Monday, April 30, 2007

Luna Moth Shawl finished

Here she is right of the needles:

Luna Moth Shawl hot of the needles

Blocking:

Luna Moth blocking

Close up:

Luna Moth close up

After blocking (true color):

Luna Moth Shawl full view

Start date: April 25th
Finish date: April 30th
Pattern: Luna Moth Shawl by Shui Kuen Kozinski
Yarn: Elann Pure Alpaca in Eggplant, 4 skeins
Needles: 4,5mm and 5mm
Finished measurements: 54" along the top, 31" deep
Modifications: none

I used up all 4 skeins and didn't have enough to bind off last 2 scallops. Luckily, the sweater I made for my son in Patons Classic Merino in Purple was almost exact match.

I'd like to thank Shui Kuen for a wonderful pattern and Lisa for hosting this KAL.

Looking forward to everyone's progress and FO's pictures.

Basic Knitter Attempts Shawl

Hello, I am Amanda from Vermont. Thank you for inviting me to join this Knit-A-Long. I have never been involved in a kal, or any a-long for that matter.

The shawl I hope to make is Peruvian Cuzco Wrap. While I am not a beginning knitter, I knit simple because my life is complicated. :) This wrap seems to be one that I can make without too much stress.

I do not plan to use the cuzco, so substitute yarn suggestions would be great.

Luna/Atlantic Mist

That is the plan but many other items are taking precedence at the moment, but I hope to cast on very soon!! I will be using Peruvian Alpaca in Atlantic Mist. Not a shawl but I have SK's Acorn and Leaf scarf on the needles too, and baby items, and a second wren, and half way through a baby blanket for Joan's Afghan Moms!! Grace

Help me choose my first ever shawl!

Hi guys! I started knitting late in February this year, and I've knit 1.5 scarves (it'd be a full 2 but I've lost the other needle for it!) and a couple of wash cloths. I'm definitely ready to try something a bit more interesting, and I see several patterns here that say they are good for beginners, that they are good first shawls.

What do you guys think?

And I'm glad to be here!

Edit: I guess I should list the ones I'm thinking about (basically most of the easy ones)

Pacific Waves
Luna Moth (rather advanced beginner, but oh so gorgeous?? probably too hard . . .)
Sun Ray
Flower Petal
Peruvian Cuzco

I'd like to do the most interesting-looking one I can with my skills, that wouldn't be over-reaching.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

My first blog posting


I am testing how all this works, including a picture.

Figuring this blogger stuff out

For anyone else who's maybe feeling like you're not on top of your blogging game, here's a suggestion: your username is your email addy, not the name you post under.

So, now that I've figured out how to get in and post, what other easy tricks should I try? What's lesson #2 in Blogland?

Adara Rainbow Shawl

Hi everyone : )

I've been knitting for a year and a half. This is my first KAL and my first shawl. It was love at first sight when I saw Elann's newsletter with the Adara Rainbow Shalw. I couldn't wait for the yarn to become available for purchase. And when I received my order I couldn't wait to start. So I had already started when I found about this KAL thanks to Google and of course to Lisa for hosting it : ) I now have 16 pattern repeats completed out of the 29 repeats required. Enough that it's starting to look like a shawl but not nearly close to being finished since it's a triangle shawl worked from the point up. I really like how the pattern combines the different colours.
Here is a close-up sneak peek at my shawl :


I'm waiting for the official starting date to share a pic of my progress so far.

Happy knitting!

Arie

Victorian Lace Shawl

Hi everyone,
I'm so excited to be a part of this. I'm making the Victorian Lace Shawl out of Jaeger Trinity in the Oatmeal color. I'm having to do some adjustment as the yarn called for in the pattern only has 91 yds per ball and you are supposed to change needle size everytime you add a new ball. My Jaeger Trinity yarn has 218 yds per ball so I guess I'll "eyeball" it to change needle size at about half way through the skein.

I started last night (seems a lot of us are starting before May 1) and have 22 rows done. Actually, I started it twice - the first time I realized I had misunderstood the directions, but once I figured that out everything is going well.

No pictures or knitting blog yet. My son has my digital camera and while I can take pictures with my cell phone I haven't learned how to upload them to anything.

Looking forward to hearing about everyone's shawl and all the updates.

Susie

Sun Ray

I really wanted to knit this shawl ever since it first showed up. I seem to have lost the page on row 6. This does not bode well for someone with a short attention span. I put it away with the yarn, so I guess I better get it back out. Yarn is HW Ruby Red. I love the color. Thinking I had better knit this fast as it is already in the high 80's here. Brain focus please :-) When I got the red yarn I also got the same amount in starlight blue, for (hahaha) another shawl. Any way I will get it out today and fix whatever mistake I made. I feel like a turtle in the middle of the Autobahn, all you speedy folks revving up behind me :-)

Saturday, April 28, 2007

Am I here yet??

