Just a short post so that you know I'm still out here knitting the less exciting stuff. Yes, I'd rather be knitting on my doily since it's a Niebling, no I did not cast on another big project, yes I will have to finish the edging on the Sampler Stole and finish my Legends of the Shetland Seas before I will be able to try to cast-on a big project. I also will try to change the needles on my WRS to see if that makes it more enticing to knit on. Wish me luck with that! In the mean time, I have finally finished the edging for the Boundary Waters Shawl! Hip Hip Hooray! Now if it would only stop raining I would try to block it. Actually, since I have a shawl frame I may go ahead and block it anyway since it will take up very little room while standing and should dry pretty quickly. Above are just shots of it un-blocked. Not very appealing in this state I must say. I will get shots to you once it's on the frame so you can get a report on how that goes for me. I've never used a shawl frame before and I'm curious to see how hard it will be to get the shawl on it.
Since I'm now trying to keep a few of my shawls rather than giving them all away, I find that I don't have many shawl pins to speak of. I saw quite a few at the Knitting and Crochet Show and at Stitches this year, but nothing that really stuck me. However, I did find a nice Shawl Pin on E-Bay. It is a laminated Birch wood tinted with a nice lavender color which I was able to purchase from "WOODbyC" . It goes nicely with my Lyra shawl:-)
As I no longer try to keep up a craft blog, I will, from time to time, post a few things that are not lace related, but it will be seldom I promise. I just find this interesting as I do not knit socks and rely on my sister to produce them for me. This is a shot of my sister, Mays current project. She is old-school and knits her socks on double points but at the Knitting and Crochet show she picked up a package with videos, needles and yarn to learn to knit socks with two circular needles. She also has the new book by Cat Bordhi on the same subject. The Bordhi book uses stitch markers that have the alphabet printed on them to help with the initial instructions on knitting with two circulars and so I bought some for my sister on E-Bay at "Hide and Sheep" . They come in different ring sizes to fit different sized knitting needles and they are very reasonable and work well. She says it's fun to knit with two needles and I must say she is making fast progress.
Until later my pretties! Good Knitting!
20 comments:
Waheyyyyyyy! Well done on finishing the neverending edging. Can't wait to see it.
I love Hide and Sheep stitch markers -- they make really lovely small snag free ones that work well for lace.
Wow... Boundary waters looks great unblocked and I love the colour... I look forward to seeing ti blocked..... the stitch markers look great too.... I knit socks on both Bamboo DPn's and two circs, 51% in favour of the circs as I can knit quicker sooner... I have to get up to speed with Dpn@s which can take 15/20 minutes!!!! sad I know ;o)
Your Boundary Waters shawl is just stunning!
I also looked at your pictures of the Mountain Pines shawl you made!
I sure wish the pattern was still available!
well done on finishing the edging! the colour is gorrrgeous - was about to ask where you got the yarn and then flicked back through the posts and realised you dyed it yourself *cry* I have been looking for something just like that for doing a leaf lace shawl! the shawl pin is lovely too :)
Boundary is stunningly lovely, even in the rumpled state. And I do like the shawl pin.
I confess that dangly stitch markers are not my favorite. I have yet to find any that don't snag, cute as they may be.
What kind of needles would help with WRS? I have some bamboos, woods, bates, boyes, inox, etc. Do you want to borrow a handful and see if any of them help? Happy to send you a care package!
Please! a detailed review on the shawl frame. I tried curtain stretchers and soon gave up. It had these little tiny mean nails on it after the 3rd time I got poked I took the thing apart and gave up.
The "perfect" blocking tool/s are yet to be discovered by me.
The yarn shows up beautifully in this shawl - love the subtle color changes of the blues and greens! And, hey! we all need a few knitting "toys" to keep up the knitting skills!! Terry
(what is it that makes your pics turn out so well on your posts? Macro lens, contrast background, good photo smarts? - they are so clear and drool-worthy :)
Boundary Waters looks gorgeous even unblocked! The subtle color variegation is just beautiful.
I never thought of using alphabetized stitch markers with 2 circs! What an ingenious way to keep track of the needles!
