Cured

This past Monday I tweeted that I was sitting in a coffee shop, working on my Color Affection shawl. What I should have said, was that I was binding off my Color Affection, and feeling somewhat bittersweet about it...

Pattern: Color Affection by Veera Valimaki
Yarn: Countess Ablaze Lord of Silk in "Grey Skies in Manchester", "Antique Rose" and "Only When Invited". I ended up using  278 yds of grey, 168 yds of pink and 238 yds of muticolored.
Needles: US 6/4.0 mm
Start/finish: 19 October - 12 November 2012
Comments/mods: well. For comments, I think I'm not alone in saying this is a lovely, well-written, and completely addictive pattern (if you like garter stitch). Once the trauma of choosing a color combination was finished, the actual knitting was fabulous - not too fiddly (good TV knitting), but enough going on that it was interesting. I'm sure others have also succumbed to long hours of garter stitch, just to get the next set of stripes done!

Mods: two major modifications to the pattern. First, I used a garter tab to start the shawl instead of a straight cast on as called for. Second, I knit Section A as written and found that the edges were really tight. Ripped back and added a yarn over between the first two stitches of every row (in the garter border), that got dropped on subsequent rows so the stitch count didn't change. That added enough extra yarn at the edges that it curves into a lovely arc.
 
At some point in the short row section I stopped and counted stitches, and didn't have the number I was supposed to have. Instead of driving myself over the brink and trying to figure out where I'd gone wrong and fix it, I said "What the hell!" and soldiered on. It's garter stitch. It's a scarf. No. Big. Deal.

I'm a bit surprised by the amount of yarn I used of the various colors. Unlike Brenda, I used mostly color A and color C, with color B coming in at the least yardage required. Hmmm...to be fair, I didn't weigh the balls before I started, so I'm not 100% that they were full skeins. But they should have been.

As a scientist, I feel obligated to try to reproduce my yardage results for posterity and the good of the general knitting public. Therefore, I am going to make the sacrifice and knit another Color Infection Affection shawl. Now the question becomes, what colors? Help me decide people!

This is a portion of my sock yarn stash. There are a few skeins secreted here and there, and none of the handspun is in here, but this is what I'm starting with. I've tried a few combinations - see what you think.

#1 - Hello Orange!

#2 - The Manly Subtle Version

#3 - Teal + Sparkly Purple + Grey

#4 - Teal + Sparkly Purple + White

#5 - You Won't Lose Me in an Avalanche

#6 - What goes with Yellowy Green?

#7 - Ugh. In Retrospect, No.

#8 - Rocky Point, Mexico

#9 - Predictable

#10 - I Think My Subconscious Wants to Get Rid of That Orange Yarn...

If you have other suggestions, please do post a comment. Infection 1.0 is currently drying on my guest bed, so modeled shots will have to be for another time.

Neglected FOs

OK, school has started, some of the school run bugs have been worked out, and I suddenly have a bunch of hours in my day when I'm not being called upon to feed anyone or read books or mediate in the latest round of she-took-my-toy-she-touched-me-she's-looking-at-me! There are a number of things that I finished up over the summer but never blogged about, which does tend to make me feel like they're not actually really finished.

Up first, Lady Stark's Clapotis.


So named because of the colorway of the fiber.

Yarn: handspun BFL/silk from the Hello Yarn Fiber Club (July 2011 offering), colorway "Night Gathers" (Thank you GRRM!), 460 yds of DK/sport/fingering weight singles (8 oz).
Pattern: Clapotis by Kate Gilbert
Needles: US 7/4.5 mm, I think. I forgot to put that little detail into my project page on Ravelry, and I finished the darn thing three months ago, so I have no idea.
Start/finish: 17 May - 3 June 2012.
Comments/mods: this is the second time I've knit this pattern. The first time (also in handspun) I did some mods as recommended by the intarwebs (i.e. knitting the first and last stitch of each stockinette band through the back loop to keep it tighter). I did a similar mod this time around, although only on the right side. I worked the increase section, weight the yarn, worked straight until I had enough (by weight) to work the decrease section, and ended up using every last inch. Mostly I spent my time hypnotized by watching the colors appear...






Is that too many pictures?

Deadline projects

Sorry about the lack of post on Monday - I spent a large part of the day lying on the couch in a stupor, fighting my way through a bout of flu, courtesy of Eldest Child, and with my brains full of stupified rage at the gall of some American politicians. But I managed to find some time to pattern surf and find the perfect new deadline project.

I found out on Sunday that someone quite dear to me is lined up for some heavy duty surgery in a couple of weeks. I think a pretty lace shawl knit in some cashmere-blend yarn might be just the thing to help with the hospital stay. If I get it in the mail by the middle of next week, I should be in good shape. Oy.

The center panel is 25 15 (!) repeats of a 6 row lace pattern. The edging pattern is 20 rows. There's a few rows in between the two. I'm currently working on repeat #8. I'm feeling pretty optimistic at this stage of the game. Stay tuned for the (inevitable) change in outlook.

Hooray!

Found: one knitting mojo

Please note: 95% of what you see there was knit between Christmas and New Year's - I'm just showing it off because I actually added some rows today. It's a fingering weight version of the Penobscot Bay Shawl using Misti Alpaca sock, and it's luscious!

Diagnosed: one case of flu morphing into a never ending series of colds. Now on antibiotics and feeling infinitely better. Phew!

In fact, I'm feeling so much better that I photographed approximately a year's worth of fiber club that had been neglected. I feel so much more organized, despite the fact that it looks like a herd of sheep exploded inside a dye factory in my guestroom right now. Oh well.

Rainbow Icelandic singles

From the gradient fiber I posted earlier this week, I ended up with this:

163 yds of singles (out of ~3.5 oz). I spun these at a low ratio (7.5:1) so that I didn't end up with wire instead of yarn. I hadn't spun Icelandic before, and it wasn't the smoothest experience. I think this top had both fiber types (tog and thel, which is the outer and under coats respectively), so the staple length wasn't consistent. I kept getting points where the shorter undercoat made clumps and slubs in the singles. It was a bit of a frustrating experience, but the finished yarn is pretty nice anyway.

I couldn't resist, so today, after I took the finished skeins pictures, I balled it up,

these colors are pretty true to life

and cast on for EZ's Pi shawl.

I'm working the increase rows as invisible increases and doing yo, k2tog whenever the color shifts in the yarn. It's not going to be very big, but maybe the girls can use it for a stuffed animal or something.