Another WIP Wednesday

Today’s WIPs are one that is really a pseudo-WIP, some previous and still WIPs, and a new, exciting WIP (at least for me). First up, the pseudo-WIP. I have two balls of aqua La Gran from my stash that I thought might make a nice gift scarf. I found what looked like a pretty mohair scarf pattern. The pattern mentions La Gran and several finer weight mohair yarns. After starting it in La Gran, I realized the pretty picture is of a finer weight mohair, and the La Gran just won’t do here.

In two dimensions the lace looks pretty good, but the solid diamonds are really dense, like wads of mohair. Not pretty. It’s got to go; the goat wants its mohair back if the other option is this scarf.

Moving up the scale of positive news, the CTH peacock socks for my friend Nancy are progressing. I am suffering from some SSS, but that will vanish as soon as I get the leg done. I really want to get these socks to Nancy, but the last few days my hands get tired knitting with the size 1 needles, so progress lags.

I haven’t had much time to work on the La Gran Lilac cardigan, but the second sleeve is started. I have some buttons on order that I hope will look great; I hope they arrive soon so I can show you. I kept in mind the purple beaded jewelry I have, I want the buttons to work well with it.

I worked on the Trellis lace scarf. I’ve used 20 g of the first ball (each ball is 56 g), and unblocked the scarf is 14 inches long. I figure that means I should get about a 70 inch scarf (unblocked) if I want. Nifty. I don’t know if I’ll go that long, but it’s good to realize that I’m not going to get to 3 feet and be out of yarn.

I just have to add a note about the needles I’m using for this project. I love them! Can you see how pointy the tips are? They are an old plastic pair of Chester needles my Grandma Frances gave me. They are magic plastic–very slick and warm. I also have a pair of size 5s from her. I liked these so much, I googled Chester knitting needles and found some for sale at ebay, but they were parts of large lots of used needles most of which were the nasty colored aluminum.

On the most exciting WIP front, I have started the Diamond Fantasy Shawl by Sivia Harding! I’ve finished the first chart (only 35 rows); I had to rip back two rows once, but then I paid more attention and I do seem to have made a lace diamond like the pattern’s photo, and the edging looks right too.

This is my first non-rectangular lace and I’m inordinately thrilled to be knitting a triangle. The DFS is knit from the bottom tip to the top, so after this I want to do a top-down triangle shawl. I have several patterns on hand to try, but I am leaning toward Susan’s Forest Canopy Shawl. I have a few possible yarn choices for that, but the DFS comes first. I first saw the DFS at Carolyn’s blog; hers is gorgeous. Actually, everything Carolyn knits is gorgeous. I learned of her through Grumperina. I love how knitters refer to other knitters and we all get to know each other and our knitting.

Well, if want to be able to show good WIP progress next Wednesday, I better stop blogging and get back to knitting.