However, when I got it, as excited as I was about getting free yarn (and, good yarn at that!), I was at a loss as to what to actually do with it. It sat in my stash and stared at me every time I walked by. :(
Thankfully, inspiration and a recipient finally struck me. :) My mom's going on a trip this coming Spring and I thought she could use something light but warm since where she's going is going to be very cool (but not quite cold). This yarn is a lace Silk-Alpaca (this means that if knitted with the correct stitch pattern, it can be light yet warm), it would fit the bill nicely. Plus, it's a color that would look good on my mom. ;)
I searched my stitch patterns, the internet, and even stopped by my local Barnes and Noble bookstore to find just the right lace pattern for this yarn. I finally settled on a pattern called lace background. It looked simple enough since it'd be my first foray into lace knitting. So, I gave it a whirl with my Chiaogoo Twist US 5 and casted on 95 stitches. How did it go, you ask? Well, either I don't know what I'm doing (highly likely) or, because it's my first time working a lace pattern, perhaps I needed a more stable row to work from (ie. I needed a solid knit and purl row before starting the lace, instead of starting right off the cast on row), or it simply wasn't working out.
Well .... it simply wasn't working out ... it looked really weird and too "holey" (as I call it). I ripped out what little I did, casted on again, did a simple knit stitch on row one (1) to have a (more) stable foundation, then determined that perhaps my needles were simply too small (hence, switching my US 5 for my US 8), and then wondered what a basic moss stitch would look like. So, I gave that a whirl and it turns out that the basic moss stitch was more of what I was looking for than the lace background! :)
Then, I actually started knitting (the wrap) and ... I barely finished three inches (3") before I decided to look at what I've accomplished, which was not much and I barely made a dent in my skein! :'( Freaking out and wondering if I should rip out what I had and double up my yarn, my poor hubby told me to stop and step away from my project. :P I took it to work to ask my knitting buddy what she thought.
Here's what happened:
She asked me: How long do you want to make it?
I said: 6 feet long so it's long enough to wrap around.
She said: I think you'll need both balls of yarn. It's gonna feel like it'll take forever
and you're gonna feel like what possessed you into doing this ....
I said: Really? *sob* :'( I thought you said that Alpaca grows and gets really
stretchy (i.e. I hoped I could stretch it out when I blocked it)?!
She said: Yes, Alpaca does grow - but S-L-O-W-L-Y. Trust me, with the silk in it, it
won't stretch that much and you're going to need both balls to make it
long enough.
I said: *sigh* OK ... That's not what I had hoped to hear but ... If you really do think
so, I'll stay the course. *sob* :'(
She said: Sorry, I know that was painful and based on what you have and how
much you wanna do, you'll really need to focus and work on this puppy to
get it done in time.
I said: *sigh* Oh man .... OK ... got it. :'(
And, I totally believe her based on all the projects she's done and told me about; I knew that she was trying to save me from myself and even more torture and destruction. :P
Then she helped me determine my row gauge (8 rows/inch) - Thanks, Ariana!! :) I went home to do my knitting math to see exactly how long it'd take me to do this. Here's what it comes out to:
1. If my row gauge is 8 rows/inch and I want to make a six foot (6') wrap then ...
A. I need a total length of 72" => a total of 576 rows
B. I've already completed 3" => 24 rows
C. This means that I just need to do 552 more rows
D. If I can do 3" per day (which equates to 24 rows per day), then it will take me
approximately 23 days to complete the wrap.
That doesn't sound so bad now ... At least I have a goal (that's not to just complete the shawl) and it feels much more attainable. :)
Amazing! :) Now that I have a hang of knitting math (well, sort of at least), it seems easier now that I can actually calculate everything and break it all down to smaller more manageable pieces. :) Who would've thought knitting math would be so handy (and not so painful)! :)
So, how'd it go, you ask? Well ... it was going fine, until I noticed that I had dropped a stitch way back on those first three inches (3"). So, I thought I'd fix it by simply going to the stitch that was missing a stitch and dropping down to the missed stitch and fixing it ... one thing led to another (i.e. another dropped stitch) and the next thing I knew was that I'd fixed the same area about six times and now it looked "off" there! :'( Somehow, with all that fixing, I messed it up even more! :( So, what'd I do? Rip it out of course and started again! :P It was a painful process but I know I'll be happier with the end product knowing that everything's correct.
So ... with my new needles, I used my Knitter's Pride Nova Platina Cubics US10s and casted on 125 stitches and started again. For some reason or another, with the Cubics, the wrap seemed to go much faster. It helped that the needles were sharper and felt even smoother than my Chiagoos. It probably also helped that I was using size 10 (vs 8) needles as well. Look wise though, it didn't look like I was getting less gauge (at least row wise) than the 8s. Strange, I seem to have the same gauge no matter what size needles I use. Oh well, at least I won't have to do my knitting math again! :P Then, to ensure I wouldn't go totally nuts and knit right up to the end of my ball, I did an unscientific measurement of how long it takes me to complete a row: about 1.5 arm lengths. :P Thus, I just needed to make sure I had three (3) arm lengths at the end so that there would be plenty of yarn for a super stretchy bind off. :)
Here's exactly how much I had left:
Not so bad. :P That's 99 cm (39 in) of leftover yarn. :D
And ....Here's what the finished wrap looked like, unwashed and unblocked:
It measures: 103 cm (~40.5 in) long by 64 cm (~25.25 in) wide. Ok, not six feet but, it's wide enough at least. :P
Here's what it looked like while blocking (I used my new Inspinknity blocking wires to do this):
I managed to stretch it out to: 121 cm (47.5 in) long by 83 cm (23.75 in) wide. I think I could've stretched it out a bit more (but not that much more, like another inch or so) but I didn't have enough space. :(
Now about the blocking process itself: I can see why people don't care to block their items. It's a very tedious process and can be very time consuming. I thought the wrap was going to dry before I finished threading the blocking wires (although it did dry overnight)! :P Plus, you need a lot of space. I can also see why people want good, marked blocking mats. As you can (barely) see, I'm using some brand new foam kiddy mats I found super cheap at Goodwill along with some gingham fabric as "gridlines". I don't know how long the mats will really last as I've already managed to poke through some parts of it (and, obviously, it's not self-healing so, those holes are here to stay :P); and the gingham didn't work quite as well as I hoped either because it stretched out. I didn't want to actually mark the blocks because I read that the ink in permanent markers could eat away at the mats and deteriorate the mats. Perhaps the gingham would've worked better if I created a corkboard like version with the gingham stretched over it and stapled it on. But, that would mean that my blocking mat wouldn't be nearly as portable or easy to store like how it is now with these mats. Problems, problems ... :P Well, I'll most likely just keep using this method until the mats fall apart then find a better alternative.
To top it off, I also picked up this Celtic shawl pin:
And, here's how Mom can use her wrap, with or without her pin:
Unblocked
Blocked
I've already given this to my mom and she loves it! :) So much so that she's thinking about finding herself some more yarn on her trip for me to make her another wrap! :P
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