Tag Archives: shawl

Easy Goes It…Plus Some

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The middle of last week I reached the end of the pattern instructions for my Easy Goes It shawl. I still had a ton of yarn left as the put up on my skein was bigger than the pattern called for yarn. (And I was even using a size 7 US needle instead of the pattern recommended US 6 to make my gauge bigger.)  What is a knitter to do? I didn’t want to bind off and leave so much unused.

Well, I put on my big girl undies and decided to extend the pattern. I am going to work another garter section and weigh my yarn as I go. When I get down to a few grams left I think I will add a short eyelet section before binding off in the pattern recommended manner. I will save just a teeny bit of yarn for my scrap blanket but otherwise I plan to play yarn chicken as best I can. This singles yarn is too yummy to sit in my leftovers.

I’m a few garter bumps in and my yarn is shrinking. I think a good nap knitting session today and post-bedtime session tonight should see me to the rest of my yarn….fingers crossed.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Easy Goes It

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After my successful Antarktis finish, I really felt the need to fill the shawl sized hole in my knitting life. I did some queue searching and stash diving in my “golden skeins” and came up with a single skein of Neighborhood Fiber Co Rustic Fingering in the Easterwood color. I picked up this skein during my trip to Minnesota last February and it has been popping into my brain every since I brought it home.

This is a singles yarn in 100% merino. So perfect for a shawl and the subtle variegation to the blue would really shine in a single color shawl. I settled on Easy Goes it by Finincky Creations. I thought the name and the garter stitch based construction were just kismet. Easy is about all I am capable of right now, lol.

Thanks to some Grandparent babysitting I managed to get cast on and work the first section of garter and start the second section that incorporates more pattern like stitches. the bag is a Suburban Stitcher bag and I hope to finish this shawl in time to enter it into the PALKAL run by the Actually Knitting podcast. We shall see….there are a lot of baby growth spurts ahead. And I’m not counting my knitting time before it hatches so to speak.

The yarn is lovely but it’s been a long time since I worked with a singles yarn. I do with my needles were slightly more pointy but not too pointy. I’m using bamboo needles from Joann’s because that is what I had on hand. And they are perfectly serviceable, I just wish the tips were just a little bit better to make the knitting faster.

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Antarktis

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My Antarktis is done, blocked and photographed! A minor miracle considering I am also nursing a bottomless pit who gains 2 oz a day and keeping my house (somewhat) clean.

Pattern: Antarktis by Janina Kallio

Yarn: KnitCircus Trampoline in the Needle in a Haystack impressionist gradient

Needles: US 7

I tried to use my blocking wires from Christmas and I confess that I was rushing due to crying children. So this is not blocked the best. But I got the eyelets to open up just a enough and got the shawl to a nice wearable size.

I really liked this pattern. It was well written and the different sections really broke it up into manageable pieces. And the stitch counts REALLY helped this sleep deprived momma make sure she was not veering off course to far. I found myself reaching for this project every time I had a free moment or two. And the rows really never got so long that they were interminable.

I really have the shawl itch and I need to cast on some sort of garter gorgeousness to fill this project hole that just opened up!

Happy Knitting!!

Antarktis Update

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This shawl was my Mother’s Day cast on for 2018. It’s the Antarktis by Janina Kallio in KnitCircus Trampoline base in the Needle in Haystack impressionist gradient.

I’m in the last section of lace and after that it’s just a lace border and BAM I’m done! I’m on track to have enough yarn to finish this project as written. Which is super exciting to get a full skein out of my stash.

I have an almost four week old baby. So I hear you ask, how could I possibly be getting any knitting done? This project has seen some action mostly because my house is has been full of guests willing to hold PB while I cook or knit. I’m grateful for the knitting time but I’m kinda also getting itchy about getting my house back to myself. I guess this world is all about balance and choices, lol. Maybe when all the guests are gone I will miss my knitting time?

In the  meantime…I’m going to look forward to a beautiful finished shawl! Happy Knitting!!

Mother’s Day Cast On

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In addition to a nice Mother’s Day celebration, Jellybean and the Hubby gave me a little breathing space to knit!

I had pulled my skein of KnitCircus Trampoline in the Needle in a Haystack impressionist gradient from my stash. I had a TON of pattern indecision on this one. I wanted a single skein shawl to show off the hand painted yarn but I also needed it be to be simple and beautiful. I finally settled on Antarktis by Janina Kallio. Several other knitters have used similar Knitcircus yarns for this pattern with great results!

In a single day I managed to get through four pattern sections! This pattern uses garter sections, eyelet stripes and eyelet mesh for a beautiful asymmetric triangle shape. Given the state of my brain, I went ahead and threaded in a lifeline after the eyelet lace section…just in case. And then I had Jellybean take a photo with me and my Mother’s Day project for posterity.

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He really needed the skeleton army guy with the ax to be in the photo too. Please excuse the crazed look on my face I was trying not to bust up laughing. But he loves “mommy’s knitting” and this is definitely one memory I won’t forget!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Mother-Of-All Shawl

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This is one of the last project/yarn combos I put together waaaay back in August to prepare for the Pigskin Party KAL. This is the MOA Shawl by Nick Davis using my MJ Yarns Simple Sock in the Mice and Men color.

