Dream of Yarn

I used to collect a type of restaurant ware called "Tepco" manufactured by a company that is now defunct. I came into it via my friend, Louise who had been hunting this hefty form of china along with JS, in her pattern for some time. There is a whole group devoted to this type of china and everyone would scour the antique shows and secondhand stores searching for different collectible patterns. I mainly searched for a pattern with pine cones and needles on it. I used to have this dream of finding a huge untouched stash of "Needles & Pine" in a second hand store and it was mine, all mine. I have enough china now. I no longer dream of Tepco. I dream of yarn. Most of the time, I'm dreaming that I'm in a huge auditorium looking at beautiful and unique yarns and notions with hundreds of other people who feel the same as I do. You got it. Stitches West is next week and my dream is going to be a reality. A flotilla of my extended family and the people they have also taught to knit, will be gathering at my sister-in-laws house in Sunnyvale to consolidate a plan of attack that is rivaled only by the invasion of Normandy. Armed with wish lists and cell phones, backpacks and bottles of water, cups of Pete's coffee and bags of trail mix or candy (pick your poison) we will saddle up the mini-vans and Highlanders and descend on the Santa Clara Convention center where we will proceed to sack and pillage. Ahhh. Life is GOOD!

Please see above a picture of a very small part of my Tepco collection. I also tried out a little more dyeing with some laceweight yarn that I think may be silk (I lost the tag) I have no idea how much of it I just dyed and it reminds me very much of the 60's and tie dyed things. I was trying to keep the yellow seperated from the rest of the colors this time and was able to managed it. I'm not sure that I'm glad I did however. I'm using the cold-dye method again. I lay plastic wrap on a plastic tablecloth, put down yarn that has already been soaked in water and squeezed out until just damp. I used foam disposable paint brushes that you can buy at the hardware store and diluted a lot of the colors I already made up for the last time I dyed. You paint the areas of the yarn different colors and use vinegar in a spray bottle as a setting agent so the dye will "strike" and hold fast onto the yarn. When I did the yellow section (I did it last rather than the suggestion to do it first) I immediately hit the yellow section with the vinegar spray. I think this helped to get the fibers to soak up the color better. At least I like to think that. I also did not saturate the entire work area with dye this time and so there was less waste and less blotting up to do. Cooked 3 hours in plastic in the old used crockpot and you have what I like to think of as "The Summer Of Love" colorway :-) You can also see my progress on Boundary Waters (Row 84). I have continued to have problems casting on the center for circular shawls. I tried with the Emily Ocker's Cast-On method but crochet hooks and I just do not get along. Instead, I did what I know how to do. I used a tatted cast-on method with picot's for the number of stitches needed. Worked like a charm! I also do something they don't tell you to do. I always do the first few rounds at the center in much smaller diameter glove needles than what is requested in the pattern. Easier to manipulate and once you have a few rows on, you go up gradually in size until you reach your desired needle size. Tough if they don't like it. It's my lace, not theirs! I'm still working on WRS but you don't get to see it until the center is all done. If you need a fix, go to missalicefaye and look at her progress on her shawl.

That's all for now. I hope to post pictures of the loot and booty we score from Stiches West!

Sometimes it's not you (knitting truths)

My sister taught me to knit. She's one year older and much more patient than my mother ever was. Mom used to knit my father a vest that could, swear to God, stand up in the middle of the floor without anyone in it. That's how tight she used to knit. An actual reflection of the woman if you catch my drift. When my sister taught me to knit, there were a number of knitting "truths" that she explained to me. When I teach someone to knit, I find myself quoting her often.

1. When you are learning to knit and you make a "mistake", it is not a mistake if you do it over and over again. It is a design element.


2. If you have a hole in your knitting, it's not a hole, it's lace.
3. To knit is to rip. If you cannot rip, you cannot knit.
4. Illiterate women have learned how to knit. Don't be afraid that you can't
5. Knitting patterns are not perfect. There is almost always a mistake in there somewhere so sometimes it's not you.

