shawl – Stitches & Spoonfuls

Tag: shawl

Lately

Published February 14, 2017

Lately, I’ve been…

Knitting :: My shawl for the Yarn Buddies KAL, which is a little group knitalong with my friends Nika and Amirah. The idea for the knitalong started when Amirah gifted us each with a skein of this beautiful limited edition colourway from Neighborhood Fiber Co. We’re each making a different shawl (and, I think, each using a different contrast colour). I’m using Laura Aylor’s First Point of Libra pattern, and my contrast yarn is this lovely grey from O-Wool, which I got at Rhinebeck last year. I am so pleased with how it’s knitting up, and I’m already imagining sweater that would be beautiful knit with this yarn.
(Rav link)

Reading :: Still reading Ghana Must Go by Taiye Selasi. To be honest, I only read a few dozen pages of this novel this week. I am also reading Contagious by Jonah Berger, which I only started yesterday afternoon but am nearly halfway through. Although I’m not very interested in the sales and marketing bits of this book, the sociological parts have been fascinating. It’s a really quick and accessible read – highly recommended so far.

Watching :: Not a lot this week (it’s been a busy one – I got a kitten, more on this later!), but I have watched a couple more episodes of Trapped, which is an Icelandic murder mystery. It’s perfect for watching while working on the easier projects I have on the go right now, as I have to pay a bit of attention to read the subtitles.

I hope you are all having a wonderful Valentine’s Day!

Linking up with KCCO and Yarn Along.

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Color Affection

Published February 7, 2017

I finished my Color Affection shawl a few weeks ago and I have already been wearing it a ton! The drape and the size make it really wearable, and I chose colours that go with lots of clothes I own, so the stripes aren’t too busy. I spent a long time collecting the three colours needed for this project, and ended up with beautiful yarns from different Canadian indie dyers. I started with the pale blue skein from Fleece Artist, which was in my stash for awhile, and then picked out the dark blue (from Sweet Paprika) and the grey (from Sweet Fiber) at the Knitter’s Frolic last year. I loved working with all of these yarns so much and I’m really looking forward to trying more yarns from each of these dyers.

Although the shawl did take several months (you may remember me casting it on during the drive to Rhinebeck back in October), but I did work on it on and off. Because of the way the colours are added, each time I started to get tired of a section, a new yarn was added, which kept the knitting enjoyable. That being said, it’s a lot of garter stitch, so it’s perfect for car / subway knitting. I knit it as written, even the edging, which others had warned might be too tight. I was careful not to pull too much when wrapping the yarns at the edge, but the tightness really is needed to shape the final shawl, and I’m really pleased with the finished crescent shape of mine.

(All of the details are on Ravelry. Thanks to the lovely Jasmyn who helped me out with these photos!)

Hope you are having a wonderful start to your week!

Linking up with KCCO and Yarn Along.

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Friendsmas

Published December 29, 2016

It’s been awhile since I’ve updated the blog, so I hope you have all had a lovely and festive December, and are enjoying a relaxing holiday in the last few days of 2016! I’ll post some pictures of all of our Christmas celebrations soon, but in the meantime, I wanted to share pictures from our ‘friendsmas’. We had our annual Christmas party the weekend before Christmas, then a Christmas morning (complete with stockings, gifts, cinnamon rolls, and coffee), and a Christmas walk through the freshly fallen snow.

In preparation for Christmas morning, I’ve been doing a lot of knitting, and I can now share pictures! I’m including all of the projects in this post, so use the Ravelry links if you’d like yarn or pattern details for any of these.

Felted Slippers for L
Rav link

Socks for S
Rav link

Scarf for J
Rav link

Wilson Wrap for H
Rav link

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A new pattern – Plumule Shawl

Published August 5, 2016

I’ve just released a new pattern, Plumule Shawl earlier this week! It’s is a small, light shawl knit in a 50g skein of Agrestal Bow River Lace or your favourite laceweight yarn. I love this shawl for the summer – I’m hoping a formal occasion will arise soon so I can wear it with a summery dress. More details from the pattern page:

Plumule is a small, light, and airy shawl with a simple body and delicate lace edging. The shawl is knit from the top down on large needles and blocked to produce a fabric with a lovely drape. Plumule makes the perfect accessory to dress up a casual outfit, or looks wonderful with a formal outfit for a summer wedding.

The finished shawl is semi-circular with a wingspan of approximately 47”.

The sample is shown in Agrestal Yarn Bow River Lace in the colourway “Petal”.

The promotion is almost finished, but you can get 50% off the pattern price until the end of the day today (Friday) using the code “plumule”. I am also going to be hosting a KAL, complete with prizes! All of the details will be announced Monday on Ravelry and on my yarn instagram (@agrestalyarn).

If you’d like more details or to purchase the pattern, you can visit the pattern page on Ravelry. Thank you – I hope you enjoy knitting Plumule as much as I did!

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Lately

Published July 13, 2016

Lately, I’ve been…

Knitting :: The very beginnings of a new shawl design, in a new yarn base I’m testing out for Agrestal. This yarn is so squishy and warm – it’s a softspun single ply sportweight and I’m already dreaming of so many projects for it. These colours were dyed using various combinations of marigold, chestnut, cream of tartar, and iron.
(Rav link)

Reading :: I just picked up another Agatha Christie from the library, though I haven’t had the chance to start it yet. This one should be fun – it’s a collection of short stories from the Miss Marple series.

Watching :: The Bridge on Netflix. It’s a Swedish / Danish crime drama and it’s so well done – the atmosphere created by the filming style and the acting is just superb. The plot is really captivating too. This is in Swedish with subtitles.

Listening :: To a bunch of podcasts, as usual. Invisibilia is back, and it’s wonderful and thought provoking as always. I also started listening to More Perfect, which is about cases from the US Supreme Court. I know next to nothing about American law, but this has been absolutely fascinating. It’s done by the same folks who do WNYC’s Radiolab, so production and research quality is excellent.

What have you been knitting and reading this week?

Linking up with KCCO and Yarn-Along this morning.

12 Comments

Lately

Published May 11, 2016

Lately, I’ve been…

Knitting :: A shawl in Agrestal’s new laceweight base, a simple pi body with some planned lace edging. This yarn is 100% alpaca and so smooshy and I am enjoying every minute of knitting with it. I’m hoping to publish the pattern once I finish writing it up!

Reading :: Not a lot, unfortunately, but a few reference books here and there when I have a moment. I’m particularly enjoying Hidden Natural Histories : Herbs, which has a little section on each herb and its historic and contemporary uses. It’s a really beautifully laid out book too – lots of botanical drawings.

Just a quick post from me today as I’m writing in the morning before heading to work. What have you been up to this week? What are you knitting right now?

Linking up with KCCO and Yarn Along.

10 Comments

Appia cowl.

Published July 26, 2015

I finished my Appia cowl! I am so pleased with how it turned out, and now I’m a tad obsessed with the idea of cowl-shawl combos. I’ve already started looking through my stash to start another one of this designer’s patterns. The yarn is my own fingering weight in “Daybreak”, which I think is a perfect summer colour.

(Rav link)

I hope you are all having a lovely and relaxing weekend!

7 Comments

Yarn-Along

Published February 11, 2014

This week…

Knitting :: Maeva Socks in Cascade Heritage Sock (colourway Navy Blue) for my second Ravellenics 2014 project. I’m 14 rounds into the second chart on the first sock, so I’ve got awhile to go on these. (Rav link)
Spring Boneyard Shawl… I’ve made a Boneyard Shawl before, but I’m making a lighter springtime version with laceweight cotton/linen, Diamond Luxury Collection Pima Lino Lace. The colourways are Nile and Light Denim. I love how this is turning out so far but the longest rows are going to have a crazy number of stitches! (Rav link)

Reading :: The Time Traveler’s Wife by Audrey Niffenegger. I’m not very far into this but it’s good so far. I also finished An Abundance of Katherines this week, which was pretty good. Definitely John Green’s worst book, but the most of the characters aren’t bad, the plot just isn’t very compelling. I gave it 4/5 stars on Goodreads but in reality it was more like a 3.5/5.

Watching :: Season 1 of Orphan Black (okay, so I started and finished this…). If you haven’t seen it yet, you need to stop reading this and go and watch it. Right now. It’s that good!
I also started Season 3 of New Girl… not loving this as much as season 1 or 2. The humour just seems slightly different somehow.

Let me know in the comments what you’re knitting, reading and watching… I love getting your recommendations for books and shows! I hope you are all having a lovely Wednesday!

Linking up with KCCO and Yarn-Along as usual!

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A day of finishing (NaBloPoMo Day 4)

Published November 4, 2012

Today was a finishing day. The kind of day to wrap up all of the loose ends. To pin and spray and block. To cast off and weave in and wash.

I unpinned JA’s scarf… I’m so happy with how this turned out. I’ll do some proper modelled photos later this week. It’s the perfect colour, it was really quick to knit, and the lace adds the perfect touch of elegance.

Right after I unpinned it, I rearranged my improvised blocking boards (aka towels) and pinned out something else. I think that if all goes as planned, I should have 10 finished knit Christmas gifts to bring home with me on Wednesday. They’ll just stay there until Christmas since that’s where I’ll be giving them to people anyway.

P.S. It’s now November. That’s means that it’s totally acceptable to start listening to Christmas music, right? Right. If November doesn’t do it, than what’s happening outside right now should…

As a personal blogging challenge, I’m writing a blog post every day for the month of November as a part of NaBloPoMo (NAtional BLOg POsting MOnth). This is day 2!

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FO: Boneyard Shawl

Published August 24, 2012

I started this shawl a few weeks ago and I think it’s one of my favourite things I’ve ever made. The yarn is so soft, the striping is perfect, and the pattern was easy and suits the yarn well. I actually bought this yarn a few years ago on a trip to Europe with my Dad. We spent a week in Northern Ireland (Armagh, actually) and there was a very tiny yarn shop called Creative Ideas. I bought 3 balls of this lovely yarn there and have had them in my stash ever since, waiting for the perfect project. I think this was it. (Rav link)

I move in 10 days, so packing is in full swing now! I’ll continue to update as much as possible over the next few weeks, and by mid-september, I should be back to my normal semi-regular posting schedule.

Have a great weekend!

7 Comments