Finished Ulmus

Finished Ulmus
Originally uploaded by mysterybridgers

Pattern: Ulmus by Kirsten Kapur
Size: Medium
Needles: 5 bamboo circular
Yarn: Madelinetosh Sock in Oxblood and Posey

I had a rough start to this project, but I'm finally finished. When I started I had a real hard time reading the chart. Once I finally realized that it is supposed to be mostly knit on both sides I got the hang of it. In hindsight, I wish that the pattern had been in both written and chart form. I hit a minor snag at the end too when the instructions were rather vague about the bind off. The pattern simply called for a purl bind off. I know of a couple of kinds of purl bind off. In order to ensure that the bind off was as stretchy as I could make it, I used the purl two together bind off called for in another pattern I knit recently (Ishbel by Ysolda Teague).

I think that the finished product is quite pretty, so I am willing to forgive the minor problems I had with the pattern. Once I got going with the pattern, it was quite easy, but it seemed to take forever--especially once I got to the border. The hardest part was picking the colors, but I think that the pink and dark red worked out nicely together.

I absolutely love the Madelinetosh Sock yarn. It is so incredibly soft and the colors are so vibrant. If it were not so expensive, I would stock up on all kinds of colors. I started knitting another project with Cascade 220 while I was knitting this shawl and the Cascade 220 felt like sandpaper by comparison. I am really becoming a yarn snob.

The Ulmus is still blocking, but it already seems much larger than I expected. I'm sure it will shrink up a little bit once I remove the blocking wires, but the medium size seems more than large enough. I can't wait for it to dry so that I can wear it! I still have some leftover yarn from this project that I hope to make a Selbu Modern hat to match the shawl.

$10 sewing table and cheap Brother machine

$10 sewing table
Originally uploaded by mysterybridgers

Believe it or not there is actually an antique sewing machine in the belly of this table. It has an old Singer machine that folds down into the table. I'm sure that the old machine is unusable, but the table works pretty well for holding my new cheap sewing machine. I figure that for $10, the old sewing machine can live inside this handy little desk until I feel like messing with it. I found this table at a yard sale across the street from our new place.

I had been looking for a cheap sewing machine for ages. I bought a cheap Singer machine at Target (about $99) and I never could get it to work so I returned it (it would always mangle the lower thread and get ridiculously tangled and I didn't want to mess with it as a relative newby). Finally I found this Brother machine on sale at Amazon--it was $70 and got really good reviews so I figured that I had to try it after my long search for the best cheap machine.

I set the machine up today and actually got it to work--and it works quite well. So now I can sew some stuff! I haven't sewn on a machine since college, so it will take some getting used to. As a drama major, I had to take several costuming classes and used a sewing machine quite a bit--but it was the hand-sewing that really turned me off to sewing.

I told my husband that I got the sewing machine to work today and he asked if I am going to make stuffed animals now. Well, I don't know. But I guess it is a possibility.

Finally Found the Right Colors for the Ulmus Shawl

ulmus beginning
Originally uploaded by mysterybridgers

I have started this shawl many time, but none of the color combinations that I tried seem to work. Finally I decided that I wanted to use the Madeline Tosh sock in a dark purply/red that I found at Stitches West earlier this year and went to my LYS with that in mind. I found a lovely pink in the same brand that looks beautiful with the red. I am going to make the large version of the shawl and use the pink for the leaf motif edge.

I had a real hard time with the chart at first, but once I realized that I was supposed to knit on both sides (instead of purl) and just trusted the pattern, I finally got the hang of it.

I have a lot of unfinished knits sitting around right now. The heavyweight blanket that I am working on hurts my hands so I had to take a break. I'm not that happy with the one sock waiting for its mate and I just really don't want to mess with the owls sweater right now. So, I am finding comfort is a relatively easy shawl. The colors are so beautiful together and the yarn is so soft. It is a total treat to knit. I also have some business travel coming up and it makes a pretty good portable project.

It's been so cold this season that I am ready to knit some warm sweaters, but at some point I need to limit the number of things that I am working on. I want to at least finish one thing before starting another.

New craft room

The new craft room is coming together nicely. I have a new Ikea shelf for all of my yarn--and there is still room left! When you move into a bigger place, you realize that you didn't have a ridiculous amount of yarn, the old place was just too small to hold it all.

There is a comfy corner by the window to sit and knit in and look at knitting books. I can see our balcony and our neighbor's trees blowing in the wind from here. When the weather is hot enough I can open the door to the balcony and let a nice breeze through, but I still need to find a way to keep the cat inside if I do that.

I can also listen to NPR (or whatever) while I knit. I still need a place for that sewing machine though.

I have yet to knit in this room though because every time that I have taken a few minutes out to sit in the chair in the afternoon when the sun comes into this room, I have fallen asleep almost instantly. Moving is tiring work, but I love our new home!

More knits to come...

This blog has been pretty quiet--sorry about that. My husband and I bought our first place and with that and work being super busy there has been no time to knit. However, I now have a new craft room instead of just a knitting corner, so I am hoping to have time to enjoy it soon. I still need to unpack all of my yarn. In our old tiny apartment the two boxes of yarn seemed like a lot, but now that there will be room for it all, it seems just right. I bought an ikea shelf to display all of the yarn, so if that is not full, I may need to add some more....we'll see. Once it is all unpacked I will be sure to post a picture.

FO: Shetland Triangle

Shetland Triangle
Originally uploaded by mysterybridgers

Pattern: Shetland Triangle by Evelyn A. Clark (in Wrap Style)
Yarn: Lisa Souza Sock! in graphite
Needles: Size 6 circular bamboo
Mods: None

This was such an easy knit! The pattern was pretty easy to memorize once I got started on a particular row. This is the second triangular shawl I have knit this summer. I guess I am following the crowd on that one. They are so easy to knit and easy to wear and now I want to make more. This has been a pretty cold summer in San Francisco, so it is nice to have something to wrap up in.

This shawl is still blocking so it will be interesting to see what happens to it when I take the pins out. I blocked it pretty seriously, so I'm wondering if it will keeps its shape and size.

Lisa Souza sock yarn is pretty nice. The skein contained over 500 yards so it was a monster. I still have plenty left over even though according to the pattern I should have just had enough to finish this shawl. The sock yarn is pretty thin, so I wonder if it would actually work for socks. It worked pretty well for a shawl though. The yarn is also a little stretchy so once again, I am wondering if it will keep its shape.

I have tried to start on a two tone shawl called "Ulmus" a couple of times and just can't get the color combination right. I am going to keep trying--or eventually just go out and get the original color combo--because everyone one of them that I have seen on Ravelry is beautiful. There are also a few projects that have been laying around for a while that I should probably get to. We'll see if that actually happens. Life has been getting in the way of my knitting lately, but what can you do?

FO: Montego Bay Scarf

Montego Bay Scarf
Originally uploaded by mysterybridgers

Pattern: Montego Bay Scarf by Amy R. Singer
Source: Interweave Knits, Summer 2007
Yarn: Handmaiden Sea Silk in periwinkle
Needles: Size 8
Mods: none

This is one of the few FOs that I knit exactly according to the pattern. I used the same yarn, color, and needle size called for. It turned out to be beautiful. None of the pictures of it really do it justice. The color is so bright and shiny. I absolutely love this scarf and I am sure that I will wear it often. As soon as it came off the needles, I was wearing it.

The pattern was really easy to knit. The hardest part was cutting 200 strands of yarn at the beginning for the fringe. I had quite a few strands left after I braided the fringe so I probably could have cut less, but I suppose it was good to have a few in reserve just in case. Once the fringe strands were cut, I just knit until I started to run out of yarn and bound off. So simple, yet so beautiful. I can see why so many people have knit this pattern.

The sea silk is so lovely and I hope that I can work with it again soon.