There are many more of these truths. I bet you can contribute some to this list for me. My point is, even knowing these truths and teaching them to others. I sometimes forget them. A good example would be # 5. I had tried to knit the Shetland Tea Shawl from "A Gathering of Lace". I kept getting hung up on the Madeira Lace section in this circular shawl. I could not get it right. I thought I just stank at lace and gave up in disgust for a very long time. I stopped doing any lace at all and went back to cable knitting. The shawl sat mouldering away in a bag, mute witness to my lack of knitting skill. I couldn't rip it, I couldn't knit it. To rip it under these conditions was to admit defeat. Very different from ripping because it's not a pattern you like or a color you fancy or you are bored. I couldn't knit it because it kept coming out wrong. Because I forgot about truth # 5, I never checked to see if there was a correction to the pattern. Until, that is, someone mentioned it on the Yahoo shawl knitting group. See above, there are corrections to the patterns from that book.

For any knitters new to lace. Welcome. Thank you to everyone who posted suggestions for new lace knitters that they could try. It was very very thoughtful and helpful of you all to contribute to a little list I have now put on this blog.

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE any new lace knitters. Check to see if there are corrections to any lace pattern you are going to try for the very first time. Remember. Sometimes it's not you if it doesn't come out right!

Good night to all! and Good Knitting!

Boundary Waters Shawl (So I didn't spin the yarn for it. So sue me.)

Since I dyed that Crystal Palace Laceweight Yarn last weekend, I decided to try it out for the Boundary Waters Shawl rather than to try to spin something. True, it's more green than blue, but it's interesting knit up. I have a thing about wanting to do both of the shawls from the pattern book I had been carrying around for so long. I understand these patterns may be re-issued in the Fall of this year so others won't have such a tough time finding them. I didn't pin this section out very tightly as it's on a small circular needle and I didn't want to have to go to a longer cable yet.

I'm half way through the 4th pattern repeat for the Wedding Ring Shawl so Boundary Waters is a nice break for me. I suppose I could work on the Peacock Feathers Shawl but for some reason I'm not really interested in it at the moment. You know how you start a project and just loose interest sometimes? Well this shawl gave me trouble for awhile and I had to pick back 4 rows of work. That's enough to leave a bad taste in your mouth believe me. They were really long rows too. Besides, when I have time I knit on the Flower Basket Shawl and the Shetland Tea Shawl. They are much more satisfying and I can even knit them when I'm not 100% awake and still not screw them up too bad.I know I am breaking my own rule "Never knit when on drugs or stupid." but sometimes you get so bored that you just go ahead and break the rules. What can I say? Bad knitter, no chocolate!

This leads me to a question. One of the persons responding to this blog asked about a easy lace to knit as a beginner. "Anonymous" wanted a suggestion. It's been a long time since I knit something a beginner might consider easy so I was wondering if anyone else has a suggestion they want to post here for possible easy projects? Can anyone suggest their favorite lace-related book a beginner might like to use? It might help this newbie out.

Also see above a picture of the WRS on my Inox needles. One of the things I've disliked about knitting on gossamer weight yarns is the problem of getting the stitches over the transition point between where the cable is connected to the needle. The yarn's tend to get "hung up" at the join. In order to mitigate this problem I've knit looser, I've tested a bunch of different needles and I have decided to keep the yarn bunched up on the needles as much as possible so that as little of the work ends up on the cable as possible. This will work for the center at least. It won't work once I pick up all the way around the center to do the boarder but I will just have to put up with the irritation once I get to that stage.

Also see above a really pretty colorway in "Andrea" by Schaefer Yarn. Same yarn as for the Peacock Feathers Shawl, it's 100% silk, Approx. Wt:3.5 oz/1093 yds. It's from the "Memorable Women" color concept and this one is "Margaet Mead", the famous anthropologist. It says the gauge is 8st/in and they want you to dry clean it. Ha Ha Ha to that. It's going to be a shawl and it will be hand-washed and like it!

I will not buy more yarn before Stitches West, I will not buy more yarn before Stitches west, I will not..... you get the idea.

Until much later! Good Knitting!

