Tag Archives: wrap

Sunny summer wrap

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Just for a moment I’m pretending that I won’t be going back a hot, swampy mess in Florida, and so I’m going to call my newest project a “summer” wrap. Also, it’s made with Rowan’s Summer Tweed, so that helps me keep up the illusion.

It’s a Lintilla wrap/scarf, much bigger because I used a heavy yarn and appropriately larger needles. It is a little narrower than I thought it would be, but I love the pattern and plan to use it again as soon as I can get my hands on a beautiful (and lighter!) yarn.

Lots of lessons in this pattern – I learned how to do partial rows with “wrap and turn” along with picking up the wrapped yarn. I have to confess that despite doing this about a thousand times, I still don’t get why you can’t just turn yourself around and stitch back the way to came. Maybe it reinforces the stitches at the turn? Avoids a hole? I think I’m going to have to try a test patch without the wrapping and turning just to see what happens. In the meantime, I’m planning to wear this with a pretty sundress here in the Netherlands, and then probably put it away until December when we move back to Florida. “Summer” indeed.

Around the block

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I’ve just finished a cute mini-wrap using the Citron pattern (LGT Ravelry). I used some of the lovely mocha-colored yarn that my grandmother gave me (spun from a blend of her alpacas’ wool, although sadly not by me – more on the spinning front in another post…).

The knitting on this one went really fast – I finished it in two otherwise pretty crazy weeks – and only involved a small amount of cursing (mostly limited to the time I accidentally pulled a ton of stitches off the needles). The pattern itself is pretty AND pretty straightforward, but does require blocking the project at the end. I’ve never blocked anything and was little daunted by the idea, but it had to be done.

But… how to do it? A quick search on Google reminded me (with apologies to Tolkien): Go not to the webs for council, for they will say both no and yes. Some people say hot water, some people say cold water. Some people say dunking, other people say spraying. Some people say special equipment, some people say a towel and straight pins.  In the end, I based my plan of action on this really helpful page at Yarn Harlot. I will add to the chorus of comments at the bottom of that page that the yarn-through-the-top thing is genius. Pure blocking genius.

Here are the before, middle, and after shots:

Project #1

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Back from a cross-country plane trip… the ONE good thing about being hurled through the air in a metal tube after waiting in line to be searched is getting some time to knit. Thank goodness for all the little old ladies who demanded we get to keep our needles, at least. (They are so much safer than shampoo and toothpaste.)

Anyway… I finished Project #1:

I’d been itching for a reason to try out one of those multi-fiber yarn-esque skeins forever. I bought one while my mom was in town, and she whipped up an easy pattern for me to make a shawl/wrap/scarf with it. Basically, I started in the middle of the triangle at the top, and added 4 YOs (at the ends and two in the middle) every other row. Super easy, though I did track how many stitches I needed to get to the middle of each row. I only had to stop and recount during a row a few dozen times. I blame dehydration.

Anyway, it was fun to knit, and I got quite a few positive comments while I was working on it (including from one of the flight attendants!). Working with this yarn felt a bit like a sampler pack – I got to try knitting all kinds of weird things and see what I liked enough to do a big project with. The overall wrap is not really “wrap” sized, but it makes a great scraf-wrap hybrid. If I did it again, I would use two skeins instead.

This yarn had a lot going on – here are the highlights:

Super fuzzy dark green: Like mohair but less fun. Much less fun.

Ladder yarn: Let us never speak of ladder yarn. It is designed by sadists.

Thick’n’thin yarn: I was prepared to grit my teeth and bear through this part, but I actually quite liked both the yarn and the effect, so I’ll have to try this again.

Ribbon: Weird, but easy, though there was a thin sample that was super slippery and somewhat tricky to get the tension right with.

On to finishing the next project!