I found two!  :3

Okay, so I found more than that, but the ones I gravitated too were ridiculously expensive.  I actually find that as lovely as Etsy stuff is, it’s almost always too expensive for me, mostly because I look at an item and think ‘I could probably make that’  and make it or cheaper.  Case in point would be this lovely item.  I have papers similar to what the creator uses, the decoupage medium, the only problem is I cannot find the proper size wooden box to start with, which is so very, very irritating.  Needless to say, I’ve not yet created one of my own, and down the road, when I move out and am in need of a recipe box, I’ll end up going back and purchasing one of those beauties.

Oh look… that was a random thought…*jabs it with a stick*

I ended up getting hat pins, from Todaysvintagedesigns.  Now there were a lot of hat pins to get through, but these immediately jumped out at me.  They are gorgeous, handmade and the best part is that I got to select the size I wanted for the length of the pin.  (I got 5″ pins, and not hair sticks).  The ones I ordered are no longer in the main shop but you can look at them here.  I purchased the Gail pin and the Deborah pin (black pearl not white).  The Deborah was an impulse, and the Gail was picked specifically for the Calais Shawl.

I’m so excited for them to arrive, and I vow to have the Calais Shawl at least off the needles by the time they get here.  Speaking of it (and since I should mention something knitted related) I figured I would show you the progress on it so far.

Also, I think another trip to the yarn store is in order, because I’ve found my next project once I finish the Calais Shawl.  Yes, it’s another shawl but they are my new addiction… I swear I’m never going to learn how to cable or knit in the round because I’m so enamoured by stuff like this.  Eh, at least I know what I like?

So, the new pattern I selected is the Aubrey Shawl!   The creator knit it in Crystal Palace Yarns Mini Mochi (the same people that made my Fall Leaves Kid Merino OM NOM NOM!) and the local yarn store carries it.  They don’t carry all the colours I think that you can see on the Crystal Palace website, (and the sample pictures they have on the yarn store website leave much to be desired compared to how vibrant the Crystal Palace pictures are) but I’m pretty sure I want to work with Bossa Nova or Autumn Rainbow.  I’d love to see it swatched.  :(

Anyways, the pattern also recommends 10.5 needles (which I have) but I’m wondering if I should maybe look at a new set with a finer point.  I think I’m going to toss the extra sock yarn from the Milkweed Shawl on the 10.5′s and knit a few rows to see how managable it is before I buy the new ones.  (Meaning I’ll do it sometime this afternoon and probably report back tomorrow XD).

I feel like I’m on a bit of a time crunch.  I’m supposed to start my new job on Monday, and the local yarn store closes fairly early during the week (around 5) and I know I won’t be able to visit now to pick up yarn unless it’s on a Saturday.  While I don’t *mind* driving down on a Saturday, I sort of want to just get all the stuff I want to work on over the summer, and get it now so I don’t have to worry about making the drive.  (The construction on the interstate down that way makes it a real pain in the bum!)     The Calais Shawl is knitting up like a dream, so while I JUST went and bought the kid merino, I think I’m going back for the yarn for this project tomorrow.  This project will be an easy knit, since it’s just 4 rows repeating, but the kid merino will require loads of concentration.  I need an easy project while I work on the kid merino.  That’s what I’m telling myself at least.  Not sure why I need to justify a visit but I do!

I’m crazy, I’m aware.

It’s done!  :3

It’s done, it’s done, it’s done.

The overwhelming sense of accomplishment I’m feeling right now is sort of ridiculous.  The blocking squares (ie. my floor tiles) were FANTASTIC.  The pins just went RIGHT IN THERE and held without fuss.  They also didn’t rust which if you read my last post was something that was stressing me out.  Over all, I am one very happy camper, which means the majority of this post is probably just going to be picture spam.  Speaking of said picture spam, that is an AWFUL picture of the shawl, and of me, but well, no one is home and I wanted to update the blog and show it off, and it is damn near impossible to take a picture of your back without assistance.  I managed and I look pretty awful.  Next time someone remind me to brush my hair and maybe find a shirt that matches the project.  I could make excuses though… I had been watching a movie on the couch being a bum when I realized the knitting was probably dry and OMG I couldn’t wait to un-pin it, so I did that then OMG I couldn’t want to show it off… or blog about it in one big run on sentence.  Fail.  

