In Love with Haruni

Well, Emily Ross goes on the genius list. Haruni is not a difficult knit, but the results sure look like it was. (I love that, it impresses the Muggles terribly.)

I finished the knitting (I was a little bummed to be finished, it was very rhythmic and pleasant) and the casting off, (which was considerable) and now I am anxious to see if I got those beautiful scallops that GirlGoneLoopy got!

Here is the unblocked shawl.

I like to wet block, so I gave Haruni a bath with a little wool wash. I squeezed the excess water out (without wringing) and then wrapped it in an old towel and let the 3YO walk on it for a bit. Then pinned it to my blocking board.

(sorry for the out of focus pic, it was dark)

After it was dry, Haruni got a photography session!

With hydrangeas from my garden.

See the scallopy goodness?

The little swirl at the corners makes me swoon.

And the point is sublime.

I got my scallops, the colors are awesome, and the shawl is finished. I am so pleased, I could pop!

What to do with those Mini Skein Sets?

Cheryl and I just finished five weeks of shows. We were vendors at four of them, and buyers at Maryland Sheep and Wool (which was right in the middle of those five weekends). We get a lot of interesting questions while we are vending. Questions I would never predict that knitters would ask. Like, "wow these mini skein sets are beautiful - what would you use them for?" Don't all knitters buy first and figure out what to do with it later? Just me?

My goal now is to make samples to show those knitters exactly what can be done with the mini skeins. AND I get to knit with them, too. Bonus!

I started with a set of 6 mini skeins (100 yards each) that gradated from green to blue that Cheryl gave me for my birthday. I love the colorway. (if left to my own devices, I'd probably make everything in these colors. I'm very drawn to them.)

After much searching on Ravelry, I saw this Haruni in GirlGoneLoopy's projects. (a ravelry link) I absolutely adore how the violet and light blue contrast in her Haruni's edging makes a pretty scallop. So I contrived to make my set do that.

After reading the Haruni pattern, I laid out my 6 colors from light to dark. According to the pattern, half the yardage will be used for the edging, so I made sure to put the darkest and the lightest next to one another inside the edging, and finish with the next lightest. The shawl is worked from top to bottom, so the skeins will be knit from 1 (top) to 6 (bottom edge).

(pic does not show how gorgeous the colors are. Hopefully I can get a better pic of the work in progress.)

To keep track of which skein was which, (and keep the skeins clean) I put each in a little zipper baggie and labeled them 1-6 with a sharpie (next time I will use some painters tape on the baggies; the sharpie wore off after a few days.) I wound them into center pull balls as I needed them.

I decided that making this project was technically "working", and not just making myself something to wear, so I made sure to sit down and work on it every day. Right now I am knitting on skein 4 in the edging. The rows are getting very long, and my husband now knows that "just let me finish this row" could mean 15 - 20 minutes, not the 2 that he's used to. I am looking forward to getting to skein 5 to see what the contrast looks like! I hope it looks as good in reality as I am imagining...

Here's a pic of the work in progress:

It is getting a bit big for my needles, so it is difficult to spread out. I will take more pics once I get it off the needles, and onto my blocking board! (should only be a few episodes of "Mr. Selfridge" til it is finished.)