Damn, Knit & Blast It

Irresistible Yarn

October 30th, 2011, 9:27 pm

When I saw a bag of 10 skeins of Louisa Harding’s hand dyed Grace Silk DK for a silly bargain price of £2.90 a skein I couldn’t resist.

Just look at it…isn’t that pretty?

From Beatriz Silkwool

I eagerly started to look for a pattern to use it…

Hmmmmm Actually – there’s not that much yardage in each skein – probably because the silk is heavy. It’s a good thing I’m a small size as I didn’t have enough yarn for several of my choices and I needed a pattern that would lend itself to the floppy, drapey nature of the yarn.

Then inspiration hit me – I had the Rowan Lenpur book from when I made Katia - remember Katia?

This is the book I mean…

From Beatriz Silkwool

Lenpur in a linen yarn and very, very floppy so I hope that the patterns will suit the Silk Wool. In that book I found what I hope will be the perfect garment – Beatriz.

Here’s the book pic….

From Beatriz Silkwool

I had a bumpy start to Beatriz – not least because the hand dying process seems to have welded some of the Grace silk fibers together making balling the skeins on my swift a “swear-worthy” task

Then there was the “What size? What needle size dilemma?”….

“Oh Dear, I’m slap in the middle of the first two sizes”, Thinks Susan. Hmmmm… ,”I’ll make the larger one….”

…..several inches later….

“Hmmmm, that’s feeling a bit stiff and I really have to tug it to pretend I have the right gauge”

……..< Swearing >

……Starting again….

So, I’m now knitting the smaller size but on 4.5mm needles rather than the 4mm given. I’m using two balls at a time – 4 rows from each ball – so and variation between skeins isn’t too obvious.

Wanna see her so far?

From Beatriz Silkwool

Not bad huh? I know this is fabulous yarn but part of me is never quite as thrilled with these variagated, hand dyed yarns when they are knit up – I guess I like solid colours.

So wanna see a close up?

From Beatriz Silkwool

Pretty though huh? So far so good….

But now I’m starting to worry it’ll be too big!

Filed under Knits WIP, Knitting · 5 Comments

It’s Blocky and I Blocked It!

October 16th, 2011, 8:07 pm

Oh WOW!!!

I’ve finished the Modern Quilt Wrap and I am beside myself with the results. It definitely one of my favorite things I’ve made in a long time. (Yep the knitting mojo is back!)

It has been finished quickly, mainly because it has that “I’ll just finish this stripe before making dinner, I’ll just finish this block before bed” kinda hook that made me a total progress junkie.

I may have mentioned before that I’m not a massive blocking fan – I can reliably ruin knitted fabric, particularly when armed with an iron! It this case I took a huge leap forward in my knitterly experience….

I bought blocking wires…..

From Modern Quilt Wrap

These are the “Block-It kit” I got mine from HuluCrafts. I’ve never had blocking wires before because I’m not really a shawl knitter (except the lovely Birch which I marmalised with an iron because, back then, I didn’t know any better about blocking shawls!!) Oh, I just noticed the rulers in that picture – the kit comes with a ruler in inches only – the cm one is mine from years ago – wouldn’t want to mislead you.

I carefully threaded the wires through my shawl and pinned it out on the sofa bed in my knitroom/guestroom on some towels….I was impressed how easy that process was and how much better it looked even befor the steaming, even though this is the back of the wrap….

From Modern Quilt Wrap

I hovered the steam iron over it without squashing it until it was good and damp then left it alone for several hours. Mewsley was under strict instructions not to sleep on the wrap. Something she had taken to doing in the guise of “helping”..

From Modern Quilt Wrap

So how does it look???

Well, I made this wrap to cheer up a big, thick unflattering grey wool winter coat so I guess I had better model it with that…

From Modern Quilt Wrap

And a shot with the whole thing? Of course!

From Modern Quilt Wrap

Even my office chair looks good wearing it

From Modern Quilt Wrap

As you can tell I love this wrap. If you possibly can, in Kidsilk Haze or any other lovely yarn, try making this wrap. It’s easy, addictive and massively rewarding

Completed Knit Report
Name:	Modern Quilt Wrap
Pattern:	Modern Quilt Wrap by Mags Kandis from Knitting Daily
Yarn:	Rowan Kidsilk Haze in 9 colours
Pattern Problems:	None – very well written pattern. much easier than it looks – one colour at a time with a few decreases to make the corner.
Pattern Modifications:	None – the given colours worked so well I couldn’t bring myself to change them
Washing and Wearing:	Worn outside once – compliments already rolling in!
Knit It Again???:	Very likely but in a different colour pallet
Difficulty:	EASY! Much easier than it looks – one colour at a time with a few decreases to make the corner. Each block picked up from the previous one.
Rating:	6/5 (Yes – it’s that good)
Other Postings Relating To This One:	And I had most of this in stash