What I've been up to...

Well, I did go on holiday for a week, so that is a good reason not to have posted...but the rest of the time it's been a combination of business and laziness. So here goes...

I made two shining star hats for my friends' kids. Both little girls, but one of them is not into the frilly pink like the other. I think she'll be pleased with what I chose:



The star, of course:


And then...there was lace. I acquired some Hipknits' laceweight silk at the Stitch and Craft show at Olympia in the spring. I don't know if it's because I didn't wind it into a ball straight away, but my GOD this stuff is difficult. It's all twisted and kinky and it drives me nuts. However I will persevere if only to have a lovely silk shawl that will make me feel beautiful when I wear it.

So check this out. I finally understand why people block stuff. I knitted a swatch to test the pattern out (located here). I wet blocked it and used pins to hold it to shape while it dried. It's been fairly abused since then (as I wanted to see how it would hold its shape after it was off the pins) and it's taken it rather well. It has a lovely feel and drape. It looks like this:


So far, not too bad right? Pffft. This is what it looks like on my needles:


What is that you say? Chicken wire? (A dear friend of mine used that word to describe this yarn...she couldn't be more right.) I think it's because the silk is so weightless that it can't help bounce back up on itself. So, it's pretty hard to tell where I am in the pattern which has a 16 row repeat...I've had to use a row counter and stitch markers just to make sure I don't screw up. Now look at the two next to each other:


So it'll be a little difficult to tell how long it is when I'm working on it. I'll keep knitting till I'm sick of it or I run out of yarn. If I can do one or two repeats an evening and put it aside every so often, it'll come along. I hope to be able to post more regularly as I work on this stuff, but I'm in the middle of my dissertation right now. It cuts seriously into my knitting time. >:(

posted by Christina @ 8/02/2006 11:31:00 pm