I haven’t been getting a lot of knitting time lately and I’ve gotten in a bit of funk. Nothing in my WIPs *sounded* like fun. So I started this baby on annual personal day off of work to celebrate my birthday.

I’m two full repeats into the very easy pattern. I’m finding the variegated yarn is playing nicely with the pattern. This yarn will need a good blocking as this project just likes to kink back on itself like CRAZY! You see my fingers in the  photo because that’s the only way I could showcase the pattern!

Honestly I don’t know what I will wear this shawl with as my closet leans green and blue. But it’s just so pretty I’ll have to find something. Or else it will be my snoodling up shawl at my bedside!

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Be Simple Shawl

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I finished my Jay Jay shawl last week and my fingers were still itching for some shawl knitting. In my project bin of prepped projects I had the yarn caked for the Be Simple Variations by Carolyn Glauz-Todrank. So I started my needles clicking and I have this…

This is some 3+ year old stash of Cloudlover Yarn and Fiber sock yarn. It’s superwash Merino and nylon blend in their Copacabana colorway. It’s a highly variegated teal, orange, brown and purple. I have to be honest…..I’m not loving the yarn and pattern combo. I love the intuitiveness of the pattern. I just hate the colors as a shawl to wear around my face. They just aren’t me. I am thinking this yarn would be better served as socks that go inside shoes….

I have put this yarn into hibernation/time out to think about what I want to do. Any thoughts from the viewers?

FO Friday: Jay Jay Shawl

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I have another lighting quick finish. I think garter stitch one/two skein projects are just my jam right now. Here is the Jay Jay shawl in all her glory!

Pattern: Jay Jay by Francesca Caricato

Yarn: Cascade Yarns Sunseeker in Silver

Needle: US 6

Mods: To maximize yarn in the last section I omitted two garter ridges and added one extra eyelet row. This made it so that I had just a few yards of  yarn left.

This pattern was intuitive and addictive. It made great car knitting too! The yarn I wasn’t so in love with. It’s a DK weight yarn made of cotton, acrylic and metallic thread. It’s very pretty but not very soft or warm. I bought this back in 2013 in a yarn shop because it was pretty and I didn’t know any better at that level of my knitting. This yarn was knit and frogged out of two other shawls before it became Jay Jay. In the end I’m happy with it and very happy it’s out of my stash.

I think this will be a gift for my mother in law. She will appreciate the beauty and in her “season of life” like the fact that it’s not overly warm. Well and with cotton and acrylic I know she won’t felt or shrink it, lol.

Happy Knitting!!

Cast On: Jay Jay Shawl

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After finishing Reyna I knew I needed another shawl on the needles. I pawed through my bag of prepped projects and pulled out the Jay Jay Shawl by Francesca Caricato. This is a DK weight shawl with garter and eyelets. My yarn was wound, pattern printed and needles ready to go so I cast on.


Jellybean had a doctors appointment and his flu shot which resulted in a very tired and grumpy three year old. He puppy dog eyed me and convinced me to stay home and snuggle him instead of going to daycare/work. And I managed to get a good chunk of the shawl started!

It’s crescent shaped and gorgeous. The yarn is some REALLY old stash that is Cascade Yarns Sunseeker. It’s grey with a fine thread of sparkle running though. It’s not the softest yarn but oh is it pretty!! I’ve got to two skeins and and I plan to use as much as possible. This might be my next obsession!

Happy Knitting!!

FO Friday: Reyna 

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My Reyna is done and here she is in all her glory!

Pattern: Reyna by Noora Laivola

Needles: US 4

Yarn: Knit Picks Hawthorn Speckle in the Cosmic Speckle Colorway (I used almost an entire skein: 93 grams/332 yards)

Mods: I omitted the very last rows of eyelets to conserve yarn

I knit this project in basically a week or 7 days of active knitting. It FLEW off my needles and I just don’t understand/comprehend how obsessed with this project I was.

I was feeling so proud that I hadn’t made any mistakes during the knitting….and then hubris got me. I was on the second-to-last eyelet row and my eyelets got out of alignment. I had missed one teensy tiny stitch. So I carefully tinked back half a row and fixed it (took me 30 minutes). I then proceeded to re-knit that row and then almost the whole last row of eyelets and that knitter niggling started in my brain. I was definitely not going to have enough yarn. So I tinked back two and a half LONG rows to where I would omit the last RS and WS eyelet rows and the started the garter. I was basically back to where I had tinked back to the first time and this took me an hour. But I managed to finish the garter and bind off with just a small nugget of yarn to tuck into my memory blanket!

I washed and blocked this in just under two hours thanks to the late September Kansas heatwave and my husband’s fan. I don’t have blocking wires and you can see where I placed my pins. But I don’t care…it’s all mine now! I cannot wait for fall to when I can wear this beauty out and about! This project really has kicked my knitting mojo into high gear. On to the next thing!!!

Happy Knitting!