Knitting and spinning. The fun never stops.

Here is a progress shot of my shawl-in-progress, as of this afternoon. It looks like I’ve made a lot of progress, doesn’t it?

(Note kitty feet in picture.)

That’s because the photo I showed you yesterday was taken Sunday afternoon. I’m a dirty rotten cheater, but I am owning up to it.

Here’s a close-up of one of the lace motifs.

I’m using a U.S. size 5 (3.75mm) needle to knit this. I didn’t swatch beforehand. I eyeballed the yarn, eyeballed the pattern, and picked a size. I wanted the resulting fabric to be lacy, but not too open, or I felt I’d lose some of the integrity of the motifs. When it comes time to block, I’ll do it somewhat gently. I often block shawls within an inch of their life, but that’s for stuff that really benefits from a severe blocking to open up the stitches. I think this design will be happy with moderate blocking.

Lucy sez:

“The work of a photo-stylist is never done.”

I am knitting a shawl from my yummy handspun yarn.

The yarn is handspun merino/tencel blends, purchased from The Opalescence. It’s laceweight — just over 100 grams and 895 yards. The colorway is a lovely shimmering blue-green and is called Hanauma Bay.

The shawl is my own design. It’s triangular, and the lace motif is sort of shaped like a medallion. I’m calling the pattern “Talisman Shawl” for reasons that are obvious to me.

I decided to knit another handspun shawl because I enjoyed knitting my Shetland Triangle so much using the lovely handspun I got from Zarzuela’s Fibers. And I’m happy to say that Opal’s yarn is fabulous too. I’m in awe of her spinning. Check out this close-up:

I love the sheen and drapeyness of this yarn. The tencel is no doubt responsible for that. I think this will be a wonderful airy shawl when it is done.

In other news, Lucy forgave me very quickly for my appalling gaffe in photographing her wearing a hat. My apology included poached chicken breast. She even consented to ham it up for the camera.

There were some questions in the comments to yesterday’s post on the Baby Surprise Jacket.

Bonney asked:

Some people have said this sweater has a bit of challenge to it. Is there any truth in that?

I think the only challenge in this design is to follow the instructions to the letter. I had a hard time visualizing how the blog of knitting was going to morph itself into a jacket until I was well over halfway done with it. So you just have to trust the the instructions are right and plow on. After you’ve knit one of them, I can imagine it would be a lot easier to knit another with mods, since you’ll have the concept down.

Heather T commented:

I have a couple of questions - what gauge did you get and what are the finished dimensions (chest circumference, sleeves, etc)?

My gauge was about 6 sts/inch using Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport. The chest circumference is 20″, the length of the sleeve measured from underarm down to cuff is 4.5″, and the length of the jacket from neck to hem is 20″.

Kittything asked

As a knitter who is usually doing color, or cables, or lace, was a garter stitch project boring for you?

No, it went by too quickly to be boring, really. And there is a lot going on in the pattern by way of shaping, so that keeps it entertaining. Also, I’ve been knitting stealth projects while I do the projects that appear on my blog, so there is some entertainment in variety.

Karen asked

Are there buttonholes on both sides of the front?

Yes there are! That’s the way it is designed. I think this is so you can knit the sweater ahead of time and then after the baby is born, when you find out if it is a girl or a boy, you can sew the buttons over the holes on the appropriate side. Clever, no?

While I know that the baby is going to be a boy, I decided to go ahead and knit it as written for 2 reasons. Reason number 1 — it’ll be easy to place the buttons on it because the holes show exactly where to put them. Reason number 2, while I was knitting I couldn’t remember which side you put the buttons for a boy and was too lazy to find out. It’s the right side for boys, right?

Danielle asked:

Can the BSJ be made for an older child easily? I’m thinking about getting a couple of EZ books and have a few 2nd cousins that are wee ones (from 6mo to 2 yrs) that I could make some of this for

The pattern is written so that you can change the size of the sweater depending on the weight of yarn and needle size. So yes, it can be sized up!

I did suck it up and make a little hat to go with it.

No pattern, just do 2×2 ribbing for 2 inches, then knit for 3 inches, then decrease down for the top. I started with 72 stitches on a 3.25mm needle for the ribbing and switched to a 3.5mm needle for the plain stockinette.

I did start a project in my lovely handspun laceweight merino/tencel blend laceweight (purchased from The Opalescence).

But I’ll talk about that tomorrow.

Of course I had to go and do this:

Lucy sez:

“I know where you sleep. Be afraid.”

Well, pretty much. Here it is fresh off the needles:

And folded into position:

In that photo, the seams on the top of the sleeves need to be sewn up. Here it is with the seams sewn:

In that photo, I’ve finished off the neckline. I picked up stitches around the neck and cast them off as I picked them up.

And the buttons from the Button Drawer came yesterday! From Colorado to the east coast, it took just a couple of days. Great service! And I think the buttons I picked are perfect. See?

Seriously, how perfect is that button?

I did cast on a hat and got started on that, but I got a little distracted by this laceweight yarn that also came yesterday.

I wound it today.

Lucy is having a good day today. She was nervous all day yesterday as tropical storm Hanna came through and dumped a lot of rain all day. It’s a beautiful day today and all is contentment chez WendyKnits!

I’m still happily knitting along on the Baby Surprise Jacket. See?

It’ll definitely be finished by Sunday’s blog entry. give you something to look forward to.

I ordered three skeins of the Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sport for this, although I didn’t think it would take more than two. Why the third skein? For a matching hat and booties, of course! When I finish the sweater I’ll whip up some accessories.

Speaking of accessories, I recently got this nifty little bag from The Loopy Ewe.

It’s a “Beanie Baggie” from Mind Your Knitting. The Loopy Ewe is sold out of them at the moment, but hopefully they’ll get some back in. They had them in four colors, but for me it was no contest: I had to have the green polka-dotted one.

This is a little pouch to contain your skein of yarn and keep it tidy and in one place. The bottom of the bag has a built-in bean bag to weight it down and keep it in one place. There is a drawstring opening that you can adjuest to suit your needs. It is fully lined and beautifully made. I love mine!

One of the reasons I love mine so much is that the fabric is almost identical to that of a Bobbie Brooks bathing suit and cover-up I had when I was a nubile young teen. Remember Bobbie Brooks clothes (those of you who are my contemporaries)? I wondered what happened to them, so googled. Apparently the company had financial difficulties in the 1980s, filed for bankruptcy, and reorganized. While they are apparently still around, they phased out their line of junior miss clothes.

Just in case you wondered.

Thanks for all the recommendations for button websites. Today I ordered some buttons from The Button Drawer that were quite reasonably priced — $0.90 each. They are blue/lavender bunny faces. These. Aren’t they cute? Check out The Button Drawer — they have a huge selection of very cute buttons and wonderful customer service. My order has shipped already!

Lucy sez:

“Is it the weekend yet?”