Regress as Progress

I'm making progress on the Highland Triangle Shawl, but sometimes, much to my chagrin, progress means regress.

This shawl is patterned in three sections -- a middle triangle, an inner edging and an outer edging. I've finished the inner body of the shawl and am working on the inner edging, which is the widest part. Remember, each row has two more stitches than the one which precedes it.

I was knitting along on the inner edging (lace pattern) when I looked down and saw that there was a mistake -- about 7 or 8 inches wide -- which caused that section of the edging to be off. It wasn't the whole edging, but just this section. The mistake was about 3 inches back from the working edge -- 10 or so rows. I tried to drop a stitch and see if I could fix it that way, but it was no good.

RIP.

I had to rip out 10 or 12 rows -- a total of over 2,300 stitches. I'm reknitting it now, but it has been a let down, to make that much progress and then take it out.

I knew that even if I could fix the section forward from when I noticed the mistake, I would always see it -- and would become the only thing I would see about the shawl. My first highland triangle shawl has a one row mistake in the edging on one side of the triangle, and it always ALWAYS jumps out at me.

So, regress, but progress. Mistake is gone. And maybe that is one of the great things about knitting. We can erase the mistakes.

A new project; an old pattern

I knew that I would do it. I told myself that if I had willpower, I could avoid it, but I didn't even fool myself.

I ordered 11 skeins of Merino Style from Knitpicks (Hollyberry colorway) in order to knit a second Highland Triangle Shawl.

Once I finished Steve's shawl, I picked up my jaywalker socks again, with the hopes of completing the second sock. As I worked on it, I decided on the Highland Triangle, and ordered the yarn. I knew that I would set the sock aside when the new yarn arrived, and even though I tried to convince myself that I could finish one project before starting the next, on the day the yarn arrived, I cast on. Oh, well.

In one photo the very beginnings of the new shawl is laying on my original shawl. Very much a beginning. I have more done now, but a long way to go.

Specifics:
Pattern: Highland Triangle Shawl from Folk Shawls by Cheryl Oberle
Yarn: Knitpicks Merino Style in hollyberry
Needles: US size 8, Knitpicks options (metal)

By the way, I ordered a set of the new acrylic Knitpicks needles. They are interesting, and I have imagine I would like them with the right yarn, but I wanted something "slicker" with this yarn, so I went with the metal. It's kind of useful, having my choice of metal, wood and acrylic.

End of a Web Site

For a couple of years -- 2005, 2006 -- I used a Geocities site as a companion to the blog. It was a web site with pages devoted to completed projects -- kind of an online knitting journal. It is a little too much to do, and I haven't added anything to it since 2006. I've been using the blog as a journal since then, taking care to have a "finished object" post for each completed project.

That was fine. The web site was still linked to the blog, so references to it still worked. Unfortunately, Geocities is closing down its free sites. I could pay for a site, but I don't want to do that, so I spent the day moving information from the webs site to the blog, updating links, and organizing.

While I was at it, I added tags to older posts. All finished objects can now be accessed from the sidebar -- either in the year they were completed or by the type of project it is.

Bleh. I'm tired!

Goodbye, Sandpiper Knits . com. Hello, organized blog.

Steve's Shawl

Steve's mother died early last Sunday morning. She has been suffering from Alzheimer's Disease, and on Sunday she just drifted away. We had been expecting this outcome for a few months, so since May, I have been working on a Prayer Shawl for him.

In my head, I saw his shawl as symbolic of the beach -- a place a peace -- because I wanted his shawl to say "peace" to him, and to remind him of quiet walks on the beach, as well as the presence of God in his life.

The shawl is rectangular (about 80 x 27 inches) and is knit on the bias. I started with one stitch and increased each row on one end, knitting front and back on the second to last stitch of the row and the second stitch on the next row. I continued this pattern until the triangle gave me the width I wanted, and then, still doing the increases, I started decreases on the opposite end of the rows -- knitting the third and second stitches to the last in the row together as well as slipping and knitting together the second and third stitches at the beginning of the next row. When it was long enough, I stopped doing the increases and kept decreasing until I was back to one stitch.

