Shawl Shock

I’ve been doing quite a bit of knitting this month. I just haven’t taken the time to post much about what I’ve been up to. While I was visiting my daughter and granddaughter in TX I finished several projects and started a couple more. Here’s a sort of run-down on what I did then and have been doing since: What kind of Nana would I be if I didn’t knit a sweater for that little darling? I started this after I finished the blanket and finished it just in time for Sylvia’s arrival at home. I call it Sylvia’s Homecoming Sweater:

The purple and grey (silver) it’s done in are Texas Christian University (TCU) colors. My daughter and her husband met there and are active alumni. It seemed fitting to knit her at least one outfit in school colors; and since her Nana is very partial to purple, pretty satisfactory too. Pattern: Baby Sweater on Two Needles; Practically Seamless (aka Baby February) from the Knitters Almanac by Elizabeth Zimmerman Yarn: Butterfly Super 10 by Kertzer in Violet and Silver – this is a DK weight yarn and worked up very nicely. Needles: size 6 Pattern Mods: I left off the button holes so and knit the sleeves last so that I could knit them in the round (thus making it truly seamless). I also did two pair of matching booties (one in each color) with the leftover yarn using the pattern Knit Mary Jane Booties by April Cromwell The sweater is a little big for her now, but I am confident she will grow into it eventually. There’s also enough yarn left over that I may even add a hat to the ensemble. I also finished my contribution to the square a month swap that my two daughters are doing.

You’ll have to go here to get the details, but one of them suggested it would be fun if I contributed a knit square and I was quite honored to do so. I chose a fun mitered square that is knit from the center out. Pattern: Turn Back Time Spa Cloth from Creative Knitting Magazine January 2008 issue Yarn: Vanna’s Choice for grey square and for Blue Square Paton SWS and Red Heart for the border Then I finished one of the two pair of Sister Stripe socks (Noro Kuryeon Sock Yarn) that I'm also knitting for my daughters.The first pair was for DD#1 (the new mom) and turned out great.

I cast on for the second pair as well. I’ve worked on them some since and got them this far:

I also started a shawl while I was down in TX. On my first attempt I followed the pattern the way it was written, but decided my cast on was too loose and sloppy so I started over. Then I didn’t like the hole that the first and last yarn-over made on the top edge, so I decided to redo it and knit the yarn-over through the back loop (ktbl) on the next row. I liked that result much better, but on that attempt, I also decided to slip the last stitch of each row, which gave me a loose and uneven edge which I didn’t like at all, so out it went. After all that tinkering though I came up with a very pleasant arrangement of alternating stockinette and garter rows and on the third start using only three stitches as the base doing the ktbl’s and not slipping the last stitch, I got a result I was super happy with. I finished it off with a cute little picot bind off. So even with all of that, I started this on the 21st and finished it on the 27th so it’s fair to say it was super quick and easy. I think it turned out quite nicely.

(End of Summer Shawl) Pattern: Simple Yet Effective Shawl Yarn: Sunuvasock by Ceallach Dyes colorway, Vintage Needles: size 7 Which brings me to my current project; even though it’s quite embarrassing to admit that this project has been (gasp) OTN for OVER a year, I made excellent progress on the long-languishing Swallowtail Shawl (I KNOW!) (Hanging head in knitterly shame) I completed all the repeats of the 2nd chart and am ready to move on to the next section. I am doing only one pattern mod on this: I’m replacing the nupps with beads in this section. I’m hoping to get this one done in the next week. I’ll keep you posted! Happy Knitting Nana