Wednesday, October 07, 2009

The change of seasons.........

A treat for the senses...... OK, just kidding, it's been a long week already.

First the FOs.

#1 Girasole

Soaked, blocked, and with a "real" photo shoot. These photos were taken at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park. Home of the PSU Nittany Lion baseball team, and the State College Spikes (short season, low "A", of the Pittsburgh Pirates, though it's hard to tell the difference from the big Pirates at this point-Sigh). "Fear the Deer" - I wish I were kidding. You can see Mt. Nittany in the background. We held a conference, which should get a post all its own, at the ball park (they rent out their facilities out of season), and I got the opportunity to take a few photos.





















Updated Stats:
Pattern: Girasole
Yarn: Dream in Color Starry, Lipstick Lava
3 FULL skeins, fingering weight
Needle: #6, Options, 60 inch (though shorter would have been OK too), switched to Denise, when the join pulled out of my Options (which Knit Picks replaced pronto)

Unblocked I got 46 inches, blocked I got 58 inches. I am so very glad I did the extra repeat on chart G. But the stress was awful!

The lace also opened up like magic. I'm delighted with this piece, and wore it a bit in the morning yesterday, over my leather blazer, because we had "breakfast" on the open concourse in 50 degree weather. Gotta be a hearty soul to work for PSU. This was an EASY knit....really. I only had one misstep and it was right at the beginning. If you want to try your hand at lace, this is a nice, deceptively difficult looking, but easy-to-knit piece. As a process knitter, this is right up my alley. I am definitely planning another (or two) in worsted weight for my mother-in-law and mother.

#2 Wrap Me Up

This came about, not because I loved the pattern so much, but because it offered me the opportunity to knit with a local group. The local knitting guild meets Thursdays and that is generally not a great night for me. (OK, I'll fess up, DH and I, spend Thursday nights, shoveling out the hovel so we do not have to do much on the weekends. I really like this system.) This knitting "class" met Tuesdays, and that suits me fine. So I thought what the heck...the first class Cynthia (LYS owner extraordinaire)told us she planned for us to have this piece finished by the last Tuesday in November. By sheer dumb luck, it turns out that we'll be finished by the last Tuesday in October, when we'll get together for an ice cream celebration and FO shoot. Because of the Steelers, and the Super Bowl (during the game I couldn't stop knitting I was so excited), I got way ahead, and finished last week.

So here in a remarkably boring photo is Wrap Me Up, a la Cindy:



















Notice the rapidly fading patio planters in the background. Those 40 degree nights are not making them happy.

So the details:

Pattern: Wrap Me Up
Yarn: Noro Kuyreon, 229 & 40, # skeins unknown.....I think I bought one or two more than was recommended and ended up with one left over (I bought three more and will eventually knit one of the Jared Flood's Noro striped scarves.) Lambs Pride worsted, Lotus Pink for trim (1+ skein - I had extra from other projects). The last thing you have to worry about in this pattern are dye lots.
Needle: #7, Options circ, various lengths.
MODS: Lots more beads. When I caught on to what the designer was doing, I put beads in most of the trim color areas. Unfortunately, I didn't catch on until one end of the wrap was more or less finished, so the beading is a little lopsided, but only I would think that. I also strung the beads first and used a bead knitting technique that "popped" the beads to the front of the piece. I didn't apply I-cord in all the areas recommended and DID NOT apply the little "piggy tails" (little unattached lengths of I-cord). Here is my largest mod:


Rather than fussing around with the two-toned "dragon tooth" edging, I bound off with I-cord. This is a five stitch I-cord using a #9 needle (two sizes larger). I'm lots happier with how this looks. I tried it several ways, but I ended up picking up the bajillion stitches along the edge, and then using the I-cord bind off. It made for a neater edge than applying I-cord directly.

The dimensions are "similar" to the pattern, but that isn't any more important than dye lot, it is plenty long. I soaked it in hair conditioner, and spun it for about 5 minutes, in a net bag in my washer. It didn't take very long to dry with much of the water out. Then I applied the I-cord and the edging.

This is one of my favorite blocks...I don't know why....

This is the basketweave block, and I had no idea how this would look until it was finished. I liked the surprise.


That is one of the fun things about this. You don't know, exactly, what you're getting until you're done. This is another process piece.









Because I was out of the office for the first two days this week, I need to get caught up. I expect that there will be radio silence for awhile, but I'll be back, with new projects....Christmas is coming and I've already started some fingerless mitts...my first. Yes, I was a fingerless mitt virgin.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

GEE-Orgeous Girasole!! Simply stunning in the red.

kemtee said...

Lovely work as usual.

So what convinced you to pop the cherry on those mitts?

Bezzie said...

Oh wow. Two hits out of the park! You're the second person I know who wants to do Girasol now in worsted weight. She's gonna be a monster sized afghan!