Needlework Tuesday - Sick, Knitting, and Flood

Needlework Tuesday is an occasional post detailing my needlework and/or crafting projects.

My husband was kind enough to share his cold with me, so this week I've spent a lot of time knitting and not much else. I was able to finish one project, make good progress on another, as well as start a new one!

First up, the finished one. The Hidden Gusset fingerless mitts are done. After having a stitch count issues with the first one, the second one knit up quickly without a hitch. My notes and stitch counts from the first one were very helpful and saved tons of time. Here they are:

I'm blown away that they almost match despite no winding off yarn or planning on my part. Even the thumbs match the hand part. Woohoo! Now that I'm familiar with the pattern and know where the tricky parts are, I'd love to make another pair with a solid colour yarn or at least one that has very subtle colour changes.

Next up, a new project from last week, the Handmaiden's Bias Shawl. This one is a very simple pattern...only two repeating rows.
Row 1: K
Row 2: K1 *yo K2tog, repeat from * to end.

How simple is that! It's knit with two yarns (silk boucle and fine mohair) held together. I'm still not loving the boucle, but I'm getting used to it. Even though the pattern is simple, I managed to screw it up a few times. I probably missed a yo or K2tog. We had a couple of nice days and I was knitting outside for a bit to enjoy the sunshine. Lots of distractions out there. Anyway, I managed to catch it but not before screwing up the edge in one spot. I thought I might do more harm than good by frogging back, so I did a quick fix and moved on. I don't think anyone, but me, will notice.  Since I'm pretty close to done, I'll post a photo next time.

Finally, I was able to start the summer top I've been eyeing for awhile. It's from Shibui and is called Interval. The majority of the top is knit in reverse stocking stitch. I'm taking bets on how long it'll take for someone to ask me if I'm wearing my top inside out. It appears that I'll be learning a few new skills with this project, starting with the German Twisted Cast-on. The pattern designer kindly pointed to a YouTube video, which was extremely helpful, with one exception. She compared this cast-on to long tail cast-on, which I'd heard of, even looked up once, but never learned how to do. I got the hang of it pretty quickly and was able to knit quite a bit of the back this week. Here's a shot of the yarn and a little snippet of the side and bottom edge:

My knitting isn't quite as tidy as I'd hoped it would be. It's just stocking stitch after all, so I'm not sure why it's uneven and wonky-looking.  I'm using metal needles and the cotton yarn is slipping a little, so perhaps that's it.

This coming week, I'm going to finish the shawl (hopefully) and continue to work on my summer top. I might start another smallish project to knit if I get bored of all of the stocking stitch in the top, but I'm not sure what that's going to be yet. Stay tuned....

In other news, we've been hearing reports of a potential flood again this year. The last big one was 2014. However, we also had water in our backyard in 2015. Because there are so many factors involved, we aren't sure yet how much water we'll get or how long it'll stick around. From here forward, I'll post updates and pictures in separate posts.

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.    If you'd done any crafting this week that you'd like to share with others, please head over to Heather's blog and use the Mr. Linky to link up your post, so others can enjoy your creations.  

Needlework Tuesday - A whole lot of knittin' goin' on.

Needlework Tuesday is an occasional post detailing my needlework and/or crafting projects.

It's spring. Well, sort of. Yesterday and today are a bit cooler, but after that it's going to be lovely. I've been busy enjoying the warmer weather as well as knitting up a storm. I finished two projects, started a new one and, picked up one that's been sitting for awhile. Go Me!!!!

The other Shibui Yarns scarf that I was working on is finished. Multigrain is a fabulous scarf that uses three different yarns for great texture. All sections use two strands of yarn held together as one. Some times it's two strands of the same yarn, other times it two different ones.  It's supposed to be done in one colour, but since I was buying my yarn on sale, I had a more limited colour selection. I went with 2 colours and couldn't be happier with the result. It's quite a wide scarf, so there's a number of ways to wear it.

What appears to be a solid light/apple green section in the middle is actually three sections using two different yarns in the same colour.  It's hard to tell that though because the yarns are so similar.   I love this scarf!!!!

