skip to main |
skip to sidebar
I've never been quite sure what this line from Eliot is saying. Is it 'oh swallow swallow' as in 'oh name-of-bird name-of-bird'? Or is he addressing the swallow with an imperative as in 'oh name-of-bird order-to-do-something'? Or even 'oh order-to-do-something name-of-bird'? If only it were written in Latin, this would all be clear.
Regardless, my Swallowtail Shawl - gulp - I finished it.
The Vital Statistics
Pattern: The Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark Designs.
Size: I did 19 repeats of the budding lace pattern and three tiers of the lily of the valley border (the pattern only calls for 14 repeats and 2 tiers respectively). My finished shawl measures 146 centimetres wide and 64 centimetres deep (57.5 inches x 25.2 inches).
Yarn: This is yarn that I bought at the Lake City Way Value Village here in Seattle. There were six balls of it, white, the only brand markings being 'All Wool Hand Knitting Yarn'. I dyed it with the help of my friend Valerie of Actual Size Creations - thank you! I joined three balls together to make one hank and dyed it like that - turns out that the middle ball took the dye differently which has produced an interesting colour variation. It's not a fault, it's a design feature.
I figured that it was laceweight but after recently inspecting some 2 ply at a yarn store I am leaning more towards calling it cobweb weight.Needles: 3.5mm Addi Lace
Start to finish: 21 November 2008 to 23 March 2009. Only four months! It has taken me longer than that to knit a pair of socks! I'm very pleased with this timeframe, especially considering that there was quite a knitting pause in there while I got over my initial nupp shock.
Comments: Where to start? This is a lovely pattern but I found that the charts in the downloadable pdf version were badly laid out. I actually ended up cutting them out and rearranging them and sticking them down so that I could follow them. Nevertheless, when I went back to the charts after a few week's break, it took me a good half hour to understand them again.
This was my first real lace knitting project. I have done lacey knitting before but never to this scale and complexity. I don't think that a triangular shawl was actually a good place to start, the stitch increase each row just gives you one more thing to think about. I think the clue to keeping track of it all is to work out a method for recording where you are - with the use of markers, ticking row counts off on a list - and be rigorous about it. And count! It's easy on the non-patterned rows to just happily purl along but it is essential to count that there is the correct number of stitches in each repeat.
And the nupps- basically the nupps sucked. Yes, I got the hang of them but I certainly did not find them pleasant knitting. In future where nupps are called for I would consider making a bobble - same effect, less stress.
I was also saved, a number of times, by using a lifeline. I took a long piece of sock wool and, at the end of a repeat, threaded it through the stitches on the needle. I then continued to knit, leaving that length of sock yarn in place. This saves your life (or at least your lace) in the event that you discover a mistake and have to rip the knitting back. With yarn this fine and so many stitches, at a certain point to unknit is quite unbearable and if you rip back without something to secure the stitches at some point, you may well find yourself back at your cast-on edge. The lacey fabric is too wispy to hold its shape and it is very difficult to successfully pick up live stitches.
Verdict: While I hesitate to say that the shawl is perfect, I am very proud to say that the shawl is mistake free. There are no sneaky knit-2-togethers to deal with an extra stitch, or surreptitious make-ones when I fell a stitch short. I am absolutely delighted to have achieved one of my knitting aspirations. To knit lace is why I started knitting in the first place. So while the shawl itself only took me four months to knit, it has been about six years in the making.
I'm glad that I started doing this knitting thing. I may just stick with it.
Why knit? Is it always to achieve a particular finished object that you want, or is it for the process of knitting something, of bringing something into being? (Something that is not necessarily destined to be a functional part of your life which is perhaps is why so many handknits are given away).
The prospect of knitting the Faux Russian Stole from Gathering of Lace was one of the things that pushed me through those last rows of the swallowtail shawl (blocking as we speak; so to speak). I have a lovely cotton/linen/silk blend yarn, probably a little heavier than lace weight, in a bright indigo blue that I recycled from a Ralph Lauren sweater. For some reason I had always had in mind to make the Faux Russian Stole from this yarn, I can't even remember how or why I reached that pairing. Anyway, I finally got to cast on for it yesterday and was filled with misgivings - do I really want to knit this? do I really want to knit this now? do I really want to knit it from this yarn? what else would I prefer to knit it from? do I have anything else that I would prefer to knit it from? It is of course always possible to knit something a second time in a yarn that you prefer but at 521 rows of lace, 81 stitches wide (not counting borders), this would be quite a knit for just the sake of bringing something into being.
