Blocking a Rectangular Lace Scarf

I took a few pics when I blocked Dance of the Butterflies. You can do it with pins only, but you'd need hundreds of them to get a smooth, straight edge. It's much easier (and faster) with blocking wires.

First, soak your scarf. I usually put a dab of wool wash in a bowl of lukewarm water and let it soak for at least 30 minutes. You want the water to penetrate the yarn thoroughly. Squeeze it gently when you take it out of the bowl, then roll it up in a towel and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.

You'll need a large, flat surface to pin it to. I used our bed, but you could also use a carpeted floor or those interlocking foam squares. Starting from one end, take one of the longer wires and thread it though the stitches along one long edge.  Make sure there are at least a few inches of wire left at each end. It will probably take more than one wire to do each long edge (this scarf took 3 for each side). Do the same for the other long edge.

 

Now take one of the short wires and thread it through the points of a short end. Do the same for the other side. If the short ends are straight too, thread it through the stitches like you did for the long edges.

Now get your pins out. Splurge for some heavy-duty T-pins. They are long enough that you can pin into the bed through a blanket, and strong enough they won't bend. Spread one end of the scarf out to the width you want and pin that end wire to the bed. Do the same for the other end, then pin the side wires every so often. There needs to be enough pins to keep the sides parallel, but you don't need to go crazy. I wound up doing every 8-12 inches or so.

 If it's a nice day, open the windows so it will dry faster. If you have pets, you may want to close the door to that room for a few hours. Otherwise, just wait until it is completely dry. This one took about 4 hours on a 45 degree day with the windows closed. Once it's dry, remove the pins, then remove the wires. Voila!

Bertel

 

This one was a joy to knit! Very regular, no weird increases or decreases. If it was larger than it was, I would no doubt have gotten bored, but this was fine. I like how it looks, too.

There was one mistake in the chart. On round 59, you need to slip 2 stitches from the left needle to the right needle in order for everything to line up.

Bent 2

 

This is Bent 2 by Sonja Esbensen. I used size 10 DMC cebelia and size 1 needles. It's about 12" across. There was an error in round 43. The last knit 3 in the repeat should be a double decrease. So, it should read: (yo, double decrease, yo, knit 1, double decrease, knit 1)3x,  yo, double decrease, yo, double decrease.

The sequence for grouping stitches didn't make sense, and didn't match up to the repeat length at all, corrected or not. This is what I did- knit 2 stitches, then group stitches as follows: 4-3-3-3-4-5 with 7 chain stitches between them.

Stefan, bread

Here's the second Esbensen doily, Stefan. No trouble with the charts, a nice quick knit!

I picked up a great book at the library over the holidays, Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day. Lots of great reciped for bread that doesn't require kneading or living by a lengthy schedule dictated by rising times. It's nice to have fresh, real bread every day. We've had a different type of bread every week since Christmas and there are plenty more recipes left to try.

Veronika Ripped, Lars

I had a streak of bad luck once I got around 62+ rounds in on this one. I dropped a stitch that ran down about 4 rounds, started tinking back and  dropped another one after about a round and half, then dropped a third one right over (and down into) one of the k9togethers. So I ripped it! I'll probably start again sometime soon, but for now I need to work on something simpler with larger thread.

I started knitting a few of the doilies from Sonja Esbensen's book Kunststrik 2. Lars had a couple of errors, but it was easy to spot them and easy to fix them.

Corrections:
The cast on instructions tell you to cast on 12 and knit 1 round. To get the look in the picture, though you need to knit 3 rounds before you start the chart.

In round 36, omit the last yarn over to get the correct stitch count and maintain the pattern lines. It should read “yo, knit 1, yo, double decrease, yo, knit 4, yo, double decrease, yo, knit 1, yo, knit 1, double decrease, knit 1”

Snowflake Doily

This weekend I decided to take a break from "should" knitting and do some "want to" knitting. Yay! I needed a break. On Friday night I cast on the lovely Niebling doily from the spring issue of Anna magazine. It isn't named, but it reminds me of a snowflake. I'm using the leftover thread from the Piecework doily and size 0 needles. I made it to round 50 last night. About 20 rounds to go, give or take. This one has pattern on almost every round, making stitch markers and counting very important. It's been challenging so far, but it makes sense the way the pattern emerges. No chart errors so far!

For those of you who don't knit much lace, this is the "before" picture. It's lumpy and weird looking now, but when it's been cast off and blocked it'll be magically transformed. Just wait a few days and you'll see.

