addictive

addictive

 finished my first ballband dishcloth!

and a second ballband dishcloth on the go! an excellent project for anyone who has little time to follow patterns & do much knitting (ie. my mommy friends) or has summer knitting lethargy. it is a very fun way to play around with colour and use up bits & bobs - I have been using some Mission Falls 1824 Cotton that got a little bit too much sun.

projects updated

Liane finished the store kimono!  now i just have to put up the wall mount to display it. unfortunately, i can't find my power drill. dis i lend it to you?

My mod little log cabin baby blanket is coming along nicely. it was smaller than i anticipated so i kept adding blocks and we'll see how it works out.

as a diversion i started a Ballband Dishcloth with some 1824 cotton.  it is a very easy & fun pattern, the slip stitch colour work is not hard and the results are heartening.  although, it is so nice that i'd rather die than wash dishes with it. my face will have to do.  i am actually thinking about making some Ballband Dishtowels - cute and unique.

Wedding Shawl Update: the Wedding

this is how the wedding shawl looked in situ.

On (& Off) the Needles This Week

As always, all roads lead to Ravelry. if you don't have a free account yet you can use mine: login - knitomatic2, password - knitomatic

I really liked my little blue ceramic bolero. On the mannequin it looks like a short cardie, but I'm a couple sizes larger than little miss inanimate-made-of-fiberglass-foam-that-feels-very-satisfying-to-stick-pins-into. On me it looks like short, 80's style bolero and it's pretty cool. The drape really makes it work.  I've been wearing it on the wrong side because the ceramic catches on everything.

Anyway, long story, I thought it would be fun to make a bulkier, fall weight bolero based partly on the same pattern (Bella Sera Shrug), the Anthropologie Inspired Capelet,  and the Knitting Pure and Simple Bulky Shrug Pattern #286  (yes, we have it at the store).  You know me, I can't leave well enough alone ;-)

But it's all just an excuse to try out the new Brown Sheep Lanaloft Bulky Handpaint (LL200 Platinum Plum). I do not think that Brown Sheep  has updated their online shade card yet, there are a few colours missing. To get a better idea of the colours you can browse the projects and stashes for Lanaloft on Ravelry.

As it is summer, I decided to embark on a fast summer baby blanket. I'm using Mission Falls 1824 Cotton (2 strands together) on 6.5mm needles. The design is based/inspired by the Mason Dixon Moderne Log Cabin Blanket.  I'm not following the text in the pattern, but I know that some of you are analytically inclined so I am writing down my instructions as I go.

If you want to work with colours and don't want to worry about stitch patterns or counting, you can't go wrong with the log cabin! 

Wedding Shawl

I pushed through and have just about finished the Tuscany Shawl for my sister in law's wedding.  She does not want a huge, Stevie Nicks thing so I cut tow pattern repeats from the project (9 total, instead of 11). It's a pretty nice pattern, not too complicated, not too lacey-poo-poo and I suspect it would look good on finer yarn. It grows fast because it is very wide, the increases are on every row, rather that the usual every-other row.

The reason it is not quite done is because I did not know if it was long enough or if Katie (sil) wanted it bigger. I took my own advice and slipped the stitches off the needle and onto scrap yrn (Super 10 cotton held double) and then wet blocked it with pins on my ginat blocking boards. It blocked up rrreeeeeaaall goood!  Now I am waiting for Katie too come over an try it on and then I'll cast off, steam block the cast off edge, sew on a label, and off it goes!

But now that I have finsihed all my required wedding knitting I am in the flow and jonesing to knit anything, can't stop!