Row 90

I finally got my cotton Isabella off my long 2.0 mm needle, freeing it to take up the ever-growing lace.

I draped it over the cone of remaining yarn, and it completely engulfed it. I wish I'd thought to weight the yarn plus cone before I started, so I could see how much I've used up so far. Oh well...








Another shot of the lace on long needles... it looks kind of like a dead, deflated cephalopod, which I taunted by tying yarny bits to it.

Yup, pattern's still there.

I can has yarns?

Fat cat loves fat yarn. From handpaintedyarn.com, colorway Verdeazul -- which sounds a lot more creative and exotic if you don't speak spanish, but if you do it's simply blue-green. The intenseness of this yarn, though ... man, it's intense. I would have named this colorway 2000 Leagues Under the Sea.

Teh Stitchz and the Bitchz

We revisited an old favorite cafe for Stitch-n-Bitch Monday night. I was working on round 84. The stitches are getting really crowded on the needle, threatening to pop off the end at any time.

the lovely pattern is still there, with about 3 inches of feather-and-fan action

69, d00dz!

I'm rounding the 69th row now. It is getting larger, and I know it with grow with blocking -- but I'm worried it'll be a little small. The pattern calls for 2.75 mm needles, and I'm using 2s. And now on to the pr0n...

on the cone
(red bits are yarny stitch markers -- I have 24 sections and I just didn't have the patience to make 16 more nice stitch markers)

in a bunch

with spidey

I gotz patternage!

i gots m4d skillZ

The shrug was just too big. The lace pattern (if you can even call it that, it was so boneheaded... yo, k2tog) was suuuuper stretchy and actually ended up about 2 inches too wide. Yes, yes, the Swatch Gods smote me again for ignoring them. Being the lazy ho I am, I did not want to rip out the arm (again) and reknit it.

So guess what! I just chopped it off.

Then a little grafty magic (guided by some very coherent step-by-step instructions)...

and I ended up with a very serviceable arm-covering. It does still bunch/sag a little at the neck, but overall I find that acceptable.

I Believe In Miracles,You Sexy Thing!

From handpaintedyarn.com, colorway "hot chocolate". It's a little different than I expected, but totally acceptable. It's beautiful! I think I would have named this colorway "redwoods" or something, though, because it's much more like a redwood burl than a cup of hot chocolate.

No, it's not really a hair net...

Nor is it a glove...

It's a lace shawl being knit in the round. Started on double pointed needles of the devil, I switched to this much nicer slick round needle at the earliest possible time.

0wn4ge!

It took a couple of false starts (ok, like 5... or maybe 11, depending on how you count) for me to get this thing right. And I didn't even really get it *right* so much as got it to work.
Basically, those bamboo double pointeds you see SuX0r! Too sticky, and my toddler broke one while I was running towards her in slow motion going "nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo" so I had to use a set of 4 instead of 5.
I ended up knitting the first 10 rounds or so flat and then joining (will seam before blocking) because I just could not get 2 itty bitty stitches on these itty bitty needles to behave. Don't you love my pretty stitch markers, though?

Over the years I've received these things as decorations on wrapped presents (the red one is Korean, the wooden ones Japanese) and kept them not really knowing what to do with them. When I tried my regular metal/bead stitch markers, it weighed down the piece considerably and snagged the fabric. Enter: fabric/ribbon stitch markers.









What am I knitting, you ask? A lovely hair net! You can see it draped over the cone from ColourMart. 100% silk, laceweight, color silver. One cone should do my job.

ColourMart Swatches: Cashmere

Here are the cashmere yarns.

This is the 8/14NM cashmere aran weight, prewash. Lovely to knit, very soft, beautiful hand. I think it was very well suited to the cable or other textural stitches. The color isn't exactly what I would choose for myself, though! I think it was "cyclamen".








This is after washing. You can see it puffed up a bit (I think they say "bloom") and it's much softer and fuzzier. I love this yarn.
You can see the yarn ends here -- it was actually a pretty splitty yarn to knit, the yarn being made by twisting 2 strands of laceweight and then twisting 4 strands of the resulting yarn together. Still a pleasure to knit.






I tried to get a side shot to show the fuzziness of the yarn. Look at that depth! I would love a sweater of this stuff!











This was dk weight 100% cashmere 2/7NM color crocus mix. Prewashing, it was soft enough. I loved the color combinations in this heathered yarn. Light purples, pinks, and reds. Not normally what I'd choose, but I found it really charming.









After washing, this yarn was gorgeous! I tried to capture the puffiness in the picture. Now I see why they say "bloom"! Truly lovely and soft.












This is 4/14NM 100% cashmere double twist in brume. I felt like this yarn was kind of boring. Grey heathered with some darker greys and black. Hand was ok, resulting fabric ok, nothing spectacular. Probably my least favorite yarn that I swatched from ColourMart.

Here's the grey cashmere after washing. It bloomed some, but not as beautifully as the crocus one.

ColourMart Swatches: Silk

A couple of weeks ago I got the samples package from ColourMart and I've been happily swatching ever since. I had heard there would be a marked difference in some of the yarns pre- and post-washing, so I took pictures before and after. I could tell with some of the yarns, and not so much with others.

First, the yarn I actually ordered: 100% silk laceweight in silver. This is one section repeat of the center of the pattern I'm planning to use. Prewashed. I used 2.0 mm needles. This yarn is tiny! It's really smooth and slippy. I anticipate it will drape gorgeously.









This is after a light washing with a very mild soap, and blocking. The size didn't change much compared to the first pre-wash pinning out. The color is gorgeous and shiny. Reminds me of my Russian Blue cats in the sunshine.










This is the 100% crunchy silk, 5/20NM color: granite mix. And the name says it all, this stuff is crunchy. Stiff and ... kind of scratchy, but scratchy like a loofa, not like itchy. ColourMart suggests use for outer garments, and I agree.










Post-washing and blocking, size didn't change much, and it did not bloom. I experimented with different stitched in the swatch. To the left is seed stitch, then a cable. I also tried plain stockinette and a 1x1 rib. I think I liked the seed stitch best.









This is pre-washing 100% smooth silk 8/28NM color: citron. I loved this yarn. So smooth and shiny to the point of sparkling.














After the wash, the fabric didn't change much, no blooming. But it was just gorgeous. I tried a lacey bit of the swatch and a cabely bit. Both worked nice, but the cable was particularly nice because it highlighted the sheen of the yarn.