Endless Edge

During the holidays I've only really been doing a little knitting. I'm almost done with one side of the Mountain Pines edging and I've added a few rows to the Fir Cone Shawl. I'm reading my backlog of books (see sidebar for new element to the old blog) and baking for the holidays. I'm going to have to take pictures of some of these things and post recipe's but I will do that on my other blog, Jane's Reality since it's not lace. Hope everyone has a Happy Holiday!

Update (just to prove I actually do make some progress)

Yes, I know the shot of Peacock Feathers Shawl is blurry and you can't see what I've done, but I did not feel like taking it off the needles to pin it out. I am done with chart 6 and will begin chart 7. For those in the know, that means that I'm done with the small feathers in this shawl and will be starting the big feathers. Now, this shawl is knit with a yarn other than the one suggested on needles somewhat smaller than used in the original. This means a smaller shawl. Should I just go ahead and let it be smaller, or should I add either more small feathers or an additional row of large feathers? Should I really finish it off with crochet, and in that way learn a new craft since I don't know how to crochet, or should I choose another way to finish it? I kind of have something different in mind to do for the edge other than crochet, but I'm not sure if it will be a good idea or just weird. If I do something strange for the edge, I can always take it off if it really stinks. Anyone want to chime in with an opinion? Remember, I'm not artistic, just lucky when something comes out nice. Oh yeah, Mountain Pines is half-way through the boarder. What I thought was the "trees" was not the tree part. Still have not reached those darn trees but "almost" there. As for the "Fir Cone 3/4 Square Shawl", I've done 5 out of the 13 repeats of the pattern and it's dope-slap easy. A nice change from "agony" knitting. Now what, you ask, is that scarf doing on this "all lace all the time" blog? Let's just say I'm helping out a friend in need. For the details of the interruption in my knitting of lace, you can check my other site "Jane's Reality"(http://craftfreak.blogspot.com/). The closer it gets to the holidays, the more interruptions there will be in lace knitting I fear.

This is not to say that there are not tempting activity's out there on the internet. There is a nice group that is taking it's cue from the book "Twisted Sisters" and they are spinning/dyeing in order to make knitted garments. They call themselves Twisted Knitters (http://zeneedle.typepad.com/twisted_knitters/). It's awfully tempting but I have not sufficient time! I have the dreaded "Commitment-itis", fear of committing to a project for fear of inability to finish in time. Ah well... I'm off to knit on my very loud, very furry scarf.

That's all for now!

Old Dog....(New trick)

It's a wonderful thing, the internet. There is always someone who has information and is generous enough to want to share with others needing a hand-up with a knitting project. I've been wanting to make some of those doily patterns I have into shawls but needed to learn how to do a specific technique that I've never used before. I went in search of how-to information about the crochet cast-on for the center of a doily and found this site with a wonderful pictorial instruction of the technique. What you see in this picture is the end result, stitches that can be transferred to double pointed needles so circular knitting can begin. The information was posted on Bagatell's blog-site at, (http://www.spellingtuesday.com/) and is very helpful to those of use who are more visual in our learning. For the full set of instructions, go to:(http://www.spellingtuesday.com/circular_co.html).

I have also started a very nice simple-minded pattern for a relief shawl. Its called "Fir Cone 3/4 Square Shawl" and can be found for free at, (http://www.piecefulstitches.com) under the "Free Stuff" heading. The pattern is by Kate LeFevre and is one of those shawls that starts at the back of your neck and knits downward in the form of 3 triangles. You end up with a shawl that doesn't have a point hanging down your backside.

I'm knitting mine with Zepher (charcoal color, 50% merino wool, 50% tussah silk, US 4 Addi Turbo Needles) that I purchased while on vacation one year in Seattle. I love to buy yarn or patterns for knitting while on vacation. That way I can remember the great time I had while I'm knitting it, even if it was years later. I guess I'd call that a form of "tactile memory", only not in the traditional sense :-) This is alot of fun to knit, is growing by leaps and bounds on size US 4 compared to what I've been doing and only takes the one ball of yarn. It had better really only take one ball since I have no others and that trip was alot of years ago.

I know I was going to have my sister buy me knitting stuff for my birthday, but instead I'm getting a small "flat screen" TV for my bedroom. This might sound a little odd, but it's really a "good thing" as Martha Stewart would say. I like to watch/hear stuff my sister does not enjoy while I knit and this will make it possible for me to do it without bugging her or using my laptop computer to play DVD's. This means I can knit, have my computer on to catch up on knitting blogs, and have a DVD on at the same time. If I really want sensory over-load I can mute the TV and have a pod-cast on or the stereo on as well. Whew! None of this happens while knitting WRS however. When I knit that, I may only have music. I can't take the distraction.

It's now time to take me and my "monkey mind" off to other chores! Enjoy the rest of the weekend!