The other project I finished was the shawl/scarf from Diamond/Katia using their Spring Rainbow yarn.   I realized that I picked the colourway that is the least "springy".  However, the others ones were more pastel and that definitely ain't me.  It turned out okay, but I didn't love the yarn structure. As I wrote on raverly.com, this shawl is a really quick, easy knit. I'm a little disappointed that I finished the shawl before I got to use the end of the yarn which was solid black....one of the reasons I purchased this colorway. Perhaps I should have started with the black. However, I was worried that pulling this yarn from the centre was going to create a huge mess. There's no twist to this yarn and it's basically 4 separate strands. I wasn't sure I'd be able to find the beginning without getting it all tangled up. The other option was to rip back to the centre point and make the shawl bigger. I wasn't sure how much bigger I could make it, though, so I just followed the instructions. I'm happy with it regardless. It's another scarf that can be worn a couple of ways.

The new project I started was from a kit I purchased from my local yarn store. The pattern is Handmaiden's Bias Shawl, available for free on ravelry.com. The only difference is that the kit suggested I use two yarns (Handmaiden Fine Yarn Angel Hair and Handmaiden Fine Yarn Rumple held together as one) instead of just the one suggested by this particular version of the pattern. It gives the shawl a slightly different look. I've only just started this one, but I already know that I don't love knitting with boucle yarn. It's bumpy texture takes a little getting used to and really messes with my tension. Here's what I have so far:

The last thing I've been working on is the Hidden Gusset fingerless mitts that I started quite awhile ago. I had almost finished one of them, but put it down because I had had various problems with it and wasn't loving it. After some time away from it, though, I'm finding that absence really does make the heart grow fonder and I now like this project enough to continue. I've add the thumb to the first mitt and have started on the second one. I still wish I had used a different yarn, but I'm okay with how they are turning out.  I'll post a photo of the pair when they are done.

Whew! I told you I've been busy. The coming week, I'm going to continue working on my WIPs as well as get a jump on a summer top that I've been meaning to start. If I don't do that soon, I'll have to wait until next summer to wear it.

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.    If you'd done any crafting this week that you'd like to share with others, please head over to Heather's blog and use the Mr. Linky to link up your post, so others can enjoy your creations.  

Needlework Tuesday - Scarves

Needlework Tuesday is an occasional post detailing my needlework and/or crafting projects.

I guess it's been a few weeks since I posted an update on my knitting. I've made some progress on some of the projects I was working on. However, some have fallen by the way side and are threatening to become UFOs. I hope to take a look at those this week and get them moving again, but in the meantime here's what I've been working on...

I finished one of the scarves, Tier, from Shibui Yarns. I made it longer than the pattern called for because I wanted to use up the reminder of the yarn. No use keeping less than 80 yards of speciality yarn around when it can easily be used up in the current project. I also added an extra 3 rows of dropped stitches (like those on either end of the scarf) about 2/3 of the way so it has a asymmetrical look.  You can just about see them on my upper back/shoulder.  Blocking flattened it out quite a bit, but the edges are still rolling at the slightest touch. Stupid stocking stitch. Despite that, I love this scarf.

I also started another project. I wanted something really portable for a short trip we took last week. What's more portable than a single ball project. It's sort of a shawl/scarf-in-a-ball kind of thing. I don't love the yarn because there's no twist to the threads. It's just 4 strands, which give me plenty of opportunity for split stitches. Also, I would have loved a little denser fabric for this shawl/scarf but I only had one set of needles with me. It's turning out okay regardless.

This Spring Rainbow yarn (colorway 52) goes from taupe to white to black, changing one of the threads at a time so there's a nice progression.  Currently, I'm knitting with two taupe and two white strands.  The most unfortunate part is that there's a knot in all 4 strand with every change. Some knitters have been untying these knots and retying it so that ends can be woven in, but I'm leaving the factory knots as they are. I hope I don't regret this decision.  What do you do with factory knots?

The next project from the Mary Maxim's Knit Club of the Month showed up in the mail yesterday. This time it's a mitered pillow. The kit comes with one pillow form and enough yarn to make both pillows in the pattern photo. Meh. I like the colour of the yarn I was sent; a mix of rich blues and pinks. However, the pillow style doesn't thrill me. I'm pretty sure I'm going to pass on this project and just add the yarn to my stash. If you remember, last month I received a kit for leg warmers and matching mittens. I still haven't decided on those yet, but it's not looking promising. Perhaps next month I'll get a project that I'll like.  Here's the pillow pattern and yarn:

That's it for this week. I'm going to continue working on my WIPs.

Needlework Tuesday is hosted by Heather over at Books and Quilts.    If you'd done any crafting this week that you'd like to share with others, please head over to Heather's blog and use the Mr. Linky to link up your post, so others can enjoy your creations.