February 18, 2008
Abundance
I've been knitting from this cone of yarn for over three months, but you'd hardly know by looking at it.
Instead of placing all the live border stitches on holders, I decided to leave them all on the needles and knit back and forth, short-row style. Excellent for picking up and attaching stitches, not so great for progress photography. I think I'm on the seventh repeat of the center motif, but I haven't really counted lately. All I know is, there's a lot there, and there's a lot to be done. :)
At this point in the project, I'm suffering from a lot of yarn envy. Every pretty skein I see for sale on the internet, I want to possess, particularly if it's handpainted, variegated, or striping (hello, Kauni). Normally I would stay away from these kinds of yarn for lace knitting, but I think the endless sea of pale blue has triggered an unexpected rebellion in some part of my subconscious....
Posted by missalicefaye at 12:35 PM | Comments (24)
February 07, 2008
Hurting my brain
So knitting the practice swatch for the laurel leaf insertion was a bit...fraught. I'm not sure how many times I knit it with unsatisfactory results before realizing that the problem was not my tired brain, but rather an error in the chart. For those of you planning to knit the insertion as charted in the 2007 version of the pattern, be warned that there are two extra rows in the chart--I could only make the laurel leaf tips line up properly by skipping from row 7 directly to row 10.
Usually I'm one for charging right ahead in my knitting, but I'm glad I took the sensible swatching route before attempting this seemingly harmless chart over 600+ stitches.... In the end, though, I am very happy with how elegantly this little insertion has turned out.
After the laurel leaf incident, I was a bit cross with the Princess for a couple of days. But now I am well into the center portion and all is forgiven, and sweetness and light have returned. Although I am back to resenting work and classes for getting in the way of my knitting.
Posted by missalicefaye at 10:44 AM | Comments (13)
January 22, 2008
Feathery
Thanks to the three-day weekend bonus knitting time, I completed the Princess border charts. Now for six rows of plain knitting (ew) and the insertion before figuring out the best way to hold all those live stitches while knitting the center.
The South Seas stole is shaping up to be a lot of fun. The beads are nice and shiny, which pleases both me and the little magpie who lives inside me.
This freewheeling knitting pace will surely slow a bit since my spring semester classes start tonight. I've been in denial.
Posted by missalicefaye at 09:59 AM | Comments (19)
January 14, 2008
The others
Princess knitting continues smoothly--I passed border row 177 last night, so I think my projections for finishing the border this month will prove accurate. All that knitting and it's still a bit of fluff that can fit with plenty of breathing room in a gallon-size ziploc bag (embarrassingly, my default knitting project carrier).
Much as I love the Princess, however, I am still distractable by new and shiny things.
For example, I just started the South Seas Stole--firstly, because it's pretty, and secondly because it will give me the opportunity to play with lots of pretty blue silver-lined 8/0 beads. (Yarn is Merino Lace from Heirloom Knitting.)
While not exactly shiny, Filatura di Crosa Superior is ridiculously soft. I found it in a yarn store while visiting my mom over the holidays and remembered the tantalizing review published at Knitter's Review last May. It's now well on its way to becoming a scarf with an unwieldy name from Victorian Lace Today.
Posted by missalicefaye at 10:40 AM | Comments (12)
January 04, 2008
Holidays with Princess
The princess really isn't a very good travel project, but I did get some work done in between trips to the airport. I've passed the halfway mark for the border and completed row 133 during my I-can't-possibly-face-work-yet day off yesterday.
Incidentally, I broke down and wound some yarn off rather than lugging around the 2-pound cone. This may reduce some of my Crazy Yarn Lady credibility, but I guess I'm ok with that.
Posted by missalicefaye at 05:27 PM | Comments (15)
December 12, 2007
Momentum
Last night I finished border row 74, which means that I'm almost done with Border Chart 1. And yet it is all just a drop in the Princess bucket....
Posted by missalicefaye at 10:44 AM | Comments (15)
December 05, 2007
Week 5
I finished row 42 of the border last night--slow going, as each row takes about 35-40 minutes. But they're 35-40 very enjoyable minutes. :)
It's taken me about a month to get this far--when I did some rough calculations a few weeks ago, I think I determined that it will take me until sometime in January or early February to complete the border. Unless other projects start competing for my attention in the meantime, which is always a danger.
Fortunately, I'm not much of a holiday gift knitter, so no December lace knitting slowdowns for me. The problem will be lugging the two-pound cone of yarn around with me when flying home for the holidays....
Posted by missalicefaye at 08:41 AM | Comments (15)
November 28, 2007
Instead of studying....
Well, I did study a little over the long weekend. Grudgingly. But I also started the Princess border. (Yes, I decided to go with the 62-point edging--so far, so good!)
I have to admit, 868 stitches per row is a lot. I know that the Wedding Ring Shawl border had more, but I guess the memory has faded already.
The semester is almost over, so I will be free to knit Princess at will for the next month or so. :) Limiting myself to one row per night after class is very painful...
Posted by missalicefaye at 08:45 AM | Comments (20)
November 16, 2007
Decisions, decisions
41 edging repeats completed on the Princess as of last night. Soon I will have to decide whether to do the 62-repeat edging or the 85-repeat edging. I'm leaning toward the former....
Meanwhile, knitting on all other fronts has slowed or stopped. Although I did drag out a few mitten books last night. A knitter has no excuse for walking around with a hole in her glove, right?
Posted by missalicefaye at 02:46 PM | Comments (19)
November 05, 2007
Six down...
The Princess shawl pattern arrived on Saturday. I managed to hold out a couple of hours before the urge to cast on became overwhelming. :)
The yarn I'll be using (I think) is a light blue gossamer wool/silk blend acquired on eBay. I have a completely ridiculous amount of it--about 2.25 pounds at 16,000 yards per pound. The label inside the cone indicates that it is a Lane Borgosesia yarn, dated 1992. Not quite vintage.
I put that qualification in the preceding paragraph only because I haven't yet received the Jamieson & Smith Shetland Supreme samples I ordered. It may be fabulous enough to change my whole outlook on the shawl... Or not. In the meantime, I've completed six edging points in the wool/silk on 1.75 mm (00) needles. I might have gotten further, but I kept getting distracted by the imaginative and acrobatic slaughter of 300. On-screen testosterone overload and lace knitting mix about as well as you'd think they would...
Posted by missalicefaye at 10:19 AM | Comments (19)
