In the air tonight

7 Small Shawls: T - 159 days and counting down.

I'm sitting here by the window inhaling the amazing scent of California's dry grass and trees the evening after a warm day. There is nothing like it. Nothing. Being a California girl born and bred, I missed that smell horribly when I went back east to school.

But here I go off on a tangent when I have some more pics of Leyfi for you. I've seen a few comments where people were saying they thought the sweater fit strangely through the shoulders, based on the IK photos. It does look a little iffy, but I think it's because the model was shrugging her shoulders. Here you can see that it hangs properly.

Another shot of the shoulder.

The full sweater:

The sleeve detail.

And another shot of the sleeve detail with the yoke.

I tried it on and I also tried it on one of my small neighbors (who thinks I'm totally crazy because I'm always trying sweaters on her). It fits through the shoulders! Honest! :)

The other day, I got an email from Susan Rainey of the amazing Rainey Sisters. She and Sally have been working on my Maia Shoulderette. Susan said she wondered about the Maia chart and whether I would be charting everything they way I charted Maia. So I thought I'd explain a little bit about the method I use. Many charts, (and perhaps all non-lace charts I have used) show the chart as it looks on the right side. That means that when you turn it over and you see a knit stitch, you actually purl. But because there is patterning on both sides of some of my shawls, I have been writing the charts exactly the way they will be knitted. IOW, if you turn your work over and you are supposed to purl, the chart will have a purl symbol. Even though it annoys me once in awhile not to be able to see an exact representation of the right side of the piece, overall, I am super happy with just being able to follow the chart without thinking, especially on slanted decreases! Alas, it was more difficult for Susan to follow and she re-charted it. But I do hope that she will give my method a try some day. :) I can't wait to see your Maia, Susan!!!

Popping in

7 Small Shawls: T - 184 days and counting down.

I released the Maia Shoulderette today! It's shawl #2 in my eBook. And it's already up to #3 on Ravelry's new and popular list! And who's at #1? Merope!!!

Squeeeeeeeeee! I'm enjoying it as much as possible since it will probably change tomorrow! :)

Meanwhile, I've been working on my secret project. I'm ready to be finished now!

Do I need help?

7 Small Shawls: T - 186 days and counting down.

Hello. My name is Romi, and I am a knitting geek. It first started at a young age, and has gotten worse and worse. Whereas I just used to make up patterns as I went along in a haphazard way, I now have purchased more and more knitting geeky tools to render pattern making and writing more precise, therefore furthering my sickness. Last week it was more stitch dictionaries. This week it's a scale.

Sure, it's helpful. Sure, it measures troy ounces too (ooh! jewelry geek!). Does this mean I have to go overboard and weigh everything? Apparently so. I am incapable of stopping myself. Where will it end?

For instance, I can tell you that Lisa Souza's cashmere/silk fingering weight yarn is 2.065 ounces with a yardage of 400. (And it smells yummy, too).

This gorgeous Serenity Silk from Zen Yarn Garden (in 14k) is 104.1 grams with 500 yards. That should mean the Lisa Souza yarn is finer, but that's not really the case. More of the extra light cashmere (45%) in the Souza yarn gives you more yardage for the weight.

This gorgeous yarn from Wabi Sabi (in Paua) is pure merino - superwash - and weighs in at 106.5 grams/400 yards.

And then there are the these two beauties from A Verb for Keeping Warm. They are destined to become a striped shawl and weigh in at a total of 207.3 grams for 770 yards. The colors are The French Monk's Finest and Magic Bean.

The funny thing is that, although the yardage varies all over the place, the yarns are all about the same thickness. But maybe an even funnier thing is that I actually care about stuff like this. Do I have a problem? I think so.

For others of you with the same problem, do not despair. You are not alone. And I also have good news for you. Karen at The Royale Hare has put up the yarn I used for Maia on her site for pre-order. Now you can have your very own Bug Juice. Woot!

Back to my sickness. Hee. :)

Stretchy!

7 Small Shawls: T - 200 days and counting down.

Today I have almost nothing new. But next week, I think I'll be able to tell you about something that has me pretty excited! In fact, next week, I should finally be able to see the something for myself, and I am waiting with baited breath. Not that I want the time to pass quickly. I have so much to do that I had better not wish for that! Only 200 days for the rest of my 7 Small Shawls to be designed and knitted! Ulp.

Today I have a wee little tutorial for you on my favorite lace bind off. I can't remember where I first saw this, but I have been religiously using it for some years now! It takes more yardage than a straight bind off, but it is super super stretchy and fabulous.

