The Wrap, It's a Wrap!

†I gifted my Mum with the Path of Flowers Stole (big blue thing that ate my summer), and she adores it!! (phew!)

Action Shots (click to make big):






Project Details:
Pattern: Path of Flowers Stole by Chrissy Gardiner

Yarn: A Kidsilk Haze knock-off from the basement (sale section) at Romni. No labels, no tags, no dyelot...

Needles: Started on 4mm Holz & Stein Rosewood circular needles, but after struggling too much with the P2-tbls, I picked up a pair of Addi Turbo Lace 4mm circulars. The difference is unbelievable, and I swear my knitting got faster!

Time on the Needles: July 13 - October 10, 2008, with no less than 5 restarts!

Ravelry Link: click here

Project Post-Partum

The stole, she is done!

Just in time for my Mum's birthday (we're celebrating on Sunday), I have just gotten the stole off the needles. A lovely block tomorrow morning before I head off for work (to dry while I'm at work) and it will be ready to present to my Mum on Sunday night.

Oh yes, I am happy.

Unblocked lace photos -- not much to look at, but here you go:



I have to say, that I already have experienced the melancholy that comes with being done with a project: when I was on the last repeat of row 3 (I loved that row), I was sorry to be knitting it for the last time.

I honestly thought I'd be knitting this shawl for the rest of my life, and now that it's done I'm feeling a wee bit down. And without a project... Hmmmm.

Don't worry - I'll feel fantastic tomorrow when it's done blocking!!!!!!!!!!

Behind Schedule

Well, for a massive number of reasons, I am well-behind schedule on my knitting (the birthday stole for my mum's 60th in October). But you know what, I get to show off 45% of the stole, AND my new chairs:



Instead of knitting, I've been spending time with dear friends and family, and taking time to enjoy my loft and the sunsets here:



I have also recommitted to my Weight Watchers, and have taken lots of time to exercise and cook. Fabulous.

Whenever I do sit down to knit, I spend more time snuggling with the stole than actually knitting. But really, doesn't it look snugglable?



But of course, that's not helping the knitting much. So I'm going to sit in this corner and work on the stole:



Don't let me come out until it's done.

Ten Percent

It's coming, slowly.

I'm using up my lunch hours working on this lovely stole, which I swear is a shawl and not a stole because it's going to be 65.5" wide!!!!

This is the centre pattern repeat, the one that made me knit this shawl. It's lovely. Yep, definitely worth all the effort and restarts.

So wish me luck to keep to my deadline - I now have to knit about 8 rows per day... hopefully the cottage trip in 2 weeks will let me knitknitknit and makeup some of this lost time!

And of course, you need an 'overall' photo:

Progress Pacer

Well, according to my nifty (knifty?) excel spreadsheet - I'm at 2.6% complete on the gorgeous Path of Flowers Stole. Le sigh. I figure I'm looking at about 33 pattern repeats (of 16 rows each, and about 8 minutes per row) to get the 65.5" required, so I might be blogging this exclusively for a while as I'd like to have it done by October 14th (my Mum's birthday). That means a minimum of 7.45 rows per day, with no days off, leaving one day for washing, weaving in the ends, and blocking. Yeah, wish me luck.

In random knitterly news, I bumped into the Yarn Harlot on the street today when I was post-yam-burrito and she was pre-yam-burrito. Yum. I don't think I was too much of a dork. Although, I did accost her when she was in a non-yarny situation.

The ladies at Lettuce Knit were incredible this evening - both the staff and the knitters! They helped me pick out some Addi
Turbos, the new-to-me lace ones, and MAN are they incredible. The stole is going faster already, and these P2 through the back loops are SO much easier! Huzzah! Definitely money well spent. I was worried they would be too slippy for the silk/mohair blend - but the coating is different from the regular Addi Turbos, so they're incredible! Yes, it's love.

Okiedokie, off to bed to dream of lace.

Rollercoaster Knitting

Well, not to get your hopes up with the post title, but I wasn't rollercoaster knitting; my knitting has been a roller-coaster ride lately.

I'm working on the devastatingly gorgeous Path of Flowers Stole by Chrissy Gardiner. Shhhh, it's a surprise for my Mum's 60th birthday in October.

So, it's deadline knitting and it's the toughest lace I've ever knit. There are pattern rows on the purl side (ahhhhh!), and there are 2 different lace charts, which you knit from twice for each row. It's tough, and the centre motif (the gorgeous one that made me want to knit this shawl) is not memorizable by mere mortals. It's a vertical motif, and as I'm knitting horizontally, it's not going to implant in my brain. (The problems I'm having are in no way the designer's fault... the pattern is beautifully written and laid-out on the page. This is just a bit of a reach for me.)

I'm using a KidSilk Haze knock-off from Romni (20% off sale, woooo!), in a lovely robin's egg blue. The colour changes depending on the light, which I love.

Well, this knitting has driven me crazy. I've ripped back FOUR TIMES now. But I think I can finally read the lace, so this is my last attempt. If I can't get it on this try (I swear I'd have half the thing done if I could add up all the knitting I've done) then I'm moving onto another project. Luckily for my Mum, I love her enough to keep working on this shawl (but even this love has its limits... I can't give up any more sanity for this project...)

In lieu of my normal camera, I'm using my webcam (I'm camping at my parents' house due to a family emergency right now - which also makes sneaky knitting for my mum quite tough).

Therefore, I present to you a montage of my knitting feelings:

Knitting Despair at my frogged lace -- which won't even frog the whole way:


Knitting Joy at a new cast on -- complete with my favourite stitch-markers from Lisa:


And Knitting Peace -- working on the lace, for the fifth time:


And of course, here is my Path of Flowers Stole Ravelry Page, in case you want more frequent updates.

Knitting half makes it whole?

My mum has been working on the Debbie Bliss Classic Baby Cardigan from Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2007.


She has lovely tension, and knit all the flat stockinette bits.


After much debacle, she asked me for help with the finishing.

So, I have done the knitting from the yoke up (unfortunately at a slightly looser gauge), and now the little cardie is blocking.

This was so sweet to knit, even with the collar problems (go check the errata at the Vogue website if you're knitting this -- you need to pick up the collar stitches from the WS!). My only complaint with the yarn, Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino, is that it's a little splitty. It seems to untwist while I knit with it, and then I occasionally catch between the plies instead of the whole loop.

But the almost-finished product is very much greater than the sum of its parts, and I'm definitely going to be knitting more baby sweaters!

I'm currently waiting for the cardigan to dry, and then there will be seaming and button-fun:


More details on the cardigan's Ravelry page.