Via Flickr:
Unblocked, and modified for a narrower scarf with a longer straight section. Love the non-matching ends.
Yarn: Zen Garden Serenity Silk Single, bought in Ithaca when I was at a conference there.
Pattern: feministy.com/triptych-shawl/
Tag Archives: lace
Breaking knitters’ block
(Also bloggers’ block, I suppose!)
I’ve been working on Arietta for nearly a year, and have been stalled on it for only slightly less time. Every time I pick it up I make a mistake, or get confused, and stop again in favour of patterns which require less attention.
But because of getting confused about quantities and washableness of Koigu when planning a present for a brand-new baby, I had a 50g skein of sock yarn in rather fetching reds and pinks, and decided to make a mini-Arietta with it, in the hope of finally getting the pattern.
And I think, cautiously, that it’s worked. This is my mini-Arietta blocking:
It’s 48″ long and 14″ wide at the widest point, which is plenty big enough for a small shawl or a scarf, and it’s lovely. And now I’m working again on its red laceweight sibling…
Blocking lace
This is Annis, pinned to the futon in my library, blocking. I added some more rows of plain stocking stitch with a row of eyelets just before the cast off edge (ribbon is threaded through them in the picture, although I haven’t decided yet if I’ll wear it with the ribbon or if it’s just a blocking aid). I went round the cast on edge afterwards with a teen tiny crochet hook (three single crochet to each cast on loop) and added beads to each point.
This is to wear for a friend’s wedding in a week and a bit, and I’ve been putting off finishing the edging before suddenly realising quite how soon it is!
Talking of things I’ve been putting off… the sheer weight of unblogged projects has been hanging over me and harshing my blog mojo, but I got fed up with it 
I might blog the unblogged stuff; I might not. For now, I’ll just do a list of things I’m currently working on:
- Rogue – this is a reknit. I made the cardigan version years ago and it never quite worked, so I’ve unravelled and am reknitting as a jumper, with – I think – better gauge. I’m about 20 rows into the hood, so nearly finished, and very excited about it
- Still knitting Henry for large-male-friend-R. About halfway through, and sort of hoping to be done for Christmas this year (and hoping/planning to make a hat for his daughter and mitts for his wife to accompany the gift).
- Space-invader-yoke cardigan for toddler-L (reknitting the star kimono and Tomten he’s grown out of). I got a fair way into this before being seized with doubt about the sizes of toddlers, and after his mother had wielded the measuring tape, it was confirmed that the internet had lied to me, so I had to start again, and lost motivation.
- Oh god another reknit: the suffragette socks! The double-knit cuffs are great, but the first version of the sock body (so to speak) was too tight. I should know better! So I’m reknitting those, to be grafted to the cuffs. Eventually.
- And finally, not on the needles, but in planning: I made C a simple ribbed cowl for her birthday, and I really want one myself! I’m wearing pashminas-as-scarves a lot, but getting really fed up with the dangling ends. It only took an afternoon to knit C’s, so all I need to do is choose yarn and find time…
Oh, and I knit yet another pair of baby Coriolis for the imminent arrival of T’s baby, but despite finishing them ages ago, I have not yet posted them, and the baby was due a couple of days ago. Note to self: post socks.
Making progress and starting new
This is the current state of the Ella:
It’s lots of fun to knit, I’ve got the pattern memorised, and it’s progressing quickly. However, today was cold and rainy, and I was not dressed warmly enough, so I spent the day shivering and fantasising about getting home and putting on a warm snuggly jumper. The only problem is that I don’t own such a jumper. Enter Wisteria…
The slightly fuzzy nature of the yarn means the camera doesn’t focus where the eye does, so these cables are actually visible in the flesh. I’m a bit worried the collar is too wide, but I expect the cables (crosses on every round!) will pull it in more as it goes along, so I’m not panicking yet. And it’s beautiful, and the yarn is lovely and soft, and I’m smitten.