Federdolde Blocking (Yeah it's White. Shocking I know!)

Federdolde, US 00 needles, Filato Di Cantu # 30 thread. Just to show that I can knit on a little smaller needle when I want to! I love knitting with this thread so much that I don't even care that I'm knitting in White! It's very smooth with a nice little shine to it. Blocking went really well and the new camera appears to be working out even though I have to take low resolution pictures of this in order to post on the blog. I will be away for a little while so no dry shots until I get back but I had to post this before I got busy again :-)

Kirschbluten Dry (Isn't It Romantic)

A few pictures of Kirchbluten now that it's dry. The pictures still don't show the true nature of this green silk yarn. Think dappled sunlight as filtered through the leaves of a tree falling onto a green silk shawl. That is much more what it really looks like. It drapes very nicely and, as expected, is "more than circular". I am waiting for a replacement camera since I have to hit my current camera to make the screen come on. Not a good sign. Maybe the new camera will take better color pictures.

In the "Stash Enhancement" area, I recently went to a Hand Weavers Convention. Aside from fiber (which I will show you in a later post), I also got a few interesting and lovely things.

Below the shawl you see two skeins of a cotton thread. They were tossed into a little basket with other things but I still saw them like someone had lit them up with a beacon. One touch and I had to have them. In fact, "Thread Greed" gripped my soul and I could hear a little voice inside my head saying "Please Sir. Can I have some more?" Just call me Oliver Twist. Lucky for me the vendor had more back at home. I bought all she had in white.

The skeined thread is Filato Di Cantu #30. The thread is Egyptian cotton and is quite literally Heaven to knit with.I think it was mostly used in other types of lace making but I'm here to say it is perfection for lace knitting. I believe it used to be distributed by Coats but Asha at "Dyeing ART" (AKA Pastiche Inc.) picked these up in Italy from a place that was going out of business. Below the skeins are spools of Filato Di Cantuo in # 40 which I am hoarding.

I will only "Knit The Hits" so to speak, with these threads. What does that mean you ask? Herbert Niebling patterns or patterns from the Lacy Knitters Guild would make the cut for the Hit Parade in this case. Anything less would be a waste of this superb product. Besides, once it's gone, it's really all gone for me. It's not easy to come by.

Lastly, I picked up some tiny little shuttles and quills with a tiny little beater. What will I do with them? I have no clue but I had to have them. Below them is a Lucite handled slay hook for my Rigid Heddle loom that my sister bought me which has a nicely made hook. I hope it will make setting up my loom a little easier.

That's it for now! Hope you all are having a great weekend.

Mughetti Dry (Yeah, I forgot to post this one)

I just realized that I never did post any pictures of this shawl dry. I got back-logged with work and and forgot so here it is. Mughetti remained flat after it was blocked and did not snap back as I had feared. It has a fuzziness to it that you wouldn't expect to have with this fiber. Not the softest shawl in the world since it's in Wensleydale but still very interesting to knit with.

Kirschblüten (AKA "Cherry Blossom" ) Blocking

I know it's been awhile but work and life have been way too busy. Short post this time but I promise to do better next time.

This is the circular version of Kirschbluten that you can find in the White Ichida book. I used US 3 needles, 100% silk from "A Verb For Keeping Warm" in the "Shimmering" yarn, colorway Chartreuse's Sister. It is actually a lovely green color but I can't get my camera to register the real color. Though pretty, it may end up being a "more than circular" shawl since there are so many repeats of the border flowers that it may end up "ruffling rather than staying flat. I will post when dry. I have some other things I picked up recently that I will post next time but my camera is acting out and I may need to retire it and go get something else. Least you think I will never again knit on smaller needles, my next project is on US 00 needles and I am once again knitting on Goldregen (I will finish that one yet!) on US 000 so it will be a break from all the small shawls I've been knitting :-)

Mughetti (Experiment With Wensleydale)

"Mughetti" from Lavori Artistici a Calza 7. Another Herbert Niebling pattern knit using hand spun 2 ply Wenslydale lace weight yarn. Fiber purchased at "A Verb For Keeping Warm" in the Vemillion colorway. I knit this shawl on US 3 and I hope it will actually block flat and not retract which is what happened with a sample I knit out of Wensleydale on small needles. This yarn actually fluffs up much more than you might think. The shawl is only 50 inches across and was 152 rows long. I could have gone to an even larger needle now that I look at the thing. I really don't know what will happen when I take the pins out of the one. Maybe I will hit it with steam first and then pray a lot. I will post when dry.