Superbowl Sunday, a good day to frog and to dye

Say Goodbye to the third Swallowtail Shawl I had started in Schaefer Yarn's "Anne". I got the center done and realized it's really not made for a lace shawl. It's really a sock yarn with 60% merino superwash wool, 25% Mohair and a pesky 15% nylon. As a result, it has way too much bounce in it and was actually not very nice to the touch. It was frogged during Superbowl Sunday and is now history. You will see it again in the future as socks because I gave it to my sister to use. She loves to knit socks. I also took some white lace yarn from Crystal Palace and dyed it, just as an experiment. I've had the supplies to dye something since last year but never the time or incentive. More green than I intended (the yellow all turned green when it mixed with the blues), still,not too bad for a first effort. I have some Merino and BFL that I want to dye but I will do a few more skeins of yarn first as a test. This was done via the cold dye method and cooked in plastic wrap for 3 hours in a old crock pot on high. I'm going to try the hot pour method next and then I will move on to rovings. I'm still working on the WRS but it feels nice to get rid of things I really didn't want to finish. I'll do the Swallowtail Shawl again later, but having done it twice and given both of them away, I'm not in the mood to make a third one only to have it go the same way which you just know would happen. I'll wait until I get a few of the other projects done. High on my list to finish is the Peacock Feathers Shawl which I had to pick back and then put aside in disgust. I refuse to frog that. I just have to be awake to knit it, that's all.

What do I do next? Boundary Waters Shawl, Spider Queen, and maybe, just maybe the Mountainash shawl are all possibility's. I joined the Yahoo group for Mountainash and am reading all of the posts from oldest to most recent so I can get the information from those who have already gone before me. I've only made it through about 1/3 of the messages and it is unfolding that this is a pattern that can be altered to your own satisfaction. Of course, you can do that with just about any pattern but they really give you permission to do it on this one. Part of that may be the fact that no one really can read Japanese on this group though some have friends who can who try to help out. I have to become more comfortable with this pattern before I give it a try. I also have to enlarge the chart about 150% because it's so tiny. I'm not sure what I will do with this somewhat loud lace weight yarn yet but when I do knit it up, you will see it here first. Live and in color!

Good Evening to All!

"But I can't read Japanese!" (Mondnacht & Mountainash)

In case you can't make yourself crazy enough in English, perhaps you would like to try to knit from a Japanese knitting book without your knowing a second language. I was looking at Fleegles blog when she showed a picture of Mondnacht which she is planning to knit. She's nice enough to give you all the information you need to pretend you might actually be able to knit this lovely shawl including some translations for the symbols into English as well as a friendly Yahoo Group knitting one of the shawls from this book. She even gives you a link to a store to buy the book. I already own one Japanese knitting book that I bought years and years ago. I have not knit anything from it because it was only "eye candy" as far as I was concerned when I got it. I had no intention of actually knitting from it. Really. It's not like I don't have enough to knit without try to branch out into a language I can neither read nor speak. Yeah. Right.

Please see above my copy of "New Style of Heirloom Knitting". I went to "J" town in San Francisco to the Kinokuniya Bookstore and bought it rather than send for it. I was pretty sure I could find it there since I knew where the craft/knitting section was in that store and could recognize the cover picture. Since I have a little experience with knitting Shetland Lace now, I think I might actually give these shawls a try. The book also contains wonderful projects in cables and color knitting as well, but that's not why I bought it.

You can also see a shot of Fir Cone. Borrring! Take a last look because after I post this, I'm frogging it. It's "not worth the powder to blow it away" as my friend Louise would say. That poor slate grey Zephyr deserves a better, more elegant fate. We will endeavor to do it justice later. Lastly, here's a shot of Phoebe the Skip and Jake the Sheltie. Our dogs who don't understand why we sit there night after night knitting instead of throwing the chew toys repeatedly for them. They are knitting orphans, it's true.

3 Repeats Of Center Pattern (The Wedding Ring Shawl)

I just had to post my progress on The Wedding Ring Shawl even though I still have two and 2/3 pattern repeats to do to finish the center panel. After such a long dry spell, I'm delirious that I'm making headway. I'm also glad that I pined it out because I found a DROPPED STITCH! I actually picked it up and was able to tie it off to fix it. You can find it if you look for it along with the "Homer Simpson" fixes, but on the whole it still is looking pretty good. For anyone doing one of these, I highly advise you check it out from time to time for this type of thing. Better to find it now than when I go to soak and block it. Because I have been asked a few questions about the yarn I'm using for The Wedding Ring Shawl, I'm posting a picture showing the "old" and the current cobweb weight yarns that I bought from Lacis in Berkeley. I'm using the circa 1980's Cobweb weight Shetland Lace yarn from Lacis (the balls of yarn on the right side) for my shawl. The skein of yarn pictured on the left hand side, is the Cobweb weight yarn that Lacis sells now. It's labeled "Pashmina" on it so I'm not sure where it is manufactured. Perhaps not as nice and consistently spun as the vintage yarn I'm using, but it's still good enough considering the other yarn is no longer available.

