The Obsession Continues

One of my recent posts was about my Aureola shawl, using a lovely merino silk blend fingering weight. I just couldn't get enough of that blend so I cast on another! I bought the most beautiful 80/20 Merino silk blend at my local fiber festival in a green gradient. The dyer is Invictus Yarns in the Tenacity base; Green Segue colorway, it was so luscious to knit with. Somehow this yarn was even softer than the blend I was using before, it felt like butta.

I love watching the Grocery Girls podcast, plain and simple, they are freakin hilarious! Tracie, one of the co-hosts, recently finished test knitting Mina Philipp's new releases Sugar Plum Shawl. I fell in love as soon as I saw the pattern, it's simple yet elegant with a fun and unique shape.

This pattern and yarn are a match made in heaven. I mean, look at these colors!

I followed the pattern for a medium size shawl (10 eyelet rows and 4 repeats of lace) but I cut the pattern one row short because I thought I was going to run out of yarn. So I used nearly all the 600 yards my hank came with, I would have used all of it had I completed the full pattern.

I may or may not have been able to knit one more row. I don't like yarn chicken, it doesn't give me a high; it gives me anxiety.

And while I love the look of my finished shawl I didn't fall in love with the pattern. The transitions in each wedge in the lace section were not smooth. There are definitely some wonky YO's in the lace, and while it doesn't detract from the shawl as a whole I wasn't all that pleased. If I knit this again I will have to make some adjustments of my own to find the transitions that I like.

I love my finished product and I adore the gradient, it's a bit more elegant that what I've been knitting lately. This dainty shawl will look lovely with my wardrobe when the California weather decides it's finally time to cool down.

Back on Track

I've been a little remiss on knitting my new years resolutions. I planned to knit one pattern from each the knitting books that I owned at the beginning of 2016 as well as knitting some of the sock patterns that I had been avoiding. I dubbed the sock knitting 12in2016, one pair per month of the year. I wasn't avoiding the patterns because they weren't good, they weren't easy knitting and would challenge me. I don't always want the challenge but sometime I know I need it.

My most recent sock FO fit both my resolutions! These socks are from 101 Socks and one of the patterns from my 12in2016!

The multi yarn I picked up while on vacation in Hawaii a couple of years ago, both colors are Cascade Heritage. The pink is Heritage Paints and the green is Heritage Solids, I love how they knit up together!

The construction was interesting, I knit each roll separate first and then knit them together when they reached the correct length. I had a bit of trouble understanding what the pattern wanted because the translation into English was not the best. Once I understood they were a piece of cake.

Instead of following the book pattern for the heel I used my favorite Eye of Partridge heel and wedge toe combo. This combo fits my foot like a glove! They were a fun easy knit that helped me get back on track with my 12in2016. And they're just plain cute!

Scotland Adventures

After leaving Rachael in Germany I flew to Scotland to meet my Mom and sisters for another two weeks of adventure! We started the trip in Inverness in the northern part of Scotland. We had pouring rain on our first day and we loved it!

While there we took a couple of day trips to see different parts of the country, the first one was up into the Highlands! We traveled by small bus to see beautiful castles, coastlines, puffins, and sheep... lots of sheep. My mom really wanted to make it into the highlands because she is a total Outland fan and she just had to be able to say she'd been there. The main stops on our tour were the Stacks and John O'Groats; the Stacks were amazing! I've been to Cliffs of Moher and I found these impressive to see!

We were able to visit Culladen Battle Field while staying in Inverness. The site had a wonderful and informative tour that discussed the fact that the battle was a civil war, not a war between two countries. I loved how interactive the exhibit was and having an insight into a part of history I had never studied. 

Our next tour was the Isle of Skye; I could spend my entire vacation on the island, one week on each North, South, East, and West coast of the island. Not only was our tour guide terribly funny and knowledgeable but his love for this part of his country showed throughout the entire tour! He made this day so amazing, but honestly I would have been stunned even without the great commentary. 

Look at how beautiful this island is! The weather was excellent while we were there, our guide kept commenting on how great the light and weather was. Near the end of our trip we ran into a rain storm. We saw firths, fairy glens, and floating sheep! The rain had trapped these poor sheep on what used to be a piece of land! Our driver actually turned the bus around so that we could take some pictures, we watched as another group swam across so we weren't worried. 

After Inverness we headed to Edinburgh, which as cities go was pretty great! We had quite a few adventures, staying in our first hostel and being very intrigued with the fact that the Queen was in Edinburgh at the same time! We spent the 4th of July visiting the Edinburgh Castle, which was very imposing and had amazing views of the city! 

I was able to visit the Elephant House where JK Rowling wrote Harry Potter! Ahhhh! Obviously you can tell I was very excited! 

