Busted! ("Legends" is in the Spring 2008 Spin-Off Magazine)

Badcatsdesigns busted me first. I guess she got her copy of Spin-Off Magazine earlier than I did :-) Last year just before Thanksgiving I got an e-mail from Amy Clarke Moore asking if I would be willing to have the Legends of the Shetland Seas stole in the gallery of the Spring 2008 magazine. She had seen it on Flicker. I was really surprised since I don't think my spinning is all that terrific. There are many spinners with much better technique than I have. I guess what I lack in spinning skills was made up for with the lace knitting . In any case I agreed, vain thing that I am :-) Amy was really very nice and it gave me the incentive to finish up the stole so I could send it to the nice folks at the magazine. I must say, they took better pictures of it than I did. Back to knitting Laminaria!

Legends Blocked (Another one bites the dust!)

This project was started because I joined "Spun Stitches" a Spin/Knit-a-long in June 2007. I used my single treadle Schacht wheel to spin fiber from Lisa Souza. One single in BFL and one in Merino both in her "Petroglyph" colorway, then plied them on my sisters Majacraft Rose using the lace flyer with the large core bobbins. I did this because I wanted something a little bit stronger than just plied merino. I ended up with a lace weight yarn at approx. 36 WPI that was really quite soft and had good strength. I then knit "Legends of the Shetland Seas" by Hazel Carter using 2.5 mm needles with a modified edging and finished blocking it today :-) I really do like how it came out this time. Now I can continue working on the edge for the Sampler Stole. I know I can't finish it before the end of the year, but I can at least make some headway. I can't justify starting anything new until that one is done. I have even put aside my pretty Princess edging (yes, more edging) until that one is done. So, in the nick of time, I have finished one more thing before the end of 2007. You have all been very patient and supportive and I want to wish everyone out there a Happy Holiday and a Wonderful New Year! See you all in 2008!

Legends of the Shetland Seas Edging (Can she finish one more thing before Christmas?)

I've been working on my "Legends of the Shetland Seas" stole since this is close to being done. I'm also going to work on the Sampler Stole edge as well even though I'm not fond of those color shift in that one. The colors in the "Legends" stole are a little bit smoother. Everything else is going to wait since I'd really like to be done with these two before the end of the year if possible. It's really tough to get the pictures to show the color of this shawl since most of the time I'm shooting with flash at night, having used the daylight hours for the actual knitting. I figure I'd try to finish these two since everyone has been very patient with how long it takes me to actually complete a project. End of year eye-candy would be a nice way to finish off 2007 if possible. I'm almost done with shopping and wrapping gifts but way behind in trying to bake anything. There's a kind of interesting project shaping up for next year, but I will wait to post about it when it's a little better defined. Until then, if you don't hear from me for a few weeks it's because I'm swamped for the holidays as I imagine you all might be as well. I remind myself to have fun while I'm running off to buy more butter and sugar and I hope you all remember to enjoy yourselves as well as the year runs down. I promise to post the Legends of the Shetland Seas stole once it's done. See you guys in a few weeks!

Thanksgiving/Knitting (Why does that shawl smell like turkey?)

Yeah, I know it's not a picture of lace but it is what has been taking up time today. My sister and I have been enlisted to do Thanksgiving for our little neices since our sister-in-law is out of the country for her job this week, and this is one of two large pans of dressing.When you have to help out at Thanksgiving, it's not always about you and the lace knitting. People expect turkey, dressing, pies. You get the idea. Still, it is possible to slip in a little bit of knitting while ordering Xmas presents on-line and running out to get that last minute bag of sugar or flour. I'm slowly getting there with the Princess edge (20 points), the Sampler Stole edge crawls along and has those annoying color transitions I suspected would happen (I'm going to leave them however because it's for the folks at Yarn Place) and I have started the other end of the Legends Stole. Not working on Salmon Queen right now. That's for after Thanksgiving I think. For those who noticed that the Peacock Shawl has gone missing from my pictures, I took some good advice from Laritza and asked someone on Ravelry who liked the shawl if she wanted to have it to finish. It is now on it's way to Australia. I'm very happy about that and now can concentrate on my remaining projects without that albatross around my neck!

As I type this, apple pies are in the oven, pumpkin pies are next, and the year just rushes towards it's demise without pause. Time for me to slow down a bit and try to enjoy the holidays. My knitting always slows a little this time of year and it gives me a chance to think about next years projects. I wonder if you have noticed, as I have started to notice, that my taste in lace projects has been changing? It's going to be interesting next year. Happy Thanksgiving!

Edging, Edging, Edging (And A Little Something Else)

So, as the Borg would say, I have done "One of Four" sides of the Boundary Waters Shawl. Did I mention that doing edging is boring. So I took a break and did some of the Legends of the Shetland Seas stole. I was not going to post progress on the edging as I imagined it might be as boring to see it as it is to knit it , but missalicefaye says she enjoys the posts none the less so I go ahead with short posts. Enjoy!

