Chrysanthemums

The WS is facing the camera, but you get the gist.

I've had the Chrysanthemum Shawl by Francoise Danoy in my library for a while, and it's sort of been waiting for the right occasion to come up for me to knit it up. When my mom brought up knitting a small shawl or scarf for an auntie of mine, I dug through what patterns I had queued up, as well as trawling the free lace shawl patterns on ravelry before realizing I had the perfect pattern and yarn waiting to be knit up together.

A nice size to drape over your shoulders

To be honest, I didn't really take too close a look at the instructions beyond how to start the tab at the beginning of the shawl, how to do the yo rows (because it's not completely a pi shawl), and following the charts. Which turned out to be fine, actually, so if you know how to knit a circular shawl, or at least the general pattern recipe, then this pattern is really easy. The only lace chart I had a bit of trouble with was the last one, because I wasn't paying much attention and kept making mistakes, but everything's relatively mindless. (And I can say this because probably a good 80% of this shawl was knit while marathoning season 2 of Preacher.)

How do I put this on in time for the time- oh. Every time this happens! Every time!

Personally, I would've liked a slightly larger shawl, but that could have been in part because I didn't block as aggressively as I could've (no pins used at all). And besides, the request was for a wee scarf, without much bulk, so this definitely fits the bill. I've got way more yarn left over than I expected, too, considering the entire skein fell right within the pattern requirements: I used 75g of the 100g skein (100g = 765 yards), and the pattern asks for 730 - 766 yards. I thought for sure I was playing yarn chicken, but alas. More leftovers to mull over.

That Movie I Haven't Watched Yet

Aimed a bit high - wanted it to go around neck level.

The Wonder Woman Wrap enjoyed a tremendous amount of love the moment it came out from what I can remember, and there are currently (as of writing) 1086 projects, combined with the addition of being listed in 2393 queues. And that's only counting the knit version! That's phenomenal. But I think also well deserved. I downloaded the pattern back when it only had one size, so I'm not sure whether there have been any changes made since, but I followed the instructions exactly (without swatching), making no modifications whatsoever, and the shawl came out beautifully! It was a pretty magical moment watching it all come together; I don't think I've been so enthralled with pattern instructions for a while. Honestly, this pattern is absolute genius. The use of short rows and the different types of increases really makes this wrap sing, and I love it to bits!

Those wings!

At least, I loved the making of it and the actual finished product. I don't see myself wearing it (in part because I haven't actually watched the Wonder Woman movie, so I feel as though I'm not quite qualified to do so). Which is why I asked a coworker of mine whether she would be interested in wearing it - and she seemed absolutely ecstatic over it, so I'm glad for that! - and now it has a wonderful new home where it will be loved and worn, as it was meant to be. Hurrah!

I'm actually pretty inspired by this pattern to use more short rows and increases & decreases to create shapes in general. It's really cool and was a lot easier to knit than I would've thought at first glance. Maybe something to consider for future designs?

Rosebleed

Alistair's Rose Pi Shawl

It's been a while since I've knit anything, or so it feels - anyone else noticing a pattern of all-or-nothing going on here? - but I finally got myself to start something up, starting with a skein I've been wanting to use for a couple of years now: Studioloo's lacey-loo in Roseblood. It's a lovely deep, saturated pink that reminds me of honeysuckle (even though I didn't actually know what honeysuckles looked like until I searched them up for writing this post to make sure they are what I'm being reminded of... yes. Even then, they reminded me of honeysuckle) or an overripe fruit, overlaid with a touch of honey to bring forth that almost golden glow - I say almost because there is zero that is yellow or golden to this colourway, and the illusion of a golden pink is only through the slight halo arising of its singles construction, producing the slightest of a golden aura, albeit an imaginary one. The yarn itself is soft and surprisingly strong, and I found zero knots in the entire skein, which meant I had exactly two ends to weave in at the end of all the knitting: the cast on and the bind off. So much for what I love about the yarn, and now onto the murky cons, specifically: it crocked like nothing else (except for maybe that other saturated pink, the madtosh tosh dk that I used for the chevron bomber - I'm tempted to conclude torchere has some relation to torture, that. What's with the pinks?), and subsequently, unsurprisingly, bled into the soak. I tried rubbing it vigorously against a white fabric surface after it had dried to see if it would crock again, but it didn't transfer any colour, so perhaps all the excess dye washed out in that one soak? Probably just my wishful thinking.

It blocked out spectacularly! I also can't aim my camera today.

