Wednesday 17 November 2010

(Half Hearted) WIP Wednesday

The reason this post is half hearted is that as I mentioned yesterday, I'm not feeling great.  My breathing is slightly easier today, but I'm more tired.  Anyway this malaise has resulted in my knitting quite a few new squares on my lovely baby blanket.  I now only have 12 left to do - woohooo!!!  But I can't be bothered to get my camera, go downstairs, take a million pictures until I get one that works, come back upstairs, upload it, tweak it and then show you.  It basically looks like the photo I took last time.


So Imagine this photo with one more row.  I think that just about covers the blanket progress.  I definitely recommend this pattern for when you feel rubbish as it requires very little concentration.  In fact the hardest thing is making sure you use the right colour on the squares.  I'm pretty sure I'm going to have lots of colours left over when this blanket is finished, maybe I should make another one - its not like I have a shortage of pregnant friends!

In the theme of "I can't be bothered" I have started a new shawl.  I needed something really easy but pretty.  Many moons ago I made a Noro Striped Scarf inspired by Jared Flood.


I loved knitting this scarf with all my heart, then and I adore wearing it now.  The colour striping just draws you on, as you knit it.  With this lovely knit in mind, I saw a wonderful shawl on KniftyRed's Blog.  It has the same graduated striping that my scarf had, and I knew I had to make one.  I went to Scandanvian Knitting Design and promptly bought two skeins of Kauni yarn.  It is 100% wool and quite robust, ie rough.  This is quite a good quality for a shawl, that I don't intend to wear next to my skin, but will be chucked around as I put it on and take it off.  I got colours EV:


and EZ:


This yarn is a 4ply, ie sock weight, and has long stripes of colour, which is perfect for a wide shawl.  The shawl pattern that KniftyRed used is the Oakland Shawl, which doesn't appear to be available in this country, so I've improvised my version.  I may decide to add a little twinkle on the outer edge or I might just keep it clean and simple. It is a very straight forward garter stitch shawl, as I want the shading to shine through.


I'm hoping that the colours I have chosen will contrast and shade as they are alternated.  I quite excited about how this simple idea will translate into the colours I have chosen. 

I did decide that I wanted the shape to be "more than a triangle" so I'm increasing at the edge on both the right side and the wrong side.  It would be lovely if the shape I get for this shawl is like the Traditional Danish style, which has ties long enough to go around the back and fasten.  I like this style that is like a cross between a  shawl and a cardigan.

This WIP is a pretty straight forward pattern, with very little room to go wrong, except when you are tired and it is dark, like last night.  I managed to get my stripes muddled and knit with the wrong yarn.  It took me ages to realise what I had done.  Lesson learned, don't leave it with a strand of yarn at each end of the shawl, make sure they are both at the same side.  That way you stand less chance of messing it up!

I am posting this to:


Click on the button to look at other lovely projects, and come back later on, when hopefully I will be up to more complicated knitting, and perhaps even some sewing.

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