Busted! ("Legends" is in the Spring 2008 Spin-Off Magazine)

Badcatsdesigns busted me first. I guess she got her copy of Spin-Off Magazine earlier than I did :-) Last year just before Thanksgiving I got an e-mail from Amy Clarke Moore asking if I would be willing to have the Legends of the Shetland Seas stole in the gallery of the Spring 2008 magazine. She had seen it on Flicker. I was really surprised since I don't think my spinning is all that terrific. There are many spinners with much better technique than I have. I guess what I lack in spinning skills was made up for with the lace knitting . In any case I agreed, vain thing that I am :-) Amy was really very nice and it gave me the incentive to finish up the stole so I could send it to the nice folks at the magazine. I must say, they took better pictures of it than I did. Back to knitting Laminaria!

Laminaria (Star and Blossom charts)

Just a few pictures of my progress on the Laminaria shawl from Knitty.Com. I'm knitting it on US 6 and there are some very big increases in order to knit the "Blossoms" pattern in this shawl. The first picture is of the "Stars" that happen at the back of the neck of the shawl. I hope the pattern will show once it's blocked because it's very dense in this section. The next few pictures are of the "Blossoms" with a close-up of a single blossom. It looks really different if turn the pictures upside-down which is how you will view them on the finished shawl since the triangle will be pointing down. There was a little learning curve on this type of lace for me and I can't say I enjoy knitting it all that much. It's not holding my attention, truth be told. If I was to knit this again, I would also do a SSSK or mirror image on the Start Chart for the left hand side of the shawl so it would look a little better. The yarn is so busy that I left it alone but if it was a plain yarn I would have made the change. On the plus side, the pattern is well written, clear and I think the designer picked really good combinations for the shawl. I'm just not crazy about having to do all those large increases. As for the other pictures. I know I said I would try to knit from my stash, but I have not been able to resist buying yarn I fear. I guess I will just have to knit a lot faster. Did I mention that I did my taxes and will be getting a refund? And, in all seriousness, I intend to help the economy by spending my share of the stimulus package. That and the fact that, my adult niece is pregnant again and it's time to knit a few baby sweaters. It's a girl this time so a bunch of the Auntie's went yarn shopping on Saturday. I picked up some pretty Claudia Handpaints in fingering weight for the baby sweaters. The tatting shuttle is some kind of Horn and I could not make my hand put it back down once I picked it up. It might even make me do a little bit of tatting :-) The baby sweater yarn is from Commuknittyand the tatting shuttle is from Purlescence Yarns Once I started, I couldn't stop. I picked up several patterns for sweaters and I bought some lace weight yarn as well but will save them for a later post. Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and that no else one was attacked by squirrels

Hyrna Finished (A Quick Knit)

Well, Hyrna is done and blocked and it ended up being a very quick knit once all was said and done. You have pictures of my friend, Louise who is wearing it for me, a picture of it unblocked and then a few of it blocked. The color ended up rather nice but it made me really want to knit something bright and colorful. I've been working on the Salmon Queen Doily and knocked off a few rows on the International Shawl, but not enough for me to show you. I have, however, decided to knit a shawl from the Spring '08 Knitty. It's called Laminaria and I wanted to knit it because it has Estonian Lace stitches in it and will be good practice for my International Shawl which will have some Estonian lace in it as well. It also might be a nice quick knit to lighten up my knitting in general. The yarn I'm going to use is another handspun project from Black Bunny Fibers in colorway "Carnival" It's 4 ounces of 50/50 Border Leicester/Mohair Top with a little cream colored Suri Alpaca Top mixed into one of the ply to lighten up the intense color and add a little more softness. I know the lace pattern is not likely to show well with such a colorful yarn, but I just couldn't help myself. I hope you can all bear with me as I go off on a color trip :-) Can you tell I wish it were Summer already? Hope you are all knitting fun things and enjoying yourselves!

