Wendy's Fern Shawl

Porch weather finally has hit.  I know it won't be every day yet and often it is too cool in the morning still.  But yesterday late afternoon and early evening was very nice on the porch.  I began thinking about starting summer projects.  I found a box labelled summer and chose a yarn that I like.

Tahki Yarns Luguna.  It is 78% Linen and 22% Cotton and is a nice soft natural looking color.  Next step is a pattern.  I chose Wendys' Fern Shawl.





I am knitting the project on size 8 needles.  It is not totally mindless but easy enough to take to knitting on Tuesdays.

I finished the shawl in July while Mary's family was visiting.  I like it a lot!

Blocking and Gauge

I received an e-mail this morning from Harps and Thistles which is the yarn shop that I visited on my magical trip to Buffalo to see Rudy's hockey tournament.  There was a link to a very good article about both gauge and blocking that I didn't want to loose.  The article is on the Mason Dixon Knitting site:

https://www.masondixonknitting.com/techniques-in-depth-how-to-measure/?platform=hootsuite&mc_cid=a2a6bd011f&mc_eid=178c0f918a

Fallen Cloud shawl

I finished the Elm Bank Cowl and thus get to start another project.  I have chosen Fallen Cloud as the pattern to knit the very pretty Blue Araucania brand yarn that I must have bought from Love Knitting last fall.

Araucania Lujoso  

50% Baby Alpaca 35% Wool 15% Silk, 3.5oz, Worsted

 So far I love the pattern and the yarn!  Very pretty.  It isn't quite mindless enough to knit while I am on the phone.....but just fine for taking to knitting....so I will probably start one more project today.

I am knitting this project on size 8 needles.  Dar looked at my project and liked it so much that she has started the same pattern in grey.  We are using entirely different yarns and different gauge.(not sure if Dar knits more loosely or is using a larger needle).  It is very interesting to see the difference as we knit at the same time.  I like the way that her light gray yarn shows the cables better.  But I like the way that my cabled edge is crisp.  I think it will be fun to compare at the end.  I believe my version will be heavy and not drape as well while her version will be lighter and a better drape.  I hope I don't forget to update this post when we finish.

I finished my project in February 2020.  I LOVE the shawl.  Carla liked it so much that she also used the pattern and made a version in green....all three are very pretty and all three are very different.  It is fun to see how different yarns and different knitters make such different shawls from the same pattern.  Dar did change her pattern so that is was less triangular and longer.  She did this by not increasing quite as often.  I am getting ready to block my shawl today.

Yarn Shop near Cleveland

Sally and Dar went to Cleveland for routine check up for Sally.  They visited River Colors Studio and both agree it is a wonderful shop.  Dar says it rivals her favorite shop in Virginia Beach.

https://www.rivercolors.com

The actual address for the shop is Lakewood, Ohio

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Iceland

I received a very nice brochure from Tauck travel company.  Moppy had used this company as had Laurie and Hank Sammons and both had liked the service that they received from Tauk.  One of the offerings they presented was a cruise in Iceland.  WOW!  I just think that I had never looked at Iceland before....REALLY looked.  In my mind it was a small to medium sized island ....not the huge island that the map in the brochure presented:



Here is a map that shows the location better:



I just checked and all 8 eight day cruises of Iceland by Tauk are sold out for this year!

But what caused me to decide to write this blog was many things.  First I listened to an interview with Stephen West on the Vogue site and Stephen said that he was knitting in Iceland.

http://vogueknitting.com/knitterviews

He said he is not in Reykjavík ...he is someplace further north.  And it seemed to me that his comment was that the isolation of the area made him slow down and affected his knitting.  I will relisten to his interview and try to clarify or reinterpret what I heard.  I think he said he is in Isafojordur.

In addition to the interview is the fact that I often sit next to our resident expert on Iceland:  Kristin Ornolfsdottir.  Kristine is our knitting groups Mitten expert!  She knits amazing mittens from Icelandic wool as quickly and as efficiently as old time knitters turned out dish cloths.





