Knitting Updates

It's turning out that September is my month to finish my WIPs. Kind of like seeing a big bright light at the end of the tunnel.

Somewhere in between I managed to cast on for another shrug. Yeppers. That's what I did. I couldn't help myself. This fantastic Muench Tessin yarn screamed to be made into something. I'm further along than what the picture shows. Actually, I have one row of ribbing to do and then bind off in pattern and it's done.

My Muench Tessin Shrug This! in Purple. Fabulous yarn with a tweed look


Close up of the Tessin yarn



I finally finished my Malabrigo shrug. It fits, but it's not one of my favorites. I think it's the yarn and not necessarily the color.

My Malabrigo Chunky Shrug This! in Noviembre color


Last week, I went to G-Street and caught their holiday sale (Labor Day) and found some pretty buttons for my denim vest. I had fun at this store as the ladies allowed me to go behind the counter pull the boxes myself. It was pure joy to touch the buttons!

Yesterday morning, I seamed the shoulders and did a huge boo-boo. I had reversed the front right and front left. When I held up the vest, my front plackets were on the outside edges. Yikes! I undid the seams and cleaned my eyeballs before starting again.

Oval shaped buttons for my vest


Today, I spent a few hours untangling some Fiesta Rayon Boucle yarn for a good friend of mine. She had wound the yarn into two balls and then I helped her for a few hours.

My friend and I working on untangling her yarn...a few hours later

I continued to work on it today and finished the untangling for her. I wound the two balls into one huge ball and then proceeded to wind the yarn into a cake. This color is Painted Desert. It's beautiful!

Beautiful cake!


Progress is being made. I just need to remain focused. ;)

Shoulder Scarf - Completed

I love knitting a quick and easy project. Especially, when I'm stuck knitting two garments that seem to take forever. That's my fault as I can't put one project aside.

I saw a shop display model of this shoulder scarf at one of my LYS. The display model was knitted in a red/raspberry/purple variegated color. It was a beauty. I ended up purchasing the Rayon Boucle over the Internet and I chose a blue/teal/purple color yarn. I love this color.

My new Shoulder Scarf in Alaska (blue tones) - Rayon Boucle by Fiesta Yarns


Here's my review:

Name of Pattern:
Shoulder Scarf

Designed by:
Fiesta Yarns

Pattern/Garment Description:
Shoulder scarf with rounded edge

Size(s):
One size fits all

Yarns Used:
Rayon Boucle by Fiesta Yarns in Alaska color (blues)

I used one hank with 240 yards

A beautiful yarn with (blue, purple, & teal colors)

The scarf drapes beautifully


Gauge:
Huge and not really important. The yarn label says 20 sts/4 inches with size 7 needle.

I used size 15 needles to get the open stitches

Knitting Tools Used:
Circular needles: 40 inch in size 15
Tapestry needle to weave in ends

Techniques I used/Things I learned:
Long tail cast on method
Garter stitch (knit)
M1 or increase at the beginning and end of each row. Used the two different M1 techniques to get the stitch to slant in the correct direction.
Kept knitting until I almost run out of yarn. I made sure I had enough length to bind off.

Changes I Made to the Pattern:
No changes were made

What I Like About this Pattern:
I love the drape of this scarf. I love the rounded edge versus a pointed edge that you see on most scarves/shawls.

No triangle shape in the back. Just a nice rounded edge.

What I Dislike About this Pattern:
Nothing to dislike

My Pattern Rating (Beginner, Easy, Intermediate, Hard):
I would rate this as Beginner/Easy.

Conclusion/Additional Comments:

As I mentioned before, I saw a shop display of this beautiful scarf. The LYS ran out of the Rayon Boucle, so I ordered a hank from WEBS. I had a hard time selecting a color. They were all so beautiful. I narrowed the decision, by selecting the colors that were close to monochromatic. Meaning, close in shade/hue family. It was a toss up between Poppies (reds) and Alaska (blues). I ended up with Alaska color as blue is one of my favorite colors.

On the inside label, they include winding instructions. They recommend placing the hank on a swift and hand winding the yarn. I wasn't in the mood to do that. I placed my hank on my handmade swift and then used my ball winder to wind my yarn. I ended up having to manually pull the yarn on the swift. Once I had a few yards pulled out, I would then use my ball winder to pull up the loose yarn. This method worked perfectly for me and I ended up with a beautiful yarn cake. I went ahead and placed the cake in its own small bag which I knitted from. For me, it's easier and I get consistent tension when I pull yarn from the middle while I'm knitting.

After casting on forty stitches and knitting a few rows, the scarf looked like a jumbled mess of yarn. At this point, I wasn't sure how this was going to look. Once I got going and knitted a few inches, the scarf began to take its beautiful shape. The weight of this yarn makes the scarf drape beautifully.

I bound off loosely and wove in the ends of the yarn. I can't tell you how many rows nor how many stitches I ended up with. I just kept knitting until I almost ran out of yarn.

Overall, this project took me less than 6 hours of knitting time. That is, 30 minutes here, an hour there. I'm not a fast knitter and I wanted to make sure I was knitting the stitches cleanly. Also, I had to make sure my stitches didn't accidently fall off the huge needles.

This shoulder scarf can be worn in many different ways, along the neckline as well as tied around the hips for a dressy or casual look. I'm looking forward to wearing this beauty for our upcoming dressy event this weekend.

Here's additional pictures:

How's this for a glamour shot?


I love playing with my new scarf


Could also wear it as a hip scarf

I Started Another Project

Update 08/15/09: I've included a current picture of my scarf...now taking shape. It's turning out beautifully.

Halfway through my scarf


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Original post:

Last night, I casted on for my shoulder scarf. I've been itching to start this and decided that it might be a quick and easy project. It's taken me awhile to get used to knitting with size 15 needles. I'm using Rayon Boucle by Fiesta Yarns. Fiesta recommends hand winding the yarn into a ball. I can see why as the yarn likes to get caught up on itself. I went ahead and placed my hank of yarn on my handmade swift and slowly wound the yarn on my ball winder. It worked out great.

The scarf is knitted in garter stitches. I'm also doing an increase at the beginning and at the end of each row. So far, I love the rounded shape versus a pointed shape scarf.

Right now (picture) my shoulder scarf looks like a jumbled mess of tangled yarn. I'm sure as I knit more rows, the weight of the scarf will start to distribute the stitches more evenly.

The makings of a shoulder scarf in Amazon color. Rayon Boucle by Fiesta Yarns

I'm still making some progress on my denim cabled vest and my violet lace panel cardi. I'm going to put one on hold, so I can get one project completed in the next few days.

I've been busy on Ravelry organizing my queue as well as looking for some Fall projects. I'm also rotating my yarns. I'm putting away some of my cotton yarns and slowly bringing out my wools for my next projects.