New Knitty!

Have you all taken a look at the new Knitty? I was very pleased to see the patterns this issue- during a lot of the recent issues, I haven't really seen anything too exciting, but I loved what I saw in this one! Some of them really stood out to me:

Creekbed, the cover pattern, is amazing. It's a Stephen West design, and I love his work. The colors play off of each other beautifully- I'd love to knit this scarf this winter, maybe in blues or purples. This one went right into the queue.

Rhodion is breathtakingly beautiful. I would love to knit something like this, but I think it's a bit above my skill level at this point. I think I'll just have to drool over other people's FOs as they post them on Ravelry!

I am in love with the Lingerie Socks pattern. It's so elegant and pretty! I'm a little intimidated by the fact that they're knit on size 0 needles, but it will be so worth it to have those beautiful socks! Queued!

Leaflet also went into the queue. The detail on the back is so pretty!

What do you guys think? Did anything in particular catch your eye?

FO: Revontuli Shawl

This is my second entry for 11 Shawls 2011. I’m kind of proud of myself that I finished it so quickly after the first! It sure took me long enough to post it, though, seeing as I finished it in March!

I originally tried to knit this shawl in Paton’s Lace, but had some issues with the yarn and restarted with Kauni. I love the way this turned out. It’s beautiful and drapey, and the way the pattern makes the yarn stripes zig-zag looks so cool. I can definitely see myself making another Revontuli in the future.

I was less impressed with the yarn. Sure, Kauni looks really nice, and I love the long color repeats. However, it’s really not that soft and there was a lot of vegetable matter in it. I got a splinter from knitting with it! It also varied a lot in thickness throughout the skein, from a lace weight to almost a sport weight. I found this really frustrating, as it was hard to pick needles that suited the project.

I tried doing my normal stretchy bind-off, but I ran out of yarn and had to use a regular bind-off (but went up 2 needle sizes) in order to work with the yarn I had.

Pattern: Revontuli

Yarn: Kauni Effekt

Yardage: 652.6 yards (596.74 meters)

Needles: US8

Yardage: 652 yards

The Verdict: I loved the pattern, but I don’t know that I would knit with the yarn again.

This has been a part of Tami's Amis' Finished Object Friday. Go check out her links and see what everyone else is working on!

WIP Wednesday

Remember my Celebrity Tank from last week? Well, this is it now:

I tried it on, and it was huge. It would have hung on me like a sack. As much as I hated to rip out all of that work, I didn’t want to put all that work into a sweater just to have it be unwearable. I’m going to try casting on for a small, instead of a medium.

I know myself well enough to know that I need to cast on for the new size immediately, to help me get over my frustration with the project, or I will put it aside and never touch it again. (By the way, it's not red- that's just the waste yarn for the provisional cast-on)

In happier news, I’m done with the “work even” section of my Clapotis. I just need to do the decreases:

The Entangled Bag is coming along nicely as well. I have finished one of the flowers and started on a vine:

This has been a part of Tami’s Amis’ Work in Progress Wednesdays. Head on over to see what everyone else is working on!

FO: Summer Mystery Shawlette

I decided to participate in WendyKnits' free mystery knit along this summer- the Summer Mystery Shawlette. Although I finished the project on June 2nd, I've just now gotten around to taking pictures.




Basically, Wendy posted a series of "clues," each one containing a chart with the next piece of the project. I suppose it was a little bit of a risk, knitting something when I didn't know what the finished product would look like- what if I didn't like it? However, I've knit Wendy's shawls before, and I love her work, so I figured it couldn't be too awful!

I picked a skein of Malabrigo Sock in Impressionist sky out of my stash. It has only a very subtle variation of blues, so I knew that it would make the lace pattern stand out really well. I also love working with Malabrigo so much- it's so soft! Here's what it looked like before blocking:



I got a little behind on the clues when I went on vacation, but caught up and finished the last clue the day it was released.



I love the finished object- it's gorgeous! The blue is just perfect to go with a lot of different outfits, and the lace pattern is really pretty. I knew Wendy wouldn't steer me wrong! The construction of the shawl is pretty neat, too- most triangle shawls are knit from the top down, but this one is bottom-up, meaning that you do all of those tortuously long rows first, making your progress seem to fly at the end. This is also my fourth shawl in 11 Shawls 2011.



This was my first knit-a-long, and I really enjoyed it. It was really cool to be working on the same project as so many other people, and to see their progress and compare it with my own. Additionally, it provided a LOT of pattern support- if anyone had a problem, so many other people had been working on the shawl that they had already figured out the solution! I definitely look forward to another knit-a-long in the future.




