HAPPY MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND! What's on my needles (week 64)

At The Knitting Garage

AL Stickles and The Knitting Garage were open again last Monday from 6-8 much to the enjoyment of late evening shoppers and the ladies attending the knit night.

This coming Monday (Memorial Day) we will NOT be open in the evening, but do come and join us the following Monday (June 1st).

our finished Building Block Blanket

Knit night at The Knitting Garage

 

At Home

getting lots of knitting done

For those of you who follow me on facebook (click here for my page: Discover your Inner Knitter), you already know some of this and have seen most of the pictures.  I was stuck at home last Wednesday as my son borrowed my car.  I made a fun knit day out of it spending time on the deck and finishing as well as starting several projects. 
 

Chevron Tank Top

 

a close-up look at the Chevron lace

 

I finally brought this tank top out of hibernation and finished the i-cord edging around the armhole and neck.

 

Birthday Shawl for my sister

With the blanket and bonnet for my nephew's baby finished, I started on a shawl for my sister.  This pattern and yarn is part of last year's Strickmich Club from Martina Behm.  Much to my shame I have to admit that I have not knitted a single one of these patterns even though I do love Martina's designs.
Red is my sister's favorite color and the shawl is coming along nicely.  I am aware that with the rows getting longer and longer each repeat will take me longer, but I hope to have this finished mid- to late June so I can mail it all off before the baby is due in July.

Leftie

One of our customers inspired me to start on my Leftie Shawl.  I am having a great time deciding which left-over yarns to knit up and in which order.  This project is very hard to put down.
I had purchased the yarn for the MC at The good Wool shop in Formby, England.

The first three repeats are done

lining up my left-over yarns

Different techniques, same result

I decided to look at some of the instructional videos to Martina Behm's patterns and found that she is using slightly different techniques for some of the stitches.

W&T Wrap and Turn
I don't wrap the yarn 360 around the stitch, but simply slip the stitch first and then bring the yarn to the front or back depending on if the first stitch after turning is a knit or purl.  This is a tighter wrap and neater look later without any looseness or holes.

S2SK Slip 2 together knit-wise, slip 1 then knit all three together
I do slip my stitches the same, but then instead of using my left needle to twist the stitches, I knit the 3 stitches together through the back loop.  It is a faster and easier maneuver.