Thursday 29 May 2014

Breaking In With Needles

Finally there are some movement on this bird shawl.
This is not about me breaking into a bank. No, this is about breaking that code hidden somewhere unknown in a knitting project. This time it is my bird shawl.

That over expensive kit with only notes to guide me through. The main problem was the chart - or the lack of it. Two patterns were included with very small symbols. I had to put that awful chart together myself and that ended up in copying and gluing for hours. I will not even think about the words that came to mind then...

Anyway, after finishing my shining star shawl I found out that my bird shawl needed a new go. And that I had to come up with a new way of knitting it.

Sometimes the brain works in mysterious ways. This idea to remake the pattern repeats in excel made it all work. Since I worked in excel on the shawl mentioned I knew how to do it. No problem, it did not even take long to do it. The pattern was now readable without a magnifying glass and I divided the shawl into pattern repeats with stitch markers.

Original chart on left, my glued chart in the middle and on the right my excel chart.
This is just a wonderful feeling. Getting this project on tracks again made me so happy. I think I needed the experience from my shining star and from excel to do this. Making a huge chart with all the stitches in the shawl is simply a too big a job and not even needed. But I still think the pattern is far below from expected from that kit.

I have also given my carbon needles a go as I knit on 2mm. I did not like them previously because of that metal end, but now they work just perfect. Much better to knit with than ordinary 2mm needles.

I have ordered some extra colors from Holst yarn. I need more colors to choose from and I want a bigger shawl than the pattern calls for. Oh yeah, there will be birds flying out from my needles now.

No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it
Albert Einstein

The Stitch Story
Yarn: From a kit, and Holst garn
Needles: 2mm
Pattern: Bird Shawl
My Ravelry Page: Spreading My Wings
Yarn and pattern before I started.

Tuesday 20 May 2014

Wrapped In Orange Wool

 Oh dear, I have done it again. Repeating a pattern - and this time you will see number twelve. Yes, you read the number right...

I have no excuse other than I love knitting these shawls and that they are wonderful to wear in any yarn. And the stitch definition is amazing when you use a 9mm needle in one end of the cable and a 3mm needle on the other end.

Tassels and glass beads for a better finish.
This is a simple rib pattern with one knit and one purl stitch. 

All the knit stitches are knitted through the back loop. As simple as that.

I modified the pattern to get wide wings on the shawl. That makes a great comfort when wearing.

I do that by increasing two stitches at beginning and end of each row.

I added a purple edge and purple tassels to fresh it all up. The top edge got at bit loose. But I can live with that.

I can not promise to stop knitting these. I may come over a yarn that will fit just fine - or a color I need for something. Who knows?

Don´t you ever say never to me
Ruth in Fried Green Tomato

The Stitch Story
Yarn: Rauma Finull
Needles: Interchangeable needles on 9mm and 3mm
Pattern: Schultertuch "Geschickt Gestrickt"
My Ravely Page: Number Twelve

Tuesday 6 May 2014

The Colorful Thirties

No, this is not about my age. That is really just a number... This is about the 30 colors going into this scarf. And the surprise I got finding them all in my stash. It could be a rather huge discussion about how all that yarn ended up there. Say no more...

Anyway, the thing about this scarf is that it is another of my swatches. They usually ends up being about three meters long and in a lot of colors. Trying out patterns and colors is so much more fun when the experiment ends up in something to wear.

It was really a challenge putting colors together this way. Usually I knit in complementary colors and combine them. This time it was about getting the colors to float into each other using color tones that matches.

The color wheel and the scarf.
That was a problem regarding the yellows and the greens. There are a lot of them, but they are not that matching as blues and purples are.

But I managed to find some that paired up great. And when I looked at the colors before started knitting I must say I was very sceptic.

Some of them were just totally "no way" colors to me. But they worked.

What a fun and satisfying project - and the thing is that I did not see how it would turn out before I was finished.

I used my intuition and have not had any plan on length or how long each color float should be.

To keep track of the order in the colors I made a color wheel with them at first. Then I put them into long plastic bags in that order. I just knitted my way through the skeins in the order I put them into the bag.

I am so happy about how this came out. I love it and I am glad I was patient enough to knit my way through the 30 colors.

The Stitch Story
Yarn: Rauma Finull, Rauma Pt2
Needles: 2.5mm
Size: 310 x 57cm
Pattern: Lifelines
My Ravelry Page: Inspiration From Germany
More photos on the project page on Ravelry.