PICTURE SPAM TIME!

Do we like it as a little neckerchief?  I do :3 This is probably how I will wear it most often.

Alright, time to talk about the actual blocking process and not just talk about how amazing and awesome I am for managing to do something that knitters do all the time and probably with greater success.  >.>

There are a few things I will remember for next time.  Namely, I will NOT use Woolite next time.  The yarn smells sort of odd now not bad odd, but it defiently isn’t a ‘this is a clean, laundry detergent-ish smell’.  I didn’t rinse it well I don’t think (since you can’t wring it out) which could be part of the problem, but next time I’m using a small amount of normal detergent or none at all.

I rolled it between two towels to get most of the water out and carried it downstairs… I did end up pinning it on the pool table, and there was no problems with this… except of course that I need to remember to NOT leave the wet towels on the pool table and put them on the floor instead.  I caught myself quickly and didn’t damage anything, but I did do this  *cough* and I should know better.  Once that was done, I put the pins in, and while I had to re-pin stuff a few times to make sure it was evenly stretched out, and even though I wish the curved points at the bottom would have been sharper, and well, more pointy, I am happy with the end result.

There, now that I feel like I’ve accomplished something other than bragging this entry.  Seeing this turn out so well is only more motivation for me to work on my Calais Shawl and get it finished (I’ve done 4 of 12 repeats before I swap to the second/final/edging chart).  I’m also glad that now that I have my blocking squares, so I can pin the lace out and take pictures of it before it is off the needles, not only to get a look at how it is progressing but to show it off here.  I’m also curious how the alpaca is going to block out, it’s a merino, so it’s a bit ‘fuzzy-wuzzy’ and I wonder if it’s still going to be quite so fuzzy-wuzzy once it’s wet.

On a final, and very random personal note, I think I might go smack someone upside the head.  Not only did I want to take a nap this afternoon and didn’t get to, I’ve had to write this out with constant interruptions?  What interruptions?  My neighbor getting new carpet in her ENTIRE house.  Every 3 seconds they are pounding on the floor (stapling in the carpet I’d imagine) and it’s LOUD.  I can hear it through the walls (I live in a town house).  The pictures on the wall are vibrating.  SHE NEEDS TO KNOCK IT OFF ALREADY!  *grumble*

I will say that it was a pain to weave in the ends for it.  I lost my tapestry needles some how when my knitting notions pouch spilled during the GREAT MOVE AND MELT of 2010.  (Water leakage when the snow melted=my stuff is everywhere! D:)  I couldn’t for the life of me find the needles.  Sigh.  I did make do with a large eyed needle my mom had, but it was difficult threading the yarn through.  I can’t imagine what I’d do if I had to do worsted weight yarns.  (Yeah, I’m cheap and don’t want to go buy a new pack of needles as those were BRAND NEW to begin with so I’ll just whine about having to use substitute needles instead… DEAL WITH IT!)

I’m going to wet block it, and the shawl is actually floating in the sink as we speak.  So… *begins timer* I’ve only got 30 minutes or so to write this so I can rinse it and let it soak some more to get all the woolite out.  I went to Lowes today and ended up with 4, 2′ x 2′ foam floor squares (mine are grey, not primary colours, grey was a tiny bit cheaper).  My instructor just uses a towel and pins to that, but I for the life of me, couldn’t figure out how to make that work and NOT be a big massive mess, so of course I began researching other ways to block.  The most popular method of wet blocking is to use blocking squares and well, that’s what I bought… I just didn’t pay more money for the ‘fancy’ ones, or wait for shipping.  Okay, so it wasn’t really that big of a bargain, I paid $18, they list theres at $20 (plus shipping) but from my research (and my forum stalking) loads of people have done what I did.  They bought the floor squares from Walmart, Target, Lowes or Home Depot (some people even got them at Costco!) and just use those.  Knitpicks are actually really a good price, I looked for other similar squares and found fewer tiles for double the price.  Talk about a rip off!

