Showing posts with label the wool barn. Show all posts
Showing posts with label the wool barn. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Doodle THIS!


A finished object?!  What's THAT, you ask?!  I do, indeed, have one ;)

I was knitting away on my Doodler Shawl by Stephen West of Westknits (FB page) fame when the whole move thing happened....and ate away at my LIFE.  I had some laundromat time to knit, and that was lovely, if I was on my own (not gonna lie:  there were 2-3 times I skipped down to the laundromat, conveniently located 3 minutes from my house, SANS children.  BLISS.  TRY IT.).  Then it was hot, and I was quite the negative nelly about knitting - and preferred, instead, to pick up the Harry Potter books and the Outlander books and while away the hours, LOL.
Trying to really impress you with those wrinkles!  Poor shawl!
But.  I LOVE the shawl!  Hooray to me that it's DONE (albeit after three months). I did make the process only a TEENY bit more painful, in that I'm not a huge garter stitch lover.  I wanted to see some stockinette in there.  I incorporated the stockinette on the wedges, which clearly slowed me down a bit, what with all the purling, but it was honestly not a big deal to me.  In the end, I DO see how the all-over garter stitch pulls it all together, but I like having broken it up a bit.  I was pretty tempted to knit the long cable in stockinette, also, but I said a big EFF THAT SHIZ and forged ahead with garter.  I wanted that thing off the needles.  I would have been done so much sooner, but for the move.
LOL, funny little brother
The pattern is clearly awesome.  It was super well-written, and I did just fine.  I needed to watch a quick tutorial for the cast-on, but I think that was it???  LOL.  I am a bit sad that I didn't pick up quite right for the i-cord edge in the middle of the shawl, so, there isn't a cool i-cord look.  That loveliness is more obvious on the WRONG side.  Bah humbug.  Ah, well.  

I did try to make the most of my lovely yarn, which is from The Wool Barn.  I used the Silk Sock base in the colorways Sage, Autumn Delight (Maya is way awesome and custom-dyed that colorway for me!) and Metal.  I do overall think I should have used a purple, rather than the Metal, but that was my choice and nothing doing now.  I have realized over time, though, that I'm not a fan of 50/50 wool/silk blends.  I like a bit less silk in my yarn, mostly because I want it slightly less shiny.  The yarn itself is awesome, though, and everyone who has seen the shawl has loved it and commented on it, which is nice!

Overall, it was a lovely project, and now I dream of casting on for another Stephen West design, the Exploration Station...when I have time on my hands.  For now, I work on the Across the Pond shawl by Mina Philipp.  

In life/family news, we are better organized around the house, though there is still so much to do (I know I'm a broken record, LOL).  Matt's dad helped put in the tub, which is one of the last things to be finished in the bathroom.  The clawfoot is lovely, but we are naturally experiencing some leaks, so, I hope that is remedied tomorrow.  We also hope to complete a bathroom door and cabinet doors for the hall cabinet over the next week or so.  My sister will be visiting with her husband and children (new baby, too!!), and I'd love a cleaner and neater space for them to all run around in.  I will blog about that visit and hopefully another project in just a couple of weeks!
Poor dad


Grandma's first bike ride in a million years!

Matt won a cool sharp sword!
Free pottery lesson with Lisa!
Camden actually plucked away on this that evening...WITH the band!


LOLOL
Your usual box picnic



Sunday, April 10, 2016

When Voolenvine, Hazel Knits and Joji Locatelli Meet


Oh, y'all....how I love this cowl!  Shall I count the ways???

I'll spare you, LOL.
Pardon my crazy lips :O

Blocking creases and my healing lip aside, this 3 Color Cashmere Cowl is crazy awesome.  It happily knit up in two weeks (thank YOU, Joji Locatelli - FB page - for a mostly-mindless pattern).  The pattern is crazy easy, though I did have to back out a few times in the lace portion...missing yarn-overs and whatnot.  Silly stuff.


What WAS difficult, though, was the choosing of yarn.  I knew from the beginning that I wanted to use Voolenvine yarn (FB page).  I believe I originally planned this out, and I had ordered three colorways, enlisting Kristin's help in complimenting colors.  I had wanted to use Dirty on Purpose and Nevermore, both on the Wolke base, a lovely merino/cashmere/nylon blend, but that proved an ill match.  Nevermore didn't stand out enough against the Dirty on Purpose, especially where it mattered in those thin stripes.  Royal Amber was the one constant, LOL; it seemed to look good with anything!  I pulled out a million skeins of yarn, knowing I just couldn't use Nevermore.  And, as luck would have it, because I really WANTED to use stash yarn, I was unable to locate the right sort of purple or teal (first-world problems, but LEGIT problems, people), which I knew would be great contenders.  So, I had to put off casting on until a trip to Twisted in Portland.  I knew THEY would probably have a lovely skein of Hazel Knits (FB page that would work.  I ended up finding just the thing in the Entice MCN, in the colorway Orchid.
Thank ME, the photographer, for capturing THAT side of the cowl ;)
It all worked out in the end, and the cowl only took me about two weeks from start to finish, which was awesome (though it felt LONGER, what with fingering weight yarn, aha!).

Date night with Camden's friends!
Tea time!


Camden's Vancouver besties!!!
Future Doodler Shawl???

Project bag prizes sent off to Adelaide Cottage and The Knitting Broomstick!

Making a project!
And below is a cool Link-Up Party I'm a part of over at Paisley Roots this month!  You know....Karly of Saffron dress fame????