FO Friday: Royal Tenor Cami

As promised, I'm gonna show you what I made with that purple linen while I was away, my version of the Razor Cami.  It's pretty.  It fits.  It... can't be worn on its own because it's rather see-through.  But I love it, and I hope you do too.

Just as I expected, my slightly large gauge resulted in a S/M size, just right for me.  The straps might be a little bit long, but I prefer to have extra room in the armpits, and since I'll have to wear another cami under this one anyhow that's even better.  

Props to the designer, Katie Marcus.  Her pattern was easy to follow, and I'll never be able to express my full gratitude for designers who give their work away for free.  

The best part about this FO is that it has really strong memories attached to it.  The lace is knit together with the ringing chords of the choruses, the sweet sound of the quartets, the laughter that accompanied the Open Division contestants, and all the excitement of taking the stage for the first time.  Every time I wear this cami, I'm going to remember the people I met, the songs we sang, the late nights and friendship and fun.  

FO Friday: Indian Feathers Shawlette

I'm in Spokane at the Region 13 Sweet Adelines Convention, and my group doesn't take the stage until tomorrow.  It's a really... interesting experience.  Lots of glitter everywhere.  But that's not what you're reading this for.  You want to know what I've made!

Last week, I finished a shawlette that's been sitting in a sad little bag, waiting for someone to block it and let its true colors shine through.  This small shawl / large scarf is based off the Indian Feathers pattern by Alina Appasov.  The pattern included an option for either knupps (a complicated little detail that can be really tough on your hands and requires extra yarn) or beads.  It wasn't even really a choice for me; I will always choose beads.  I used less than a skein of Silky Alpaca Lace by Classic Elite Yarns and 175 beads of different shades.  Here's what it looked like before blocking:

Kind of sad, right?  But watch is it gloriously unfolds after a 20 minute soak and some quick pinning.

Mmmm, that's good blocking!  And check out the drape on this beauty:

So, you can't really see the beads, and the top of the stockinette area curls (as stockinette will do), but I really love the subtle variegation in the red yarn, the halo from the alpaca, and the way the ends turn into a lovely ruffle when it's not pulled tight.

FO Friday: Blocking Is a Lot Like Finishing

I found a shawl in my crafting closet this week that was mostly finished.  It only needed a good blocking and to have the ends woven in.  But it had been waiting for those last couple of steps so long that I forgot I'd even knit it!  Seriously, I remember enjoying the pattern while I made it, and I remember looking forward to wearing it for something, but I can't remember when I actually knit it.

So I put it in a cold Eucalan soak, dried it a bit by rolling it in a towel, then pinned it out to finish:

This is the Myrskylintu shawl, and the yarn is KnitPicks Gloss Fingering in colorway Winter Night.  The yarn was actually gifted to me by a stranger in a superhero-themed swap (my favorite super hero is Superman, and this is for his cape).  Check out the detail on this baby:

After I put that shawl away and while I had the blocking boards out, I went ahead and blocked a shawl that I finished more recently while I was in San Francisco.  This is the Sewanee shawl in madelinetosh tosh merino light.  To give you an idea of what blocking can do for your knitting, here's a before picture:

The picture is a little blurry, but you get the idea.  The edges are horribly curled and messy, the lace is closed up, and the overall shawl is a bad shape.  You can't tell from that picture, but the stitches are also misaligned or malformed because it was knit on square needles rather than round ones.  Here's what blocking did for it:

Now, you can see the true shape of the shawl, a heart.  You can see all the lace and the edges have those sharp points.  Everything is opened up, the sides are no longer curling, and each stitch is aligned properly for a smooth finish.  It also grew so that it's a proper shawl size, whereas before blocking it couldn't fit around my shoulders.  

This took me twenty minutes to set up, and half a night to dry.  It is so worth your time to block, knitters.  Just do it.  

FO Friday: Refreeze Hat

For once, I had the inspiration, know-how, and materials to make something unique enough to call it my design.  That's right: my very first design!

And it's on Ravelry!  That makes it double official!

Okay, enough with the exclamation points.  You get it: I did something new and I'm proud of the way it turned out.  When I'm being honest with myself, I think things like "Well, anyone could have come up with that pattern," or "You're not really making anything new, you're just combining knowledge that you already had."  It's a simple pattern.  All you need to know is cast on, knit in the round, 1X1 rib, stockinette, K2tog, and how to place beads on stitches with a tiny crochet hook.

That's the hardest part: the beading.  And again, I made it really simple by doing an easy diamond chart that anyone could have written.  But the technique for beading was a little time consuming.  For each of those 224 beads, I had to

1. Pick up a bead with a tiny crochet hook.
2. Slip a stitch from the left-hand needle onto the same crochet hook.
3. Slide the bead down onto both legs of the stitch (with much, much help from the tiny hook).
4. Put the stitch back onto the needle and knit it.

Can you tell I'm a technical writer in my day job?  I love lists.

If you need pictures to go with those steps, you could check out this tutorial from About.com.  The only difference is that she did not knit her stitch after it had a bead on it.  Maybe I did it wrong; maybe it doesn't matter.

I hope you like my pattern.  Try it out, and let me know if there are any mistakes.