Random Act of Kindness Revealed

Ta da!


This is a capelet (I'm not actually sure that capelet is a word, but I've been using it a lot this week, so if it isn't it should be) that I knit up for the friend of a friend who is getting married this weekend. I've never met this friend of a friend (FoaF), or in fact know anything about her, but on Thursday last week my friend (the one I do know) mentioned that the FoaF had her wedding dress (a lovely strapless, non-meringue type dress) but was having trouble finding a scarf or something to wear if it gets chilly.

It occured to me that I had a squillion skeins of laceweight yarn and a love of knitting lacey things so I asked my friend if she thought FoaF would have any interest in something I made. A resounding yes was the answer - and so off to knit I went.

Being short of time (the wedding is this Saturday) I decided a full stole or shawl wouldn't work and so I hit on the capelet idea. I had some Kid Silk Haze in cream and some glass beads which I thought would work nicely with the ivory colour of the dress (although that's a bit iffy, I've seen a photo of the dress online, who knows what the colour is in real life). I decided on the feather and fan pattern as it meant I'd have a scalloped edge without having to knit on a border (time saving!) and 5mm needles because I thought big loose knitting would give an airy look (and would make the knitting faster!).

Basically, I crochet cast on about 70 stitches, knit 5 stitches on each end in garter stitch throughout, and divided the remaining stitches into 12 pattern repeats of feather and fan. I increased in each pattern repeat every second row for about 16 rows, then moved to increasing every forth row, then to increasing every 8th row until I had about 50 rows completed.

I knit a couple of plain rows, then added the full row of beading (that took a looooong time as there were about 450 stitches to be beaded!) on the right side, then a knit row on the wrong side. Cast off with a lace cast off to preserve the lovely scallops.

Then to finish it off I picked up the cast on stitches, beaded each of those on the right side, then a knit row on the wrong side. Finally I cast off that edge with a picot cast off.

I used a little less than 2 skeins of KSH, and about 520 small beads.

I gave the capelet a fairly lenient blocking -- I stretched the lace and just shaped the scallops by hand -- no pins!!!

I don't think these photos do it justice - I'm very pleased with the final result. The beads add a lovely bit of sparkle to the hem and neckline that the photos just don't pick up. If I were to make another one I would do fewer garter edge stitches (2 or 3) and probably add a picot to give a bit of interest to those edges. I'd also consider doing 2 rows of beading around the neckline.

The capelet is winging its way to the bride now. Of course I realise (as I have through this process) that it may not work with the dress or it might not be to FoaF's taste -- but I'm ok with that. I figure even if it doesn't feature in the big day she can pass it on to one of her friends in her own random act of kindness and EVENTUALLY it'll get its moment in the sun!!


Baby Surprise Jacket Collar
Emily asked in the comments how I did the collar on the BSJ. It was pretty straightforward really, after seaming the sleeves I picked up about 16 stitches along the left neck edge, a similar amount along the back neck edge, and then 16 stitches along the right neck edge. Don't worry about the exact number of stitches - 16ish is fine. Then I knit about 15 or 16 rows in garter stitch and cast off. Voila! A collar!

Wyoming!
One of the things I love about keeping the blog is when someone new stumbles across it and comments on older posts. Some of you might recall the crisis of confidence I faced last year when it seemed IMPOSSIBLE to find a Wyoming-ite to read the blog. Well, Janet dropped by a couple of days ago and she is indeed from Wyoming! Way to go Wyoming! She filled me in on the Wyoming knitting scene and recommended a good little LYS if I'm ever in the neighbourhood. Thanks Janet!

Finally - The Friends and Family Prize

If you are a family member still struggling to come to grips with not winning the 'Friends and Family' prize from my contest you may want to look away now.

For the rest of you - I present Shirl wearing her new shrug.

She asked for a shrug and after reviewing a few options settled on this - the Enchant shrug from Kim Hargreaves' latest collection: Nectar.

When I first looked at the pattern description online I thought this would be a quick knit, with minimal sewing up. Errrrr - not quite.

The body of the shrug is knit in one piece from cuff to cuff, and that is plain stockinette and does move quite quickly. But what I hadn't realised was that the sleeve and body edging is all knit separately and then stitched on. So much for minimal sewing!!

The edging pattern is k 1 row, purl 1 row, purl 1 row, knit 1 row - which gives a sort of double time garter ridge. There are small picots knit at the beginning of every right side row.

Oh - and there is about 6 1/2 feet of it. (I had barely made a dent in the front edging when I took this picture.)

