Frazzled Knits

Damson Shawl

I finished the Damson Shawl.  It's from Ysolda Teague's Whimsical Little Knits 2 booklet, which I highly recommend as a great value.  You can preview all the patterns on her website to see if they're your taste. 

Before blocking.

And after....

• Pattern:  Damson by Ysolda Teague, from her Whimsical Little Knits 2 booklet

• Yarn:  Just over 1 skein of Briggs & Little Sport (used about 1/10th of the second)

• Needles: 4mm circular

I had some trouble at the beginning of the shawl (yes, the plain garter stitch part!) because my yarnovers kept slipping under my stitch markers, making them go out of line.  I finally just ditched the markers and used my eyes to tell me when to make a YO, and the problem was solved.  This reinforced my dislike of stitch markers in lace!!  I just find they slow me down. 

After solving that little problem the shawl went quickly until the charted portion, which seemed to take forever, probably because of the large number of stitches crammed onto my needle by then and because from the chart it seemed like it should just be a small part of the shawl but of course it's actually the major portion. 

I needed to break into my second skein of yarn for the final three rows.  The yarn is heathery gorgeousness, sturdy and a little scratchy as all Briggs & Little yarns are, but absolutely beautiful.

The edging is quite brilliant, simply done with some double yarn overs before binding off.   I actually don't much like the fussy look of the yarnovers in Ysolda's version, but I discovered that if you don't pin each one out during blocking you can tone down the lacy effect considerably and I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

Another stash yarn finds a home!

Teething Booties

We went away to an astronomy camp this weekend and I knit up these tiny little thrummed booties:

They are newborn size - so tiny!

It's a kit from Custom Woolen Mills.  The kit comes with enough roving to make dozens of booties, and enough yarn for two pair without ties, or one pair with.  The idea is based on a home remedy which also apparently works for congested adults as well as fussy babies:  dampen cotton socks in cold water and put on feet, then cover with wool socks or booties and go to bed.

DNA & a Bolero/Shrug

The DNA is coming along.  Both spirals are finished and I just have to go buy more yarn for the base pairs (it kind of looks like a wonky chromosome, at this stage).  You can see a lot of fuzz from the stuffing on the black yarn, which kind of bugs me, but I hope to be able to clean that up.

I'm really enjoying this acrylic, Red Heart Soft Touch, which is saying something, because acrylic isn't my favorite fibre by a long shot!  I want to get more of the same for the base pairs.  Bernat Satin is too limp and my older Red Heart is way too scritchy.  Hope to get to Zellers this weekend to see what colours they carry. 

Meanwhile, I have also been working on a Sullivan Street Bolero using a skein of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Woobu bamboo and wool blend yarn:

Blue Moon claims that this yarn is sport weight (24 sts/4") but it really looks and feels like a worsted weight to me and it's behaving very well in the bolero (which calls for worsted weight) with little modification. The only change I've made so far is to add 6 extra rows of length in the arm hole area.  I hate too-tight arm holes.

After seeing how tiny the back looks I was skeptical about the fit but I tried it on last night and it stretches amazingly.  It's a little shorter than what I'd call a bolero, more like a shrug.  The Woobu is lovely yarn, soft with a little bit of lustre.  Will try to finish it in the next week or so. 

Moving on...

With the stole finished, I can move onto other more exciting things.  The first of these is Baby's First DNA, for my best friend's impending baby:

She is a scientist, and we met at the Faculty of Science when we were getting our degrees, and DNA seems like the perfect baby gift.  It's only one spiral so far, but that spiral knit up surprisingly quickly and I should have two before too long!  The instructions for the toy are a little abstract, so I'll write my interpretation here:

I cast on 9sts, then:
Rnd 1: knit
Rnd 2: {kfb, K2} on each needle (12 sts)
Rnd 3: knit
Rnd 4: {kfb, k3} on each needle (15 sts)
Rnd 5: knit
Rnd 6: {kfb, k4} on each needle (18 sts)
Rnd 7: knit
Rnd 8: start helix pattern as per pattern

First round:
Needle 1: k1, kfb, k to end (7 sts)
Needle 2: k2, k2tog, k2 (5 sts)
Needle 3: knit all 6 sts (6 sts)

Second and subsequent rounds:
Needle 1: k1, kfb, k until one st remains, transfer last stitch to needle 2 before knitting it (7 sts needle 1, 6 sts needle 2)
Needle 2: k2, k2tog, k2 (5 sts)
Needle 3: k all 6 sts (6 sts)

At the top I decreased in the reverse of the starting increases.

To close up the ladder beside the increase, I treated it like a dropped stitch, laddering it up with a 1.75mm crochet hook and then putting the final loop on my needles and decreasing it out. This turns the ladder into a tight column of stitches and completely closes up the gaps. I did this just before decreasing for the top.

On to spiral #2!

Juno. Regina. Is. DONE!!!!!!

If I'm grafting I must be almost done!

The Juno Regina stole is getting reaaaaally close to finished now:

I used Lucy Neatby's technique of using waste yarn to knit one row in pattern (I started with the purl row on each piece) and then knit a little more in stockinette to make a bit to hold on to.  I used the path of the white yarn to guide my sewing needle for grafting.  It worked pretty well.

Here it is after grafting, and before ripping out the waste yarn (click for larger):

Stay tuned for blocked photos!

UPDATE:   Off the needles the stole measured 13" x 67"
                I've blocked it out to 81" x 16.5".