Blocking Boundary Waters Shawl (Size Matters)

I did say that I was going to post on using the lovely Shawl Frame that my brother, Herman, so kindly made for me. He's really a great brother. He knows I'm a bit dyslexic so he marked all the parts to the frame so I would know which parts went on top, which on the bottom and what parts were assembled for the left and right sides of the frame. Still, as I put it together, I realized that I'm not as tall as the frame is once it is standing up on it's feet. This is where you learn that size really does matter! Hence, I had to lean the frame against some furniture so I could reach the top pins to put my shawl up. I used crochet cotton and pulled it through the top points of the shawl edging. I did two sides on one bit of string, the other two on another bit of string because I was concerned that I would not have enough cotton to arrange the shawl on the frame as the frame looked so much larger than I thought the shawl would block out to. When I do this again I think I will use a separate string for each side. It would make adjusting it easier I think. A word to the wise. Beware of knots. They will cut through your edging point if you are not careful. I was not careful enough and had to do a repair while the shawl was on the frame. You live, you learn. A man on horseback won't see it and I think the frame works pretty darned well. Things to be aware of if you have someone make one of these for you.

• You are better off having it lean against a wall or furniture so you can hang your shawl unless you are taller than I am (5'6" and shrinking).




• Watch out for knots if you have to add more string or it may cut your edging.




• Set aside a good amount of time to do this because you have to fiddle with the string to get the shawl points even. (A ruler is handy to have for this)




• Have a spray bottle of water handy if the shawl starts to dry before you get done.

Are there enough advantages to make it worth your while to have one of these? I think if you are really really particular about your blocking,(Who, me?) it might be something you want. If you are running out of floor space, again like me, because the shawls just keep getting bigger and bigger, then a frame is a good idea. If you like to hit the thing with steam to set it then this is a big advantage if all you have is a hand-held steamer like me. If the cartilage in your knees is giving out and blocking a shawl while crawling around on the floor is killing you, this might be a nice tool to have. Once the shawl is on there, it does dry fast. An added bonus, it just looks neat. Down side. The blood may drain out of your arms as you reach up to fiddle with all the shawl points. Things tend to dry out if you take too long so you have to spray. You still have to build the frame (unless you have someone around who will do it for you) and have space to store it, and I don't think it takes less time to get the shawl blocked this way. In fact, it may have taken longer because of all my fiddling.

Picture #1 is the one my brother took of the frame once he had built it. The second picture just shows that the frame is leaning against my TV cabinet for support so I can begin hanging my shawl on it. I just stood inside the frame and hung the top row first. The next picture is the shawl being washed. The ball of cotton you see there is actually the spare cotton after I threaded the shawl points in preparation to blocking. I used rubber bands to keep the balls tight and to keep the balls from tangling. The next shot is the shawl on the frame but still leaning on the furniture and the one after that is the frame standing and the shawl drying. After that it's just shots of the shawl after I cut it away from the frame once it dried.

Re-Cap. Dyed the yarn on Superbowl Sunday Feb 4th 2007 using White Crystal Palace Lace Weight Yarn I had stashed and acid dyes. I laid the damp skein on Saran Wrap and used squeeze bottles of dye, wrapped it up and steamed it in a crock-pot. Knit using US 6 needles the edging was mind numbing to knit. Still, it's pretty and looks really good on that frame:-) Happy Knitting to you all!

"Frosted Fern" Row 80 (AKA "Oakie Dokie" on the knit-along)

Just a few pictures of Frosted Fern. I'm on row 80 using Cebelia 30 and US 0 needles. I want to get this done so I can concentrate on the Sampler Stole edging. I did not like the way that the edging is supposed to go on so I ripped out the two inches of it and I will just put it on the way that Sharon Miller suggests. Lots less bother and I'm not wedded to following instructions :-) I will be taking up the "Wedding Ring Shawl"again as well and possibly start swatching again for the "Princess Shawl" that is being re-issued in November. Since I tend to slow down in the Winter with the holidays I will concentrate on finishing rather than beginning lots of stuff. At least that's the plan. Good evening!

