Showing posts with label shawl. Show all posts
Showing posts with label shawl. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Don't You Just Love It When...

The designer sends an update to the pattern you're in the middle of?

ESPECIALLY if the update improves the pattern?  And REALLY ESPECIALLY if it's too late to go back and incorporate the changes because you have a deadline?  And it's laceweight?  And you're already on the second repeat of the lace pattern?

Oh well.  Next time. If there ever is one...

Wednesday, August 3, 2011

I DID IT!!!

I finished the shawl!!!!




Isn't it beautiful? Don't you love it? The pattern is now available. It's called Dancing Birds of Paradise and you can find it here.

In other news, I knit 2570 yards in July! Pretty amazing, huh? Well, not all of it was knitting, I did give some yarn away, but still, in coldsheeping, destashing counts. So far I've used up 11,562 yards, bringing my stash down to 27,370 yards. I think I can make my goal of hitting 15,000 yards before Rhinebeck in October!!

All in all, good news. We are both knitting/dyeing/crafting furiously to prepare for the craft table on the 27th, so clear your schedule to come visit us at the Lancaster Farmer's Market between 7 and 1. We'll have hand dyed and hand spun yarns along with knitted and hand made gift items. There will be something for everybody and hopefully it'll be lots of fun!

Sunday, July 10, 2011

Slog Saturday

I didn't get a chance to work on my Finish Friday project on Friday. I'm knitting a shawl with a deadline so I've been mostly knitting on that (more on THAT below). But, I did find time last night to work on my sock. Here's where I started:


I popped in a DVD and ended up here:


Not too much farther to go! I can have it finished in a few more Fridays if I keep this up!

LoloKnits and I managed to get lots of crafting time in during the 4th of July weekend. Here's our Knitting in Public Tip for you: If you're going to sit outside to watch fireworks, make sure you score a seat under a street light so you can knit after it gets dark. Loloknits and I made great use of a street light at the Harbourfront in Buffalo. The fireworks were late, so we had LOTS of time to knit, while everyone around us was bored and complaining.


And we also got plenty of knitting time at a parade in Lancaster on the 4th. One of my favourite bits of the parade was the Four Presidents of Mt. Rushmore. I only got one terrible picture, but trust me, they looked amazing.



Oh, and back to my shawl with the deadline: Guess who is running out of yarn? YUP, that would be me. I was doubting whether I'd have enough yarn for a few days now, but I suddenly realized last night that I would not have enough to finish. I did the math, it would not work. So I think I have no choice but to frog back and reduce the number of pattern repeats on the body and then redo the two edge charts. It's going to set me back a couple weeks and I'll miss my deadline! I emailed the designer and I'm waiting to hear back from her to see what she says. The crazy bit is that I OVERESTIMATED how much yarn I'd need, I thought I'd have plenty leftover. I was even fantasizing about what I'd make with the leftovers (socks of course). It's very upsetting!! But, if I tink back now and knit furiously I can have it done before the end of the month, easy. I was so close! I had 13 rows left.

What lessons can be learned from this? Well, thankfully I left in my last 2 life lines so I can frog back to the beginning of the edge rows no problem. That's a good lesson; leave the lifelines in place, just in case! Also, I could probably also learn to give myself plenty of time to meet a deadline. I knew this would be a tight squeeze when I signed on for it, not much room for error. So maybe that was my bad. And then, I guess I should pay more attention when I start to get that little niggling "something's not quite right" feeling. You know what I mean. The sweater's just not working in the yarn, yet you keep knitting it. The sizing is off but you think you can make it work. And you keep knitting and knitting and then when it's finished you HATE it and have to frog it. All that wasted effort. If I had paid more attention when I first started having suspicions, I might have realized earlier on that I'd have to go back and would have saved myself time and heartache. That's an important lesson to learn, listening to your Inner Better Knitter. Ah well. Tinking makes us better knitters, right?

-Sereknitty