I said I’d be back to talk about my continuing lace adventures and here I am, with yet another complex lace shawl in my lap. I’ve talked before in multiple posts about how much I love lace, and it holds true; as I expand my knitting into a profession instead of just a hobby, it’s even more important to me to have one or three “selfish knitting” projects aside that I do just for my own pleasure… and the most pleasurable thing for me to knit, at least at this stage in my life, is shawl-sized sprawls of lace. Plushy comfort knitting is one thing (like the bit you can see on my hands) but delicate lace is its own...
Kit and I love our local yarn shop: The Yarn Stories. On Knit Nite, I bought some absolutely gorgeous yarn to cast on a project I’ve been anticipating for a long time: yet another pair of long cabled fingerless mitts. I’m working with the Fire and Ice Fingerless Mitts pattern by Roz Harmon, which is both free and well-written! The pattern is adjustable for many sizes. I’m gradually collecting long cabled mitt patterns to knit for our household and our etsy shop; I think this pattern will be one of my favorites. I really enjoyed the main cable, and the small 2×2 twists on the underside are a great design feature. Malabrigo Merino Worsted in VAA I love this yarn. Yes, I realize I’ve said this...
Today I’m sharing with you one of my longest-running current projects, biggest headaches, and greatest sources of pride – my six-month-and-counting journey of knitting Renate Haeckler‘s Anna Baltzer Wings of Peace shawl pattern. Have you ever looked at the plans for a project, thought “yeah I could do that,” and found yourself regretting that sentiment once you’re fingers-deep in the work? That is exactly what happened to me with this pattern. I promised my wife I would knit her a shawl. I showed her all the shawl patterns I’d already saved in my Ravelry library. And, based on looking at the photographs of finished objects, she picked this one – and I, not yet aware of how deeply misleading Ravelry’s crowdsourced “difficulty ratings”...
My work in progress of the week is much smaller than a sweater! These fingerless mitts have a lovely triquetra knot on the back of each hand (or they will, once I’ve knit them both). This protective symbol in the softness of sage-green Woolike yarn should guard well against the chill of early fall. Unlike the Resonators‘ network of cables, Becky Herrick‘s Queen City fingerless mitts pattern features a cable motif on a plain stockinette background. The overall look is simpler, as well as shorter than the gauntlet-length Resonators. Also, this pattern involves some interesting construction techniques that are new to me. The cable at the wrist is done in a flat strip, then joined and picked up to knit the hand sideways relative to the...
We’re back, with yet another work in progress – this week, showing off the sweater that I’m making. It’s quite a bit different from Em’s impressively cabled cardigan. For one, it’s a much more modern, minimalistic, and low-fuss design. For another… …it’s adorably tiny. I’m knitting up my first sweater based on the Flax pattern by Tin Can Knits. I decided to start with a baby sweater for three reasons. First, it will be a much quicker knit, enabling me to learn the basics of this style of sweater construction in a more reasonable timeframe. Second, I do happen to know a one-year-old who’s going to need a sweater coming up this fall; my best friend’s first son may have lots of clothes,...