I'm still working on my other shawls, knocking off a row or two for each one in turn as relief knitting for the Wedding Ring Shawl. I am beginning to detest knitting the Fir Cone Shawl however. It's not at all interesting visually. Not the fault of the shawl. My fault for knitting it in a solid rather than variegated yarn. I may actually rip it or "frog" it as the modern phrase for deconstruction goes. I hate to rip all that work but I also hate to work on things that don't move me. Maybe if I work on it really hard I can get it done and out of my site? We shall see. I have to finish at least one more shawl before I can start a new project. I have several in line to be made but every time I think of knitting a swatch my hands itch to be knitting The Wedding Ring Shawl instead so no swatches. One must strike while the iron is hot so I will continue on my quest to finish this shawl this year. My reward will be to buy The Princess Shawl pattern that I hope is to be re-released this year.

Now this brings up the idea of "Pattern Stash" which a different issue than "Yarn Stash". Patterns we collect in hopes of eventually knitting them don't take up as much space as the fiber and yarn do, but how many of them will we ever get around to making? I know I have more than I will ever be able to finish knitting in my lifetime but I know I can't promise I won't get more patterns, just like I can't promise not to buy more yarn or fiber when Stitches West comes to town. What can I say. I have a knitting monkey on my back!

I got this thing for the color Green

I have got to start buying fiber in a color other than green or brown. I have just got done spinning a little laceweight yarn out of Romney and when I looked at my fiber stash I realized I still have tons of green fiber and a heck of a lot of "petroglyph" from Lisa Souza in the brown color range. In any case, it looks like I have enough of this green for a smaller shawl. Nothing on the scale of Mountain Pines which was pretty darned huge. I have some blue yarn I spun last year but when I knit a sample, I realize that the slubs and noils in this yarn make it difficult to knit into lace. It's not consistant at all. It may end up being something I knit "with" something else. We will see. This means I need to either buy, dye, or spin something to use for the Boundary Waters Shawl. I have some white laceweight yarn from Crystal Palace I could dye, or maybe the cream Zephyr that I have. I could also dye some of that BFL fiber that I have in my stash or the Merino. Hmmmm. We shall see. Stitches is coming and with it a look at Lisa Souzas booth and "The Russians". You know which one's I mean. The vendors with the beautiful Orenberg Lace Shawls along with fibers and gossamer weight yarns galore. Excuse me while I get my drool bib on. Sigh. Maybe I'll wait on the yarn for Boundary Waters until after I get a look at Stitches. Do they let you take pictures there or is that now "Verbotten"?

I'm half way through the third repeat of the WRS center and will post once I have finished the repeat. It looks remarkably like cheese cloth at the moment. Not at all impressive.

Hello I must be going.

Applause Please for missalicefaye and her Wedding Ring Shawl in progress!

Anyone who wants to see a Wedding Ring Shawl in progress, go check out missalicefaye. She has completed the center for her shawl and it is magnificent! I just finished the second pattern repeat thanks to her kick-starting my ambition. Only three and a half more to go for the center :-) A round of applause for missalicefaye and her beautiful, inspirational work!

On another note. misalicefaye mentioned that information on making a shawl frame could be found in one of Hazel Carters books. She is absolutely correct! I have that book. It's in "Shetland Lace Knitting From Charts" by Hazel Carter. It's available at a fair price at Schoolhouse Press. Basically, she tells you to take 4 lengths of thin wood, she suggests 4 feet, nail or glue the corners to make a square. Then, using a length of strong thread (one for each side) she tells you to thread it through a point of the edge, pass the thread over the frame and catch the next point. No pegs, no holes, just over and around to the next point. On line I've also seen people using PVC pipe and joins. This way you could possibly break it down easily but you'd have to be sure that it didn't rack. With PVC, you might also make other shapes so circular shawls could be blocked.

So not only is missalicefaye a wonderful knitter, she is also a font of information:-)

Interlude: Period of time before the next big lace project.

Now that Mountain Pines is done, I have to think about another lace project that is a little bit of a challenge. Although the Wedding Ring Shawl is a big project, it's so interminable that I can't focus on it too much or I will go mad. I'm nearing the end of the second pattern repeat for the center, but it requires at least 5 of these before I can start the border. So, while I knit away on that shawl, I plot what other "big", lace project I might start knitting. I find I also have time to do things that are not so very taxing as relief knitting. Those projects are important to me because they help give a sense of success that tends to spur the other knitting on. I think doing the Swallowtail Shawlette helped in that way just like watching missalicefaye knit the Wedding Ring Shawl helped to kick-start me back on my own WRS. So, see above my progress on the Flower Basket Shawl using my beautiful Christmas Koigu. It's a lovely shawl to knit for those who don't do much lace. It's not at all difficult and lacks those daunting "nupps" that are part of the Swallowtail Shawl (Jason, are you paying attention?). Flower Basket Shawl will be nice and warm and I think I will do the large size since I have enough yarn. Of course, it's been extremely cold out here for the Bay Area and this may have affected my perspective on shawls at this time :-) Also see pre-drafted fiber I am spinning for more laceweight yarn out of Romney I bought at Carolina Homespun . Blacks and greens, its a wiry yarn that spins up well but without the softness of the Merino/Silk I've been using lately. Still, pretty pretty though! See also that I am making yet another Swallowtail Shawl out of what normally would be considered a sox yarn by Shaffer "Anne'"which is wool with nylon in it. I bought it because it's about the right amount of yardage in one skein and it was pretty. The purple swallowtail is a gift to one of my co-workers who's leaving to go to another position so I still need to knit more of those little shawlett's so I might eventually end up with one. The Mountain Pines is sitting snug in a box wrapped with acid-free tissue paper. I don't often wear a shawl but I plan to wear this one a time or two at least. On the less satisfactory side, I am knitting on Fir Cone but it's not as pretty as I would like it to be. It's not the the ubiquitous Zephyr yarn in charcoal that is the problem. It's the fact that the lace pattern has difficulty holding it's own as the whole shawl rather than just an element among other lace patterns. Maybe it will look better once it's done and has an edge to it. Maybe I should have knit it in a variegated yarn and saved that Zephyr for something else.... Heck, I'd hate to frog it but it's just not very interesting. We shall see.

Lastly, I learned to spin when I was in my 20's, stopped for awhile while I obsessively knit cable sweaters, and took the wheel back up again a few years ago when I could not help but purchase beautiful hand-dyed fibers from Lisa Souza's booth. I did not do that first fiber justice. It was unevenly spun but I could not give it up once it was completed. I decided to knit a shawl with it but put it away and forgot about it because I was not happy because it was not "perfect" yarn. I found that unfinished shawl while I was tearing the house apart to find yarn to finish Mountain Pines. Rip or Finish? It would make a nice "office" or "car" shawl. One to sling over aching shoulders when it's cold. See my poor representation of the "Shetland Tea Shawl from the book "A Gathering of Lace",, pattern by Dale Long. My yarn is not so fine as the one shown in the book and I may already have a few errors, but I want to finish this shawl because it's a momento of when I started back with spinning and with lace. I will be looking at "A Gathering of Lace" and my other books/patterns for my next big project while I persevere with this odd little shawl.

To all of us who do persevere, Good Knitting!

Mountain Pines Shawl

You haven't lived until you have crawled around on your hands and knees and blocked a shawl. Anyone seen any good blocking frames for sale? I mean, really. Couldn't they make a nice one out of Lucite? One with multiple rows of holes for different distances between points? One that could be assembled using wing nuts, screws, etc that could be broken down easily like they have with embroidery frames or quilting frames only LIGHT. They could even make one with smaller sides that can be shaped into something like an octagon so even circular shawls could be blocked. But I digress.

Please see above my Mountain Pines Shawl that I have finally finished. Thank God for the wires even though it's a challenge to find the floor space. The yarn was spun at 22-24 WPI on average using my trusty single treadle Schacht wheel. The fiber had been purchased during one of the past Stitches West outings long ago as you can tell from the price on the tag. Fiber content 70/30 Merino Silk, fiber from Widdershin Woolworks (P.O.Box 611 Arroy Hondo, New Mexico 87513) at least that what's on the tag. I'm not sure they are still there or not. You have shots of the yarn, the shawl pre blocking, on the wires and the compleated shawl on my sister and hanging from a blank wall. Yes, it's not exactly square, but I got pretty tired and my knees began to protest. It's "Good Enough" as far as I and Homer Simpson are concerned. Ignore the blue coverlet with red dots on it. Out of all the pictures, the color you see on the wraps gage is the most accurate, at least on my computer screen. Variations of sage green with lovely little highlights in a faint reddish tint, this shawl is actually very pretty in spite of the inconsistency's of my spinning. It's nice that the pattern didn't suffer too much from my lack of spinning expertise! I have to say, now it's done, I'm tempted to do the flip-side pattern. The original booklet came with TWO patterns. The second pattern, "Boundary Waters" shawl and is knit from the center outwards. I happen to have some rather nice hands-spun laceweight yarn that I made from fiber purchased from Carolina Homespun. You know, kind of like a matched set? Too many shawls, not enough time! Still, before I start another project, I really have to think a minute. The Dragone Shawl is something I want to knit but it has lots of stiches I've never done before and I don't want to fry my brain again so soon. If I finish the Flower Basket Lace Shawl and the Fir Cone and Peacock Feathers first, it gives me a clear field.

And that brings up my biggest point. A big thank-you to missalicefaye for knitting the Wedding Ring Shawl. Why thank her you say? Because, she has inspired me to pick-up my own work that was languishing and I have resumed toiling away on my own Wedding Ring Shawl. I'm still slow, but not as slow as before because I'm no longer doing the directional decreases. I'm just doing k2tog and it is indeed easier. I'm not sure the shape of the holes is as nice on certain sections of the pattern and for those sections, I may revert to the directional decreases. But I will not post any pictures of progress until I'm at least half-way done with the center section. Believe me, that will take awhile.

I'm sure you already know, but it's worth saying. I really enjoyed spinning and knitting this shawl in spite of any tedium during the edge portion of the program. Here's to finishing most of what was started in 2006!

Got Needles?

One of my co-workers is pregnant and wanted me to show her how to knit. She's almost done with her scarf and on Monday I will show her how to bind-off. "Can you show me how to make a baby hat?" she asked. Well... she is pregnant and you don't say no to pregnant women in my experience so I told her to get some yarn she likes that takes needles from US- 4 to US 8 (I have one of those patterns than can use lots of different size yarns). "Should I buy needles?" Now this is only the second thing she will have ever knit and I really don't see making her buy needles to do circular knitting just to make a hat. I told her I would bring her needles to use. Going home, I went through my needle stash and realized, I have a heck of a lot of needles! How about all of you? What are your current favorites or does it "depend" on what you're doing? My current favorites are my Knit Picks interchangeable needles, but they only go down to US 4 so it doesn't help me with my finer knitting. Still, the points are so nice that I'm tempted to buy Knit Picks other circulars in the smaller sizes to see if they would work well with my lace knitting. I feel a little guilty because, as you can see, it's not like I lack for needles. I have circulars down to US 000 in the Addi Turbos, I have quite a few birch and bamboo needles and the odd ebony and rosewood. I have Inox and Susan Bates and Crystal Palace and on and on and on. While we were talking, another co-worker also asked if I would teach her to knit. "I inherited all of my Grandmothers needles and there are just tons of them!" I bet I'm not the only one who has a needle stash. I'm 1/3 of the way through my last side of the Mountain Pines. You will not see it again until I go to block it!.

Good Evening To All!

