Of butterflies and batwings

I found that "something else to crochet" I was looking for. A quick test pattern came up for a crocheted square, designed by Marie over at Underground Crafter. I took the call for testers because I was looking for a small project that wouldn't take much time while I was continuing with my other knitting work.

This square, as yet unnamed, showcases the bullion stitch, which I had never attempted before, as well as crossed double crochets, so it was an opportunity to teach this old dog some new tricks. Using some Cascade 220 remnants from previous projects, it worked up PDQ. I love the dark ombre color creating a frame for the bullions. Very pretty!

So, that was a nice little breather. Then on back to the shawl, which I finished yesterday.

This gorgeous Faroese shawl, titled Thunder and Lightning, is the brainchild of a budding new designer named Tanja Lüscher. I was so impressed with the complexity of stitches Tanja used to create the beautiful and intricate lace design, and I learned a little something here too, about Faroese shawls.

Did you know there were Norwegian islands north of Great Britain called the Faroe Islands? I didn't! But I do now! It seems the traditional shawls created by the artisans on these islands are famous for their clever shaping. Instead of being triangles, they form bat or butterfly wings, designed to allow the ends of the shawl to hang forward securely over the shoulders without the aid of a pin. Brilliant!

With my recycled silk laceweight yarn in the pale icy yellow color, this shawl knitted up fairly quickly. I cast off and blocked it yesterday, and here is the result:

The center panel or gusset is one of the distinguishing features of Faroese shawls. The others are the short lines of yarnovers coming off either side of the gusset towards the top. That shoulder shaping is what makes this puppy different than a triangular shawl, directing the stitches at an almost 90 degree angle from the previous work and causing the ends to fall forward over the shoulders.

Here is a closer look at the lace detail at center back:

I will never cease to be dazzled and amazed by the cleverness of these designers who manage to create feats of engineering while producing such things of beauty. And I'm so privileged to be able to try my hand at their masterpieces.

Breaking out the knitting machine

A wonderful resource has been lying in a box under my bed for the last three years: my knitting machine. I purchased it a little over three years ago, set it up, starting learning how to operate the thing, made one shawl, and then had to pack it up in preparation for a move that took over a year to occur. And it's been in that box all this time. With a little nudge from my husband (who cleared off his desk for me to set it up - thank you, Bob!), it has emerged from the dust bunnies and has now taken up residence in my bedroom, waiting to zip up some fab creations.

In preparation for it's use, I've gone back to some of my stash items, such as the pale yellow and pale pink 100% silk yarns harvested from two J. Jill sweaters I purchased at a yard sale for 75 cents each. Remember these?

They are ideal for my Studio/Singer/Silver Reed SK-700 standard gauge machine. They're either heavy lace or sock weight, and there's plenty of yardage. Just how much yardage, though, was in question. In addition, they still are very wavy from being unraveled. So, I decided to quit putting off the inevitable and start preparing these beauties for their makeover.

First, I needed to get them straightened out. I dug out my long-forgotten niddy-noddy and got to work. I also got to use my beautiful but neglected yarn bowl!

Starting with the pink yarn, I used the niddy-noddy to transform the little "cakes" of yarn into hanks, measuring them as I went along.

After noting the yardage for each hank,

I gave each a dunking into some cool water and then hung them with some weight to straighten them out.

And now they look like this!

Success!

Step 1 accomplished. Tomorrow I'll wind them back into cakes to prepare them for use on the knitting machine and I'll settle on some patterns to try. It's so exciting!



Finishing up Projects 1 & 2; Progress on 3

The first two projects of this challenge are nearly finished. Doing a happy dance!

I've been steadily plugging along with the Zig Zag Baby Blanket. This has become the project I take to my son's track meets with me. It tends to be cold up in those stands, and I'm sometimes there for 3 or more hours. This blanket gives me something simple to do with my hands while I'm watching the runners and keeps me warm at the same time!

When finished, this will be a good size for a stroller blanket. However, I'll still have one whole skein left each of yellow and white, so I'll have to come up with at least one more project for this yarn. I'm thinking about a bunch of baby hats.

On to Project #2: the Cozy Striped Kerchief. I have finished the entire body of this pretty shawlette, but the edges are bothering me, so I'm considering what type of border I can do along the striped edges to finish it nicely. I welcome any and all suggestions! I have plenty of the brown silk/cotton yarn, so that might be an option - maybe a crocheted edge? Hmmm

 

 





It doesn't show clearly in the photo above, but the stripes are so pretty against each other. Here's a closer look:

I am really pleased with how this kerchief has turned out. So glad I ripped out the first try!

Now that these two projects are nearly done, I've already begun looking at what to do next. My sister and I have purchased the pattern for a beautiful crocheted shell, offered by a talented lady who goes by the name Gu'Chet. The pattern recommends using Paton's Silk & Bamboo (the yarn I used in my kerchief!), but I have to follow my own rules! I remembered that I have some lovely 100% silk sock-weight yarn in my stash that I harvested from two J. Jill sweaters I unraveled. Here are the bubble-gum pink and ice yellow yarns I have to work with:

 

I haven't measured anything out yet, but I think there will be enough of either color for the shell. I'm currently testing with a gauge swatch, holding 2 strands together to try to get the DK weight necessary for the pattern, and then I'll do some measurements afterwards.