I confess that I was dreading sewing the edging on. Seaming is not my strong point (perhaps that is why I like knitting lace scarves!) and was really worried I wouldnt be able to do it neatly enough....

But, I'd promised Shirl this shrug, so a-seaming I would go. Last Sunday I woke up early, drank a strong cup of fortifying tea, cleared the kitchen table to work on, picked up my darning needle and started stitching.

And I stitched.

And stitched.

And 5 1/2 hours (yep, 5 1/2 hours) later I had completed the last seam.

It was a good reminder that I CAN do neat seams - but that I need to take the time and space to do them properly.

The hard part over, I gave the sweater a steam block, made up a little label and voila! The last of the blogivesary prizes ready for presentation.

I met up with Shirl on Friday and handed over the shrug and she seems very pleased with it. Hurrah!!




The details:
Enchant from Nectar by Kim Hargreaves
Rowan Calmer in 'Calm', 5 balls (cotton, polyesther blend)
5mm needles (and a very tired darning needle)

Rowan Calmer has a stretch to it which takes a little getting used to, but it is gorgeously soft and (despite what the label says) is machine washable.

As with most Kim Hargreaves designs, the pattern is clear and easy to follow.

Random Act of Kindness
This little white cloud of fluff will be a random act of kindness (if it is completed SOON) or, a fluffy white thing I knit which I don't really have any use for (if it isn't). So I'm off to knit.

First glimpse of stealth knitting .... and a bit about me

This cute little cardigan and hat were knit for a friend's newborn, and were delivered to the proud Papa this week. I was quite excited to finally have a baby I could knit the famous Elizabeth Zimmerman Baby Surprise Jacket for. I like the result, but I have to admit that the real attraction in knitting this pattern is the diabolically clever design -- knit in one piece it is shaped with a series of strategically placed decreases, and then increases and looks like a rectangular lumpy blanket when it's done. Then, with a flip of the writst it folds onto itself to create a cardigan shape.

The hat is a straightforward no pattern required sort of thing. Cast on a bunch of stitches (I did 108) onto DPNs (I used 2.75mm), join, knit and knit and knit (about 10-11 cm), then start decreasing to the centre. I did six evenly spaced decreases every second round
row 1: (knit 16, k2tog) 6times
row 2: knit
row 3: (knit 15, k2tog) 6times
row 4: knit
etc....
until I got to 36 stitches, then I decreased every round until I got to 12 stitches. Pulled the yarn through them, and Bob's your uncle, here's your hat.

The yarn is Skinny Duet Yarn -- a superwash yarn that comes with a small skein of contrasting yarn -- perfect for the button band on the cardigan! (Speaking of the button band, they aren't too clear in the picture, but I found the cutest little mouse buttons to finish off the cardigan.)

And While We're Waiting....

Robin has tagged me with a meme -- and while I wait for the remaining stealth projects to be cleared for blogging I thought I'd answer!

1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
Ummm....May 1998 I had just moved back to Toronto following 8 years in London so I was probably settling into my new house in my old neighbourhood. (I've since returned to London.)(I'm flighty.)

2) What are five things on my to-do list today (not in any particular order)?
I'm a list freak at the office, nothing makes me happier than lots of items being crossed off a long to do list. But at home - I'm not so into the to do list thing. I tend to just do whatever takes my fancy. (Having said that, I really wanted to finish one of my stealth project today and I have. Yippeee! It'll be delivered later this week.)

3) What snacks do I enjoy?.
I am a savoury snack person with a particular weakness for crisps. Pretty much any flavour (except prawn cocktail).(Bleccchhh.)

4) What are some places I've lived?
As established in question 1 I'm a bit flighty. So some of the places I've lived are: Fredericton NB (born there, but we moved when I was very young, and I went to university there), Toronto (4 times), Calgary, London (twice), just outside Quebec City (Valcartier), North Bay, Bathurst and of course the glamour capital of the world - Doyleville where my parents live.

5) What things would I do if I were a billionaire?
I would give tons away to charity, lots to my family and loved ones, and of course a few gifts to my blog readers! Then I'd open a shop called Things Soo Likes. In the shop I would only stock things I like. It would be a sort of book/cd/dvd shop, specialising in the books, music and films I like. So I'd carry John Irving's "Cider House Rules" (which I liked) but not his "Son of the Circus" (which I couldn't even finish). There would naturally be lots of yarn, and cushy chairs for loitering. I would only open when I felt like it, and I expect I'd only sell to people I like. Amazingly I have yet to find any investors.

If, like me, you need a bit of blog material consider yourself tagged!