Knitting Report – September 29, 2017

It never sits well with me when someone says “I’m working on something but I can’t show you!” but . . I’m working on something and I can’t show you! 🙂 It does happen and it happens to me when I’m working on a test knit that I can’t share here. The only reason I mention it is because I haven’t knitted on much else and saying “I’ve done nothing” isn’t true so . .  It’s a test knit and you’ll see it as soon as I get the ok to show you. Save some money . . you’re going to want to make this project. Because you probably have nothing else to do, you can start deciding which yarn you want to use. Check these out. This is what I’m using but this is all I can say. 

Patterns Added:

About midway through this week, I was thinking there wouldn’t be many patterns to share but then I got hopelessly hooked on lace knitting. I’m going to do a whole blog post on it later this afternoon. I keep telling myself . . don’t order too many patterns and yarn til you’ve tried it. Some of these lacy shawls do use fingering weight yarn so I’m not worried. 

• Shieldmaiden Lace Shawl – I saw this one that someone else made and posted in a group.
• Interface – Another one that looks fun to knit.
• Reverb – This isn’t a new pattern but it’s one I’ve thought about for quite a while. I saw one someone else had done last week and I said . . I’m doing it!
• Keel Heel Socks (free) – This looks interesting and I love trying new heels on socks.
• Apparition – The Boo-Knits mystery knit along that got this whole lace knitting shawls obsession started.
• Diamond Fizz – More lace!
• Gocce de Nostalgia – (free) This one is actually a DK weight shawl.
• There and Back Lace Shawl – You’ve already read how I fell in love with this one. It’s fingering weight (one skein for most yarns!)
• I See Fire Lace Shawl – More fingering weight and one skein. This one looks great in solid yarn, as well as gradient yarn. It’s a small shall and very do-able.
• Diamonds & Rust Lace Shawl – Another of Anna Victoria’s patterns. Goodness, I’m smitten.
• All Points South – They call it a “pullover shawl”. Interesting.

Yarn Added:

The extra yarn I had ordered for Sweet Georgia’s Mystery Knit Along – purple. I blogged about this one earlier this week and showed the possible combinations I came up with.

For the record, I think this is my final choice for the Sweet Georgia KAL starting next week.

Lolodidit had a special yarn with part of the proceeds going to help those affected by Hurricane Harvey. She has a Hippo series of colors and this one is “Helping Hippo”.

Since I needed a gradient set for the test knit, I wasn’t sure what I was going to use so I ordered several sets from Miss Babs.

I’ve already shown the two skeins from Raspberry Dyeworks but here they are again so they can be included in the report.

and

The lace yarn is beginning to roll in. Next week should be the motherlode. Yarn is coming from Austria, Germany, London, South Carolina and . . all the way from Abilene! The Miss Babs’ Yearning arrived yesterday. The yarns recommended for many of the shawl patterns I purchased, at least the first few, are 100% Tussah Silk, with 760 yards/100 grams. When substituting yarns, the first thing I think about are yards/weight and then I think about content. Apparently, because of the number of beads, they’re recommending the silk or a silk blend yarn. I did order some of the recommended yarn (Dye for Yarn’s Lace Tussah Silk) but that is the yarn coming from Germany and anything going through customs, you never know how long it will take. So . . I ordered the Miss Babs yarn. The yearning ends up being about 615 yards/100 grams so it’s a little thicker/denser but probably not enough to make a difference. The yarn is 65% Merino Wool and 35% Tussah Silk so . . it’s not a perfect match but I think it will be just fine.

Colors, left to right: Faded, Slate (which is way more gray and way less blue than shown in the photo), Beachglass and Sycamore.

Someone told me Knitpicks Luminence was pretty good silk lace weight and it’s reasonably priced so I ordered some of that too. I had to get three skeins of each to have enough for some of the larger shawls.

Top Left: Meditation
Top Right: Grace
Bottom Left: Peaceful
Bottom Right: Reflection

You may be asking why I ordered four colors of each of those two lace yarns. Do you want the reason I would give Vince if he asked or do you want the real reason?  🙂  

• I don’t have much lace weight yarn and if I’ going to love knitting with it and I think I will, I’d like to have options in my stash that I can use for future projects.
• Judging yarn colors and then bead colors from the internet and having them all come together and match would be a dream but it doesn’t always happen so if I order a couple of different bead colors that I hope will match each, then surely something will work. Also, there are times when I would want the beads to be a perfect match, times when I want the beads to stand out just a little, and times when the beads can be totally different (say .. red beads on black yarn) so whatever beads don’t work for this project, should work for a future project.

Projects I Worked On:

Most all of my knitting time was spent on the test knit.

Knitting Plans for this Week:

Knitting plans for this week are probably out the window because I’ll stop whatever I’m doing and work on There and Back Lace Shawl once that yarn arrives . . and it has been shipped and my guess is it will be here tomorrow.

Otherwise, my knitting plans might include

• Finishing the test knit project, which should happen today.
• Knit past sleeve separation on Longline Cardi. This has been on my “to do list” for several weeks.
• Start several lace knitting projects!