Good luck with the needle change on the WRS and with the shawl frame!
I have had trouble finding shawl pins that i like too.....time to go surf Ebay.
ooh--I want to see the shawl frame in action! :)
Good luck with your needle change on WRS--hopefully it will rekindle your love for the project...
Dear Soo,
Since my sister is knitting socks on 2 circular needles now and got the Cat Bordhi book she really wanted to find some markers with the alpahabet on them that were not too big and would not catch on things. These look good if a bit dangly. I don't have time to block Boundary Waters this weekend I fear but sometime during the week I hope to get to it.Will post pictures on the frame when I do and critique how it went. I've never used one before so this will be interesting!
Dear littleberry,
Since I don't knit socks much, I've only ever done them on doublepointed needles, I didn't mind it but it never struck me as an activity I'd want to do a lot. My sister appears to be enjoying learning to do it with 2 circulars but then she really gets off on learning new techniques. You are not slow by the way. You go just as fast or as slow as you need to so thats perfect, not sad :-)
Dear fleegle,
Always happy to please you! Thank you for offering to let me try your needles but I actually have tons and tons of different types of needles. I'm just difficult to please when it comes to my "tools" I just looked at my Addi Turbos. Points too blunt for WRS and join is not really better. Addi Lace needles don't appear to go lower than US 1 right now, at least where I go to get them so I have no idea if they would be better. I just sat down and did one side of the WRS and have decided that I am having trouble in this section of lace reading all the long string of stitches. I keep loosing my place so I'm going to block off sections of the long line in hopes of getting it done. It was not as horrid as I remember, but it was bad enough! I swear I'm going to do the Princess in a STURDY yarn so I won't have these whips and jingles!
Dear Esther,
I think the shawl will look really good once it's blocked. It is a shame that the two patterns do not appear to be available any more since it was both written and charted in terms of instructions. I think I will E-mail the designers and attach pictures of both shawls and ask if they plan to re-print! If I get a response, I will post it.
Dear Kate,
Sorry about the yarn being a home dyed project. Trying to get a good green combo is why I dyed my own actually. No skill in this by the way. Just sheer luck that it looks pretty good knit up! I find it difficult to get shawl pins that I like. I also have trouble finding ones that will work with very fine shawls. The wood one I got is fine with the Nieblings because of that large mesh that makes up so much of his patterns, but it won't work with finer shawls so I have other pins for those.
Dear Laritza,
I will post on using the shawl frame for sure. I think its a matter of using whatever works best for each project. I blocked Lyra on the floor with a tape measureand "eyeballing" it.I'm just not interested in being more precise than that I'm afraid. I have to go get some string to pull through the shawl points then I will be set.
Dear Terry,
I love a woman who gives me permission to buy toys! I wish I was a better photographer actually. I love missalicefays pictures and fleegles pictures. I think they are set up and lit much better than mine. My pictures look like photos taken for chem-lab. A little on the sterile side. Since I take pictures only when I have time, they are usually at night and then I try to use a bulb with a "natural light" spectrum. My digital camera has a "macro" setting so I can get pretty close and if it's got to be really good, I use a tripod. But that's really rare! I'm glad you are enjoying the pictures. It's nice for me to have a chronicle of what I've been up to.
Dear Opal,
I think the stitch markers are cute and Cat Bordhi uses them in her sock book so there has been great demand for them. As for Boundary Waters, I'm glad you like it. You have had to wait so long for me to finish that I imagine it felt like some kind of blog viewers "torture". I hope the shawl does not end up too "busy" but I think the geometric shapes help the lace show in spite of the busy colors :-)
Dear Carol,
Shawl pins are tough. I have a few and there are some on the internet but I rarely wear shawls so my collection of pins is sparse. I like the wood sticks. Less parts to keep track of or loose!E-bay is a great place to check for then. Good hunting!
Dear missalicefaye,
You will get to see the shawl frame in action for this one. It's a perfect candidate! I wish I had not used the yarn I choose for WRS in terms of "ease of compleation" but I swear, it really is quite beautiful. The needle change won't work so the tortue continues LOL. Still, if it was easy, I don't think I'd have been tempted, do you?
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