When You Don't Have A Model (You Borrow A Dress Form)

Just a few more pictures of Copritavolo and Hannelore dry and draped on a dress form. The folks at A Verb For Keeping Warm were nice enough to let me borrow it for a few shots in day light. This way you can see the size of the shawls and how it looks on a bit better. You have to take my word that they look better on the "dummy" than they would on me :-) I'm working on another Niebling but this time using Wensleydale hand spun. That's it for now.

Stitches West 2010 (What I got)

OK. Here is my haul from Stitches, 2010.

First two pictures are of a small skein of Laqured Silk purchased from John Marshall. He looks for businesses in Japan that are selling close-out stock and then buys up what he is interested in for re-sale. This silk is from the 1970 inventory from Nishijin Mills in Koyoto. "What will you do with it?" Everyone asks me this. My response. "I have no Frickin' idea." Some kind of strange doily I imagine but I just had to have it.

Next two pictures are products from Lisa Souza . Cashmere/Merino Top in "Mahogany" colorway and then a picture of her Wensleydale Top in "Petroglyph". The Spindle is from Carolina Homespun and is purpleheart and redwood burl with a mahogany shaft.

Picture # 5 shows what I got at A Verb For Keeping Warm. 3 skeins of Holding alpaca lace in "Indigo Sky" and 2 skeins of Shimmering Tussah silk in "Thai Iced Tea".

Below that is a picture of the new Verb tote which I just had to have and 3 skeins of Shimmering in "Azure" that I got just before Stitches West at the Verb store because I was too afraid to compete with other shoppers for it at Stitches West. It's always a good idea to secure what I really want at Verb before it disappears.

I also bought a pattern at Windy Valley Musk Ox for the "Gracie" top. I plan to use Golden Crown Suri Alpaca in black for this top. You can also see Brittany double points in US 3 in glove and sock lengths (I have no idea where my other ones went) to fill in the gap in my needle collection as well as a "sheep" nail file from Carolina Homespun.

Last, but not least, my sister got me knitting software. Intwined Pattern Studio by Favor Software. It's a chart design software package under $50 and is supposed to be easy enough for even me to use.

Stitches West 2010 (What My Sister Got)

You are looking at my sisters efforts at Stash Enhancement from Stitches West. First picture is of her fiber selections. from Left to Right you have Lisa Souza BFL in "Josephs Coat" A Verb For Keeping Warm BFL in "Magic Bean" and then Lisa Souza Cashmere/Merino Top in "Sedona". You then have a picture of a pair of The Oxford Punch Needle which are sitting in a Kritter Craft Case "Hippy the Hippo" which you can also see in the last picture in this set. My sister also purchased a video from Judith Mackenzie "Popular Wheel Mechanics". Since we now own 4 wheels and one Electric Spinner, this sounded like a really good DVD to own. Lastly, she bought an Alexandras Craft Kate.

Copritavolo Blocking (God I Love Silk)

Ever since I first got my hands on a skein of "Shimmering" in 100% Tussah Silk from A Verb For Keeping Warm, I have been crazy with the need to knit with it. My first project, Hannelore turned out so well that I had to knit another project as soon as I could. On US 3 needles this yarn works really well for those "smaller" Niebling patterns. You end up with a nice little shawl that takes no time at all to knit and the color and drape are just fantastic. Don't get me wrong, I have plans for my smaller gage yarns but those projects are a lot bigger and will take months to knit. This yarn is great for a "quick hit" of lace knitting.

Copritavolo, knit with US 3 needles, 100% Tussah Silk "Shimmering" from A Verb For Keeping Warm in the "Tidepools" colorway. This shawl is about 53 inches across and I ran out of yarn just after finishing row 140. I had to use a different yarn to cast-off (Shimmering in Chocolate Covered Cherries in regular silk). The pattern had a few weird errors in it but it still turned out nicely :-)

Hannelore (Whiz Bang)

After so many projects that take me months to finish I just wanted one that would be fast. Hannelore is another Herbert Niebling pattern. At 142 rows I had to knit it on US 3 needles to get a shawl of any size. About 40 inches across, 50 inches diagonal, I used 100% Tussah Silk yarn "Shimmering"in the Clafoutis colorway from A Verb For Keeping Warm. It took 10 days to knit and it has none of the "hex mesh" you see in the usual Niebling pattern. The silk gives it terrific drape and I will likely wear this one to Stitches West this year. I actually think I like this pattern better than Lyra. Back to the UFO's :-)