Another KAL shawl - FO: Flukra

A week ago when I presented my Parrot shawl, I also told you about my second shawl for the shawl KAL hosted in the Ravelry group for Lindse's podcast: Flukra.

Here it is, merely 9 days after cast-on! That's two shawls in one months. Wow! The KAL spirit amazes me.

It's a Shetland lace shawl featuring lace pattern knit on both sides - that was a first one for me, but not at all frightening, though. I made a few modifications, the major ones being the garter stitch edging (not my idea) and the tassels (my idea).

Pattern: Flukra by Gudrun Johnston
Yarn: Blackhill Highland Wool from Garnudsalg.dk, colourway Hindbær (Raspberry), 86 g.
Needles: 4.0 mm.
Mods: Garter stitch edging, yarn-over bind-off at the top of the centre triangle, and tassels (read more on my Ravelry project page). 
Comments: The centre triangle seems a bit too large compared to the lace pattern (as if more stitches should have been picked up), but after blocking it's not too obvious, and I like my new red shawl a lot!
My Ravelry project page is here.

What a KAL can do - FO: Parrot

First of all, thank you for all the nice words you've put on my recent FOs! I appreciate every single one of them :)

I've never really been much of knitting podcast listener; my job is not of the sort where you can listen to podcast while working and my commute is quite short, so I've prioritised audio books to get just a bit of literature into my very scientific world. Earlier this year, Karen - Danish blogger of the blog lindse.dk - started a video podcast (in Danish), which I like a lot, though. With that came a Ravelry group, and now she's hosting a shawl knit-a-long running in September and October. I wanted to take part to get some inspiration and not least some good company, and decided that the Parrot shawl from Helga Isager's recent Bird Collection should be my project.

Yes, that is my 20th finished Amimono knit. It's an anniversary!

Initially, I didn't think too well of Parrot when I first saw it in the pattern book - I didn't like the colours of the sample - but then projects started to appear on Ravelry, and my affection for it grew.

It turns out that a KAL was just what I needed to get my knitting speed up. I'm practically on a roll! Within 20 days, I finished knitting this huge shawl! And now I'm almost halfway through the second one (Flukra by Gudrun Johnston). I can hardly believe it myself.

Pattern: Parrot shawl (Rav link) by Helga Isager.
Yarn: Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift in 3 different colours (Aubretia, Lupine, and Scotch Broom), Blackhill Highland Wool from Garnudsalg.dk in 8 different colours (Æggesnaps, Kommen, Syrlig, Lilla, Grå Skifer, Rullesten, Asters, and Honning), and Holst Garn Supersoft in Graphite (the 'main colour', i.e. the cast-on edge and the tassels). 170 g in total (of which 10 g are for the tassels).
Mods: CO 942 sts to get the shawl slightly larger than in the pattern (CO 726 sts), i.e. six feather and fan pattern repeats more on each side. I used knit stitches only in the feather and fan pattern (didn't think all that purling made too much of a difference, so I didn't do it).
Comments: By advice from others I put stitch markers every 36 sts (39 sts at the edges because there are 3 edge stitches) to avoid counting too much while casting on all those stitches and keeping track of them all in the feather and fan pattern. Also, I spit spliced the yarn when changing colour to avoid weaving in a million ends!
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: Winter trousers

The last FO of this FO Week - and the first photo of the pair of wee legs that inhabits our flat. Most of the time they look like this...

...but I did manage to get a few photos in focus. I think these trousers will be great for winter. Nice, soft, and warm. A bit on the long side when comparing to width, so I'm doing another pair (for later this winter) in the larger size, but keeping the length of these.

The original pattern sports a simple 2x2 ribbing around the waistline, but as I don't believe that would have kept the trousers on for more than a few minutes at best, I've doubled the waistline hem and added an elastic band inside.

Pattern: Bukser i glatstrik (in Danish) by Susie Haumann in All You Knit is Love, size 6-12 months.
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Sock in colourway Persia, 72 g.
Mods: Knit the legs in the round (apart from the ribbing). Doubled the waistline hem and added an elastic band inside.
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: Swallow

Although my expression in this photo may make you think otherwise, this is my new favourite cardigan! If you think about it, it couldn't possibly go wrong: it's my favourite colour and it's designed by my favourite designer. Ms Isager just keeps hitting it out of the ball park. In my opinion.

This is - hold on - my 19th finished Amimono knit (and I've cast on for another five, which were never completed). The 20th project - the Parrot shawl - is on the needles.

