Digging into the stash - knitting with that "special skein"

After taking the time to review my stash in preparation for Bendigo (see previous post), I rediscovered some amazing yarn. Not forgotten, more like I had moved it to the back because I did not know what to do with it and felt that it was too special to knit with.

I found a simple shawl pattern on Ravelry; Reyna by Noora Laivola. I liked that it had garter and some lace sections, without being a complicated pattern. As I wanted the yarn to be the star.

During this dig into the stash, I also realised how many partial skeins I have. Leftovers from socks and shawls, but not enough to think of as scraps. So out came the scales and I weighed the portions that I had, sorting them into size piles as I went. The Moonraker Shawl, by Melanie Berg, seemed like the perfect way to incorporate a couple of my smaller skeins into a large project.

My small skeins are from two projects that I really enjoyed. They are a sparkly purple left over from my Low Tide Cardigan and a sparkly blue/grey from the My Hope shawl I made my sister for her wedding.

   

Finished Object - Bloom Shawl

It was so great to come back from Bendigo with yarn for specific projects and so motivating to cast on straight away.

When I arrived home on the Sunday afternoon I immediately balled up the charcoal and teal corriedale I had purchased for Colleens Crafts to make the Bloom Shawl by Kiri FitzGerald-Hillier.

The version of the pattern I followed is the original as it was published in Issue 31 of Yarn Magazine.

My default for reading patterns is the written instructions and then referring to a chart, if provided, as a reminder guide as I complete each round. After completing this pattern, my advice for anyone else is to follow the charts, as the written directions seem to be inaccurate or at least confusing in parts.

First thing I did was find a tutorial on how to do the pinhole cast on - I used the one from Very Pink Knits. It took me a couple of tries to get it right but overall not a hard thing to master.
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The directions were for 5 dpns, but I knit the whole motif on magic loop. One thing that was not clear in the written directions was where to place markers - to split the motif into its four sections. If I had realised this earlier I would have been able to get this information from the chart. I guessed a little as I went along and I think in the end it is not noticeable that I fudged it a bit.

I made several modifications in the wing sections. For the decreases on both the left and right wings I knit two together through the back loop. I tried a few different decreases and decided that in the garter stitch I liked the look of this method best. I flipped the wings, so that the decrease side was the top edge, the finish and angle of the wing seemed to lay better that way. I also connected the blacks at the top of the motif together by knitting the last black stitch of one wing with the first black stitch of the other.

This was a super quick knit - it took me 15 days and zoomed along. I think part of the reason for this, apart from being knit in a DK, was that until you get to the edging there are really not many stitches on the needles, so the rows are short.

In the end I used all but 8 grams of the charcoal (from 213 grams). I do have plenty of the teal left, having only used 40 grams of a 100 gram skein.

I wet blocked the shawl, using blocking wires on the motif to make it square. Then pinned the wings and edge into shape around that square. I also pinned out each point of the lace pattern.

The Bendigo Haul

Shawl pins from All Buttoned Up

I had such as wonderful time at Bendigo this year.

Did I stick to my list? Pretty much.

I have added all my new yarn to my Ravelry stash already, but wanted to do a blog post to highlight all the great vendors.

Needles and cables - all purchased from Fiberific!.
Two ChiaoGoo "Spin Cables", 75cm and 125cm. For most things I prefer these over the red twist cable as the are more flexible and they spin at their base which I really like.

Wool N Wire stitch markers

Three sets of the "Twist" Lace needle tips in sizes 2.75mm, 3.5mm and 4mm - sizes that I regularly use.

Accessories and stitch markers
Two shawl pins from All Buttoned Up - Vintage Jewellery Melbourne.
A set of blinglets medium sized stitch markers from Fiberific!
A set of stitch markers from Wool N Wire


Yarn
Dyed by Hand Yarns (top three skeins):
White Gum Wool DK - 2 skeins in Purple Sea Urchin
Tough Stocking (4ply)- 1 skein in Blue Ringed Octopus
Tough Stocking (4ply) - 1 skein in a "one hit wonder" purple colourway

Colleens Crafts (first two, bottom row left to right) :
Corriedale DK - 2 skeins in Sage Green Tones
Corriedale DK - 2 skeins in Charcoal

Mayhem & Chaos (middle right and bottom right):
Crazy Eights (DK/8ply) - Voodoo Lady - enough for a sweater (thinking this will be the main colour for the Pixelated Pullover)
Lollisox - Taste the Rainbow - sample of fingering weight

What to wear to Bendigo?

A quick post this week, as I prepare to head to Bendi this weekend.

The shopping list is prepared. I have added some tools to the list too; additional Chiagoo needle tips and the twist cables.

Travel plans are set. I am driving to a friends on Friday afternoon to catch up, craft and have some wines. Saturday we are driving to Bendigo together, then back to her house to “play” with our purchases.

Final thing to sort out, I think is the toughest – what am I going to wear!?!?

I have three suitably warm knit tops. Miranda, Charleston Tea and Tric. Yarns for all three of these projects were purchased from previous Bendigo trips. They are all comfortable and I'm really pleased with them and proud to show them off. So I am thinking I may pack all three and decide on the day.

The hardest part to choose is the rest of the outfit and knit accessories. Victoria has been experiencing an extremely wet and cold winter, and Bendigo has a reputation for being extremely cold. Gloves, scarf, beanie etc will be essential. But how much knit is too much knit?? Is there such a thing? Also need to keep in mind that I will probably also need a coat (which then covers up all the knitting) and I think gumboots will be the footwear of choice (with hand knit socks of course). My blanket box is full of choices, will be hard to decide. I may end up taking a lot of this with me!!

How do I choose what to wear from so many knitted accessories??