The squares themselves have a smooth side and a textured side, and I can’t decide which I’ll pin too.  Probably the textured side, simply because I want to use the grid the texture makes to line everything up.  This is of course assuming I don’t put a towel down just in case there MIGHT be a little bit of colour bleeding from the tile.  I wouldn’t imagine why there would be, but you never know.   *frets* SEE THERE ARE SO MANY THINGS TO THINK ABOUT.

Blocking, is serious business!

So yes, the squares are set up downstairs on the pool table (I’ve got them doubled… two squares on top of two squares… mostly because I don’t NEED the space from all 4 and if I get water onto the pool table felt, I WILL be killed… maybe I should block on the floor downstairs instead >.>)  and I’ve got my pins and am ready to go.

That’s another thing I’m worried about… I couldn’t find stainless steel pins at Michaels or JoAnn’s.  They apparently are the rust proof kind.  I’ve been assured however that my nickel-plated steel will do the trick AS LONG as the plating isn’t knicked or compromised in some way.  As long as it stays intact the steel underneath won’t rust.  This is clearly one of those ‘wing and a prayer’ type moments.  I’m also using straight pins and not ‘t-pins‘ so we will see how it goes.  If it looks like the straight pins aren’t going to work, I’ll buy a box of t-pins, but once again the thing holding me back is that I can’t find stainless steel ones (not at a decent price at least… I’m not paying $15 for 35 pins).  If the nickel-plated straight pins work sans the rusting then I’ll maybe snag a box of the t-pins to use.

Aaand… time is now up… I’ve got to go rinse my shawl and *drumrolls* pin it out.  I’ll be sure to post in a few days with the results.  I’M SO NERVOUS BUT EXCITED TOO :3!

The yarn, is a tasty looking bit of lace weight yarn that I refused to buy until I practiced more so I wasn’t tempted to play with it and ruin it.  The yarn is Crystal Palace Kid Merino (28% kid mohair 28% merino wool 44%micro nylon).  The colorway is 9808 Fall Herbs, and the pictures I took don’t do it justice.  It’s going to look AMAZING when knitted up, I can just tell.    (The pictures came out more pink, than red… but the pinkish color is a bit deeper).  After working in fingering weight sock yarn, and now working in my fingering weight frog tree alpaca, I am ready to tackle the lace weight.  The problem, is of course what project to tackle.  That’s right kids.  I did the cardinal thing a knitter should never do (I bought a yarn because it was lovely, not because I had a project in mind).

Oh sure, LOADS of knitters do this (how else does one develop a stash of yarn if they don’t snatch up the pretties like greedy buggers everytime they find something they like) but there is always the problem of… ‘oh I could make this… oh wait I probably don’t have enough yarn’ or ‘oh I could make this… but wait, then I’ll have one odd ball/skein that I KNOW I can’t knit into something else so it will sit there all lonely and unknitted but gosh it’s lovely so maybe I shouldn’t knit this project after all.’

Yeah.

>.>

So… this is sort of my dilemma.  I originally reserved 3 skeins.  That’s 720 yards.  I bought all 3.  This means I’d like a project that would use all of them.  The scarf I had in mind originally was this wonderful pattern which calls for 1 skein of Rowan Kidsilk Haze.  (So I could make 3 of the same scarf with my skeins lol!)

