RUANA!!

I can't believe it's finally finished, wow I love the results. After much fringe twisting and cutting, washing and drying it just what I wanted the finished fabric to look like, warm and wonderful. The first two pics are of the ruana crossed and un-crossed the right pic is of the back detail. I chain crochet the hypotenuse then crocheted the two tri's together a little less than half the length. I hope it will handle the stress point alright if not I will need to come up with some other solution. I'm planning to take this one on my trip to SC in November, once I get back I can re-inspect it and see how well it's holding up. The last photo is of the fabric close up, although it didn't do the tabby effect I wanted I still think it looks great, basket weave stripes is what I see.

RUANA UPDATE

Finally Finished!! I finished my 1st panel for the Ruana am I happy oh YES!! The following is a small pictorial of my progress, during this one, I had to move my tri loom to my office lunch room because of the sale of the house. So the background has changed some. We're planning to go to North Carolina, Thanksgiving week and would like to have the ruana finished to wear it. I put it on Sexy Susan, my model to see how it looked. I love the drape and the feel of the fabric, this one is really soft, unlike the red and white shawl that was very stiff. I haven't washed yet as I still need to make the other panel, but I don't think it will stiffen after washing either.

Ruana

Since my last post on the ruana, I thought I would finish that weekend, well that didn't happen. Instead we met with the realtor and started moving some things that the realtor thought were "too personal to show at open house" that meant most of my craft items. Since my looms, yarns, and fiber fun stuff is "too personal" I move all of it including lots of boxes, family pictures to my office, we have more room than we have office personnel to fill it and my boss was nice enough to let me have an office to put up my storage. I had one of the guys put up my loom in the lunch room and now instead of knitting on my board, I'm weaving on my loom. At my current pace I "will" be done with the first panel by Friday and hopefully taken off the loom by Monday or Tuesday, I get 45 mins of uninterrupted weaving time which is bliss, apart from the various questions from my co-workers although I have fun explaining what I'm doing and what I'm creating.

Almost done!!

This will be the new collar for the cable sweater, I've measured and re-calucalted and re-measured and I think its right now. WHEW!!! what an ordeal this one has been a true test of paitence, but I'm going to be happy to wear it this winter when we go house hunting in NC. I have been debating on the pattern for this one. I haven't started writing yet, but since I've had my difficulties I don't really know if a can. I guess I should have been writing as I was knitting and then I would not wind up with this dilema in the end. I cabled so much on this one that I've given up on cabling the new chunky sweater I figure I could use the break of twisting and pulling yarn , hehehe. The "beach" sweater is a simple K4P2 pattern that I'm doing on the KKII's I really like it and I can relax my mind as I knit. I 'll take a pic this weekend so you all can see. The ruana is coming along, although I thought I would finish the first panel last weekend of course that never happened so I'm hoping for some time this weekend. It's getting hard to work on yarn project when the sun is shining and it's beach season, although I have been known to take knitting to the beach and sit under the umbrella, much to my husband's caringe!!

Update on the new Ruana

I decided to stop calling this one a shawl, and call it by it's final outcome a ruana. For those of you who have not seen a ruana or want to see a really great ones, here is an awesome website for these http://a-wee-bit-of-ireland.stores.yahoo.net/ruanas.html I love the red one here. If you knit check out the fisherman's sweaters, beautiful cable work on those. Of course my ruana will be different in which I will have to points in the front and one in the back. After having to frog the first attempt this is the second try . I likey this one! Although I'm not getting the same effect as my sample one below, I hope it will show up after I remove it wash it etc.. If not then it will still be a great ruana for me. I'm going to have to figure out what to do with the fringe thingy I really don't like fringe that much, I may cut it short or do some kind of macrame knot to it, I don't know yet, and quite frankly I'm really well away from that, but since I can already picture it in my mind it's hard for me not to plan ahead. I received my booklets from Linda Smith's Tri-Loom http://www.geocities.com/elelsmith/and I have to say they are packed with information very well written with content page, and a resource page, her personality really comes through in her writing style. Lots of different weaving techniques on the tri loom and very interesting, my only complaint is that for me, I would have liked more photos. I'm a visual learner so pictures to me are very helpful with instructions, but I'm going to experiment on my small loom with the weaving patterns and then take digitals and put them in each section this way down the road when my mind has forgotten what it looked like I have it in the fiber library, which I'm slowly building up.

The second pic is of my new yarn called "beach" with this one I'm planning a sweater which will be chunky warm and oh so soft, can you tell I'm going to really like this one? I going to knit up a swatch today and see how the gauge is on my purple KK loom.