Retirement Gift (Madli's Shawl)

It's been a good long time since I posted but much of what I've been doing has not been lace related. This however, is the most recently finished project. Madli's Shawl is another Estonian lace project from the Nancy Bush book. Since it was knit for a co-worker who is to retire, she picked the color and shape as well as the fiber content if not the actual pattern. The Madli's Shawl is a simple but pretty knit which can be worn casually if desired.

I had fleegle dye me purple silk yarn in her AK47 base and it knit up beautifully with spectacular drape and softness. It almost feels as if there must be cashmere in it only it's 100% silk. I love silk because it blocks and holds shape so well. It's wonderful for a stole because it's not too warm to wear a stole is easy for people to wear.

Because of the time-frame, I had to put aside any other knitting to finish this one in time. Now that it's finally done, I'm trying to finish up on three shawls before I start anything new so there should be more for me to post soon!

Simple Pleasures (Easy Lace Projects)

I'm taking a break from more involved lace to do a little bit of easy knitting. A while back, I spun a lace weight yarn from Pigeonroof Studio roving in the "Green Ocean" colorway. I bought it at A Verb For Keeping Warm because the colors looked so fantastic. It is a superfine baby alpaca/merino. I have to admit that I did not do a great job spinning it. It sat around in my stash for ages because I had no idea what I could do with it. Then one rainy day I decided to get it out and knit another Miralda Shawl from Nancy Bushes book on Estonian lace. I think it really came out pretty well considering I had no clue how it would look. I actually like it better than the first Miralda shawl I knit in a more semi-solid color. The second shawl is another one of those pretty little Elisa Shawlette's by Tiziana Sammuri on Ravelry in Gaia Lace which is a cashmere silk from the Sanguine Gryphon which I also bought at Verb. Sorry the pictures are not that great but I'm still trying to learn how to use my new camera. It has more talent than I do I'm afraid :-)

I will be doing small projects and spinning during the Winter because that's about all my tiny mind can handle over the Holidays but I hope to post progress as I go along. Good Evening and Good Knitting!

Small Projects (Some are faster than others)

Just a short post so I can show a few shots of Goldregen draped on a form. As you can see, even though there were quite a few rows to this one, it ended up a small scarf because of the needle and thread size. Still, not everyone wants to wear a full shawl and perhaps the small size will make it more tempting to wear. This one took two years to finally complete but not every small lace project I make needs to be so labor intensive.

I have another co-worker leaving but only had a small amount of time to make something for her (promotion rather than retiring). so I knit the Elisa Shawlette by Tiziana Sammuri (her shop name on Ravelry). Knit on US 3 with Suri Elegance yarn in the Misty Morning colorway, it took only 3-4 days of casual knitting to complete and makes a lovely elongated semi-circular scarf that is easy to wear with a suit or casually with jeans wrapped about the shoulders or neck. I have no drape shots of this piece as I have already given it away, but I plan to knit it again so I will get shots then :-)

Excess? (Some things are too good to pass up!)

I recently de-stashed a large amount of spinning fiber. It wasn't bad stuff since I don't buy bad stuff. It was just "second string". You know what I mean. You look at your stash of fiber, yarn, whatever, and you reach for the "Really good stuff I want to use before I die you have to take it from my cold dead hands touch it and you will pay with your life" stuff. So the second string fiber just sits there. Unused, unloved and so very very sad. I gave it to someone who will use it well.

As a result, I have "space". Good thing too since fleegle opened an Etsy shop "The Gossamer Web" It started out simply enough. There was a yarn that was no longer being made and fleegle still wanted it and thought others might like some too. Well. I just had to have some since it is a cashmere, silk and merino cobweb weight yarn. I know that 20 skeins at 2,600 meters each might look a little excessive to some but to me it's like storing nuts for the winter. You know. Be the ant, not the grasshopper. Besides, I'm thinking of taking that natural dyeing class at A Verb For Keeping Warm. Anyway that's my story and I'm sticking to it. For those who don't want to dye their own, you might just mosey on over to The Gossamer Web and look at the beautiful hand dyed roving's, lace weight yarns and the fun "tools". I picked up cashmere roving in the Hydrangea colorway which you can see I'm spinning into a nice single. It's very short staple and I ended up spinning it like you might have to spin cotton. Cashmere does not have a lot of strength as a single so I plan to ply it with a silk single that I also got from fleegle's shop which you can see in the little plastic bag. I believe it's a 30/1 weight single and should give me the strength I need. The little box fleegle gets from Japan is perfect for my various tiny little stitch markers so I don't have to keep hunting through little containers to find what I want. It was great to go to a shop that had lots of what I need rather than having to hunt all over the internet and fleegle is even making me more of that cashmere roving since I want to make a large project from it. You can't ask for more than that :-)

