shawls/scarves – Page 4 – Behind the Smile

August 21, 2009June 24, 2010

Ishbel the Second

I made something this week.

Another Ishbel, from the lovely Ysolda Teague pattern. I knit an orange one in June, and this is its royal purple counterpart. I used some of the Miss Babs sock yarn I purchased at Stitches this year, and it was wonderful to work with. This is the colorway Clematis, which is a bit more purple than appears here, though still in the blue-purple category of which I am so fond. The yarn itself was springy with a nice feel, and it blocked out very nicely.

Here you can see the size difference between the two different Ishbels I’ve made:

The orange one is the small version as written in the pattern – small stockinette section, small lace pattern. The purple one is the large stockinette version with the small lace pattern. I’d seen this version on Ravelry quite a bit, and it used up the yarn nicely; there is only a little bit left of the 400 yd skein. Eventually I would like to make a large version as written in the pattern, but that will be later. Another small awaits me in the near future.

This pattern pretty much knits itself, and everyone should download a copy. I must confess I watched the dollar and nabbed the pattern for fairly cheap. So if you care about that sort of thing, buy it when the dollar is up and the pound is down. What, I am a capitalist, watching my bucks.

Speaking of bucks, I am fully committed to not spending money right now, so hopefully I will have saved some up by the end of the year. I don’t have too much going on the rest of the year, save a trip down to LA to visit Sarah.

I am also going to get back on the Wii Fit. There, I said it. Now I have to DO IT.

July 12, 2009June 24, 2010

Cranking Out Shawls

So, having pretty much lost the sock mojo currently (except for a single sock swap I’m doing with a pal back east – no pics till we swap, though!) I am fully invested in shawls, shawls all the time. Except for the one sock. Heh.

And so I present the Aeolian Shawl:

Some closeups:

It’s pretty much the best thing I’ve ever made, really.

Stats:
Pattern: Aeolian Shawl from Knitty
Needle: US 6 Addi Turbo 40″ lace needle
Yarn: Malabrigo Sock in two different dye lots of Solis
Beads: Lots

So, major props and a huge thank you to my friend Malvina who I asked if she could maybe get me some more beads at the bead store in her city, where I do not live and couldn’t get to when I needed them. If she couldn’t, I would have totally understood but no. She went to the bead store WITH A FEVER and got me my beads and handed them off at the reunion.

I have the best friends, you guys.
*tears up a little*

ANYWAY:

The pattern uses way more beads than you might think. I used almost three whole tubes of Size 6 glass Czech beads in a fabulous turquoise color. (Hence the needing 2 more tubes from U Bead It in Sacramento!) As a result, when I make my sister’s version, I will be a little more prepared. Hers I will make a little differently so they aren’t completely identical.

The pattern is Estonian Lace which is so pretty. It’s constructed in an interesting way in that there is the first lace pattern, Yucca, which can be knit as many times as you want as long as it’s an even number of repeats. I had decided to knit the shoulderette version which has 4 repeats, and then I decided that I wanted it a little bigger so I decided to knit 6 repeats. But then I noticed how the beads were getting eaten up just by the first lace pattern, so I went back to 4.

The shoulderette version calls for 4 repeats of the Yucca pattern and NO repeats of the Agave pattern, which comes in between the Transition chart and the Final Agave Chart. You can actually knit as many Agave patterns as you want, though they are not technically part of the smaller pattern. Since I had decided on sticking with the 4 Yucca repeats but I wanted a longer shawl, I added an Agave repeat.

By the way, I LOVE nupps, so I totally used them. Some people replace nupps with beads, but not I!

Anyway, so last weekend was my birthday and I got a bunch of yarn – my mom ordered a bunch of stuff from Knitpicks for me, including some awesome Gloss lace yarn, which is a merino/silk blend. She also got the blocking blocks (there has to be a better name for that!) and blocking wires that I used to block the shawl. I liked using the blocks a lot, and lord knows that block wires negate having to use so many pins.

Up next is the leaf lace shawl from Evelyn Clark’s Knitting Lace Triangles. I’m knitting that out of Rio de la Plata Merino Sock in “dusky green” which is kind of a bright (almost neon) green mixed with turquoisey bits, really fab. I’ve had it in my stash for awhile.

So, summer of shawls continues! Plus, there’s still enough left of the second skein of the Malabrigo sock used in the Aeolian shawl to use for another Ishbel I think.

Mostly I need to finish the swap sock because I’m going on vacation in two weeks to Las Vegas and also my sister and I are going to see King Tut’s treasure at the De Young that week.

Fun times ahead!

June 22, 2009June 24, 2010

Things I Make When You’re Not Looking

I totally knitted an Ishbel shawlette while nobody was looking.

(Least of all myself – this was a fast knit.)

I have turned into a chart knitter without noticing – if a pattern doesn’t have a chart, I won’t use it. The charts on Ishbel are great; easy to read and interpret. I will definitely be making this shawl again, probably in the bigger size.

I knit it in Malabrigo Sock in the Terracotta colorway, and this thing weighs nothing. I will have to show a pic of it modeled because wowza, this yarn feels so nice against your skin, soft and wonderful.

I knit this on an Addi Turbo lace needle in size US 6 that I picked up at Cottage Yarns in South San Fran a few weeks ago. These needles are great, and I really think that helped with how fast I knit this sucker up.

I also had an urge to crochet on my Babette squares, which comes and goes in fits and starts. But I’m almost done with the 49 4-round squares.

(Aren’t they purdy?)

Yesterday I cast on for an Aeolian shawl, also out of Malabrigo sock, plus beads. Pretty awesome!

And finally, I made sushi for the first time and it was great:

I am too chickenshit to deal with raw fish, so there was none of that, but I did use a variety of fillings, including avocado, cucumber, crab (fake), tuna, green onions, and tempura shrimp. Above you will see my practice sushi; I forgot to take pictures of the “real” sushi that I made for when my friends came over on Saturday to sample it.

Above all, my favorite was the spicy tuna roll, which was a mixture of canned tuna, mayonnaise, and sriracha sauce, plus green onion I think. I am not sure how my friends liked that one, but they did enjoy all of the different varieties and I was complemented specifically on the California roll, and also how “nice” they looked, which I thought was funny, but apparently some people don’t roll them very well.

Anyway, super easy to make, and now I’m going to have to keep tuna on hand for when I want a spicy tuna roll. WTF! I never eat tuna. UNTIL NOW, apparently!

…And I thought I was sick of sushi but I guess not because now I want a spicy tuna roll again. Go figure.

***

This weekend is my ten-year eleven-year high school reunion, which should be interesting. I am going to bring my camera to document the event. I am looking forward to it, but I’m going to be bummed if a couple people with whom I would specifically like to chat with don’t show up.