Damson

So when I ran out of yarn, I had a few options:
1. Do the edging rows in a different colour of yarn, perhaps black? This is something I've seen people do with projects that they don't have enough yarn for, and I always feels like it looks unintentional. There is a possibility, however, that doing the edge in black would take the whole thing to a new level and make it a showstopper.
2. Rip back part of it (probably just to the end of the garter stitch section) and redo it on smaller needles, hoping that it would give me enough of a difference to be able to finish. It might not give me enough, however, and even if it did, the smaller gauge would make the shawl smaller, and frankly I think it's already small enough.
3. Rip back and reconfigure the decreases so that it will be finished in fewer rows, leaving me enough to do the edging.
4. Throw some money at the problem and get another skein, thus negating any ripping back or rethinking or artistic compromise.


Yeah, so I ordered another skein of Strawberry Lemonade yarn from Hazel Knits, and crossed my fingers that the dye lot would be close enough that people wouldn't notice that I had finished my shawl off with a new skein of yarn. I lucked out -- it was exactly the same as the one I had. Even I can't tell the difference. The last few rows finished up in no time, but it took me a couple of days to get it blocked, and a couple more to round up my photographer.


Had I known that I would be using two skeins for this shawl, I might have made it larger, since it is such a dainty little thing. Instead I decided to just finish off the last few rows and to use the rest of the new skein to make a pair of socks. I know, that's a real shock. It really is just a spectacular yarn, in person, and I would love to make a hundred projects out of it. The colours are hard to capture in a photo -- you really need to see it up close.

All told, a great little project from Ysolda that is as much of a joy to wear as it was to knit.

Veyla

Ysolda has started a new little collection of knitting projects, her second, called Whimsical Little Knits 2. I love her style and was immediately sucked in by the little lacy fingerless gloves, called Veyla.


I could have dug out some ivory sock yarn to make a classic lacy glove, but instead I dove into the stash for some leftover Dicentra laceweight alpaca in a fiery, racy red. Since it was too thin, I separated it into two balls and then wound them together, to double it up. The result is a completely airy featherweight fabric, lighter than air and twice as soft.

The pattern was easy enough, despite looking as though it might be somewhat complicated. I blocked the lace cuff before picking up stitches for the hand, to make sure I got a nice sharp lace from it. Ysolda suggested blocking after completion of the glove, which I think wouldn't open the lace up enough. After I finished them, I did block the hand while keeping the cuff dry, which seemed to work well enough, and evened out the stitches admirably.


Sewing on a handful of buttons was the final touch. I also had the buttons in my sewing stash, so overall, this was (in a sense) a free project, as well as a nice distraction from the cotton cardigan (which I finally picked up again last night.)