It's been awhile since I posted but I have at least finished one project. My inner Crow is happy to have finished "The Saigon Scarf" which is by Badcatdesigns . Very pretty pattern that is free on Ravelry . I used the hand spun 2 ply lace weight yarn I spun out of fiber from Spritely Goods (alpaca, merino, firestar and angelina, colorway Palo Verde) and this is the first time I've added beads with a crochet hook. Please forgive my crappy photos. The yarn is really a very vivid lime green but I just could not get shots that reflect the lovely color or sparkle in this yarn. For anyone looking for a nice lace project that is both interesting and fun, this might just be the one. Think Xmas gift. It's well within the reach of a lace knitter with a few easier projects under their belt and will not take too long to knit since it's a scarf rather than a stole. I love the designs from Badcatdesigns. Her instructions are very clear and the patterns leave lots of room for a knitter to make it their own in terms of yarn choices. There is a lot to be said for clean but flowing lines in a design and there is just enough variation in the patterns to make them interesting. I have also purchased the Hecate Stole and the Corfu Shawl from her and I'm going to go buy Mimosa as soon as I finish this post. I've spun a lot of fiber lately and though it's sometimes a challenge to find projects to use the finished product on, many of these patterns would look good with what I'm making up :-)
Just below the shots of The Saigon Scarf, I have a small amount of "birdseye" lace knit up on US 0. I'm using the 2 ply yarn made from the Madder dyed BFL from "A Verb for Keeping Warm" I am making a stole from a Japanese knitting book "Vintage Knitting in Tradition". There is a picture of it from my May 9th blog posting. It's on page 26 and the caption is "Cloches a travers les feuilles". I don't speak French so I went to Babelfish. What I got is "Bells through the sheets" WTF? My sister speculates it actually is more like "Bells in Layers" or "Layered Bells". Translation is very dicey at best. If anyone out there has a better guess pleases give us a hint :-) Since I'm in "Crow" mode, I went and bought two more shawl pins from Romi (Fascination with bright and shiny objects? Oui!) . The copper heart is a sentimental favorite but the "bobby pin" type shawl pin works really well with light weight lace. For a woman who almost never wears her shawls, I have a lot of pins LOL! Lastly, this is some lovely Wensleydale wool from Black Bunny Fibers . It's the second installment for the Team "B" fiber club members. This colorway is "Waltz". It's shinny and very strong, almost like Mohair with long staple but unlike Mohair, I don't have any allergy reaction to spinning it. Looking at it, I have no idea what to do with it in terms of lace. I could try to spin it and make it into something other than lace (Yeah, right!) or I can just give in and admit that whatever I make with it, that lace will always remind me of a snow cone at the circus. I have only 4 more rows before the crochet cast-off for the International Shawl so I hope to finish it off this week and will post pictures once it's done. For those of you in the Bay Area, this up-coming weekend is Lambtown in Dixon. We plan to go (big surprise) but I really don't need more fiber or yarn....... (to be continued)
32 comments:
Dear Jane--
As always, your taste and knitting are impeccable--the scarf is delicate and exquisite.
As you know, babelfish and the like are not especially accurate. I would translate Cloches a travers les feuilles as "bells through the leaves." This sounds a bit more poetic.
Bad Cat's designs are indeed beautiful--you two complement each other so well!
Ooh, I love that soft green.
For the translation, it might be a case of multiple translations mixing the message -- Japanese to French to English. Cloche is "bell," but if you think of that as "ringing" and then shorten it to "ring", and "traverse" is across but it could be thought of as among, so therefore, and voila, Rings across/among the Leaves, which then suits the pattern.
That tuckered me out. I need a nap now. :-)
Dear fleegle,
Thank you! I loved knitting this scarf and if I can add bling then so much the better :-) I'm finding the badcatdesigns are really great for handspun which is all to the good for me since I'm spinning like a mad woman over here. Many thanks for the translation efforts. My sister and I were agape at the bablefish translation which made no sense to us. Why are there so many French names for these Japanese patterns?
Dear Dave,
Wow Dave! That's a terrific interpretation of the caption to this stole. Poetic licence. I LIKE it! Thanks :-)
I had to ask my son, he also indicated that it was something across the leaves but actually as fleegle said, bells. The Japanese seem particularly enamored of things French, I see so many design books, not to mention the knitting, crochet and craft books at Kinokinuya. Anyway, as always, beautiful work!! Terry
The scarf is absolutely gorgeous. I must log on to Ravelry and add it to my favorites!