I have been knitting on my "Surprise" project and I'm up to row 213 of a 314 row pattern. Since it's a square, it just feels like "forever" to go around once, but I think it will be worth it. In the mean time, I did pick up a new book on Estonian lace called, "Haapsalu sall " by Siiri Reimann and Aime Edasi. You can get it at the Apollo book site if you are really interested. I posted a few pictures of some of the shawls on Flicker but I'm sure if you google the title you will find others. The stitch key is in English though the rest of the book is not. If you have knit from the Nancy Bush book then you will already have the basic information you need to use this book. It's a "coffee table" over sized hardcover book with pictures of all the lace designs and charts for the patterns. There are no actual patterns for the lace stoles you see pictured in this book. It has the charts for the centers and the edging but this is a strictly "Make up your own stole" kind of a deal. I plan to use the cashmere I'm spinning now for one of these stoles once I finish "Surprise". Last but not least, I got 4 more spindles from Kevin Rhodes. These are great little spindles at a reasonable price and he is willing to make them to order for you.

Miralda Shawl (Yakity Yak)

Finally finished blocking the Miralda Shawl and I have to say that the Yak/Silk blend from "A Verb For Keeping Warm" did fluff up and is very soft with a nice subtle sheen. This is a quick and easy knit with interesting construction. You cast on the edging and then decrease at the center and both sides to make the triangle which ends at the back of your neck on this shawl. I used US 6 needles and the original shawl asks for a a fingering weight yarn though I went a bit thinner. This shawl is maybe 5 ounces of yarn. Every version of this shawl that I have seen is really pretty in its own way. If you want a laugh, look at the Feb 26, 2009 entry for The Yarn Harlot :-) Now to look at my UFO's.

Busy Busy (How many projects does she have?)

Yes. I have crafting ADD. I went to Stitches West 2009 and have been in a frenzy every since. I have started 2 more projects from the book "Knitting Lace of Estonia" by Nancy bush. Both are using hand spun that I made. First up is Mirlada's Triangular Shawl. I'm using a 50/50 Yak/Silk fiber I purchased from "A Verb For Keeping Warm" in colorway "This is a new day". It's now a sturdy 2 ply yarn and I'm using US 6 needles because this is a very small shawl and is supposed to be knit with fingering weight. The second project is the Queen Silvia Shawl which I'm knitting out of a 2 ply made from Pygora, also from Verb, in the "Shaggy Bear" colorway. I'm add a few beads to this one just for laughs. Yes, I know that the shifting colors of cream and grey are not the best pick for this type of pattern but I love how it feels in my hands and just had to knit this one for myself. It will be a "comfort" shawl I can wear around my shoulders when I'm cold.

There is a picture of a circular blocking wire that I bought at Lacis. I'm hoping it will help with blocking those pesky doily's. I also could not resist buying a book on needle Oya (vs crochet Oya) from the bookstore in Japan Town in SF. I'm just fascinated by it. In the area of weaving I'm experimenting using pick-up sticks to make raised areas on the fabric and with making Leno which consists of twisting thread to make open areas on the fabric. Just a little experiment you understand. I'm up to row 133 of Goldregen so no pictures until I get to the edge of this sucker. January and February just flew by and the knitting is keeping me sane. It's really a lifesaver :-)

Crown Prince Square Shawl (I didn't go into knitting so I could sew!)

I don't know about anyone else but I did not go into knitting so I could sew! That said, I did end up sewing the edging onto the center of the Crown Prince Square Shawl. Alpaca is not a very elastic yarn for sewing so I'm not thrilled with how difficult it was to sew up.It was tricky to get the tension right. If I had actually read the pattern before I started knitting it, I might have knit the edge first and then attached the live stitches to the center as I knit it. That might have worked better for me. Still, it is a pretty thing. Sorry for the color shifting in the pictures but I could not really get the color down with flash photography and even the natural light photos at the end don't really show the color of this shawl. If you are going to Stitches West this year, perhaps Kristine (seen wearing the shawl) will have it with her at the shop booth for "A Verb For Keeping Warm" since it now belongs to her :-)

To Recap-

Crown Prince Square Shawl pattern from "Knitted Lace of Estonian Techniques, Patterns, and Traditions" by Nancy Bush. Knit on US 3 needles using 100% alpaca lace weight yarn from " A Verb For Keeping Warm. Yarn is called "Holding" in the "Twilight" colorway. Be sure to check out the errata page at Interweave Press for the corrections to this and other patterns in the book!

Now I'm back to work on Goldregen but have switched to US 000 Addi Lace Needles since I had needle failure on the Hiya Hiya needles in US 0000. I'm a bit more than half-way done with the pattern so the change of needles at this point is OK. I have more stuff to show but I'll post later.