So I decided to just knit for a bit and see how it went, process knitting basically, knitting for the sake of the physical action. Anyway, I worked on the lower border yesterday evening and am sold on it. The original RL knit was in a 2x2 rib which made a rather dense, stiff fabric. Knitted up as lace the yarn is much softer and, as linen does, has lovely drape.
And the colour? I've decided that it's Prussian Blue. (Yes, I know that Prussia was not just a bit of Russia but rather covered a bit of Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Denmark, Belgium and the Czech Republic too. But for the purposes of being the yarn destined for this project it's good enough for me).
Ok, this post is going to be a bit of a Ravelry(-related) rant. Those of you who don't use Ravelry may want to skip it, or may wish to continue for an amusing insight into a meticulous* mind, namely my own.
The particular feature that I take issue with is the little status bar that indicates your progress through a project. Here's a quick screen shot:So, Ravelry is great and the progress feature is great but it causes me enormous amounts of angst. To begin with, how do you know how far you are through your project? Is it just knitting progress that you're measuring? What about blocking and seaming - how do they factor in? I mean, these things bother me.
The answer to all this is, of course, that you just guesstimate it yourself according to your own rules but, oh people, the lack of structure and boundaries leaves me in such a quandry. Not to mention that you can only measure your progress in intervals of five percentage points. Yes, you're either 25 per cent of the way through or 30 per cent; there's no in between. So how can I express that I am 95.6 per cent of the way through my swallowtail shawl?? 95.6!! Only four rows and the casting off to go. I am really excited.
Ok, on the topic of progress, where are things at around here at the moment?
diamond mittens (the second engagement) - I have started on these mittens again and am about halfway through the first one, according to a mental schema that I have instituted that divides each mitten up into four parts - rib, hand, mitten top, fingers. So half of one glove means about 25 per cent of the way through the project. I'm going to say 27 per cent, just because I can.
Baudelaire socks - I have made some recent progress on these, just a few rows here and there (well, one after the other but you know what I mean). I have finished the heel and am now just working on the leg. I have to work until I have enough yarn left to do twelve rows of ribbing? How will I possibly know when I have twelve rows worth of yarn left? This dilemma alone is enough to put these on the backburner for me.
black velvet floral printed skirt (the second) - Yes, I have two. This one is in much more autumnal tones and is finished (took in the waist, new waistband) but for the want of a hook and eye at the top of the zip. I'd say 97 per cent for this one.
black cotton floral printed skirt - Noticing a trend here? I worked on this one today and sewed in the gathers at the waist. I'll be doing the grosgrain waistband facing again and it will also be wanting a hook and eye at the top of the zip but that will have to wait until Monday. About halfway.
estate sale quilt top - I was fortunate to rummage through the linen cupboard and find a very large, dense cotton sheet that I picked up at another estate sale of sorts (except there was no sale - the bloke was completely renovating the house and wanted it cleared out; everything was free). I have tacked the quilt top to the sheet in order to stabilise it. Progress? I'd say about one per cent because there is a lot of mending to do. Anyway, it's all packed away now so that I can finish the long languishing vintage fabrics quilt instead.
Overall progress? 95.6% x big project + 27% x small project + 30% small project + 97% x sewing project + 50% x sewing project + 1% x huge overwhelming project .... umm, I'd say about 100 per cent crafting satisfaction.
* yes, that is a euphemism for obsessive
As in, about blooming time. Yes, I have finished the lily of the valley border on my swallowtail shawl. Hooray!! I did get a bit held up there about halfway through the first repeat and lost some of my motivation but the desire to get on with some other things in my queue and my commitment to the knit list (can't start any other project knitting until this is done) pushed me along.
I had also misunderstood how many rows of the lily of the valley border I would need to knit That was very discouraging because I thought that I was only some 30 per cent of the way through when I was really 60 per cent of the way - phew! And now with the border done I am a smidge more than 80 per cent of the way through.
