Lady Eleanor: The Shawl So Nice I Had to Knit Her Twice!

Lady Eleanor, who is a bit camera shy

Dear Blog-

She's done! Finished! Finito! Lady Eleanor the Second is now an FO. I finished her fringe on Saturday and have been admiring her beauty ever since. Oh, Lady Eleanor, I have missed you so. I promise you won't be sold to a stranger the way your sister was.

LE2 detail

Of course, in typical Lynda fashion, I did make some changes to the pattern. Some of these were even intentional! For example, I slipped all my side-of-the-shawl edges so that it has a nice, neat edge, not the bumpy stockinette stitch edge that the pattern would give you as written. I also slipped all the back edges of my rectangles and triangles so that I would have a neat and easy edge to pick up the next tier rectangles from. And of course I knitted backwards on all WS rows, not wanting to flip the silly thing back and forth every 8 sts. Why the pattern writer didn't give knitters the benefit of the doubt and just do it that way - with a brief note on how to knit backwards (it really IS that easy) - I don't understand.

My not-so-intentional changes were to do with my gauge. Since I knitted LE1 just a year ago, apparently my gauge has tightened up just a tad. Instead of getting rectangles that measured 3.5" on the diagonal, I was getting 3" on the diagonal. And guess what smug, experienced knitter didn't think to check her gauge until she was a good way into the beast? So I ripped it out - which ain't easy with Silk Garden - cast on a few more rectangles worth of sts, and started over. Because I really did like the fabric that the tighter gauge was giving me. The only problem with that being that the tighter gauge would of course require more yarn to get enough length. Three more skeins, in fact. Which had to wait until we had some extra $.

It was definitely worth the wait, but not something I would like to be without again.

My LE knitting buddy Tia told me that she had seen several mentions of people having trouble making the knotted fringe work, so I thought I would put a tiny tutorial here on working a good knotted fringe.

KNOTTED FRINGE TUTORIAL

Cutting fringe pieces

If you are at all in doubt about having enough yarn, but flexible a tad as to the length of your shawl (or don't mind buying more yarn if you need it the way I did), then I strongly advise you to cut your fringe first before starting the shawl. Above you see that I marked a spot that was 40" from the crack where the drop leaf on the left side of my table joins the main part of the table, and marked it with a piece of masking tape up near the ball winder. Then I wound a ball of the yarn onto the winder and left it on. From there it was so easy to just pull the end of the yarn, and the ball winder would do the unwinding part for me as I measured out each strand to the crack and then cut at the mark. I did cut about 10 - 15 extra strands so that I was sure to have a good selection of colors for each end of the shawl.

Fringe draped on chair, ready to add to shawl

Then I draped the cut pieces over the back of the chair next to me at the table, so that they are within easy reach, but not in the way of the fringing process. I also got a little anal and sorted them into small groups according to color, this way when I looked at what I had on the shawl already, I could say, Hmmm... time for a screaming green one, and was able to pick it out right away. Now time to get everything else ready to hand...

Ready to begin

I wanted to make a beaded fringe, so in addition to the obvious 'shawl and fringe' combo, I got out the beads I wanted to use and pulled a small pile of each off the string and set to one side. Now, a small crochet hook that is tiny enough to fit inside the bead hole. A second, larger crochet hook to add the fringe to the shawl. A pair of very sharp fabric scissors (somewhere offstage).

Lynda, you are thinking, why in God's name do you have your Christmas table cloth on the table when it is in the 90s outside? Well, I am sooo glad you asked. I think the real key to a good knotted fringe is to work on a gridded surface. I stumbled on this by accident, as LE1 was finished in the winter and this cloth just happened to be on the table at the time. This time around I was lazy and tried to use my plastic quilting grid, but she no work. The plastic was way too slippery and my shawl kept sliding around on it. That is not a good idea when you want everything to line up just so to make your fringe even.

Spear the bead on a small crochet hook

Now take your tiny crochet hook, and spear a bead. Fold one of your fringes in half, and use the hook part of the crochet hook to pull the yarn through the bead hole.

Pull center of fringe through bead

You can also think of it as getting the loop of the yarn firmly down into the hook, and pushing the bead down the shank of the hook and onto the yarn.

Pull beaded fringe piece through shawl edge

Use your larger crochet hook to pull the fringe down through the edge of the shawl, and then pass the fringe ends through the loop and tighten to the shawl. Tie an overhand knot just below the bead to keep it in place.

First row of knots...

Use your fingers to comb your fringe ends out straight before starting. This will make the knotting process much easier. To work your first row of knots, take the left leg of your first fringe piece on the right of the shawl, and together with the right leg from the adjoining fringe piece to the left, tie an overhand knot about 1 inch below the shawl edge. Continue in that way all the way across to the left edge of the shawl. I find it helps if I start by stabilizing each of the upper knots with a finger, and then as I tighten my new knot, I keep another finger on the yarn tails right in the spot where I want the new knot to end up. Using the grid of the plaid helps to space all the knots evenly and get them all in a straight line. I simply aim to put each knot in a row on the same line of the plaid, wherever I decide that should be. Work your next row of knots by working from left to right, and tying the new row of knots in the same manner. Just separate the two legs of your fringe, and tie each leg to it's next-door neighbor, lining all the knots up on a line in your plaid. Tweak to make sure that each leg is the same length from knot to knot, so that your left leg coming into a knot is not longer than the right leg coming into a knot, for example.

