Possessed to Knit

Earth and Sky Mystery KAL Shawl

Here is my completed Earth and Sky shawl drying on my blocking board.  It is for my friend, Gina, who will be traveling to Africa next month to participate in the Kenya program.   The yarn is Hempathy by Elsebeth Lavold in White Beach, Eucalyptus, and Dark Linen colorways.  Gina prefers cotton to wool and Hempathy is made of 34% hemp, 41% cotton, and 25% rayon.  I used my size 4 (3.5 mm) Addi Lace circular needles and I followed Stephen West's clever design.  This is the first pattern of his I have ever knitted and it was a lot of fun.  His pattern worked out very nicely and it was wonderful to see all the KAL projects on Ravelry.  Thank you to Stephen for his delightful shawl knit-along.

New and Improved Snoopy Sweater Completed

I have finished my latest Snoopy sweater for my sister, Teresa.  Lucy Neatby's Intarsia Untangled 1 & 2 DVDs  helped me to improve my intarsia knitting giving me a much nicer sweater.  I did a lot more duplicate stitching this time around.  I duplicate stitched the grass, the black lines on the dog house, and Snoopy's eyes, nose and ear.  I'm not thrilled with the way the ear turned out and think maybe I should have worked it in true intarsia (which would involve breaking the red yarn at the ear, not stranding it across the back).  I used Vanna's Choice acrylic yarn and size 7 and 5 needles from my Denise set.  I have the 40" cord and used the Magic loop to knit the sleeves.  My gauge is 4.5 sts and 6 rows to the inch on the size 7 needles.  This sweater will go into tomorrow's mail. 

My mother has selected the Lilac Palette for the background and the Blush Palette for the design for her Annemor #11 gloves.  I also have worsted weight Swish in brick and a size 9 Addi turbo 16" needle sweater in my knitting bag to begin Colin's sweater.  I look forward to starting both of these projects in the near future.

Snoopy & Lucy Neatby

I have finally started the new Snoopy sweater for my sister, Teresa.  I received my Lucy Neatby Intarsia Untangled 1 & 2 DVDs from Knit Picks (they have the best price and free shipping over $50).  I learned how to work intarsia much more smoothly and when to leave it out and use duplicate stitching instead.  I did some test duplicate stitching on a swatch of Lion's brand Cotton Ease for my sister Maria's sweater and it did not turn out very well.  This yarn is Vanna's Choice (100% acrylic) and duplicate stitching looked better with it.  I keep thinking of using some machine washable wool, but white is hard to find in some of the yarn lines.  I have stitch markers from Opal's Esty store and they are wonderful.  I would worry that markers might create a little gap in my knitting as I carried the yarn behind them, but Opal's markers are thin and very sturdy, a delight to knit with.   I'm preparing to knit the Snoopy portion of the sweater and after that, it's all down hill.