You start in the usual way, by working two stitches (this is Maia that I'm binding off in the pictures).

But then you put them back on the left needle and knit them together through the back loop.

This is how it looks close up. It basically adds an extra row plus the bind off row.

As you can see, I used most of my yarn on Maia.

This is because I added an extra couple of rows onto the end of the chart so that you can knit them as many times as you wish to use all of your yarn. That is, if you are, like me, a stickler for such things. I hate having yarn left over!

In other news, we had a little visitor today.

Well, maybe not so little. He or she is about a foot long.

And was kind enough to pose for me. :)

I had a lovely dinner of chocolate ice cream, and now I'm off to finish up my stealth project!

True confessions of a yarn sniffer

7 Small Shawls: T - 204 days and counting down.

Scents have always made a huge impression on me, so it's no surprise that I sniff my yarn. Ok, maybe it does surprise you a little, but really, it's a natural thing. ;) Particularly the silk yarns. I've been sniffing silk ever since I was a child and my mother used to sew with silk fabrics. To me, silk has a very distinctive silky smell and I love it! I say "to me" because of all the strange stares I've gotten from people - when they ask the fiber content of a yarn or fabric, I sniff it, and then I say "it smells like silk." Apparently, not everyone thinks that silk smells like anything special. Who knew?!

But I digress. One of my most favorite things is walking into Stitches West to help set up and smelling all the hand dyed yarns. It smells like vinegar and wool, and silk, and...yum! I just walk in the door, close my eyes and breathe deeply. Euphoria!

Right about now, you are probably wondering what the point is. Well, Lisa Souza sent me some of her cashmere/silk fingering weight yarn in Forbidden City. (Wanna see? Look!)

It's been sitting next to my computer while I'm working, and every now and then, a delicious silky aroma wafts by my nose. Mmmmmmm. This is truly a yarn for all the senses! Soft, beautiful and delicious all around.

Lisa's yarn wasn't the only one that came in the mail. Just look at these!

These are from Saffron Dyeworks. OMG. The colors! Even #1 Son, who is generally unimpressed by such things, was drooling over it!

The colors are New Moon and Swoop (the teal). They don't smell though. Well, maybe a teensy bit woolly, but that may be my imagination. :)

Thank you both so much ladies! These will look incredible knitted up into Small Shawls!

I also want to thank you all so much for your kind comments about Maia! I'm excited about getting her to my test knitters and then off to you for the next eBook installment! This was a super fun and simple knit, and I know you'll enjoy her as much as I did. Plus, Maia is designed so that you can enlarge her by simply repeating the second to last chart as many times as you wish. How about that?! :)

In other news, today I helped my friend Karen set up her tent for our local little spinning event: Spinner's Day on the Farm. I'm missing it this year to go to a swim meet. The meet started started today, and I was running around like a madwoman before taking off up north. I got a little knitting done on a small (but painfully slooooow) secret project and planned other small shawls in my head while I knit and timed swimmers. The meet lasts all Saturday and Sunday, so we'll see how much I can get done! I'm off now to vegetate a little. Have a great weekend, everyone!

She's here!

7 Small Shawls: T - 205 days and counting down.

Well, I was going to show you my favorite lace bind off, but you've all been waiting so patiently that I thought you might like to see some shawl pr0n!

She's finished! The second shawl in my 7 Small Shawls eBook subscription!

Maia wraps beautifully around your shoulders.

The edging echos the spines of leaves.

She's got more fabric than a half circle. There are 3 spines of leaves plus the leaf edging.

I love the way the texture makes the color pop.

Here you can see almost 3/4 of her.

And the requisite self portrait in new shawl!

I'm very happy with Maia!

Next up? A Maia pattern for my test knitters with an optional beaded chart! Hat and fingerless mitts are a must, I think, as two of the extras you get with the eBook. I have the yarn all picked out. :)

Joining

7 Small Shawls: T - 206 days and counting down.

I bound off Maia today, and about halfway through the bind-off...well, you can see below. I ran out of one of the two balls of yarn. Luckily, there was still some left on the other ball!

So I cut the other ball off and got out my needle for a Russian join. My fav! I use a Russian join when the yarn is not feltable and cannot be spit-spliced.

I threaded the needle with one of the strands, and then wove back through the yarn.

Here's a close-up.

I left a loop.

And then repeated with the other piece of yarn, looping it through the first section.

I gently pushed the loops closed, but left them a little bunched up.

Then I separated the plies and broke strands off. I find this makes the join less lumpy.

