Monthly Archives: December 2011

Aeolian Shawl Session Two – In the Thick of It Now!

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Hello, ladies. I hope you all had a great holiday. I sure did. I had my parents in town from Texas, plus our two grown sons. We had 11 people for Christmas dinner. I took my parents to the airport Tuesday morning and immediately came home and went to bed. I got up twice for about 15 minutes, then once at night for about 3 hours, and then back to bed! I was seriously tired. I had not touched my shawl since class and was able to return to it yesterday and this morning and am well on my way. I hope you are too.

Here are some pictures of your great work from our last class:

Lisa's Aeolian

 

Dale!!!!

So let’s recap some of things we discussed in the last class. Everyone seemed more than proficient at placing the beads on their knitting, so we can skip over that. (If you are not one of my students and are reading this blog as you knit Aeolian on your own – and I know I have some readers who are – refer to my previous Aeolian Shawl posts for explanations and links to helpful videos). You all also seemed fine with your nupps. Remember the three keys to making good nupps – 1) use very pointy needles; 2) make your nupp stitches and yarn overs VERY LOOSE; 3) when purling your nupps on the wrong side be absolutely sure you have picked up all 7 (or 5 or 9) strands of the nupp. Not doing so will give you an extra stitch on your next row.

Tita is using hers as a veil

We discussed that for the next class we’d like to have the agave and final agave done, and if you can, get started on the edge charts. Remember that you can do as many repeats of the agave chart as you like, but that the last repeat must be from the final agave chart. Remember that the bold slanted lines on the chart represent DOUBLE DECREASES (slip, slip, slip knit and k3tog) and not single decreases (slip, slip, knit and k2tog). This is a mistake I made in the reading the charts when I first knit this and I ended up with way too many stitches per row.

Emily's white on white Aeolian

A word about the relationship of the agave chart to the transition chart just below it on your knitting. If you are doing the agave chart correctly, the little triangle of beads should sit in the middle (tho of course, above) the V formed with yarn overs and beads in the transition chart. Here’s a picture of mine:

 

The white threads represent the beginning of a new chart. Notice where the little cluster of three beads is in relation to the V of yarn overs and beads below. Get it?

If you make it through the agave charts and on to the edge charts, remember the order of the edge charts goes like this on all right side rows:

right edge chart, edge set up chart, center edge chart, edge set up chart, left edge chart

Only after you complete all 28 rows of the edge set-up chart do you move on to the main edge chart for the side sections. You continue doing the right, center  and left edge charts. IS THAT COMPLICATED ENOUGH FOR YA?

We meet again one week from today and I am very anxious and excited to see your work and compare notes. I really treasure this class – you are all stars and a joy to spend time with.

I think this is Ruth's? Sara's?

Aeolian Shawl – Preparation for Session Two

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Hello, ladies! I hope you have been able to find some time to knit on your shawl during this very busy holiday time of year. I keep hoping I’ll wake up tomorrow and it’ll be New Year’s already. Alas . . .

So, this Wed. we have our second session in which we will tackle nupps. In preparation, I have asked you to bring a small swatch of stockinette stitch, about 10 or 12 stitches across by just maybe 7 or 8 rows. The swatch needs to be done on pointy lace needles and worked in some kind of lace yarn.

Also in preparation, I’d like you to watch this video about making nupps. We’ll, of course, cover all this in class, but for those if you who have never done nupps, it may be helpful to watch this a couple of times before you watch me do it and before you try it yourself.

I have completed 10 repeats of the Yucca pattern and my Transition section. I’ll put in a lifeline and come to class ready to start the Agave chart. Remember what I said in class – I really do not care how far you get – or don’t get. It is much more important to me that you come to class, be a part of the group and learn what you can than that you hit certain knitting quotas before class. I just wanna see your faces – makes me happy.

 

Aeolian Shawl Session One – Making Progress

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I spent a lot of Sunday sitting on the couch watching the Green Bay Packers humiliate I MEAN DEFEAT the Oakland Raiders. I am not a football fan, but my husband hails from Milwaukee and my son is a Raiders fan and we live about 20 miles north of their stadium. So it was on the tube.

And on my needles was my second Aeolian Shawl, which I am making this time from a silk lace from Lisa Souza, color way “Sedona.” And let me tell you, this is absolutely luscious, addictive, finger-tinglingly delicious to knit with. I could not put it down.

So for those of you knitting along with me in the Aeolian Shawl Knitalong we are having at K2Tog, here’s my shawl. I have completed the set-up chart and ten repeats of the Yucca Chart . . . .

Yucca Chart section

Remember, Yucca has to be repeated an even number of times. And if you look at mine, you will see on this go-round I have placed a bead only at the tips of the Yucca leaves.

And see my lifeline . . . .

Lifeline

That marks the end of Yucca and my move onto the Transition Chart. Then I’ll begin the Agave Chart.