Boundary Waters Shawl (All I need is a little dry weather)

Just a short post so that you know I'm still out here knitting the less exciting stuff. Yes, I'd rather be knitting on my doily since it's a Niebling, no I did not cast on another big project, yes I will have to finish the edging on the Sampler Stole and finish my Legends of the Shetland Seas before I will be able to try to cast-on a big project. I also will try to change the needles on my WRS to see if that makes it more enticing to knit on. Wish me luck with that! In the mean time, I have finally finished the edging for the Boundary Waters Shawl! Hip Hip Hooray! Now if it would only stop raining I would try to block it. Actually, since I have a shawl frame I may go ahead and block it anyway since it will take up very little room while standing and should dry pretty quickly. Above are just shots of it un-blocked. Not very appealing in this state I must say. I will get shots to you once it's on the frame so you can get a report on how that goes for me. I've never used a shawl frame before and I'm curious to see how hard it will be to get the shawl on it.

Since I'm now trying to keep a few of my shawls rather than giving them all away, I find that I don't have many shawl pins to speak of. I saw quite a few at the Knitting and Crochet Show and at Stitches this year, but nothing that really stuck me. However, I did find a nice Shawl Pin on E-Bay. It is a laminated Birch wood tinted with a nice lavender color which I was able to purchase from "WOODbyC" . It goes nicely with my Lyra shawl:-)

As I no longer try to keep up a craft blog, I will, from time to time, post a few things that are not lace related, but it will be seldom I promise. I just find this interesting as I do not knit socks and rely on my sister to produce them for me. This is a shot of my sister, Mays current project. She is old-school and knits her socks on double points but at the Knitting and Crochet show she picked up a package with videos, needles and yarn to learn to knit socks with two circular needles. She also has the new book by Cat Bordhi on the same subject. The Bordhi book uses stitch markers that have the alphabet printed on them to help with the initial instructions on knitting with two circulars and so I bought some for my sister on E-Bay at "Hide and Sheep" . They come in different ring sizes to fit different sized knitting needles and they are very reasonable and work well. She says it's fun to knit with two needles and I must say she is making fast progress.

Until later my pretties! Good Knitting!

Frosted Fern (AKA "Oakie Dokie") Niebling Variation of "Oak"

While I force myself to do more of the Boundary Waters edging/torture, I have also taken time to do the Knit-along for the NieblingLaceKnitters Yahoo group. This is a free pattern titled "Frosted Fern" that is a variation of a larger Niebling Pattern called "Oak". I'm using Cebelia #30 with the center leaves knit on US 00 and then switched to US 0 circular needles. I would have stuck with US 00 if I had good needles, but the circulars I had in a "no name" brand in size 1.75 mm were so horrid that I flung them across the room and then into the trash. Did you know that Addi Turbo circular needles don't come in US 00? They jump from US 000 to US 0. I guess they don't care that I have a gap in my knitting needle collection now. I will have to go to Lacis and look and see if Inox has them in the size I want. You know something, as I write these words I just realized I never tried using my Addi Turbos on the WRS because I just assumed they would be too slick. Right about now, slick might be a really good thing. Hmm....... I think will have to finish Boundary Waters edging first. I'm so darned close to the end, if I stop and try the Turbos on WRS and it works better than the Inox, I will not finish the Boundary Waters Shawl, much less the edging for Sampler Stole (also in progress). Have a good evening and good knitting!

Herbert Niebling's "Lyra" (Who is that headless knitter?)