I can't wait to block this out and see what it looks like when it's all evenly stretched out. And those nupps: I tell you what, I'm nupped.
Also as in, it's blooming time out there in the garden. Yes, spring is sprung (although we are still getting some snow).
Is it indeed possible to be too practical? It is certainly possible to do too much practical knitting, if only that other endeavours in the sock and project categories get sorely neglected.
Since I instituted my 'knit list' in November last year, all that I have managed to cast on and complete are practical knits (and crochets) - fourteen of them! My sock and project knitting at the time, Baudelaire and the Swallowtail shawl respectively, are still on the needles. This is not, per se, a bad thing. The whole point of the knit list was to restrict the number of projects on the go at any one time and to prevent a proliferation of barely-more-than-cast-on lace shawls, under the mental weight of which I would surely have suffered a nervous collapse.
So there has been some success there at least with being disciplined. I cannot cast on for another pair of socks until I finish my Baudelaire pair. Which means facing them again. Way back on 10 December I discovered two dropped stitches and have barely looked at them since. Until today. I just decided that it was time. Thankfully the two dropped stitches had miraculously been repaired (by me, I guess - I've blocked it out). And like many things that you put off and put off because they seem too dreadful, once I actually started again it was a real pleasure. I'm using a lovely Addi Lace 2.25mm circular and how different it feels in my hands to my current practical project. The change in needle, the change in yarn weight, the change in fabric - going from one project to another. I am in love with these socks again.
And because I do always like to include a photo, here is my current practical project. It is Molly from Debbie Bliss' Junior Knits. 
This is something that I have wanted to knit since ... well, before baby bear was born I think and here I am knitting the 3-4 year size. I'm using some yarn that I recycled from a Boden cardigan, it's 60 per cent silk 40 per cent cotton and the project is knitting along at a good pace. It is always a bit of a gamble to substitute yarns, particularly fibre content, so I hope that the pattern will hold up in the silk/cotton blend.
Splendid sunshine in Seattle today.
So you can imagine how surprised we were to open the door and see this:
Well yes, I would have been very surprised to see my swallowtail shawl out on the ground but look under the shawl - that's right, snow. It came as a total surprise. I thought that the snow was over for the year and that I would be able to avoid the swallowtail shawl until next winter because I have started this tradition of only taking photos of it in the snow. It seems that nature, however, has other plans and has forced me to take it out of its bag.
It's hard to see here but I have actually started on the lily of the valley edging and it's those nupps that are getting me down. I have mastered them but am not really enjoying knitting them. So I have been procrastinating for a good few weeks on it. Now that it's out of the bag I might just do another row.
So what have I been knitting since I put those cubic zirconium mittens away? I've been working on practical knitting, almost exclusively I must admit. It's all been gift knitting too so I'm not ready to post pictures yet. Two of the projects (a matching set, a neck warmer and headband for a little girl) just need buttons, and need them by Saturday so I expect they will be finished soon. I'm about halfway through the other one, a lace and cable scarf.
I was going to call this post 'purple reign' but murasaki (Japanese for purple I believe) is such a lovely word. A new year and I have three purple lace(y) knitting projects on my hands:
Swallowtail shawl - damn that shawl percentage calculator! I truly thought that with the 19 budding lace repeats finished that I was halfway through the shawl. Turns out I was wrong. After having been busy with this baby since late November 2008, I have finally worked out how to read the charts for the lily of the valley border. Frankly, in the download currently available, I think that it is badly laid out. Anyway, after having puzzled over how to approach the border it finally clicked when I sat down to start on it today. And with understanding came the realisation that there are 22 rows in the border which is about double what my initial calculations had allowed for. So there are way more rows. So I'm only 30% of the way through! On the bright side (and there usually is one) the shawl will be larger than I had expected which I am happy about. There will be a separate, long and boring post about nupps.
Baudelaire - a bit neglected, poor things. When I last worked on them it was to remedy a whole lot of frogging that occurred after the discovery of a couple of dropped stitches. All very traumatic. I have now completed the heel on the first sock and it's time to just knit right on up the leg but I've still got a bit of a mental block about it (must have moved there from the swallowtail shawl).
