KnitMe

Harbour Lights

Hi! It's me, Mel (Threadbender on Ravelry), back for my quarterly post. I'm such a bad blogger. I find it so hard to STOP knitting to take pictures, so most of what follows are done deeds.

Here is Harbour Lights - another stunning design from Sivia Harding. I saw this shawl last summer at the Victoria Fibre Festival and it stole my heart. I even knit it in the exact yarn used in the sample shawl. I adore the edging design.

The yarn is Alberta Rose 100% alpaca, 2 ply fingering weight. The shawl used one 200 g. skein, 724 m. / 791 yds. in natural white. The beads are 6/0 Czech seedbeads, pearl eggshell. This shawl has a lovely shape that stays put on your shoulders. The finished measurements are 62" by 32".

Here's a close up of the beads. The white on white strikes me as very Victorian.

But wait! There's more! Tired of knitting socks, but in need of some not too challenging commuter knitting, I started the Zetor Scarf, a free pattern that is popular on Ravelry.

I used two 20 g. / 300 m. skeins of Artisan NZ Merino lace weight in that have been in the stash for quite some time. I knit till the yarn ran out and ended up with a lighter than air full sized shawl measuring 68" by 34".

I bought a couple of Blue Moon Fiber Arts Sheep 2 Shoe kits last February at the Madrona Fiber Arts Winter Retreat. There are about 8.5 ozs of superwash merino fiber in each kit. I prefer fingering weight socks to sports weight socks, so I spun the singles fairly fine. I ended up with 552 yds of 3 ply with enough singles left over to make 805 yds of 2 ply lace weight. This is the 3 ply in the Valkyrie colourway. I love the subtle colour shifts.

I test knit this cute little hoodie for my friend Kerry, the knitting goddess behind Northern Palm Designs. I have to show you this modelled by my teddy bear, because by the time I got it knit, my baby grandson had outgrown it! This is knit with Elann's Superwsh Bamboo, which was very nice to work with.

Next up is Irish Moss. I'm using Virtual Yarns 3 ply Hebridean in the Tormentil colour. I ordered 13 x 50 g. skeins and received 26 skeins of assorted sizes - perhaps it was the end of the lot. I can't complain, though, because they actually sent extra yardage. I can't get gauge, so I'm fudging it. I'm close on the stitch gauge, but the row gauge is off. Unable to leave well enough alone, I'm going to make it as a cardigan, and I want armholes instead of drop shoulders. The picture does not do the colour justice. It's a rich, tweedy cinnamon brown, not the washed out pinky brown I see in the photo. The yarn is rugged, yet is not the least bit harsh. I don't have a lot of knitting time at the moment, but I look forward to the few rows I can do each night.

Posted by Melanie at October 18, 2008 11:10 PM