Quick update on Project #3: Irish Lace Collar. This was on hold for a little while, but I've started back to it again. Thanks to my brilliant cousin Jody at www.chickswithsticksofglenmontny.blogspot.com/, I got through those pesky triple picots and am on to new stitches. Who knew the thing had a front and a back? I do, now.  And I'm very pleased with the progress thus far:

That's all for today.

New beginnings for Spring!

Well, that step back did me a world of good. I restarted the Cozy Striped Kerchief, and I have never before been so glad to have frogged a project and restarted it. What an improvement! I'm close to being finished, but here's a peek:

I just love the alternating bands of color and the brown garter ridge piping all along the way. It will make for a less formal accessory in the end, but lovely still. Best of all, I'll have plenty of the ladder yarn to finish it to the correct size, and will have used up more of the silk/bamboo and brown silk/cotton to clear out my stash. And after all, that my goal here. :)

A great deal of the stash has yet to be documented, and much of that is in cotton crochet thread. A bin under my bed holds the major part of it, mostly in white or ecru in various weights. Remnants of different colors have been wound into balls and tucked here and there throughout my storage spots. Here are a few of the pastel colors:

With Easter quickly approaching, I remembered making some sweet little ornaments several years back. Our family was in the process of packing for a move, and we had delayed in taking down a small Christmas tree in a corner. When it became mid-January, the kids suggested we keep it up for a "holiday" tree and decorate it throughout the year for the respective holidays and seasons.

That was such fun, and the ideas started coming like gangbusters! We immediately removed all the "Christmasy" ornaments and left only the white and silver ones, including the crocheted snowflakes, giving it a wintery theme.

Then I started planning for Valentine's Day. Sarah and I began crocheting red and pink and white hearts of all sizes, and when February 1st arrived, down came winter and up went hearts. We filled in gaps with artificial red and white flowers.

Towards the end of the month, I began thinking about spring and Easter and went searching online for something to create. I ran across a site which offered Victorian Egg Covers. These enchanting little sacks have a drawstring top to allow for the egg to be inserted and then drawn closed. They also have a loop worked into the top by which to hang them like ornaments. I printed out the patterns (there are seven) and got to work. I filled them with plastic eggs of different colors, added some spring flowers, and the tree loooked beautiful.

Fast forward to last week, and I couldn't find my Easter ornaments. Anywhere. I can't imagine I got rid of them, but they may be tucked away in boxes that we've never brought into the new house since the move. So I pulled out the patterns, rounded up my threads, and started crocheting. Here's what I have so far:

Aren't they sweet? I'll be making more and bringing them to the yarn shop today to see if Judy would like to use them as decorations for the next couple of weeks.

As for the pattern, it has disappeared from the internet...sort of. Thanks to the Wayback Machine, I was able to see the snapshot of the original site. If anyone would like to find these patterns, go to the Wayback Machine and enter in http://www.fortunecity.com/victorian/jacobean/141/eggcovers.html. Then click on 2009 on the timeline along the top of the page and choose the February date circled. That's where I found most of the photos still intact.

Buona Pasqua!

Two Steps Forward, One Back

Ribbit, ribbit. Do I hear frogs in the backyard? No, it's the sound of me ripping out the entire Cozy Striped Kerchief that I had just finished.

I know it sounds crazy, but it just didn't look right to me. And if I'm going to do this challenge, I want to be satisfied with the results and not just waste my stash making dumpy things.

Though it drives my husband bats when I number things, here are my three reasons for frogging:

#1. It was making me crazy that I didn't have the brown contrast stripe on every garter stitch ridge. Sometimes, almost good enough isn't good enough.

#2. The brown silk/cotton yarn, looked great, but I miscalculated the thickness. The 8-ply that I created was a DK weight, when what it wanted was a worsted weight to match the bands between the ridges. So, out comes the drop spindle again.

and the clincher,

#3. The finished kerchief was too small. I had to end it sonner than I should have because I ran out of the ladder yarn. However, I have plenty of the silk/bamboo and plenty of the brown silk/cotton, so.........

Ribbit, ribbit.

Everything's back in the bag, and I'm going to start again. The solutions to the above problems, as I see them (sorry, Bob):

1. Every garter ridge will be brown, but first....

2. I will re-spin the brown yarn into a 10-ply worsted weight and try again.

3. To help extend the ladder yarn, I'll take my daughter's advice to alternate the 6-row bands between the garter ridges: one with the silk/bamboo-ladder combination, and one with just the silk-bamboo. That way, I can make the pattern the correct size and be happy. :)

*****

In the meantime, I'm continuing with the Zig Zag Baby Blanket. No new photos, since it looks the same as before, only longer. It's nice, sometimes, to have a simple pattern for a reliable outcome.