Fern glade - had I mentioned this yet? In my ongoing search for something to keep my head warm that is not a beanie I cast on for this a week or so ago. It's going well, almost all of the eight repeats completed. The lace pattern is great - there are yarn-overs and decreases every row and it certainly does make for a more pronounced and textural knit. You can also get sharper angles when you decrease on every row.
I cast on for the slouchy version (120 stitches) but I am using some recycled purple yarn (100% lambswool from a J Crew sweater) and I expect getting a tighter gauge than called for so it is presently pretty snug. I'm hoping that a good blocking will help to slouch it out. This is one of the challenges/adventures of knitting with recycled yarn for me - I'm never quite sure of the gauge and while you certainly can knit with two strands of the yarn together if you need something thicker, what if you need something in between? Sure, you could knit a gauge swatch but really ... Oh well, I guess that you just make do and improvise and learn along the way.
I'm expecting fern glade to be finished pretty quickly and next on my practical knitting list is the Flip Your Lid Diamond Mittens (Ravelry link) for Tim. Recycled yarn - a nice soft grey J Crew sweater (again - their lambswool sweaters fill the thrift stores). It's currently knitting up at 30 stitches to 10cm on 3.5mm needles and the pattern calls for 36 stitches so I might go down to 3mm and see how that goes. No, no, I haven't cast on for them yet, I've done a gauge swatch. See, I said that I'm learning.
I think that I may be able to squeeze a couple more finished objects in this year. Here is version two of the Baby Hat that I knitted in such a hurry last month that there were no photos. The first one came out so well that I wanted one for baby bear too.The vital statistics
Pattern: baby hat from Leigh Radford's One Skein in 12-18 month size
Yarn: Cascade 220, shade 9430
Needles: 4.5mm Addi Turbo
Start to finish: 25 December 2008 to 28 December 2008
Comments: I can see why Cascade 220 tops the list in Ravelry as the most popularly used yarn - this stuff knits up like a dream and gives a wonderful finished fabric. I've heard that their eco yarn is also very nice. I may have made the hat just a tad too, it has a bit of the flowerpot look about it at the moment but I am sure that as baby bear grows it will fit well. She already loves it.
Verdict: I love this pattern and I'm going to make it again and again. The lace pattern (12 rows) is just enough to make it interesting but is not too onerous. I love the fullness of the decreases and the scalloped edge too.
In other knitting news, the swallowtail shawl has stalled a bit. There's a certain psychological hurdle about starting the next lace chart. It might have to wait for a childcare day when I can really sit down and concentrate on it. The baby cabled cowl - well, I've chosen the buttons.
So we did get snowbound and I almost went out of my mind. I didn't realise how important it was to me to be able to make plans and get in the car and take off and go places and do things and see people. That is, until I couldn't. It really takes your independence away when you're stuck at home (in the sense that there was too much snow to get the car out and we don't have chains anyway so it was too dangerous to drive).
I did get out on foot and by bus a couple of times (both for knitting, ha ha). Actually, on Monday I walked the better part of 3.2 kilometres (that's 2.0 miles) through the snow with baby bear in the carrier on my back to join my friends for knitting. They told me I was crazy, I told them that I would have been crazier to stay home. We were lucky to catch the bus a few stops up the main hill but as soon as I got there I realised that there was no way that I would be able to get home alone. Tim had to come and meet us (also on foot) and we walked home together (he carried baby bear).
Yesterday we got out in the car for the first time since last Friday and it was a relief. There's been quite a bit more rain and the temperature has increased so that should help to clear the roads further - phew.
And what did I trek through the snow to knit? I have finished all nineteen of the budding lace repeats for the swallowtail shawl. I'm a bit in shock at that myself, even more that I am still only half-way through! I'm thinking about doing some test runs on the lily of the valley lace edging and the nupps after a day or two break. I have almost finished the cabled cowl for baby bear - it's been knit, blocked and is just waiting to be finished. I'll do my best to get it done before next year (which is actually quite soon). I've also cast on and knit the 12 rows of lace pattern for another baby hat, this time for baby bear (and this time with photos).
