Laminiaria Done (My. It really is very ORANGE isn't it?"

Just for the record. Mohair does not stretch much and it does not stretch easily. Brute strength is required and very sturdy pins. That said, it came out pretty nicely and will make a terrific shawl for the office. Why the office you ask? We moved our offices and the room I'm in is quite chilly for some reason. They think the air-conditioner is on all the time or something. In any case this shawl took virtually all of the 4 ounces of yarn I spun and I was fortunate I did not end up running out before the end!

To re-cap. The pattern is Laminiaria from the Spring 2008 Knitty on-line magazine. The fiber is from Black Bunny Fibers in a 50/50 Border Leicester/Mohair Top with a little Cream colored Suri Alpaca to lighten it up a little bit. The colorway is "Carnival" and was spun on the Majacraft Rose for a two ply laceweight yarn. Knit on US 6 needles, I followed the instructions for the smaller shawl because I was using such large needles and knew it would end up pretty good sized anyway.

For those not already aware, I have given away Legends of the Shetland Seas to a co-worker who is going to retire soon. The day after I got it back from the folks at Spin-Off, I gave it, and a copy of the magazine to her. It's her colors and now it will be worn and not put away in a box. Being in the magazine was great. Giving away the shawl was better :-) Good evening and good knitting!

Laminaria (Star and Blossom charts)

Just a few pictures of my progress on the Laminaria shawl from Knitty.Com. I'm knitting it on US 6 and there are some very big increases in order to knit the "Blossoms" pattern in this shawl. The first picture is of the "Stars" that happen at the back of the neck of the shawl. I hope the pattern will show once it's blocked because it's very dense in this section. The next few pictures are of the "Blossoms" with a close-up of a single blossom. It looks really different if turn the pictures upside-down which is how you will view them on the finished shawl since the triangle will be pointing down. There was a little learning curve on this type of lace for me and I can't say I enjoy knitting it all that much. It's not holding my attention, truth be told. If I was to knit this again, I would also do a SSSK or mirror image on the Start Chart for the left hand side of the shawl so it would look a little better. The yarn is so busy that I left it alone but if it was a plain yarn I would have made the change. On the plus side, the pattern is well written, clear and I think the designer picked really good combinations for the shawl. I'm just not crazy about having to do all those large increases. As for the other pictures. I know I said I would try to knit from my stash, but I have not been able to resist buying yarn I fear. I guess I will just have to knit a lot faster. Did I mention that I did my taxes and will be getting a refund? And, in all seriousness, I intend to help the economy by spending my share of the stimulus package. That and the fact that, my adult niece is pregnant again and it's time to knit a few baby sweaters. It's a girl this time so a bunch of the Auntie's went yarn shopping on Saturday. I picked up some pretty Claudia Handpaints in fingering weight for the baby sweaters. The tatting shuttle is some kind of Horn and I could not make my hand put it back down once I picked it up. It might even make me do a little bit of tatting :-) The baby sweater yarn is from Commuknittyand the tatting shuttle is from Purlescence Yarns Once I started, I couldn't stop. I picked up several patterns for sweaters and I bought some lace weight yarn as well but will save them for a later post. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that no else one was attacked by squirrels