Wednesday, April 29, 2020

State of the Project: Haapsalu scarf, part I


Well, as you can see my scarf is coming along nicely. I have completed two repeats of the central pattern out of the eight that are needed to make it a square

Here is a closer look at the central pattern. It's really really red, and obviously you won't be able to see the spruces properly until the shawl is blocked, but I think you can appreciate the spruce-like figures and little bundles of four nupps. 


I'm not too sure how long it is going to take me to finish this shawl, seeing as I got word last week that I would be going back to working full-time in May, but I intend to put these last days of April to good use and keep knitting on my days off. 


Wednesday, April 22, 2020

My next project!



Yes it's a Haapsalu scarf. I am a huge fan of fine knit lace, and I have made three? four? Haapsalu shawls so far (and, eh, bought enough yarn to make at least another five or six), but at the beginning of this year, as I was thinking about potential projects I decided that I wanted a red scarf to go with a red dress that I have. Now, the difference between Haapsalu shawls and scarves is that the shawls are rectangular whereas the scarves are either square or triangular. The main part of a shawl has a garter-stitch border onto which the lace edge is sewn, but a scarf has a middle part, a narrow band of pattern which separates it from the border pattern, a broad border and then the garter-stitch border and the lace edge. So far, I have finished the bottom border and have begun working my way through the middle part. I decided to knit the Spruce pattern from the scarf book, because it's really pretty, quite repetitive (which makes it easy to remember) and has just enough nupps to make it look authentic but not so many that they would be annoying to knit.

The yarn I am using is Haapsalu shawl yarn from Midara. The needles are just 3.0 mm double-pointed needles that I turned into Haapsalu shawl needles by attaching small wooden beads to the ends. 

As for the book, well. It was originally published in 2011 and hasn't been reprinted since. It's been sold out for the longest time in two of our largest bookstore chains, but I did manage to get my hands on it a few years ago when I learned from a local Facebook craft group that there were still a few copies left in a craft store on the other side of the country from me (which, I mean, isn't much by way of kilometres, but you know...). I contacted them and they were kind enough to agree to send it to me to a parcel terminal even though they don't have an official online store.





Sunday, April 19, 2020

Loose Ends: Helene Knit Shawl.

Oh how lucky you readers are (she typed into the void), for getting three consecutive posts from me in one week! :D

As part of my effort to finish up unfinished stuff, I picked up this lovely shawl which I actually made a few years ago, but I hadn't got round to picking up the needle and hiding the loose threads and blocking the shawl. This shawl is made with Sandnes Garn Mini Alpakka. The yarn and pattern were part of a set that was made for a Mother's Day KAL in 2017. I ordered it that year, planning to make it for my dear mother, but somehow I didn't finish it for Mother's Day and since then, it has been just sort of hanging around in my closet. Well, now I can send it to her as a present for this Mother's Day!

To block the shawl, I used my sofa and a duvet cover with a tartan pattern: 


I actually do also have a blocking frame for lace shawls and scarves, but I was too lazy to put it together :P

And here is the finished product. I don't like how the edges turned out, and seam between the two pieces that form the outer edge could have been a little straighter, but hey ho such is life. 



Saturday, April 18, 2020

State of the Project: Easter socks III, the finale.


They're done! I actually finished them last night, but seeing as my previous post went up just past midnight, I didn't want to publish two posts in one day :D

Drops Nepal may not be the perfect yarn for socks, and these are quite thick and rigid, but I love the bright colours and I can't wait for these to keep my feet warm when it gets colder. Having said that, I am kind of out of ideas for what else to do with all the yarn I have left over from the cardigan, so I posted the leftovers for sale on FB marketplace yesterday. Hopefully someone will want them. 

As to what's next, well... stay tuned ;-)

Friday, April 17, 2020

State of the Project: Easter socks II


Finishing one pair of socks inspired me to pick up another unfinished pair today, and I think I made pretty good progress. As you can see, both heels are ready. I think out of the three colourful stripes, the one with the sheep is my fave :-)

Sunday, April 12, 2020

State of the Project: Pride and Prejudice Socks IV, the finale!


Remember when I wrote that I was getting a bit bored with these?

Well, turns out hanging around my home for the last 10 days was even more boring, so I finally got round to finishing these gorgeous socks! I'm pretty pleased with myself to be honest. 

Other fun stuff I've been doing at home: 
- baking brownies and also buns with cardamom and orange peel
- working out (I signed up for Les Mills on Demand and I've been mainly doing BodyCombat, BodyStep and Barre, I'm still waiting for my barbell and weights to arrive so I can do BodyPump!)
- cuddling my dog and taking her on long walks
- binging Jane the Virgin and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine on Netflix