Please don't report for me for cruelty to knitted works in progress. This is the second time that my swallowtail shawl has been exposed to snow - but this time it's outside our very own door here in Seattle. Yes, it started to snow at about 6:30pm yesterday evening and now at 10:30am the temperature is still below freezing and there's a layer of white over everything outside.The swallowtail shawl is going well, as I hope you can see from the photo. I have completed thirteen repeats now, six to go and the edging. I discovered a fabulous/dreadful calculator at Rose-Kim Knits - you enter how many rows there are in the shawl and can check your progress row by row. Seventy-eight rows complete out of 141 and I am 30.6% of the way through the shawl. I'm really pleased about that 0.6%!
In practical knitting news, I'm not having much luck. On a whim I decided that I needed a slouchy beret (and I may well still) but I made a bit of a mess of it by using a yarn that was way too heavy (five strands together of recycled yarn - I think that I ended up with bulky weight). Besides, I really don't like to knit with anything that requires needles over about 5.5mm. So anyway, that was frogged within a day of starting. I am currently considering Fern Glade from the newest Knitty which calls for dk weight. I am determined to use from the stash so that would involve 'creating' a dk weight yarn from multiple threads of recycled yarn. So far in this endeavour I haven't had much luck getting the weight right - always too heavy so maybe I'll underestimate next time around. And Fern Glade is lacy which is time consuming and with two other lacy projects underway ... blah blah blah. Might be time for some cables.
Ok, so I have my knitting under control and it's going well. I'm sticking to my knit list, enjoying the discipline. I've always been good at following rules, I think that this is just what I needed. I'm up to the ninth repeat on my swallowtail shawl and have turned the heel of my first Baudelaire sock.
Now there's the sewing issue. I have so many things that I want to make but I seem to get around to sewing even less than I get around to knitting. Knitting is, of course, more portable and easier to pick up at a moment's notice. And easier, and safer, to put down. Unless you have a place to leave it out, getting out the sewing machine is a trial in comparison and all those pins and needles and scissors and the two-year old. Hmm, what to do?
In the absence of a ravelry for sewers (or is there one?!?) here is my current sewing situation.
complete unfinished projects
This was the first stage in dealing with the knitting. So, currently lurking around and in no particular order I have:
vintage fabrics quilt - the top is long complete and several weeks ago I found some great fabric to be the batting on a thrift tour in Burien. I was afraid that there wouldn't actually be enough of it though and that has put me off proceeding for weeks. Friday past I finally laid it all down on the floor and yes, there is enough! Now I am hand sewing two lengths of the fabric together and am about half-way there. Next steps will be putting together the backing and doing the quilting. This will involve getting out the sewing machine (sigh).
felted jumper bag - lots more bird embroidery to do. I worked on this a bit a few weeks ago, it's just a matter of sticking with it.
reverse engineering a dress pattern - impetus for this has stalled given how cold the weather currently is but I still think about it often and would like to get on with it. I actually have a number of these on the go and they're at ready-to-cut-out stage. I think that I will make toiles first.
black skirts - I have three black skirts - one cotton with a floral print and two printed velvet - all of which are in a different state of disassembly so that I can replace the waist band or add darts or some such to make it fit me. They have been like this for a long time. And although once upon a time Di helped me to draft a new yoke for one of them I have no idea whether it would now fit me.
practical sewing
That is, things that are required in our household right now that I have resolved to sew from recycled fabrics.
pyjamas for baby bear - I did actually have a go at these a couple of months ago using a pattern from a Japanese pattern book but with no great success. I did buy a commercial pattern at the thrift shop recently - Simplicity 8173 - though and should try that. I think I'll make the pyjamas but with long sleeves.
woollen legs - I love love love this idea of using the sleeves from garments to make children's pants and would like to try it with some woollens. This would mean getting out not only my sewing machine but also my overlocker.
Where to start??
I'm really quite obsessed with knitting at the moment. Yes, I've been a keen knitter for a few years now, even an enthusiastic knitter but at the moment I really am obsessed. All I want to do is knit, and log it all into ravelry. Perhaps it's a way of bringing a bit of control and order to these chaotic times.
So, let me share recent knitting activity with you here too:
- I knit on the way to and from Las Vegas, on the airplane. This is very exciting for an Australian knitter because you can't take knitting needles past security at Australian airports.
