An Amazing Idea

   I had an amazing idea last week.  DD needed a sweater to go with an outfit for a wedding she is going to in a few weeks and  she couldn't find anything on line or in the store that she really liked.  I showed her this yarn and the project was born.  We decided a simple shawl crocheted with this yarn will work just great with her outfit.

    This is the Red Heart Unforgettable Boutique in the Cappucino colorway that I tried to knit a hat  with holding it double a few months ago and that didn't work out at all.  I was wondering if I would ever find a project for this yarn.

   

    I found this simple crochet shawl tutorial on line. I started this on April 17, 2019 and its done.  I used up all the yarn I had in this colorway.  Here is a link to the youtube video:  Double Crochet All The Way Shawl.   I used a size  I hook (5.5 mm), the yarn actually calls for a size J hook (6.0 mm).  I like the fabric I got with the size I hook.

   I have now used this yarn twice with success, both times I crocheted shawls with it. Here is the other shawl link using the stained glass colorway.

More Sewing, No Crocheting

   I have two more flowers done on my Grandmother's Flower Garden Quilt.  I love the way this is turning out.   I should have taken this picture when the sun was out so you can see the colors clearer,  but the weather was not cooperating today and I wanted to get this posted.

    Here is a picture of my yarn for the Hotel of Bees Shawl that I will start soon.  The yarn is Knit Picks Comfy Sport, the dark pink is Peony, the beige is Parchment, and the light pink is Flamingo.  I'm looking forward to starting this project soon since I did manage to finish the Christmas towel embroideries and that project is half done now.

Hexagon Quilt Update

   I have finished another block in my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt.  I have two done now.  Only 33 more to make.  😎  I have been taking my sweet time with this project.  No rush.  I have plenty of quilts to keep my warm when the weather turns cold.

 

   I received the yarn for my Hotel of Bees Shawl on Friday and I wound all nine skeins into yarn balls so they are ready to use.  I should take a picture of my yarn.  I also took some time to read through some of the pattern last night.  I don't know when I will start this project, but I want to finish my Christmas hanging dishtowels before I start this.  I still have two dishtowels to embroider.  Once they get the embroidery done I have to make the top part.  I didn't get a chance to finish the embroideries on the last two towels this past weekend because . . . 

   I spent a lot of the weekend buying mulch for my large flower bed in the front of the house.  I have a small car so I can only buy 4 bags of mulch at a time.  I made four trips to the home improvement store buying mulch Friday night and Saturday morning to get enough mulch to cover this space.  I used 15 bags of mulch in this space.  I swear my roses look happier since I put the mulch down. 

   

   

Hotel Of Bees Crochet Shawl Project

   The Hotel of Bees shawl pattern was making the rounds earlier in the year.  I heard really good reviews of how well written the pattern was and I saw some beautiful finished shawls in youtube videos and on Ravelry.

   I ordered my copy of the pattern about a month ago.  I spent some time trying to find the yarn I wanted to use.  The designer made her sample with a cotton/acrylic blend yarn and I was trying to find a similar yarn  I found Knit Picks Comfy in Sport weight and ordered it this morning in three different colorways.  Three skeins of Peony (dusty pink), three skeins of Parchment (a natural color), and one skein of flaming0 (light pink).

   While I'm waiting for my yarn, I have printed the pattern (14 pages)  and I'm going to give it a good read.

Stained Glass Shawl

  I finished my shawl.  I love, love, love how the colors came out on this one.  The yarn did all the work.  I used about 4.5 skeins of the Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn for this and the long edge is as long as my wing span so it came out to be a nice size.

Finding The Perfect Project For Yarn

   I have 7 skeins of Red Heart Boutique Unforgettable yarn in the Stained Glass Colorway.  You can see it here:  link to picture of yarn colorway.  I pulled this yarn out a couple of nights ago because I thought I found the perfect pattern for it.  I found a free knitted shawl pattern that is called Spiral Staircase Shawl on the Ravelry website which I thought would be a good match for this yarn.  I tried to start twice but I was not happy with the result.

    I've knitted with this yarn before and I enjoyed the knit and my project turned out really well.  I made a knitted neck warmer in another colorway of this yarn.  It was an easy 3 x 2 rib pattern (link to that post here.)  I also crocheted a nice scarf in this yarn and that was easy to make as well (link to that post here.)

   I really want to use this yarn but I was having a hard time finding a pattern for this colorful yarn until I found the Granny Stripes Shawl pattern.  The easy pattern is found here.  The original pattern calls for color changes every two rows so my colorful yarn makes color changes so easy, like cheating.

    This shawl can be made as big or as small as you want.  I haven't decided how big I want to make this, but I'm planning on crocheting as least 5 skeins of this yarn and see how big that is.

   This is my shawl after using one skein.

My Finished Dishcloth Shawl

  I finished my super simple Dishcloth shawl.  This shawl is a very simple triangular shaped shawl that is made by using Grandmother's Favorite Dishcloth pattern (all garter stitch with one yarn over at the beginning of each row) which is worked on the bias.  You just keep knitting until you get a nice size shawl or just until you feel like you have enough yarn to bind off the long end.  This is a free pattern on the Internet.  I found the pattern in a couple of places, this website has instructions for finishing off the last row with yarn overs to match the other two sides, which I did not do.  

 I tried to make one of these a couple of years ago using lace weight wool yarn held double but it didn't turn out very well and I abandoned it after a year of working on it.  

   I made this shawl with almost 5 skeins of Lion Brand Vanna's Choice yarn (my favorite acrylic yarn) in the Linen colorway.  I used a size 8 circular needle with a 60" cable which was just big enough when the shawl was finished.  I already had the needles and the yarn cost me about $20.00.  I started this project on March 26th and finished this morning, knitting on it here and there until the other day when I brought it out and really got going on it.  

   My shawl is very thick and feels great on my shoulders.  I could have used a bigger needle to get a little looser fabric that would have been just as nice.  This pattern is very flexible and you can use any yarn weight and any needles to make this shawl.  

Another Knitting Project

    I cast on my dishcloth shawl a couple of days ago and I'm loving this easy, easy knit.  It's all garter stitch with a yarn over on every row to increase.  I'm using Vanna's Choice acrylic yarn in the Linen colorway with my size 8  40" Harmony circular needles from Knitpicks.  The pattern is essentially a half of the Grandmother's Favorite Dishcloth pattern which is a perfect triangle for a shawl.

     I've been wanting to make one of these for awhile and I actually started this shawl a couple of years ago with some lace yarn held double but I didn't finish it because I made a few errors that just looked awful so I pitched the project and the yarn because I couldn't stand to look at it anymore.

   I took this picture in the middle of a row because I love the classic look of the needles with the knit fabric stretched between the two needles,




 

My New Shawl Project

   I've never knit a big shawl and last month I found a pattern by a designer that I like and I thought it would be a pattern I would be able to make without too much trouble.  I cast on last week.  

    Yesterday I was working on the shawl and I noticed a dropped stitch.  I tried to fix it but it was really hard because the yarn is sock weight yarn and very thin.  I'm not good about frogging my knitting by unraveling it and picking up the stitches, so I decided that the best thing to do was to start again.  I was going to frog the old knitting and reuse the yarn but the yarn got snagged together at the point where I was trying to pick up the dropped stitch and I couldn't get it unraveled.  I ended up just cutting the yarn and restarting the shawl from the very beginning.

    This is the Atwood Shawl (the pattern is a paid pattern on Ravelry) by Nicole Clark.  I'm knitting it on 3mm Options (nickel plated) 47" circulars with Loops and Threads Woolike in Denim Blue.