Random thoughts of a fiber enthusiast - mostly fiber related, sometimes coherent

Category: Knit Page 78 of 88

Haagen-Dazs Knitting

Completed Silk Cap Shawl

Ta Da! The silk cap shawl is finished! You can’t tell from this picture, but it’s the color of a field of spring violets. Lovely.

Boy, this stuff is addictive. Let’s just rip up one more cap to knit … uh-oh, can’t stop in the middle of a row … let’s rip up some more silk … before you know it, you’re done. No more silk cap to rip. The completion was just like staring down at the empty Haagen-Dazs pint container. Where did all that ice cream go? I swear I wasn’t going to finish it all in one sitting. (And where to do they get off saying that there are 4 whole servings in one of those little containers? What kind of alien can actually only eat 1/4 of the container in one sitting?)

Silk Cap Shawl - In ProgressAny way, yesterday was a beautiful day in the Emerald City. I wanted to sit out on the deck and knit, but do you have any idea what it’s like to control cobwebs in a light breeze? Ix-nay on the knitting.

EliSpot helping with the shawlBut inside wasn’t must better because of my little helper. I swear I only turned my back to the silk for about 2 minutes. Last seen, EliSpot was sound asleep across the room.

Don’t worry, Grace, I’ll wash it before I send it down to you.

Anyway, the finished shawl is 44″ wide, 17″ deep. It was made with a single silk cap (approx. 0.5 oz.), knitted on US size 8 needles. It’s a plain garter stitch pattern. Cast on 3 stitches. Knit 1, make 1, knit to end. Turn and repeat. I decided to increase at the beginning of the row, every row, because I knew that I was going to be putting this down often and didn’t want to remember front vs. back side of the work. Nice, mindless knitting. And lots of fun. I highly recommend it. (And all that ripping was completely satisfying since I couldn’t scratch my leg.)

Hmmm, I have a couple of other silk caps that I picked up along the way. Then there are the royal blue silk hankies that we dyed last summer at the guild …

Silk Cap

Microwave Dyed Silk Cap and Knitted Shawl in ProgressHey Grace! Guess what I’m making for Iris? I’m knitting a play shawl for Iris from the silk cap that I dyed during Rainbow Dyeing with the Microwave workshop that I took with Barbara Bitetto at The Shepherd’s Extravaganza. (Click on picture for enlarged view.) This is one of the items that I dyed during the workshop. I just poured a bunch of leftover dyes around the classroom at the end of the class into a ziploc bag with my wetted silk cap. Closed it, and squished it around before putting it into the microwave until the dye has completelly taken up.

Anyway, I’m pulling a small bit of roving out and knitting directly from it. I’ve only seen this done but never tried it myself. What fun! If you have chapped hands, make sure that they are well lubricated or you’ll catch on all the little silk filaments.

Fuzzy Feet Update — I suppose is time to update this. They are finished, but we weren’t happy with the fit of these. Martin’s were a little too tight, even after I dried them with his shoe tree (wrapped in plastic bags). I didn’t like the feeling of the slippers slipping off my heel. So, we found homes for both of them. Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures of them before I gave them away.

Martin’s went to his brother (just in time for an early birthday present), and mine went to Martin’s great niece, Abby. Abby needs to feel like a princess right now. The entire family is down in Guatemala to finish the adoption process of her new brother and sister. After being an only child for 3 years, she now has to share. I thought the bright pink slippers with the colorful trim would be perfect for play time. I hope so. She’s going to have some tough times ahead.

Pi Shawl

Here’s how I’ve been spending my time …

04-pi.gif

This is knitted on US 5 needles with a 2 ply handspun yarn: one strand of alpaca roving (AlpacaPalooza from Cedar Wind Ranch. The blend is called Chocolate Parfait — part chocolate brown and part creamy white, donated by Checkov, Tawnee, and Divinity. I let it sit in the closet of a year because I was afraid that I wouldn’t do it justice (I bought it 2 months after I learned to spin). This month, I sat down and decided that it was now or never.

Then, as a reward for finishing the taxes on time (April 15th at 3 pm. Whew, thank goodness for electronic filing — no trying to find parking and standing in line at the post office), I started the Pi Shawl from Elizabeth Zimmermann’s Knitter’s Almanac. I’ve just started the 3rd, and final, pattern block. With the flight down to California for the interview on Friday, there is a good chance that I will be finished with it by our 15th wedding anniversary next week.

We’ll see. I haven’t decided what to do about the edging yet. And this weekend will be busy with the Natural Dyeing with Norman Kennedy Workshop.

Page 78 of 88

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