Working on projects

Update on two projects: The black silk wrap and the purple wool serape thing (I forget the name of the garment).
Photos are primarily of the black silk.



I'm 4 skeins into the black silk, with 6 more to go. Whew.
It's knitting with better "milage" to the skein than I thought it would.
On the first skein I got 7", but I'm not even half-way into the 4th and I've got a 26" length. Yes, of course, I should account for the cast-on, but I used a simple lace cast on, so that was minimum usage of yarn. I don't know. Maybe I just had an underweight skein for the first one.


The Purple wrap is now on the penultimate side.







Only one photo for this.

I did attempt taking the cable pattern and running it diagonally across the corner of the left front, but it looks odd (it's that funny puckering). If I had been feeling particularly energetic at the time I discovered the lack of continuous travelling, I'd have ripped it and re-worked it, but I re-thought about what I was doing and I've ended up looking on it as a "living" example of how to really look at the way cables are worked into a garment. *shrug* It's only going to be worn indoors anyway, so I'm not quite that concerned.

So. The other projects are on hold. I want to get both these finished as soon as possible and I'm in the mood to do so.
I'm off to knit.
Later.

Black Silk Scroll Wrap - part 1

Well, after three tries, I've finally started a new project. It's a wrap in black silk (Debbie Bliss pure silk yarn) I've done the swatches in scroll stitch in the previous entry. I thought about it for a few days and finally caved in.

I said three tries? Yes, three. I'm glad I'd decided to work this on bamboo needles beforehand, because this stuff would be slinking off anything else. The first try, I'd cast on too many stitches, so I had to rip. The second try I made a mistake I couldn't fix, so I ripped it again. The third try, I. . .I. . .
I pushed it off the needles thinking I was pushing it on and before I knew it, a third of it was lying in my lap, happily unravelling. So I'm on the fourth attempt and in two days (I knit slow) now just onto the second ball.

One thing I will say about this yarn - it's not consistantly smooth. There are thick and thin sections, albeit short ones, but if you want to use it, try not to use it in stocking stitch. The uneven sections aren't regular enough to make it a design feature. If it wasn't for the fact I like that the pattern hides most of the "funky bits", I LOVE silk and I got this yarn at a 50% discount, I wouldn't use it on a regular basis. Oh - and there is at least one knot per skein. *grr*.

So, here's a couple pictures - oh, before I forget. The yarn is very soft and nicely shiny. In fact, these are scans of the wrap, since I couldn't get a photo. This was due to the gloss. Yes, on here, it does look like plain old wool. It's most emphatically NOT.




















I can't keep from stroking it between rows - then again, like I said before, I'm a silk junkie.
I love wool, hemp, rayon (aka - viscose) and all other natural fibres, but, If it wasn't for the fact I've got a plethora of projects lined up, I'd go out and buy this yarn and knit for the feel of it. I'm glad it's normally £6.50 a skein, which makes it a bit out of my self-imposed price limit.

I'm off to knit my silk. Mmmm.