Posts filed under 'Starburst Shawl'
Presenting the Starburst Shawl.
Pattern: Starburst Shawl. From the book Modular Knits by Iris Schreier.
Yarn: Artyarn Supermerino in colorway 127.
Needles: Addi-turbos size 8.
Started: October 31st 2005.
Finished: Jan. 4th, 2006.
I pushed through on this through the holidays and I finished it! I’m so proud of myself for just getting it done. And, after blocking, I really like how it has turned out. I could also use it as a scarf, if I wanted to.
The modular pattern looks very interesting. kind of like cross-hatching. I think it’s perfect for any variegated yarn. Actually knitting up the pattern was a bitch, though. I had to constantly count my stitches because I had to make sure I had the right number of stitches on my needles at all time or else the pattern would get messed up. So I could really only do this when I was by myself, with no television, iPod, or chitchatting. That didn’t leave me with very many opportunities to work on it.
This was my first experience with Artyarns and I liked it alright. The yarn does wash up beautifully. No problems after washing it in the delecate cycle with little agitation. It came out of the wash nice and soft. The colorway is okay. I was really into pink and green for awhile but kind of got over it. The color combo is different but very complimentary.
Just a little heads up on some blog maintenance. I am going to be moving my knitting content over to my blog, Blatherskite in the near future. It has just become too difficult to maintain two separate blogs. And maybe you all will find me more interesting if I am posting non-knitting content along with the knitting content 
. I have quite a bit of work to do before the move, but will let you know when it happens and will post a link to everything here.
Happy Monday!
January 9th, 2006
Let’s take a tour through my current WIPs, shall we?
The Starburst Shawl, AKA The most annoying project ever. For some reason, I decided to pick this project up again last weekend and I was *this* close to ripping the mother f**ker. Again. But that “again” is what is keeping this project alive. This poor yarn has been ripped and reknitted about four times. The first incarnation of it was the Lacy Kerchief Scarf from Summer IK. I had to rip that pattern about a quarter of the way through when I realized I was doing the pattern all wrong. Then, when I was a little over halfway done with it, I decided I didn’t like it. Too frilly for me. So I frogged. Then the yarn became the Sheer One Piece Shawl from the book Modular Knits. I decided I didn’t want to knit that pattern. I was lured by the more modular looking knits in the book. And so I began the Starburst Shawl. This pattern is very annoying, as I said. It requires lots of counting and making sure the exact number of stitches are on the needles at all times, or else the whole thing will get messed up. I can’t wait to be done with this! I’m really going to try and push through this pattern this weekend and have it done in the next few days. I need the needles for something else, anyway. The Starburst Shawl is being knit with Artyarns supermerino.
The Slytherin Scarf. I actually offered to make my husband this scarf way back in November, before Thanksgiving. We were on a hike at Riverside State Park, and it was really chilly out, and I wanted to be a nice wife and knit my hubby something. I suggested a Gryfindor scarf, but he wanted Slytherin, since he just HAS to go against the grain. I went right out and bought the yarn for it and got started on it. Then I got B-O-R-E-D. Then I put it down to work on something else. And it ended up staying down for quite some time. Until about a week ago when he asked, “where’s my slytherin scarf?” Oops. So I picked it up again and have been working on it a little bit at a time. At this rate it will be done by next winter. I am using Lion Wool-ease for this pattern (for the washability factor) and the pattern can be found here. I’m knitting the Prisoner of Azkaban version.
The Broadstreet Mitten, AKA Shitty Mitten. I knitted this the week my car was totalled, so it conjures up negative feelings for me. That’s probably why, when I finished it, I didn’t like it. I decided to put it aside for awhile. After taking a bit of a break from it, it doesn’t look so bad. I’m glad I didn’t just go and frog it straight away. I think I will knit the second one after all. The Yarn I’m using for it is Lorna’s Lace’s Shepherd’s Sock yarn in the Jeans colorway. The pattern can be found in Knitty’s fall 2002 issue.
