Voyager Lace Stole or Why Do I do This to Myself?

also known as What Stole My Sanity...




I am trying to knit this lace stole, it is called Voyager. The pattern is a free one from Elann Yarns. The plan is for me to do this as a KAL (knit along) for the re-read of Voyager by Diana Gabaldon with the Outlander Fans over at Ravelry.

I am trying to knit it with the yarn pictured above. It's lace weight yarn from Spirit Trail called Clotho in the Autumn Harvest Colourway. I love the colourway as it's has got two of my favorite colours in it.

So to the point of this post... I have cast on 99 stitches to start five times already. Today, I got the farthest along, six whole rows of garter stitch and 6 whole rows of pattern (out of 10, sigh). I found a mistake in the number of stitches on the sixth row of pattern (two to many, sigh), realized that I didn't have a lifeline in, yet another sigh. So, now I have to rip it, rip it, rip it (frogging). You just can't tink (knit backwards) a lace pattern without having a lifeline in. If you try to un-knit, you tend to lose the yarn overs that are inherent in lace knitting. Bleh, poopers, caca occurs, meh, and an even bigger sigh! Yes, I am starting YET again. Yes, I will get this. Yes, I can do this. Yes, I have knit lace before. Yes, I am that determined. Yes, more shall be revealed.

However, my Knitpicks Harmony Wood Interchangeables have been a real boon to my lace knitting. At least I stitch better with them. I just can't count better. They have really lovely points for finding the stitches. The wood has enough tooth to hold onto the yarn, yet the needles are pretty slick and let's the stitches slide off when you need them to. I am so glad that Erin gifted me them to my birthday.

Dragonfly in Amber Sporran Swap

Over to Ravelry, there is a group or two or three for just about every interest one might possibly have. There are groups for journals round robins, fans of Moleskines, TV shows, quilting, movies, books, authors, designers, steampunk, geeks, knitting needle brands and all matter of other things, even for being cack - handed (a lefty).

One of the many groups I belong to is for the fans of Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. Here's the link to Diana's Site: http://www.dianagabaldon.com/. Within the group, we are doing read-a-longs and Knit-A-Longs. The book we currently are reading is Dragonfly in Amber, which is the second book in the series. We have been doing the Dragonfly socks as the KAL, please see earlier posts for pictures of the socks (I've made two pair, as I really like them).

It's coals to Newcastle for me to read this book yet again, as I have read the series every year since 1996 when the first one was published. I know that sounds crazy, but I am not alone in doing this. The Ladies of Lallybroch are legion. (The Ladies of Lallybroch is an on-line fan group of Diana Gabaldon. Here's the link to the site: http://www.lallybroch.com). I have 3 sets of the books, a set of autographed hardbacks and 2 sets of PBs. The PBs, I will lend to anyone I can con, I mean, er, introduce to them. Between Katte Beth and I, we finally got to our friend, Darla. She is going to start reading them as well. Woot! Another person to sit and spin and talk about Outlander with.

Well, anyway, to the point of this blog. We do a swap in the group by signing up and getting randomly selected to be spoilt and to spoil. I was given Tiffany to spoil and her sporran is on the way to her. K was chosen to spoil me. The Sporran Swap is a package of themed goodies tailored to the spoilee. In this, I was spoilt to a great extent by Lachlan, aka KRobin... She really outdid herself. She must have poked around on Ravelry and other places to see what I liked and what things are favorites of mine. She did a great job of sleuthing, IMO. Thank you, thank you, thank you, (100 million).

In the great box, I got a Moleskine-like journal with a picture of the Eiffel Tower on the front. There is a package of sliced candied ginger and a recipe to make Ginger Roos (if you have read earlier posts, this will make sense). There was also roving for needle felting including some smooshy Corriedale in a shade of blue that I didn't have. Two beautiful skeins of handspun yarn (they are whispering about a pair of wristlets to me), in some of my fave colours of cream, green and brown. A package of shortbread, cuz we're Scottish after all. Wonderful stitch markers of dragonflies to add to my growing collection of REALLY KEWL JEWELS for knitting. Possibly my most favorite item of all, an amber bead and wood bead with silver charms bookmark (I love, love, love bookmarks!). There is so much more, including dark chocolate, a skein of sock yarn in a colourway very similar to one I was contemplating just this morning. There was also a roll of ribbon, a postcard, a photo of Edinburgh Castle. Jealous (1), as she's been there, also some fun buttons and findings for a bracelet.


