Sunday, August 03, 2008

Three Time's the Charm

I've had three starts of the Japanese Bag kit.
First time I followed the pattern (well, at least I think I did - it's in japanese after all, but the chart looked pretty straight forward to me) and it was way too small.
Second time I started with a large base, but it got all wavy and not nice, so I ripped that one up as well.


This is as far as I got with the third attempt. I'm halfway through the yarn and so far the size is okay. The base is still a bit uneven, but I guess (hope) it will smoothen out evenually.
Currently the whole thing is very boring, topped to the 'hard on the hands' bit. So the growth is slow.

Second live project is another shawl. I got a hand painted silk yarn in San Francsico in April (Kaalund Yarns - Enchanté --> I woudl add a link here, but their side is password protected. Never had this one before) and wanted to make a shawl of that ever since.
Here I'm also on my third start.
First was a pattern from the latest Big Girl Knits called the 'Perfection Wrap'. I lovely pattern that would work well with the yarn (it's originally written for SeaSilk), however the pattern is a bit on the boring side and the 'purl 2 through the backloop' stitch is a pain in the back so I did loose interest quickly.
Eventually, I decided to give it a new try using the Woodland Shawl pattern. I knitted about 10 cm (4 inches) but then decided that it doesn't work well for the silk. Maybe a yarn more sturdy for the lace definition would be better, and possible also a uni colored yarn, not a hand painted one.
Ripped-ti-ripp.
Third try was started this morning with a somewhat larger pattern (it has a 26 stitches by 28 rows repeat). Pattern is called Lily of the Valley shawl and can be found in Lace Style.
The pattern asks for tiny nubs in some places, but I'm replacing them with beads instead. Good thing I bought beads for this yarn *grin*
I've not pre-beaded the yarn, but instead you the crochet hook method and so far it works good. So far I've managed one repeat of the pattern and decided I like it.

1 comment:

stitcherw said...

Sounds like both your projects are ending up being quite the challenge. Hopefully you're through the worst of it now and the two will behave themselves going forward. They are both looking so pretty, it would be a shame if they were frustrating for most of the time.
Sue