Irene Adler

Pattern: Irene Adler designed by Through the Loops

Yarn: Malabrigo Lace in Mrs. Dalloway

Needles: US Size 5

Started on: Sept. 6th

Finished on: Sept. 19th

Comments: This is my "I" shawl for the Lace A-Z Challenge. This blog post is a bit late because I wanted to make sure the recipient received the shawl before blogging about it.

This was quite a challenging knit. The yarn was a sticky laceweight single ply, which made it difficult to frog and easy to accidentally drop stitches. The yarn also tangles easily due to the stickiness, so I had to be extra careful when handling the yarn.

When you reach the lace section, there aren't really any rest rows. So it's patterning on both sides. It took a lot of concentration and I had to refer to the charts all the time. Despite all of this, there's something to be said about patterns like this. Something that's zen about needing to focus all your energy and thought on one thing one project. It felt like a good exercise in concentration. It's nice that it's all done. I think I will miss working on it, just a little bit.

Memory Blankets

I've finished 16 squares in my sock yarn scraps memory blanket. I haven't worked on this project too much lately. When I do work on it, I really enjoy it.

I'm enjoying the sock yarn scraps memory blanket so much, I started a second one. This one is out of my Knitpicks Shine Sport stash. With all the new season premieres and shows starting up again, it will make for great television knitting. So far I've knit up ten squares.

WIP Wednesday: socks

 I started a pair of worsted weight socks with a simple K3, P1 ribbing. These should go quickly.












I also started another pair of Halloween self striping socks. These are Nightmare Before Xmas inspired in the colorway Jack. I love these so much. Self striping yarn makes me so happy. There are just plain vanilla socks.

WIP Wednesday: Pink Blob

The pink blob lace shawl is growing. It's taking all my concentration to work on it because there aren't really any rest rows. And I have to be careful with the sticky lace yarn. I am still enjoying working on this. There's something very zen about it. And now it's big, so I can kind of see progress happening even though the rows are getting slower to knit. It also helps that over the  years, I've become better at reading my knitting, so I can tell right away if I've made an error or something is off. I think I'll be sad when I finish this project, that's how enjoyable it is.

Openwork Rib socks

 Pattern: Openwork Rib socks from SKS

Yarn: Lorna's Laces Shepherd sock in Georgetown

Needles: US Size 2 DPNs

Started on: Aug. 8th

Finished on: Sept. 12th

Comments: This is one of my older sock yarns that's been in my stash for a long time. The yarn can be a bit splitty, but I love the colors it comes in. I'm not sure why it took me so long to knit this pair up. The pattern was easy to memorize. The pattern and yarn matched better than I expected.

WIP Wednesday

Oh lace shawl knitting, how I've missed you. It feels good to get back into knitting with lace weight after knitting a few socks.

I originally got this yarn in a yarn club in 2011. The bright pink isn't me at all. So I put it aside and let it sit. Now, 4 years later, the yarn still isn't quite me, but it's grown on me.

The yarn is Malabrigo, while I love their worsted weight yarn, I find their lace weight to be more fiddly. It's single ply and thick and thin in places and tends to be quite sticky. The sticky-ness of it is what gives the most challenge. I have to be extra careful when frogging or tinking back with this yarn. That being said,  I do love the colors that Malabrigo offers. Also their yarn has a certain lovely airy lightness to it.

I'm really enjoying working on this shawl, even more than I thought I would. The pattern and yarn play so nicely together. I find myself stopping every so often, to smooth it out and admire it. 

Monster Mash Socks

Pattern: K3, P1 ribbing

Yarn: Neeley's Knits Sports in Monster Mash

Needles: US Size 3 DPNs

Started on: Aug. 30th

Finished on: Sept. 5th

Comments: These are my Halloween socks. So glad that they are done. Sports weight knits up so quickly. I love these bright colors.

FO Friday: Mystery Lace Scarf

I started this on Tuesday and finished it last night, so there really wasn't time for this project to make an appearance on the blog.

I decided to revive my plan of using up some of my oldest yarn (from 2006). This particular yarn was a birthday gift from a good friend. I lost the ball band years ago, so I'm not sure the yardage or the fibers in this yarn. I used the scarf pattern Mohair lace scarf from Purl Bee, but I'm sure this yarn isn't mohair, so mine is just a mystery lace scarf. It's nice to have this very old stash yarn all used up. The scarf is incredibly fuzzy and soft. 

WIP Wednesday: socks

I'm working on more socks! I admit these photos are older, as I haven't had a chance to take new photos yet.

Monster Mash - These are my Halloween self striping socks! It's a simple K3, P1 ribbing. It's sports weight yarn, so it knits up super fast. I just started the second sock this morning.

Openwork Rib - This is the openwork rib pattern from my SKS book. The yarn is Lorna's Laces in Georgetown. I'm also working on the leg of the second sock. This yarn and pattern ended up being a better match then I thought it would. Funny how things work out.