RANDOM THOUGHT INSERTED HERE: Based on what I’ve read when looking for patterns, the Kid Merino I bought is the ‘go to’ replacement yarn for people who can’t afford the Rowan… I didn’t price any Rowan because price wasn’t ever an issue.  I wasn’t looking for the cheap alternative, I simply found a color I had to have so there was no need to shop around for something else.

I will admit, that I did google the Rowan Kidsilk Haze AFTER the fact and was disappointed to see that none of the Kidsilk Haze was varigated.  I love me some varigated yarns!  So boo to that.  Also, after I became aware of the fact that I had selected a cheaper/alternative yarn I did price the Rowan…What?  I couldn’t resist seeing if it was truly a bargain or not.  I paid $6.20 per skein for my Kid Merino, and the Rowan is listed at $15 a skein. (Gotta love that the local yarn store does online sales in addition to the shop sales so all the yarns are available for me to peruse… and to price check eh?)

So yeah, I can see why this is listed as a good alternative for those who don’t want to pay an arm and a leg for one ball of yarn, even if the silk in the Kidsilk Haze makes it ridiculously soft and smooshy. I’ll sacrifice a bit of softness for a good price, espeically since this is soft to the touch already!  Not to mention I’ve worked with Rowan before (Twisted Ribbon, bought on sale because it was being discontinued, knit into a scarf for my mom SEE THE FINISHED SCARF BELOW) and hated it.  These are two completley different types of yarns, but the twisted ribbon did NOT win me over on Rowan yarn… I don’t appreciate the yarn being TIED together in the middle of the skein in a big ugly knot.  It wasn’t just one skein… 5 of the 6 had this done to them.   Also, the nylon fiber that held the ribbon to the wooly yarn felt like fishing line on the fingers and my fingertips hurt after a while from it.  The finished project is nice *points at pictures* but never again would I use this yarn… good thing it’s discontinued I suppose.  

BACK TO YOUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG: The second pattern I had in mind was of course the WISP from Knitty.  This would use a bit more of the yarn, and produce something lovely… but well… the directions confuse me a bit.  I need something very straight forward, and I think I would spend more time, trying to figure out where to put in the eyelets that I’d forget what other rows I was working on… and yeah…  I just don’t know if I want something that I have a hard time figuring out instructions for to be my first lace weight project or not.  This tends to be a problem for me when I look at Knitty.  They sort of gloss over details or don’t write stuff in a clear and concise manner… or they do something that I don’t know how to do yet even on a beginner pattern.  It might be worth it to try and figure out though, as the WISP is lovely… so delicate looking, and I’d like a square wrap to use in the summer when it’s chilly at night.  *ponders*

Another option was the Just Enough Ruffles Scarf by cosmicplutoknits (the pattern writer for the Milkweed Shawl!).  Again, I’m not sure about this one.  I love her patterns, and will probably end up buying it, and while I saw several Ravelry versions using this yarn, I think I’d like it better in worsted weight like pictured on cosmicplutoknits blog though.

So… I’m at a crossroads… which pattern, what to do with the yarn… D:  I’m wondering… if I take a closer look at the first pattern I posted, if I might be able to lengthen it and make it into a larger shawl instead of just a scarf by casting on more than the required 33 stitches.

SO… I think my yarn will stay in it’s bag and I’ll ponder it some more and keep looking around for other patterns before I come to a decision.  Even though it’s so pretty and I want to play with it now.  *resists the urge*

The shawl I started is the Calais Shawl.  The only reason I’m actually posting about it is because I made a few changes to the pattern.  I practiced the changes on junk yarn to see how it would look and wanted to record what I did for when I start with the smooshy smooshy alpaca yarn I’ve got in my stash. The yarn I’m using for the final project is Frog Tree 100% Alpaca Wool (fingering weight).  The color is #98 Lot: 06/03.  It’s a seafoam green-blue?  It’s not baby’s blue, though it is fairly pale.  It’s similar in color to the junk yarn I picked up… which is more green than blue.

