Come to the Flower Faire

Well, she’s gone and done it again. Laura has designed a stole and scarf version of the Garden Party shawl, and has named it Flower Faire. I was lucky enough to also be asked to test-knit this shawl and since there are 3 sizes to choose from in the pattern, I requested the wide scarf size.

Pattern: Flower Faire by Laura Patterson
Pattern Source: Fiber Dreams / Ravelry
Yarn: JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18 in Ruby (500 yards)
Needles: US size 5 / 3.75 mm Knit Picks Options (Harmony)
Finished Size: 12.5 x 62 in. (32 x 157 cm)

My Ravelry page

After looking through my laceweight yarn stash, I realized that not only do I have a very small laceweight stash, but that the JaggerSpun Zephyr that I used on my Garden Party shawl was the perfect choice. Since I was using leftovers from a previous project though, my only concern was that I wouldn’t have enough.

All sizes are knit in the same manner from the center towards one edge from a provisional cast on. After completing the first side, you pick up the stitches from the cast on chain and knit the second side exactly as the first. Easy peasy.

If you prefer to use a heavier lace weight or fingering weight yarn, then the narrow scarf version will work perfectly for that. If you want your stole or scarf to be longer or shorter, it would be quite easy to modify the pattern to either omit or add extra repeats of the different motifs.

I can usually tell when I’m going to run out of yarn when knitting socks, probably because I’ve knit so many of them, but laceweight yarn seems a bit trickier for me. As I neared the border on the second side I repeatedly asked DH if he thought I had enough yarn left, or if I should omit a repeat. He said “you’re fine”. “How would you know”, I inquired, “you don’t knit”. He responded with the obvious “Then why are you asking me?”

I fretted and debated during each and every row if I should omit a motif repeat before the border, and as I looked at the dwindling yarn ball remaining, I was sure I didn’t have enough. DH tried to reassure me that I had plenty of yarn, but I kept ignoring him thinking he didn’t know what he was talking about. I remembered thinking at one point that it would have been wise to weigh the first half of the completed scarf and then the remaining ball of yarn to know for sure.

I finally decided to omit one pattern repeat of the last motif and knit the border. As I bound off the last stitch of the border, I looked at the ball of yarn remaining and gave myself a swift quick in the butt. I not only didn’t need to omit the last repeat of the motif, but I had to tell my husband he was right. I hate it when that happens.

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Blue Bamboo Zephyr Socks

Just in time for the very last day of Project Spectrum 2.0 and my Sock A Month KAL (although this is my second pair), I finally finished the socks!

Blue Bamboo Zephyr Socks
Pattern: Zephyr Socks

Source: Domesticat
Yarn: Regia Bamboo Color 1061
Needles: Addi Turbo Lace size 1 US; (2) 24″ circulars

Modifications: As usual, I knit these from the toe-up using Judy’s Magic Cast-On. I kept the sole stitches to 26, but increased the instep stitches to 36. On the heel flap, I made sure I ended up with 27 stitches before starting the leg and kept the 36 stitches from the instep to end up with a total of 63 stitches on the leg section. The original pattern has 52 stitches, so I definitely had to take time to do recalculations to fit this yarn to my size 8 foot.

Notes: I’m going to confess my shortcomings that I chose the wrong pattern for this yarn and the wrong needles for this yarn. Independently I’m sure I would love each item, but together spelled misery for me. This pair of socks took a month to knit and they should have taken no more than 2 weeks. By the way, the jogless bind-off worked BRILLIANTLY! Thanks again Amber.

• Pattern: It is brilliantly simple and easy to memorize. I recommend this pattern and will definitely keep it in my binder of favorites.
• Yarn: I mainly purchased it out of curiosity because it had bamboo in it AND it was the perfect colorway for February/March Project Spectrum colors. The yarn is comprised of 45% bamboo, 40% wool and 15% polyamide. I enjoyed knitting with the yarn but I especially LOVE how the yarn feels on my feet. It’s extremely light and airy and feels like you’re barely wearing anything at all. In fact, if I were to wear socks with my lingerie (which I don’t), these would be the perfect socks.
• Needles: This was my first project with the new Addi Turbo Lace needles. My personal opinion is they are great, but definitely not for all yarns, like this bamboo yarn. Since the bamboo yarn doesn’t glide like most other sock yarns, and since the lace needles grab the yarn a tiny bit, it was a bad combination. I definitely should have knit these with my KnitPicks Circular needles. That said, I’m definitely going to give these needles a try again with a different yarn and I definitely see the value of these needles when knitting lace. In fact, I will buy a pair specifically for my next lace project since the KnitPicks needles are too slick and the original Addi Turbo needles just aren’t pointy enough.

I definitely recommend the yarn, the pattern and the needles, but not in combination together. Isn’t it fun to have so many learning opportunities with each knitting project? I’m definitely learning so much in my knitting adventures.

Thanks to everyone who posted comments about my shawl. It’s still sitting in time-out, but I have a feeling it may get a frogging soon.

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