flight of the icarus

fly on your wings like an eagle, fly as high as the sun!

icarus wings

sorry, couldn’t help it, but how can a dedicated maiden fan like myself not associate this particular knitting project with this classic maiden hit? you want to see the video, don’t you? i knew it! enjoy!

here are the specifics:

late one friday night waiting for the underground

pattern: icarus shawl from interweave knits summer 2006
design: miriam l. felton
yarn: kauni wool 8/2 effektgarn
yarn source: umbra stickspår in växjö
needles: 3,25 mm
modifications: made it smaller, only three pattern repeats instead of five
started: july 2011
finished: august 2011

icarus and me on the underground

ok, so what about the near disasters? well, there were three.
1) like i mentioned earlier, i forgot to remove my scissors from my carry-on luggage when we flew to greece, which was incredibly stupid because the airport security naturally picked them up on their monitor. after i discarded the scissors, the let me pass. with a tired sort of look. not me that is, i was bloody nervous! the security guard had a tired sort of look. i’m guessing i wasn’t the first to make a mistake like that… as it turned out i didn’t need the scissors during my whole stay. no disaster in the end.

a not so clear detail

2) as i was happily knitting along in the sofa, watching the telly, i dropped something on the floor. naturally i had to lean down to see what it was. i put my knitting next to me and leaned on it. snap! that was my lovely, lovely pair of knit picks circulars that i’d ruined! since i don’t own an extra pair of 3,25 tips, i exchanged the broken tip for a 3,5. i continued with the 3,25 on the part of the circular that i used to knit the ws, and used the 3,5 on the rs. again – no actual disaster (apart from needing a new pair of 3,25’s) since this happened just as i was supposed to begin the lace bit, and it’s now impossible to tell that i’ve used different sized needles!

an unusual colour choice for me, but i like it a lot

3) i ran out of yarn. now this could be an actual disaster, but given my happy-go-lucky type of character (what? you disagree?) i solved the problem without a frown. no, i’m only pulling your leg, of course i frowned! one alternative would obviously be to buy more yarn. but since i only had a few more rows to go, i felt reluctant. now, i know what your thinking. i could easily have found a good use for the left over yarn if i’d bought a whole new skein, but i didn’t feel like it. instead i decided to cheat and used the lovely deep red yarn i’d bought in estonia for the last bit. it’s thinner than kauni and the red is different. but i like it! the shawl now has a much more defined edge, which i find really dramatic and beautiful.

different yarn on the very edge

the colours look really strange in most of the photos, i blame steve jobs for putting such a crappy camera in my iphone4. the truest colour representation is in the one taken on the underground.

what about the drink, then? oh, there were lots! two crayfish parties during the same weekend – naturally one tends to get quite sloshed. no phothos, though…

well, that’s that and now for something completely different. in the next post! i’ve actually cast on for two projects. you’re allowed to do that you know. finish one thing and you’re allowed to cast on two. it’s actually a rule.

happy knitting!

P.S. if you can’t get enough of iron maiden, check out this lovely video of a primary school performing flight of the icarus, i laughed myself to tears! they’re so cute!

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practically finished

it’s still summer, i know, but i’m getting ready for autumn…

one finished shawl, check!

and i’m blocking the crap out of it right now!

nicer photos, pattern comments, near distasters and a happy ending to come! stay tuned.

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travel knitting

i’m really not a travel knitter. i sometimes bring knitting on my travels, but it usually stays in my bag the whole time. it’s not that i don’t want to knit while travelling, i normally just don’t have the time to knit. however, since this was our very first sun-and-swimming-in-the-ocean vacation togehter, i predicted that i might actually take some time between reading and eating and swimming to actually do some knitting. a ball of yarn, an easy pattern and some needles went into my carry on luggage. and i made the classic mistake. i forgot to remove my scissors from my littel tool bag and naturally airport security picked it up on their monitors… i felt incredibly stupid. but i probably wasn’t the first knitter to do this. at least, that’s what i kept telling myself.

since we were spending this lazy vacation in greece, what could be more appropriate than knitting the icarus shawl! i cast on during the flight there, and did manage to knit quite a lot by the pool! in the shade.

after just a few hours knitting, i’d gotten this far

it’s a very simple pattern and i’m very fond of the yarn and colour, my only concern now is that i won’t have enough yarn. i’m making it smaller than intended, but there still might not be enough. i’ll continue knitting for a while, and we’ll see if i’ll have to make it even smaller or buy more yarn.

knitting by the pool

we had a lovely time in greece, we had some of the best food i’ve ever had and we visited several lovely beaches and spent a lot of time in the water. the only negative thing i can say is that it was a little too hot for me. the next time we travel abroad we will proabably head for cooler climes… where one may wear wool.

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