I must say, this pattern is simply wonderful.  It’s easy to follow (I knit through the first chart) and unlike the milkweed shawl, it’s LOTS of yarn overs and s2-k1-p2sso.  This means that I’m less likely to lose my place counting as it grows bigger and bigger and bigger.  I think you only ever knit 3-5 stitches total before doing a yarn over or the s2-k1-p2sso.  Much easier to not lose count on a massive string of knits.  Also, the pattern writer tells you how many stitiches you should have before starting a new chart.  Makes it easier to check your work!

So then… what did I do differently.  I didn’t do the cast on in the pattern.  The pattern starts with two stitches, knitting 6 rows, knitting two stitches, turning, picking up 3, turning and knitting 2 more for seven stitches.  This was driving me absolutely bonkers when I tried it.  I just count get my first 6 rows to look neat and even and uniform because the yarn kept slipping around on the needles.  Frustrated, I grabbed some junk yarn (no clue where it came from, I’m pretty sure my mom tossed it in my stash and used it on a baby blanket at one point and time…) and some regular old straight needles (size 6 for the worsted weight yarn… it feels like acrylic) and cast on 7 stitches.  BAM… just like that.  I then did what the directions said once you had seven stitches from the tab cast on method…  k2, p1, place marker, p1, place marker, p1, k2.  When that was done I started Chart A.

If you look at the pictures either on the blog where the pattern came from, or if you have downloaded the pattern… the top of the shawl looks very straight across.   Mine won’t look exactly like it.  It will have a bit of a bump in the center of the top of the shawl.  It doesn’t look bad (thus the reason I did a test knit of the first pattern) and I think because the increases are so gradual that in the end it won’t matter.  It may not look exactly like the shawl pictured but it will still look quite fetching.

I’ll probably cast on in the Frog Tree later this evening.  The only thing I’m debating on is the needle size.  The pattern calls for 3.75mm (US 5) Addi’s.  I’ve got size 4′s.  I’m not really sure I want to go out and spend the money on a new set of needles when it’s only one size off… since well… gauge doesn’t really matter in lace knitting unless you’re knitting a lace top.  Yes I knit tight which could make the entire thing smaller, especially using the smaller needles and this concerns me, but I think I’m going to give it a go anyways.  Frankly, I don’t have time to run to the yarn store (about a 30 minute drive, now that there is construction) and back for the bump up in size.  If I end up heading down that way tomorrow when I’m running errands (I might pick up some kid merino I have on hold because I might want to try this pattern with it) then I might snag a pair.  Otherwise, we’re making do with what we’ve got.

This is a detailed view of how the knitting will actually look.  It’s got knits and purls… (I love the stockinette down the center) and it’s going to look amazing once it opens up and is blocked.  It’s kind of hard to see it in the picture, as I can’t tug on the yarn to open it up AND hold my camera at the same time.  The one thing I did do on this practice that I shouldn’t have was when I was working the s2-k1-p2ss0.  I didn’t pay close enough attention in the directions where it said to SLIP2 TOGETHER (ie. at the same time) knit, then pass them over.  I slipped the two stitches seperately.  It didn’t really do any damage, but it was MUCH harder to pass the stitches back over (the yarn kept splitting) and the stockinette of the pattern looked a bit off.  So yeah, if you DO pick up this pattern and give it at try, make sure to read all your instructions thoroughly… and slip your two stitches at the same time  :3.

Oh… and that blue scarf I mentioned in my last post (an uber easy, twisted knit stitch in bulky yarn).  I *did* work on it and it’s almost done… I could bind off now and it’d be an okay length but I figured I might as well just knit til the yarn is all gone.  It was nice, I could work on it since it was such an easy knit which I was watching GLEE.  Knitting+MadonnaGLEE=win!

