Posts filed under 'Widow's Shawl'
I bought a new bag. Yes, another new bag. This time it’s a custom-made Timbuk2 bag, classic messenger size small. What made me decide to get this bag? Well, I’ve been wanting one for about 8 years, since right before I started going to school at UCSC. They were just starting to get popular, especially with students. I kept deterring myself because of the cost. They are kind of expensive. But are worth it, if you believe the reviews they have gotten. Apparantly they last through all kinds of crazy things. I decided that I needed a bag to carry ALL of my crap to work. Everything. I’m sick of carrying three bags with me. And I wanted something big enough to carry my knitting project, my lunch for work, my little purse, and anything else I might need for the day. It was really hard to choose between the medium and the small. But I finally went with the small because then I could take it hiking with me and just take the essentials. So am I giving up my knitters purse and my Asian inspired diaper bag? For the moment, yes. I had issues with both. The knitters purse was not big enough to carry all of my stuff, and the diaper bag is not very good quality. It feels like it could fall apart at a moment’s notice.
I was also attracted to the “build your own bag” feature. I HAD to have a bag that I customized myself. So I picked out the colors that I wanted on the outside, navy and light blue (and y’all know how much I love those colors), and then I went with orange on the inside. Which i love. It suits my personality, you know? I’m navy and light blue on the outside, but on the inside I’m orange. If you know what I mean. I also got to pick the color of the little timbuk2 embrodered label on the outside. The default is yellow, but I chose orange to match the inside. Some other features I decided to add were a handle and a center divder, and I’m glad I did. click here to see what I have stuffed in there. here is a mirror-in-the-bathroom shot of it on me, so you can get a visual of how big a small is. Just in case you stumble on this page and are in the market for one of these bags. I know it would have helped me when deciding.
Here is Leonora. This is a terrible progress shot. Here is an example of how not to take a progress picture. I’m almost done with this, tho. I’m hoping to be finished with it today. It’s an easy knit. It’s just purled in the round with a bit of shaping at the ends.
I felt the need to start on something a little more challenging. So I decided to finally start the Flower Basket Shawl. I couldn’t wait anymore after seeing Cara’s. So I totally frogged the Widow’s Shawl (remember that project?), since I’m going to use that yarn for FBS. Casted on and knitted through to 1 repeat of the lower flower basket chart. So far, so good. No mistakes. It looks like a glob of nothing at the moment, but I will have faith that when it’s finished and it’s blocked it will be beautiful.
Have a nice weekend everyone!
July 9th, 2005
I’m waiting for Rowan 35 to get here from the Knitting Garden so I can start Audrey. In the meantime, I’ve been working on the Widow’s shawl redux. I came to the same problem with this damn bell pattern. The pattern is really annoying. First of all, it’s 18 rows long. Second of all, you get to a point in the pattern when you have to Knit 4 together in the back of the stitch, and of course repeat this as the pattern dictates. It’s very difficult and frustrating to do. It slows things down way too much. So I’ve abandoned the bell pattern and am going back to the very basic pattern that I got from Spincraft
It’s extremelly easy. And with this yarn I need something easy. The yarn is hard to work with. It’s like knitting with hair, it’s so thin. Here is what I’ve done so far:
Those are my hubby’s hands holding it taught 
. I love how we all get our men to get involved in our knitting lives in one way or another.
Speaking of that, I’m also knitting some wool socks for my guy. I am trying to race through them fast because he is hoping to wear them on his hiking trip next weekend. I started this one a couple of hours ago and seems to be going by fast, so I think I will be able to meet my deadline. Have a look:
They are boring, I know. They are to serve a total utilitarian purpose, to keep his feet nice and cozy inside his hiking boots. I’m using the good ole’ stand-by: Brown sheep company’s Lamb’s Pride worsted. So I’ll be knitting these boring socks for the next few days. I’ll make him model them when I’m done 
September 6th, 2004
I spent a couple of hours on Tank Girl this morning and got halfway done with the back already! Here have a gander:
The color in this picture looks different from the color in real life, for some reason. It isn’t all that pastel. I’m stoked that this is going so fast!
On the other hand, I spent a couple of hours on the Widow’s Shawl last night and here is my progress on that:
I spent a lot of time trying to untangle the mass of fine alpaca knots that ocurred when I frogged it. What a mess! Anyway, this shawl is going to take awhile so I think I will make sure I have something else to do when I need a break.
August 21st, 2004
I frogged what i had started on my widow’s shawl and started on the one that I bought from Spincraft yesterday. i like the pattern because it’s very easy, but, technically it’s not lace. I mean, you can work lace into it, though. I’m just not good enough yet to figure out how to do that. I need explicitness when it comes to lace. So when I went to bed last night I was feeling kind of, well, not happy about where this project was going. I didn’t want to make a garter stitch shawl. I set out to make a lace shawl 
I woke up this morning and, I swear to God, it was like the yarn was speaking to me. it was telling me to do the bell pattern using smaller needles. For some reason I need to do this shawl in the bell pattern. It wouldn’t be the Widow’s Shawl without the bell pattern. Here is what I did this morning so far:
I swear to God I’m not crazy . I do like the smaller needles. I think that it will make the bell pattern show up much better.
I cast on Tank Girl last night, too:
I think this one will go fast. Katherine, that sucks that you can’t get your hands on some Goa over there…I wonder why? Do you have a local yarn shop that can special order you some? I think the yarn you have will be okay. It will just not match the measurements on the pattern. It’s really pretty, btw!
August 20th, 2004
Here is square 52:
If it looks a little messed up that’s because it is. this one was a bitch to knit. I kept accidentally adding stitches and messing up the pattern. I was sooo happy when I was done with it.
I am going to start my alpaca shawl this weekend, I think. So here is the “before”picture:
I *love* this yarn. It is hand spun and hand dyed, and it is sooo soft.
August 14th, 2004
Previous Posts
I bought a new bag. Yes, another new bag. This time it’s a custom-made Timbuk2 bag, classic messenger size small. What made me decide to get this bag? Well, I’ve been wanting one for about 8 years, since right before I started going to school at UCSC. They were just starting to get popular, especially with students. I kept deterring myself because of the cost. They are kind of expensive. But are worth it, if you believe the reviews they have gotten. Apparantly they last through all kinds of crazy things. I decided that I needed a bag to carry ALL of my crap to work. Everything. I’m sick of carrying three bags with me. And I wanted something big enough to carry my knitting project, my lunch for work, my little purse, and anything else I might need for the day. It was really hard to choose between the medium and the small. But I finally went with the small because then I could take it hiking with me and just take the essentials. So am I giving up my knitters purse and my Asian inspired diaper bag? For the moment, yes. I had issues with both. The knitters purse was not big enough to carry all of my stuff, and the diaper bag is not very good quality. It feels like it could fall apart at a moment’s notice. 
Here is Leonora. This is a terrible progress shot. Here is an example of how not to take a progress picture. I’m almost done with this, tho. I’m hoping to be finished with it today. It’s an easy knit. It’s just purled in the round with a bit of shaping at the ends. 
I felt the need to start on something a little more challenging. So I decided to finally start the Flower Basket Shawl. I couldn’t wait anymore after seeing Cara’s. So I totally frogged the Widow’s Shawl (remember that project?), since I’m going to use that yarn for FBS. Casted on and knitted through to 1 repeat of the lower flower basket chart. So far, so good. No mistakes. It looks like a glob of nothing at the moment, but I will have faith that when it’s finished and it’s blocked it will be beautiful.
