Merino and Finn wools and a little bit of silk
254 yards
approx. 6 oz.
heavy worsted weight
2 ply

I was asked to bring some of my favorite yarn to the Knit-a-thon I’m going to in Harveyville, Kansas in October, so I made this. We’re all going to swap bits of yarn and make scarves to commemorate the occasion. I’m going to get to meet some awesome internet knitting friends (and see one again) while we help knit the samples for a friend’s knitting book, some of which will feature my very own yarn! I’m twiddling, I’m so excited. I got a giant memory card for my camera so I can take one million photos.

The green cabled sweater is progressing so nicely. I’ve got about an inch to go before I can bind the shoulder seams and start picking up and knitting the sleeves. I’m so glad I freaked, thinking I was going to run out, and ordered more of the yarn. Der. It looks like I’ll have enough after all. I do plan on making the neck longer, so I might need just a bit extra.

Maybe I’ll have a sleeve to show after the weekend!

I got my little clothespin people!

The red hair on the one on the left is made from my yarn! Sarah is just the coolest. If you have never ordered anything from her shop, The Small Object, then you should treat yourself. She wraps a package like no one else. I was squealing out loud with each discovery.

I also squealed today when I discovered I had enough yarn left over from the Blackberry Woolen Mills brown shawl to knit Glampyre’s V-neck Raglan Sweater. I’ll get that party started after the green Cafe Bastille is finished. I’m almost to the pits on that one!

She is done!

*laid out kind of flat*
*edge detail*

The facts:

~5.5 skeins of Reynolds Candide in oatmeal (color #2), could sub about 1100 yards (!!!) worsted weight
~Super Spiral Shawl pattern, by Meg Swansen from A Gathering of Lace, modified with far different yarn and larger needles
~ size 11 needles
~ 53″ in diameter unblocked
~ 68″ in diameter blocked
~ Can’t find any of my errors at all, even though I know they’re there.
~started on 9/7 and finished 9/25

Whew! That was a lot of knitting. Other than some disagreements the pattern and I had about the best ways to word things and the use of a Denise circular*, this was a pleasure to knit.

The yarn I used is a little harsh for a shawl (I can feel a little tickle on the back of my next from it), but it reminds me so much of the yarn used in a beautiful woven blanket we had when I was a kid, so it makes me smile to touch it. The yarn did soften with washing in shampoo with conditioner and boy, did it relax and expand! The shawl started out 53″ across and I had to use our queen size bed to block it as there wasn’t another space large enough in our house. It was a race to dry it before we went to sleep.

Now that the shawl is done, I can allow myself to concentrate fully on the Cafe Bastille Sweater. *check it* After studying the photo of the sweater more closely, I think I might just make the sleeves in seed stitch, rather than have the cable and ribbing. It looks awkward how it stops abruptly at the shoulder. I am also thinking of picking up stitches for the sleeves and knitting out from the shoulder. No seaming is just plain rad.

*I used to be such a Denise needle set fan, but they really suck for knitting wool. I spent nearly as much time shoving the stitches along on the cord as I did knitting. I’d have gone out and bought an Addi Turbo, but I’ve got a bunch of 100 cm ones coming from Germany very soon. This is the last time I’ll torture myself with those needles!