Pattern by Herbert Niebling, it's called "Lyra" and was obtained by buying a 20 year old Anna magazine on E-Bay. This is an English language publication originally printed for the market in the UK though you can also find publications in German as well. I started knitting my round shawl version of this doily pattern on 8/6/07 and finished 10/2/07 using 2.5 mm needles for the center and 2.75 mm for the outer leaves. I used 2/36 NM Cashmere/Silk from Colourmart in color "Polka Dot". This is a "mill-end" yarn on a cone with the manufacturing oil still on the yarn. I knit it that way and washed it out after the shawl was done. I did swatch and wash the sample to be sure of what needle I would use and what it would look like when it was done. Lots and lots of fun. I'm off to do more of the border for the Boundary Waters Shawl and for the Sampler Stole. I need to finish things before I start a big project, but I am knitting "Frosted Ferns" with the Niebling knit-a-long which appears to be a variation of a Niebling pattern called "Oak". It doesn't look remotely like "ferns" to me :-) I hope to post the finished Boundary Waters next and will give the shawl frame a try! Good Evening!

Lyra (Blocking)

Just a few shots of Lyra blocked and drying. I didn't want to make you all wait until it was dry to get a look. I think I have to go out and buy another box of pins! I will try to get shots in day light once it's dry. It fluffed a bit, has a little shine now the oil is washed off. I used very hot water and Synthrapol to remove the oil. It is approx. 46 inches across at the widest point. I'll re-cap all the stats with the final pictures. Good Night To All.

TKGA In Oakland (So I shopped more than I knit)

OK. I confess. I didn't knit as much as I shopped this weekend but it was a kind of social thing for me as my sister, my sister-in-law and my friend Louise all went to this event. The Knitting and Crochet show is much smaller that Stitches but who am I to turn up my nose at yarn? Besides, there is usually something at a show that I would not easily find in a local yarn store. I did not get a lot of things but those that I did get are very nice. See above crochet hooks in rosewood handles from Asciano FiberArts Tools from Sausalito CA. (phone 415-331-9227) or(http://www.ascianofiberartstools.com/). Yes, my sister got them for me only so I can do the crochet cast off for dollies but the handles are large, comfortable and much easier for me to handle without my hands cramping up or risking carpel tunnel syndrome. They are also much prettier than the ones with plastic handles that I have been using. I got sizes 0.75 mm and 1.25 mm. Since it's tough to buy birthday presents for someone like me, my sister usually just gets me what I want at a show like this and does not make me wait until my actual birthday to use them :-) In addition to the hooks, my sister also got me 2 skeins of Habu Silk (NS-18J, 21 d/102 orgazine degummed (indigo dyed) color 5. They have this dyed by a gentleman in Japan (Mr. Mori) who does this in the traditional way and is teaching his son to do it as well. Each skein has 1,400 yds on it but trying to wind it into a ball sucks big-time as it's slick like rayon and wants to knot up or tangle. Still, beautiful stuff and I have no idea what the heck I will do with it. Last, but not least I got myself 2 skeins of 60/2 silk from RedFish DyeWorks. It is 1,400 yds/skein and the silk does not take the dye evenly so it's more like a "mostly solid" type of a silk. Think the way denim might dye unevenly. I actually like that aspect. solids are OK but a little visual interest that is not a extreme tone/color shift is nice when making lace. It wasn't very crowded at the show but there was enough to look at that no one left empty handed. I enjoyed speaking to some of the members of the Lacy Knitters Guild and picking up information about The Lace Museum in Sunnyvale. All great resources if you are interested in lace. That's it for now. I have to go knit now so I won't feel I got all these new things for no reason :-) Have a great weekend!

Fuchsia Doily (085/18) So it wasn't Bleeding Heart

According to Mary Francis at Lacis the flowers in this doily are supposed to be Fuchsia. Too bad. I kind of liked the idea of "Bleeding Heart" or "Love Lies Bleeding"but then I'm a morbid kind of person at times :-) Using US 0000 for the center and US 000 for the remainder, it was made with one ball of Flora 50 in red from a burda magazine in German "Alles aus Garn: Kunststrickent / Folge 1. I'm not perfect. It has mistakes (0ne reason why I will likely never enter a county fair) but I learned new things with this doily so I am very happy. Thank you to every one out there who helped me to figure out how to knit this doily and to everyone who is enjoying this lace as much as I enjoyed knitting it. I am in a finishing frenzy now so I hope to post more completed lace soon.