Silk doesn’t look too spectacular until you block it, and i real think this is gonna be a beaut. It’s a real rusty, sunset red-orange. I love that Lisa Souza. Gonna spend some $$ with her at Stitches West in February.

 

Aeolian Shawl Class – Session One

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Mikako's Aeolian

Hi, folks. I am writing this post to support the nine fabulous women who took the first session of the Aeolian Shawl knit along with me last night at K2Tog. This gorgeous shawl is designed by Elizabeth Freeman and is a free pattern on Knitty.

The purpose of writing about the class/knitalong on my blog is to reinforce what we discussed about each section of the shawl. There’s a lot of information coming at people in each session and I promised to write notes here so, if they get stuck in the two weeks between each of the three sessions, they can come here and hopefully get Unstuck!

So, here’s what we covered in Session One:

We started the shawl with a tab cast on, casting on 3 stitches using long-tail, not a provisional cast on. We worked in garter stitch for 17 rows. Then we picked up and knit 7 stitches across the long side of the tab, then picked up and knit 3 more stitches across the cast on edge for a total of 13 stitches. This gave our knitting the appearance of a little swag having from our needles.

We decided to use a border of 3 garter stitches at each side of the shawl. This means that on EVERY ROW we slip the first stitch as if to purl with yarn in front (wyif). We then knit the two remaining stitches before the body of the shawl (the charted parts), and we knit the last three stitches of every row.

The charts are worked as follows: the border stitches (the frame of three garter stitches at each side” ARE NOT charted. Work them first (slip the first purl wise wyif and then K2). Then go to the chart and work the row you are on. That should take you to the center stitch. The center stitch is also not charted. Work the center stitch, then repeat the chart from the beginning. That should take you to the last three stitches of the row, which form the garter stitch frame. Work the last three stitches in garter stitch (knit all stitches).

We should have at least four stitch markers on our needles – one after the first three stitches, one before the center stitch, one after the center stitch, and one before the last three stitches.

We begin working the shawl with the Set-Up Chart. We work this chart ONCE ONLY, then move on to the Yucca Chart.

This shawl is modular. That means you can shorten it or lengthen it  by doing more or fewer repeats of two particular sections – the Yucca Chart and the Agave Chart. BUT, you must do an even number of repeats of the Yucca Chart and you must use the Final Agave Chart for the last repeat of the Agave section.

We talked about how to place a bead on a knit stitch – using a crochet hook (size 14), place a bead on the hook. With the hook, slip the stitch to be beaded off the left handed needle and onto the hook. Use your right hand to push the bead down over the end of the hook and onto the stitch. return the stitch to the left-handed needle without twisting it, and work it as directed .

We also talked about a few tips that apply to all lace knitting. First – use lifelines, dammit. I use them after every repeat of a chart, but you may use them as frequently as you like. Also, use a Post-It note to mark your place on the shawl. I always put my post it ON TOP of the row I am working so I can see how the stitches I am making should align with the stitches below. And the pointier the needles, the better.

Your “homework” is to complete the Yucca Chart as many times as you like and the Transition Chart to Row 15. We’ll cover how to make nupps – they come in on Row 17 of the Transition chart – in the next class. YEAH!

 

If You’re on my Christmas Card List . . .

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stop reading right now. You’re gonna see this year’s handmade Christmas cards.

Here they are . . . .

Snowmen One

I made these using some stickers from Penny Black, purchased at the old Stampers Warehouse before it closed. Man, that was sad and I sure do miss that great store. The paper is just some random winter-themed paper I bought God knows how long ago.

Here’s another set . . .

Snowmen Two

Again, these are the same Penny Black stickers. I embellished the cards with some Glitter Glue in the color way “Icicles,” giving the snow on the snowmen’s hats and such a touch of sparkle. A couple of the cards have a small snowflake – a button minus the shank – glued on for extra effect.

And when I run out of snowmen stickers, I’ll make these . . . .

Reindeer card

They were made using a Penny Black rubber stamp and some glittery red stuff. I sold four of these cards at the weekend’s craft show at Albany Middle School. Yes, only 4. The big hit at my table was my husband’s origami ornaments and my mother-in-law’s domino Christmas necklaces – more on those in another post. It was NOT a jewelry show. I think I sold only 2 necklaces and 1 pair of earrings. Ugh.

 

OMG Can We GO??? PLEASE??

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Just had the most awful case of the envies after reading this in Knitters Review.

I love Clara Parkes’ description of what makes a retreat so special . . .

Over the course of four days we renewed our connections and made new friends, learned from one another, cleaned out and then enhanced our stashes, told stories, laughed ourselves silly, ate plentiful food we didn’t have to make, and then collapsed each night in a clean bed that had been made just for us. I ask you, what could be better?

Makes me very nostalgic for the days of the old Skein Lane retreats on Tomales Bay. Alas.

Anybody wanna go? I’d almost kill to go.