Two-thirds of the shawl is blue (Araucania Nature Wool Solids), but isn't solid. There are light and dark values of blue in the yarn, so the blue section looks a little like waves and water. The sand is Patons Classic Wool in Natural Mix. There is a surf line, which is a cream colored wool (two rows). I knit it with US size 11, harmony circle needles from Knitpicks.

Sewn to the sand are seashell charm. There is one in the picture to the left, although it is in shadow and is hard to see. On one corner are three charms -- cross with alpha fish (faith), anchor (hope) and heart (love).

Beach Yarn

While we were at the beach in July, I went to Island Knits yarn shop in Pawley Island, South Carolina. And, yes, there was some stash enhancement.

The black yarn in the first picture is VERY soft. It is from the Plymouth Yarn Company and is called Buckingham. It is 80% Baby Alpaca and 20% Silk. I found it with her sock yarns, but I think it would also make a really pretty scarf, and in fact she gave me a free lace scarf pattern when I bought the yarn. The color number is 500.

The next yarn is from the Ester Bitran yarn company and is called Talinay. It is a bulky weight wool yarn. She also gave me a scarf pattern with this one. I liked the model she had in the shop, so I'm anxious to crank out this scarf. It is color 220 -- tan, pink, blue and brown. It probably isn't a colorway that I would have chosen for myself, but I imagine it as a gift.

The third yarn is a sock yarn from Araucania Yarns called Itata Multy. It is 70% superwash wool, 15% silk and 15% bamboo. The colorway is 1002, and it is a mix of blue, purple and green. There are 430 yards in the skein.

Updates

How about some updates?

First: Today is the last day of Project Spectrum -- East. I've had trouble finding things that are yellow. When I was focused on taking pictures, everything was green. I did find a patch of yellow flowers in the Bob Evan's parking lot as I was waiting for my carpool ride to arrive.

Second: Here's another image of my Jaywalker sock. I still haven't started the second sock because...

Third: I've been working on a mystery project which will eventually be revealed. I hope not for a long time, but I imagine eventually.

Wood

Walking in the park the other day, I took lots of photos. Here are some of them centering around the "wood" aspect of Project Spectrum.

Knitting as Ministry

My church has an active prayer shawl ministry. Each week five or ten or more shawls are placed on the altar rail during the offering. These shawls go to our local Hospice House, to members of the congregation and beyond to offer comfort and prayers. It's a beautiful, blessed ministry.

I am a knitter. I am not part of this ministry. I thought I would be when it started, a few years ago, but I never jumped in and did it. I've never felt a calling to that ministry, even though I am a knitter, and could certainly knit the shawls. I've posted the photo above in order to show you how prolific and wonderful the ministry it; none of the projects are my work.

I have knitted two prayer shawls in my life. Both of them were for good friends of ours who had lost parents. One of them I just finished, and one was knit in 2006. The friends are husband and wife; the four of us -- well, I don't have words, but this couple is very special to us.

What I have noticed about knitting prayer shawls is that it becomes a compulsion. I knit late into the night, I knit in the car, in the movies, at lunch, at church meetings. I just HAVE to work on it. Knitting for me is usually a relaxing, creative enterprise. Prayer shawl knitting is in no way relaxing. I must do it, and I must finish the shawl as soon as possible. As I work, I find myself setting daily row goals. As I get closer to the end, those goals become larger and larger, and my drive to complete them becomes even stronger. When I finish, there is a wonderful sense of completion and relief. It is as if there is a call to FINISH it, and get it where it needs to be.

I suppose if I were knitting shawls for people I didn't know, I would have that drive about it, but I can't imagine doing this all the time.

All of that said, knitting these two shawls was a worshipful experience. It's not one I would trade for anything. I can't imagine that knitting a generic shawl would have that same kind of spiritual attachment.

I think I'll stick to my regular socks and failed sweaters.

Jeff's Shawl

I'm still working on the sock, and I'm almost done with the first one, but last Monday, I sat them aside and picked up another project.

A friend of mine's father died early last Friday morning. He had a stroke a week ago Thursday. On Monday I started a prayer shawl for my friend. I wasn't going to do that, but on Saturday morning, as I woke up, an image for the shawl came to mind. I lay in bed and designed the shawl in my head, and how it would visually represent Psalm 23 (an important passage for my friend during this time). I finished the shawl this evening and left it for him at his house.

