Oh...shoot!

     The stitch pattern for Dorothy has an interesting (and sometimes annoying) feature.  The stitch pattern I used is mostly patterned on the right side, but every 12 rows there are decreases on the wrong side.   This feature makes for a slow going, as it's hard to get the rhythm of the pattern.  I found myself forgetting about those purled decreases more often than not.

     Here's a solution I came up with to avoid tinking back every time I forgot the darn decreases.  You're happily knitting along, beginning to think you're memorizing the pattern, get to the next right side row aaaaaaaaaaaand...the stitch count is off.  You count, recount, freak out (you know the drill), think about PMing me, posting it to the group and then you check the charts and realize you forgot the decreases on the previous row.  Shoot!

    The mistake can be seen inside the red circles on the image above.  What to do?  The first reaction is to tink back, redo the last wrong side row (paying attention this time) and move on.  That is all fine and dandy when you're on the first or second repeat, but what happens when you're already 10 repeats into the pattern and you had to tink back 6 of those???  It happened to me and I got tired of tinking so I came up with a patch.

Celebrating

     Next month (April) we'll be celebrating two years of the Mawelucky Love group over at Ravelry.  As a thank you to all the wonderful people I met over there I've created (well...am creating) a new design which will be done as a KAL.
     The Birthday Pi is my gift to all the amazing folks who took a chance on me and were adventurous enough to try my patterns.

The secret is out

     I suck at keeping secrets...I came up with the idea for my latest design sometime last year, but due to other obligations, had to sit on it until now.  I'm so glad I don't have to keep it a secret anymore.

Long time...no post

:P I've been meaning to post for some time now, but time just flew by and I did nothing...

So, I finally finished Luiza in 20/2 yarn. It took me forever to finish, there are 22 repeats. If I were to do it again (won’t!) I’d go with 3.5mm 3.00mm needles .
ETA: After writting this , I tried the same yarn with 3.5mm and didn't like the result. I think a 3.00mm would work better. I don't know what is going on...I'm usually quite good at finding which size needles goes well with a yarn, but this one is beating me into a pulp.

I used some 700 yds of yarn (Jaggerspun Heather) and the finished shawl weights 55g (2 oz). This yarn blocks beautifully and isn't too fuzzy. The fact that it comes in cones is always a plus ;)
Do not, I repeat, do not use the same size needles I did. When I took the shawl out of the washer (spinning cycle) it was so small it would only fit a doll.


With this behind me, I can focus on other, new things. I'm back to spinning and dyeing again, although at this moment I have nothing to show (maybe in a few days). One of my handspun was lost in the mail and I spent the last week or so dyeing more roving and spinning yarn so I can replace it. I ended up doing two skeins and am just waiting for them to dry so I can send pics to the buyer.

I'm also doing a test knit for Linda Choo - LindaCC on Ravelry. The name of the pattern is Clematis Stole and you can see two versions of it here and here. This pattern offer a choice of two different borders, two different bodies and the option to choose between nupps or beads.

On the design front, I'm working on a stole design. So far I've cast on...oh...I don't know...maybe 4 times. I get the center almost done, then find something that is off and frog. I've changed the yarn, the needles, the color, the position of elements...sigh. I'll get it done, though. I have to, since there are 3 other ideas floating around in my head, one of which I've already dyed the roving for.

Luiza in 20/2

As I said in my previous post, I'm working on another Luiza, this time using 20/2 yarn, so I could answer questions coming from people knitting it in lace weight



The yarn I'm using is Jaeggerspun and it comes waxed, in a cone. It will bloom a bit after soaking.
This wasn't as intensive a blocking as I'd normally do with a FO, but it gives me an idea of how many repeats I'll need to do. On the pic above, I'm starting a new repeat (8 flowers).

Since the yarn comes in a cone, I don't have to worry about running out of yarn, and I'll keep on knitting until I have a good sized shawl (I'm hoping for somewhere around a 5 foot wingspan).

I don't know how much yarn I used so far, because I forgot to weight the yarn and needles before I began :P

People who know me, know I get bored easily and seldom knit the same design twice. This will be my third time with this one and I'm thinking about creating a different edging for it, so I don't poke my eyes out. If it works, I'll make it available as an addendum to the pattern.

Challenges

So, I joined the fun over on Ravelry and joined the Ravelympics and 10 shawls in 2010. Here is what I've done so far.
A second Gail - because I needed to review the pattern. The challenges here were to use a yarn that was stashed for a long time (more than 2 years for this one) and finish it in less than 48 hours (life got in the way...sigh).
This one was entered in both Ravelympics and 10 shawls in 2010.















The second one is a baby jacket, done, again, with "what was I thinking" yarn which I tried to make into something before with no success:

It used less than one skein of yarn and was done in less than 24 hours.

This jacket, along with a few other items I knit just because and have no use for will be donated later on.

If you look to your left <-- you'll see that I finally have something up on my Etsy shop. It is a commission and won't stay up for long. I have one skein of sock yarn drying in the closet right now (the only downside to winter, IMO - I like to put stuff outside to dry) and if it turns out ok, I'll put it up in my shop too. Let's see what else...One of the reasons I slowed down when knitting a second Gail was because new ideas kept on popping up in my head. I cast on for another project yesterday - twice, so far - and will probably fog and cast on again today using a different yarn/needle combo. If this new design works out, it will be flexible enough so that a pletora of shapes can be done - from scarves to blankets :).

Luiza

I've been working on this pattern for the last two months and I have (finally) published it.

This is an advanced pattern. The shawl is knit from the neck down and can be done with any yarn from cobweb to fingering.

The one on the picture was done with sock yarn. If you have access to Ravelry, you can see another one knit with handspun lace weight - here.

You can find a link to purchase the pattern on the side bar.