Yeah. My "Slow Going" post is still about right. Add in a lot of baseball and a husband who's currently on a month-long leave and I'm not getting anywhere fast. I'm still in the middle of Clue 3. Clue 4 released today. I have to admit that I'm rather disappointed in this shawl. Renee has done some spectacular shawls in the past, but I'm not sure this is one of them. I'm wondering if her idea to do it as a half-hexagon is playing with her mind or what? Either way, it's boring....
The next clue is a mix of different size 'flowers.' I've already decided to place a bead in the center of each one and call it good. That should make Clue 4 go quick and I might be able to catch up. We'll see though. We have company again for the next 2 weeks, and the kids are getting out of school in a few days. Knitting could be hard to fit in. Oh, well. I'll do my best and see where I end up. :-)
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
Slow Going
I'll admit that my momentum on the Anniversary Mystery Shawl has slowed down considerably. I have received my yarn for Evenstar. I have beads coming in later this week for it. And I have the needles on hand. I can't even begin to say how much I want to practice the cast on for it. Since it's a circular shawl, it has an interesting cast on. I also have decided to do Renee's next mystery shawl. I have the yarn for it, but not the needles. I know I can get them in 2-3 days after I buy them though. I'll order them this weekend. That mystery doesn't start until June 11 though.
I think I slowed down when clue 3 was released. It's the same pattern as clue 2, so I'm bored. I did manage to get my goal of 6 rows last night though. At some point, I'll have to pick it up today to get my goal again. I only have 2 more pattern rows of beads and I'm free for awhile. Of course, the rows without beads are faster. Only, I don't have the desire to work on it right now. I'm getting bored though, and I don't want to do housework, so I'll probably pick it up as soon as I'm done with this post. How sad is that? lol
Here's a photo of clue 2 finished. I like how the beads are turning out. Since that zigzag pattern is repeated in clue 3, I'll do the beads there, too. This is only one of the three panels. My cable is only 32" long, so that's as much as I could show. From here on out, pictures are going to be interesting to get. The white lines there are my lifelines. I use white crochet thread to keep any color from my lifelines from bleeding into my projects. Though this lifeline is in danger of becoming pink as I know for sure my yarn is bleeding color. I see some washing and rinsing in my future. ;-)
I think I slowed down when clue 3 was released. It's the same pattern as clue 2, so I'm bored. I did manage to get my goal of 6 rows last night though. At some point, I'll have to pick it up today to get my goal again. I only have 2 more pattern rows of beads and I'm free for awhile. Of course, the rows without beads are faster. Only, I don't have the desire to work on it right now. I'm getting bored though, and I don't want to do housework, so I'll probably pick it up as soon as I'm done with this post. How sad is that? lol
Here's a photo of clue 2 finished. I like how the beads are turning out. Since that zigzag pattern is repeated in clue 3, I'll do the beads there, too. This is only one of the three panels. My cable is only 32" long, so that's as much as I could show. From here on out, pictures are going to be interesting to get. The white lines there are my lifelines. I use white crochet thread to keep any color from my lifelines from bleeding into my projects. Though this lifeline is in danger of becoming pink as I know for sure my yarn is bleeding color. I see some washing and rinsing in my future. ;-)
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Crochet Hook and Beads
Yesterday, I ran out to the store to go ahead and get a crochet hook and see if I could make it work with my beads on the Anniversary Mystery Shawl. My friend and I went round and round in circles while she argued that it should work and I argued that it wouldn't. Since I was going to Hobby Lobby anyway, I figured it wouldn't be that big of a deal to at least look at a size 14 crochet hook again.
Those size 14 hooks are tiny! You look at them funny and they will probably bend. The one I ended up buying is made by Yarnology. Probably some random brand Hobby Lobby is carrying currently. It's also only 0.75mm. Told ya it was tiny.
I have learned that, with a little practice, it will work with size 11/0 seed beads and I can now get those beads on the yarn easier. It does take a two-handed approach, but it's still infinitely faster than the wire/bead method that I don't mind.
As far as I can tell, these little size 14 hooks work best with single ply thread. In order to get it to work with a 2-ply lace yarn, I use my left hand to tighten the yarn over the hook to make it small enough for single ply, and use my thumbnail on my right hand to push the bead down over the hook and yarn. Once I got the hang of it, it went fast. I managed to finish a beaded row in about half the time as with the wire/bead method. Needless to say, I'm thrilled and it was worth the $2.50 price tag on the new crochet hook. My friend did tell me, "I told you so," but she earned it. lol Okay, and I'll admit it. It's so much faster that I don't mind her being right. I'm glad that she was. :-D
Those size 14 hooks are tiny! You look at them funny and they will probably bend. The one I ended up buying is made by Yarnology. Probably some random brand Hobby Lobby is carrying currently. It's also only 0.75mm. Told ya it was tiny.
