Sunset Shawl

Wow, long time no post. There's a good reason for that, though. I have been working on my Sunset Shawl since March 19th. It's finally done: the last nupps and beads added, bound off, and blocked. It was an adventure every step of the way, and I thoroughly enjoyed both the pattern and the finished project.

Specs:
Needles: Size 4 circs (Knit Picks options)
Yarn: Knit Picks' Shadow in Sunset Heather, 2.5 skeins for a total of ~1100 yards
Beads: 2.5 packets of 6/0 Glass Seed Beads in plated gold. I refused to count how many at the moment. Maybe if I'm stuck on a desert island with nothing but that shawl I will feel like counting. Maybe not.
Time to complete: ~16 weeks (3 seasons of Gilmore Girls, 1 season of BSG, 4 seasons of Bones, 1 season of Castle, 1 season of Burn Notice)

On with the story (and pictures)!

So I cast on and did over 7 repeats of the first chart before realizing... the color used to denote plain purls and the color used to denote bead placement are exactly the same when printed in black and white. (The result of this confusion is pictured in a previous post) I decided that I would be happier actually putting the beads on, so I ripped the entire thing out. This required a drink, as I had already put many hours into this project. I also may have cried a bit. I will admit to nothing, though.

Here's a picture of the first 4 or so repeats with me actually including the beads


Around 9 pattern repeats

And around here it got too big to fold out for a reasonable picture. So I didn't take any until I cast off and blocked. Here's a picture of my (rather non-standard) blocking technique.

Yes, that is me having pinned the shawl out already and wetting it by pouring water over it and using a towel to make sure it was all absorbed. I realize you are supposed to get the shawl wet and then block, but for some reason this didn't seem like a good idea at the time. I'm not recalling why.

As you can see, I used pushpins in a foam board to block, and pinned out each little point individually.

The whole shawl didn't quite fit on the board (as shown below) but I pinned out the few points that didn't fit the next day individually, and it seemed to work.


And finally... it was done. The pushpins were slightly rusted, but the yarn wasn't affected by it, thankfully.

Not the best picture of me, but shows off the shawl reasonably well:


It's really big!


Now on to knitting a hat!

Socks for Sasha and the Start of a Shawl

Spring break in Alexis-land means time for knitting... so I finished up a pair of socks for my friend Sasha.

Size: to fit size 8 feet
Yarn: Knit Picks Essential Sock Yarn in Burgundy
Needles: Size 2
Pattern: The Yarn Harlot's Sock Recipe (From Knitting Rules)

Yes, I knit on the beach

Eye of Partridge heel

And I started what is likely the hardest project I have ever attempted. The pattern is Aeolian from Knitty. I'll be using the Knit Picks Shadow in Sunset Heather on size 4 needles. I had a bit of trouble with the cast-on (it was a crocheted provisional cast-on) so I changed it to a knit provisional cast-on and used the cable from my circs as the "waste yarn." It's obviously not very pretty yet, since I'm only a little ways in and it's not blocked or anything... but this should give you an idea of the crazy:

Those are the beads I will be using with it, as well. It's supposed to have somewhere upwards of 2000 beads (and this is my first time using them!) Hopefully I'm not biting off more than I can chew. Especially since I don't think yarn tastes particularly good.

I'll post pictures of the felted pirate hat I made soon!