Tropical shawls, this time

Inspired by my forthcoming foray to Boracay, I decided to knit up my lovely ribbon yarn Zahir, by Laines du Nord (pic). Finally. it's now all done and it turned out unexpectedly well.

I had long wanted to use this Spanish shawl pattern in an old knitting book called "Knitting for the Home". Apparently for the author, the Spanish shawl can also be used to drape over a piano or sofa... her triangular shawl had drop-stitches which are the best to use to show off ribbon yarn.

And so, instead of doing an easy rectangular shape, I gamely went into knitting my first-ever triangle shawl. I'm just too lazy to take pics. Someday when I'm wearing it over my string bikini...which means, never. Ha ha ha. I still have some Zahir yarn left, about 3 balls more...maybe for a rectangular piece this time.

Anyway, having been done with the shawl, and happy with the result, I had a brilliant flash of inspiration ...why not knit more shawls for tropical weather, and try to sell them in Boracay in June? I can also sell them to anyone anywhere who wants a nice light cover-up for the tropics.

I decided to use up my stash of tencel yarn, since it drapes well, it's soft and absorbent... perfect for tropical shawls. I'm starting with the dark green yarn cone, and I hope to finish it in a week. I've experimented with patterns that can use either stockinette seed stitch in the body, with a nice lacy border. So far so good.

Will I actually want to sell these shawls? They could all be mine, in various wonderful colors.

Two pics of G's chemo cap version 1

Version 1 of the chemo cap: cast-on of 100 stitches, stockinette body, and 2x2 ribbing for the brim... covers almost all the ears.

I'm now doing Version 2, started it March 15 Sunday night... the body would be 2x2 ribbing, and cast-on is just 80 stitches. I'm varying the number of cast-on stitches because i read, belatedly after finishing Version 1, that tencel stretches even more than cotton. So I decided to reduce the cast-on to 80 stitches for Version 2, which is gonna be stretchy already being pure ribbing (except for the crown). My plan for Version 3 would be stockinette body with roll brim.

Tencel in itself being a shiny yarn is not easy to photograph even when it's cloudy natural lighting. Sorry for how my pics do not do justice to the sheen of the yarn.

Knitting updates: chemo caps and more wool beanies

Frankly I wish I didn't have to be knitting this. This weekend I'm aiming to finish one chemo cap for my friend G who has had her second chemo session, and now sports a bald head. I'm combining one strand of black tencel with one strand of multicolored tencel, with blue and purple shades. She wanted her cap in indigo which I don't have in tencel.

It's done in stockinette with a spiral top and 2x2 ribber edging. No pic yet...maybe when it's done. I'm gonna do another chemo cap in 2x2 ribbed. Hope they fit my friend G and I hope she likes them. She's somewhat of a design doyen in her field, so it's a big deal to actually give her anything handmade.

Many thanks to Punay who had recently given me the circular needles I exactly needed for this project: a metal pair, 3-mm thick and 40-cm long. The smallest needles I had for 2-strand tencel knitting were US size 4 (3.5mm) bamboo dpns and circulars, and i used the dpns for the spiral top...in a way, I was glad they were bamboo so they "grabbed" the slippery tencel. It's a major hassle knitting with FOUR thin bamboo needles and I probably wouldn't have lasted with metal dpns. Still, despite being able to "grab" the tencel, the bamboo needles kept falling off... so I immediately changed to the metal circs the moment I could. The metal circs were heaven-sent.

After I finish this couple of chemo caps, I'm planning to knit again woollen beanies. First dozen were already sent to the US a few months ago, and I might have a chance to send some more around May or June...

Happy news for my charity knitting

I found a way to send at least 6 woolen hats from the Philippines, where I'm based, to the US, where one charity knitting organization collects woolen items for kids and teenagers. Yehey! I just need to weave in ends :-)

Happy new year everyone!

Project updates for Dec. 08

I was able to knit a bunch of hats and scarves, and they're soon going to the US to provide some warmth to relatives gathering together for the holidays in the East Coast. Still have to finish a couple of hats though, but I'll do them later tonight.

I just feel bad I have this bunch of charity projects here. I'll check with my brother if he has space in his return luggage even for three or four hats...to be snail-mailed to an American nonprofit who'll take care of shipping them to Mongolia! Wow, those hats will certainly go around the world.

I'm almost finishing color therapy mug rugs for a couple of special people. I might get to give them around the New Year though.

So far, it's been a productive year.

Knitting update: my ripple shawl

As of today, it's just about 15-20% done. I'm still deciding on how long I want it to be... i might make it 72-inches long... so I can engulf myself in it, like some blanket.

I combined two strands of tencel yarn, "olive green" and "golden yellow"... using US Size 6 circulars, 24-inches. At left is a horizontal shot of the shawl's rippled texture. I really wanted to use ripple stitch precisely to give my shawl a nice, wavy texture. I enjoy this stitch. It's a 10-row pattern that has yet to bore me.

Here's a pic of the two cones of tencel yarn I'm using up for this shawl. I hope I have enough! The cones approximately weigh half-pound each. Because tencel yarn is naturally shiny, yes, the yarns do gleam nicely in the pic... but not as brightly when knit together. I'm also planning to make more Ripple Shawls in other colors, such as brown-red and orange-peach.

Here's a close-up of the horizontal texture of the ripple stitch. It was kinda hard to make it show up in pics, I had to hold the shawl in an almost vertical slant just for the camera to get the shadows, for contrast. Professional photog I ain't:



Vertical pics of the shawl will show how the ripple stitch becomes a zig-zag stitch! And this is mostly how it'll look when the shawl's finally done, according to how I'll be wearing this shawl. I'm aiming to finish this shawl in time for my birthday this year... a gift for me, from me!


I changed the camera settings to see how the shawl would look under different lighting. Unfortunately I can't recall is this shot was done under "automatic" or "fluorescent" setting. I like how it shows the zig-zag effect of the ripple stitch, vertically:

Knitting again for family

Having done about half a dozen woolen hats for charity, I cleaned up my knitting workstation and realized I didn't have enough hats to send to the US for the holidays! Technically, I do... I've got about 15 hats, in acrylic... but not in the favorite colors of my intended recipients.

So I'm wrapping up my charity knitting to focus on family this time... this month is good enough, giving me time to do a scarf or two along with about 3-4 more hats...I have siblings on both sides of the Coast, and for sure some of them will be going through a snowy winter there... brrr...i'm still deciding if I should send my older sis woolen hats, as she may not like them since they're not machine-washable.

Then I want to try knitting berets, using tencel... I think they would be one way to differentiate what I'm making, for sale, compared to the machine-knitted hats I saw recently being sold in some stall somewhere... stockinette mostly... some hats were crocheted, but in garish colors. I need to differentiate my stuff by making them stylish and pretty. Not everyday pang-masa. Maybe I should just get orders for specific colors and designs...

I've soon take pics of my woolen hats... need to weave in ends first :-) besides, my energy is rather strange lately... there's the sense of going on a slowdown, preparing for a revving up...

I've been re-thinking my entire knitting wish list... need to hold off getting more tencel yarn as I do have enough to last me for years... well, considering my knitting pace, yeah, for years... I'd rather de-stash these days, that's why I'm using up my woolen yarn which has been around for a few years, ever since I started knitting. My goal would be to use up ALL my woolen yarn first, then ALL my tencel...