My goal for this week was to completely finish the Boneyard Shawl by Stephen West, and block it so that I could wear the shawl without having it ravel up around my neck. After finishing using the recommended Elizabeth Zimmerman’s sewn bind-off (very flexible) and a trip to Jo-Ann’s for some T-pins, I blocked my first shawl. I took the que from a blog post on See Eunny Knit called How To Be Happy, and my Malabrigo Rios yarn came out wonderful (although I used no wool-wash). The shawl increased signifcantly in size, and as you can see in the progress pictures, I almost didn’t have enough room to block the entire thing! I used two tupperware bins as my flat, water proof surface, and then used a towel over it to absorb the rest of the water I couldn’t press out in the other towel. I noticed that the Malabrigo wool held it’s own, and really didn’t need much blocking after being immersed in water, but I wanted the edges to be a little more flat than I saw was naturally settling, so I used T-pins every few inches to hold the edges down. I also noticed that my knitting became much more loose with this yarn after being wet, so I strove not to stretch the knitting out too much as I pinned the ends down.
**The towel that has my name embroidered across it was made for me as a christmas present from my Godmother, who enjoys needlecrafts. It’s all in the family!
So here’s the stats: I was able to create what one might call a mini-shawl or ‘shawlette’ from one skein of Malabrigo Rios, in the Playa colorway. This was only 217 yards of yarn, and the only little bit left can’t be used for much of anything except for a maybe a wool lifeline.
Although slightly damp, the estimated blocked measurements of my shawl are 36 inches (92 cm) lengthwise and 18 inches (46 cm) widthwise. The merino was color fast in lukewarm water, and the finished garment was very easy to manipulate into the needed shape when wet.
Look out for my *finished* pic next week!
Bonus blog stuff: improvising on the knit bags
I am an avid podcast-viewer of the KnitGirllls, and one thing that either Laura or Leslie seem to have to show almost every week is a new, super cool knitting bag. Most of the bags come from a store on etsy, called Piddleloop. What a cool name, right?
And these bags are amazing, colorful, and…I don’t have one. I use plastic bags still; change comes slowly to the beginner knitter.
I thought I’d show you what I have come up with as my own substitute, and feel free to use my idea if it works for you.
For back to school sales, Target has these awesome bedding sets that are contained in a bag identical in color and fabric as the rest of the bedding. You could just keep the bag for the sheets and pillowcases once you need to store it somewhere in your dorm, but…
You can also uses them as make shift knit bags! Hooray!
Now, I know that these bags have not structure or water proof capabilities, but the drawstring bag does what it is supposed to do. Shown above are fitted sheet and standard pillowcase drawstring bags, but if you bought a full sheet set, the bag would be larger. I used the larger ones I have for my flat iron and blow-dryer. What can I say?
green frog knits 