Admit Your Mistake And Move On! (Hyrna 2.0)

Just a short post to say that I've cast-on Hyrna a second time using the heavy lace weight yarn I spun from the roving purchased at Stitches West from "Chasing Rainbows" in colorway "Lagoon". I'm knitting on US 4 at the start then went to US 5. It's knitting up much nicer this time and I even understand the instructions for the darned shawl better the second time around now that I've read the notes compiled by Jackie. Anyone considering knitting this shawl should check out her very helpful notes. I know it helped me a lot! I was really not enjoying the previous attempt at Hyrna so maybe it was fate that I dropped that stitch . I'm using my very nice glass needles from Michael and Sheila Ernst so it's now turned from knitting torture to knitting pleasure :-) I have put away the Polworth for awhile and will reconsider what to do with it later. I also have been busy spinning up the Black Bunny fiber in my stash. It's too rough for a scarf but may still make an interesting/sturdy type of a shawl. The socks are more Black Bunny yarn that my sister has knit up into socks for me so I can finally get rid of the socks I've worn holes into :-). Lastly, I'm still spinning very thin singles from my Blue Moon Fiber Arts roving that I got at Stitches West 2007 (takes me a long time to get to it all). I'm on a "reading" and a "spinning" jag so not as much knitting as usual but I can only do those two things for so long before my hands itch to get back to the lace. Now if I could only get that hour back from daylight savings time.....

Arrggh! (Yeah. I Screwed Up Hyrna)

Yes dear readers. I screwed up Hyrna. I dropped a stitch, picked back and could not figure out what row I was on. There is also a point on this shawl where the middle of the shawl turns into a third "petal" for want of a better word and I got hung up at this point as well. Also, let's just admit it right now. I do not like this polworth yarn that I spun very much. It's just not sexy at all. I trashed the first attempt and will try it again, but I can't promise anything. I'm not feeling the love from this project yet :-( On a better note, I'm up to row 67 on that Niebling Tablecloth! I can't call it Peony because there is another Niebling that has been discribed as that, so I will just have to keep calling it the Tablecloth! I finished the center rosette and have started the stem/leaves for the flowers. In the shots, you can see the difference between natural light and flash. I used the flash from far back, shooting at night, and the camera made it a darker color than it really is. The second shot, where it is light pink, is in natural light and is closer to the real color of the lace and yarn. Go figure! I'm also up to row 117 of the Niebling Center for the International Shawl. For those with the white Japanese Ichida book there are errors on row 87 and row 101. Thanks to fleegle, I could make corrections but I think those sections of knitting were really "fugly" if you catch my drift. I'm really glad to be past them. Other than those very painful rows, the knitting has been fun and I still love the Niebling patterns better than almost any other lace knitting I've done. Since I have been buying fiber lately in lieu of yarn, I also took a little bit of time to do some spinning. The blue yarn is what I spun from the Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks roving in the "Lagoon" colorway. I am trying to spin something more substantial to give my spinning a little variety. It's a heavy lace weight and I'm not sure what I will do with it. Maybe a heavy cable/lace scarf? The Green Border Leicester/Mohair Top is from Black Bunny Fibers and the colorway is "Mermaid's Tail". I spun it nice and thick in an effort to practice spinning something other than lace weight. This will be given to my sister to knit into something since I'm not planning on making anything with it. It's not really soft enough for a scarf but maybe a hat and wristers? It's getting a little warmer out here so I imagine my knitting will begin to speed up a little bit. I hope that's the case since there is so much lace and so little time! Hope you have all had a great weekend!

Stitches West 2008 (Sibling Rivalry)

Whew! Don't get excited Jason. The first pictures are of my sisters stuff :-) This year my sister found much more at Stitches West than I did but that may have been because I was trying not to buy too much yarn since I have so much. I put her treasures first though some of theses things we will share. At the top is a picture of a circular needle storage system (zip lock type bags inside) along with a few circular needles for sock knitting. She has recently switched from double points to circular and is doing well with it. The second picture is a wrap/stole pattern we got at the Lisa Souza stall. it's by Queenie Sisters Designs and is called "Eve", a nearly reversible stole with four simple slip-stitch patterns. It is really a nice wrap and my sister is going to to knit me a stole out of the lavender Lisa Souza yarn you see a few pictures down. She has also ordered the "Mars Quake" colorway (pictured) so she can make one for herself. I imagine I will also knit this stole but I plan to use some hand spun yarn I have in my stash that I made a few years ago. Below this phamplet and a pattern for a knit teddy bear that my sister-in-law wants to have us all knit for the "Mother Bear Project". We donated $5 for the pattern, will knit a bear and then give them money to send it to any place where there are children who might enjoy such a gift. They also accept donations of supplies to make the bears. It's a very straight-forward looking type of effort and a project we can all do together. The next few pictures are sock yarn stash enhancements for my sister. This should keep her in yarn for some time. Below those is the yarn from my Eve stole and below that is blue/green silk/merino fiber from Chasing Rainbows that we purchased at the Carolina Homespun stall. Even though they are local, we always find ourselves buying from the at Stitches West because they have so many tempting things! My sister plans to spin the roving she got to make a scarf for the Winter to replace her old one. And lastly, big old skeins of wool yarn to knit one of the great nephews a sweater. My sister is going to be a very busy woman knitting. I bought the sock yarns for her, she bought yarn and fiber for me as well. This was in place of giving each other Christmas presents last year. I think we both made out really well!

My own prizes start with a cone of Xie bamboo lace weight from South West Trading Company. I got it on a whim and will see how it holds up to lace knitting/blocking. Then I have two skeins of 30/3 silk/camel from Skaska Designs (1,650 yds/95 g). It feels great but it's always so very tan in color. I may try to dye it to make things more interesting. I also got some silk/merino roving in a mostly blue color from Chasing Rainbows and beautiful BFL from Lisa Souza in colorway "Aww Tum" in honor of her first Autum in her new home. On the bobbin you can see me spinning the Chasing Rainbows into a substantial single. Once I ply, I can have my sister knit me a scarf with the end product. Not shown are a Ravelry tote bag, 2 sets of double pointed Boye needles in US 1 and US 0 and some plastic safety-pin type stitch markers. Considering all the temptation around me, I think I was very moderate.

The market place was really nice and very crowded. I got to see fleegle's Lyra and Spider King being displayed at the Yarn Place booth along with my Sampler Stole and I think they looked really great up there for all to see. The Spider King shawl was displayed against a white back-drop and stopped traffic! I mean that sincerely. Knitters stopped in their tracks to gape at the beauty and wonder of it:-) There is a lot of knitting going on and I think there is a growing interest in lace knitting. We got there at 10 AM and left around 3 PM. My sister only had $20 left in her wallet at the end of the day but she left happy! Needless to say, I had a great time. Now to justify my purchases and knit some beautiful things :-)

Itching to Start (Did I finish some things recently?)

Maybe it's the recent spate of sunny days we have had out here but I suddenly realized that I've finished a few things and can now start a few new ones. Yeah, I know. There are still projects that are old that are not yet done, but I have to admit I'm not feeling the love from those hibernating projects (WRS, Spider Mutant & Shetland Tea Shawl). I'm making some headway on Princess, on the International Shawl and Salmon Queen, but I wanted to have more projects for variety that will be active knitting. See above the center for a Niebling Tablecloth pattern I bought. It has no name in the magazine but i've heard that it might be called "Peony". If anyone knows for sure, let me know. Since I don't want to run around calling it "Tablecloth", I'm going to call it Peony for laughs. I'm knitting it on 2.5 mm needles using 2/28 NM silk from ColourMart in "Candy". I may go up another half size in needle diameter now that I'm past the first round of petals. Under that you can see that the start of Hyrna from the book "Three-Cornered and Long Shawls" using US 4 needles and the Polworth laceweight that I spun from the roving from Deep Color Studios. None of these new projects is too difficult or too long to knit so they will give me a nice feeling of accomplishment as I slog along on more long term projects like the Princess. Lastly,what is that stuff on the bottom? Well, it's not yarn. I guess you would have to call it proto-yarn. I could not resist getting some fiber from Black Bunny in spite of the fact that Stitches West is just around the corner. Curiosity about spinning something with a little mohair in it got the better of me. Besides, these colors might be nice to knit in the Summer :-) So much lace, so little time!