Long time, no blog! (Where the heck is she?)

It's been awhile since I last posted. Work and life really do take too much time away from lace knitting in my opinion. However, I didn't realize just how long it had been until I got an E-mail from fleegle asking me if I was "OK". I am indeed "OK" but I was touched by her concern. Never fear! I'm out there knitting (you shall see progress on next post) shopping (like I actually have room for more stash or patterns), and swatching lovely samples of yarn shared with me by fleegle and Laritza (you really can't ask for more fun than that). On top of all of that, Kathy has generously given me a square of linen that she wove herself to work with. I am in hog heaven!

Starting at the top, I heard on Shawl Knitters Yahoo Group that doilyhead had obtained permission to re-print some Niebling patterns so I went and purchased the down loadable pattern for Kunstgestrickte Kostbarkeiten (Knitted Lace Treasures). The pattern on the cover is apparantly called Fingerloke" (Finger Lure). According to the translated text, the lace was originally knit using sizes 100 and 120 thread on 1.0 mm needles (US 00000). If you click on the link for doilyhead you should be able to see pictures of the patterns. There are others on her flicker site. Does collecting Niebling patterns constitute an addiction? Hmmmm. Anyway, next up I have finally found the time to swatch samples that were sent to me. The gray swatch was yarn that fleegle sent me that she got in Tokyo from "Avril". It's a merino 2/48 yarn and is smooth, slick and very lovely in my hands if a little bit "splitty" to knit. While it's nice, I know if I reached into my stash to knit something it would not be the first thing I would pick. The white swatch was sent to me by Laritza and is the Jamison Smith cobweb yarn she used for her Wedding Ring Shawl. It's much more sturdy and easy to work with than what I'm using for mine so I can really see why she picked it. Laritza says that JS sells the stuff in 1 kg cones of 20,000 yards and she might just have to get some. I'm off of singles though and this cobweb yarn is a single so I have to pass on it. Still, swatching them both was fun and a great way to determine if I'd want to buy any. My thanks to both fleegle and Laritza for the opportunity!

Next up are pictures of the beautiful hand woven linen square that was made by Kathy . It's a lovely warm color and she left it just as it came off the loom so it will be even nicer once it is washed etc. Kathy did mention there is a way to treat the fabric "in the old way" so I think I will take her up on her offer of some information on what to do with it once it's done. Since the thread she used was a "One Of A Kind" find. I had to go to Lacis to find some linen thread that would be close in color. Good old trusty Irish Linen. Now to find a good edging and read up on how to do this. I've never tried to attach edging to fabric except with tatting. With that, I just used a stiletto to punch holes for the lace to be attached. Perhaps it will be similar with this? Please, don't tell me I have to crochet it on or I will slit my wrists. Did I mention I do not like crochet Sam I Am?

The next picture is of 4 cones of smooth silk I got from ColormartUK in a variety of plies and weights. I have no plan for them but I'm sure I can come up with something to do with them :-)

Since I never get out of Lacis without buying more than a spool of thread, I also picked up a cone of Silk Tussah 2/60 weight yarn as well as some cones of 2/50 Linen thread from Belgium and discovered that the "anonymous" cone of linen thread I have had for years and years is by the same company but looks like it's in 2/80. Who knew? I'm going to "test drive" some linen samples. If I fall in Love with it, I might use it for the "Princess Shawl" since I'm sick unto death of what I'm using for WRS (too darned fragile for clumsy me). I could "rough house" with linen until the cows came home to no harm. Very tempting idea!

Next post will be progress pictures and I hope to find a little more time to knit. Until then, good evening and good knitting!