This was one of our last days before moving on to London! We absolutely adored Scotland; it was beyond words stunning, the people were crazy nice, and we had great weather! Our trip into London will be up next week! 

Home Again

After my four pairs of socks knit in Europe, I was a little socked out. I needed a little more mental stimulation than my same 64 stitch pattern I had been working for a month. So, the night before we flew back to the states I cast-on a shawl for plane travel; easy to start because I pre-wound the yarn before I left for my trip.

The shawl I cast-on was Aureola by Janina Kallio, it was the perfect flight knitting because it was interesting but not complicated. The shawl consisted of basic garter and drop stitch portions in a main and one contrast color.

I warned the two young men I was sitting next to on the plane that I would be knitting on the flight. I don't think they really believed me until I pulled the shawl out and started working on it, their widened eyes were pretty hilarious! I then had a nice chat with the man on my left about the wardrobe his mother knit for his younger brother when she was on maternity leave. Knitting can help you make friends everywhere, even on an eight hour flight from Dublin to LA!

Anyway, back to the pattern. I thoroughly enjoyed working on this shawl. I was about halfway through and really worried that it wasn't going to be big enough, even with all of the drop stitch sections. Unnecessary worry because this knit up large and blocked even bigger! It's not a giant shawl but perfectly fit to wrap around my shoulder when the air conditioner is on in the shop.

I used yarn from stash for my Home Again shawl (trying not to buy more yarn before my big spending spree in Europe). My main color was RedFish Dyeworks Silk Sock and the contrast was Plymouth Yarn Happy Feet. You would think that these yarns were dyed for each other because they look so good together, the purples were a perfect match. These yarns were purchased at Stitches and one of my LYS, respectively. The Silk Sock so nice. I don't remember another time when I knit with a wool silk blend but I now need more in life.

If you have any wool/silk in your stash pull it out and knit with it, right now! I started another shawl in wool/silk because I was loving the blend so much. My only issues with the pattern was I did happen to run out of my contrast color so I was only able to finish two of the last three repeats, then bound-off with my main color. But don't let that deter you from making this shawl! The pattern was well written and easy to follow. A perfect palate cleanser between socks! It knit up very quickly on a US 6 needles with some lovely complementary colors or bold and wild contrast colors like in the pattern photos.

Germany and Austria Adventures

I'm going to start off this post with saying there isn't going to be much knitting in this one. Rachael and I visited some beautiful spots and had some great times that I would like to share! I'm going to write and post photos of some of the highlights of our trip.

One of the first days in Germany we visited Drachenfels ruins, this castle ruin has a history similar to King Arthur stories! Up at the ruin there was an amazing view of the Rhine river and valley. So stunning. We had a great time climbing around the ruins and listening to the school children play knights and dragons!

We made a short half day trip into Dusseldorf, wasn't really impressed with the city itself and the church we wanted to visit was closed. But we found a knitting paradise hidden between a bakery and coffee shop, full of flowers, plants, and lovely cafe tables. We also found the most beautiful open air market. I could grocery shop everyday if I could go to an open air market.

Rachael and I were able to have sweet treats and coffee while waiting for our ride back to Bonn. I had my favorite lemon dessert and time to relax and rejuvenate.

After the first week in Germany we flew to Vienna, Austria and we were there for four days. While in Vienna I was able to attend the Pride Parade! What an experience! I have never attended a Pride event and I just happened upon this one. Once in a lifetime experience. I actually stumbled upon the parade while participating in World Wide Knit in Public Day in the prater across from our hotel!

One of our last big adventures in Vienna was visiting the Schonbrunn Palace. What a gorgeous palace both inside and out, so grand and overwhelming! We walked around the inside with a tour, then marveled at the gardens before we climbed a path the receive a beautiful view of the backside of the palace and the surrounding city.

In Munich we visited the Residence, which was the palace of the ruling class while visit Munich. Each room is decorated differently and just plain breathtaking! It was fun comparing and contrasting the different castles and palaces that we saw throughout our trip, each one was different and intriguing.

One of the most impressive castle that we saw was Noschwanstein, which inspired the Disney Sleeping Beauty Castle! If you are ever in range of seeing this castle don't hesitate to visit, well worth seeing. The inside is stunning and very ornate, most of the decor is the original building/furniture/paintings.

One of my favorite stops at the end of our trip (other than Wollmeise) was the Nuremberg Castle. The fact that it had a lot of the historical facts in English was a great plus! They also had a very elaborate weapons museum. The view from the top of the tower was excellent and just a bit frightening with how rickety the building felt.

Plus it rained while we were there, I was in heaven.

We had lots of adventures that didn't pertain to yarn store but we never stopped knitting the entire trip! Can't wait to share the rest of the adventures from the second half next week!