Things Treasured

And a few tidbits to show you of in progress projects!

 

 

 

 

Ha, I am actually still working on WIPS despite all of the excitement going on around here. My current project that I am determined to finish is my Balmoral. I have a progress picture, but it isn’t very easy to see the progress because it is on a small circular needle. However, here it is in all its lovely green bamboo glory!

 

My KnitPicks order just arrived. I picked up some cable joiners so I can easily slide this onto a longer needle so that it can be spread out and photographed. However, that probably won’t be for another couple of days yet. Things are a bit busy around here. I’ll get to it though!

So I have a few things in the works at this moment. I have two swap packages that are waiting to go out, and I will show the goodies contained within once the parcels have arrived at their respective recipients. I wouldn’t want to ruin the surprise.

Right now on the needles however, I have a shawl. The pattern is called Sargasso and this is a picture of it from the pattern page.

It’s absolutely beautiful and I can’t wait to have it finished. As it turns out, it is knitted LONG ways. So each row is 308 stitches long. These rows take a LONG time. However, the pattern is relatively easy. Last night however, disaster struck. I dropped a section of the shawl off my needles and in trying to fix that, I made a huge mess. I contacted the local yarn store via Ravelry and while they kindly got back to me quickly, the news was not good. They told me that lace was extremely difficult to repair once it has been dropped, and the only lady who could probably help would likely charge me for her help. Well.. I am actually already overdrawn on my spending money this month, so that was a no go.

I took a very deep breath, closed myself in a room with no distractions, and began to frog (that is unravel for you non knitter) the shawl. I took it back five rows and ever so carefully began to put the stitches back on the needles. Can you believe I actually got all 308 stitches back onto the needles? It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I did learn while fixing the shawl that the pattern reverses at one point (row 11 actually) and I missed that the first time through. As fate would happen, the row I put back onto the needles (completely by accident) was row 10. So, three hours later, the shawl is all fixed, the pattern is correct and I have inserted a lifeline. I have admittedly, put it aside for the evening. I need a break until tomorrow.

Oh, I’m making it in this lovely squishy beautiful yarn.

You can be jealous. It’s ok.

Now. The other thing in the works is not on my needles. It is in fact on my spindle. I’m working on spinning some lovely grey roving into some lovely grey yarn. Why grey? I have no idea. It was the roving that spoke to me so I grabbed it and started spinning it. I’m getting faster with my spinning, but I’m still having trouble with consistency. But that takes practice and I haven’t exactly done A LOT of spinning or anything. I think part of the consistency issue was I was trying to make a slightly thicker yarn, but I keep defaulting to a thinner yarn. I plan to ply the yarn with itself though so hopefully it will all even out to a relatively consistent thickness.

I am wondering though, if I add Easter egg dyes to an already grey yarn of the colors will come as deep jewel tones. I might just leave it grey though. It is a lovely color. It may end up in my etsy shop, or it may end up as a finished item in my etsy shop. Decisions, decisions, decisions.

I haven't been updating too much. This is largely in part because I haven't been knitting very much. The hubby and I are dealing with some issues with the house and being unemployed at home right now. So I've been distracted and focusing my energy lately. I'm still getting things done, just at a much slower rate. Right now in progress...


Sylvi. I've also got both sleeves and one front panel finished. I want to get this finished so badly. Other things just keep jumping in my way. I have the other front panel, hood, seeming, and the flower petals to do. Really, it isn't THAT much.


Swallowtail. Now this is an inprogress picture of the one that is already finished. But imagine this in black and it's a near acurate view of the one I ma working on now. Yes... I said BLACK.. hence why it is taking so long. Well that and the fact that for some strange reason, this is a challenging pattern for me. It is, thankfully, easier than the first time though.


Balmoral. This one is in hybernation, but I thought I would show it to you anyway. I love the yarn, and I am in love with the shawl. I just got overwhelmed during the crafting process as that is when everything started going nuts here at home. I'm a good deal further than this, but I don't have a current project picture. It's probably 2-3x's the size in the picture. But I'm only 10% into it or so. This will likely go on hold until the weather warms up again. It's just not high on the priority list right now.
And then of course I am working on NaNoWriMo. I am behind at the moment, but not desperately so. I still think I have a good shot at completing on time.

That stands for Work In Progress for those not in the know. I am in love with this scarf. I hope i have time to finish it soon! I am currently working on two other WIPs that I will take pictures of to show. This is a recent picture though so I thought you might like to see it!

And now to show you all how I am faring with my two large projects. These are the ones that must be completed by the last day of July. Whew, it's going to be a busy month.

The Back of Sylvi


The Sleeves of Syvli


Swallowtail Shawl - It looks all bunched up here because my lifelines are short and pulling it together.

Lifeline = A separate thread run through live stitches while they are on the needle and fastened off to itself. This holds your place basically. Then if you make a mistake and need to rip the stitches back, they won't unravel all of the way back to the beginning.