Yarn: Patons Classic Wool -- black, denim blue, green, light blue, burgandy, tan. One skien of each, except for the denim blue and green (2 each).

Needles: Knitpicks harmony circular needles, 24 inch cable, size US 11 needles.

Pattern: 81 stitches across, stitched in Trinity stitch.

The shawl ended up being much longer than I envisioned it -- 86 inches -- and 24 inches wide. The yarn was OK, although I've worked with softer wool than this.

The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures
He leads me beside still waters
He restores my soul.
He leads me in right paths for his name's sake,
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, you are with me
Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemies.
You annoint my head with oil
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord, my whole life long.

Socks much larger

Project Halted and Project Started

I've finally thrown in the towel. I knitted and knitted and worked and worked, and kept ignoring the ginormous size of my Daily Sweater. I kept trying to convince myself that it would be OK -- that maybe I would wear it at home on a chilly night, and it would be comfy. Yesterday, as I knit in the car on the way to dinner, working on first sleeve, I gave in to my frustration and held the sweater up for Steve to see. We laughed. It's huge. I measured, and the body of the sweater is 10 inches wider than I planned. I checked my gauge, and it's something like 17 stitches to inch, when it should be 21.

Don't tell me that I should have knit a gauge swatch. I did. I knit it in the round, since the sweater is knit in the round. I knit it with the yarn I'm using and the needles I'm using. I even washed it and remeasured. I actually even knit THREE gauge swatches. I had gauge. Now I don't.

I'm frustrated, but I'm not continuing this frustration. I'm stopping. The sweater is going to the stash box to either wait until I'm willing to rip it out and start again (egh) or just get rid of it. I knit for the joy of it. I am not finding the joy in this huge sweater.

So last night, we wound my Socks that Rock yarn -- Fire on the Mountain colorway. It's pretty! I'm knitting Jaywalker socks. I've gone up a size, and will consider the first few inches to be my gauge swatch. If it works, I'll keep knitting. If not, I'll start again. So far though, it's pretty.

I never knew my sandpiper had such sad eyes. He's thinking about that Daily Sweater!

Magnum Opus

I was listening to the pod-cast Cast-on the other day. She was talking about having a "magnum opus." What big thing have you done with knitting? Have you taken on a project that is just HUGE? Success or failure doesn't matter. It's just the attempt at something large.

I worry that the idea of a magnum opus is self defeating. Once you've done it, then what?

I think we should live a magnum opus life. We should continue to pick up the next big thing followed by the next big thing.

When I started knitting, I decided that I would really learn it. I wouldn't just be satisfied with being able to knit "squares." (That's always been my joke about crochet -- I can crochet squares, but nothing else.).

As I progressed with the knitting, I learned increasing and decreasing. I moved away from scarves to a sock and then to gloves and then to an actual garmet -- a vest for the Knitting Olympics.

Now I'm working on a sweater. I've never knit a sweater before, but it's the next BIG thing.

Image: Winter for Project Spectrum.

Finished Object -- Missouri River Scarf

I mentioned before that I was knitting a scarf using a skein of Mountain Colors yarn. I finally found time on a sunny day to photograph it as a finished object.

Pattern: The Yarn Harlot's One Row Handspun scarf. Great "pattern" -- easy to do, and I love the results. It makes a reversible scarf that has some textural interest. It's a free pattern that you can find on Stephanie's blog (at that link). I made one change to the pattern -- I added 3 extra repeats to each row, from the suggested 26 stitches to 38. To add extra width, just add stitches in multiples of 4 (which is explained in the pattern itself).

Yarn: Mountain Colors Weaver's Wool Quarters in Missouri River Blues colorway. I used the entire skein -- 350 yards. I thought I might have enough to add fringe, but I had just enough yarn to make it my usual 5 foot long scarf. It's kind of nice to use all of the yarn with not leftovers. The yarn colors patterned in an interesting way -- see the zigzag of colors in the image? I loved this colorway and this yarn.

Needles: US size 8

Daily Sweater update

This is the Daily Sweater -- almost through the increasing rows -- five more left. I don't know; will it turn out to be a sweater? One that I might wear?