Pattern: Summer Mystery Shawlette
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock
Colorway: Impressionist Sky
Needles: US7 for the body, US9 for the cast-on.
Yardage: 300 yards
Dimensions: 49 inches across, 17.25 down the spine

This has been a part of Tami's Amis' Finished Object Friday. Go check out her links and see what everyone else is working on!

WIP Wednesday

It's been awhile, I know!

Right now, the projects I’m devoting the most attention to are a shawl, a sweater, and a bag.

The shawl is Knitty’s Clapotis. I knit one (coming in a future FO Friday post), and enjoyed it so much that I decided to knit another one! The first one was out of a wool/alpaca blend; this one is out of Elann Adara, a cotton/linen blend. I’m enjoying watching the different way the patterns work up! I’m a little over half-way done with this Clapotis.

I’m also working on the Celebrity Tank from the Summer 2011 Knitcircus. I saw it and fell in love- in fact, I bought the entire pattern collection because of this pattern! (Not that the other patterns aren’t gorgeous things I plan to knit, but this was thing I needed to cast on for immediately!) I was pretty surprised to see on Ravelry that I’m only the second person knitting it- apparently other people weren’t quite as enthusiastic about it as I am! I’m knitting it in Elann Pegasus, a beautiful cotton/rayon blend. The rayon provides a little bit of shine to it, and is so pretty! I’m not quite sure what color this is- Elann calls it “Opal Gray,” but it looks different in different lights. Sometimes it looks gray, sometimes beige, and sometimes lavender. I suspect this will be a versatile top that will pick up the colors of whatever I’m wearing. I was having some trouble with the lace edging and decided that I really wanted the focus to be on the ruffle, anyway- so I decided to do a folded hem bottom and omit the ribbon.

This post has not been sponsored by Elann, I swear, even though both of these WIPS were made from Elann products- I just really like their yarn!

Last but not least, I’m working on an Entangled bag. The bag body itself has been knit and felted, and I’m working on the embellishments at the moment.

I’m knitting the flowers out of Frabjous Fibers Recycled Silk, and the vines and leaves out of Frabjous Fibers Banana Silk. These are both special skeins that I picked up at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. I’m going to go fabric shopping for the bag’s lining when I visit my parents this weekend, because they have better fabric stores than I do.

What are you working on? Want to see everyone else’s creativity-in-progress? Head over to Tami’s Ami’s Work in Progress Wednesday!

FO: Cafe au Lait Mitts

My mom complained to my father that she wished she had a second pair of fingerless mitts to wear when she’s teaching. He relayed this information to me (although, why she didn’t ask me directly is a mystery!), and I cast on for a pair of Café au Lait mitts.

They definitely turned out to be a success. They’re just the tiniest bit tight on me, and since Mom has smaller hands, they were a perfect fit. I love the lace pattern, and the fact that it looks like it has cables without having the effort of actually cabling. These knit up so quickly, and they were super-easy. Mom loves them!

Pattern: Café au Lait Mitts

Yarn: Knitpicks Swish DK

Needles: US3

The Verdict: I love the way these knit up! They’re perfect for Mom. I definitely would use the yarn again. I’m not sure if I’d knit the same pattern again, but only because there are so many other fingerless mitts out there that I am dying to try.

FO: A Girl's Best Friend Shawl

It is amazing what a difference blocking can make! My Girl’s Best Friend Shawl went from this:

To this:

I love the way it turned out. The lace is so pretty, and the simple stockinette of the body compliments it perfectly.

I also love the color. It’s a nice, pale pink, with gorgeous splashes of darker pinks and purples throughout. Although it has one spot with some slight pooling, pooling action was mostly minimal through the project.

Look how well it drapes:

Here’s a picture from the back:

As you can tell, I am completely in love with my finished object. I am also thrilled to have completed my first shawl for 11 Shawls 2011.

I was really happy with this yarn. It blocks so beautifully. I was a little concerned about the stockinette curling, but the blocking seems to have fixed that completely. The way the colors are distributed is also amazing. It’s not as soft as Malabrigo (but what is?), but definitely still comfortable against my bare skin. I still have two projects worth of the same yarn in different colorways, and I cannot wait to use them, too!

Project: A Girl’s Best Friend Shawl

Yarn: Aracania Itata Multy

Needles: US8, US10 (for the bind off only)

The Verdict: I am extremely pleased with the way this turned out!