I have learned that, with a little practice, it will work with size 11/0 seed beads and I can now get those beads on the yarn easier. It does take a two-handed approach, but it's still infinitely faster than the wire/bead method that I don't mind.
As far as I can tell, these little size 14 hooks work best with single ply thread. In order to get it to work with a 2-ply lace yarn, I use my left hand to tighten the yarn over the hook to make it small enough for single ply, and use my thumbnail on my right hand to push the bead down over the hook and yarn. Once I got the hang of it, it went fast. I managed to finish a beaded row in about half the time as with the wire/bead method. Needless to say, I'm thrilled and it was worth the $2.50 price tag on the new crochet hook. My friend did tell me, "I told you so," but she earned it. lol Okay, and I'll admit it. It's so much faster that I don't mind her being right. I'm glad that she was. :-D
Monday, May 16, 2011
Anniversary Mystery Shawl 2011
On May 7, 2011, I began a mystery shawl done by Ravelry user Goddess Knits. Her name is actually Renee and she's a lot of fun and help while a rather large group of us move along these clues.
I decided to do this one for several reasons. First off, I looked through her other mystery shawls and they were gorgeous! Second, ... Well, there is no second. I love lace shawls and that's what she mainly does. I have enough projects in my queue and favorites list to choke a small horse, but since when will that stop a crafter from starting something new? Okay, it helped that it was a free pattern. I noticed that some of her other mysteries aren't free. Of course, the final projects all appear to be worth the $6 she charges to join up.
The stats on this shawl that we were given when it started was that it would be a half-hexagon, take around 1200 yards of lace weight yarn, use size 4 or 5 needles, and beads were optional. Not much to go on at the beginning, huh?
I elected to order Jaggerspun Zephyr yarn. It's a lace weight, 50% wool 50% silk yarn that's so soft and silky. It's the first time I've ever used it, so I wasn't sure what to expect. All I know is that the pictures on WEBS can't even do these yarns justice. Apparently, when they're photographed, the silk picks up the flash and lightens the color to some extent. I chose to use Claret, which appears almost pink on their website. In reality, it's a rich cranberry color. I love it!
I am using US4 circular needles with a 32" cable, which has me a little worried. We're adding 6 stitches every other row and it's getting big, fast. I might end up having to order needles with a longer cable. lol That's okay though. I love these large lace shawls and I'm sure I'd get plenty of use out of them.
Oh! I also decided to put beads in my knitting for the first time. Unfortunately, I live in an area where I can't get the correct size beads easily. The nearest bead shop is about an hour away and I don't know if it's even worth the drive. I have Evenstar on my list and it will take up to 3,000 beads. I might take the trip down one day and see what they have. For this mystery, I learned that size 11/0 seed beads do fit on lace weight yarn. Imagine that. Unfortunately, you can't use the easier method of using a crochet hook to put the beads on the stitches. I'm having to use nylon beading thread to pull it off. It takes more time, but I'm liking the look so far.
The second clue posted Saturday. I had a rather slow start as I seemed to have lost my knitting mojo this weekend. Starting Thursday night, I've had nothing but problems with anything I'm knitting. That continued up through Saturday evening. I made decent progress on it last night, so I'm hoping everything's okay again.
I'm hoping to run to Hobby Lobby today to look for thin beading wire. I think that might make it easier to get the beads on the stitches.
As I toodle along through this shawl, there are 5 clues, I will probably blog about my progress. Hopefully, that will clear up all of my notes in Ravelry. :-D I'm going to use the tag AMS2011. Look for a list of them over to the right. That way, you can read all posts relating directly to this shawl, even if I switch mid-project.
I will conclude this post with a picture of the finished shawl at the end of clue 1.
I decided to do this one for several reasons. First off, I looked through her other mystery shawls and they were gorgeous! Second, ... Well, there is no second. I love lace shawls and that's what she mainly does. I have enough projects in my queue and favorites list to choke a small horse, but since when will that stop a crafter from starting something new? Okay, it helped that it was a free pattern. I noticed that some of her other mysteries aren't free. Of course, the final projects all appear to be worth the $6 she charges to join up.
The stats on this shawl that we were given when it started was that it would be a half-hexagon, take around 1200 yards of lace weight yarn, use size 4 or 5 needles, and beads were optional. Not much to go on at the beginning, huh?
I elected to order Jaggerspun Zephyr yarn. It's a lace weight, 50% wool 50% silk yarn that's so soft and silky. It's the first time I've ever used it, so I wasn't sure what to expect. All I know is that the pictures on WEBS can't even do these yarns justice. Apparently, when they're photographed, the silk picks up the flash and lightens the color to some extent. I chose to use Claret, which appears almost pink on their website. In reality, it's a rich cranberry color. I love it!
