Geisha
Monday November 05th 2007, 4:18 pm
Filed under: Knit

Blue Moon Fiber Arts’ handdyed Geisha kid mohair/silk/ nylon yarn, Backstabber colorway. Ready for blocking.  Kinda looks like a psychedelic octopus sketch from the ’60s.Blue Moon Fiber Arts “Geisha” in “Backstabber”


8 Comments so far
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And what a beautiful Octopus it is! It is a glorious colour.

Comment by Vicki 11.05.07 @ 6:58 pm

Hi Alison,
I know you have probably addressed this but I am asking again. :)  I want to knit either Nina’s Ann Arbor Shawl or Kathy’s Clover-Chain Shawl.  The problem, I have lace weight instead of fingering wt yarn.  I want to knit this for my mother who is 5’2″, so, needless to say, she’s short and petite (but also a little on the round side – she would kill me for saying that! ha!).  What do you suggest re: needle size, pattern adjustment (do I even need to make pattern adjustment?).  Anyway, any suggestions would be helpful.  Btw, I LOVE your book, when’s the next one being published? ;)Tracy

Comment by Tracy 11.05.07 @ 7:02 pm

I once knitted up Bigfoot (385 st in the main body) in one skein of Alpaca With A Twist’s Fino baby alpaca laceweight on size 7 needles. There’s a picture of it at http://spindyeknit.com/2007/08/on-its-way/ I tried the resulting shawl on a friend who is quite a bit larger than I, and we both thought it looked great on her. Now, given its slightly wiry hand and hairyness, I think baby alpaca takes a larger needle than a comparable thickness merino.

A few other thoughts from that and a few other laceweight shawls I’ve done: go for the patterns in the book with the larger stitch counts in general, so the Nina (421 at the main body) and the larger Water Turtles especially (481) are good choices. Two, you might want to start at the stitch count of the first increase row, to give the neck a little more room, especially if the recipient is on the larger side.

There are a lot of variations in laceweights out there, so needle size is a bit of guesswork, but don’t go too small. Or, you can take one of the smaller stitch count shawls and do an extra increase row to double the count at the yoke and bottom. Watch carefully so you don’t throw off the lineup of the upper and lower patterns, though; the stitch count of each pattern repeat is stated in there, which makes that easier.

I’ve been working on some new patterns in laceweight, trying to expand the range a bit, so, thank you for the question at the end there, it totally makes my day!

Comment by AlisonH 11.05.07 @ 11:10 pm

Alison, your octupus will be so gorgeous when it it is blocked and in it’s final glory! Good going on getting it done so quickly.

And, I heard that some of the promo literature for the fall/winter books has your book with a new cover on it! Did you know that?

Comment by Nancy Web er 11.05.07 @ 11:24 pm

It’s simply beautiful! The color is so gorgeous. I clicked to get the full effect and drink the color in. I’m thinkin’ it deserves a much better name than *Backstabber!*

Comment by Toni 11.06.07 @ 8:10 am

OK, I checked and your post of 10/30 said that you cast on on Sunday – I am assuming that is 10/28 – correct? I then see that you are ready to block on 11/5. My question – do you keep a fire extinguisher near your needles @ all times – cause they have gotta be smokin! Wow! I recognize that I am a slow knitter (I’m blaming it on being a newbie) and that I have a job outside the home which extends the total duration of projects, but all I can say is WOW! I can’t wait to see it blocked. T

Comment by Tammy M 11.06.07 @ 9:22 am

Ooooooooooooooh. :drool:

Comment by Romi 11.06.07 @ 10:41 am

I have to say (since I have not knit much lace) that it’s good to know that it SHOULD look like this before blocking. I worry that if I didn’t know and I knit something like this I might cry!

Now seeing the finished product all out blocking, it looks amazing!

Comment by Diana 11.06.07 @ 1:18 pm



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