Shawl, sweater, and needles

It's been so long since I've posted, I almost forgot how to blog. :) I had a variety of thing happen in my life, good, bad, and lovely, which made most of the fall and winter a quick blur. Finally life is approaching normal again, but with a few nice changes.

One thing that hasn't changed is my knitting. :)


I finally finished up this nice little red sweater on a sick day a few weeks ago. All that's left are the buttons - I'm thinking those big toggle-type things would suit it best. It's still not my favorite sweater on me, but I hope to find someone it might suit. :)



The lovely colors in that shawl are so difficult to photograph - here it is in the sun. I used the same pattern as my last shawl, and even the same yarn - but this lot was considerably darker and more varied. One might say the same thing of time I spent as I stitched it, which makes it fitting, I suppose. :)



I purchased a really confusing batch of metallic circular needles recently - I should have read the description more thoroughly, as it described the odd sizes rather well. I put sticky notes with my best guess on the size, using my Knit-Chek as guide. When will I ever use size 1 or size 0 circulars? Well, add it to the collection. :)

Stitching Saturday: New needles and a shawl

I just got SO MANY knitting needles off eBay, it's ridiculous. For me, part of the charm of crafting is collecting my materials and staring at them, so I couldn't resist carefully sorting them by size and length, and taping them neatly together.

It's mostly metal (aluminum) needles, with a few pairs of plastic, one pair of wood or bamboo, and a few circulars. Oh and there's 2 red crochet hooks on the left end. I love to teach people how to knit, so I hardly ever have straight needles, because I am always giving them away to the people I teach. This substantial score should give me plenty to teach with in the upcoming months.



I started a shawl as a gift for Christmas - I thought if I start early it would give me time to burn out, put it away, and have a few mess-ups. :)

The pattern is the Old Shale Shawl and is free on Ravelry. I'm using Red Heart Unforgettable yarn in Tidal, on size 8 needles. I like it so far, but I'm wondering if a flat, less tonal yarn would have worked better to show the lovely texture in the stitch pattern. We'll see. So far it's not too hard to follow, but you must pay close attention - it's not a mindless knit. I've made a few small mistakes, but nothing terribly noticeable, or that I couldn't fix by adding a stitch in the next row.

My first sweater is on a brief break - I finished the buttonhole rows and decided I hated the buttons, so I'm still deciding how I'll finish it. The sweater is pretty, but not at all flattering on me, so I'm wondering if I should try fixing it or just gift it to someone with smaller hips. :)