Morgana Fingerless Gloves Knitting Pattern

Here's my latest, hot off the presses:

Morgana Fingerless Gloves Knitting Pattern

Cascade Fixation Solids #6388

For the past couple of years I’ve been trying to come up with a glove pattern that will fit both my teenage daughters and myself. These fit the bill. Because the yarn had elastic spun into it, I can knit a glove small enough for my petite younger daughter (Morgana is her middle name) that still fit me without being too tight. The cuff is knitted sideways, back and forth on 2 needles and grafted into a tube. Then the hand stitches are picked up and knitted on the round. While you may decide to knit the hand on shorter dpns, the cuff needs to knitted on long ones or circular needles. These gloves use either one ball of Cascade Fixation (98.3% cotton/ 1.7% elastic, 50g) or one ball of K1C2 Soxx Appeal (96% super- wash merino wool, 3%nylon, 1% elastic, 50g)

Finished size: hand circumference 6” (easily stretches to 8.5”). Total length 7”

Soxx Appeal #9627

Some folks have been asking if this would work with yarns that aren't so stretchy. I think it would work without alteration if you have small hands. If your hands are significantly larger around than the gloves, you would need to alter the gauge or add cuff repeats and hand stitches. Both could be done without much fuss. I would encourage you, however, to try one of these soft, wonderful yarns.

Cascade Fixation Effect #9967

I've used the Fixation for socks before, they are very comfortable and never sag. I really like the way the colors stripe and pool with the effects and spray dyed colors. After wearing the gloves for a few days, I can tell you they are nice for cool weather knitting and driving (thought I wouldn't recommend doing them at the same time!) No trouble getting things out of my pockets, and there was no gap between my gloves and my sleeves.

Cascade Fixation Spray Dyed #9816

Soxx Appeal is a new yarn for me, and I like it a lot! It is softer than it looks, very supple and, since it is mostly wool, toasty warm and soft. The colors pool more than stripe because the color changes every inch or so. I already bought a ball of solid navy to make myself another pair.

Miniature Lace Tablecloth 2

I finished it this weekend. It's a nice new addition to the collection on the kitchen table. It blocked out to 12" across. Quite a bit larger than the one in the magazine, but I knew it would be. I knitted it on size 1 needles with size 10 thread. If I had it to do over, I would use size 0 needles instead. It's a little more open than I would like. A very fun knit, though! I'm thinking about starting something from Sonja Esbensen's Kunststrick II, maybe Bertel, Lars, Miki or Mikkel. I'd dearly love to knit Valde but that's more of a commitment than I feel comfortable with now.

There will be much dancing this weekend, yeah! Maroon Bells Morris will be dancing at Oktoberfest at 22nd and Larimer in Denver at noon and 1:30pm, then on to English Country Dancing at Berkeley Church after dinner. Sunday night is SCA Medieval dance practice at Berkeley Church again. I'm going for tired but happy. ;)

Miniature Lace Tablecloth

I've been knitting this little gem lately, A Miniature Lace Tablecloth to Knit for Titania's Tea Table by Mary Francis Wogec, It's in the September/October issue of Piecework magazine. I'm knitting it with size 1 needles and size 10 dmc cebelia in a lovely spring green (wondering what it is about green lately), but anyway.....

There was an error in the pattern, but Mary Francis came to the rescue! Here's the errata, straight off the presses for anyone else working on this one:

"Here is the correct correction (with profuse apologies):

Row 39 is correct as published.

Row 41 needs 2 added knit stitches in the second to last cluster. This means that row 41, reading from left to right, should look like this:
O | | \ O | O | | | | | | | O | O / | | O / O / O | | /|\ | | O \ O \

(I've just proof knitted the piece, and this works out the way it should.)

Row 43 is correct as published."

I have a few epsides of Farscape on DVD and some free time, so I hope to finish it tonight.

Morgana Fingerless Gloves

I'm almost done with my third pair of these gloves, I think I have the pattern written down as clearly as possible by now. I could probably knit the next pair with my eyes closed!

The first pair of socks I ever knitted were Priscilla Gibson-Roberts' Dresser Scarf socks. I made about 8 pairs, they were so comfy. I took the cuff pattern and added a hand onto it instead of a foot, but they were a little too bulky, especially around the wrist. After some thought I decided to make the cuff shorter and use short rows to cinch in the wrist a little. That also made fewer stitches to pick up for the hand and voila! They fit my younger daughter (Morgana is her middle name) and, since the yarn is so stretchy they fit me without being too tight.

All I have left to do is finish the last pair, take some photos, and the pattern will be ready to go. The photos will eb the tricky part, as the teenagers will need to be home during daylight hours for that to happen. Wish me luck!

Good Morning!

This morning I have a lot going on, so I'll be brief. I'm Linda, and I'm nuts for lace knitting. My family and I live in the northern suburbs of Denver, CO. I also love to spin, weave, bead, bind books, make paper, and make dolls. I sell patterns on my website, lafarrelly.com, as well as on Ravelry and etsy, where you can find me as lafarrelly.

I am really enjoying being creative with knitted lace lately. I'm working on a fingerless glove pattern with a lace cuff that should be ready to go in a couple of weeks, as well as a lacy wristlet pattern that may take a little longer. I'll post some pics in the next few days for the curious.
So what bits of lacy loveliness have you been knitting lately?