Legends Of The Shetland Seas (center done, on to the border)

I've completed the center for the Legends Stole and I'm now going to set it aside for awhile while I try to finish the border for the Sampler Stole. I'm a third of the way done with the second border and I really want to get this thing done so I can start another lace project. So, hard as it is for me to do it, I will try to focus my attention to only three things. Sampler, Boundary Waters edging and WRS. Spun Stitches will just have to wait! I have also posted a shot an additional ball of yarn I bought when I went back to Lacis this last Saturday. It's a two ply cobweb and it would have been easier to knit with (no twisting back on itself) for the WRS but it's a bit heavier than my singles so no regrets. For those who might be interested, Lacis now has a lace knitting group that gets together the first Saturday of the month. They met for the first time this month and, predictably, I was late. I don't usually join actual groups because I have so very little free time and it's not fair to those in the group if you come late or don't show up so I won't try to join them though they all were very nice people who knit some amazing lace. If you are interested, go to the side bar of my blog and check out their forum. Still drooling over my new book and I pulled out my volumes of modern lace knitting and I'm waiting for an additional book from Schoolhouse Press to come. I bet you know which one but I'll post it when it gets here. Good Knitting!

Lacis (AKA Lace Mecca)

I know, I know. I said I was going to try to knit from my stash. I really had decided not to buy more yarn. I have started to actually list all my lace weight yarn and it's a daunting amount. But I have been going to Lacis in Berkeley for years and years. Sometimes for tatting supplies, sometimes for knitting supplies, sometimes for Silk Ribbon Embroidery or Beaded Purse supplies. You name it, they usually have it. I went only to order a book, a very very nice lace knitting book that is in Japanese but has a legend in English for the chart symbols. It will be coming in next week and they will mail it to me. While there, I couldn't help but notice that the shop is now stocking more lace weight yarns and I found a lace book I don't already have and some quite lovely variegated lace weight wool yarn that I am not familiar with. It's called "Harmony" from a manufacturer named Jojoland (880 yds/50g ball) and according to the label is made in China.I know I'm weak but as vices go this one is pretty harmless:-) I bought enough for a shawl and will put it with all the other yarn while I try to finish something. The book is one with knitted lace doilies in it and I think some of the patterns can be adjusted to make shawls rather than doilies. I've started the opposite border for the Shetland Sampler Stole and will post pictures once I have something more to look at. I am also posting a picture of the "Legends" shawl so you can see the color shift in the work. If you look at my ball of yarn, you will see that I have replaced the toilet paper core with an empty pill bottle which works very well so far. I also wanted to put in a good word for a product my sister bought recently. I'd read about it in other blogs but never considered getting any. It's called "Highlighter Tape" and my sister bought it at "Knit Foundry". You can see it on one of the charts I've enlarged and I really like it because you can see to the row below the one you are working on if you are wondering if there was an error in the previous row. Many times an error such as a missed yarn over, can just be corrected by picking up a strand from the row below. It beats the heck out of peeling a post-it note up to look underneath! Short post tonight. Tomorrow is July 4th and I will be off to see my brother Herman and his family. Happy 4th!

Sampler Stole & Legends of the Shetland Seas (Progress of a Sort)

Though I have not touched my Wedding Ring Shawl of late (I just sit at my computer and admire missalicefaye's shawl instead) I have not been totally idle. I have been doing some spinning but have stopped for the time being so I will have more time to knit. Since some madness seized me and I joined the "Spun Stitches" spin/knit along, I have started yet another stole. But these stoles go quickly as you can see from the progress on the "Sampler Stole" by Hazel Carter. At the top of the page you can see the first repeat of "Legends of the Shetland Seas". Yet another stole by Hazel Carter. I am knitting the Legend Stole out of hand spun yarn I made from Lisa Souza fibers. I plied BFL with Merino in the "Petroglyph" colorway and got a yarn that ended up being 36 WPI. I'm using US 2 needles to knit it and the colors are very earthy and quite subtle. I did not skein the yarn but wound it straight from the bobbin with a ball winder. I put a toilet paper roll that I had cut down to fit over the core of the ball winder so that my yarn will not get all messed up as I use it. If I left the ball alone, it would eventually block the yarn, but I don't have that much over twist in my plied yarn so it's not difficult to knit with and the stole will have to be blocked anyway so what the heck! As for the "Sampler Stole' I have completed the 162 row border and will now pick up the reserved stitches at the other end and do it all over again. It goes very quickly and I really want to get this done so I can give it to Yarn Place and then focus on my other shawls. I feel a little guilty about not working more on the WRS but I still hope to work more on it this weekend. I hope everyone out there is having fun knitting. I know I am. Have a Good Evening!