THe joy of wearing Alka

Here is what my lovely Alka shawl looks like on me. This one I'm keeping, for sure.

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Awesome Alka

Alka is done; she's washed and stretched on the blocking board (with wires and pins) and looks like this:



The yarn is Maritona, a cabled merino wool no longer available. Knit on size 6 needles, when stretched, it measures about 38 inches from the back of the neck to the bottom and the wingspan is about 65 inches. The pattern is from Myrna Stahman's Faroese Shaped Shawls . I ampled it a bit by adding an extra set of center back panel increases and an extra set of side panel increases as Myrna suggested in the book. The yarn split a lot while being knit but that may be because most of it had a previous life as a partially knit and frogged cabled cardigan. Reskeining and washing helped with the crimp but it still was split-happy. The color is a little hard to see - it's taupe, a grayish beige. Should look okay over black, which I insist on wearing despite having a white kitty who sheds constantly. My last post showed the shawl before blocking, and I must say I had my doubts but after being stretched I'm pleased with how it looks.
And while I had the camera out I took a picture of the king-size bed quilt, a sampler I made about 22 years ago while taking a brief break from knitting.

Combination knitting decreases and some more FOs

This is why I love to start lots of things atabout the same time - lots of finished objects at the same time. The black merino topdown raglan for Morgan (designed with Sweater Wizard) is done, well;almost. The zipper is just basted but I'm waiting for the sweater to dry on the blocking board before I sew it in. Waiting to be blocked is my Alka shawl from Myrna Stahman's Faroese Shawls and Seaman's Scarves - tiny before blocking and kind of blobby looking, but hopefully with some serious blocking to show the lace it will be fine and ample enough. Now that I see it I could have done another row of diamonds before the lace edging, but frankly I had enough of those diamonds. Someday soon I'll have to do a lace weight shawl - that will take me months and months of intense knitting but I will do it, soon . . . Here's the black raglan done, and the Alka before blocking.









In case there is any interest here is how I manage left and right slanted and centered double decreases when doing the combination purl. Description and a video about how to do this simple and quick purl stitch can be found at: http://www.anniemodesitt.com/purl.html

When using the combination purl with the knit stitches mounted so the back leg is the leading leg to get a:

Left slanted decrease - knit 2 tog. through the back loop

Right slanted decrease – slip the 1^st st. off the needle and twist it so the leading leg is in the front and replace on left hand needle. Then knit 2 tog. through the front loop . (this is what non-combination knitters do to get a left slant – it’s called SSP, only our way you only have to slip the first st. and not both of them)

Centered double decrease: slip first st. off left hand needle, and replace it on the left hand needle twisting so the leading leg is in front; then slip 1^st 2 sts. (as if to knit the noncombination way) back to the right hand needle. Then knit the 3^rd st. and pass the 2 slipped sts. over the knit stitch.

Okay, now I'm off to finish the birthday socks and a couple of sweaters before starting on the Seaweed vest.

FINISHED OBJECTS! The Cascading Hearts shawl from Jackie at www.heartstringsfiberarts.com as a sample for Morgaine Wilder of Carolina Homespun, who models it here. I used 6 skeins of Malabrigo, kettle-dyed merino in a heavy worsted weight on a US size 9 - the whole thing weighs only 21 oz. The yarn is a joy to work with and very very soft - I can wear very little wool but this I can wear next to my skin. The pattern is well written and easy to follow. The scarf, also a sample, is of merino twist and mohair dyed by Morgaine in a ruching pattern. Patterns and yarn available from www.carolinahomespun.com

Having finished two projects for samples I decided it was time to start something complicated again. Not fussing around, I ordered and promptly received Jamieson and Smith Shetland jumperweight from Medrith Glover's Woolroom in Quincy, CA for her Seaweed vest from Sweaters from Camp. The colors are glorious and the yarn easy to work with. It's naturally sticky so the steeks won't be as scary as cutting smooth wool would be. My husband will get to wear this, not like the pink Susan shawl he modeled! I did a circular swatch on US size 3 but thought it was a bit dense, so then did a "quick swatch" using the method suggested by Meg Swansen in the book on size 4. After steaming it was limp as a wet dishrag and the swatch on size 3 was lovely and held its shape nicely. So size 3 it is, but it didn't photograph well so the photo is of the size 4 swatch. I thought while reading the pattern I would be able to use the figures Medrith worked up but forgot to compare them to my husband's measurements, and I have to re-work the entire pattern fitting in the seaweed fronds. Silly me to even think of knitting something in a pattern without changes. Actual casting on will have to wait until I finish Cheryl's birthday socks (Lorna's laces sport weight; they will be fraternal twins), and the lace edging on the Alka shawl for me.

Now that baseball is upon us I also have to work on a couple of projects that don't require great attention so I can, um, "watch" baseball with Jim. Can't really complain; he is going to go to knitting camp with me if I get in, and puts up with my draping the stairwell with yarn and leaving knitting bags next to every chair in the house and telling him things like: I don't care if you'll wear it, I'm knitting it. SO I'll get some time to finish the diagonal knit in Sherlock, and the Laurel sweater that I already posted the first sleeve. Ok enough blabbing, now to the needles.