Before Lace Became Obsession

Jason at (http://www.forestmeditation.com/jasonknits/) has been thinking about spinning his own yarn and knitting a sweater. That got me to thinking. I only have one sweater left that I spun and knit. All the others wore out or were given away as gifts. Before lace became my main obsession, I loved to knit cables. See my "car sweater". The one I keep thrown in the back of my car for if it gets unexpectedly cold. I made this before I was more consistant with my spinning and knitting. It's too big, very green but I still love it and it's heck-a-warm when you need it to be. The pattern is one from Classic Elite but I left the color knitting part of the pattern out. So Jason, if you spin to knit a sweater, it's important to know what type of sweater and approx yardage you will need. Since I began to focus on lace, I've stopped knitting cables, but I may go back to it once I burn-out on the lace, if I ever do burn out on the lace that is.

Blast from the Past. Good Evening To All.

Siren Song of Koigu Part 2

I know I'm not done with Mountain Pine's yet but I couldn't resist starting the Flower Basket Lace Scarf using my Christmas Koigu. This doesn't really show the pretty colors of this yarn because it's late at night and I'm using flash. I hope to get a better shot later. I'm using US 5 to knit this and it's going to be a good substantial shawl. This one I keep for sure since the yarn was from a gift certificate my friend, Louise gave me. She's getting older and I won't give up anything that reminds me of her. Time's too short and someday I'll be able to wear this shawl and think of her generosity and friendship. I'm alternating knitting the edge for Mountain Pines, working on this Flower Basket Shawl and reading "Dark Moon Defender" by Sharon Shinn. What? Me, schizophrenic? Nah!

Uh-Oh.....

Ever miscalculate your yardage? Ever do it with yarn you spun yourself several years ago? Please see above that I am nearing the end of the third side of my square Mountain Pines Shawl. Thus far, the entire shawl has been knit from one continuous ball of yarn that I spun. See also that I have not enough yarn left on that ball for the end of this side much less the fourth side of the shawl. Never fear! I tell myself. I know I have more of it.....somewhere. Friends, my yarn room looks like a tornado hit it. I had a heck of a time finding that ball of yarn. As you can see, I did eventually find it after I tore the place apart. I also found more of that orignal fiber that I had stored. If worse had come to worse, I would have spun more yarn, but that would have delayed the compleation of this shawl. As it is, it will be a lesson to me to keep all my finished yarn togeather with my projects. Of course, it didn't have to be a lesson from the Marque de Sade of Yarn, but that's a tale for another day.

Whew!

Swallowtail Shawl in Cashmere

Before it's blocked, this shawl is not very impressive and when you knit with Mill-end Cashmere that still has the manufacturing oil in it, there is a sort of "drag" to the yarn that's odd to knit with. However, once you finish knitting and wash that oil out, the shawl is very nice. I used Kookaburra Woolwash that my sister gave me as a gift. This one has teatree oil and conditioners in it and is effective against dust mites, is antibacteral and biodegradable according to the lable. It smells good and works. So, of course, does my shampoo. Take your pick. This shawl will be for a friend as part of her Birthday gifts. Yes, I know I'm supposed to save one of these for me, but I really do like my friends so I guess I will be making more of these later on. At least one will be for me. At least I hope one of them will be :-)

Swallowtail Shawl 2

I just had to make another one of the Swallowtail Shawls since I gave mine away to Louise. I might just make several for gifts since they are so fast to knit and easy once you get used to those "nupps". This one is in Purple Cashmere that I bought from ColourMartUK on E-Bay. Still US 4 needles but this has not been washed or blocked yet so I expect the Cashmere to "bloom" or become softer and fuzzier. It means the pattern will not be as distinct, but I'm hoping it will be baby soft which should make up a little for the loss of definition in the eyes of the beholder. I just have to do the edge pattern and cast-off and then I can wash/block it.

For those who want to see someone knit the pants off of everyone else, and do it with style and grace, check out Missalicefaye because she's just started the Wedding Ring Shawl (http://missalicefaye.com/blog/) . She's knitting the alternate center panel and it looks beautiful! It gives me the buzz to start mine back up again, but when I do, I'm giving up on the left and right leaning decreases and will take the suggestion made to me at the Heirloom Knitting Group . I'm just going to use k2tog instead. It will make things go faster for me if I don't have to keep trying to remember right from left. For now however, I'm taking a break from Swallowtail and will continue on the endless edge of Mountain Pines for a bit.

Good Evening to All!