Fun with blocking and a Trellis update

A few weeks ago I ordered a blocking kit from Knit Picks. I wanted to see what the fuss was about. They arrived in their nifty mailing tube and sat unopened and neglected for a few days until I had the time to block out the Trellis scarf. Trellis, if you remember, was not an inspiring sight fresh off the needles, all wrinkly, bunchy and scrunched up from being lugged around in my purse and whatnot, lace never is. I broke out my new blocking wires and got to work. What a difference between blocking with wires and using pins alone. Blocking wires can accomplish amazing things, transforming one's knitted lump into a piece of open, lacy goodness.

I'll admit that threading the wire along the long side of my scarf was not the most fun I've ever had, but the patience paid off. Using these wires means goodbye to puckered, uneven edges. No more scalloping! It's much easier to ensure that your item is a consistent width from top to bottom and allows you to adjust things as needed. So much better than the alternative of using a million dressmaker's pins. I am a convert. Trellis is now washed, blocked, wrapped and ready for gifting. I'm always a little anxious when knitting for someone else - I know what I like, what colours and patterns that I prefer, and therefore tend to second guess myself when knitting gift items. I'm reasonably confident that I've chosen well in matching up the pattern, colour, fibre and recipient.

After putting the finishing touches on Trellis, I returned to a project that I had begun for myself but had put aside. I bought a skein of the Fleece Artist's Suri Blue in the marine colourway. I love that yarn - slightly fuzzy, light, warm and beautiful. I chose to knit up a shoulderette version of Laminaria from Knitty. I was intrigued by the Estonian stitches and was looking for a challenge. It was an enjoyable knit - even if I did have to frog the whole first edging because I couldn't find my mistake. Unlike Trellis, where I found it easy to "read" what the stitches were doing because of the predictable geometry of the pattern, I found it much harder to do that with Laminaria due to the organic nature of the shapes and therefore harder to find my mistakes. After I got used to the pattern and could "read" the situation better, it was smooth sailing.

The pattern is well written and the charts are clear and error free. I did modify it slightly by taking the suggestion of a knitter on Ravelry and changing the k3togs in the second half of the Star chart to sssk for a more balanced pattern - a minor element, but one that I'm glad I did. I was completely underwhelmed when I cast off - so small! So uninspiring! So not what I was hoping for. Blocking saved the day (or is shawl?). Blocking was essential. It totally opened up and the designs that I had been trying to read were suddenly very apparent and beautiful. I am pretty happy with my version of Laminaria and I recommend the pattern to anyone who wants to learn a new thing or two and is looking for a more challenging lace project. I'm looking forward to wearing this one!

After all this lace, I'm looking for a bit of a breather before I plunge back in. Today I cast on for this after hearing that the Farmer's Almanac is predicting a really chilly winter. No holes, no double yarn overs and no k3tog, ssk combinations, it should go pretty quickly (or should I say that out loud? Did I just jinx myself?).

Happy knitting!

Old MissKnit had a farm. . .

. . . and on her farm there were some sheep, e-i, e-i, o. After all the intense lace activity of recent weeks, I really wanted a fun, easy project and these sheep by Fiber Trends were just the thing. I love them. I intended to just have the one, but quickly realized that one is the loneliest number and that he needed company. Then I thought some more and thought that a third would really round out the group. The fourth, made of left over Noro, is a gift for a friend who is more than a little obsessed with that crazy colourful yarn. Good times all the way around. After all the laceweight it was pretty nice to have a heavier weight yarn and needles in my hands. Plus, knitting a three dimensional object is pretty satisfying. As an added bonus, I've got myself some sheep friends. Sweet. Now I just need to name them. . . .

In which I attempt to sew.

No, it's not knitting, but it is related to yarn. Kind of. Last night I broke out the sewing machine and made myself some lavender sachets to nestle in the stash in an effort to a) make the yarn smell nice and b) guard against moths. I don't have a moth problem and I intend to keep it that way. I am not the seamstress that decodaco is, but I try. I figure I can only get better with practice, so stay tuned for adventures in sewing (for yarn!).

Where yarn comes from. . .

. . . it comes from Woolly Boy.

Helloooo.....Is anybody out there?

I blame you not if you've abandoned me for greener pastures, blogs that are you know, updated and current and stuff. I fully intended to be post-y and whatnot, but summer got in the way. I could justify the long absence with the somewhat flimsy rationale that I've been working on long-term projects that required the full extent of my focus (partially true. Kinda), or that one of them is a wedding gift and the bride might discover my posts (not even a remote possibility), but really, I've got no excuses. So, if you're still around - you're a wonderfully patient person and I hug you from here.

