I am all over the Place

I am all over the place… usually, I have just one project going and I work on it untill it is finished before I proceed to the next. But all of a sudden, I got several projects on my needles.

Let’s take a look…

Fingerless Glove “Sally”

When I was working on fingerless glove Adrienne, I came up with this fingerless glove with button. I have named this one “Sally” in honor of Sally Palin, the owner of yarnshop Close Knit on Alberta Street in Portland.

The yarn that I am using is Suri Merino from Blue Sky Alpacas. In the next photo you can view how my design “evolved”:

On the left you see my initial design, in the middle you see the first improvement of that initial design. On the right you the final design. I kept on working on the glove untill I was totally satisfied with the way it looked. Is it long enough? Am I satisfied with the ribbing? Am I satisfied with the way the little button is situated? How many stitches to cast on for the little strap? Finally after some time, this is the final design which to me looks tight and in harmony:

As soon as I am happy with the final result, I am ready to write up the pattern and testknitting begins. Right now I am testknitting with Frog Tree’s 100% worsted Alpaca.

There are 87 yards of yarn in this skein and I am assuming that it will be more than enough for a pair of fingerless glove Sally. However, I need to be a 100% sure before I put out the pattern for you to knit up!

All in all, I am happy with this cute fingerless glove… I especially like the button!

Tristan’s scarf and fingerless glove

Next up are Tristan’s scarf and glove which I am making out of Misti Alpaca Chunky. I bought 3 skeins in Colorway Moss Green and want to get both scarf and glove out of these skeins.

For the scarf I use the same stitch which you see in the body of fingerless glove Sally:

This is how it looks from the back side:

I am not sure how this stitch is called… moss stitch I assume, but I am not sure. Anyways, in Tristan’s scarf I use this stitch in the middle part and the first and last 4 stitches are done in seed stitch.

I also made an attempt to make a very simple fingerless glove for Tristan. If you are familiar with my gloves, you know that I always knit them flat and later on I seam them. I tried to do it again with this chunky yarn but I am not happy with the outcome:

This yarn is chunky, thus creating enormous bulk at the seam. Me don’t like… me don’t like at all… Not tight and in harmony at all!

It looks cute though, but I am thinking of making this one with double pointed needles (ugh) to eliminate the seaming alltogether. In that way, I get rid of that bulk on the side.

Tomorrow, I will head out to Sally’s shop to get some US #9 double pointed needles and finish a pair of gloves. With the yarn that is left over, I will finish the scarf. And yes, you know it, I will post both patterns for free!

Last but certainly not least…

My mother in law, Christine, called me with a special request… She told me that on Christmas day, when she was all dressed up and ready to go to her daughter’s to have Christmas dinner, she did not want to put on her heavy coat and wished that she had a shawl to put over her shoulders.

In my book, Christine is a “really really very special person”, and yes, I will be happy to make her an elegant shawl. She loves the color black and she really would like a rectangular shawl.

What type of shawl does one make for a very classy and stylish lady? A lady that always wears the most elegant dresses, high heels, perfect hair and make up?

With this in mind I set out to find the perfect yarn for Christine. After I found the perfect yarn for her, I dived into my stitch dictionaries to find a suitable stitch for her shawl. After several evenings of searching, I came up with the following three stitches and made swatches:

Swatch #1: Vine Lace. A very elegant lace stitch with only 4 row repeat.

Swatch #2: Double Wing, open work version. Almost make me think of Art Noveau/Art Deco Style.

Swatch #3: Scroll Pattern. Makes me think of wings of birds. Has a Japanese feel to it, in my opinion. Both front and back look very pretty.

I very much like all three patterns and will send the swatches to New York so that Christine can choose which one she likes best. I am so curious which one she will like best!!!

Thanks for reading this long post and untill the next entry!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! MAY ALL YOUR WISHES COME TRUE IN 2008!