I was right...

[treeskin]

...Shop Stweard was not as impressed with Mr 8-Legs as I was. His loss. Said spider was still in his box, still alive, so I'm going to take it over to Donna later today, have her put it in her Critter Cage.

It was a long weekend, for both of us. Sunday was the HSA meeting, which is long, and boring, but not at all restful, then over to the Charlesworth's for dinner and visiting. Monday I spent in the greenhouse helping Donna (15 flats of seed started!), while By worked on the bars, and picked up a load of boards from one of Albert's jobs. I did laundry and string yesterday, trying to rest up. The string was not cooperative, so it wasn't restful either. By put in part of the day with Robyn, then ran down to Albert's job on 95th St for more lumber for Robyn's cabin. He's finishing one of the bars this morning, then back down to the salvage job. (Albert's only got a week to finish this, so it's get in and get what you can, before they doze it down.)

The UnSock Report: was nearly finished with the Sea Breeze vest yesterday, when I discovered that my gauge was off, and the nearly-finished product would have fit my mother, which made it a tent on me. Gak. It took forever and a day (which equals the first two Harry Potter movies) to rip it out, since the mohair loop sticks to itself enthusiasticly. Two gauge swatches and needle changes later, the vest is now 1 pattern repeat done (equals a bit over an inch). *sigh*

Still working on the Scalloped Hem Dress. It's 18" long now, into the hip/waist shaping, and that's the slow part, because I have to stop every so often and see how it's doing. But it looks decent so far.

Cat, I changed my mind (again!) on what I want to do with the cone of green lace yarn. Have you seen the Kiri Shawl? Here is a pic of someone's finished shawl, not attached to a pdf. Nice, isn't it? I think it'll show off the yarn better than the Spiral Nebula Shawl would.

Comments

string-related babbling.

[ladymurmur.livejournal.com]

Ooooh... pretty shawl. Probably not what I want to try for a first shawl/lace project, though - eh?

I'm having more fun frogging and playing with my alpaca than actually accomplishing anything. I'm almost wishing that I'd gotten all one color instead of 2 colors, but I can't imagine how I would have picked just one. Somewhere, somewhere I saw a pattern for a scarf that was diagonal stripes. I think that it was simply a matter of decreasing consistently on one side and increasing consistently on the other side, but that almost sounds too easy. But I think that diagonal stripes on a wide scarf would look snazzy in these intense colors.

I'm also having more fun that I ever thought I could have playing with different needle sizes. Made near netting using some size 11's on this, and fell in love with some plain old garter stitch using size 2's. First time I've played with needles that small. Seed stitch with such small needles & sportweight black yarn will make me go crosseyed, though.

Never expected that I'd be seduced towards the fine yarn/small needle side of the force. But with you around, I'm sure it is/was only a matter of time. :p

Re: string-related babbling.

[treeskin.livejournal.com]

For a first lace project, maybe not, just because of size, though it could be done with larger yarn and needles and that would speed it up a lot. A simpler lace shawl pattern is the Rob Roy Shawl (:"http://www.dangliebits.com/robroy.html"), which I've seen people do in Woolease (so, light worsted-weight to dk weight) with a nice effect. (Note I've not worked this pattern, because I got bored. Very repetitive.) If you want a pattern that's still easy, but a little more interesting, try Oma's Lace (http://tiajudy.com/circfnf.htm), by Judy Gibson. It's a basic circular shawl in feather and fan stitch, which gives you 1 round of "lace" in between several plain rounds. While I'm on her website, the Simple Slant Shawl" (http://tiajudy.com/slant.htm) is another to consider. (And if you can do that one, you've got the basics down for a Shetland style shawl, which is at its simplest that shawl plus borders.)

Aw, heck, why don't I just list other patterns as I find tham, that'd be faster...
Trinity St Shawl (http://www.cs.oswego.edu/%7eebozak/knit/esb-patterns/shawl.html) -- very simple pattern, no pic though
Truly Tasha Shawl (http://www.woolywest.com/shawl.html), modelled after one made and worn by Tasha Tudor, more functional than lace (just a lace edging).

And if none of those whet your appetite, try looking here (http://www.knittingpatterncentral.com/directory/shawls_stoles.php).

Alpaca is love, isn't it? A diagonally worked/striped scarf would be lovely. And you've guessed the way to do it...start at a corner, increase at both ends of every other row until the bottom is as wide as you want the end, then continue to increase on the "long" side while you decrease the other end of the same row. Umm, same shaping as for Clapotis (it's in the winter issue of Knitty), just without the dropped stitches.

Once you get used to the smaller sized needles, most folks find them very comfortable. Your hands move less per stitch. And the fabric is nicer, I think. But I may be biased now.

Re: string-related babbling.

[ladymurmur.livejournal.com]

But I may be biased now.
Well, yes. Especially with patterns like this. ;-)

The Simple Slant Shawl pattern is EXACTLY the picture I had in my head of what I wanted to try! Yipee! OK, pattern picked. Now I simply need to play a wee bit longer and decide on the needle size (still small, I think, becuase I'm enjoying that so much at the moment, but perhaps something larger than a 2).

You're my pattern pusher/psychic/enabler/fairy god-mother, aren't you? I say "I wish..." and *bam!* its either "Here, little girl, why don't you try some of *this*..." or "How about one of these dozen patterns" or "But have you seen this website/yarn/toy??" *chortles* :-)

Re: string-related babbling.

[treeskin.livejournal.com]

Merely doing my duty as the chief Disciple and Prophet of the Gospel of String, which is to promote and facilitate the procurement and enjoyment of String.