Did I do it?? (Can you hear me now?) Am I here?

Maybe this is just a test from someone REALLY uncomfortable on blogs. Or maybe I'm LIVE and should be saying something intelligent about the KAL.

Arghhhhh!!!! It's hard to think "smart" on demand! I didn't have anything to say, I just simply wanted to see if I could post if I wanted to ....

(Voice inside my head, "Come on, say something, Billie.") My shawl is still under debate...how's that for intelligent?? I'm test-driving 2 different yarns (one a soft mohair, the other a cotton/linen twist) for the Luna, plus this is the kick-in-the-butt I needed for the Chunky Highland Wrap exactly as show in the pattern (same yarn, same color). I'm lovin' this wrap but suspect it will suck knitting HW in the summer heat...it WILL be summer; I'm a slow knitter...but the 2 Lunas are so opposite each other, and I know eventual blocking will change their appearance again. I can't decide. I've got until May 1st.

Gee, I hope you can hear me...

Luna Moth progress

Thank you Lisa for such a quick invite! I'm in now!

I could have been half way tru by now, but I was so frustrated last night that I couldn't knit. Good thing I didn't frogg it last night. Today I took it out to the daylight, pinned it to a white towel and now see that everything is just fine. I'm finally able to see the fern lace pattern.
Here is what I have now:

Luna Moth Shawl progress

Stash Shopping

Just finished going through my stash & found more than enough Baby Silk for a sweater so I took 6 balls from the pile. I don't think I am going to need it all because my plan is to make fewer rounds than called for in the Moonlight Sonata pattern. Looking forward to May first.
Cate

Getting Started

This is my first KAL and a good excuse to start a new project. I chose the Luna Moth Shawl, and though I do have the Elann Kyd yarn, I decided it needed to be something with more color (since I only ordered ecru and brown). After some wandering though my stash, I settled on a hank of Just Our Yarn Zen, a lovely 55 silk/45 cashmere yarn (can you spell SOFT?), picked up last year at Stitches West.


So far so good.

Which yarn for Sun Ray?

Well, I've picked out my pattern (yay! that's half the battle right?) and need to choose the yarn. Since I don't have 6 balls of Highland Wool, I'm gonna have to use something else instead. I thought about a DK weight 60/40 wool/acrylic blend, but then Lisa mentioned that it won't block the way natural fibers would. She asked me what I had in my stash. No clue of course (not that I have a very large stash, mind you) ... so I dug into my stash to see what possibilities I had. Here's what I've come up with (Sorry, I'm lazy, this is copy/pasted from an email I sent):

I have 4 balls each of Highland Wool in indigo heather, red maple, and ruby. I only got 4 balls because I was thinking of scarves when I ordered them.

I have 5 balls each of Highland Silk in 4 different colors, again thinking of scarves when I ordered them. Since the pattern calls for 6 balls of worsted, that would probably translate to more balls in a thinner weight?

Would superwash wool work? I have 10 balls of Cleckheaton DK superwash wool in brown which was earmarked for something else, but I can use that instead.

I have 8 balls each of Austermann Peru sport weight in 5 colors, not sure if that will be enough yardage? Never used it so don't know. I think it's thinner than DK, maybe thinner than fingerling? Forget where sport weight falls.

I have 5 balls of Super Tweed, forget what that was, worsted?

Oh, just realized that I have tons of Marly superwash wool. 10 balls each of estate wine, wild berry, newport blue, amethyst shadow, and raphael purple.

Tons of Baby Cashmere (26 peacock, 12 cashmere blue, 12 dusky lavender, 12 prism pink, 12 rose heather, 12 morning mist) ... and tons of Baby Silk (12 pink seashell, 12 raspberry, 12 lotus blossom, 12 aubergine, 12 oxblood, 10? sapphire, 12 deepest black)

10 balls each of that Debbie Bliss Merino DK that came out a little while back (fresh olive, pine green, cyclamen, lavender, tomato)


Ok, what do you guys think I should use for Sun Ray? And what needle size would be appropriate?

I'm thinking probably not the brown Cleckheaton, I just don't see brown being a good shawl color. And I'm thinking not the BC/BS cuz I would like stay motivated and finish a shawl before the next Ice Age, lol.

.

Friday, April 27, 2007

Helloooooooo...Am I The First?

Am I really the first one here? Could be wrong. Blogger is being silly. Gee, and I thought that I was way out of the loop. How could I be first?

Ok, so I am part way along on a Moonlight Sonata shaw. I'll try to get a pic posted here tomorrow.

I also want to knit an elann shawl for a dear woman I know who is going through a rough time. Can anyone who is more familiar with these patterns recommend one for me?

I want to knit it in a cheery colorway -- hot yellows/oranges I'm thinking. And I'd like it to be a quickish and easy knit (as compared to Moonlight S). Maybe worsted weight or at lightest, DK.

Any suggestions??