It seems crazy not to take advantage of all of these facts to actually know more about Iceland and knitting.

Two more pieces of information that I want to add to this blog post is that Stephen West is good buddies with Nancy Marchant....the lady who does the Brioche.  Nancy is a neighbor to Stephen in Amsterdam.  I bought several of Nancy's books because they are amazingly pretty!



Stephen referred to the Boneyard shawl as having  shawl started this "whole thing"....I believe he meant that his OWN design of the Boneyard shawl started him on his shawl "kick".  So, of course, I had to go to Ravelry and look at the Boneyard shawl.  I am not sure that the one that I chose was his first.  There are lots of interpretations of his original shawl.

Boneyard shawl



Here is another person's interpretation of the boneyard shawl that is very pretty:



And if you go to the Ravelry site, you can download the boneyard shawl pattern

Try a striped Boneyard Shawl with extra edge increases for an elongated wingspan. Pattern variation here!

The interview with Stephen West can be found at:

http://vogueknitting.com/knitterviews

Elm Bank Cowl

Sarah made me the Elm Bank Cowl from super bulky yarn several years ago.  I have found the perfect Fleece to wear it with and I find that I have worn it a lot this winter and received many compliments.  This photo doesn't do justice to how nicely the cowl and fleece go together.

 

So this winter I found another fleece when I was bringing fleece's out of the basement for which I had the perfect yarn on hand and made one for myself to match another fleece that I already own:



Again the photo does not do justice to how well the cowl matches the fleece.

Then I found a fleece sweatshirt for which I had yarn on hand that I had bought from Sarah in Kanawha City a couple of years ago which was another cowl to be made.

http://marshamosesknitting.blogspot.com/2016/11/malabrigo-yarn-bought-in-kanawha-city.html

I laughed at my self as I hung the yarn on the coat hanger with the sweatshirt....but it worked and I am starting it today.  I like this Elm Bank Cowl a lot more than I like what I had originally bought the yarn for.





As I pulled it off the hanger to start, I though....WOW!  this hank is exactly the right size to knit a longer cowl.  So I measured it before I wound into a ball and it is approximately 52" to 53"

As I wound the ball, my thought is that perhaps I will like this even more with a jean jacket of coat when it is actually finished.  The colors might be good with denim look.





The pattern calls for 17 needles.  The one twist in the circle makes it lay a bit differently than a cowl that is just knit around.

Christmas project

More than a month ago, I decided to knit something for our knitting group's exchange at the Wild Ramp.  The pattern is "A Small Yarn Bowl" by Molly Conroy.  Yesterday was wild and wooly at my house with all sorts of projects going on by the twins and Eli ....and Colson visiting Eowyn!  Don't know why I thought that was a good day to make the decision about which yarn to use for the bowl.  I was determined to find something suitable in my house.  It calls for two strands of knitting worsted held together.  I decided the super wash that I had on hand wouldn't work because it might not felt.  But  a few minutes on Ravelry perusing finished projects convinced me that it was OK as several said they had used Cascade 220 which is a super wash worsted.  So I pulled out Cascade 220 that I had bought on sale at some point.



I am knitting the small bowl on size 10 and 1/2 needles with two strands held together.  I did finish the project the Sunday night before our Christmas event.  And then put it in my washing machine to felt......2 and 1/2 hours later the bowl emerged not the least bit felted....so I dryed it over a bowl of the right size...and the next day sewed in the very few ends and added iCord handles to make it a project bag instead of a bowl.  I had fun with the project.  And I enjoyed learning via a google search how to do the iCord.....funny in this day and age when everything is iPhone...ipad....etc...that the iCord was Elizabeth Zimmerman's invention before the internet stuff....she named it an idiot cord.....and hence the name.



Linda Wilkinson ended up with the project bag at the party.  We had fun!




I ended up putting a small magnetic needle Nanny on the bag that I had on hand....and in case I want to purchase another one  here is the information: