Spider Mutants and Bye Bye Mountain Pines

If you change a well known, well loved pattern, will you be struck down by the knitting God or Goddess? So Far fleegle is still standing even though she has been plagued by knots in her yarn. She appears to now be past the point in the yarn with all the knots and is hopeful to finish her "Spider King" without further aggravation. I'm going to spend the weekend charting the mitered corner for my version of "Spider Queen" which will now be referred to as "Spider Mutant". Think "Island of Dr. Moreau" only with yarn and spiders. Of course, I hope it will still be pretty, if different, but there is no guarantee in knitting! Forgive me Hazel Carter for I'm about to sin.

OK. I know I said I was going to start keeping my shawls rather than giving them away. Something about a "Legacy" to leave my little nieces who I imagine could care less. But you see, I have this very dear friend Jerry, who moved to Seattle some years ago with his partner, Paul (I have listed his fledgling blog in the side-bar under GPC). He really likes the Mountain Pines Shawl. He is here in the Bay Area and we just had dinner together because he is part of a committee interviewing potential rectors for the church he belongs to. Apparently, there was some conversation last night with some of the others on the committee and they were talking about how nuns in the Catholic Church used to do lace and go blind by age 35 yrs making the stuff. One of the people there asked aloud, "Who spins or makes lace now a days anyway?" Or words to that effect. Heh Heh Heh. Of course my friend had to tell them that I did and that there are lots of other people out there who do as well. He wants bragging rights, wants to show off the shawl, display it in his house for all to see and somehow that just feels "right" compared to being wrapped in tissue in a box on the shelf for the next 10-20 years or so until one of my nieces might take an interest. Besides, did I mention he's very dear to me? So on Wed, before he takes the red-eye flight back home, we will have dinner somewhere nice, talk about everything and nothing like we used to do all the time when he used to live in the Bay Area, and he will go home with a reminder of our friendship that he can show-off to his hearts content. The shawl is special, but then so is he!

Patience is a Virtue (Who am I kidding?)

I have to give you guys a lot of credit. If you want to watch speed knitting you are looking in the wrong blog. Because of my woeful inability to focus my attention on one task and finish it, you are forced to witness progress in tiny bites over multiple shawls. It's only gotten worse with menopause (or as we like to refer to it in my family, mean-o pause). With the demise of most of my hormones I find that I just run off and do whatever I want to whenever I want to. My inner-childish whispers in my head, "Bored with knitting Spider Queen? Well what the heck, lets knock off a row of the Wedding Ring Shawl!" and off we go "Wheee!" the roller coaster of lace knitting, that's me, and you all get to come along for the ride.

See above. I've finished 4 repeats of Spider Queen and have 1 and a third pattern repeats to go to finish the center. I am not doing the original border or edge so I can't really call it a "true" Spider Queen" after that. What will she do? you ask. Hell if I know. I will likely just take the border from another shawl pattern and modify it for Spider Queen. I've been looking at the border for the Unst Shawl and the one for the Christening Robe, both in Sharon Miller's, "Heirloom Knitting" book. I think I will deep-six the idea of having an actual "crown" in the border. I just haven't found one I like. I am up to row 142 of Boundary Waters Shawl's border (it goes to 171) and it's looking pretty nice with only one error that I fixed. I don't know about all of you, but I almost never have 100% error-free knitting. I usually have one or two Homer Simpson "good enough" fixes in them and only really sharp-eyed knitters can find them. Most people just enjoy the eye candy. And lastly, I'm up to row 20 of WRS. Not as nice stitch definition as misslacefayes because of my choice in yarn but still pretty nice by my standards. I have some nice cashmere/silk from ColourMartUK that I want to try and I know I will get nice clear stitches with that.

Speaking of ColourMartUK, they now have their own store/shop outside of their store on E-Bay which you can go to by clicking the hyperlink. I have to confess that I have purchased yet more laceweight yarn on that site even though I'm sure I will likely die before knitting all the stuff up that I already have.

In order to feel a little less like I'm hoarding, I have de-stashed a lot of my non lace related yarn (I used to do a lot of cable knitting) by giving it away to new knitters in my family. It's really good yarn since I have always bought nice yarn and there is no guilt at all when you give it away because you know they will love it and use it. I've seen several sweaters and scarves walking around in my ex-yarn and they look darned good! On top of that, I have high hopes to give away even more yarn as two more co-workers at my job have expressed a desire to either learn to knit or to have help to re-start knitting. For actual newbie's I usually bring nice yarn and some of my own circular needles to teach them. I don't have them buy anything at first because if they hate it, then they haven't wasted any money. Also, it's easier to "quality control" the yarn if you bring something you would use. Once they have knit with "good", it's much more difficult for them to justify buying cheap yarn. I have nothing against yarn that is inexpensive vs cheap. Cheap yarn feels bad in the hands and knits up worse. It creates a negative learning experience to knit with bad yarn. Inexpensive yarn may still be quite nice but cost-effective. In any case, I think something she can knit on a US 8 or US 9 is in order and Voila! you have an instant de-stash opportunity. I think I will stop now while I can still kid myself that I'm being virtuous. Good Night and Good Knitting!

