardly wait!  Expect to see more nupps here, come fall.

Sometimes...

I hate being a perfectionist.

Last night, I sat down to tackle the Swallowtail again, determind to get the second lily-of-the-valley section out of the way.  And it was going amazingly smoothly-- as if, in putting it aside for several days, I discovered within me some extra patience and dexterity, and-- shall I dare say it?-- the key to the technique.

But as I knitted on, the glaring uneveness of the first section nagged at me, popping into my sight at every opportunity.  After a few more rows, I couldn't ignore it any longer: I had to rip.  And that's exactly what I did:

What's more, in my rush to get the unpleasant business done and over with, I got the yarn all a-tangle.  I tried to remain patient about it, but in the end, resorted to breaking the yarn to get rid of the most unmanageable section.

Truth be told, I already knew at the back of my mind that I wouldn't be satisfied unless I ripped and re-knitted, as soon as I completed the first section.  But I'm as stubborn (or perhaps optimistic...?) as I am a perfectionist-- so I trudged on in wasted effort.  You can see why it took me this long to actually do it.

Now I'm back to beginning of the nupps section, and strangely enough, I feel... refreshed.  I'm ready-- bring on those nupps!

Back To Knitting

Last week, I took a mini-vacation with Alex and went to stay with my parents.  I had to leave my spinning behind, but my knitting came with me-- and there's been some decent progress on my projects.  Swallowtail especially, has grown a lot:

 

I've finished the first lily-of-the-valley section, but am dragging my feet about the second.  This is my first project with nupps, and well... I don't really like them.  They certainly look pretty, but aren't so fun to make.  No matter how loosely I form the stitches in the previous row, the p5togs still require a great deal of strain and awkward maneuvering.  As a result, my nupps look sort of messy.  Also, my yarn overs on either side of the nupps are larger on one half of the shawl than the other.  I'm hoping that blocking will make everything a little more even and attractive.

The Thanksgiving Shawl has gotten some attention too...

...though it's been giving me a bit of a headache.  First, I couldn't get the stitch count to work out properly on the 'breaking row'-- the row that separates the center square section from the border-- even after several careful tries.  Wondering if the pattern was at fault, I checked the math-- and sure enough, the numbers didn't match up.  As there wasn't an errata for the pattern, I emailed Sharon Miller to be sure that I hadn't simply misread the instructions-- and she confirmed the error.  If you are working on this shawl too, do take note of the row and ask Sharon about it.

Now I'm into the border section, only to find myself short of the light blue yarn.  And not just by a tiny bit, but by several very long rounds.  Since I didn't swatch, I don't know if I'm completely off from the given gauge, but I'm not knitting especially loosely and I am using the suggested needle size.  Whatever the case, I'm planning on altering the color scheme to introduce the next blue color early to make up for it. Even with these issues though, I still do love the shawl.

With the knitting as they are, I think it'll be back to spinning soon...