The project, was a Milkweed Shawl and was knit on Addi-Lace Turbos (3.5mm/US 4 size, 32″ length cord).  The yarn used was ShiBuiKnits Sock Yarn 100% Superwash Merino in Mulberry (which is a goregous plum colour… the dye lot, not that it matters to anyone but me was 5673).  I bought two skeins so 382 yards total though I didn’t use it all.

The only thing I didn’t like about this yarn is that it stained my stitch markers!  I actually bought two more skeins in a pale pink when I stopped back by the yarn store to have them help me with a problem I had on the shawl (I dropped a stitch but since it was in the middle of a center double decrease I wasn’t sure how to fix it).  I intend to use the yarn for either a similar sized shawl for my college roommate (a late birthday present) OR for another Milkweed Shawl since I already have the pattern handy. This was my first attempt at anything lace-ish and my first time knitting with yarn this weight.  I’m still hesitant to try laceweight even though this project wasn’t utterly unbearable to work on.

Why did I pick this pattern?  Because I took a class at the local yarnstore and this is what the instructor picked.  The yarn?  It was cheaper than the other sock yarn recommended for the class, and it wasn’t varigated.  I love the way varigated yarns look, and actually think this shawl would have looked better in it, BUT, I’ve found that varigated stuff can be harder to knit with simply because the colors get a bit blurry/difficult to distinguish when on the needles.  That being said, I wasn’t about to buy a gorgeous bit of varigated yarn (yes even sock yarn) and risk ruining it in case I wasn’t up to this ‘lace’ knitting.  This is a habit I’ve picked up and I’m sure you’ll notice it the more I blog.  I can’t stand the idea of messing up goregous yarn! D:

What did I think of this pattern?  It was fantastic.  It not only included charts (which I learned to read in the class) it included written instructions which were a nice reference if I wasn’t sure about something on the chart.  It was also quite fast.  I worked through the first three charts in record time, it was the last three that really got me as the rows were SOOOOOOOOO LONG. As far as the actually knitting went, it took just over a month to complete.  I got busy and put it down and didn’t return to it for quite a few days.  I also bound off without completing the final chart.  I did something in the last chart (I think I had about 8 rows left) and I couldn’t figure out what it was, so I simply tinked when my stitch count at the center marker was WAY off and then bound off and called it quits.

I tend to knit tight, so I probably should have figured out the mistake and finished the shawl (it seems a bit small to me and the extra rows would help with the size) but frankly, I just wanted it off the needles.  Why?  Because I found a new pattern I wanted to start and I didn’t want to go buy a new pair of Addi’s when I had the size I needed for the new project.  (I of course haven’t actually started the new project… because I’m a slacker like that).

So that leaves me with the finished project and the next step.  *drumrolls*  Blocking.  I’m sort of hesitant to block the shawl (even though I know it will open up the pattern nicely and help with the size issues) since I’ve never blocked anything before.  The fact that the house is in shambles because of water leakage from back in January that still isn’t completely fixed yet also hinders my ability to lay out something for a few days to let it dry.  Aaaaand… I can’t find rust proof pins.  I doubt rust will do any real damage to my yarn since it’s so dark, but I don’t want to take any chances.  I put a lot of work into this shawl and I want the finished project to be nice! Either way when I do get around to blocking it, I’ll be sure to post up the pictures.

My next project (since I have plenty in hibernation I don’t want to finish just now) is yet another scarf.  I swear that’s all a beginning knitter learns to knit.  It is a twisted-knit stitch scarf in bulky blue wool yarn.  It’s also a late birthday/christmas present.  Sure, April isn’t the best time to get a scarf as a present (especially if you live in the warm California sun) but it’s the thought that counts right?  Not to mention this is such a fast knit, if I don’t slack off I could have it off the needles tomorrow. Who am I kidding… it’ll probably be another week before I pick it up and finish it.  Slacker!fail.  >_>

Note to self:  Do not take pictures without proper and/or natural lighting!  The finished shawl isn’t really that pink-ish D: