My First Beaded Shawl!

As I said a little while ago I've finished and blocked my Rivoli Shawl. My husband just got round to taking photos as we're having quite a clear sky day here. It's lost some of it's shape as it was blocked a few weeks ago but it's still beautiful and I couldn't be any happier with it. It will definitely need blocking before I go away again but I don't mind that too much.

You may have noticed that it's not as deep as the pattern example and the main reason for that is that I didn't swatch! I never swatch for shawls as I'm happy to rip out if the fabric isn't what I want and am generally not bothered if it comes out a little smaller or bigger than the pattern example, as long as it's still wearable. I only used 496 metres of yarn and the pattern recommends having 700 metres available to use.  

If I were to knit this pattern again I would use a different blend. The fiber is Lotus Yarns Forest Dew, which is a blend of 36% angora, 30% merino, 26% tencel and 8% cashmere. While I love the finished shawl it does give it a different look to the merino/silk blend that the designer used. It's more soft, fluffy and not as polished looking. When I do get to wear this in December I am sure that I will greatly appreciate the fluffiness of it! 

The beads are great as they weigh the shawl down a bit and I'm hoping they will help to hold it in place when I do wear it.  Using the Fleegle Beader made the beading a huge amount easier than using floss to transfer the beads and I'm extremely happy I had it. In the future I'm sure I will make some more beaded projects although, I have no plans to at the moment. 

What have you finished recently that you can't wait to wear!? 

FO Friday #7

I did it! As I have the house to myself for 3 blissful days I sat down for a few hours this morning and finished my Rivoli shawl! When I cast on this pattern on 30th Dec 2013 I knew it would take me most of the year (if not longer) to complete and I was fine with that. It has been an incredibly satisfying knit and, while it's by no means perfect, it is glorious and I'm really pleased with it.

The pattern looks more complicated than it is and was fairly easy to knit. Admittedly I rarely did more than about 4 rows in one go as I did have to concentrate carefully on adding the beads and the lace pattern. The short rows seemed to take forever however, I was grateful to be casting off only 254 stitches instead of the 334 that I started with.

The yarn (Lotus Yarns Forest Dew Fingering Weight) is as soft as you would expect from a blend of 36% Angora, 30% Merino, 26% Tencel and 8% Cashmere. It was easy to knit with, if a little slippery at times and incredibly warm. There is a bit of a halo from the angora but not enough to obscure the lace or be too irritating if you don't like that sort of thing. My main worry is the strength of the yarn but as the shawl really won't get a great deal of wear it shouldn't be an issue. The beads add a little glimmer, a bit of weight and I also really like how they feel too.

I was nervous about the blocking of it as I've never blocked an angora blend but it seemed to wet block OK; I really won't know until I take it off the mat though. It's so difficult to get a good picture of it; hopefully my lovely husband will take a much better photo when he is back! 

I feel really good for finishing this and hope that the rest of the year continues in the same way! Have you finished any of your languishing projects from last year or perhaps cast on something new for 2015?

   

WIPs!

So it seems I have accumulated a lot of WIPs over the last few months! I have been putting off knitting some of them for no reason in particular and need to get cracking on them!

As you can probably tell the middle one is my cardigan, knitted from Inked Yarn in the Katharine base. As you can see I only have two sleeves and the back. I cast on the right front ages ago but didn't even get through the second row! Pathetic start I know but I confused myself over the twisted ribbing....it was early in the morning and I hadn't woken up yet! I have also been putting it off because I think I would like some sort of stitch pattern on the front and I need to swatch as I will probably use it all over the fronts. Perhaps this weekend I'll start doing that!

In the bottom left is the Seafoam Shawlette to Shrug that I am knitting for my step daughter. She picked out the yarn - an unknown brand and fiber content (probably acrylic) but it's quit pleasant to knit with. I haven't got very far as it doesn't need to be finished until Christmas and is not the most interesting of knits.

The Girasole in the top left corner of the photo is being knit out of 100% bamboo. It is my second time knitting the pattern and was initially intended for a friends new baby, but I didn't get it finished on time and knit a cardigan instead. This will be finished as it would be ideal as a lap blanket for when the air conditioning gets a bit chilly.

As you can see I haven't done any more work on the Rivoli Shawl. Since we moved it's been sat at the top of a wardrobe (along with most of the other knitting/spinning stuff that wasn't in shipping) waiting to be worked on again.

In the middle I have five spinning projects! Two of them I showed in my last post (alongside the sock I forgot to add to the above photo) and they are my current go to projects. The top one is some Baby Alpaca and Bunny Tops from Ixchel Bunny that I actually spun half of quite some time ago and have favoured other projects since. The middle spindle is some Nunoco that I started during the TdF and have no reason for not picking up since! Underneath that is some Ixchel Bunny Pure Luxury No. 5 that is lovely but challenging to spin.

So those are my WIPs....9 in total! I feel I need a plan of action to complete them all!

How many do you have at the moment? How do you plan to finish them when you have many outstanding?