I knew from the start I wanted to use more or less the entire skein on one project (it took 979 yards total to make this size using 3.25mm needles and laceweight yarn), so a pi shawl seemed the best bet, besides which it had been a while since the last one and I've been itching for a large project since finishing the brioche dress. (There might also have been the little issue of me not wanting to do the whole nine yards for swatching, so garments were out of the picture altogether.) And of course, having such a saturated pink in a colourway called Roseblood, of all things, I figured I should go all in or nothing and look for something flowery in design. Alistair's Rose Pi Shawl seemed (and I think did turn out to be) a pretty perfect fit, so I went for it. Now, the design's lovely and very easy to follow - I think everything's pretty self-explanatory upon seeing the charts, especially if you understand the mechanics of a pi shawl.

Just to see the edging, which I ended up pinning while it blocked.

However. And this is a very stressed however. If you follow the instructions to the letter, your charts will not match up. They will not be centered. It's not by much - one stitch, and what's one stitch in the grand scheme of things? Can you tell I only found out after the first chart? Can you also tell I goofed, twice!, and tried to fix one of them? No? Good. - but if you, like me, are the type to be bothered (but apparently not bothered enough to rip back after discovering that yes, I would have to rip back an entire chart or two) by this one stitch off-centered design, then you just need to insert these lines into the pattern as you work your way through:

1. Before working Chart 2, after working the yo & K rounds: sl first stitch of round so it becomes the last stitch of round
2. Before working Chart 3, after working the yo & K rounds: sl first stitch of round so it becomes the last stitch of round
3. Before working Chart 3B: sl first stitch so it becomes last
4. Before Chart 4: sl last stitch of round so it becomes the first stitch of the round

I believe that's all. I'm pretty sure the direction of slipping stitches I've provided here is correct, but just pay attention to the numbers (count how many stitches until the center of the chart below, and make corresponding changes to current chart). I made the mistake of not looking through everyone else's projects before starting, also, so although a number of others have made a note of this already, I failed to see it until I encountered it myself.

Perfect size for doubling up as a crescent shawl

The original plan was to keep it for myself, but as with all the best laid plans, this is going to become a gift. My parents mentioned my cousin very briefly while I was knitting this and I haven't been able to get it out of my head thereafter that this shawl is to be hers. Not that I know her very well, unfortunately, but I do think it would look lovely on her, from the couple of times I've seen her over the years. (I'll have to make especial mention of possible transfer of colour though. That's actually quite worrisome.)

I suppose a pi shawl for myself will just have to wait till the next shawl itch comes around.

Babble Babel Baa-ble

Do you see the sheep?

So my friend Shirley asked me to knit her the famous Baa-ble Hat. She's not a knitter, so I have no idea where she stumbled across this pattern, but stumble across it she did, and knowing as she did that I'm a knitter, she put forth her request to me. So of course I said yes! I've wanted to knit this hat ever since it came out, though I figured I'd probably never wear it myself, so I refrained from doing it.

Might be a bit short in the crown area?

Now, while in theory I was totally gung-ho about knitting this, a couple of stumbling blocks came my way: 1)I didn't have the pattern. Easy enough to fix. 2) I haven't really done much in the way of colourwork, save for my sheepy vest, which remains unfinished (shhhh...), and 3) I had never knit a hat before. All this to say, it's not perfect.

Just barely covers my ears, folded over!

So I went in order:

1. Got pattern to work off of.
2. Knit this thing inside out and kept floats pretty loose. I actually had to tighten a couple of them while knitting because it was getting ridiculous. Switching between continental and English probably also contributed to tension issues, but practice will most likely solve that.
3. I cast on too few stitches at first (60), and because my floats were a smidge tight, the hat would only just barely squeeze past my ears after I had finished knitting half the sheep. So I frogged and restarted with more stitches (84), adjusting the pattern as I went along and fudging the top snowdrops.
4. I also used DK & worsted weight yarns instead of the aran called for, so that most likely contributed to some gauge issues. That includes the row gauge, which is the reason I'm assuming the crown feels a bit short. Hopefully it'll still go over her hair...
5. Because I only used 3 colours, I probably should've switched to using the charcoal grey for the sheep's faces & horns. Oh well. Next time.

Overall, I'm pretty happy with it and hope she likes it too, once I get it to her! The greatest fear is actually fit, to be honest...

Souvenirs, Etc.

Souvenirs.

These are the souvenirs I got my friends while I was in Hong Kong: 3 wooden bug magnets & a gudetama chopstick holder. While I'm sure you can only find these eggs and bugs in HK, it's not as though I would really get bug magnets (from PMQ) and a gudetama chopstick holder for my friends on the regular even if I saw them here. (Gudetama has grown on me. I didn't get the attraction or the reason for his popularity until I saw him every day in the Circle K promotion displays and started desperately wanting to shop at Circle K and collect their stickers just so I could redeem them for gudetama merchandise. That being said, I've been told the reason he's so popular is because he's really existential & consequently lazy, which baffles me... or is it because his reason for laziness reflects the mindset of the people?) One of them - a stone paper notebook - I already sent forth, but these little guys are patiently awaiting their turn since they're rather fragile (ironically, the egg is the sturdiest of them all).

