Mawwaige is what bwings us togethah today.

I missed you, lace!

I haven't done a lace project in a long time. The last thing I posted about here was my stranded mittens. They were challenging, yes, but they weren't lace. Since that time, I've completed three other projects:

• A new South End Knitter's Hat to replace the one I lost on the subway (not as warm as that one, and not as good a size, *sob*
• The Cowl What Feels Like Kittens (a simple braided cowl, a one-skein project to make use of this divinely soft baby alpaca yarn I bought during the North Shore Yarn Crawl)
• Yet another Super-Natural Stripes baby sweater, this time in spring-y green/yellow/purple for my friend from high school, who's having her first baby next month

So, that's four projects in a row that did not involve lace at all, and only two of which were actually new patterns for me. I've been thinking for some time now that I'd really like a bright sunny yellow shawl, and figured now would be as good a time as any to start one. Yellow is one of the few colors of Knitpicks Palette I don't have, so I knew I would have to buy some new yarn. That meant that I had no constraints whatsoever in choosing a pattern--I could use any weight, any amount of yarn.

I decided to do a semicircular shawl, since I've found that shape to be really good for me. It covers enough of my arms to keep them warm, without having to be really long as well (triangles tend to be either really long at the point, or too small to cover my arms). After browsing through Ravelry, I settled on Tru Wuv by Mawelucky. I adore the combination of rounded shapes and delicate points in the pattern. It's very ornate, and I really was looking for something that would allow me to flex my lace-knitting muscles more than I have since finishing my full-size Aeolian.

It seems there aren't a whole lot of yarn manufacturers who do a solid-or-lightly-heathered vivid sunny yellow lace yarn. I found what appears to be the perfect option, though: Fyberspates Gleem Lace in Sunshine. It's BFL and silk, so it has a nice combination of spring, drape, and shine. Plus, it's exactly the right shade of sunny yellow I was looking for! 

This pattern is VERY challenging. The actual knitting isn't so bad, but reading the pattern is confusing. I usually work well with charts, but the directions that go with the charts are spare, and the charts themselves can be a bit baffling. I am going to try to be diligent about making notes to show what's confused me, and explain what I figured out. So far:

1. Casting on, there's no reason you need a provisional cast-on, since at no point that I see do you unravel it. Yes, you are supposed to have three stitches before the first marker and two after the second marker. The border stitches go back and forth between two and three on each side throughout the shawl: on each row (right and wrong side), you add a stitch on the two-stitch-side with an initial YO, and decrease a stitch on the three-stitch-side with a final SSK or P2TOG.
2. For the setup chart, ignore the indications to place a marker: these are actually the same markers you placed when you were picking up the stitches on your...not really garter tab, but...stockinette-ish tab? Anyway, the markers shown on the setup chart are already there. Also, in the square where the "place marker" symbol is? That's just that: place the marker, it's not a stitch.
3. Don't pay attention to the column counts at the top and bottom of the charts. Those numbers don't actually apply all through the chart. You don't start out with that many stitches! At the beginning of the  transition chart, for example, there's a lot of empty space in those columns, indicating NO stitches there. 
4. On the transition chart, unlike the setup chart, you SHOULD place a marker every time it says "place marker." You are not placing one marker between pattern repeats, but instead you are going to have two markers per pattern repeat, plus another at the beginning and at the end of the row, with just one stitch between that marker and the marker indicating where the border stitches are.

I think that as I continue, the charts will make more sense to me. This pattern is really a test of "trust the charts," combined with, "...but make sure you know what the chart is actually saying."

Help! I'm stranded!

No, I'm not stuck somewhere--I just finished my first stranded knitting project! I did the Daisy Mittens pattern on Ravelry. I'm really excited about how well the mittens came out. I found a couple of irritating math errors in the pattern (like telling me to add six stitches to 54 and  then knit a chart that was 58 stitches around with no uncharted stitches), but other than that, it was pretty straightforward, and a good first stranded project. It took me a little while to start getting comfortable with the process of holding one color yarn in each hand and knitting with both. In the beginning, I was twisting my continental stitches. Once I got that straightened out, though, it wasn't too bad. I got accustomed to the rhythm of it.  The tension could probably be better, but it's not awful. There's some stretch, and things aren't horribly puckered.

