Tag Archives: fo09

FO: Deb’s Textured Shawl

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Real creative name, huh? It’s a shawl using the Textured Shawl pattern and was made for my husband’s second cousin, Deb. One day, creativity will be mine and ya’ll aren’t going to know what hit you. Wait for it, it’s coming. (Maybe.)

Deb's Textured Shawl

When we went to Deleware in late August, our plan was to spend a day at the beach. Sure, we went to the beach (Rehobeth, to be specific) but it was closed due to a hurricane. Apparently closed beach = boardwalk still open and you can put your feet in the water.

After grabbing some pizza at the place Matt has talked about for ages (but whose name I can’t remember) and fries from another Rehobeth-famous place, everyone wanted to go put their feet in the water for a bit. Deb and I, we had other plans.

See, Deb is also a fiber type. She mainly sews and crochets but has tried knitting before, too. She’d heard – from me – that there was a yarn shop just a few blocks off the main drag and, better yet, it was open. The store (Kitschy Stitch) was a small but jam-packed shop with lots of Rowan, Araucania, Classic Elite, Cascade, and lots of other brands I don’t remember. Somehow I managed to restrain myself until I decided that Deb needed a shawl. I let her choose between several options and she picked a deep blue cotton and bamboo blend (Queensland Collection Cotton Bamboo). She insisted on paying for the yarn despite the fact this was supposed to be a gift – she even made me a great drawstring bag for WIPs as a thank you!

August 30 (Day 40) - Deb, your shawl is done

The shawl pattern is great though, as last time, I got really bored about a 1/3 of the way through. Thankfully, I stuck with it because the result is amazing. Cotton provides structure, bamboo just enough drape. I would love to get more of this yarn for future don’t-necessarily-have-to-block shawls.

FO: Sproingy Socks

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Yet another pair of socks I wanted to keep but eventually gave to Beth. These ones are GORGEOUS yet too wide for my feet. Danggit. Thanks, Beth, for accepting them so graciously!

I’ve made this pattern (Spring Forward from the Summer 2008 Knitty) before and had forgotten just how quickly it goes. Did them toe up using the slipped stitch heel instructions from Wendy Johnson’s Nanner Socks. The Malabrigo yarn isn’t my favorite though it’s up there – great texture and color but it’s not true fingering weight – more heavy laceweight – and doesn’t have quite the twist I prefer in sock yarn. I’ve still got another cake of it around here that I’ll use to Alison a pair of lighter-weight socks.

August 24 (Day 33) - Odd Background

Ravelry details here.

FO: Placket-neck Pullover

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Several months ago I decided to make a baby sweater for Matt’s cousin, Rachel, who was having a baby in the late summer. She loves bright colors and I figured, hey, this is a great opportunity to knit in colors people don’t usually use for babies. And I had the perfect yarn – bright blues and greens from Cherry Tree Hill. I picked a pattern (the Gardi Stitch Baby Cardi I made for a school friend) and got to work. Stupidly, I decided to 1) not make real sleeves and 2) put the project aside for three months before I put on the buttons. In that time, I came to realize that the project was a dud and I’d have to – brace yourself – toss the project and knit something else. It just couldn’t be saved.

This sweater is the re-do. Sure, the yarn’s a much more normal color but, hey, the baby (named Vera) is already here and in need of a handknit sweater. The pattern was a little boring with all the stockinette but I learned something! I learned how to knit a raglan from the bottom up, one of those skills I have somehow skipped learning thus far. Seaming was a bit of a pain but that’s something I’ve only ever done once or twice before.

(Special thanks to the designer for distributing this pattern free. It was published in a book but, due to what I’ve heard are numerous errors by the publisher, has been released in corrected PDF form. You went above and beyond.)

Project Ratings
Yarn: 7 (soft and great colors but splitty and overspun)
Yarn/Pattern Combination: 8
Execution: 8 (suck at underarm seaming)
Pattern – Overall: 9
- Instructions: 9
- Finishing: 4 (“sew seams at underarms” may be enough for others but I’m an idiot)
- Stitch pattern(s): N/A
- Interestingness: 7
- Desire to remake: 6

Placket Neck Pullover

Ravelry project page here

FO: Icarus for Esther

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No, Esther’s not actually an aunt – she’s my mother in law – but I did throw in a shawl for her in the middle of the Aunt Shawl project. Hers was made using a great hand-dyed yarn I got at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival which I would love, love, love to work with again.

Three cheers and a thousand thanks to the woman who dyes this yarn. At the end of my day at MDSW, I had only $20 cash left. Although the yarn cost significantly more ($28, I think), she let me have it, as long as I told my friends about her. So, here I am, telling you all. Even without her amazing generosity, I would be singing her praises – she has some of the softest, most beautifully dyed yarns I have ever encountered. I would be broke if she sold her yarns anywhere near me. Her website is here.

