Soon to be frogged

Another September Project.



The pattern is the Garden View Shawlette. I like the pattern, but not with this yarn, which is Newton's Yarn Country Rayon Ice Hand Painted. Rayon has no memory at all, and a stockinette shawl, no matter how well blocked, just rolls on itself. It slides of my shoulders, even after tying it.

Also, where did all the yardage go? The pattern calls for 200-300 yards. I started out with 2200 yards, according to the label. The fabric was thin and my gauge was way off. I order to get a better fabric and also to hit gauge, I used two strands, which meant I had 1100 yards, right? Enough to make a much larger shawl, with 9 or 11 leaves instead of 7. That’s why I started out with a long garter strip to be able to tie it behind my back.

Well, I am glad this pattern is constructed sideways. This allowed me to weigh the skein as I went. After three leaves I realized that I was approaching the middle. I had to settle for 7 leaves. Of course, The shawl is more triangular now than crescent shaped, given that there is only one center leave instead of three. Also, the tie strips are now pointless.

I am afraid to confess that for the first time ever a FO is going to the frog pond. I just do not see myself wearing this monster.

Snakes and Ladders

Another September project. I did not know if I wanted lace or cables in my socks, so I went with both. Someone from India told me years ago that she knew knitted cables as "snakes", and so I thought of the game "snakes and ladders" as I knitted the socks. Later I learned that in the US the game is know as "chutes and ladders".



Thanks to wikipedia, I now know that the game originated in India, and that over there it is still known as "snakes and ladders". So I'm sticking to that name.

I used a yarn called Summer Sox, which was a pleasure to knit with, though the ends tend to get splitty and weaving them in was not easy. In keeping with my obsession of using up all my yarn, I used the leftovers to make fingerless mitts for a friend, in the same pattern.



No leftovers! Yay!

Now with pictures

September was a productive month. Sadly, it was not a camera busy month. For one reason or another, I was posting to ravelry but not taking the time to take pictures of my stuff. But now that I did, let me show off, starting with a raglan I made with Sinfonia cotton that I got in Mexico eons ago:



I did not want to run out of yarn, so I started from the top and kept going until I had used up all three skeins. Yes, I am lucky to be short.

The one thing I regret is that I thought a seed stitch edging would be decorative enough, but it wasn't. Towards the end I added a few lace butterflies. If I were to knit this again (but I am not) I would add the butterflies at the neckline and at the sleeve cuffs.



The spouse concurs. Only to him those are little holes, not butterflies. But to him, all lace projects are just random holes.