Peace Out

peace out 1
Originally uploaded by vampirefan

So, I tried my hand at double knitting and it's so simple! I made a tardis pot holder to try the technique out and it was a breeze.

So now, I'm making a scarf for my bff. I had some multicolored hacho yarn and after much searching, found some beautiful red yarn to make the contrast. The pattern I chose was a peace sign since she loves them. It came out a little more football shaped than round since I didn't want to make a sample from the peace sign chart I made. I really love the thickness.

Double Knitting

Although I did get a good start on a pair of socks during my trip, I got bored and decided to make a hat.

I'm done with that now too and, because of a conversation with a friend, have revisted the mysterious Double Knitting I'd seen a couple of patterns of.

Double Knitting is when you knit a two-sided item. Each side looks stitch knit, but it's not a tube. It's the way you alternate knitting/purling that creates this awesome effect.

So, now I want to make a scarf - there seem to be very few patterns out there though. I found a Space Invaders one and a Peace sign one. I also found a nice Dr. Who chart (tardis, daleks). But, I'm finding that I'm not that enthusiastic about those designs. I might have to chart my own design - and I have no idea what that would even be yet.

I have to practice a little to make sure I understand it, but it seems fairly simple and straightforward.

Or damn. I guess I should really finish my bff's gloves - they've been languishing with just the fingers from one hand missing - for 2 years. doh!

Socks!

Well, knitting Commelina turns out to be a bust. The beautiful Somoko yarn completely overpowered the lace design. Furthermore, because of the lace pattern, the colors couldn't establish their own pattern and it just looked awful. see?

So, although I would still love to knit Commelina, I think I'll save it for a solid color or for a variegated yarn with much, much longer color sections.

Now, I've been thinking about what else I can do to take with me for my trip this weekend and I'm thinking I might start another pair of socks. I have all that sock yarn! Only problem is that I have most of it in skeins and not wound into balls. I either need to invest in a winder/swift or find someone who can do that for me.

In preparation, I've found the toe-up cast on I prefer, the Turkish caston. Now I need to find a good heel gusset method.

I'm pretty sure I'm making the toe-up Jaywalkers.

Links:

• Turkish Cast-On
• Toe-up Jaywalker

Commelina Scarf

Now that I'm done with the Leaf Lace Shawl, I'm trying to finish off a pair of socks I've been working on for a while.

I may abandon it to start up on Commelina by Kelly McCraw. It's a beautiful lacy scarf. The only thing I have a problem with is that the instructions call for making 2 end pieces (each having some pretty pointy stitching at the ends) and knitting the center section, and then attaching the end pieces. Ugh. I hate sewing stuff! So I kept thinking about how I could avoid that. I kept thinking, well, I'll knit one piece and then pick up the stitches, knit the rest of the scarf, then continue with the end piece. But then I'd have a seam where I picked up the stitches on one end and it wouldn't look nice.

Then, I was reading about provisional cast-on for socks and it hit me! I could do a provisional cast-on and knit one end piece, remove the provisional thread and then knit the rest of the scarf and it would all be one continuous piece! woo!

So, that's what I'm gonna do. I think I'm going to use the pretty artisan yarn I posted about a while back.

Also, I think I'm going to add some beads so I need to figure out what's going to look nice with this yarn and the placement so I can make sure I have enough.

This will probably be my project for my trip to Portland next weekend. Awesome!

Links

• Commelina (at Ravelry.com)
• Provisional Cast-on (Google search)
• Somoko Artisan Yarn I plan on using

ETA: um. yeah. this won't work after all since the end pieces are worked *sideways* as rectangles. then the stitches are picked up along the long side of the rectangle.

Leaf Lace Shawl - done!

Leaf Lace Shawl
Originally uploaded by vampirefan

Finally! After a few months of mostly knitting during my commute (when I wasn't taking a break).

I absolutely love this! It actually came out much bigger than I expected but it's a great size.

I included beads on the eding and they look great.

Now, on to the next project!

Leaf Lace Shawl - beads and blocking
Originally uploaded by vampirefan

The yarn looks much darker than it is, but the beads look pretty accurate.

I was so glad I had decided to invest in some blocking wires. They helped tremendously!

My mom loved it and she actually almost cried when I gave it to her.

Ravelry members rock!

Can't believe I'm almost done with the Leaf Lace Shawl I started back in April. I've been working on it during my commute to and from work - not every single day - but quite often. I can do about 3 to 4 rows each way of my commute if I start as soon as I get on the bus and I'm up to about 300 stitches per row.

I had even gone so far as to buy the beads for the eding because I thought that I almost done and was going to have enough yarn with the 3 skiens I had in my stash. I finished the 12th repeat of the pattern and started the edging. But, looking at how much yarn was left and seeing that I was going to be knitting about 15 more rows I just knew it wasn't going to be enough.

I was torn. Do I frog back to the 11th repeat and then do the edging? Do I just continue with the edging and and hope the yarn is just enough? I hated the thought of both. Undoing those 10 rows that took me about 2 to 3 hours worth of time to knit would take forever - frogging back would probably take at least an hour so that I could make sure I didn't screw up because of all the yarn overs and knit2 togethers. If I continued to knit and then turned out I didn't have enough for the edging, I would probably start crying like a baby since that would be about 3 to 4 hours worth of work.

Then, I thought, I'll check on Ravelry.com. I'll see if anyone happens to have the same yarn in the same colorway and ask if they are willing to part with one skein. Then I'd have enough to do the 13th repeat and the edging.

So, that's what I did. I checked and it turned out only 3 people on Ravelry had the same exact colorway. Each person had only about 1 skien each. So I private messaged them right away asking if they were willing to sell me their yarn. As I was writing the 3rd message, I got a response from one person saying they were willing to sell it. Awesome! And what's even better? Their asking price was completely reasonable! They were heading out to a knitting event so they told me that if I paid right away they would drop it in the mail that evening. Woo! Needless to say, I paid immediately and now have the yarn in my hands.

Ravelry members rock big time.

Leaf Lace Shawl

I started a new shawl a few weeks ago - the Leaf Lace Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark. I couldn't keep track of the other one I stared a while back 'cause I wasn't paying attention as closely as I needed to. The Leaf Lace Shawl, on the other hand, is so easy to follow and so well written. I'm using the same yarn, so I frogged the bit I had done.

I found that in order not to mess up, I needed to count every pattern row. Every time I didn't, it turned out I was missing one or two stitches and would have to tink back a row which is so aggravating and would waste more time than just counting. By now though (on my 8th repeat of the pattern) I can pretty much tell if I messed up.

I decided that I want to add beads to the edging and the pattern does show how to add a very minor beading detail to the tips of the edges. I'm thinking I would like to add a few more beads than that but first I needed to figure out what kind of beads I should be using.

Knitty has a great primer for beginners. They explain the 2 basic methods for getting beads onto the yarn. I like the hook method better because it would be my luck that I'd string on the beads I need, only to have the yarn break and beads escaping everywhere! The article also explained how there are beads with bigger centers/holes so I'll need to find some of those. That knitty article also recommends an online store which sells some great beads.

I did find a couple of great tips on getting beads onto the yarn using wire instead. This method is fantastic, especially if I were to end up making another shawl where the beads are all over it (and not just on the ends), so I can carry beads with me without having to worry about trying to fish them out of a small container and dropping them.

So, even though I have about 5 repeats to go, I need to figure out which beads will look good with the dark purple yarn. Maybe a clear crystal bead with silver lining? hmmm...

Pattern Links:

• Leaf Lace Shawl