Spring Colors

So I think it’s time to admit that grad school is bad for blogging.  I always mean to find the time to put something here, but sometimes that time just doesn’t exist.  That being said, I am so not ready to give up on this yet, so I promise to try and do my best to make time when I can.  But the reality I’m facing is that posts just won’t be as frequent as they once were.  So I’m going to stop apologizing for not posting and just do my best to post when I can.  That is my oath to you from now on.

So now that that is out of the way.  Ravelympics came and went.  I finished both my projects (hurray!), but it was sort of anticlimactic because they were small since school work has been heavy the last few weeks.  March 1 came and my internal clock seemed to know it was Malabrigo March even when my conscious mind did not.  Within in the first three days of march I cast on two projects with Malabrigo yarns.

As you might guess, this was largely motivated by a need for some color in my life.  Here in Philly things are just starting to warm up.  It’s supposed to be beautiful today, but last week it was hovering around the 40s, back and forth from grey to sunny to drizzly again.  And the solution was these little guys.

The first to come was a Verdaia shawl, cast on in Malabrigo Sock in Agaus (which in truth is not quite so blue in real life, a reality my camera refused to accept).  This new shawl pattern cropped up a few weeks back and right away I liked the looks of it.  I had originally planned to make Clothilde with this yarn, but when push came to shove I had plenty of other sock yarns I would be happy to use for Clothilde and nothing else I wanted to use for this.  It’s a nice pattern, the body is relatively simple, with slightly more complexity coming up in the edging.  More details are here.

A few days later I was really feeling the need for some serious lace.  And because Verdaia is relatively simple, I needed to add in something else to fill that void.  In addition to that, I could not stop thinking about this yarn as soon as the sun peaked through the clouds.  It is Malabrigo Lace in Sauterne and it is the most perfect yellow in the world if you ask me.  So I cast on for Aeolian.  This pattern rocks.  And so does this yarn.  I had forgotten how awesome it feels all the time.  I truly love it.  More detail on this one can be found here.

Those two projects have been grabbing most of my attention in the past week.  But Spring break is coming up soon.  And once I recover from having my wisdom teeth out  my plans are minimal and will hopefully involve lots of knitting!  Fingers crossed.

Shetland Silky

So you have until the end of tomorrow to enter the giveaway, but in the meantime I have something to show you.  Another real live FO!  More shawls of course, I seem to be obsessed (me & the rest of the knitting world).  I’ve actually been doing pretty well with my power through and finish goal.  And as a result I’ve got my Shetland Triangle for your viewing pleasure.

Pattern: Shetland Triangle (ravelry)

Source: WrapStyle

Yarn: Sundara, Fingering Silky Merino

Needles: US 5

Started: May 29, 2009

Finished: July 5, 2009

Find it on Ravelry here.

Oh my goodness did this shawl turn out beautifully.  I can’t really take much credit though, it’s all about the yarn.  I do truly understand why people pay the money for Sundara FSM.  It is well worth the splurge.  It definitely ranks high in the Quality of Yarns I’ve Worked With hierarchy.  The combo of silk and merino make it amazingly soft, and yet it isn’t the slightest bit splitty, unlike some other silk/merino blends I’ve worked with.  The sheen of the yarn is incredible.  It captures light in ways my eyes barely even believe.  If I had done nothing besides wave it around in the sunlight all day yesterday I would have been happy (fabulously, I got to do that and have a lovely day off!).

I’m sure plenty of you reading have already made a Shetland Triangle, since it’s so popular, but I’ll share my thoughts anyhow.  It’s a nice simple lace pattern.  Unlike most lace (at least for me) it’s chit chat friendly.  I can knit this pattern and talk as well as listen.  This is because, while the chart looks slightly different, most of the repeat is the same two rows.  And it’s a short repeat.  So once you quickly get the hang of it, you just keep going.  No brainer.  In fact, I never even xeroxed the pattern out of the book.  I just looked at the book the first night & memorized it and walked around with no pattern.  Even the edging chart was so easy that after doing the first half of the edging chart at home with the book I took off for work and finished the edging chartless.

I made the shawl considerably larger than the pattern called for.  Sundara FSM packs a hefty 500 yard wallop & and I wanted to make a significant dent in it.  I ended up doing 13 pattern repeats, which gave me a pretty sizable shawl.  It measured around a 68″ wingspan while blocking and post blocking it’s about 62″x30″.  It’s definitely enough shawl to wrap around a decent amount.  I used about 85% of the yarn and I’m left musing about what to do with the 70 yards I have left.

And what’s even more exciting than how beautifully this shawl turned out, is that I have a new toy which helped me show you how beautiful it is.  My parents gave me my birthday present early this year since they’re leaving to spend the next two weeks in Italy.  I unwrapped a beautiful blue & green box to find my very own Nikon D60!  How did they know?  It’s possible I might have dropped some hints.  I have had the most fun playing with my new camera & I couldn’t be more pleased with the photos I’m getting as a result!