FO: Swallowtail Shawl...

My one piece of Holiday gift knitting.


I'm not too creative with labels.

For Grandma.



Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark (IKF2006)
Yarn: Sirdar Country Style 4-Ply in "sage." Less than one 100g skein.
Needles: US4/3.5mm Clover bamboo circs and KnitPicks Options
Time: 5 days

Notes:

This shawl was easier and faster than I expected. I wonder if part of it might be because the Peacock Feathers Shawl was my first lace shawl? It seems quite a few lace projects would be a piece of cake compared to that one. Only thing is the P5 for the nupps was a little hard to work. I ended up switching from my bamboo needles in favor of the sharper-tipped Options needles. That helped a lot but there were still a couple moments of struggling.

I made this with an acrylic/wool blend (mostly acrylic) since my grandma machine washes everything. She's never had much patience for housework, and it would be difficult for her to learn special washing instructions. It's a combination of age and a slight language barrier--As she gets older she uses a dialect of Cantonese more frequently that I have trouble understanding (I grew up speaking regular Cantonese at home).

I decided to make this a couple weeks ago while staring at the pile of stash yarn I've been working through for the last couple months. It occurred to me that the Swallowtail Shawl would be perfect for my grandma who is a very small woman and gets cold very easily. She won't drown in it, and she can drape it over her shoulders when she's playing mahjong or watching TV.

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Part of the reason for my lack of Christmas knitting this year is I had to reknit a gift I gave my mom last year. The Sirdar pullover was way too big for her because she was between sizes (what else is new?) and I went with the larger size. I finally got around to taking it apart and reknitting it in the next smaller size, which fits her perfectly.



I made the body a little shorter since my mom is petite. I also modified the sleeves by making them narrower and shorter. The flared style of the original was just too flappy.

I'm also in need of sweaters. A couple of my sweaters need replacing but things in stores are either not quite my taste or are too expensive. So I've been trying to remedy this.



Another bottom-up raglan in the round (one of these days I need to learn how to knit top-down) without a pattern. One raglan side will have a button band extending up along the turtle neck. There will be six buttons total. I could only fit four in when drawing the diagram. The turtle neck is meant to be worn unbuttoned for a split neck look. I just happen to be going through a button phase right now so the more buttons the better! =) The sleeves will be worked separately and sewn in so as to avoid really long rows of working back and forth. I also plan on double-knitting the button band for extra strength.


Finally found a project for the Felted Tweed.

One down...

After five weeks, the Sirdar sweater is done! Also, best seaming job I've ever done. Normally I suck at seaming. It's why I quit sewing. But I took my time and it turned out well. I used the Sirdar Breeze #8384 pattern and knit it in Sirdar Country Style DK in heather.


The finished product.



I've also gotten a couple inches into the yoked pullover. I'm using the Father and Son yoked pullover pattern (I can't find a link to it that works at the moment) from Knitting Digest only I'm doing it in one color.



The above photo also shows off my new little toy. This has freed up my other counter since I'll need it for other projects. I kind of left my DPNs at home and I don't want to buy any more so I'll be doing the sleeves to the this sweater at home. A couple other nice things about this counter is it doubles as a stitch marker, I'll remember to change the number since I'll pass it everytime I finish a row, and it was only £1. Good deal.

In other news, after thinking about it for almost a year I finally decided to get Interweave's Spring 2005 issue so that I can do the Ballet Wrap I've been coveting. The thing that really made me hesitant was the recommended yarn, Naturally Merino et Soie, costs about $8/skein so the cardi would end up costing over $100 to knit. Luckily, I found an alternative at KnitPicks--Andean Silk. Pretty much the same fibers only Andean Silk has the added bonus of alpaca and about the same guage. My parents let me get it as a birthday present. Definitely looking forward to going home for the holidays now.

So close, yet so far...

I have 1/3 of a sleeve left on the Sirdar sweater and guess what?



Yep. Out of yarn. Will have to get another skein tomorrow. In the meantime, guess I'll have to work on this:



The two-color basketweave stitch scarf in the Colinette I bought at Loop. Darn.

Bah...

After getting a good 16 inches done of the Colinette scarf in herringbone, I decided I didn't like it and frogged the whole thing. I just started a swatch/scarf in two-color basketweave and this is turning out much better. Had to frog it after the first time because US15 needles were just too big (even though the two-color basketweave makes a dense fabric, too). US13 seems to be the way to go so far. Will see.

On sleeve #2 of the Sirdar sweater. I pinned up the first sleeve and put it on. It may look ginormous but it turned out to be okay. So last sleeve and then put it together.

Also just started the really easy Mary-Jane slippers from the Craftster Forum using the leftover Wendy DK from my Roman Stripe scarf.

Knitting ADD...

Broke down and started playing around with the Colinette. After a couple swatches, I decided to make my scarf in herringbone stitch. Man, this thing is dense. I've ended up using US15/10mm needles. Recommended size is US9/5.5mm. I think this is going to end up being a pull-through scarf because it's so thick. Also, I don't know if I'll have enough for a full scarf. We'll see. If this does, indeed, end up being a pull through scarf, I have three options: horizontal hole (easiest given it's hand-dyed), vertical (colors might end up wonky because it's hand-dyed), or pick up stitches and knit a little loop. The loop thing I've never tried. I know that SnB Nation has a scarf with a loop thing but I didn't bring any of my books to the UK with me. Also not sure how picking up stitches will work on herringbone. Anyway, I think what will happen is on the ends will be a 5x5 inch block in Peaches & Cream, 2.5 inches in Moss, 1 inch in Peaches & Cream, and everything in between Moss.

Still working on the first sleeve of the Sirdar sweater, but doing stockinette for so long and so much gets really boring. Hell, I even learned how to knit continental while working on this thing. I found that purling this way will probably be easier and fast once I get used to it. Knitting, however, is still really frustrating since I keep dropping stitches and my tension gets way off if I get into a rhythm.

Continental knitting...

I've finally figured out how to purl using the Continental Method. So far, Continental has proven to involve less hand/wrist movement for me. However, it's also way awkward and fairly slow-going. I think I have a severe lack of coordination in my left hand or something. I'll stick to the English Method for the most part, but it's good to know Continental for the times my right wrist goes wonky. Ahh, childhood injuries. At least my tension is pretty good either way, so far.

The Sirdar sweater is more than halfway done. The front and back are finished. Just need to do the sleeves and seam. I'm a tad worried, though. My first sleeve so far looks HUGE. I checked the pattern and it doesn't look like it'd be a big deal if I made the sleeves for the smaller size instead. Would just need to smoothly switch back to this side when shaping the raglan.

So just when I thought yarn shopping in London was going to be a lost cause (I swear, everything is Rowan or Jaeger in this country) I found my way to Loop in Islington. Not as big as what I'm used to but the variety is there. Frog Tree, Blue Sky, K1C2, Colinette, Laines du Nord, and more. I found some Colinette Graffiti in moss but they only had one hank left. Not quite enough to make a scarf, so the lady there suggested I find another color and do either a stripe patter or a border with the contrasting color. This resulted in me getting a hand of the same yarn in Peaches & Cream. They look nice together side by side so far but we'll see how they knit up together. The best part was they were reasonably priced. £5.50 per 100g hank of hand-dyed 100% wool. Rowan and Jaeger, I believe, sell their 100% wools for more (although I still want to get my hands on some Rowan Big Wool Fusion--those colors are awesome but pricey).