My biggest project to date - in terms of size and stitch count - has got to be the Bird's Nest Shawl from Cheryl Oberle's Folk Shawls. I love this shawl. It's my favourite kind of lace project - not too fussy and easy to memorize. Knitting this does require patience and perseverance as it's knit length-wise, but I think the results are worth it.

I used 6 or so skeins Drops' Alpaca on 4mm Addi Lace needles and am really pleased with the result. The pattern is clearly written and easy to follow. Oberle suggests lace weight held double throughout for this project, but I found that the alpaca produced a nice lightweight fabric that drapes beautifully and is very warm. It's also considerably less expensive than cashmere. But splitty and sheddy. It hurts me to say it, as I love Drops Alpaca and possess a considerable amount, but I will admit that it sheds like mad and can be a pain in the arse with the splitting. My solution? Refrain from wearing dark colours whilst knitting and pay a little bit of attention to what you're doing. Not exactly a revelation, I realize, but it works for me.

Blocking, as with any lace project, really opened up the pattern. Even my Man was impressed with this one (no small accomplishment in itself). There are more photos of it in all it's purple glory here. [Photos.Photos are one of the main reasons that I don't blog more. Dealing with photos in Blogger makes me want to chew off my own arm in frustration. It doesn't need to be this difficult. Just sayin'.]

Also on the lace front, I decided to knit a lacy scarf as a gift for a good a friend's wedding. I gave myself a month to finish it. I managed to complete it 2 weeks. I showered and ate and had a life and stuff, and still managed to get the Trellis Lace Scarf finished with time to wash, block and wrap it. Not that I have actually wash or blocked it yet, but for good reason. The blocking wires I ordered from KnitPicks are due to arrive tomorrow and I really want to try those out. So, as it stands, the Trellis Scarf is a rather unappetizing rumpled lump, desperately crying out for some finishing touches.

I chose Jaggerspun Zephyr 2/18 in Lady Slipper pink for the bride-to-be. It is not a colour I would choose for myself, but I think that it suits the recipient pretty well. This was my first time knitting with it a true lace weight and I wasn't sure what to expect. I thought somehow that lace weight would be more difficult to work with, but not so much. It did take some getting used to , the thin yarn on 4mm needles (Addi lace needles again. I have some to appreciate those pointy brass needles - particularly when knitting 7 stitches into 5), but it wasn't as difficult as I thought. The yarn itself doesn't really set me on fire - it's nice (and I have 2 skeins in the stash), but I'm not in love. I found it prone to splitting at inopportune moments (like the 7 into 5 manoeuvre), and it felt rather papery to me - probably owing to the silk content. That said it knits into a lovely, floaty fabric and most of the folks who have seen it really liked it, even if pink isn't their deal.

The pattern is easy to follow and made perfect sense to me -I've some Ravelry reviews that called it quite challenging, but didn't find it overly vexing. I watched tv and managed to keep things on track. The one issue I do have with this pattern is the asymmetrical ending borders. I hate them. The beginning border is scalloped and leads quite nicely to the main diamond/trellis pattern that comprises the body of the scarf. The ending border ends straight across, with a half diamond shape. This didn't make much sense to me, so I searched Ravelry for an alternative. I found a chart for an ending border that continued the diamond shaping but could not for the life of me get it to work. I'm not sure what I was doing wrong, but I gave up. Ultimately I cast on for a second beginning border and grafted it to the scarf. It worked out pretty well and is a much better fit that the original ending. I will post pics when the blocking extravaganza is underway (hopefully tomorrow!).

There is another lace shawl in the works, but it will have to wait for my next post - which will be much sooner in coming than this one was. Thanks again if you've stuck around or are making a return visit to the Back Loop, I appreciate it. If you're curious as to my other projects, I'm Ravelry as MissKnit - drop by or add me as a friend (I'm friendly - really).

Happy Knitting!

Blue Root

Here they are (finally!), pics of the finished Rusted Root. All the details and mods and whatnots are in my previous post. Enjoy!

As for new knitting? I've got nothin'. Nice weather finally arrived and I took advantage!

Beautiful weather can't last forever (can it?) so it's back to knitting. I feel the urge for something new. . . maybe a sweater? Hmm, any suggestions?

