Sunday, March 20, 2016

Organizing the needles ...

I've been organizing some things lately ... I decided to dive into the needle stash ...  it was a mess to say the least.  It was housed in a shallow drawer.  There were loose needles, interchangeables still on cables, fixed circs and all manner of things in this drawer ...


I pulled everything out and sorted by cable  length.  I put my interchangeable set in the nice silk roll designed for such a thing and put the extra cables in a nice little fabric baggie.  I have empty sleeves, but I am pretty sure those are all on WIPs.


And instead of stuffing it all back in the drawer, it all  found a new home.


I now have a better grasp on what I have - which is almost a set for anything ... but I am sure the very next thing I go to cast on, I will not have the perfect needle set/length for, LOL!

Now I hope to update Ravelry projects with ndls, and put them back when done and keep this organized!

Next ... on to the DPNs ...

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

FO: Peacock's Tale


Pattern: The Peacock's Tale by Nim Teasdale
Yarn: Berocco Ultra Alpaca Fine
Needles: US 6 4.0mm and US 8 5.0mm (US 11 to bind off)
Start Date: January 17, 2016
Finish Date: February 27, 2016

This is a phenomenal pattern.  The charts flow excellently into each other, the stitch patterns are easy to memorize and follow from the previous rows by eye.  It is adjustable, so you can repeat each chart as many times as you want and there's a variation on the edging if you want.  The beading slowed it down a bit (and actually I did most of the knitting in 2 weeks).


Watching the shawl go from rumpled mess to beautifully blocked was amazing! 


I do need to invest in some more blocking mats though, I kept having to shift them around since this wasn't a usual shape.  I either got it right or just gave up and it came out OK - I'm not sure which actually occurred, LOL!