A mystery solved

Despite my case of startitis I have managed to complete something. This shawl is SusannaIC's  January Mystery KAL.  I am a great fan of her designs and intend to knit many more.

The yarn is Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 2ply which has been hand dyed by a fellow Raveler, Ozifarmer. I knitted the shawl on 4.5mm needles and added silver lined Matsuno beads 8/0. We had the option of adding beads when doing the short rows or nupps. I opted to add the beads.

This was a lovely shawl to knit. The worst part is the cast on. Its never easy to cast on so many stitches but I have found this video very helpful when doing a stretchy cast on. I have now used this cast on for several shawls and although its a bit slow I find that it is truly stretchy and you don't have to work out how much yarn you need as you would for a long tail cast on.

Now back to focussing on those wips and perhaps just one more cast on?

It snuck in

I succumbed. I received a lovely skein of hand dyed Bendigo Woollen Mills Classic 2ply from EmilyTheEnabler and just had to cast on for the latest Birget Freyer mystery KAL, Dolce Vita.

But, I have finished something as well. It's the Stockholm Scarf which I knitted in Bendigo Woollen Mills Moorland in Dark Grape. This is for my swap partner in a swap on Ravelry. She doesn't know about it yet but I don't think she reads my blog so I think its safe to show it here.

This scarf can either be knitted in two pieces and then grafted together or it can be knitted in the round. I opted to knit it in the round because I would much rather avoid having to graft large pieces together.

And lastly a photo of the Pea Vines shawl which I am knitting with a Ravelry buddy.

I have only knitted one chart so far. Its an interesting knit which requires a bit more concentration than the average shawl.

I'm stronger than my willpower

Yep, I am because I have managed to cast on two more projects despite not having finished any others. I first cast on the Stockholm Scarf.

I am knitting this in the round with BWM Moorland in Dark Grape. Its been a long time since I have knitted with such thick yarn - 8ply! It feels very heavy and hard on the wrists.

The second project I cast on is the Pea Vines shawl. I am knitting this with a friend on Ravelry. I am using a yarn dyed by EmilyTheEnabler. I think its about a 3ply yarn and thus I have opted to knit the medium size version of the shawl. Photos later when I have more to show because its taken me three tries to get this shawl started and I have only completed two very long rows.

I am continuing on the Susanna IC January KAL and I have now completed clue 4.

Now am I going to manage to complete something before the next post or succumb yet again and cast on for that Dahlia cardigan which is clamouring for my attention?

One more off the needles

I finished the SK Kozinski Mystery KAL and I am quite happy with the way this shawl turned out.

This shawl is started with a provisional cast on. I used an easy loop cast on with a second cable which made picking up the stitches really easy. The lace section is knitted first and the you pick up the stitches for the short rows to finish the shawl.

I used Drops Fabel yarn and 4.5mm needles and I added size 8/0 beads to the last lace repeat. I probably should have used size 6/0 beads because the beads are a bit lost on this shawl. I went down to size 3.75mm needles for the cast off and did a tight cast off. I have learned my lesson with these crescent shaped shawls, a tight cast off prevents rolling at the neck.

I have remained strong and I've not yet cast on anything new...yet....

In progress

I am working on three projects at the moment and I am trying desperately not to cast on any more. But... yes there is always a but, there are several projects clamouring for my attention. I even have the yarn waiting so how am I going to resist. The two projects screaming loudest is the Sugar Plum Fairy KAL and the Dahlia cardigan.  See what I mean? How am I suppose to resist

As for the progress I have made so far. I have finished clue one of the SusannaIC January KAL and I am about to start on clue 2. I'm using some handdyed yarn I swapped on Ravelry.

Not much to show yet but considering that this was yet another shawl that started with a 409 stitch cast on and it has 7 stitch nupps, a fair bit of knitting has already taken place.

I have completed clue 3 for the Shui Kuen Kozinski Mystery KAL and now have only one more clue to go.

This shawl started with a provisional cast on. I used an easy cast on and left the live stitches on a cable. So now I just have to add my needle tips to the cable and I am ready to knit the short rows for the last part of the shawl.

I have not neglected that blanket and I have finished another 2 and a half squares.

Now how long am I going to last before casting on something else?

I've made a start...

.... finishing wips and starting new  projects!

I finally got round to finishing the Birgit Freyer Mon Bijou shawl. As I have said before, I really love her patterns and this shawl was no exception. I always find her patterns very relaxing to knit. The stitches seem to fly off the needles. This shawl would have been finished ages ago had I not put it down because of other commitments.

The yarn is KnitPicks Gloss Lace in Mermaid. I was fortunate to get this yarn in a karma swap seeing as KnitPicks doesn't mail to Australia. Needle size is 4.00mm and  the shawl measures 97cm from the centre neck down and 140cm in width. I used Matsuno beads 8/0.

I have also got back to that blanket and I have knitted another two squares. I am going to do my best to finish this blanket before the end of summer (I have to keep telling myself that).

And then of course I have started two new projects, both of them are mystery KAL's, The first is a mystery KAL by Shui Kuen Kozinski and the second is the SusannaIC's January Mystery KAL. A third KAL, the Sugar Plum Fairy KAL which has recently started still awaits me. More about the KAL's in the next posting.

Resolutions?

Each year I think about making resolutions and mostly I manage to keep them. I think that's because I tend to make rather general and vague resolutions. And this year isn't going to be any different. I did think of adding a few more specific knitting resolutions but then I thought why?  Well, I have to have at least one knitting resolution. So my knitting resolution is to finish all those wips that have been hanging around for ages (one of them since 2009) within the first six months of 2012. I think that sounds doable.

Just before the year ended I managed to finish one more shawl. This one is number 19. The pattern is the Language of Roses shawl. And the yarn is KnitPicks Shadow in Hot rod. I used almost 2 full skeins. There was so little left of the second skein that it didn't register on my scale. This was not an easy shawl to block because its not a true triangular shape and the roses at the end were a bit fiddly. It took me two attempts to get the shape more or less right. I would have liked to have blocked the shawl harder but I just couldn't get the shape to work then.

This will be my last commission knit for a while so that I can focus on finishing those wips  and also participate in a couple of KALs.

Happy knitting in the New Year!