cashmere rocks

So I decided not to do the Bird's Nest Shawl after all. I had ordered 5 hanks of Makalu 100% DK Cashmere in polamino, knowing I wouldn't have quite enough yardage (because of the weight of the yarn, I was planning on knitting it single strand, instead of double as the pattern states). But then the 5th hank was back ordered, so, forgetting that I was already shorting myself, I thought I'd make do with just the 4 hanks, and I canceled the 5th. Then when I was ready to knit, looked at the pattern, recalculated the yardage, and realized I would be really really short.

I still wanted to knit my mom a shawl for her birthday, though. And I found the perfect one on the first site I looked at. The Interweave Knits summer issue focuses on lace, and the Staff Projects: Sweet Somethings includes a shawlette (yes, it's actually called a 'shawlette'), in a yarn that's almost an exact match for the Makalu DK Cashmere I got. Yippee! Now I actually had twice as much yarn as needed! Since I wanted something slightly bigger than a shawlette, something closer to an actual shawl, I extended the pattern a bit. At row 60, I kept going to add an extra 6 stitches to each side (6 being the number of stitches in the horizontal lace pattern repeat). And in the lower lace border, I did an extra 4 rows (1 repeat of the vertical lace pattern). And ta daa! It's finished. About 2 weeks late, but that's okay.

home again

We're back from visiting the west coast rellies. Grandma's shawl was a big success, though she thought it was a scarf. I've always thought of shawls as grandmotherly apparel, but I guess my grandmother was too hip for shawls. She didn't even know what one was when I told her that's what I had knit her. So she wears it as a scarf, and it looks really good. It also actually provides some warmth worn that way, because spread out as a shawl it's just too thin.


Being out in sunshiney California also provided the perfect opportunity to break out Baby's Miss Dashwood Hat. This is the first thing I knit for her when I found out I was pregnant with her. Of course, at that time I didn't know she was a 'she'. Lucky she ended up being a girl, or else I would have had to give this adorable hat away. As you can see, I need to block it a bit so the edge doesn't curl up like that so much. I knit it out of handpaintedyarn.com bulky merino 6 ply. Who ever heard of a wool sun hat? Hee. When I first knit it, I knit up the ties and ear flaps as well, but didn't want to sew them in until I had a baby to test it on, so I'd know where the earflaps belonged. But in the end, since it's only now fitting her (summertime), I decided to leave the earflaps off entirely.


I just finished knitting up a soaker (just like the curly purly one shown below but in newborn size) for Erika who's having a baby soon. And now I'm working on another one for my little one, since I'm sending along the soakers she's just about outgrown with this gift soaker in a trade for some of Erika's awesome soap.

Next project is a cashmere shawl for my mom for her birthday. I'm making the Bird's Nest Shawl from the book Folk Shawls. I don't have quite enough yardage of the cashmere, so I'll have to shorten the shawl a bit, I think. Hopefully it will turn out okay.

just in time

Finished knitting it last night. Now it's drying on my blocking board (a large piece of cardboard covered with a beach towel). Perfect timing, since we're leaving tomorrow. I did the full knit border along the rounded edge, but just the single crochet border on the straight edge, instead of the applied i-cord.


Now it's all done. Here's my mom modeling it.

now the web is almost done

Yay! My ridiculous course has finally ended, so I actually have time to knit again! I had fallen really behind on my shawl for my grandmother, but now I'm almost done. I decided to only do six and a half of the main repeats on the max number of stitches, instead of seven and a half, because I need to make sure I get this done before we fly out to see her next week! So here's a photo of it before I started the edging. I'm having a really hard time determining how big it's going to be finished, because the circular I've got it on is much shorter than the full length of the edge would be fully stretched out. I think it might end up a bit small? But maybe blocking will make it normal shawl size? Who knows.

Here's a close up. It really is cobwebby. I like how light and airy it is. I'm not personally a fan of the sea foam greenish color, but I think Grandma will like it. Lace is so much fun to knit. But next up after this I've got a few soakers I need to do. Thankfully I've decided not to take any courses at all this summer, so I'll get to spend lots of hot summer nights knitting. Oh, I've also decided to try my hand at sewing. I've always sucked at sewing, but I think that's because I've never spent time to learn it. I've always just thought, "Oh, how hard can it be to make a shirt?" But I've realized now that it's probably a learned skill, so I've reserved a sewing 101 book from the library, and we'll see how it goes. After I get this shawl done, of course. And a few soakers. Oh, and the shawl I'm knitting my mom for her birthday in May. :P

what's done is done

I thought I'd share a picture of the last project I finished before the lacy scarf. This is a soaker knit from the curly purly free soaker pattern. It was knit from the same 100% merino wool as the green soaker below (color: Otono Fantasia). My lovely 4 month old daughter is modeling. And even though it practically comes up to her nipples, I love this soaker, it's my favourite of hers so far. And it should fit her for a good long while. I knit a pair of booties out of the same yarn, and I'm not quite so pleased with them, just because they pill SO much. The no-ply yarn works well for the soaker, because the soaker doesn't rub up against anything ever. But with the baby feet always kicking, the booties are always rubbing against stuff, hence the pilling. At least they keep her feet warm.