The scarf is lovely. The snow cone a the circus yarn looks like something I would consider weaving instead of knitting. Why not?
I resumed Princess and I am on row 131 of the border. I plan to knit on it solely until at least the border is done.
Oh and thanks for reminding me that I NEED a Romi pin .......
Lovely spinnning and of course beautiful lace. I love the colour of the scarf.
Lovely lovely scarf! And the pins look great with it. :) I'm so glad you like them!!!
Oooh - I do like that scarf pattern (and the colour is divine).
Your scarf is just gorgeous! Love the green, one of my favorite shades
WOW! Your handspun makes that pattern really shine. It looks wonderful and I am so glad you are enjoying my patterns.
oooh--it's fun to feed the inner crow! So pretty. I'm going through a sparkly batt phase myself right now. :)
Dear Terry,
Thank you! I just got a lovely e-mail from Judy T letting me know that the designer of this stole is a musician and likes to name his work after classical music. The tranlsation from the French does mean "Bells through the Leaves" as many have explained and apparently it is the title of a piece by Debussy. I Googled it and got to hear it played on piano. It's lovely.
Dear joansie,
I hope you enjoy knitting it as much as I did. You can make it as long as you want by adding more repeats of the patterns. The pattern makes my knitting look good :-)
Dear Laritza,
It really would look stunning woven. Too bad I have not yet learned how to weave LOL. I have something else that might work out in mind. Of course, those are my famous last words. Two more rows on the International Shawl and then I can crochet cast-off. Once it's done, I'm starting back on the Princess along with other UFO's I only have 33 points done but that's not really so bad.
Dear Laritiza,
Yes. You really really do need another shawl pin :-) In particular you need one from Romi. I love her pins.
Dear Colettes,
Since I get to look at your beautiful work it's only fair to share:-) The scarf really is a pretty color. I never thought I'd like spinning with fiber with sparkle in it until I got my yummy batts from Spritely Goods. It was so good I got more in a different shade of green.
Dear Romi,
I really love my pins and they work really well with the lace. Not at all heavy or bulky. Best of all, they stay put! Thanks for making them :-)
Dear Soo,
I love the pattern as well and you are given the choice of making both ends the same (pointed) or having the one end different. The beads really add lots of visual interest. I just wish my photographs of it were better so you could see the beads.I have a thing for the color green as you can see. Good thing it comes in lots of different shades!
Dear Sylvie,
I'm glad this shade of green is back "In" again because it's one of my favorites too! The scarf was great fun to knit and did not take too long or take too much yarn. I still have lot of yarn left for a triangle type shawl or stole.
Dear badcatdesigns,
I loved knitting this scarf. It was really fun which is not always something you can say about knitting lace LOL. I'm looking forward to knitting some of your other lovely patterns as well. I hope I can do them justice.
Dear missalicefaye,
I don't know how I managed to resist the sparkle factor for as long as I have but now that I'm into it, I can honestly say that I'm having way too much fun :-) My inner crow will get morbidly obese if I keep feeding it at this rate LOL Can't wait to see what you are cooking up too!
Your Saigon is lovely. I've been eyeing that pattern for a while. I'm fond of the birdseye pattern. Another free birdseye is here:
http://www.elann.com/ShowFreePattern.asp?Id=267024
I'll compare this one with the free HK pattern. There's also one in VLT, the red one on pg 72. It has an pointed edging that seems a little heavy, but not bad.
Sandy
Everything is so gorgeous. I'm overwhelmed. :)
Wow - the scarf looks absolutely wonderful. The sparkle is dreadfully difficult to photograph, but it really comes alive in sunlight :)
I love your Saigon! your spinning is beautiful too - altogether an excellent piece! Interesting to see how you blocked one end into a point instead of into a round shape as BadCat showed it.
Dear Sandy,
Thank you for all the information on the different birdseye patterns! This is the first time I've knit it and the stitch construction is really interesting to me. I really liked making the Saigon Scarf. If I did it again I might make it a bit longer but over-all I liked the progression of the pattern over the length of the shawl. Very pleasing to knit so you might want to give it a try.
Dear Opal,
I'm glad you approve! I'm overwhelmed by how much you are spinning for the Tour de Fleece! It boggles the mind :-)
Dear Stephanie,
It really is pretty in the sunlight:-) I just can't get the right picture to show those beads darn it!
Dear Judith,
Thank you. I think my spinning is slowly getting better. I blocked the scarf by "eye balling" it and I thought the tip looked good pointy but others might like a more rounded end. That's the great thing with knitting and spinning. You can do whatever you like with it :-)
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