Attention to detail! The little butt delights me. Really, it does.

I did a bit of shopping for myself while I was there as well, the bulk of which came in the form of clothing (subsequently the bulk of which came from Uniqlo, although I hear we're getting one soon in the Eaton Centre space?). In my defence though, half of the clothing I brought back was given to me as hand-me-downs by my aunt after she discovered I would take them.

I got a watch strap replaced at Ap Liu Gai, and it has since been worn continuously after coming back, which is great considering my usual watch has withstood probably over 10 years of use, leading to the many scratches on its face (I wear the face on the inside of my wrist for that one) and signs of wear on the leather strap. I'm sure it'll appreciate some down time.

New watch for rotation, wood mosaic from Hakone, ring from PMQ (with bugs)

There were mosaic woodwork stores everywhere we went in Hakone! Maybe excepting up on the mountain (we walked up to the amazake chaya by the stone paths alternating with the side of the winding roads), but quite literally everywhere else. We even got some wooden postcards, though we were too afraid they'd crack in the mail to send them out.

Books, letter-writing set from Le Petit Prince Museum (Hakone), notebooks, and stationary

I sent out a variety of postcards while I was in both Japan and HK (none of which are pictured since they've since been delivered and hopefully received), and was pleasantly surprised to see some responses once I got home! It's been a really long time since I've actually had letter mail that didn't come from work, the government, or school. So I went on browsing a lot in the stationary areas pretty much whenever I saw them, which also meant I came home with a number of notebooks and memo pads, in addition to a letter-writing set from Le Petit Prince Museum in Hakone (why there's a Le Petit Prince museum in Hakone of all places is beyond me, but I'm not complaining! It was really quite lovely.) and a grand total of one whole book purchased on my entire trip: Fashion & Sustainability: Design for Change. The notebooks I'm going to try at least to justify myself: I'm almost done my moleskine! There's a couple pages left that I'm not sure will ever be filled since I'm obviously ready to move on to a new one at this point. And not because I don't like moleskine; I was originally considering getting the exact same one to replace my current one, but I saw the plethora of choices available to me in HK and decided to try something new. The small red pocket notebook (Muji) came in very handy throughout my vacation as a travel log: it's the perfect pocket size, with a soft cover that gave enough protection against water that I could minimize damage when it threatened to happen. The paper itself I also quite like, since there isn't much tooth to it at all, which made an easy transition from my moleskine.

Presents!

Soon after coming home, I got a bit of a surprise in the mail in the form of books & movies! They're completely outside of my usual fare, and they come on recommendation, so I'm looking forward to making my way through them once I get some free time.* I've been going non-stop from work to going out with friends since coming back, so I didn't hesitate too much when I went out with my mom to get myself a gift:

Gift to self. Nothing to do with my vacation, really.

*I've actually finished reading Childhood's End, and enjoyed it immensely. That being said, I don't know if the style of writing just didn't sit well with me or what, but I found it rather stiff at times on top of being very self-conscious - it was as though Clarke was trying to maintain a certain detached voice but missed the mark just a bit. It might just be that I have grown much too used to different genres and their accompanying styles of writing. Or perhaps it's because the subject matter at hand is not natural as we know it, so why should I expect its mode of delivery to be? (Although I would make the argument that it is natural, in a sense.)

Kitten Mittens

Cats for Wancat

Very belated post, but I had forgotten about these. Above are the kitten mittens I made for my friend for Secret Santa! I used the Moggies pattern, which was very easy to follow (it's more or less completely done by following the chart) and turned out beautifully. It was my first extensive colourwork project (the sheep sweater doesn't count. It just - truly and honestly - does not count.) and I definitely noticed my gauge relaxing by the second mitten. Also, look what happens when you don't really plan that well and run out of yarn! The upper left grey kitten is pinching in visibly because I had to substitute a couple of other (thinner) grey yarns since I ran out of the rest of my Cascade Heritage. Also, better colour combinations next time. The grey and the green almost blend into each other, which was completely unexpected. The recipient didn't even realize there were cats on the mittens at first and thought they were camo mittens! He was delighted when I pointed them out though, so I suppose it's fine? And maybe if they're less noticeable, the chances they'll be worn is higher...

In other news: a new issue of Brooklyn Tweed is out! I absolutely adore the colour palette and the styling (as always). Very tempted to cast on an Intersect, and League intrigues me, so I might get it for the sake of figuring out how to do intarsia so cleanly, but not actually make it for myself. Riptide's another beauty that I'm not sure I'd be able to incorporate into my wardrobe, but would love to make. It's actually a bit of an issue, the things that I want to make not being the things I would wear. Also the colours I want to use not being the colours I would wear. (Although I wouldn't hesitate too much wearing rather outlandish colours so long as I don't have to colour-coordinate them with other outlandish colours.)