Stephanie's Wrap Begins!

I must make a confession, this is not my first Stephanie's Wrap.  The first one I made was completed about a year ago when my husband and I were doing a lot of traveling, which led to a lot of "airport appreciation" time.  My mom has admired my first one since it was completed, so I decided to make one for her as a Christmas gift.  Selecting the colors was a bit of a challenge.  My first wrap was very high contrast, this one will be less so.  This one will be made from Classic Elite Silky Alpaca Lace.

Because this wrap is worked in lace weight, progress can be a bit slow going.  I got things started with the red and am almost to the point of adding in the first set of stripes.

It curls a bit wonky until it gets big enough, so stay turned to future posts for things to straighten out!

Radiance Shawl

Recently, I moved nearly 1,300 miles across the country for a new job.  As one would expect, this was not an easy process.  My husband needed to find a new job, we needed to sell our house, find a new house, transfer insurance, and I'm sure you can imagine the tons of other details and things that have to change when making such a long move.

Throughout the process I developed a friendship with a new co-worker who really went out of her way to make sure I had somebody to talk to and was very supportive through all.  When my LYS announced the Radiance Shawl as a knit along, I thought it would be the perfect thank you gift for my co-worker.  I opted for the larger 2-skein version in Claret of Freia Ombre Sport.

I thrilled with the way the colors came together.  To start the project I did the foundation rows all from one skein, then after that alternated skeins every two rows, carrying the unused skein up the side.  It was exciting to see the color changes come in, though it did take a few rows for it to be obvious.  Clearly, the project still needs to be blocked.

Here is the center row, I love how the leaves branch out from the middle   Unfortunately I couldn't get the camera to cooperate for this photo and it turned out a bit more pink than the yarn actually is.  The other two photos are much more accurate to the true color.

The tips of the leaves are curling over pre-blocking.  Also, the puckering of the leaves shows through as well.  With any luck this will come out when it's blocked!

Welcome & Previous Works

Welcome!

I'll start off with a showcase of some of my previous works.  I view these items as a jumping off point for my skill set.  Works I'm proud of, yet seek to improve.  The beginnings of a library of techniques and knowledge.  One project of each crochet and knitting.

Granny Square Baby Blanket

First is a baby blanket I made for a friend's first child.  A basic granny square throw with an edge.  I swapped out a few of the colors required by the pattern for colors closer to the colors of the baby's room.  In this project I learned the important lesson of gauge as I ran out of one of the trim colors 3 inches short and had to buy another skein!  Thankfully the dye lots were very close and you really had to look to find the variance.  

Knit Swirl Sweater

This sweater is the pride and joy of my work so far.  I spent months working on it and learned a whole bunch of new techniques.  Being the first garment I ever made, I was really nervous about how it would turn out.  I've seen so many cartoons and such about "knitting a sweater that doesn't fit" I was quite anxious.  But after diligent gauge checks and learning how to mattress stitch, it fits perfectly!

It will be some time before I attempt another sweater.  My brain needs a bit of a break from long and drawn out projects.  For now I'll be sticking to quick projects where I can practice a greater variety of techniques. Enjoy!