I am using US4 circular needles with a 32" cable, which has me a little worried. We're adding 6 stitches every other row and it's getting big, fast. I might end up having to order needles with a longer cable. lol That's okay though. I love these large lace shawls and I'm sure I'd get plenty of use out of them.
Oh! I also decided to put beads in my knitting for the first time. Unfortunately, I live in an area where I can't get the correct size beads easily. The nearest bead shop is about an hour away and I don't know if it's even worth the drive. I have Evenstar on my list and it will take up to 3,000 beads. I might take the trip down one day and see what they have. For this mystery, I learned that size 11/0 seed beads do fit on lace weight yarn. Imagine that. Unfortunately, you can't use the easier method of using a crochet hook to put the beads on the stitches. I'm having to use nylon beading thread to pull it off. It takes more time, but I'm liking the look so far.
The second clue posted Saturday. I had a rather slow start as I seemed to have lost my knitting mojo this weekend. Starting Thursday night, I've had nothing but problems with anything I'm knitting. That continued up through Saturday evening. I made decent progress on it last night, so I'm hoping everything's okay again.
I'm hoping to run to Hobby Lobby today to look for thin beading wire. I think that might make it easier to get the beads on the stitches.
As I toodle along through this shawl, there are 5 clues, I will probably blog about my progress. Hopefully, that will clear up all of my notes in Ravelry. :-D I'm going to use the tag AMS2011. Look for a list of them over to the right. That way, you can read all posts relating directly to this shawl, even if I switch mid-project.
I will conclude this post with a picture of the finished shawl at the end of clue 1.
Thursday, May 12, 2011
Blocking Procrastination
Ah, yes. Blocking. The important final step in so many knitted projects, especially lace. My friend keeps telling me, "Until it's blocked, it's not finished."
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. She has 1 kid. I have 3. She has a kitty who doesn't mess with her knitting. I have 2 that will catnap whatever I have and run away with it, destroying it in the process. She can use her living room floor to block. I have to use a room I can block off from both kids and cats. Considering that's the kids' playroom, I don't block very often. It's hard to convince the kids to clean it up (read "impossible") and I look in there and walk right back out again. She says, "Use your bed." I say, "I'm a little worried as it's a Sleep Number. What if I puncture the air bladder with the T-pins?"
Yeah, okay. I can come up with any number of excuses not to block. However, I did get a lot of fun things for Mother's Day. Basically, I order what I want and call it my gift. lol This year, I got some yarn, a ball winder (I love it!!), and blocking wires. I have also decided to go ahead and use my bed for my blocking board. I'm pretty sure, now, that the T-pins can't reach the air bladders. We took advantage of Sleep Number's major sale and got one of their premium beds for the same price as the one we were looking at and it has a much thicker top mattress than the other one did. I don't exactly push the T-pins all the way down anyway.
So, I have two shawls waiting for blocking and another one quickly racing towards finished stages. I'm still knitting it, but I'm almost to the stockinette stage that forms the end of the pattern. It's done using short rows, so this should be interesting. I'll probably start blocking... tomorrow. :-D Today, I'm way too tired to mess with it. Though, if I get up from my nap early enough, I might set something up. Both shawls awaiting blocking are heavier than normal lace weight. I can't quite remember the yarn weights, but DK weight is coming to mind. The newest shawl approaching "finish" is fingering weight. I'd hate to have a wet bed when I go to bed tonight.
Well, I guess I'm going to head off to see how it will work to use my bed. We'll see if it's to take a nap or block. ;-)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever. She has 1 kid. I have 3. She has a kitty who doesn't mess with her knitting. I have 2 that will catnap whatever I have and run away with it, destroying it in the process. She can use her living room floor to block. I have to use a room I can block off from both kids and cats. Considering that's the kids' playroom, I don't block very often. It's hard to convince the kids to clean it up (read "impossible") and I look in there and walk right back out again. She says, "Use your bed." I say, "I'm a little worried as it's a Sleep Number. What if I puncture the air bladder with the T-pins?"
Yeah, okay. I can come up with any number of excuses not to block. However, I did get a lot of fun things for Mother's Day. Basically, I order what I want and call it my gift. lol This year, I got some yarn, a ball winder (I love it!!), and blocking wires. I have also decided to go ahead and use my bed for my blocking board. I'm pretty sure, now, that the T-pins can't reach the air bladders. We took advantage of Sleep Number's major sale and got one of their premium beds for the same price as the one we were looking at and it has a much thicker top mattress than the other one did. I don't exactly push the T-pins all the way down anyway.