Again, a thousand thanks and I have enjoyed this experience to no end and would do it again in a heartbeat. Next up, Voyager and I got the sock pattern picked out already, the yarn to do it in now, as well. Thanks again, K!

Finished Socks - Encore Scrappies and Dragonflies KAL

Here are the two latest pairs of socks that I have completed.

The scrappy socks are made from leftovers. I had these colours leftover after making a bunch of hats for charity. The yarn is Encore Colors Worsted Weight knitted on Size 4s. I just used the yarns as they came along, which is why there are 5 different yarns in these socks. It is also why there is no rhyme or reason to the colour blocking.

The Dragonflies are knitted in a lace stitch that looks like a dragonfly. These were done in a Cascade Yarns Sassy Stripes sock weight yarn knitted on Size 2s. As you can see I didn't get the striping to line up as the yarn was wound different on the 2 skeins I had and I decided "screw it", I am not going to make myself crazy trying to get it to line up. Hey, they are my socks, therefore, it's my rules. I would only wish that my pictures would show the design better, however, sigh...

BTW, these Dragonfly in Amber KAL socks are going to have a felted bag in the shape of a thistle to go with. Green Pi in earlier post is the beginning of that project...

Come Home, Little Stitches, Come Home

Here's an update on my Ravelry.com Dragonfly in Amber (DIA) KAL. (There is a picture of the first cuff, showing the yarn in an earlier post.)

So, I have one sock done on my DIA sock KAL. It's lovely and I want to wear it. I would wear it in a heart beat, if I had any other sock made of the same type of yarn, but nooooo. This was my first venture with sock weight yarn and knitting with same. All of the other socks I have made have been warm woolies as oppose to lacy woolies. I have the other sock cast on and knitted down for about 4 inches. Guess what I didn't do? Put in a lifeline and it's lace! What the Hell was I thinking? Shoot me in the head dead with an axe....

I pulled a needle out of live stitches and lost the YOs, Poo! :-( Gack...

It's been too cold and with some snowy days in there, as well, to sit outside to try and find my lost stitches. There is not enough light in my house even with all the lamps on to try and find them especially with the snow and overcast we had at the beginning of the week...

Dragonfly KAL and Read Along

I cast on the Dragonfly Socks for the Ravelry Dragonfly in Amber by Diana Gabaldon Read Along and Dragonfly Sock Knit Along. Here is the cuff of the first one.

Of course I never do things exactly to the pattern, as I only did two rows of the 2x2 rib at the top of the sock. I wanted the scallop effect of the yarn overs and K2togs to be apparent at the top. These are going really fast, by the way, even if I am using a sock weight super wash yarn from Cascade. I got the yarn at Shuttles in Boulder about a year ago and I am knitting them on Size 4 DPNs.

Edited later in the Day:

So have you ever had one of those moments when it all comes together and you think to yourself, DOH? Well, I had one of them today. I have been unhappy with my left side decreases on the gussets of socks since I learned how to turn a heel last winter. I missed the lesson on decreasing, apparently. As I have said, above I am making these Dragonfly Socks which required both a right and left leaning decrease in the pattern on the leg of the sock and down the foot. To make the left leaning decrease, you slip a stitch knitwise onto your right needle, then knit the next stitch and leave it on the right needle and then bring the slipped stitch back over the stitch you just knitted (right leaning is Knit Two Stitches Together or K2tog). Pretty simple, right? Well, it dawned on me TODAY, that I could decrease for the gusset with Slip, Knit, Pass Slip Stitch Over and it would lay beautifully and match the decreases on the right side gusset and it does. DOH!

Now back to your regularly scheduled programming.

I am also knitting a drawstring bag out of some Lamb's Spun in the same colours, that I bought at Knitter's Kove here in Colorado Springs to go with these socks. It will be knitted then felted into the shape of a thistle. I have posted a picture of the green blob to start. I am knitting it on size 15 needles and it's getting BIG. As you may be aware, tho, felted knitting shrinks about 30% in length and about 10% in width, so it's going to seem monsterously big until it's shrunk.