Emily’s Knits

I’m wearing a shawl that I made myself in public!  I finally blocked Calypso on Saturday (my first real wet-blocking as well) and am wearing it to work today.  Pictures to come (posted already on Ravelry).  I’m so proud!

I also swatched Mystic Waters, which I’m really loving so far.  The tencel dries so quickly and looks so perfectly delicate when blocked!  I’m working on a miniature version of it (just the first 40 or 50 rows) from my Pound of Love ball as a shawl for my little sister’s American Girl dolls.  Nearly done, I have to figure out how I’m finishing off and whether I want faroese-style extended shoulders.

Last night I found an interesting pattern, Pink Lemon Knits’ Atlantis Stole.  It’s intended for lace beginners, using fingering weight yarn and size 7 or 8 needles.  I think I’ll start this up in some of the Jojoland fingering weight I got for mom, and see how it comes.  If I can get it done by Christmas she can have it if she likes it.

I’ve made good progress on the Festive Fish blanket.  Despite the setbacks of losing my needles and one of the strips a few weekends ago, I’ve now finished my 6th strip.  I had originally planned on 9 more, I’m excited to get these put together and see how the length is coming along.  I have a long history of making blankets, etc way too large :)

Monday night I got out my new swift and yarn baller (such an improvement over balling by hand!) and wound up one skein of the blue and teal yarn.  The colours look really neat in the ball :)

I’ve cast on the Deby Lake’s Calypso shawl, and so far I’m loving it.  The actual cast-on process was exciting – involving drink stirs and some paper clips as those were the best I could find for a second needle (long tail cast on) and stitch markers at the bar I was in.  I’m about halfway through the first section.  A little worried that I won’t have enough yarn since I was slightly over gauge even on size 5′s instead of the recommended 6′s.

On Saturday I finally finished the Charleston stole I had been working on since May.  It turned out beautifully.

I’m really a fan of the patterns in it:

I’m very pleased with the yarn I used – Ceallach Dye’s Summer Silk.  It’s somewhere between Fingering and DK, and varigated (which is always contradindicated for a lace pattern).  The varigations make the entire fabric absolutely beautiful, and the heavier weight means that the pattern is even more visible than it would be in a single-colour lace weight yarn.  It drapes comfortably, and is just warm enough to stave off air conditioning or a breeze.

Finally, I simply love this picture (the stole turned out much longer than I had expected – a result of using a heavier yarn and not removing a repeat).