A Simple Knitting Tip

July 7, 2010 by mariajhmom 14 Comments

Would you like to know a secret for getting lots of knitting done?  Don’t do laundry or clean the house.  Ignore the kids and their bickering.  And try to cook as little as possible.  It does help to have a three day weekend.

I knit all day Monday.  (It did help that I had great leftovers from the 4th!)  I finally finished Adamas.

I started this project to “help” Mary knit her first shawl.  Ha!  She finished hers on May 28th.  She left me in the dust.

I used two skeins of Handmaiden Sea Silk in the periwinkle colorway.  It was purchased at  Knitty Noddy.  I’d like to order it in every color!  I love this yarn.  If you look closely, you can see the beads.  The beads show up a lot more in real life.

I did one extra repeat of chart B and added one row to the edging to make the points a bit deeper. My second skein of Sea Silk was darker than the first.  I got lucky, because it just looks like the color gradually got darker throughout.  I like it!

I have to have one shot with my flowers, because it’s summer here for such a short time.

This is an excellent beginner pattern.  It’s also a great pattern to bead.  When you choose beads, take a few out of the package and place them on the yarn.  I’ve also learned to choose beads that are a contrast color.  If they match too well, you won’t see them.  The beads I used are actually an obnoxious pink.  I don’t know why I even tried them, but they worked great…and they don’t look pink.

On row 8 of the chart there are double decreases.  I added the beads on the back side, wherever there was a double decrease.  I used a crochet hook, and slipped the bead on the stitch before I purled it.  Easy!

I think I’ll get a lot of use out of this shawl.  It will work great in the summer with white.  In the winter, it will really dress up anything that is basic black.

Now I need to go do all the cleaning and laundry that I didn’t do on Monday (and most of Tuesday, if I’m being honest)!  The kids may need some attention too.