As for the pattern, it’s still great and I’m still too stupid to think to enlarge the pattern. Esther is not as wee as Gloria – few people are – so I did five full repeats on her shawl but, of course, ran out mid-way through the final chart. Maybe someday I’ll actually see what a “real” one of these looks like!

Project Ratings
Yarn/Pattern Combination: 10
Execution: 9
(All other values were given on the first Icarus FO post)

purpleicarus

Ravelry has the details here

FO: Icarus for Gloria

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Must also start with a thank you – this time to Olga who was nice enough to give me this yarn in exchange for that silk I loved but could never get to work.

The second shawl of the Aunt Shawl project, this shawl is for Gloria who lives in Delaware and is the mother of four of Matt’s cousins. She’s a nurse and one of the sweetest people you will ever meet. I brought her shawl on my late-August trip to Delaware to go to the beach. She was really surprised and very excited (and was actually wearing a pink shirt when I gifted it to her – yay for proper color selection).

About the pattern – I am a royal idiot. I knit this from the copy of the pattern published in the Best of Interweave Knits. The chart is teeny tiny and, although it tells you straight out to enlarge it, I instead chose to squint to read the tiny symbols. (Even did this on the 2nd one I made, go figure.) For Gloria’s shawl I only did three repeats of the, er, repeatable pattern and ran out of yarn before I could complete the last chart (didn’t even get to the edging).

Project Ratings
Yarn/Pattern Combination: 8
Execution: 8 (bound off too tight first time and messed up the lace a little)
Pattern – Overall: 9
- Instructions: 10
- Finishing: N/A
- Stitch pattern(s): 7
- Interestingness: 6
- Desire to remake: 8 (I did make a second one, after all)

Only one photo despite the fact I had my camera with me when I gave her the shawl. Oh well, it was pouring anyway so the light would’ve been horrible.

pinkicarus

Ravelry project page is over here.

FO: Steeler’s Scarf

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In the middle of last winter, I promised Nicole, my Journey-obsessed cousin who spends most of her time in Pittsburgh, I would make her a hat or mittens. Or was it both. Except I’m a horrible cousin and never actually sent her said garments. Nor did I make any way towards making them until the very end of May when we got a really great bright yellow yarn in the shop. I instantly had an idea – make her a scarf in Steelers/Pirates/Penguins colors! It knit up pretty quick during our visit to Shenandoah National Park and I finally got he ends woven in a few days ago. So, Nicole, I’m sorry I’m a lying liar who lies but you’ll soon receive a scarf in the mail for all those cold August days in the Ohio River Valley. And, I promise, you’ll get a matching hat and fingerless gloves come actual winter (they’ll match each other, not the scarf, unless you want them that way).

pittscarf

FO: Tuscany

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This weekend, the Wheel of FOs was dismanteled in favor of a trip to the beach to see family in southern Deleware. It went out with the trash Sunday night and, therefore, won’t be making any more appearances. Instead, you’re stuck with me going through the list in the order I decide. Bwahaha.

The last time I made a Tuscany shawl, I had some issues. I’d never really done lace before so I kept screwing up the chart. First I tried it in silk which, ugh, never worked. I actually gave that silk away because it drove me so batty. Next I tried it in cotton. Cotton’s not *that* bad to work with but, blocking, you have got to be kidding. To add insult to injury, this was also back when 1) I hadn’t heard of a gauge swatch and 2) I still knit “funny.” My mom was the recipient of that disaster but, thankfully, her love for me saw through it and she’s promised to preserve it somehow for posterity (it really is too horrible to be worn).

This Tuscany went much better. I decided to use half the ball of yarn (about 200 yards of Cascade Heritage) to make Lori – one of the Aunt Shawls project Aunts – a small shawl. I’m not sure why, but she strikes me as the type to like smaller shawls. Maybe it’s her fondness of simple clothing paired with a statement piece like a necklace. Or I just coped out with a smaller shawl. Either way, here it is. This will get mailed shortly as she lives in Ohio and I’m not sure when I’ll see her next.

Project Ratings
Yarn/Pattern Combination: 9
Execution: 9
Pattern – Overall: 10
- Instructions: 10
- Finishing: N/A
- Stitch pattern(s): 8
- Interestingness: 6 (same pattern over and over drove me bonkers)
- Desire to remake: 8

Ravelry has all the knitty details here.

You can see how tiny is really is if you wear it like this.

tuscanyback

I think it looks best like a kerchief.

tuscanyfront2

FO: Topaz

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Spun the wheel and it came up with number 10. Without further ado, Topaz.