Grandma's shawl is coming along. Slowly. I'd post another picture, but it would look pretty much exactly like the one below, just with slightly more shawl. I've got the max number of stitches now, so each row takes a looooooong time. Well, half an hour, which feels really long. That means each night I get about half a repeat of the main pattern done. I've got 5 repeats left. You do the math.

web spinning

To start my next project, grandma's shawl, first I had to ball the yarn. 2200 meters of it. That's like, over a mile of yarn I wound BY HAND. Yes, I'm insane. It took over 2 and a half hours. My arm was SO sore the next day. I totally need a ball winder.

I've started knitting this Cobweb shawl and so far I'm enjoying it. The yarn is a very very fine boucle type mohair/wool/nylon blend. I'm using my Denise Interchangable Needles, which work well because the tips are really pointy.

first lace

Yay! I finished my first ever lace piece. Isn't it purdy? It's the Branching out scarf on knitty. I used Fleece Artist Kasula (special purchase through a yarn co-op) colorway Mahogany. It's a DK weight 100% mohair, and I really liked knitting with it. And I LOVE the color, shiny rust and gold. It's scratchier than I thought it would be, and knitting with it left me covered in mohair, but it was softer and less fuzzy after I washed it. I used size US 9 wooden needles. Those worked well because I didn't have to worry so much about stitches slipping off the needles, but the ends were pretty blunt, so made some of the decreases challenging.

I knit this as a birthday present for Stacey, and since she turned 31, I did 31 repeats of the pattern. It took about a week for me to finish, knitting just a few hours each night. The key step of course was blocking it at the end. My dirty little secret is that I've never blocked anything ever before. Shhh. Don't tell anyone. I've mostly only made felted bags, soakers, longies, hats and booties before, so nothing really seemed to need it. This scarf definitely did, and it made such a difference.

Check out this "before blocking" photo. I knew I needed to cast on loosely, and originally I had planned on knitting with size 8 needles, so used a size 10.5 needle to cast on. But then I changed my mind and used the 9s, so you can see how the cast on edge pulled in. The blocking fixed that. You also just couldn't see the lacy pattern clearly until it was blocked. So now I'm a blocking convert, and I surely will do it more often. I wonder what happens to blocked items next time the item is washed. Does it go back to being all yucky?

My next project I've got going is a shawl for my grandmother. Started it a few days ago, it's looking okay, but it may end up being way too small because the yarn I'm using is a very very fine laceweight yarn. We'll see.

header pieces

I thought I'd start with the creations I've got up in the header right now.


This is a little felted bag I made in November 2005 as a Christmas gift for one of my many nieces. Knit in the round, with attached i-cord handles, I made it up as I went along. I used Peace Fleece Worsted Weight in Glastnost Gold, Moldova Burgundy, and Lena's Meadow, on 24" Ebony 8mm circular needles. I got the needles from Kalaidoscope Yarns and I love the current one I have, but the first one they sent me had a split in one of the needle points. KYarns was great, though, and sent me a new one as soon as they received the defective one back. The Peace Fleece felts well, but the mohair content (30%) leaves it really, really fuzzy. So I always have to spend a long time grooming the items once they're fully felted.


I recently knit this soaker for a friend who needed a heavy, overnight diaper cover for her toddler. It's the undersoaker from the Little Turtle Knits Flirty Skirty pattern. It turned out a bit big, probably because the yarn I used, a 100% merino wool (color: Lugano), is on the thicker side of worsted, rather than the light worsted the pattern calls for. This is the first time I used elastic for the waistband, instead of a drawstring. I liked the way it turned out, but I'll probaby just stick with drawstings in the future, because of the extra effort involved. I'm lazy like that.


Speaking of being lazy, this felted bag took way too much effort. I knew I wanted a lopsided purple star on it, since it was to be a gift for a friend who loves lopsided purple stars. Little did I know how much of a pain knitting a star would be because of all the color changes necessary. I've since learned that it would probably be a better idea to just knit the bag in the background color, and then embroider the star on it, but I've never embroidered before, so I could be wrong. The structure of the bag I based on this pattern, and I used Lamb's Pride Worsted leftover from knitting a My Little Companion felted bag. The Lamb's Pride also has mohair (15%) in it, so this bag neede a haircut after felting as well.

reason for being

I first learned to knit about 10 years ago. My then future mother-in-law taught me when I asked her as a way of breaking the ice at our first meeting. I started a sweater, but that was definitely too ambitious a first project, and I forgot about it half way through the back. I only really started again summer 2004 when we went to visit my MIL, this time with our 1 year old daughter. MIL refreshed my memory of knitting, and now I had someone cute and little to knit cute, little projects for.

Back home, as I started working on various knitting projects, I had no one here to help me when I had questions. So I went online, and found everything I ever needed to know. I've been able to review and purchase yarn, patterns and accessories. Lately, I've most enjoyed reading knitting blogs. I love seeing pictures of what people are knitting, seeing what yarn goes good with what patterns, reading what people think of specific fibers, yarns, needles and patterns, and getting helpful tips on all things knitting. So as a way to give back and hopefully help other knitters in the same way, I thought I'd start a blog, too.

first entry

I guess this is my first post. Hiya!