A Better Bucket

I love the way this yarn looks and the way the colors worked out.

But I’m not entirely happy with the hat. It’s a little tight and the brim just doesn’t seem to sit quite correctly. I’m going to try blocking it (when the manikin head that I bought arrives) and see if that helps. Otherwise, I do think this might be the right style hat for me if I can make it fit right on my head!

Pattern: A Better Bucket
Yarn: Malabrigo Yarn Merino Worsted in Amoroso

Tiny Sock Ornament

So cute! I plan to make several of these to give as gifts for Christmas. It took me about an hour and a half to make this first one, but since that was also figuring out the pattern, I think I could get them down to about an hour each.

Elvish Leaves Dishcloth

I like the way this yarn feels, but it seems a little thick for the size needle as I didn’t really get the lace effect with the YOs. If I try this again with this yarn, I’d go up a needle size to see if that makes a difference.

But it does feel really nice!

Erlenmeyer Flask Dishcloth

The purple is quite vibrant, but it doesn’t allow the image to pop out very well. The picture truly shows how it actually looks - you have to look really closely to see the flask.

My first time using this yarn (KnitPicks CotLin). I like how it looks, but it was a little slippery to knit with and I had trouble holding a good tension on it.

Dishcloth has been sold in my etsy store: karendawn.etsy.com

Shallowtail Shawl

We're going on a weekend getaway for our anniversary, and one night we'll be going to eat at a nice restaurant. I have a brown dress that I plan to wear and I really wanted a shawl to go with it. I got this yarn in the mail last week and fell in love with it, knowing that it was the right yarn for the shawl for this dress. (The yarn is yummy! It's called Dream in Color Smooshy. Isn't that just a cool name? The color is November Muse.)



Now I needed to find a pattern, something that I could actually finish in a week. A lot of people on Ravelry have been talking about this Swallowtail Shawl, so I thought I'd give it a try.

After a week of knitting, I am happy to report that it is finished! I learned a lot with this pattern and feel much more confidant about lace knitting now. I also learned about the magic of blocking. Blocking is basically wetting the yarn and stretching it out to the shape/size you want it and then letting it dry.

Pre-blocking, the shawl looked like a bunched mess of yarn:


Definitely not a gorgeous shawl like I want it. But with the magic of blocking, it now looks like this (it's still drying on the blocking board, so no pictures off the board yet):



MUCH better! And here's a closeup so you can see the pattern a little more:



It's a tad smaller than I thought it would be and I don't think I've stretched out the right side as much as the left, so after this weekend, I'll probably block it again and see if I can get it to stretch out a little more. But I can't wait for tomorrow when it should be dry and I can actually try it on!