The Aeolian Blocking Experience

I finally finished it this weekend! My goal was to get it done by Feb 12 since I will be starting the Evenstar Knit-A-Long then, and didn't want to have 2 shawls on the needles at once. I had all the knitting done on Saturday and had the shawl bound off. On Sunday I had my first large-scale lace blocking experience. I was nervous that I was going to do something to mess it up.

I laid out my Knit Picks blocking mats on the floor and put the shawl on it to take a pre-blocking measurement and photo.


The shawl measured 54" across the top, 36" on the diagonal sides, and 22" long from top to bottom center.

I knew I would not have enough blocking mats to make a large enough surface, so I used a cork board in the center and arranged the blocking mats around it. I then laid a large towel on top. I soaked the shawl in a dishtub with tepid water and a little bit of Kookaburra Wool Wash for about 10 minutes or so. Then I rolled it up in a towel to get some of the water out of it. While it was still damp I laid it out on the blocking surface.

I had ordered some blocking wires from Knit Picks some time ago, but this was my first attempt at using them. I ran the wires through the top first, and then the main points on the sides and stretched it out. Then I used T pins to hold them in place. I used regular dressmaker pins to set the rest of the points in the shawl. The pattern instructions said to pin out the main points first and then 4 additional points for each section. I pinned mine out a little differently I think. I did one set of points on each side of the main point and then one point between each section. I like the way it looks and it seemed a logical way to do it.


When I was finished pinning, this is what it looked like:


I sprayed some water on it with a squirt bottle when I was finished pinning because it had already started to dry a good bit. Then I left it pinned out all day and at night I took all the pins and wires out. The finished measurements were 59” wide at top, 56” diagonal on sides, and 32” long in center.

Here are some photos my husband took of me with it the next day.


I started working on this shawl in April of 2009, so 10 months ago. Granted there were many months where I didn't work on it at all. I am very excited to finally have finished my first lace shawl.

My crafting has been really productive lately. I've got a ton of finished objects to talk about, but I am going to wait and make a video update for that soon so look for that to be added here in the near future.

I'm looking forward to starting the Ravelympics this weekend. For anyone reading this who doesn't know what that is, it's a "knitting olympics" to coincide with the Winter Games. You start an object during opening ceremonies and finish it before the closing ceremonies. There is no real prize other than the satisfaction of knowing you did a good job. =) I joined Team Knitmore and Team Sasquatch on Ravelry since I always listen to the podcasts of the team leaders. I am planning to make the Spring Forward socks out of my Knit Picks Imagination sock yarn in "Unicorn" (a project that I already started once but ripped out because I felt I needed to use larger needles) and another Fuzzy Ballet Sweater out of some Bernat Alpaca in "Stone".

I also plan to start my Evenstar Shawl this weekend... if my order of Valley Yarns 2/14 Alpaca Silk from WEBS is delivered in time. We've not been getting mail here lately due to the monster snowstorm last weekend here in the D.C. metro area. We had something near 30" of snow and are expecting another 10-14" between today and tomorrow. I wish it were spring already....

Christmas Gift Photos

I just realized that I never posted any photos of the things that I made and gave out this year that were not in my last video update. So here we go!

Princess Snowball Cat Bed for my cousin Laura, made of Fun Fur and Caron Simply Soft.


Star Crossed Slouchy Beret for my cousin Faith, made of Bernat Alpaca in "Ebony".


Nativity Angels for 3 of my grandmas made out of various Red Heart yarns.


Magic Loop Minis ornaments for 2 of my aunts made of Premier Yarns Serenity Sock.


Harry Bear for my nephew made of Caron Cozi and a little Patons Brilliant for his scarf and some crochet cotton in black for his embroidered nose. He has black plastic safety eyes in 9mm.


And lastly, the Be My Dishcloth that I made for my mom from Lily Sugar'n Cream Cotton for my mom for Valentine's Day.

Video Update

I started a youtube channel this week specifically for my crafting stuff. This afternoon, I made an introduction video for it which shows some of the items I have been working on. Here it is!

Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments

Tonight my house is smelling wonderfully of cinnamon and spices. My kids and I decided to make some great-smelling ornaments to give out as gifts. I got the idea from a good friend of mine who gave me the recipe (thanks, Jen!). I can't take credit for the recipe because I didn't create it. There are a ton of different versions of the same recipe on the net if you google it. But here is the way I did it:

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Cinnamon Christmas Ornaments

Ingredients needed:

3/4 cup ground cinnamon
1 Tbsp ground allspice
2 Tbsp ground cloves
1 Tbsp ground nutmeg
1 cup applesauce
ribbon


Mix together the spices in a bowl, then add the applesauce and stir until well blended. Roll out like cookie dough and cut with cookie cutters. Use a straw to make holes in the top of each ornament for hanging. Allow to dry, usually at least 2 days depending on thickness. Thread ribbon through the holes and tie a bow for hanging. Store in plastic bags until ready to use to preserve the scent.

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I found that the mixture rolled out better after sitting for 30-45 minutes. Right after mixing it wanted to stick to the cookie cutters too much. I covered my wooden rolling pin in waxed paper and rolled them out on waxed paper as well. I also decided to use a coffee stirrer to put holes in mine because I felt the straw holes were too big. I will just use thinner ribbon to hang them. This recipe made 2 dozen ornaments using my standard sized 2-3" cookie cutters.

They look and smell awesome :)

New Tunes!

Today I was listening to the KIPing It Real podcast, and Jackie played an awesome bluegrass version of a Maroon 5 song. So, naturally, I had to search the internet and see what else I could find. Lo and behold (whatever that means), I managed to find some bluegrass covers of Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, U2, and John Mayer among others. They are compilation albums in the "Pickin' On..." series. I decided that it was too much fun not to share, so I updated the playlist on my blog here to include some of my favorite tunes. I set it to autostart for now, so if you don't like the music or don't want to hear anything, scroll down to the bottom of the page and hit the pause button on my soundtrack player.

In update news, I finished my Heather Hoodie Vest. Well, finished all but the button-sewing. I really don't like sewing buttons on. I tried using small clear buttons as backing buttons, but at this gauge with this yarn, they will just slip right through the yarn. So I am either going to have to line the buttonband or just sew the buttons into the yarn and skip the backing buttons. Hopefully I will get around to doing that soon and take some decent pictures of it to post.

I also finished my "Purple Maize" scarf. It ended up being about 5.25" x 61" with no blocking. It's really pretty and it makes me appreciate the yarn a lot more than when it was just in the skein. I still have to take pictures of it as well.

Now I'm working on some possible holiday gift knitting, so I won't be making any details of it known until after the holidays to preserve surprise and whatnot.

Anyhow, just wanted to make a quick update. I will try to get the pictures of the finished objects done soon, but for now enjoy the tunes!

Ok, so I suck at updating these days.

It's only been like a bazillion days since my last update. I really don't have much of an excuse for that. I mean, there was a portion of time where I was purposefully not posting pics of what I was knitting because they were gifts and meant to be a surprise. Those items have since been given away and I'm free to post about them now. So here are some things I have been working on since I last posted:

The Londonberry Pomatomus socks were finished finally. Gee, it only took me 8 or 9 months to get those done...


Then I started working on another pair of socks which I have since finished. The lovely "Intentionally No-Purl Monkeys of Hope" using the Intentions yarn in the "Hope" colorway and the "Monkey" sock pattern substituting knit stitches for all the purl stitches in the pattern. I think these are my favorite socks so far:


Then I started working on some gift knitting for my sister's new baby who was due in mid October. I managed to get all but one thing completed by the time I got to hold him.

I started with this sweater, using the Bobby pattern in size 3-6 months and some Bernat Softee Baby yarn. It was all knit in pieces and seamed together. I hate seams. And I hate weaving in ends. SO next time I will definitely choose a pattern that is knit all in one piece or something.


Then, using the same yarn from the sweater, I decided to make some bootie shoes using the top-down Seamless Baby Booties pattern.


I still had a ton of yarn left, so I decided to make a matching hat using the Baby/Kids' Earflap Hat pattern in size 3-6 months.


And I still have yarn left in that skein...

Next, I decided to try and make some baby socks with some affordable sock yarn I picked up at JoAnn fabrics. They came out completely awesomely cute. I based the construction on the Better Than Booties Baby Socks patterns, but changed the leg and cuff design and did a kitchener toe seam on the first pair.


On the second pair, I changed the leg pattern and did a decrease toe with a kitchener stitch seam.


I still have plenty of yarn left in those 2 skeins. I think I could probably get a total of 3 pair of socks out of each skein.

Between working on these things, I managed to finish spinning up the corriedale roving that I dyed earlier this summer. I ended up with 270 yards of a light sport-ish weight yarn. I decided to call it "Vyanae" because the colors in it reminded me of one of my dark elf characters in Everquest. (I never claimed to not be a nerd...)