St Patrick's Day Green

Project Spectrum IV

When I was knitting a few years ago, I played around with Project Spectrum in its first incarnation. When I got back to knit blogging and knitting this year, I went to Lolly's blog to see if she were still writing and if Project Spectrum still existed. It does, and in fact is on its fourth time around. Time moves on.

I'll try to find time to post information in the sidebar about the Project, but you can read about it on her blog, as this post. There's also groups at Ravelry and Flickr.

I'm working on that Daily Sweater right now -- it's a garnet color, so I don't really want to stop and pick up something green, but the list of emphases for the month intrigued me -- in short, green/stones/winter/earth. I thought I could work with them via photography. Here's what I have so far:

Click to see images more clearly. 1. Rocks in waterfall at work. 2. Daffodils blooming (through the earth) 3. More rocks 4. Bud of something, but very green. 5. More green, and it reminded me of winter, since it is evergreen. (Collage formed in Picasa, which is a very cool program!)

A Sweater Begins

First, I should mention that I finished the Missouri River Scarf. It's really pretty, and I'll post finished object images and details soon.

I've taken the plunge and started a sweater. It's the top-down Daily Sweater from the 2nd Mason Dixon book. I finished the swatching, actually washed them! and discovered that I needed to go down a needle size to get gauge. I'm using a US size 6 (size 4 for the neck) with Knitpicks Comfy (cotton and microfiber) yarn in pomegranate.

I'm almost on row 30 of the increase section. I like the charts. Once I figured out when to increase left and right and when to twist left and right (I'm directionally challenged), the knitting is moving right along. I'm worried that the neck is too large, but in the image (in the book) it looks larger than a crew neck. I'm just trusting and moving along. I may regret it.

Angora pelt

I ran across some yarn at our local yarn store by Elsebeth Lavold -- an angora and wool blend. I bought a few skeins of it, and decided to make it into a scarf.

My son calls it my rabbit pelt scarf -- it's very soft. It's designed with a "key hole" through which the scarf can pass. It's visible in the image, but I wonder if it is clear. The colors -- a black and taupe -- match my coat.

Pattern: From Vogue Scarves Two -- it is a rabbit fur trimmed scarf. I modified it by making it a little more narrow (although it is still wider and shorter than any other scarf I've made.

Yarn: 3 skeins of Elsebeth Lavold angora in black and one in driftwood.

Needles: US size 8

Missouri River Scarf

I've ordered the yarn for the Daily Sweater. While I'm waiting for it to arrive, I pulled a skein of Mountain Colors Weavers Wool Quarters and started a scarf using the Yarn Harlot's pattern for a One Row scarf.

The pattern is easy. I had forgotten about this yarn until I pulled it out. I love the colors. It's called Missouri River blue.

Unfinished and Almost Started Projects

Remember this yarn? I posted about it before (just that I had purchased it).

My intention was to knit a striped scarf, like my last one, using this yarn.

I cast on, using Brooklyn Tweed's pattern for a Noro scarf, which I did. I knit about 8 inches. The pattern is fine, and it produces a thick 1x1 ribbed scarf. The edges are particularly well done by slipped both end stitches on the second stripe in the pattern.

But the colors. Ick. Look at that skein. It looks bright a pleasant. I liked it. I still like it. Knitting that pattern with it? With the particular way the yarn is would? Mud. The scarf looked like mud. I disliked it so much that I ripped it apart and rewound the yarn. Unusual for me. I usually just loose interest in something ugly and put it away while I start something else. Not this time. It's gone, and the yarn is back in the stash.

On another front, the swatching for the Daily Sweater is coming along nicely. I did three swatches (can you believe it?) -- one in each color. I started with pomegranate Comfy on a size US7 needles (which is recommended in the pattern. The stitch per inch count was too large. This makes sense, since I think this yarn is thicker than the recommended Calmer. So, down a needle size, to a US6 and swatching with the blackberry. Hit the stitch gauge right on target. Amazing. I've washed the swatches and will remeasure the US6 one again today. And order the yarn. I also knitted a smaller swatch (for color purposes) with the planetarium. In this one I practiced the twisted stitches requires in the pattern.

I like all three colors, but for this project, it will be the pomegranate.