P.S I've actually just realised I have a few other spinning WIPs tucked away...! I've wound some plying balls and just not started spinning the remaining fiber yet...whoops! Perhaps that's a post for another day?!?

 

WIP Wednesday #2

Currently we're on our way back to Bangkok. We're taking the train, first class again, although it leaves at 21.04 so we won't get to see much scenery. Koh Samui has been wonderful and if we didn't need to get back to Bangkok then we'd definitely stay another week! We'll be applying for our Indonesian visas when we're there but have no idea at the moment how long that process takes. After that we're going to head to Singapore for a week or so! Needless to say I can't wait!

My biggest WIP at the moment is definitely my Custom Fit Cardigan. I swatched a while ago using some beautiful yarn from Inked Yarn that was custom dyed for me. It's a gorgeous blend of 55% BFL and 45% silk. My hope is that it is cool enough, due to the silk, to be worn in air conditioning. If not...well I'll most likely tolerate it anyway!! This is the third attempt at a cardigan for me, the first two were failures and frogged fairly early on in their short lives. Fingers crossed for this one please everyone!

So far I've done the back and one sleeve...not much considering I started it in May, but I'm cautiously knitting on my projects as I won't get my stash until about October. I have cast on the second sleeve but as I'm not in a hurry to finish it I've only done one row! Obviously the pieces haven't been blocked yet and won't be until I've finished all of them and am ready to seam. Although I've found some of the pattern a little challenging to get my head around I have enjoyed this so far. The pattern is very detailed and provides you with row counts for each section. I'm feeling hopeful that this will turn out well!

The other WIP that I have with me is my beaded shawl, Rivoli. It's a stunning beaded, lace shawl by Anniken Allis. I'm knitting it using Lotus Yarns Forest Dew in a light grey. To compliment the yarn I am using silver beads; subtle but absolutely gorgeous. 

While I was busy/tired/stressed during the last term of work the shawl was barely looked at, never mind knit on. However now that I have free time/have the mental energy/am relaxed I'm getting a few rows done a day. I've now completed 2 of the 4 repeats and am nearly finished with my 3rd. One more full repeat to go and then I get to the easy part! I've no idea where I think I'm going to be wearing a shawl made from a blend of angora, merino, tencel and cashmere in Indonesia but look at it....how could I resist?!

What have you been working on?

Beads beads beads.....

Since casting on my first beaded project I have searched high and low for another beaded project to sink my teeth into. It came in the shape of some fingerless gloves by, funnily enough, the same designer as the beaded shawl I'm knitting. 

Starlight is a fingerless glove pattern by Anniken Allis and it is perfect! I had many false starts though, when searching for the right yarn/bead combination and was almost at my wits end when I found the perfect match! 

The yarn is Fyberspates Superwash Lace, which I got in a sale about 2 years ago. It's been languishing in my stash ever since, as I've never found the right project for it, held doubled though, it's great for this pattern. I really like the pink and green beads as for me they had just the right amount of colour and interest to this already gorgeous pattern. The fist one was quick and I finished it in a couple of days, however the second one is taking longer due to being back at work.

I'm adding beads using some picture hanging wire, as I can't find a crochet hook small enough here and the Fleegle Beaders I have aren't quite the right size for the yarn. 

While I'm on the subject of it I thought I'd share my thoughts on the Fleegle Beader now that I've used one enough to make a judgement. I bought the 0.8mm, (which I'm using for the Rivoli shawl) and the 1mm size.

The beader took a while to get the hang of and initially I didn't enjoy using it, however after I went back and re-watched the video on youtube and it seemed to click. It's easy to put beads on but I could see how a bead spinner would be convenient for loading it.

The two stoppers are very useful; I find that I use one at the top and one at the bottom, as that seems more secure than the beader tip. 

The packaging isn't something I'd keep it in and in fact, when I received mine one of the tubes was broken at one end. I also think it would be helpful if it came with a little slip of paper illustrating how to use it. It's incredibly inconvenient for me to use youtube where I live and this would have been most appreciated. 

Overall I'm pleased I purchased the beaders and can see me getting a fair amount of use from them over time. The biggest size might be something I consider in the future. 

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WIP Wednesday #1

As I've mentioned in the last couple of blog posts I've recently started knitting the Rivoli shawl. I thought that now would be a good time to show you as I've completed the first repeat and managed to take a photo where you can actually see the beads. 

The knitting is very simple but very effective. I am adding beads using the Fleegle Beader which I have found easy to use as well as considerably faster than using wire to add the beads, as I was doing before the beader arrived.  

The yarn is Lotus Yarn's Forest Dew in fingering weight, (it's a light fingering) and is gorgeous to knit with. It's a blend of angora, merino, tencel and cashmere, If you can try it, you should! 

One thought that has occurred to me is that the silver beads are perhaps too subtle but I hope that once it's finished they will stand out more. What do you think? Would you have used coloured beads? If so, what colour? 

What are you working on this week? Feel free to share in the comments section below!