- I'm doing quite well sticking to my 'knit list' approach. I've actually got two practical knits on the go at the moment but only because I was swapping between available needles and patterns while we were away. Even just the mental discipline of the approach is working for me so far.
- I finished the first of my two 'thank-you foliage' projects. I'll wait until they're both finished before writing/showing more.
- I have discovered that lace knitting is a quick and demanding addiction. I cannot get enough of the swallowtail shawl but I really do need to sit and knit a repeat in one go which requires some good blocks of time. And time is something I can never get enough of. But that's ok because I can still think about all the lace knitting that I'm going to do next. My project knitting queue (both mental and literal) is filling up with yarn overs and knit two togethers. I'm so excited!
In this vein I have been shopping for laceweight yarn - thrift shopping, of course. The selection of woollens at the thrift stores in Las Vegas was pretty poor. Quite a lot of cotton knits, way too much acrylic, but no cotton/wool/silk blends or anything like that. I always trawl the 'sweater' aisles at the thrift stores, even though I do have more woollens and more yarn than I need. But always looking for ... something. Anyway, sweater aisles in LV were a dud but I did go and have a quick rummage through the dresses and look what I found:
Eighty-five per cent alpaca, fifteen per cent wool, light/dark brown but with flecks of red and blue in there as well - exactly what I had in mind. I'm pretty confident that it will unravel to laceweight and the best part - it's a dress, a long sleeve full-length dress (awful really, don't visualise too closely) so there will definitely be enough yarn. That's always my worry with recycling yarn, I'm never quite sure that there will be enough until that last stitch is cast off and that anxiety can be enough to discourage me from getting on with the knitting, witness the baby ballerina top.
This post is a bit of a ramble. So many thoughts to get out at once. These past few days, I've missed blogging.
Thank you all for your very kind words about the baby ballerina top - it has been a most gratifying project and was well worth the perseverance. Now that it is complete though, I have an opening in my project knitting category. Project knitting is, well, projects - things that I want to make because they look great, or look like an interesting knit, or look like a challenge, or spark my imagination or curiosity.
At least, there was an opening in my project knitting category:
I cast on yesterday for the swallowtail shawl using the lace weight yarn that I bought at Value Village and subsequently dyed. I have done two repeats of the budding lace pattern and am a couple of rows into the third. That's a lifeline there out of sock wool and I think that I may need to use it shortly - I need to take a good look at it tomorrow in the light when I'm a bit more awake.And in the background? Yes, that's snow! Not here in Seattle but a couple of hours drive away in Mt Ranier National Park. The snow was fresh and dry, the sky was bright and clear. We continued a bit further up the road into the park but as we rounded the mountain it became dark and wet and a bit scary so we turned back. A few minutes down the mountain, bright and clear again. Amazing. Surprisingly, this is my first lace project. Yes, I know there's a difference between lace knitting (increases and decreases on both right and wrong side) and lacy knitting (increases and decreases only on the right side) but I don't really see the point of the distinction. Anyway, lace is why I started knitting ... three or four years ago. And finally I have gotten around to doing some. Amazing.
What is the ideal number of knitting to have on the go at any one time? I'm sure that it differs for each individual knitter but I have discovered from experience that to have too many things on the go at once is too chaotic for me. So I'm thinking about restricting myself to the following categories:
- sock knitting - always good to have a pair of socks on the go, currently Baudelaire
- practical knitting - these are the things that are actually immediately required in the household, like mittens for baby bear and some wrist warmers for Tim; plans are for target wave mittens in recycled Opal sock yarn and Dashing in Jo Sharp Silk Road Aran Tweed (Highlander)
- project knitting - something that I want to knit but that is not immediately needed; something to knit for fun; something to knit for the joy and challenge of knitting it; something like a Swallowtail Shawl perhaps?
I figured that it was laceweight but after recently inspecting some 2 ply at a yarn store I am leaning more towards calling it cobweb weight.
Verdict: While I hesitate to say that the shawl is perfect, I am very proud to say that the shawl is mistake free. There are no sneaky knit-2-togethers to deal with an extra stitch, or surreptitious make-ones when I fell a stitch short. I am absolutely delighted to have achieved one of my knitting aspirations. To knit lace is why I started knitting in the first place. So while the shawl itself only took me four months to knit, it has been about six years in the making.