Happy Belated Birthday Canada!

Happy day after Canada Day everyone! I hope everyone had a lovely day out in the sun, enjoying the festivites and whatnot. I ventured forth to do a bit of social knitting in the park with my knitting friend Mammals. We lucked out and scored a bench under the perfect shade tree. It was lovely - shady and just the right amount of breeze - pefect for knitting.

For some reason I elected not to take pictures of us actually knitting, but I swear we really did. I'm working on yet another pair of socks, this time from Knitting Vintage Socks, the Child's Sock in Miranda Pattern. So far so good. By next posting I will be sure to have photos.

I do however have photos of a pair of socks that will gifted next week. The best part anout these socks is that the recipient has no idea they're coming. Sweet! I love surprises/surprising! This person knows that I knit (duh). This person always asks what I'm working on. This person waxed poetic about this pair of handknit socks she recieved once and how nice they were and that they were the best socks ever and that no one has ever knit her another pair, etc., etc., etc. Just ask. This is what I desperately wanted to say. Just ask and I will knit you a pair. Not often does anyone actually ask, they just hint, hoping that we knitters are not so obtuse as to miss their coded messages - "So, knitting socks huh? Boy, those sure do look nice. That's one of my favourite colours right there. Yep. Sure are nice looking. Are those for you? Oh. Hey, you know what? We have the same size feet. How about that, what a coincidence. Well, better let you get back to it." Subtle, very subtle. Well, my knitting radar picked up those subtle signals, and I knit her a pair of Waving Lace socks, featured on the cover of Favorite Socks. [Favorite Socks and Knitting Vintage Socks seem to be my go-to, never-fail books when I need a decent sock pattern. Needless to say, I recommend them].

A ball of Opal Solid in a nice bright fuschia was my choice for these bad boys. The recipient is a vibrant sort of person and I thought this colour would suit her to a T. I enjoyed this pattern - engaging without being over complicated, easy to get into and fun to knit. I like textured socks (even if they sometimes look like fleshy lumps) and this was my first pair of lace socks. The end reult looks great and I am resonably confident that she'll like them (there is the outside chance that "WTF? Wool socks in July?! Are you freaking kidding me?!" will come out of her mouth, but I'm betting on not.

The other item that had been occupying my knitting hours was Zephyr Style's Rusted Root. I was possessed by a burning desire to knit this cute sweater when I stumbled across it on Ravelry. I had to make it. Had to. And so I did, out of stuff in my stash no less - miraculous! I purchased some Garnstudio Bomull-Lin last year when visiting South Carolina, intending it for a certain project that lost it's appeal over time. The cotton/linen blend sat, unknit, in The Chest for over a year, waiting for it's time to shine. Well, shine it does. Since finsihing the Root, we have been plagued by overcast skies. Not at all conducive to taking nice FO pictures. I will take advantage of whatever sun comes my way this week to snap some pics. Until I can present photographic evidence that the sweater does exist, my comments on the yarn, the pattern and the combination of the two will have to suffice.

Bomull-Lin is a worsted weight cotton/linen blend that I originally intended for a sleeveless tank last summer. It just didn't happen. Happily enough I found a different purpose for the yarn and am happy with the result. What to say about this yarn? I did find it splitty - which I expected - and a bit rough on the hands - which I also expected. That said, if you pay attention whilst knitting, the splitty-ness shouldn't really be an issue. It aslo softened up after getting beat around in my knitting bag and after a washing. It offers up great stitch definition for the lace pannel on the front of the sweater and isn't as heavy as I thought it might be. I have a feeling it might grow a bit with repeated wearings, but we shall see.

Rusted Root struck my fancy when I found it on Ravelry for a couple of reasons. I like the shape and I like the lace column detail. I was also intrigued by the top down construction. I did make some modifications to the pattern after cruising through the various versions on Ravelry:

• knit at a slightly tighter gauge than called for and knit the med., instead of a small to get the fit I wanted


• decided to use a provisional cast on for the neck to make picking up the stitches for the neck ribbing easier and neater


• opted for plain, non-pouffy sleeves and lengthened them to the elbow.

It was a quick, mostly enjoyable knit. I say mostly because I knit and reknit the sleeves a few times before I arrived at something that I liked. This is not the fault of the pattern, as I was making them up as I went along. Everything turned out well in the end and I shall post pics soon.

Until then, I'll leave you with a shot of summer. Happy knitting!