Citron is done! 香櫞第一彈完成!

Finally, I finished Citron, the first one I casted on.

終於把第一條香櫞完成了.


This Citron has 7 sections instead of the original 5 for I used a thinner lace yarn. And to achieve the textural effect I had to use a smaller 3.5mm needle. Since I work mostly with merino, the cobweb/lace weight wool yarn was a bit hard to get along with at the beginning. Besides, I was practicing knitting Continental method with this project and it might also be a contribution to the slightly rough start. I knitted all the way to the start of section 7 and then was interrupted by other projects such a Citron a la española, Fair Isle vests for the twins, Summer Flies, and Scareltt's Ribbed Lace Bolero. I did managed to finish section 7 in between these projects but the beaded bind-off took ages. It took me maybe two or three weeks to finish but then I wasn't binding off everyday. I needed to work in a cool and quiet place for a bead had to be hooked up to every stitch I bind off, and there were 732 stitches... In the end, all the hard work paid off. The beads really complimented the shawlette, and the shawlette itself, although being wool, it quite exquisite in the texture and I love it. Perfect for summer inside air-conditioned spaces.

這條香櫞有七段比原作五段還要多, 因為我用了組極細純羊毛蕾絲線, 且為了要讓平針和皺皺部分的層次感明顯, 還用了較小的 3.5mm 針, 我又用這 project 練習左手掛線, 所以一開始有點慢, 主要是左手掛線鬆緊度的拿捏還有純羊毛較粗又細線磨手. 儘管如此, 我還是一口氣打到第七段, 才被其他 project 插隊: 西班牙版香櫞, 兩小的費爾島風背心, 夏日飛逝小披肩, 和若的蕾絲波麗路. 第七段是在個 project 中完成的, 是珠收針比較麻煩花了很多時間, 前後可能拖了兩三星期吧. 因為珠收針每一針都要掛珠子, 總共有 732 針要收, 且要在涼快的地方安靜地做才行. 不過最後的結果證明一切的辛苦都是值得的. 淡綠透明閃虹光的珠子很能襯托芹菜綠的小披肩, 披肩本身雖為純羊毛, 但因線極細打出來的質感輕薄, 平針與皺皺間的層次感分明, 很適合夏天冷氣房內用. 我喜歡!



The layering
皺皺與非皺皺間的層次感


The yarn is Cigno Nero 2/25 Pura Lana Vergine Irrestringibile, which I procured from my dear friend M. She bought this during a ayrn shopping spree in Milan. When I saw the many yarns she brought back during her visit in April, this one caught my eye for its color. I didn't have that in my stash and I was sure I could easily use this in any project and that the light, refreshing celery color would make any project delightful. It did!

這組線是瑪姐這次回來跟她買的. 它是瑪姐去米蘭血拼毛線的戰利品. 看瑪姐帶回的眾多毛線中就這組最吸引我注意, 主要是它的顏色, 我庫存中沒這種色. 我相信一定可以很容易就找到適合的織圖用它, 它清新的芹菜綠也可讓任何一個織圖打起來心曠神怡. 的確是! 只不過我自己龜毛, 打慣了美麗諾打純羊毛極細蕾絲就覺得粗硬, 哈!



The beaded bind-off
珠收針



The ruchings
皺皺



The beads: light green transparent iridescent
珠珠: 淺綠透明虹光

香櫞們 My Citrons

Citron a la española was finished almost a week ago. It took 5 days to knit, 1 day to block, and almost another week to take a modelled pic for it was really too hot!




Citron a la española was knitted entirely Conitnental style, I did it to practice the style. With fingering weight yarn is much easier to get my hand in than an almost cobweb lace. Towards the end, I decided to apply beaded bind-off. I have some size 8 silver lined yellow Japanese round seed beads in stash and thought they would light a bit the shawlette/scarf. If they were size 6 it would've been even better. I really like the result.