Finished Fringe ready to cut

Continue to work this way until all your rows of knots are completed. Now, comb the fringe ends out straight with your fingers, and look for the shortest fringe end. This is the length to which you will cut all of your fringe. Using a pair of really sharp fabric scissors helps to keep the fringe from pushing out of line as you cut, keeping the ends nice and even.

Fringe after cutting

I cut my fringe right on the strong white line of the plaid.

Fringe detail

Hope this is a help to someone out there, and I'll try to get back in a day or to to talk about what I have been working on during this last month since I was here. I know I also have a couple of questions I need to answer for comment-leavers

Off to make dinner-
Lynda

Goodbye Pinecone Buttons!

Dear Blog-

Today I actually have a free morning to sit down and spend time writing to you. I really ought to be going early for my weekly blood draw so that I don't have to sit there so long waiting for my turn, later in the day when it is more crowded. I also should be starting my deep clean of this room, which looks like it was attacked by a yarn-vomiting monster. I'll definitely take a breakfast break here somewhere so that I can get that part of my day on the move, as it were...

But did I ever show you this bowl that I got at the Gem Show this spring? I bought it as a present for my older sister's b-day, and then realized that I already had a present for her. Now I debate daily, as I sit and eat my breakfast and gaze upon it, whether it is really meant for me. It makes me think of a night sky and the phases of the moon. I am not sure what the stone is, or what the fossils are, but it is beautiful.


Well, last week on the knitlist the Knitting Wizard people asked for volunteers to be beta testers for the new version of the Sock Wizard software. I jumped up with my hand in the air and volunteered right away, as fast as my little fingers could type. They said it would take about one hour each day, for three days - Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I knew I could manage that, and what the heck, it sounded like fun.

So on Friday morning I downloaded the software and my directions for my test group, and started the first of my three tests for the day. They had each group enter specific info for a pattern, in a particular way. Sometimes they had you go through step by step in an orderly fashion, sometimes they had you hopping from one tab to another. They would also have you go back and make a change to the pattern and see if the changes showed up properly. We would then print out the pattern, save the pattern, close down the program, and reopen the program and the pattern again and compare the two.

Well, on Friday I found a bug in the second set of tests that I did. I was so proud of myself! I was then asked to keep running that test and make sure that the bug did reproduce each time, and finally the woman who was monitoring our group found it for herself, and that was the end of my tests for the day. It ended up taking more than an hour that day, but it was interesting to do.

On Saturday we did a variation of the same type of tests, and all I found were some typos. Then Sunday our tests consisted of knitting heels and heel turns according to a pattern we downloaded. All in all it was a lot of fun to do, and the best part is that for all our efforts, we will be given a free copy of the software when the finished version comes out in about a month or so! Woo Hoo! as my niece used to say. This is just grand as I really fell in love with the software while working with it this weekend. I'm looking forward to having it in hand (or on my computer, really) and playing with it.

My boss and I have been emailing back and forth for the past week or so about classes that I want to teach for the upcoming quarter at Kiwi Knitting. On Friday she emailed me and let me know that one of the branches of the other yarn shop in town (no names mentioned) was rumored to be closing soon. That is the yarn shop that is notorious with knitters in town for being very cliquish and not very nice to anyone who isn't part of their in-crowd. I have been hearing stories about them for years now from other knitters, and have stories of my own to tell. You may remember me writing to you about them back in January or so when I was searching for the perfect needles for my Scheherazade shawl .

Anyway, while DH and I were out and about on Saturday we stopped into that shop and browsed around. I found out that they are having hell's own clearance sale coming up at the end of the month, so I might see if it is possible to pick up some bargains when they do. But what I am really getting around to saying is that they had a cardi on display that I absolutely fell in LOVE with! It is by Habu Textiles and is from one of their kits. The picture on the Habu website does NOT do it justice, trust me. The pattern is very simple and something I can figure out for myself (with the help of Sweater Wizard), but part of what makes it really cool is not only the incredible simplicity of the design, but that one of the yarns used is wool/stainless steel! The other is a gorgeous silk laceweight. I came home and googled and found lots of info on the whole thing, and found that the yarn itself is not at all expensive, it is the pattern that costs so much. And I remembered that one of my students told me earlier that Habu Textiles had been at the Gem Show this year, so I will definitely have to search for them next winter when the Gem Show comes back to town.

