Knitting News

Ahem! Drum roll please... I have finished River! And it's beautiful! I know, it took me long enough. I can't tell you how many times I had to frog back because I had lost a stitch or gained a stitch and with this yarn, Rowan Kidsilk Haze, you frog back three times as slowly as you knit. It loves to felt. The pattern was not that hard, but since it was my first experience knitting lace, I struggled with it. I used the Options needles, size 10.5, from KnitPicks because they are very smooth and very pointy which makes knitting 2 or 3 tog easy, but they are also very slippery, especially with this yarn, and that is probably what led to my dropping stitches. I have no idea how I could have gained a stitch. Anyway, when I switched to bamboo for a few rows, the yarn would stick and was getting stressed so I switched back.

My daughter helped me to take this picture and dropped lots of hints about how pretty it was and how she "loved" how it came out, so I think I will be knitting another lace shawl soon but with a different pattern. Luckily I bought extra yarn just for this purpose when Sakonnet Purls was having their sale last December.

But now I am moving on to a few summer projects. My daughter gave me some Gedifra pattern books for Christmas and I have chosen two patterns to do. The first is 706 from Highlights 051. It is made with Gedifra's California Like and California Color. I plan to make it a little smaller than the pattern in the book but with exactly the same yarn which I purchased from Royal Yarns.

The photo on the left does not show the color very well so here is another photo of what I have accomplished so far with the California Like. California Color will be used to crochet flowers that will fit into the diagonal space. It should knit up pretty fast on 10.5 needles. The little ribbons that are attached every 3 inches or so are a nuisance but the Options needles seem to be working very well for this one. You have to stop every 4 rows to bring the ribbons to the right side, but I like the effect. The yarn is 50% cotton, 47% Acrylic, and 3% Polymide. I hope it won't be too heavy.

The other pattern is 848 from Highlights 061. I chose this one because it has cables and I haven't knitted cables since I was in high school. It'll be fun to try it again. The yarn for this one is Top Soft. It's 40% Viscose, 40% Polymide, and 20% Silk and is indeed very soft. I think I am really going to enjoy working with it.