Guanaco Capelet (minus the Guanaco)

Guanaco Capelet by Helen Hamann

• Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb 100% extrafine lambswool (825 yards / 60 g per ball), ~0.62 balls, color "Oyster" #601
  
  
• US 5 (3.75 mm) Knitpicks Options Circular Needles
  

I usually knit quite loosely (in comparison with project gauge/needle combinations), however, I'm noticing a different trend with lace weight yarn and lace shawls - namely, I seem to knit lace more tightly than expected.

The Guanaco Capelet pattern suggests a US 9 (5.5 mm) needle, but I chose a US 5 (without swatching), because I usually have to go down to a US 4 to get something resembling the proper gauge when a pattern (for worsted weight yarn) suggests US 8's. Evidently this personal "rule of thumb" is not transferrable to knitting with very fine yarns. I know I should be swatching, but I generally figure that size isn't that crucial for a shawl or scarf.

Before blocking, my Guanaco Capelet looked tiny.

Exhibit A:



Exhibit B:



Note that it appears to be about the right size for my 8.5 lb. cat to wear (it was about 27 inches wide and only 10 inches deep at the center back).

It would not be an exaggeration to say that I was terrified (e.g. that I had just put a lot of effort into making a hanky too holey to blow your nose on - or a very fancy cat afghan that would be shredded by eager claws in short order).




Very luckily, blocking made it big enough (about 42 inches wide by 17 inches deep at the center back - I forgot to put the measuring tape in the post-blocking photo, but you get the idea) for me (and my 14 lb. cat) to wear comfortably.

Here are some shots of Bug looking deceptively docile, as usual:






At this size, the capelet is only long enough to cover my upper arms (it hits approximately mid-bicep at the sides and is several inches longer in front), however, it looks very nice worn as a scarf, so I'll probably mostly wear it that way. Worn as a capelet, I think elbow length (which I think the original was) would be optimal.

I first saw the pattern in the Windy Valley Muskox booth at Rhinebeck two years ago. They had one knit up, and I thought it was lovely, but, apparently, so did everyone else, because they had run out of copies of the pattern. After a bit of research I learned that I could purchase it from the Windy Valley Muskox website, however, I thought they were charging a bit much for shipping, so I decided to wait and see if I could find it in person later. Happily, Windy Valley Muskox was a vendor at Stitches West this year, and this time, they had the pattern in stock :)

The only real complaint I have about the pattern is that it uses quite a bit more paper than I think it needs to (9 pages, single sided, with a much larger than necessary font size). Other than that, this was my first time working an edging like this, so I found that I wasn't always sure I'd picked up stitches in the right spots, etc., but I don't think that was a failing of the pattern.

Two lovely stitch patterns make up the body of the shawl:




...and then there's the edging:



I think the combination is really beautiful.



Partly because I knit it on the small side, and partly due to the light and springy nature of the Lacey Lamb yarn...



...my capelet seems to weigh little more than a breath of air. The original was knit in Windy Valley Muskox's gorgeous - but much too expensive for my budget - guanaco/merino/silk blend yarn in "natural," a silvery, heathery fawn tone. I think the Lacey Lamb makes a nice substitute.

Tempting Turkish Delight Tokyo

Tokyo by Ruth Homrighaus

• My handspun yarn - made from Enchanted Knoll Farm Alpaca Silk Merino Batts & Purple Fleece Falkland Top (~372 yards / 109 g per skein), ~1.1 skeins, colorway "Turkish Delights"
  
  
• Knit Picks Gloss Sock Yarn, 70% Merino Wool, 30% Silk (220 yards / 50 g per skein), ~1.58 skeins, colorway "Cocoa"
  
  
• US 2 (2.75 mm) Knitpicks Circular Needles
  

As you may have guessed, this is what I mentioned I was working on with my handspun yarn in the last post :)

Ruth's Tokyo pattern has been tempting me since she first posted her gorgeous version on her blog. Initially I had planned to use another handspun yarn for this project, but when I swatched, I noticed there was not enough contrast between my chocolatey handspun and the solid-color Knit Picks Gloss.

With one ply of white Falkland added to a ply made from "Turkish Delights" Enchanted Knoll batts, I found the contrast that my original choice lacked.


+


=




...and here's a peak at the "wrong" side:



I worked Ruth's pattern pretty much as is, however, I decided to add some variously spaced stripes of the handspun, as I was worried that the bands at the top and bottom provided a little too much contrast (there's that word again) to the much darker overall effect of the main pattern. I think it worked out nicely.






The top is worked in two identical pieces, front and back, starting with the garter stitch band at the bottom and working upward. There is no waist shaping (everything is strictly rectangular), but the garter band (which I knit on the same size needles as the body) provides some welcome width over the hips and the rest of the body seems to fit nicely (with a little stretching of the pattern evident over the bust area).



Ruth gives tips on adding shaped side panels to accommodate a larger bust, but I decided I wasn't well-endowed enough to warrant that, so I'll just have to live with a little stretching :)

When you get to the sleeves, Ruth has you cast on stitches to achieve the extra width. After front and back are finished, you just seam up the shoulders and the sides. It's a very simple and beautiful design.

Here you can see a little of the color variation within the handspun yarn:




There are shimmery red, magenta, green, and copper strands in there in addition to some luminous cream-colored silk, and it's actually quite a sparkly yarn (though you may not be able to tell from the photos).


BLOCKING:

I've received a few questions about my blocking set-up. I use a 4 piece "high impact" tiled mat system that I found in the sporting goods sections of a Target store a while back. I see that they're now selling a 6-piece set online.

The pieces have interlocking edges and can be placed in several different configurations, according to the shape of the item to be blocked. As you can see, Tokyo only required a single tile.



The foam works well with blocking pins, and it's nice not to have to worry about getting the carpet or a bed wet in order to block something. To dissuade my cats from lounging on blocking garments, I have taken to placing a bunch of extra pins a few inches apart over the whole thing. I can also lean the tiles upright to dry if I don't want to spare the floor space (all those extra anti-cat pins help support the damp weight, so the garment doesn't stretch out).