Bay. All I can say is, “ahhhh…” I cast on for this project last weekend. I’m about halfway through the front. The pattern itself is kind of clunky. You have to knit the blue stripes with size 7 needles and the white parts with size 5 needles, and with the white you hold two strands together. However, the yarn is absolute heaven to work with. I can’t wait to wear this when it’s done. It’s going to be slightly sheer, so I bought some long sleeve t-shirts to wear underneath. Not much else to say about that. Except all of the hype about kidsilk haze is totally deserved.
The last thing I want to show you is not a WIP, but some new aquisitions to The Stash. I have 14 balls of Noro Kureyon that I’m going to use for Butterfly. This was my present from my inlaws. They gave me some cash for Christmas, enough to buy yarn for Butterfly, which I have been lusting after for a long time. I got the yarn at my LYS, Holy Threads. I also got some Knitpicks Andean Treasure in both green and purple. They will be used for the Ridged Helmet hats for both me and my hubby. I also got some Knitpicks Essential and Simple Stripesfor some socks in Knitting Vintage Socks.
Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! Mine was lovely. Have a safe and fun New Year’s Eve!
December 30th, 2005
I finally finished my fancy socks! It took awhile, but I like how they look. The pattern is “Child’s first sock” from the Nancy Bush book, “knitting Vintage Socks.” Here’s a picture of them off my feet. And here’s a closeup of the shell pattern. They were knitted with JaWol yarn on size 1 needles. I think size 1 needles are the magic needle size for my foot. As I said before, I love, love, love this book and highly recommend it for anyone who loves sock knitting. I definately will be knitting several patterns from this book. But not right away as I am kind of sick of knitting socks at the moment.
No, at the moment I am obsessed with Blackberry! I have already finished the back and both of the fronts and am working on sleeve #1. The picture will show you a closeup of the cable and bobble pattern on the sleeve. The bobbles are hella slowing me down. They are soooo frustrating. I hate them with a passion. Thank God I am using thick-ass yarn and ginormous needles. The pain will only last for a fleeting moment and then I will soon be able to wear this nice, cozy sweater. And I so need this sweater to be finished quickly since the weather here is effing COLD. I woke up this morning and it was 31 degrees! There was frost on the ground! My California blood is not taking this very well. I bought a winter coat that has several layers and it is still not warm enough for me. My co-workers are laughing at me. They are telling me that this is merely “outer shell” weather. It will only get colder. I saw someone in shorts the other day! These people are crazy. Crazy I tell you! Because it is freaking cold outside.
Here is my progress on the Starburst Shawl, if your wondering. The lacy leaf kerchief shawl, or whatever I was calling it, has met it’s demise. Taken a trip to the ‘ole frog pond. And is now being used for this shawl.
November 9th, 2005
Another week and I only got to the turning-of-the-heel. sigh. Well, at least I managed to cast on the second sock. Hopefully before the end of the day I will have the instep decreases done. When the work week starts I don’t get a whole lot of knitting done. It’s as if my projects crawl to a snail’s pace. While on the weekend I can devote hours to knitting and things seem to zip by. I do love the way these socks are turning out. They are so pretty! I love the book the pattern came from “knitting vintage socks.” Love it! The pattern for this sock is so well-written, and I am assuming the other patterns are the same. I so want to knit every sock pattern in this book. But, admittedly, I’m kind of growing tired of socks at the moment.
Here is the Artyarns shawl after a week. The pattern is “starburst shawl” from the book “Modular Knits.” I love the way this is turning out, also. There is much less of a pooling issue when things are knitted up in this modular manner. And I like that. This pattern is kind of tedious, too, though. Not at all a take-along knit. Because if somebody talks to you while you are knitting this and you lose track of where you are it is not pretty. There has been much ripping and re-knitting going on with this shawl, let me tell you.
What I would really like to do is get started playing with this Rowan Plaid. I am going to use it to knit the Lace Leaf Pullover. I’m totally biting Winnie’s idea of using Rowan Plaid . I hope she doesn’t mind. At least I chose a different color. But I can’t wait to start it! I’ve come so close to casting on…And I might just do that tonight! I’m trying to restrain myself because I would like to at least finish my sock first.
I’ve got a horrible headache today. I’ve had it all day. I woke up with it. It seems to be part of this awful flu I’ve had all week. But I think I’m at the tail end of it right now (knocks on wood).
Hope you all have a spooooky halloween evening!
October 31st, 2005