As to my first Citron, the celery-color one, I stopped knitting it for a week to knit the Spanish one, and resumed knitting afterwards. It has 7 sections and I'm on the ruffle edging now. Last Saturday I took it with me to a bead store near my parents house in hopes of finding some beads that will match the celery/mint green. Luckily, the shop owner showed me some size 8 light green transparent AB beads which nicely compliment my Citron. I bought 1 tael (approx. 37.5g) of them, which should be more than enough for my edging.



Just when I thought I could finish the first Citron in no time, something happened. I will explain it in another post. Anyway, due to that "something", I started another project right away! And the Citron is once again put aside! Here's a little sneak peak:

西班牙版香櫞 Citron a la española

I have always been supporting Spanish National Football Team since I started watching football nearly 20 years ago. They have won, finally, the 201o FIFA World Cup! Since they enter the semi-finals, I've been wanting to knit an accessary - scarf or shawl - in the Spanish flag color. I've been eyeing Citron then, so I decided it would be very nice to knit one a la española. When they won the final, I was hilarious! I HAVE to have one! But I didn't have the colors. Dear friend MaryL has a huge and beautiful stash of fingering weight yarns that she couldn't part with but decided to offer up some for she could never finish knitting them fast enough. So, she rummaged through her stash and offered me two fabulicous yarns: Brooklyn Handspun Soft Spun Plus in Marigold and Fiberspates K1 Sock Yarn in Deep Cherry Red. She had other two colors from Malabrigo Worsted which are much brighter and more closely resemble the Spanish flag colors, but I didn't know what to knit with them and a worsted weight scarf wouldn't be as practical for me nor the climate here.


(L) Brooklyn Handspun Soft Spun Plus Marigold (R) Fiberspates K1 Sock Yarn Deep Cherry Red

After I got the yarn last Saturday, I started knitting the next day. All of a sudden I didn't want to my original Citron, the celery-colored one which was starting on the sixth section. So I wound p the skeins and knitted away. This is my progress as per Sunday evening. I'm on the fourth section now! Soon I will change back to the cherry red and finish this thing!

香櫞 Citron

I saw Citron when it was published but the idea of knitting it didn't cross my mind until recently I saw Linda's Citron. And then a knitter friend also mentioned it. Since I was looking for simple, stylish projects, Citron could be a great one.

Problem is, again, the choosing of the yarn. It doesn't have to be a citrusy color really but I couldn't shake the idea. Frankly, I don't have colors in that category in my stash except for a hank of Cigno Nero 2/25 Lana Pura Vergine Irristrigibile recently procured from Margaret. She brought quite some stash with her while visiting Taiwan in April. This hank caught my eye for its celery-like color and the cool freshness of the color. Besides, I didn't have any yarn of this color. So, although it's pure wool, which means harder to the touch and less drapey, I used the yarn. Cigno Nero 2/25 is about 2/3 the thickness of Malabrigo Lace and due to the characteristic of a plied pure wool lace, the knitting would be loose and airy, but I thought it would be nice for warm weather A/C indoors use.


The true color is between these two

I cast-on with 4mm needles and knitted one section. I wasn't sure about the result and asked for suggestions from my knitter friends. Then it was decided that I change to smaller needles. For the whole knitting was very loose, the garter stitch borders were almost sloppy and the contrast between the ruching and stockinette stitch section was almost none.


First section knitted with 4mm needles

I ripped and recast-on with 3.75mm and knitted the setup section. Still I wasn't quite satisfied. The garter stitch border still looked sloppy although a little better now. So I cast-on again with 3.5mm and finally got a acceptable result.


First section with 3.5mm needles

And knitting went on for two sections. Then it came to me that I could knit the ruchings Continental style which I've been learning/practicing recently and the stockinette stitch part English style. My gauge is tighter if knitted Continental style and thus I thought the ruchings would look more gathered and less airy, more contrast to the plain knitting strips. I have to say that I like the result.


Citron up to 7th row of fifth section. Note the difference between the first two and the last two ruchings. The last two are definitely tighter.