If I'm to knit it again - and I think I am in the originally intended two-colour version (different colours, though) - I'll skip the last buttonhole and start the neckline decrease earlier. I like my cardigans with a slightly deeper V (like Vanilla, my other favourite), but even so this is my new favourite. I've worn it several times already, and I am wearing it right now, too. 

Pattern: Swallow Cardigan (Rav link) by Helga Isager/Amimono, published in the recent Bird Collection, size M.
Yarn: One strand of J. C. Rennie & Co.'s Supersoft 2/11.3 Nm, colourway Flamboyant (as far as I can see, this colourway is discontinued, but since it's my absolute favourite colour, I'd very much like to know if this isn't the case!) and one strand of a thin wool/cashmere mix from Garnudsalg.dk aptly named Raspberry.
Mods: None.
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: Shellseeker

The next item in my FO parade is a sweater designed by Heidi Kirrmaier called Shellseeker. I immediately liked the idea of the sweater - stripes and a front pocket - and I enjoyed choosing colours slightly out of my comfort zone (greenish yellow) for the stripes. I think the match between the two colours is great, even if I do say so myself.

The sweater is nice, but I do wish I'd listened to that little voice in my head questioning whether it was such a good idea to follow the pattern directions when they told me to put zero stitches aside for the underarm. The little voice was right; the underarm fit could have been better, as you can tell from the photo. Oh, well. I'm sure I'll wear it anyway, even if it'll never be my favourite sweater.

Pattern: Shellseeker by Heidi Kirrmaier, size S.
Yarn: Blackhill Highland Wool from Garnudsalg.dk, main colour: Dahlia, contrast colour: one strand of Syrlig and one strand of Kommen. 350 g in total.
Mods: I've done garter stitch edging rather than ribbing and added a garter stitch edging round the neckline as well rather that the rolled 'raw' edging.
My Ravelry project page is here.

FO: A Million Stripes Loop

If you've been touring Blogland recently, you'll most likely have encountered A Million Stripes Loop. I know I've seen some gorgeous versions myself here and here. I actually started mine back in January (when the pattern was still free?) and originally intended it to be the same size as the others, i.e. long enough to wrap around twice. Incidentally, I later changed my mind and it ended up being a single loop.

That doesn't make the pattern any less clever though; I like how you easily make the stripes jogless and the fact that it's grafted together at the end to make it an actual circle. While knitting, I told people 'a scarf with no ends' when they inquired what I was knitting. As has been said by others, it's brilliant for stash busting.

I like it a lot. It's wide and dense enough to stand up properly like a collar. Pretty and useful. 

Pattern: A Million Stripes Loop (Rav link) by Brenda Burrell.
Yarn: Mostly Jamieson's Shetland Spindrift (yellow and two purples) and some Holst Supersoft (graphite) mixed with a thin wool/cashmere strand.
Ravelry project page: Here.

FO: Lemon feat. Robin

Over the weekend, I finally got some photos of the pile of FOs that have been waiting for weeks to be shown off here. There are five of them, so maybe this will turn out to be FO Week with a new one presented each day. Sorry about the blogging being this irregular. 

Let's start with the oldest one among them: Lemon, from Helga Isager's former Amimono collection, which after much debate with myself finally ended up with long sleeves like its cousin Robin from her recent collection. I started it one and a half years ago, but made the first side too wide, and then started debating whether to go with short or 3/4 length sleeves.

This year's Ravellenics (i.e. knitting as much as you possibly can during the Olympics to finish a project) was my opportunity to get this project done: I needed to frog one side (too wide) with a short sleeve and then finish two sides with 3/4 sleeves. And the waist band. Quite a lot of stitches seeing as this is a fine knit on 3.0 mm needles.

I didn't manage to complete it in time. When Betty the cauldron was put out on August 12th, I still had half a sleeve and a waistband left to do, but one week later I was finally done with the knitting. By August 27th, it was washed and blocked and all. And here it is. 

Another great Amimono knit! Not to be worn with the same tops underneath as in these photos, though :)

Pattern: Lemon (Rav link) by Helga Isager/Amimono, using the instructions for Robin (Rav link) for the 3/4 length sleeves (I did horizontal stitches on the cuffs, though, as this is the feature of Lemon).
Yarn: Blackhill Highland Wool, colourway Lilla, from Garnudsalg.dk. A vibrant purple colour - one of my favourites. I recognise that using the original, single-ply yarn gives a lighter fabric and better drape, but there you go.
Needles: 3.0 mm.
Ravelry project page: Here.