I wanted to use up the single skein of W40 left from my Shalom sweater (to be blogged later) and decided, hey, it was about time I really tried my hand at color work. Thankfully a quick Rav search found Topaz, an adorable baby dress made in two colors of worsted weight with a little colorwork. A perfect gift for a new mom – more specifically, a gift for Christina who’s daughter, Charis, is almost four months old (confirmed by her father via Twitter, yay, Twitter!). I didn’t expect to get it finished before our trip to Delaware this weekend – I did only start it Sunday, after all but, hey, it’s done.

I sort of cheated in the color work department. After a not so great job on the front, I decided to skip the color work on the back. I did, however, have to teach myself how to seam a garment and didn’t cheat and knit this in the round, much as I wanted to. I feel sort of silly gifting a mostly wool item in late August though I’m pretty sure it’s currently too large for little Charis.

Topaz

(Better photos will come later, hopefully. Either of the dress being worn by Charis or Christina’s smile at receiving it.)

FO: Lavendar Ishbels

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I had my boss spin the wheel to choose the next project. Don’t worry, he adequately made fun of me and my whole Wheel of FOs concept. I can’t blame him. Without further ado, project number 8: Ishbels #1 and #2.

First, a bit of a fan moment: I got to meet Ysolda at MDSW! She’s somewhat shy and absolutely adorable. I had only knit her garter stitch mitts when I met her, which I thanked her for about 100 times before Olga hinted that maybe I should leave her alone.

Okay, now that that’s over with…

I know everyone’s making these, but, really, I don’t care. The pattern starts with stockinette then finishes with lace. And easy yet gorgeous lace, at that. I made three of these in pretty quick succession and I’m sure to make at least a couple more. I like that you can customize the pattern. You can either make large or small lace and a large or small stockinette section. If I remember permutations and combinations correctly (sorry, Mr. Parish), that’s four possible combinations.

I made two identical ones for the Aunt Shawl project. The first for Leona who just retired as a nurse at the nursing home where Matt’s grandfather lives and the second for Karen who runs a small Spanish-language Christian bookstore. Both will be gifted this weekend during a special trip to Deleware to go to the beach and the town’s German festival. I hope the ladies don’t care their shows are exactly the same.

I really love the yarn I used, Rowan 4-Ply Soft. Holly, the owner of my LYS/part-time boss, recommended it and I couldn’t be happier. Great colors, good price point, perfect semi-tight twist, and blocks like a dream. It’s going to be my go to yarn for shawls in the future (once I make it through all of my stash, that is).

A photo for the traditional types who wear their shawls across their backs.

lavendarishbelback

And a photo for those who like the kerchief look.

lavendarishbelfront

Rest of the details are on Ravelry here. Well, they’re here, too, but it’s all the same info.

FO: Andromeda

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There’s one problem with spinning the Wheel of FOs: not all of the projects on my list are actually FOs. I edited my orignal post to move all of the non-FOs to the bottom. While many could become FOs in less than a day, I can’t exactly work to finish any of them before tomorrow night. So, I must cheat a little and straight-out pick the first FO. (Thanks to Beth who spun the wheel for me when there were still 16 options with the result of project 13 – Ishbel #3. It’ll get blocked ASAP so I can take photos and post about it here.)

I blame Jocelyn. This Spring she made a gorgeous blue Andromeda shawl for herself and ever since I saw hers, I wanted to make one. I snagged some super cheap Cherry Tree Hill Supersock Merino mill ends at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival in early May and started on this almost instantly. Despite the fact it was started just before my final exams, I managed to finish it in under two weeks. Not bad for my second shawl ever (my first, Tuscany, took four false-starts and three months on and off).

This is the first of seven lace shawls I made at the beginning of the summer for my husband’s mom and aunts – to be referred to in the future as the Aunt Shawl Project. Its recipient was Lucy, mother of Jeremy and Alison, mother in law of Maegan, and grandmother to Izzy, all of whom I’ve probably mentioned here before. It came as a total surprise to her – especially since I gifted it on the afternoon of her granddaughter’s first birthday party.

Project Ratings
Yarn/Pattern Combination: 10
Execution: 7 (dropped one stitch I didn’t notice until blocking, didn’t knit on nearly large enough needle)
Pattern – Overall: 9
- Instructions: 9
- Finishing: N/A
- Stitch pattern(s): 10
- Interestingness: 9
- Desire to remake: 8 (though I probably wouldn’t do the “points” again – I’m generally not a fan of them)

I was remiss in getting a photo of Lucy wearing it – though I hope to get one in the future – so he’s a photo of it being knit then blocked. And a bonus photo of Izzy – she is Lucy’s granddaughter – attempting to eat her birthday cake.

andromeda

Shawls Blocking

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