Needlework Tuesday - On Wednesday

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

These last few weeks I've been working on two projects. I'm happy to report that Meadowside from ravelry.com is complete. While I still don't love it, it's growing on me more and more. It appears to be a medium sized shawl (compared with others I've done) that'll be nice to throw over my shoulders once this heat dissipates. Here's what it looks like:

The pattern indicated that blocking is needed to open up the lace.  Even though it's hard to see, I might omit this step.   It's not that it's a gorgeous intricate lace to begin with.  It's rather ordinary and I'm not sure it's worth the effort.  We'll see.

I really like the yarn I used: Lang Yarns Jawoll Color. However, I ran into one problem. According to the yardage on the label, I should have had some yarn leftover, but I didn't. In fact, I ended the piece 8 rows early and still used all of the yarn with about 1.5" left at the end of binding off. That's cutting it close...too close! This sock yarn comes with some reinforcement yarn wound around a spool.  I'm wondering if that amount was included in the total yardage. If it was, it would make sense. I didn't use this extra yarn in my shawl because it's so tightly wound that it's "weight" was much different than that of the ball and would have been noticeable.  I have quite a few balls of this yarn in different colours,  so I'll have to make a note not to expect to get the full yardage indicated.

A few weeks ago, I was worried that the next project from the Mary Maxim's Knit Club of the Month might be delayed in the mail because of a strike or lockout at Canada Post. However, for the time being it looks like the two side are still at the table and the mail is going through. My next project showed up right on time. Here's the project:

Since I had been knitting shawls now for what seems forever, I took the opportunity to do something different and started the clutch the day it arrived. Here's a close-up of the stitches:

It was a bit of a shock to work in worsted weight cotton after all of that fingering weight 100% wool. It feels a bit clunky, but it's nice to do something different.

In my opinion, the clutch is a little big at roughly 11x8. I would have preferred something a little smaller, maybe 8.5x6 or 9x7. Oh, well. I think it'll do.

The pattern could have been written a little more concisely. It didn't specify whether to slip 1 knitwise or purlwise, so I opted for slip 1 knitwise. I didn't notice until I was about a 1/3 done that my slip stitches were twisted. I could started again and done it differently, but decided it looks okay regardless. I thought all of my slip stitches were the same until I look the above photo and realized that at least two of them are different...upper and lower left. Oh, well. Here's what I have so far:

I'm been procrastinating on adding the edging because it's supposed to be done in white. That's adding another colour to an already colourful bag. I'm thinking I might want to trim it in the dark blue or one of the other colours already used. Also, the pattern instructs me to pick up stitches through the two layers of knitting and then knit around the bag essentially seaming and trimming the bag at the same time. Sounds fine and dandy until I realized what a pain that was going to be since it's knit quite tightly. I might opt for a crocheted edge and regular seams. Any advice?

For the first time in months, I don't have another project lined up. I'll have to come up with something soon. My fingers are itching to get knitting.

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.