tangled up

blocking out the weekend

I have lots of knitting related plans for the weekend. My first goal is to block both the flower basket shawl and the Matisse Charlotte's Web shawl. The flower basket shawl looks pretty ratty now but I have high hopes for it after blocking. And yes, another Charlotte's Web. After this one is completed, that leaves only one more on the needles, the Noir Charlotte which I plan to take my good old time with. After blocking, the flower basket shawl will be finished. The Matisse, named by my friend Joannie who also named Seville and Provence, will still need its crocheted edge and fringe. The Koigu for Matisse was purchased during a visit to Denver, where Joannie lives, and fittingly, it will go back to Denver finished as a gift for her. Here is what they both look like BEFORE:

Two other pieces ARE going to get finished this weekend: the Turino mini-poncho and a lovely Colinette Giotto top for my friend Sonya. If I truly can get all that done, I will feel like I've accomplished somethng. I also don't want unfinished projects to go undone when I've got such a yen to start new ones. Big question that I need to research re: the mini-poncho -- how do you block silk? I've never done it (I never blocked anything before the last couple of years) and one expert knitter I asked said that you can't block silk. How can that be?

I've knit about 6 inches on Sheerly There and love how it's working up (pictures when there's more to see). The Koigu held together with the Kidsilk Haze looks beautiful and makes me particularly happy because I desperately need to find other uses for KPPPM beyond Charlotte's Web shawls. Now I just have to get enough of the mohair to do the whole sweater -- another task for the weekend.

I've been on a bit of a yarn binge and I was unrepentantly planning to continue that this weekend, but I'm less certain now. Woolwinders is having a big sale but from their blog, it sounds like most of the sale items are already out the door. I had been planning to get some Big Kureyon but that's definitely already sold out. I will probably still make the trek up there anyway, but I will have to lower my expectations. According to their newsletter, Yarns International has put out their new Koigu and that's a regularly scheduled stop for me on Saturdays anyway. I need to put together my holiday list before I go so that I'm not just randomly purchasing yarn that strikes my fancy. Somehow, though, that's what it usually gets down to -- the question is, can I change?

Viva Seville Charlotte

Today is my friend MT's birthday and the Seville Charlotte was a present for her. It looks terrific on her. Even 9 year old Gabriel had to dance around in it (though he wouldn't have done it if his friends were around. That's one down for the Charlotte Knit Behind, two more off the needles in varying states of completion and Noir Charlotte about halfway finished.

The weekend is over and I didn't have a chance to block the flower basket shawl. Unless I have a burst of energy some evening, it will have to wait until the weekend. After writing about the Schaefer blossom earlier, I decided to not to give up on trying to pool the colors. I frogged the 12" or so that I had completed and began again. On the first try this time around, it worked (give or take; photo tk). My only concern now is that the scarf is at least one third wider than I had intended and I'm a little worried that there won't be enough yarn to make a scarf of any significant size, but we'll just have to see, won't we?

the new camera works

It's going to be the weekend before I can do a real download of the last week in knitting, but I couldn't resist posting a few photos before I leave for work (which should have been 30 minutes ago).

The first picture I took with my new digital camera was of Seville Charlotte's web stretched for blocking:

I still haven't figured out how to restore the color, which seems to fade a bit when I save photos for the web. Need a photoshop tutorial... here's a close-up of the Charlotte:

Now for the flower basket shawl. It hasn't been blocked, but I was wearing a white t-shirt and stretched it across my back so Joannie could take a quick picture:

Finally, this Plymouth Turino Silk is what I'm using for the current (and final) mini poncho for Mom:

Have a great day!

quick update

after a week away there's so much to say, but unfortunately, no time right now. got back yesterday evening later than i'd planned after having to drive through much of what was left of tropical storm Gaston. and this morning, i've unexpectedly got to go to NY for the day for a meeting -- dreading having to go to the city during the Republican convention. taking the shuttle instead of the train in order to avoid the convention area, which means less opportunity to knit on the trip. since this space is for knitting and not for politics, i won't say anything more....now.

the flower basket shawl is finished!!! well, not quite, it still needs to be blocked, but i think i'm going to be happy with how it turned out and i should have enough yarn left over to make a hat. took a picture with it stretched across my back while wearing a white t-shirt (will post later) and the pattern does pop out.

also finished the red and black charlotte's web, the shawl previously known as athens charlotte, previously known as #2. my friend joannie took one look at it and renamed it Seville Charlotte, which seems to fit it quite well. turns out she has quite a talent for names that i have to admit i don't have.

visited a wonderful yarn store in Southport, NC, which i'll write more about later. a poncho was hanging in the window that i think is exactly what my mom is looking for (sorry, mini-poncho experiment), the owner was extremely knowledgeable and unbelievably helpful, and i came away with yarn to make a poncho for both my mom and my sister (a lot of attention to ponchos considering i don't think much of them myself), wool to make a felted bag that should felt better than my Kureyon did, and a pile of old Vogue Knitting, Interweave Knits and Knitter's magazines, with lots of ideas of stuff to make this winter. Joannie bought a beautiful worsted weight alpaca/wool blend called Jazz by Artful Yarn. i don't remember having seen it before and while it looked nice on the hank, i really fell in love with it while helping her wind it into a ball.

gotta get moving. more tomorrow.

charlottes in progress

here are the two unblocked charlottes that i plan to finish in north carolina. i've been calling them by their numbers but realized that that's not going to work, because i called the third one #2, etc., it's just too confusing. so henceforth, the red and black charlotte will be called Athens Charlotte, red and black being the colors of the university of georgia, located in athens, where i went to law school quite a while ago and where my nephew is currently in college. i bought the yarn as a holiday present for my friend MT and am determined to complete it before her birthday right before Labor Day. the charlotte i was calling #3, i will instead call the Monet Charlotte because the colors recall a Monet painting. the Monet Charlotte is destined for my friend Jane in Columbia, South Carolina, but she doesn't know it yet.

a picture is worth...

a thousand words only if you can take a decent photograph. my next task is to figure out how to take photos that better represent these knitting projects and to learn photo shop well enough to correct the color for posting to the web. these photos of my second charlotte's web shawl capture a little bit of what is my favorite charlotte, but don't really tell its story. i made this charlotte to dress up an outfit for a January wedding at an inn north of new york city. i never got there because of a death in my family but the setting seemed like a fairy tale, the people getting married were both very special to me and i just had to have something realy special to wear. intended to be worn over black velvet, the deep greens and reds had a winter-y, heirloom quality to them. i don't keep many of the things i knit, but even if i had intended to, this one i couldn't give away.

sad thing is, you can't really tell it from the photos. they were taken with a great camera borrowed from my friend Charlotte (no kidding), so i can't blame the camera phone. i just ordered a digital camera as my birthday present to myself and hopefully, when it arrives, i can learn to do better. thing is, between tinkering with photos and knitting, i'd rather be knitting.

update on my flower basket shawl: it's recovering from a rough week. i noted earlier that i did a repetition of each chart on US8s and wasn't happy. i then did a repetition of each chart on US7s and wasn't happy either. so i frogged both. i dragged my entire stash out of the attic for a long overdue organization and to see if i had anything else fitting so i could start working on it immediately. i thought a lighter colored, singled hued yarn would work better b/c it would show off the pattern. i now have a much better idea of what's in my stash and much of it is better organized, but there wasn't a substitute on hand. i was determined to get started so i went back to the Sierra and started again on the US7s. i'm now through the third repetition of the lower flower basket chart and i believe that when it's blocked, the pattern will emerge. thanks for your encouragement, sarah elizabeth. i'll try a camera photo over the weekend, but it might have to wait until the new camera arrives.

sweet charlotte's web shawl

My dad was lovely to take these photos in Atlanta and email them to me so i don't want to delay in posting them (thanks, dad). i became a devotee of the charlotte's web shawl last december. i was going to a wedding in january and i didn't want to buy a new dress. i thought i could dress up an old black velvet dress with a new shawl. the wedding was out in the country at an inn and it all just made sense. i had been ogling the Koigu hanging up at Yarns International for a long time without knowing what to do with it. my search for shawl patterns landed me on charlotte and the rest is history.

this was my first charlotte. i probably frogged the first six inches ten times, but in the process my fingers "learned" the pattern, and i learned how to correct every mistake (and it's impossible not to make mistakes). as it turned out, it didn't go very well with the dress. drunk with the power of having completed it, i decided with two weeks to go before the wedding that i would just make another. (that one's for another day)

i gifted charlotte's web #1 to my mom (she's modeling it in the photos). it looks much better over beige than it did over black.

what i liked about this charlotte: something about the combination of colors makes it look, in person, like an antique. what i didn't like about this charlotte (besides the fact that it didn't go with the dress): the second and third colors are a little too close in tone and don't stand out enough from each other. when i selected the colorways, i was excited that the color change would be subtle, but it turned out a little too subtle.

i'm now in the midst of knitting charlotte's web #6. charlotte #2 is the only other one that's actually complete. #3, 4 and 5 are off the needles, sitting patiently waiting to be blocked (i joined the charlotte knit behind for incentive to finish them). Only one of them follows the classic charlotte striping pattern; the others are variations on the them. #6 is actually solid black; it's my "travel" project -- the pattern is so ingrained in my hands that i can do it anywhere.