Aeolian Shawl

Every time I see the name of this shawl pattern, I think “How do you knit in natural minor?”

 

This is the Aeolian Shawl pattern, from the Spring 09 issue of Knitty. I found it to be an interesting and engaging knit, much like the other shawl I have knit by the same designer, Laminaria. Neither shawl ever got boring.

I knit this on US size 3 needles, using a lilac colored skein of Silk Lace from Claudia Handpainted Yarns. Although the yarn is a bit pricey, I’ve used it before and know that it will hold up well. I was a bit surprised, however, to find how much the yarn shredded when I had to frog a substantial portion of the shawl. I was also displeased to find a knot and a few slubs in my skein; at this price, I do not expect to find multiple knots or other imperfections.

This pattern calls for 2250 size 8 seed beads. I upped to a size 6 bead, but reduced the number of beads used by about 80%. I generally dislike both beading and the feeling of too much “bling,” so  I included beads only on the borders, and picked which beads I wanted for impact. I have listed my reductions at the bottom of this post.

 

For this pattern, I used a crochet chain bind-off. As this shawl is knit in stockinette lace right up to the bind-off, I would normally be concerned about the edge rolling. However, the edge contains both a heavy amount of open lacework, the beads help to weigh the edge down to prevent curling, and pure silk tends to take a block very well, so I threw caution to the wind and used the bind-off that I thought would look nicest. So far, no curling! At the end, I had about 18 inches of yarn to spare. Given that I started out with 1100 yards, that was a little close!

This shawl was challenging to block. My first attempt to block the shawl flat was unsatisfactory.

I own two sets of blocking mats – theoretically, enough to block just about anything. However, as you can see from the photos, this shawl is just a tad oversized. The edges ran off at multiple points, and parts of the border were quite distorted. So, I folded the shawl in half along its spine.

This enabled me to spread the border sections out properly. At this point, I found that the “tail” of the shawl needed to curve out, something that would not have been possible to do had I blocked the shawl flat.

This shawl blocked out to be quite large: 88 inches along the wingspan, and 45 inches down the back. If I don’t fold the top over, it hits me right at the knee! However, with the top folded up a bit, the wings are long and weighty enough with the beads that I can throw one end over my shoulder and be confident that the shawl will stay put without a pin – nice!

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For anyone is knitting this shawl who wants to follow my bead reductions, they are as follows:

Set-up chart: no beads

Yucca chart: no beads

Transition chart: no beads

Agave chart: Center beads only on rows 3 and 5 (these make a little triangle)

Final Agave chart: Center beads only as for Agave chart.

Left edge, center edge and right edge chart: all beads.

Edge set-up chart: Beads on rows 3 and 5 only.

Main Edge chart: all beads EXCEPT for row 43. In row 43, I placed beads on the designated stitches that were knit plain, but did not place beads on the designated decrease stitches. For row 45, I placed all beads as indicated.

Entrelac Stockings, and a fun project.

These stockings are from the pattern “Entrelac Socks,” by Eunny Jang, published in the Spring 07 issue of Interweave Knits. I finished these a few weeks ago, but didn’t get around to photographing them until today. Normally, I am excited to wear finished projects, or send them off to whoever they were knit for, but in this case, we have had a long stretch of 100+ degree weather and I haven’t worn any socks at all in quite some time!

I knit these with one lavendar skein of Regia 4-ply sock yarn, and two skeins of chocolate colored Lorna’s Laces, using size zero bamboo needles. I find that entrelac in general behaves much more nicely on wooden needles.

These stockings are knit toe-up. As I got close to the end of the first stocking, I found that the calf was uncomfortably and unbecomingly tight. Apparently, cycling 60 miles a week does good things for my calves! So I modified the entrelac blocks to include higher stitch counts. After turning the heel and rejoining to work in the round, I knit 4 CC tiers with 6-stitch blocks, 1 CC tier with 7-stitch blocks, and then knit 8-stitch blocks until the stockings were long enough.

The pattern suggests making a twisted-yarn cord with attached pom-poms to garter the tops of the socks. Um, no thanks. Not my style. I’m still looking for just the right decoration. Good thing I’ve got a long time until cold weather!

I’ve had another fun little project going recently. Although we are still sad about losing little Ned, we have decided to move forward with procuring another hedgehog. Our new little one should be coming home in late August. While we are hedgehog-less, I decided that it would be a good time to design a new house for him or her.

Many hedgehogs seem to enjoy sleeping inside of “hedgie bags” (basically, a hedgehog-sized sleeping bag) inside of pipes or tubes, or covered up by their cage liners. Ned also always used to enjoy burrowing through a blanket on the couch, all around under our legs and feet. Hedgehogs generally seem to feel more secure in enclosed spaces. So, for this cage, I decided to increase the amount of enclosed space by using a plastic bin meant to fit under a bed. It is connected to the top bin via a PVC pipe – can you tell that I had fun with spray paint this week? The bottom and top bins both have multiple large screened ventilation windows. For easy hedgehog extraction (well, as easy as it gets…) and yet more air flow I made a large screened door with a hinge for the lower bin. The wheel is a Cake Walk Supreme wheel and is really nice – totally quiet and easy to clean. (If you click on the link, and then click on “Testamonials” you will find on that page a link to a video of a hedgehog running on her wheel. Those little legs car really fly!)  Still to be added are food and water dishes, toys, a hedgie bag, and some ramp covers to increase traction inside of the slippery PVC pipe. I’m counting the days until we bring our new friend home!

Triinu Scarf

 

 

This is the Triinu Scarf, from Nancy Bush’s Knitted Lace of Estonia. This is the second project I’ve made from that book, and it certainly won’t be the last – I think that I could happily make every project in the book, and then start playing with the included stitch dictionary. I knit this scarf with two skeins of Misti Alpaca laceweight, and size 4 needles. The Misti Alpaca was likewise a joy to work with. It’s great to combine good yarn with such an enjoyable pattern!

I normally tend to tweak patterns to fit my particular tastes, but I largely left  this one alone, with the exception of not slipping the first stitch in each row. I used to always slip the first stitch of every row, which makes a nice, neat edge, but I’ve had a few lace projects develop tight edges during blocking.  At this point I’ve knit enough lace that my edged stay neat regardless, and I value the more flexible edge because I typically stretch my lace to the limits while blocking.

I also took some liberty while blocking, and blocked a scalloped edge on the scarf. I thought that it made for a more unified look between the narrow, lace ends, and the garter-stitch long edges. It also meant that I got to use about 200 fewer pins! I finished this while traveling, and blocked it out at my mother’s house in Ohio. My blocking wires, alas, were at home in Texas, so I made do with straight pins from her quilting supplies. I don’t think that I would have even considered a scalloped edge if I had blocked it at home, so it worked out OK; I really like the scarf with the scallops.

A little too quiet.

 

 

Ned.

July 6, 2008 – June 25, 2009.

 

Our living room has become very quiet at night.

House!