I smoothed it all out.

Here's a close-up.

It's a fabulous and strong join, and works great even on silk and other slippery fibers!

More on the bind off tomorrow. :)

Details

7 Small Shawls: T - 207 days and counting down.

I am so happy that the recorded campaign calls are over (for now, at least)! I am enjoying a peaceful evening of knitting. :)

I'm almost finished with Maia, and I'm racing the last bit of yarn to the end! Things are looking sparse just about now.

The last pattern row of Maia includes increases, and I thought I'd talk about those a little bit. Because of the way I designed the edging, the increases do not occur every row, but instead fall every few rows. I depend on the flexibility of the knit fabric for the edging to fall into place properly. On the last row, I didn't want those increases to show, so I used my favorite little trick. I worked the right side row normally, with yarn-over increases where they fell in pattern (see below in circle).

Then when working back on the wrong side row, I twisted the yarn-over to close the stitch. And presto! It is hidden in the other stitches and no longer looks like a yarn-over. Instead of two rows of visible yarn-overs, there is only one visible, but there are still increases. Perfect!

I like to use this method when I don't want the increase to be obvious. It tends to recede into the background of stitch work just perfectly!

2 balls...of yarn

7 Small Shawls: T - 208 days and counting down.

I've ripped back the giant edging swatch and am continuing on with edging the whole shawl. I can't wait to block this shawl! Squeeeeeeeeee!

Ahem. Anyway.

I've been using two skeins of sock yarn from The Royale Hare for Maia. Karen is local to me and dyes some colors especially for me. Well, she was dyeing up one of them (Verdigris) when dye pot disaster struck and this particular color resulted! She didn't like it, but I loved it with a fiery hot passion. A passion which she was kind enough to requite. There were four skeins; I kept two and gave my friend A two for her birthday. Her love for yuck green is second only to mine, but we argue about that. She thinks she loves it more. Ha! As if!

Karen likes dyeing smaller skeins of yarn, because it works better with her method, and each skein (at 245 yards) is more than enough to knit one cable-y intricate confection-y sock of a pair. This is all well and good for those who are buying two skeins of sock yarn to actually knit socks, but for those of us who like to knit other things with sock yarn, well! Multiple skeins can sometimes be a little bit off from each other even though they shared a dye pot. What might be ok when they are on separate feet is not ok when they are together. When that happens, a distinct line will result. This is why hand dyers usually say to work from two skeins at once, knitting two rows from one and then switching to the other.

Here's where my mini tutorial comes in.

I used to carry the yarn up the side of whatever piece I was knitting, but that doesn't work very well for shawls. It's much too easy to pull too tight and end up with one side wonky. So now I do it a little differently. Here we have two unsuspecting balls of yarn, one a teensy little bit darker than the other.

As you can see, both are attached and being worked simultaneously.

(Avert your eyes from my uneven stitches please! And always remember, lace looks like crap until blocked!)

On every right side row, I knit the first stitch with both yarns held together.

I then continue on with only one strand, alternating the yarns every two rows.

It makes a much nicer edge for a shawl. If I were going to sew a seam and hide the edge, it wouldn't make much of a difference, but as the edge needs to be nice and stretchy and look good, this method is the clear winner for me!

And the yarn? Can we convince Karen to dye more? YES! She's going to do it! We're leaning towards calling it Bug Juice, but what do you think?

Edged at last

7 Small Shawls: T - 209 days and counting down.

Are you ready? Are you? Look!

I am super super happy with Maia. The edging was properly wrangled, and I knit a section of it on the actual shawl as a large swatch.

This is how it flows into the side edging. Score! And It will work for different sizes.

The most important aspects to me were the way the texture flowed into the edging, and also how it lined up with the "spokes" of lace detail. I didn't want to have pieces of incomplete leaves. The circles show some bits that make my anal retentive little heart sing.

You can see above how I did the swatch; it's just on a portion of the shawl. This helps me judge better how it will look on the whole, and also to estimate how much yarn I'll need. This is particularly important with Maia, because she is a little different in shape. I found that I won't have enough yarn left to proceed with the edging from where I've stopped, so I'll be ripping back a repeat and then knitting the edging on. The texture that is knit after the leaf pattern can be enlarged to use more yarn, as well. I wanted to hold to the yardage that would be used for two socks (in this case two skeins, but in most cases one skein) for all the shawls in this eBook, but also to make the shawls expandable so that they could be knit with other yarnz you might have lying around.

Green. Leaves. Texture. Love!