Saigon Scarf (Caw Caw Pretty Pretty!)

It's been awhile since I posted but I have at least finished one project. My inner Crow is happy to have finished "The Saigon Scarf" which is by Badcatdesigns . Very pretty pattern that is free on Ravelry . I used the hand spun 2 ply lace weight yarn I spun out of fiber from Spritely Goods (alpaca, merino, firestar and angelina, colorway Palo Verde) and this is the first time I've added beads with a crochet hook. Please forgive my crappy photos. The yarn is really a very vivid lime green but I just could not get shots that reflect the lovely color or sparkle in this yarn. For anyone looking for a nice lace project that is both interesting and fun, this might just be the one. Think Xmas gift. It's well within the reach of a lace knitter with a few easier projects under their belt and will not take too long to knit since it's a scarf rather than a stole. I love the designs from Badcatdesigns. Her instructions are very clear and the patterns leave lots of room for a knitter to make it their own in terms of yarn choices. There is a lot to be said for clean but flowing lines in a design and there is just enough variation in the patterns to make them interesting. I have also purchased the Hecate Stole and the Corfu Shawl from her and I'm going to go buy Mimosa as soon as I finish this post. I've spun a lot of fiber lately and though it's sometimes a challenge to find projects to use the finished product on, many of these patterns would look good with what I'm making up :-)

Just below the shots of The Saigon Scarf, I have a small amount of "birdseye" lace knit up on US 0. I'm using the 2 ply yarn made from the Madder dyed BFL from "A Verb for Keeping Warm" I am making a stole from a Japanese knitting book "Vintage Knitting in Tradition". There is a picture of it from my May 9th blog posting. It's on page 26 and the caption is "Cloches a travers les feuilles". I don't speak French so I went to Babelfish. What I got is "Bells through the sheets" WTF? My sister speculates it actually is more like "Bells in Layers" or "Layered Bells". Translation is very dicey at best. If anyone out there has a better guess pleases give us a hint :-) Since I'm in "Crow" mode, I went and bought two more shawl pins from Romi (Fascination with bright and shiny objects? Oui!) . The copper heart is a sentimental favorite but the "bobby pin" type shawl pin works really well with light weight lace. For a woman who almost never wears her shawls, I have a lot of pins LOL! Lastly, this is some lovely Wensleydale wool from Black Bunny Fibers . It's the second installment for the Team "B" fiber club members. This colorway is "Waltz". It's shinny and very strong, almost like Mohair with long staple but unlike Mohair, I don't have any allergy reaction to spinning it. Looking at it, I have no idea what to do with it in terms of lace. I could try to spin it and make it into something other than lace (Yeah, right!) or I can just give in and admit that whatever I make with it, that lace will always remind me of a snow cone at the circus. I have only 4 more rows before the crochet cast-off for the International Shawl so I hope to finish it off this week and will post pictures once it's done. For those of you in the Bay Area, this up-coming weekend is Lambtown in Dixon. We plan to go (big surprise) but I really don't need more fiber or yarn....... (to be continued)

Home Stretch

Just a brief progress report . See above the finished border for the International Shawl. Estonian leaves and then I put Madeira and Diamond lace in next. This was not the agreed on pattern, I just stuck it in because it was the right number of stitches and looked OK to me so don't blame fleegle if you think it looks weird. That completed, I have to finish the edging for the International Shawl with a Danish Edging of leaves and then a crochet cast-off. Did I mention that I had not really looked at the chart for the Danish lace? That I had no idea where it starts for the corners and I'm not familiar with the stitch symbols? The edge now has 1090 stitches to go around it once. Oh well. No rest for the wicked! I finished plying the Peruvian merino wool that was sent to me as part of the Black Bunny Fiber Club. Very pretty and will be made into something for Season of Lace. I have joined for the Summer quarter but must finish the International Shawl before any other projects can be considered. I also have reached the center section of The Saigon Scarf by Badcatdesigns as part of "The One Shawl To Rule Them All" KAL on Ravelry. I love adding beads to it. I can feel my inner crow coming to the surface as I stare at the pretty sparkle of the beads. I will post later when I have a bit more to look at.

Gearing Up ( I'm gonna knit me some lace)

With my friend Louise on the mend, I find I have really been remiss in my lace knitting lately. However, I'm gearing up for the Seasons of Lace knit-a-long. Not that I don't already knit lace all the time but I love that others have the desire to knit it too :-) I've needed to relax so I've been spinning more than knitting, but in the end, that only leaves me with more yarn. So starting at the top, I have started knitting "The Saigon Scarf" which is a beautiful design by badcatdesigns. This is a free pattern on ravelry . I'm using the yarn I spun from the Palo Verde batts I obtained from Spritely Goods and it has the lovely addition of beads in this pattern. It doesn't use all the yarn I spun and leaves enough for an additional project. In order to put the beads on, I needed to add them with a small crochet hook. this required a visit to Lacis since I didn't have one small enough to fit through the hole of a bead. I got an assortment of hooks (.60/.75/1.00) and while I was at it, I picked up some "mini" crochet hooks that can be put on a holder and used when tatting as some shuttles don't have a point to pull thread through picots. My "stimulus package" fast dwindling, I spied another Danish lace book. "Kunststrick II" by Sonja Esbensen which I did not yet own. One must keep up one's library after all or find oneself no longer deserving the sobriquet "lacefreak". Must not have that so home it came. I have to say it was such a pleasure to spin the batts of Palo Verde that I ordered 10.4 ounces of "Bursage" (merino with angelina and firestar for sparkle) from Spritely Goods. It needed no fluffing or pre-drafting and spins perfect straight from the batt. Just pull off a length and off you go. You can't beat that with a stick! Lastly, a picture of my 4 ounces of Madder dyed BFL from A Verb For Keeping Warm. The really nice thing is that I can get more of this fiber after all so I have a particular project in mind for it. That's it for now. I hope the next post will have more actual lace content. Hope you all had a great weekend :-)