Algonquin Cardi

You'll remember, Blog, that I had to put aside my Algonquin cardi in order to get a few things finished for potential classes at Kiwi. Then I found out that Desi and Tia were going to do a KAL on the Lady Eleanor, and I myself needed to make a NEW Lady Eleanor because last fall at the farmer's market someone bought the one I made a year ago straight off my back. I loved my Lady E, and would never, ever have sold her. That is, if someone hadn't come along and offered me an astounding amount of money for it then and there. So off she went to her new home, and I also went home because now I had nothing to keep me warm for the day.

My Algonquin again waited while I got going on Lady Eleanor, and frogged Lady Eleanor, and re-knit Lady E, etc, etc. Yesterday I realized that the Algonquin will never get finished if I don't simply make a point of sitting down and working on it. Therefore, when I got home from our abridged KAL meeting and could no longer find excuses to aviod cleaning house, I sat down and worked 6 rows of the Algonquin every time I needed to take a breathing break from cleaning. I got a lot done on the sleeve, and towards evening it was apparent that I was coming to the end of my ball of yarn. By then I was too bushed from cleaning to bother to go wind another skein, so while watching tv last night (Worst Jobs in History) I took off the pinecone buttons and sewed on the new buttons. Look how happy she is! See her big smile? She likes her new buttons! She is flinging her arm out in happiness!

One of the other projects I was working on that was stalling the progress in the Algonquin was finally making myself a Knitter's Felted Tool Bag. This is my own pattern, and maybe TODAY is the day that I can talk DH into putting the danged pattern onto my patterns page. Maybe today. I know you are going to read this, DH. :-) Anyway, isn't it pretty? I can fit many, many necessary knitterly things in it.

There I was, plugging along on my Lady E Mach II, when I realized that it looked molto narrower than Lady E the First. Sure enough, when I measured my little rectangles they were only 3 inches wide, not the 3.5 inches wide that they ought to be. That is how much tighter my gauge is this year as opposed to last! I didn't really want to frog her but I knew I had to. I cast on again and allowed enough sts for two more rectangles. Below is the first version compared to my restart. You can see the difference. I am MUCH happier with the second go at this. Before frogging I was having gloomy thoughts that LE2 would never compare in beauty to Lady E the First, but this second go at LE2 makes me feel much better. The only downside is that I fear that making it wider with more rectangles means that I will need extra yarn in order to make it long enough. One thing I especially loved about LE1 is that it was very long and enveloping and cuddly. It wouldn't take much extra yarn if I do need more, but this would stand in clear violation of the Yarn Treaty of 2007 that was reached in the Sorenson household after the flaming rat's bottom who runs the farmer's market booted us out of the market when my husband (who was in the hospital less than a month later getting new cardiac stents) went home sick one day. I do, however, see this as a special circumstance, that, without which, all previous knitting on LE2 would be rendered meaningless. Time alone will tell what we need... Ok, Time, and a lot of knitting.

Much better wider, huh?

Here are some photos from our abbreviated LE KAL yesterday morning...

A silly-looking Desi with her finished Lady E-

and a view of the back-

Action photo of Tia and her Lady E-

Tia and her Lady E staying perfectly still, trying to blend in with the wall behind them...

Now Desi is working on a Lizard Ridge afghan for her Mother for Xmas-

I think the college types who frequent the caf on Monday mornings are getting used to us and thinking us less freakish than they did at first.

Chinese Red Vest

And of course, since I wrote to you last, I have finished my Chinese Red (green) Vest from Folk Vests. Looks great from a distance, eh? Except for the wavery hem where I threaded the blocking wires through. Have to reblock that hem. From here it looks fine with the lighter color collar and armhole edges. Not to mention the bigger button at the top. Of course, about a week later I found that I HAD bought another card of these buttons, and so could have made them all the same. But I hear it is playing well to the LYS audience with the larger button, so I won't lose any sleep over it just yet.

But up close... I'm not too sure about the collar. I don't know yet - almost as soon as it was finished, it was shipped off to the LYS. I haven't had the chance to live with it and get to know it.

And for the first time in my life I have won something! A contest on KnitTalk to guess when the 1000th member would join. Ok, so I really came in 3rd, and I think the woman running the contest felt sorry for me when I admitted to never having won anything before now. Alright, I did take the prize in beauty school for the best fingerwaves (I was the Fingerwave Queen, but that was a loooong time ago), but not any sort of random contest where you actually get a prize! She sent me this lovely huge hank of bulky cotton chenille by Cherry Tree Hill in what are my favorite colors. And three balls of this neat thick/thin yarn that I am thinking will make a wonderful scarf for winter.

Blog, I know last time we talked I told you my story of trying to find romney roving in Tucson. Well, I found a great place to order from, and this is what came in the mail - flesh-colored roving, black, white, brown, a red and a blue. Uber Sis wants to learn 3-D needle felting when she is visiting in a few weeks, so I had better be ready for her. That is if Father will let her come visit me. Pfffff!

Ok, Blog, the dirty dishes are calling, I had better go. Maybe if I tell you that I will post again in two weeks I will find the time before then. Or maybe that puts the curse on it and I won't get to post again for a month. Perhaps I should say nothing...

Knit On, Sisters!
Lynda