UFO Landing

Well, I never thought I'd see the day.


Grandma's Mitered Squares
pattern: Mitered Square... thingy.
yarn: Assorted worsted weights.
needles: 5.00 mm (US 8) straights and 36" circ for the borders

This was an extremely consuming project. It took me over a year! And for a while I'd nearly given up on it, but thank goodness, I stuck it out. I wanted to make my Grandma a blanket, and the mitered square phase was all the rage, so I thought, why not? I used mostly stash yarns, though I ended up having to buy more of the burgundy... which was Lion Brand Wool-Ease, and thus the cheapest.


To aid in the knitting, I made up a few rules. I stuck to four colors (burgundy, grey, brown, and white). Each square would have two colors and whatever striping.

Putting the pieces together was a bit of a puzzle. I didn't want any two squares with the same color border next to each other. I think I did a decent job with the final arrangement. If I could "redo" I'd switch two squares, but other than that I'm pretty pleased.


The border isn't quite as thick as I'd like it, but I knit until I ran out of yarn. Such is life.

This is one of my favorites. It was such a pain, but it's so pretty. I love it. And warm! This is definitely going to be the year of blankets (if all goes as planned), so I think this is a great way to kick things off.

I'm Blogging! I'm Blogging!

So. 2008 has started, yada yada... I'm a terrible blogger. If I had resoluted in the beginning of the year to blog more often, I have already failed that.

For those of you who are fascinated by details of my life, I am currently in London and will be here for the next few months. I'm studying abroad! Learning the culture, and what not. It's been marvelous so far, but I have yet to visit a yarn store. Soon, I suspect.

Well, here's a Christmas wrap up:

As you can imagine, I didn't finish half the things on my list. I DID however, finish a couple of scarves: one for my dad and one for my uncle. Because I was in a rush to send them off, there are no good photos, so I'll spare you the ones with terrible lighting.

I did, however, manage to finish the one thing that had a hard deadline: a shawl for a former teacher's wedding.

Something Blue
pattern: Kiri from All Tangled Up [ravelry]
yarn: Rowan Kidsilk Haze in Heavenly
needles: US 6 (4.00 mm) 32" Addi Turbos

It turned out quite lovely.


It was, however, more time consuming than I had imagined. I started this shawl sometime in November, but it was quickly pushed to the corner of my desk when other more pressing projects presented themselves. I told myself I'd finish it after Christmas.

Things were going along swimmingly but it seems I forgot one crucial detail: Kiri is a TRIANGULAR shawl... which means EACH ROW GETS LONGER.

I completely underestimated the amount of time it would take me to finish. I literally stayed up all night.

But finish I did:


Time was ticking. I hurriedly bound off (as hurriedly as I could anyway... took at least 15 minutes... all those stitches!) and drew up a quick soak for it. I grabbed it out of the sink, wrapped it in a towel, jumped on the towel a few times, and pinned it out.

It looks quite pretty.



Kidsilk, for all its drawbacks (fuzzy, sticky, impossible to frog), is one of my favourites. I love how finished products in Kidsilk look. Even garter stitch in Kidsilk is quite glorious.


The pattern is, as everyone else has said, very simple. If you have yet to knit lace, I recommend this pattern. It is very well-written with many clear notes, and the finished product is lovely.

That said, it was, I must admit, one of the most boring knits I've ever done. It just was not enjoyable for me. The shawl turned out lovely (if I do say so myself), and I'm always a fan of products knit in Kidsilk, but the pattern was just unbearable for me. I literally had to grit my teeth and force myself to knit row after row.

Seeing my teacher's reaction though made it all worth it.