Summer Knitting

Photographing lace in a dark, hot, humid apartment full of boxes is a challenge. See below.

Yesterday was the hottest day in Seattle history, and it felt like it. It hit 107F (41.7C) in Bothell yesterday! In the evening, 90F felt almost comfortable! So I haven't been knitting much. I wanted to cast on for an Aeolian Shawl, since I spun some yarn for it in the Tour de Fleece challenge.
wensleydale 4
I dyed the 6 oz (170g) Wensleydale top using the block method, and spun the top directly from braid into 1100 yards (1100 m) of laceweight singles.
wensleydale 5
My inspiration for this was a project I saw on ravelry, and I think I did a pretty good job with it.
wensleydale 2
But it has been so hot, and the idea of knitting hairy, slightly coarse wool was not very appealing, so the the skein is sitting in my basket while I work on my unfinished projects.
wensleydale 1

So I have been knitting some cotton. I finally finished my lace cardigan!
black widow 5

I call this project the Black Widow (spiders, y'know!) :D This is another one of my top-down seamless concoctions, and I absolutely loved every minute of knitting this. It has no seams, so when I cast off it was done! And I added some short rows and side shaping to make it fit better.
black widow 4

And the cherry on top - the set-in sleeves.
black widow 6

The yarn is Mandarin Petit, and I had 6 balls of it. (I think Terhi from Mustaa villaa sent it to me years and years ago.) The original idea was to knit a short bolero to go with a summer dress I bought, and I wanted to use all of the yarn. By the time I reached the bolero length, I still had 3 balls left, so I kept going and ended up with a full-length cardigan.
black widow 3

I'm sure this will be a summer favorite! I've worn it a few times and I like it a lot. The cotton yarn feels cool and soft and comfortable, and the simple arrowhead lace makes it rather girly. And the vintage buttons my MIL gave me, they give it a touch of elegance.
black widow 7

Needless to say, I am extremely happy with this project.
black widow 9

Now, the moving business is getting more and more hectic every day, and it hit me I should probably dig out my UFO bin and finish my projects. Don't want movers accidentally poking themselves with stray needles sticking out of half-finished sweaters, you see. So I dug out my Hyrna Herborgar Shawl.
hyrna 2
I cast on for this shawl in the plane, over Greenland, on our way to Finland last summer. I needed a simple project for the trip, and this pattern is really very easy to knit. Fast too, unless you forget it in your UFO bin.
hyrna 1
I grew so fond of the middle stitch pattern that I accidentally knit too many repeats. I didn't want to tink back (lifelines, bah!) so I kept going until I was ready to knit the border.
hyrna 5

I am glad I made the little mistake, since finished, this measures some 66" x 33" (168 cm x 83 cm) and I used maybe 3 oz of KnitPicks Bare lace-weight. It is just the right size for wearing around your neck with a winter coat.
hyrna 6
Before blocking, I dyed the shawl in light blue, because since it was begun over Greenland, it needed to be glacier blue. It's a little too warm blue for my taste, but it is still light blue so it'll do. I think the color is closest to truth in this picture.
hyrna 4
All in all, a nice project then. I may knit another one of these, in Icelandic yarn, as I liked working the pattern and it turned out very nice. But that will have to wait until winter!

No pictures of the finished T-shirt yet. We're expecting cooler weather this weekend so maybe I'll shanghai MrHairyFeet to photographing again! Until then, stay cool everyone!

17 comments:

helena said...

Upeita neuleita! Tyylikäs musta leski ja aivan mieletön, herkkä Hyrna!

Morgen S. Daily said...

Tuulia,
You did a beautiful job dying the Wensleydale...Black Widow is gorgeous...I love the arrowhead lace pattern! I haven't been daring enough to try dyeing yet. However, today I made string! Yay! My first skein and miraculously it didn't twist up on me when I took it off the niddy-noddy. I still have to wash it though. I learned a lot already in the one skein...like to be more careful portioning out fleece before spinning so I'll have more even bobbins at the end, and I need to learn a better way of splicing when a single breaks as I'm plying. But all in all I am pleased! Thank you for the instruction!

Morgen

Lotta said...

Or having the movers accidentally rip out the needles of a WIP - God forbid! :)

A really beautiful Hyrna! (and that's the first time I've heard it called an easy pattern, btw...) Plus the lace yarn is to die for.

kramox said...

hei jotain rajaa nyt, jooko.
oisit ees neulonu ton takkisen jostain eri väristä ;)

mie tahon muuten kans opetella kehräämään tollai. nyt mie vetelen siitä vyyhistä ohuempia säikeitä ja kehrään ne.

MariL said...

Kauniita neuleita!

Anonymous said...

What do you mean by block dying? Love your black lace sweater; is it for sale?

Tuulia said...

helena: kiitos :))

Morgen: Yay! I'm glad you made yarn! And for the techniques and improving your spinning, the old rule applies to spinning: practice makes perfect, so just keep on spinning and plying! And you're going to learn a lot at Judith's class too :)

Lotta: thanks :))

kramox: ei se oo olleskaan vaikeaa, kunhan vaan ei paa liikaa kierrettä :)

Mari: kiitos :))

Anonymous: block dyeing is a technique where the colors are applied in blocks, so the whole top/roving is not dyed at once.

My handknits are not for sale.

Tiina said...

Musta leski on ihan ykkönen! Tosi kaunis, toimisi myös boleroversiona.

hiisa said...

Lovely knits again! And the yarn you spun is delicious.

Tess said...

Ihanaisia neuleita!

Tiina said...

Tosi kiva neuletakki, tuollaisen tarvitsisin itsellenikin. Ehkä pitäisi vaan ryhtyä tekemään eikä toivoa että kaupasta moinen eteen hyppäisi.

Ihana on tuo huivikin, pitäisi saada aikaiseksi hommata tuo ohje itsellekin, niin kauan tuo on jonossani ollut.

Johanna said...

Onpas kaunista!! Huokaus!!!!

Johanna

jen said...

Stunning. I am not often jealous (really ever), but your pictures make me drool and turn just the slightest shade of green!

Jane said...

Two beautiful projects Tuulia and I love the pin too!

Opal said...

your hyrna is gorgeous! i can't wait to see how your aeolian looks in that beautiful handspun.

i love how overloaded your posts are with the eye candy. :)

Tree Peeps said...

Hello!
I REALLY like how this dye turned out. I have only tried dyeing a few times and this gives me inspiration to try more techniques.

(I also live in Seattle and remember that hot summer day!)

Norrlandshemmet said...

Aivan ihana