My mother has now requested a pair of mittens, and she assures me that unlike a shawl, the mittens are something she'll actually wear. OK, I'll do that for her. She might not be able to wear them until next winter, but that's fine. I'm going to see her the first weekend in March, the weekend after her birthday, and I'll talk to her about colors and patterns then.

I've cast on for another South End Knitter's Hat. I was so dismayed when I dropped the one I'd made previously on the red line! I just hope that it managed to make its way to someone who needed a nice cozy hat, and who really enjoys that one. The one I'm making now is light grey with silver sparkles, made from two strands of Knitpicks Stroll Glimmer. I hope that the gauge will end up OK. It's fine if the finished product is a little smaller than the last one. I think this color will be really nice for wearing with my peacoat or my long wool coat, when I want to look a little more smartly dressed and it's not utterly frigid. The Fur Hat of Doom still reigns for the frigid weather.

Also on the to-knit list is a baby sweater. One of my friends from high school is pregnant and due in June. It's their first baby, so I really want to make sure to knit her something nice. I might even go so far as to try a pattern with some stranding! I need to pore over patterns this weekend. I know she really wants a girl, but she's also definitely NOT the powder-puff-pink type. I'll probably stick to the safe bet of bright cheerful colors. My friend is Indian, and most of the Indian folks I know appreciate bright colors. I might have to see if there's anything particularly geeky I can do. A baby TARDIS sweater? I'm sure such a thing must exist somewhere.

Has it really been over half a year?

Oh dear. July. July, when the shawl I'm wearing at this very moment was still just in the planning stages. That was the last time I posted here. I am ashamed. *hangs head in shame*

So, what's new in my wanton world? Well, er, I knit this shawl! It took me ages, even though I don't feel like I ever put it down for more than a week at a time, even with several setbacks (I'm looking at you, broken needles over Thanksgiving!) and frustration. The thing is, it's a big shawl, it's laceweight yarn, and it involves both nupps and beads. The full-size Aeolian is NOT a fast knit! I finished it around New Year's Day. I still haven't managed to take a GOOD picture of it, but I hope this will suffice for now.

Since I last posted, I have had very bad luck with shawl pins. The one from Designs By Romi that I'd had for years--since I knit my first Aeolian shawlette--disappeared. The first part I lost was the stick, and I just replaced that with a darning needle with a beaded stitch market on the end. It was working well enough, but then I lost the curly pin part, and that was that. I couldn't order a new one from Romi, since her shop was closed while she finished a book. I got one from Nicholas and Felice on Etsy instead. Then that one disappeared when I was running errands one day. ("That sank into the swamp...") Finally, I ordered a couple new ones from N&F. This time, instead of sterling, I got the cheaper copper and aluminum. They aren't as delicate or as shiny, but they ARE lovely. Hopefully, they'll stick around.

The latest news in my knitting is big news indeed! Well, it's big news to me, anyway. I've finally taken the plunge into colorwork! Yes, after getting All The Knitpicks Palette Ever from my friend a couple years ago, I finally did the sensible thing and started to learn Fair Isle. I'm making a pair of the Daisy Mittens on Ravelry, in a deep rich red and teal combination. It's not easy. I'm really not used to working on DPNs anymore except for the three-needle hexipuffs for the Beekeeper's Quilt, so that's a challenge. An even bigger challenge is the fact that I've had to train myself to knit Continental. The palm side of these mittens alternates yarn colors with every stitch, for the most part, so having one color in each hand is much faster than dropping one to pick up the other with every other stitch. All in all, I feel like a totally clumsy n00b! Even so, things are beginning to pick up, and I've done 15 rounds of the colorwork pattern on my first mitten. I'd have done more, but I restarted a couple of times. The first time, it was because I'd dropped some stitches and was having a hell of a time trying to pick them back up again, since I'd managed to screw up the pattern because of it. The second time was when I decided to swap out the orange yarn I'd started with for the teal I'm using now. I like the color combination much better, so I think this was a good decision. Also, I'd been twisting my Continental stitches at the beginning of the pattern on my previous attempt (oops), which I have since corrected. It's really exciting to be learning something so new to me in knitting, and I can't wait to post pictures.

Hopefully, it won't be so long before my next update!