Currently on my wheel is the beautiful green, black and silver "Techno Zebra" superwash merino/tencel blend roving that I bought from Copperpot Woolies. Man is that stuff soft! I am trying to spin it thin and get a lot of yardage out of it.


This past week I decided to randomly knit up a headband to keep my ears warm. I used some leftover grey acrylic yarn and improvised a pattern which I lovingly named "Random Half-assed Cabled Headband". This was my first attempt at doing cables, and I inadvertently left out half of the cable so it ended up like more of a licorice twist look. I decided I liked it well enough so I stuck with it instead of ripping it out. The headband tapers to a point at each end of the rectangle, and at those ends I knit and i-cord for ties so that it ties at the back of the neck.


So what is on my needles now?

Well I am still working on my Aeolian shawl. I took a new pic of it to show my progress. I am now at the beginning of the final edging chart.


After finishing the last pair of socks I naturally had to start on another. I am using my Knit Pick's Imagination sock yarn in "Unicorn" and the Spring Forward pattern for my aptly named "Unicorns in Spring" socks.


Then I decided that I wanted to make a scarf out of my handspun yarn. I decided to use the "Purple Maize" yarn that I made along with this Falling Leaves scarf pattern. But after getting about 8 inches into the scarf, I decided that it was way too wide and that I would rather go with a simpler pattern with this yarn. I did end up taking a picture of it, but it has since been ripped out.



I started over with the same yarn and the Diagonal Rib scarf pattern. So it now looks like this instead:


I will be able to get a much longer scarf this way, since this one is less than 6 inches wide.

Earlier this week I went to Michael's craft store and got some yarn that was on sale. Now let me tell you, I've become quite a yarn snob anymore and I dislike 95% of the yarn in that store and JoAnn and any other big box type store. But I found the Bernat Alpaca and after feeling how soft it was I decided to get it. I had been looking for a chunky weight yarn to make a sweater with anyway, and this stuff was on sale for $3 a skein. I went with a dark heathered grey color called "Ebony". SO I came home and looked through patterns on Ravelry for what seems like forever before finally deciding to work on the Heather Hoodie Vest pattern from the Fall 2009 issue of KnitScene magazine. This is my first real project with cables, and it is going pretty well. Since it is chunky weight, it goes by pretty fast. My only worry is that the fuzziness of this yarn will not show the cable definition as well. But it is very soft and cuddly. I will end up making it longer than the pattern suggests, since I normally do that for every pattern due to my height. I am also considering adding long sleeves instead of the short ones in the pattern and maybe trying to make the hood a bit smaller since a lot of people on Ravelry who have made this project have said how huge the hood is. I have finished the first cable chart repeat. Here is what it looks like so far: (gives me a chance to use a bunch of my own handmade stitch markers =)




So I think that is pretty much everything that I have been working on lately. Whew! There has been no progress on the Tie Dye Dishcloth, Spruce Lelah or the Experimental Sweater that I had started a long time ago, so no new pics of those.

I'm off to enjoy this rainy day with some hot tea and lots of knitting! Til next time...

Zufflers!

What is a zuffler you ask? It's a zill muffler! Still don't know what that is? "Zills" is a word for "finger cymbals". Sometimes you may also see the word "zagat" or "sagat" used for them. They are a set of 4 small metal cymbals that you attach to your middle fingers and thumbs with elastic. I think they are one of the most exciting additions to a bellydance performance.

I've been practicing playing different musical patterns with them lately and my ears and my dogs' ears are starting to suffer. Last night I looked up cymbal cozy patterns on ravelry and found the Zuffler pattern and decided to try it. I knew of a few other really cute crochet patterns but this was the first knit pattern that I thought I would try. I used a tiny ball of leftover sock yarn and a set of 5 double points in 2.5mm size. They came out really well. The pattern calls for using thin elastic to secure them to the zills but since I didn't have any available I used a drawstring of matching yarn instead.

I only made 2 of them. I found that I really only need to cover 1 cymbal on each hand to get a nice muted sound. I can still hear it, but it doesn't have the ability to really make the bell sound and vibrate. It's effect is similar to using the "practice pedal" on my piano. So now I can work on my rhythms and cymbal patterns for bellydance and the pets and family don't have to suffer =) I'm getting pretty good at playing them, but playing them while dancing at the same time is a whole other story....