Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Tinklebell done!

I said I needed some knitwear that would be useful in our hot weather. So I got down to knitting it really quickly.

This shell took over slightly over a week to complete. There were some schematic adjustments to make to fit to my longer torso, apart from the usual stitch gauge calculations. Don't we all love maths? [grin]

This shell used only 5 balls of yarn so the overall yarn cost came to about around US$20¹! Not a bad deal for a shell top and the yarn is ideal for summer wear given its hemp and cotton content.

Honestly when I was knitting this, I kept wondering if the silhouette is flattering on me. The original model in the magazine shows the shoulder coverage to be very ample and modest. However, I am generally broad shouldered and is really glad that the armholes end up looking good in their place. Tinklebell is a good piece for office wear and it goes well with my linen capri pants too!

I am not the only one in having my project finished though. My student, Felicia finished her shell too.

You can read about it here.

After finishing the top, I decided to start on a project for hubby. He loves the tweedy look of the yarn I earlier used so here it is, in a brown shade. Here's the usual one ball shot:

Knitting in the round makes it seem so much faster. Perhaps the mindlessness helps?

¹. I do carry this yarn so if you have any interest, please email me to ask for shadecards. Estimate above exclude shipping. Paypal payments accepted.

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Still the blues

Thanks for all your participation in the shawl polling.

As it stands:
53% of you suggest that I leave it as is.
41% thought that it could be bigger.
6% wants to see it ripped.

Well, guess what?!
I just measured the shawl across and it's about 32" in diameter when blocked.

So....I am likely to rip and reknit to a bigger shawl size!

Yes, you heard me right...I am not out of my mind yet; I still love this shawl pattern enough to attempt it again. This time, on way bigger needles!

Hubby and I have planned for a quick getaway this weekend with our friends so this will be my travel project since we're driving up to KL.

Bye, bye shawl...

On the other hand, the blue shell is coming along nicely. I have finished the back and now onto the front.

That's where I noticed this:

2 rows of unbelievably loose tension. And I decided to do something about those 2 offending rows that is staring right into my face -- I am not about to back down a dare. And so off I went, grafting them.

I figured that the loose tension might have arised from my unravelling earlier. The plying of this yarn doesn't lend it to much unravelling and re-using. And I am knitting at a tighter tension to get it look *right* for this shell and basically, making my needles blunter by the minute.

If everything goes accordingly to schedule, by next week, these 2 should be FOs!

PS. If you did try to get to my blog the last few days and couldn't access my site, that's because my site was on a bad file server and they had it down for a migration. But I am happy to be back on live!

Friday, March 17, 2006

Midnight knitting

While nervously waiting for your observations and feedback on the shawl, I was trying hard not to chew my nails or start snacking. I have the whole apartment to myself and hubby is staying in at work.

We haven't got a TV so no channel surfing. Yes, TV-less for about 9 mths now...which is unusual in Singapore context. Everyone looks at us incredulously when we say that and ask how we manage to survive without it so it's obvious that most of our Singaporean adults are TV addicts or couch potatoes. (Actually, I'll include our friends' kids too...they miss their PS games when they drop by our place.)

Keeping my hands busy will take my mind off things. So with the radio on, I decided to do some quick pattern browsing -- actually it's more like tortously trying to decide which pattern I want to start first! Besides, all my students are having so much fun knitting their garments that I had to join in too.

So I casted on something new. At midnight.

Here's the obligatory one ball shot at 4:30am in the wee hours.

As usual, I spent a fair bit of time with gauge re-calculations since the pattern is a little too generous on the ease for my liking -- meaning both the stitches and row gauge. And I decided to choose a delicate blue cotton/hemp yarn which is unusual for me - I am usually the kind to go for strong dark colors.

It was a battle between 2 long sleeves and this shell top. The heatwave we are experiencing in Singapore lately, along with possibly more haze coming from the neighbouring countries being reported got me thinking that a knitted shell is a more sensible idea at the moment. But I've been known to be irrational with my projects selections at times -- like my knitted round shawl or the crocheted one.

With luck, I may get round to finishing this soon!

Thursday, March 16, 2006

Taco wrap

The round shawl is finally completed -- the knitted version I mean. I put it though a rinse and had it aired out yesterday.

I haven't darned in the ends yet. Now I have a question to ask you since this is my first attempt at wearing a round shawl. Maybe I'll need a pin or brooch to secure the front as I put it on?

What do you think of the shawl size?
Good enough, leave it as it is. Could be bigger to wrap around better. Looks awful; why don't you just rip it? Just rip back and use bigger needles.
	View Results

The truth can't hurt me that much. I am wondering if it's the needles I used that are still a tad too small for this shawl.

Besides, I am already thinking of starting another project so if this needs to go to a frog pond; the trip wouldn't be as horrendous.

Friday, March 10, 2006

Are we done yet?

The round knitted shawl is moving along quickly. In fact so fast that by 2pm yesterday, this is how much it has grown.

My galfriend says it looks more like a bag. What does she know? And by 7pm, while I am on the train (yes, I am a BIG believer of KIP¹), I casted it off.

This is how crumply lace looks like. I wonder how others manage their artistic shots.

I should have been happy but I wasn't. When I got home, I tried it on and found it a tad too small for my liking. So what does a gal have to do? Rip back and add more rounds, of course!

Just picture a woman with glazed eyes, looking maddeningly intense, frantically unravelling her work. No lifelines, no coffee, nothing. In less than 15 minutes, I got to where I wanted to be. And having fun working out the next steps.

I am not sure which is more cruel:

Tuesday, March 07, 2006

Round and round we go

Crochet tango still isn't going that well. It's basically back to where I originally left it at WIP stage. My meticulous streak must have gone on holidays as I kept making silly mistakes which aren't detected until I am far off into the next new round!

Fighting the urge to feel sorry for myself, I just decided to start on another project! [Haha, what's new?] But this time, in the round again, but in KNITTING!

Is there any wonder what my favorite colors are? Plum, pink and maroon. See how the round thingy matches the cushion cover so well? This project still remain *nameless* as I don't want to jinx it. Though the good thing about knitting in the round is that I managed to apply my crochet skills and started the center with the round crochet cast on. See how neat the center is?

And for the lack of progress of my own, let me divert your attention to something else.

My student's work. And it's only her second project! You can read more about it here.