This Is So Interesting!!

Or at least I hope so. The cheap things I will say to get you to read my blog--it's like I am a politician. But seriously, an update from this corner of the world called Germany.

There was a major religious holiday in southern Germany called Corpus Christi (as a Catholic I should have known this, but I digress). So again, we had the typical characteristics of the German holiday which perplexmetothisday--i.e. where does everybody go?? Streets are quiet. They even turned the church bells off. I couldn't sleep--too bloody quiet. Chico the dog, from upstairs, is on holiday in Italy. Yes, even the dog.

Tuesday (today). Still quiet. Me thinks the Germans made a long va-cay out of it.

Now onto the knitting. I have been knitting mad, wicked fast. Oh thank you, Elizabeth Zimmerman for creating patterns out of garter stitch that actually look good so I can zoom away on some baby gifts for my pregnant friends.

A while ago I bought some lovely handpainted sockweight yarn from a place online (but here in Germany). Here is what it looked like still in the skein/hank (never quite sure what to call it when it looks like this):Hmm, yummy. But even yummier when I found the perfect pattern for it: Nutkin (Ravelry link). Usually I am not a fan of semi-striping yarns and sock patterns that call for anything beyond a simple ribbing. But Nutkin is IT. It goes soo well. I'm so pleased.
Ahhh, a turned cuff and everything. No cable needle! And yes, those are Knit Picks circulars, which I dare say are much better than the Addi Turbos. But get this--I lost my Addi Turbos (the sock ones) and for months refused to buy replacement circulars. I got the Comfort Plus ones (which I like) but just wanted my damn circulars back. Wouldn't you know that, like, three weeks after caving in and buying some the old ones resurface? I swear we have a ghost in our apartment but whatever.

Today I am blocking Alhambra (Ravelry link here)by Anne Hanson. I used less than one skein of Knit Picks Gloss Lace in colorway Port. I liked knitting with it, but we'll see how it holds up to being pushed and pulled constantly out of my bag (I don't like air conditioning, which is why I like Europe so much--hard to find AC--but it does pop up). Right now it's a plop of glop in the sink, but here's what it looked like as a WIP:
Finally, this past week I met my first Raveler, or is it Ravelryer? Her name is Jenn. She bravely endured my driving on the autobahn and we hit the yarn shops in the area, eventually finding one that was open (ha!). She and I are thinking of doing the Sound of Music tour in Salzburg, Vienna. (In between hitting the yarn shops there, of course!).

Swallowtail Shawl

It seemed like everyone but me had knit this beautiful pattern so when Interweave Knits put it out as a special for free, I pounced! This is the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn Clark.
It took one week to knit (I know, can you believe it?). Originally the pattern calls for a laceweight yarn, but I decided to use a heavier sportweight DROPS Alpaca that I bought in Sweden earlier this year. It used up about 2.25 balls of that--slightly more than 400 yards. This was also my first chance to try out my new Addi Turbo lace needles, US 5.

The nupps were easy to handle with the Addi Turbo lace needles--don't skimp here. But the nupps are definitely arthritis-aggravating so go slow in that section if you are unlucky enough to have this affliction. Or buy more Bengay.

I did notice a few times that I either forgot a YO here or there or I accidentally let it slip off the needle. But I managed to jerry rig a solution that's hard to see afterwards, though I did use a lifeline.

All in all it was a very fun and entrancing knit. Addictive even. Easy to block, too. What more could you ask for?

Knitting the Catalina Shawl

Last week I started knitting the Catalina Shawl by g. bella knits. I was hugely attracted to this lace shawl because it was knitted more densely than other shawls and the design was different from anything I'd seen (Anne Hanson excluded, of course!). There was just something about it.

I don't know about everyone else, but with lace patterns I always have to knit about 4 inches or so to figure it out; I never get it right on the first try (not yet, anyway). In these 4 inches I mess up but always come out learning how the pattern works. The same happened here. I wasn't sure how to handle the two yo's on the next row, despite the instructions. Just slip it over--that's it, nothing more. I was golden from there.

Pattern: Catalina Shawl (click on g. Bella knits for web link to pattern) or here for the Ravelry link.

Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 in Juniper (pattern calls for 600 yards, but I have a second skein to accommodate my modification, below)

Needles: US 2 in 24" length

Modifications: I added two pattern repeats to section B to make this a wider shawl.

This is probably going to take me a couple of months to knit considering that the picture above is about50 rows and only about 4 inches long or so, pre-blocking. But it's a very fun knit, so I don't mind.