Finished Project: Picovoli
Project Specs:
Pattern: Picovoli by Grumperina
Yarn: Four balls of Rowan Calmer in color (oops, can’t find any of the ball bands, maybe Joy 478)
Needles: US 7 addi turbos
Size: 36″
Pattern Alterations: I made up my own waist shaping with the increases and decreases on the sides. And I kept knitting until it was the length I liked.
My Blog Links: This, That and Everything in Between, Hurray for Super Bowls, New Summer Project
Again, the Calmer is so comfortable to wear. This top gets a little bunchy around the middle, maybe it needed to be a little bigger around. But the top fits perfectly across the shoulders. So if I was doing this top again, I would knit on a few more stitches on each side for the bottom of the armholes. Otherwise, I’m liking it.
Touch My Heart
Receiving this poem from Ella was the highlight of my Mother’s Day.
[The picture is of the inside of the movie theater when we saw The Chronicles of Narnia.]
Touch My Heart
by Ella
Movies together. Movies.
Tap, tap go her needles.
A gift to me.
Taught me to make the same noise of tap, tap.
A generous jewel.
A generous jewel.
Joyful together.
Her hair is as dark as dark chocolate.
Touch my heart.
Thanks Ella. I love you.
Tedious Beads
I’ve finished the first ball of Kidsilk Night. Before continuing on the River shawl, I decided to start the beaded donut.
Stringing the beads on the yarn was quick and easy. But whoa, knitting with beads is so tedious.
I couldn’t decide which beads to use, so I may be making a second donut with silver beads too.
Liam (who thinks all wool is itchy without even touching it) said when touching the shawl, “It’s not itchy. It has sparkles in it.”
I’m over 60% done with the shawl. And I’m about to start the last ball for Picovoli. Looks like I may have two finished projects in May.
Hidden Yarn Storage
Some of you may know that I’m committed to not having my yarn stash creep into other parts of the house. I’m trying hard to contain it all in my sewing cabinet or in the bins above it. If I want more yarn I need to knit up some of the stuff I already have. But I know some of you may be looking for more hidden places in your house to store your stash so you don’t have to resort to the oven. Today I discovered a perfect hidden storage space for more yarn, stored luggage. Check out your large suitcases to see if you could keep some of your yarn there.
New Summer Project
I’ve already found one summer knitting project, the Licorice Bullet Skirt. I’ve been looking for a summer skirt to make Ella, and this one will be great since you can customize it to fit any size. I’ll be using the Valley Yarns Longmeadow. But I can’t start any new knitting project until I finish River.
Which brings me to the progress of the shawl. I’m getting faster now, finding a rhythm. But oh, I got stuck on row 70. Now there’s nothing special about this row. But for some reason I was one stitch short and I would knit a row, unknit it, back and forth way too many times. Finally today I sat down with the shawl again under good lighting and found the one little dropped stitch that hadn’t gone anywhere (thank goodness). Now I’m off again, on row 77. But here’s the thing. I measured the length so far and did the math. Apparently once I finish all of the repeats the shawl will be over 10 inches too short. I’m hoping that once blocked severely, the shawl will be about the correct length, true?
With the shawl being sent to the bad corner for a few days, I actually picked up Picovoli again. I finally committed to not doing the waist shaping in the pattern and came up with my own waist shaping. Really it feels like I’m just winging it. I’ll try it on once I get a few more inches knit and see how it looks at that point.
I’m finally up-to-date with my Stitches II swatches. Here they are above my desk whispering constantly, “Block me.”
And the other day I bought some nice clothes for the kids to wear to the commitment celebration. I meant them to be saved for the event. But I guess the kids couldn’t wait to try them. They came downstairs and this is what I saw.
Don’t you think Liam makes the most lovely girl and Ella is a fine little man? Apparently they’re about the same size around. Mouseover for the “fancy pose.” Where did Ella learn to jut out her hip like that?