I'm also slowly getting on with the Irish Lace collar. After figuring out my dilemma (see last 2 posts), I've worked another row and a bit more of the next. Here's how it's looking so far:

And last night, I got to use a little of my scratchy Icelandic wool and the remnant of some brown Fun Fur to make an ancient Mongolian hat for my son's presentation on Genghis Khan to his homeschool co-op class today. It took 4 tries, but I finally got it to look the way I wanted:

He did a great job on his report, by the way! 

Running into snags

I didn't do much knitting or crocheting this weekend, having the opportunity to spend precious girl time with my beautiful daughter Sarah. We got some work done at home in the morning, and  then went thrift shopping with thrifty friends and found a few treasures, brought home dinner, and snuggled together to watch the first two episodes of the first season of Dr. Who. Hurray for girl time!

It was back to the hooks and needles yesterday. I'm almost finished with the Kerchief Scarf, and really liking the way the brown silk/cotton yarn looks in contrast with the main color:

The last ball of the brown ran out,  however, so I had to stop and spin some more from the unraveled sweater.

In the meantime, I picked up the Irish Lace Collar and ran into a snag on the fourth row. It's an old pattern from an old magazine, and I haven't located a reference to it anywhere online yet. Here's what the mag photo looks like:

Isn't it beautiful? The work begins at the top near the neck, and the first two rows are very easy. The third row creates that first line of Vs that you see, with triple picots at the bottom point of each V. Here's what I've got so far:

Of course, it's not blocked yet, so the Vs aren't straight and the picots aren't flat. Here's a closer look at a couple of those Vs with the triple picots on the points:

The problem is at the fourth row. The pattern instructs me to single crochet in the slip stitch in front center of the first triple picot, and then create a second row of these Vs and triple picots the same way I made the first, except that instead of single crocheting into an sc from the row below (as in Row 3), I'm to sc into the slip stitch in front center of the triple picot from the previous row. That's where I'm stuck.

Normally when crocheting lace, each row is built on top of the previous by crocheting into a stitch or a space. I've never crocheted into the front center of anything, and I just can't figure out how to do it. I tried approaching each triple picot from the right or the left, but it causes that little three-lobed picot to "bend its head" to one side or another. When I tried to treat it like a "front post" stitch, it lays across the top of the picot, mostly hiding it. Could that be right?

Anyone out there have experience with a similar pattern? I'd love to hear your thoughts. I'll keep at it and see how I fare.

BTW, during my research I found that the issue of White Crochet Magazine whence I found this pattern was not the one-and-only issue, as previously thought. It seems it was published until at least 1994. My apologies.

On first projects and recycled yarn

In yesterday's post, I forgot to talk about the first project in my challenge - the Zig Zag Baby Blanket. I found the free pattern for this blanket on Ravelry, offered by http://www.knitculture.com/. Using the Sunshine (yellow) and Wonder White Bernat Cottontots yarn in my stash, I started on this blanket right away, and here's how it's looking so far:

Isn't it pretty? The yellow and white are so cheerful together. Thank you, Knit Culture, for the lovely pattern!

As for the second project, last night I had an idea. The pattern for the Cozy Striped Kerchief indicates - obviously - that there are stripes in the finished product. I had originally thought I'd just do the whole thing as a solid color using the Silk & Bamboo paired with the CityLife ladder yarn. However, the idea of a contrasting stripe began to appeal to me, and I thought about what I could use.

Wait! I remembered something! While going through the stash over the last five days, I ran across a ziplog bag full of little brown balls of yarn. Oh yeah, I was unraveling a sweater I had picked up A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO at a local clothing swap. The unraveling was almost finished and, for some reason, I put it down, never to think of it again. Sheesh!

The fiber on this sweater was gorgeous. It had a heathery brown/bronze look, and it consisted of 70% tussah silk and 30% cotton. This was perfect for the kerchief since it was comparable to the fiber content in the silk/bamboo yarn.The sweater itself had a fraying hole in it too severe to repair, so I took it with joy. It felt like I was rescuing that beautiful yarn!

Upon unraveling, it revealed itself to be a 2-ply laceweight yarn made of one strand of brown and one of tan, thus the heathery result.

I knew I couldn't use it as is, but then I tried putting four of those 2-ply strands together, gave them a twist in the opposite direction, and realized I would have an 8-ply DK weight yarn right there. Yippee! I asked my daughter to dig out my long-neglected drop spindle and got to work.

Ta-da! You know, God is so good. He gives us so many little things that bring us joy. This brings me joy. :) I used the brown on the garter ridge, as indicated in the pattern, and I really like the way it looks.

I haven't decided yet if I'll use it on every garter ridge, although it will help extend the kerchief a bit. I'm not sure how long the one skein of ladder yarn will hold out and I'm committed to not purchasing anything else to complete any of these projects. So, I'll wing it and get as much out of each of these three yarns as possible to be able to make the kerchief its intended size.

By the way, keeping these two projects going at once has revealed something to me. In the past, I would begin a project, work on it for a while, get bored, put it down, and then forget about it. Then I'd stumble upon another fascinating project and repeat the cycle. It's no wonder there were so many unfinished projects in my house!

However, keeping two or three projects going at once seems to detour this problem. If one project becomes tedious, I can set it down, pick up another, and keep going. In this way, I have been finishing more projects than ever. Thanks again, God, for those little mercies.