So, I have two shawls waiting for blocking and another one quickly racing towards finished stages. I'm still knitting it, but I'm almost to the stockinette stage that forms the end of the pattern. It's done using short rows, so this should be interesting. I'll probably start blocking... tomorrow. :-D Today, I'm way too tired to mess with it. Though, if I get up from my nap early enough, I might set something up. Both shawls awaiting blocking are heavier than normal lace weight. I can't quite remember the yarn weights, but DK weight is coming to mind. The newest shawl approaching "finish" is fingering weight. I'd hate to have a wet bed when I go to bed tonight.
Well, I guess I'm going to head off to see how it will work to use my bed. We'll see if it's to take a nap or block. ;-)
Sunday, May 1, 2011
I'm Insane - Epic Fail
OMG! I am completely and totally insane. Here's the story. It's a slightly interesting one.
For months, my husband and I have been planning on going to his battalion ball. It's to be held later this week. I thought it would be fun to wear a lace shawl to the ball, so I managed to finish Vernal Equinox in time and was happy. Unfortunately, in all of that time, I never did pull out the dress I was planning on wearing. When I finally did get it out, I learned something horrible. One of the straps of the dress was falling apart. As it's a velvet dress, that's not a good thing. Careful study revealed that the velvet itself was pulling away from its backing. Eep! Changing the design of the dress itself by having that section removed was not an option. It fit me perfectly as it was, and losing a 1/2 inch of the strap would make it so I couldn't get it on anymore. *sigh*
So, I waited until this weekend, and then went dress shopping. My plan was to get another black dress and call it good. After going through the mall, I discovered that the formal dresses had basically been wiped out. I didn't have much choice in dresses. Luckily, I found one that I rather liked and bought it. Got it on sale, too. Yay! Unfortunately.... The design of the dress, and the color, does not lend itself well to Vernal Equinox. In showing it to my friend, she told me, "Yeah, you're right. It needs a stole. I bet you can make one in time."
*insert insanity here*
I'm honestly taking her up on it. One of my yarns matches the dress beautifully. I came across a pattern on Ravelry called Dancing Cranes Stole that appears to be pretty and yet simple enough to complete quickly. I am now on a race against time to see if I can pull this off. I honestly don't know if I can do it. She thinks I can. I'll keep working on it as long as I can to see where I end up. I hope I can do it. I'd love to have something to wrap around my arms when we go. The dress I ended up with is sort of outside of my comfort level. Having a wrap would make me feel better. :-)
So, I'll end this blog entry and go grab another cup of coffee. I have a stole I need to be knitting.
Update: While working the next row, I discovered I was off by one, and in an attempt to fix it, I made it all worse. I can't say that I'm sad that I don't have the time to do it. I'd like to have a stole to take with me, but not having that stress looming over my head any more is nice. :-) Besides, I might be able to come up with something else. Something that requires sewing, which is so much faster. :-D I'll figure it out.
For months, my husband and I have been planning on going to his battalion ball. It's to be held later this week. I thought it would be fun to wear a lace shawl to the ball, so I managed to finish Vernal Equinox in time and was happy. Unfortunately, in all of that time, I never did pull out the dress I was planning on wearing. When I finally did get it out, I learned something horrible. One of the straps of the dress was falling apart. As it's a velvet dress, that's not a good thing. Careful study revealed that the velvet itself was pulling away from its backing. Eep! Changing the design of the dress itself by having that section removed was not an option. It fit me perfectly as it was, and losing a 1/2 inch of the strap would make it so I couldn't get it on anymore. *sigh*
So, I waited until this weekend, and then went dress shopping. My plan was to get another black dress and call it good. After going through the mall, I discovered that the formal dresses had basically been wiped out. I didn't have much choice in dresses. Luckily, I found one that I rather liked and bought it. Got it on sale, too. Yay! Unfortunately.... The design of the dress, and the color, does not lend itself well to Vernal Equinox. In showing it to my friend, she told me, "Yeah, you're right. It needs a stole. I bet you can make one in time."
*insert insanity here*
I'm honestly taking her up on it. One of my yarns matches the dress beautifully. I came across a pattern on Ravelry called Dancing Cranes Stole that appears to be pretty and yet simple enough to complete quickly. I am now on a race against time to see if I can pull this off. I honestly don't know if I can do it. She thinks I can. I'll keep working on it as long as I can to see where I end up. I hope I can do it. I'd love to have something to wrap around my arms when we go. The dress I ended up with is sort of outside of my comfort level. Having a wrap would make me feel better. :-)
So, I'll end this blog entry and go grab another cup of coffee. I have a stole I need to be knitting.
Update: While working the next row, I discovered I was off by one, and in an attempt to fix it, I made it all worse. I can't say that I'm sad that I don't have the time to do it. I'd like to have a stole to take with me, but not having that stress looming over my head any more is nice. :-) Besides, I might be able to come up with something else. Something that requires sewing, which is so much faster. :-D I'll figure it out.
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