Something finished!
Marigold was just finished. Literally under an hour ago. Okay, the ends aren’t woven in because I want to make sure the length suits my sister and her fat head so when she gets here next week she can try it on and if all’s well and good then it will be totally done. I had to reknit this hat in near-entirety because I dropped some stitches and despite a yarn that is 100% baby alpaca, it’s not particularly “sticky” so it unravelled quickly to a point where I couldn’t reconstruct the lace pattern.
I think I can see why people get addicted to lace knitting. I mean a lot of the patterns look too complex for me (serious ADD issues) and I’m not a shawl wearing girl so it doesn’t really leave much reason for me to knit lace, but this simple pattern was easy to memorise, went quickly, and I really couldn’t ever set it back down because I’d say ‘oh but the next round is easy’ and on it went. I’ll write fuller details on it’s own page, but the mods I did included changing needle size for the main part of the hat and adding an extra repeat because of a length issue. I did have to reknit the crown decrease because the overall length was too short - that’s when I added the extra repeat. However, I had laid the hat down Friday night before beginning the decrease and had the intention of putting in a life line, JUST IN CASE, in the morning, but of course forgot in the morning. I ended up tinking back 7 rows before starting the last repeat. That took AGES. LIFE LINES people - use them when knitting even simple lace. I’ve left the life line in this time in case I still have to add more to the length.
See, the life line. Good job, Shannon, good job.
The yarn is really beautiful and soft. It’s Misti Alpaca worsted weight. I think it barely qualifies as worsted weight. The ball band gives no indication of gauge or recommended needles. It actually turned out to be good that I dropped those stitches and had to reknit the hat as I think the other one was too loose; I much prefer the resulting material. Despite the softness and beautiful colour of this yarn, I doubt I’d use it again for a project - definitely nothing larger than a hat! It splits incredibly easy and if you drop a stitch you have to react quickly unless you enjoy correcting rows and rows of dropped stitches as there’s not much “stick” to this yarn. I do have almost an entire ball left (probably 100 yards) so suggestions on what to knit with that? I have a lot of bits (some very large) of yarn from the hats I’ve made my sister (about 8 now) so I need to figure out what to do with them.
Completely not knitting related, but I thought these honeysuckles were very pretty because of all the different colours. If I dyed wool I’d definitely be finding my inspiration from the way nature blends colours together.
Other news… I owe a couple of people letters. I wrote one today and my writing was absolutely atrocious. I tried to use a regular ballpoint pen and it was hard! I tend to use fine point pens (this one wasn’t) and Sharpies in particular. Whenever I go back to the states I get Sharpies (although I haven’t had to the last couple of times because a friend gave me obscene amounts about 18 months ago). They are beginning to sell them here, but only in red, black, and blue and only regular points. Boo. It’s okay, really, because like everything in the UK, they mark up the price to absurd amounts. You know, if they didn’t mark things up to ridiculous amounts in this country, there’d probably be less poverty… Anyway, sorry for that tangent. I might be able to get the other letter done tonight.
This coming weekend is a 3-day weekend and I think it will be spent hanging out with my boy as after that we won’t really get to spend any time on our own for a month. I’ll get a little knitting done since he has to be put down for a nap in the afternoon ’cause he’s old. HAHA. Like I can talk, I like to nap too, but I can’t “nap” like he can.
Oh, oh, and I joined Sockapalooza 4 - I think, I mean I did, but I don’t see my name in the participants list unless there’s a typo as there are several Shannon’s. Found it - it is under the Beginner’s list since I’ve not much experience and I’m a bit slow. This is the first true knitting thingie I’ve joined. Eep! I’ve just got my secret pal info! I sort of hope I can use something in my stash, but of course I won’t balk at having to buy new yarn since it won’t be staying with me.
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Comments
Oooh - that turned out so cute, and I bet it is heavenly soft in that yarn. Great color too.
Posted by: jillian | April 30th, 2007 18:48
Thanks! It is super cute! I’ll definitely be making one for myself. It’s pretty quick (especially now that I got it all sorted w/ needles and pattern repeats!). The yarn is really nice, but so incredibly splitty. I’m like you - I have a hard time venturing away from the greens! My sister has the same problem - she picked this and four other shades of green!
Posted by: Shannon | April 30th, 2007 19:06
Hi there — I am a firm believer in lifelines for lace. Losing those yarnovers is so tough.
Thank you for the honeysuckle photo. One of my favorite flowers…I love the pink and yellow color combination, and the scent is out of this world!
Posted by: Debby | May 2nd, 2007 03:24
I agree about lifelines.
We had a big honeysuckle bush at the house I grew up in. We used to pluck the flowers and carefully pull out the stamen and eat the honey. Actually, I still do this when I get a chance…
Posted by: Shannon | May 3rd, 2007 12:43