The Clap and Cream

I have been shockingly industrious in the past couple of weeks. Finishing 2 things and now half way through a pair of socks - what is the world coming to?

So first things first. I have done a Clapotis by kate Gilbert. Yes, that seemingly ubiquitous wrap/shawl/scarf that is much loved on Ravelry with 14824 started projects and 11411 finished articles. Well it has another to add to the list.

From finished things

It was made for my sister as she loves big scarves and this completely fitted. The end product finished up being about 20" wide slightly stretched and about 70" long. I forgot to measure it but that's roughly how big as I soft blocked it on a yoga mat I have around.

I used some Silk Garden Lite that I bought from Hejhog and used about 5.5 balls or 748 yards. The pattern was a doddle and for those that are slightly in awe of it I'd say jump on right in there and don't look back. Basically it's just knitting and purling with the occasional dropped stitch. make sure that you have enough stitch markers and you'll be well away.

My second finsihed marvel is this very cute semi-circular shawl Citron by Hilary Smith Callis.

From finished things

I got the yarn from a charity shop ages ago, never quite sure what I wanted to make with it. This worked really well.

The pattern is easy to follow (as are all of those that I have tried from Knitty) and it really clicks along at a fab pace. As the shawlet grows it takes longer to wind from one side to another but funnily enough you always get to the other side. I chose to used Jeny's Surprisingly Stretchy Bind Off when casting off and it works well as it allows that fab crinkly edge a place to run free.

Ruffy Neckwarmer

This was knitted up for a swap that I am in and I hope that my partner likes it, or at least has a friend who might like it.

I have had the yarn - Gedifra Capriola - for ages and could never find a decent project for it. It's one of those super bulky, sort of flat felted look yarns and this ws multi coloured too. But I saw the Little Ruff in One Skein Wonders and realise that it would do for a ruff or neckwarmer.

Well this is the finished results and I like this alot

I changed parts of the pattern. The original calls for an aran weight but I used bulky and increased the needle size to 10mm. I then only cast on 14 stitches and on the short rows did a differing pattern. On one side it's a 2 and 4 short row repeat and on the other it's a 2, 3 and 4 repeat. I think this has made the neckwarmer sit better without being too floppy - but I would say that ;o)

Anyway it is done and I shall hopefully post it off tomorrow if I can slip and slide my way to the post office.

I am dead

Well Smackdown Scarf dead - many thanks to my lovely target Sephiroth who killed me with a lovely soft greyish scarf. I'll put some photos up later but the snaps I took last night seemed to feature my double chins more than I thought appropriate (it's not that kind of blog) so I shall take some more this evening with the camera on the tripod and see if they are any better.

Now there is the delightful chase of trying to hunt down WIPs and who they need to get to. I have contacted my target, but she is also dead so hopefully she can get in touch with her assasin to get her to send the WIPs scarf back to my assasin's assasin as Sephiroth is also dead. It can get very complicated - how does Helen (the boss of smackdown) keep it organised?

I'm still in with the socks and stole but oh dear, oh dear, oh dear am I having problems with the darned stole. I managed to mess the repeat up in two lovely ways and didn't spot it until I had added another 3" to the stole. Not only did I manged it across the row, I also managed to knit the same row three times. Obviously I cannot knit lace with slidey yarn and do anything else. No tv, no radio, no talking of any kind. The strange thing is, is that I have actually got the pattern in my head so don't need the chart or text. I just need to concentrate more.

Anyway . . . the socks are going well and I might have them finished in time for posting off on Saturday so that's nice.