Tag: addi turbo needles

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Knitting

Koigu Linen Stitch Scarf

I purchased this pattern at Stitches West 2011 from a booth that would not let me buy just the pattern unfortunately. As we only had a week left before moving to Australia they had me over a barrel so to speak and I had to buy the pattern and three skeins of Claudia Handpainted Yarn – as they had no Koigu my “yarn drug” of choice.
The Claudia yarn actually ended up being packed and is now somewhere on the Pacific Ocean on its way to Port Adelaide. So I decided to pack the pattern and also a bag of odds and ends of sock yarns.

Knitted from all my leftover sock yarn
Knitted from all my leftover sock yarn

My scarf is made from left over sock yarn from many pairs of socks that either I have made or my dear friend Alice has made for me or my husband Alan.
Along with all of my stash and the Claudia Handpainted Yarns are my blocking cables and blocking board so for the moment the scarf is just off the needles. And as the weather here is still very mild for early Fall I haven’t had the need to wear it or decide who may receive it as a gift.
A beautiful pattern but the next time I knit this I will not be doing a fringe, it looks lovely, but I have never been one for fringes on scarves.

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Knitting

Ravelympics 2010

Well tonight’s the night we get to the starting line here in Folsom at 6pm.

My entry for the Ravelympics 2010
My entry for the Ravelympics 2010

I have wanted to make this particular sweater by Alice Starmore since I purchased this book from Matthew Wright who used to own The Yarn Garden in San Francisco in 1996.

This will be my first attempt at Fair Isle since a disaster in 1976.  My guage in that pattern was too tight and I also used to knit very tight so the  v neck all over Fair Isle vest fitted a large teddy bear instead!

This sweater is knit in the round so there is absolutely no way I will have this completed in the two and a half weeks we are allowed to spend working on the projects. All I am hoping for is to have the Fair Isle border completed and perhaps be part way up the textured part of the body.

Have to admit to being very excited but also a little nervous – have I taken on more than I can do . But while I do have a couple of WIP on needles that well and truly qualify for that event, I decided that I need to branch out and learn another technique this year.

Categories
Knitting

Estonian Lullaby Baby Blanket

I have just completed and mailed this gorgeous baby blanket and hat to the United Kingdom. I am hoping for its safe arrival by the end of next week because the baby who will use it arrives January 22nd 2010.

Estonian Lullaby Baby BlanketEver since the pattern arrived in the LYS where I used to work I have wanted a reason to knit this stunning lace baby blanket. When my dear friend Sue Medlycott told me in 2009 that her elder daughter Lisa and husband Craig were expecting ab baby in early 2010 I knew immediately that a baby blanket would be made by me and I would finally get to use the Estonian Lullaby Baby Blanket pattern at last.

When I resigned from the LYS in early 2008 I made a decision with myself not to buy any yarn until I could see the tops of the window seats.. Shopping in that stash I found 8 balls of Sirdar Snuggly Babycare DK yarn. The pattern wanted 1050 yards and with the 8 balls at 147 yards I had 1176 yards. This yarn is a combination of acrylic and cotton in a white/cream colour and the label describes it as being machine washable.  I am hoping that it will be an easy care yarn for Lisa to take care of.

I started the project in October using #8 addi turbo needles and got gauge straight away. As we don’t know the sex of the baby I chose the design with the garter stitch border rather than the more lacy border. The pattern is extremely well written and the graphs are very accurate and easy to read.

Like most lace projects I have made once I start they become an obsession as I have to do a pattern repeat each time I pick the knitting up during the day. This with DK weight yarn and #8 needles seemed to fly along and I found myself doing a repeat quickly. I did complete the blanket  in November but as I had eye surgery the finishing had to wait until I could see comfortably to do that.

There was some yarn left over so I made a little toddler hat using Ann Norling pattern #55 that needed 140 yards of DK weight yarn. Now I am not sure if that will be too small or too large for the baby, but it was one way of using the left over yarn.

Because of the yarn mixture the blanket and the hat are very soft but also extremely light in weight. I knew that an all cotton blanket would weigh quite heavily on a new baby so am delighted with the choice I made as it really does look and feel both light and airy.

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Knitting

Shoalwater Shawl

I wanted to show my Shoalwater Shawl off even though it has not yet been blocked.

The pattern is by Evelyn A Clark and it is Fiber Trends S-2011. The pattern is great because you can use anything from a fine lace weight yarn up to a worcested weight yarn. The yarn requirements and suggested needle sizes are all on the pattern too. I knit the shawl on Addi Turbo needles and started with size US 7 but decided to use US8 after doing a little swatch.

I was given some yarn  called Kauni by a dear friend and had to immediately make something from this gorgeous gift. The shoalwater shawl had been on my list of have to knits for quite a while so once I had the yarn there was no question as to what it was going to be used for.

Shoalwater Shawl made in Kauni yarn
Shoalwater Shawl made in Kauni yarn

The pattern called for a knitted on i-cord edge but I knew I was going to run out of yarn. I completed the picot edge and then just finished the shawl at that point.  I will get it blocked as soon as I have set up my blocking board again.

slightly closer photo of the feather and fan pattern
slightly closer photo of the feather and fan pattern

This will not be the only Shoalwater Shawl I make and already have one on the needles in a very fine lace weight yarn. I was also given four or five more skeins of the Kauni so there will be more shawls in the future.

Categories
Knitting

Swatch for man’s vest

swatch for man's vest
swatch for man's vest

The swatch was done on #7 addi turbo needles and is exactly 20 stitches to 4 inches with Cascade 220 yarn.

This is the first time I have used Cascade 220 yarn for anything other than a felted project.  So I really needed to do a swatch for this vest as I am not familiar with how the yarn should  feel knitted to the correct guage recommended on the yarn label.

I will use #5 addi turbo needles for ribbing, armholes and neck band  and #7 for the body of the vest.