So much easier to Knit (Spider Queen 2nd repeat)

Ok, so I snuck in a picture of spinning. But I'm spinning laceweight so I figured it was still "Ok" for the blog. Just a short post to show progress on spinning laceweight merino from Lisa Sousa in "Petroglyph"colorway. I only have 4 ounces of the stuff so I plan to ply with BFL in the same colorway. The Shetland Tea Shawl is taking shape. This is made out of yarn that I spun after not spinning for a long long time. It's not the best or the most even yarn I've ever made but it will make a nice rustic shawl and I like the color changes in this circular shawl. Depending on how much yarn I have left, I may put in another lace pattern in the end before attaching the edging. Spider Queen is knitting up nicely and I tried to get a close-up shot that shows some of the color variation but I'm not sure if you can see it well or not. It's been so stress-free to knit that I'm afraid I have not worked on the WRS at all (still on row 17 of border) but I will work on it during the weekend. Other than Laritza, and Sharon Miller, has anyone else finished this shawl out of the 350 patterns that were sold? I actually don't know. I imagaine missalicefaye will be next to finish of the people I know. I found another person who is close to finishing the border too. "Retirement Knitting Time" is on row 58 of the border. Check her blog out! It's really hot for a change out here so I've been at Home Depot shopping for gardening supplies. Happy Friday!

"Simple" Lace Relief Knitting (The Spider Queen Shawl)

Now that the Flower Basket Shawl is done, I needed another "simple" project I could rotate with Wedding Ring Shawl (I'm on row 17 of the endless border). I am knitting again on Peacock Feathers after neglecting it for months and months. I guess my snit over having to pick back is over. And I'm knitting on the Shetland Tea Shawl and on Boundary Waters as well but I needed one more. I like to have five or six projects going so I always have something at different levels to knit. I don't know about everyone else, but when I don't have something to knit, I tend to read . Once I get on a reading jag, no knitting gets done. I do spin, but it's more like 30 minutes or so of spinning laceweight singles and that takes forever to get done so it hardly counts as an activity. I decided that I needed to use that 55/45 cashmere silk yarn I dyed rather than go for another gossamer weight shawl so I'm using it to knit The Spider Queen shawl by Hazel Carter. Knit on US 2 needles. I decided on the heavier weight yarn so that the shawl can take a little wear. If you check out fleegles blog you can see her "Spider King" shawl which her version of this shawl using a different border. It's really beautiful and she's decided on a finer yarn than what I'm using. For anyone considering a first effort into Shetland Lace types of knitting, this would not be a bad choice at all. You would have to have some experience with knitting other lace first but it's really a nice and easy knit so far. After looking at the changes that fleegle has made to her version of the shawl, I have started to wonder if I should also change mine. There is always something to be said for knitting a pattern as given. It's another "notch" in the knitting belt so to speak, but when I look at that border, I do admit it's a little odd. Oh well. I have time to consider it. I have Hazel Carters book on Shetland Lace Knitting From Charts and maybe I can do something a little different using that. Hope everyone's knitting is going well !

Spider Queen Wanna-be's (Just beat me with a big stick why don't you?)

Yes, I know. Missalicefaye has already pointed out that I'm already doing a shawl with pretty darned fine yarn. But the navy yarn has both cashmere (65%) and silk (35%) and it is called the Spider Queen after all. Please see the swatch for the
second candidate for that particular shawl. The size is not much smaller on US 2 than the white cashmere (US 3) if you don't count the extra boarder stitches I added just because this is a swatch. Besides. The center panel of Spider Queen is easier than the WRS. No, really! So even if the yarn is thin, it will not be so painful to knit. Yes, I think this is the yarn I want to use. Now all I have to do is decide on color. In this weight and fiber content, I have 4 cones (see above). I'm leaning towards the Blue since it's a nice dark color and I haven't been knitting dark in any of the other shawls. I think it would be a nice change of pace. Still, no new shawl until I finish another one. That won't be happening for awhile because I have to knit a mans scarf out of Lion Brand "Wool-Ease" yarn for my friend JS. Of course, I could swatch "Heere Be Dragone". Swatches don't count you know. I think a heavier yarn is better for the definition of this pattern. Missalicefaye is using a Zepher for hers. Always a good choice if you ask me. Maybe I could ply my singles of purple cashmere for it? That is one thing I would not really do again, buy the singles in cashmere. I'd buy 2 or 3 ply only because the singles are not very strong in that fiber. In order to use this yarn, I now have to ply the singles. First I have to spin them onto bobbins and put in additional twist, then ply the singles from the bobbins. If I had bought singles that were designated for weaving, I wonder if it would still be necessary to add more twist or if I could have just plied directly from the cones (yarn for weaving already has extra twist for strength). Anyway, something I won't do again.

I must go knit that scarf now. Please let this be the last one JS. I'm begging here!

Screen Test for Spider Queen (Not all yarn is created equal)

Cashmere is really soft, really pretty. However, not all cashmere is created equal. I'm ready for my close-up Mr. De Mille. I went ahead and swatched the center panel of "Spider Queen". The white yarn is 100% cashmere knit on US 3 (this is what the pattern asks for for Spider Queen). I purchased it as singles from ColourMartUK on E-bay and plied it myself. The black background is the unwashed pin-out. The mill end cashmere has "oil" on it to facilitate its use in manufacturing and it has to be washed in order to "bloom". The blue background is the cashmere swatch washed out. It's much more fluffy and gives the knitting a more substantial (read not ethereal) look. While very very lovely against the skin, it is not going to make it as Spider Queen. Not when the "legend" attached to this shawl is all about how fine a thread that darned Fairy could spin! The blue Shetland Fern swatch is the 65% cashmere and 35% silk yarn. Also from ColourMartUK, knit on US 2. Pretty, a little fluffy but still light and airy. I'd have a smaller shawl (I didn't like this one on US 3) and it is not as soft to the touch. I have a few other yarns to look at before I have to decide. I'm not done with any of the other shawls yet so I have time.

Must go knit a man's scarf now.