Busy Busy (How many projects does she have?)

Yes. I have crafting ADD. I went to Stitches West 2009 and have been in a frenzy every since. I have started 2 more projects from the book "Knitting Lace of Estonia" by Nancy bush. Both are using hand spun that I made. First up is Mirlada's Triangular Shawl. I'm using a 50/50 Yak/Silk fiber I purchased from "A Verb For Keeping Warm" in colorway "This is a new day". It's now a sturdy 2 ply yarn and I'm using US 6 needles because this is a very small shawl and is supposed to be knit with fingering weight. The second project is the Queen Silvia Shawl which I'm knitting out of a 2 ply made from Pygora, also from Verb, in the "Shaggy Bear" colorway. I'm add a few beads to this one just for laughs. Yes, I know that the shifting colors of cream and grey are not the best pick for this type of pattern but I love how it feels in my hands and just had to knit this one for myself. It will be a "comfort" shawl I can wear around my shoulders when I'm cold.

There is a picture of a circular blocking wire that I bought at Lacis. I'm hoping it will help with blocking those pesky doily's. I also could not resist buying a book on needle Oya (vs crochet Oya) from the bookstore in Japan Town in SF. I'm just fascinated by it. In the area of weaving I'm experimenting using pick-up sticks to make raised areas on the fabric and with making Leno which consists of twisting thread to make open areas on the fabric. Just a little experiment you understand. I'm up to row 133 of Goldregen so no pictures until I get to the edge of this sucker. January and February just flew by and the knitting is keeping me sane. It's really a lifesaver :-)

Stitches West 2009 (Doing our bit for the economy.)

Just a few pictures of the loot me and my sister got at Stitches West this year. I got fat core bobbins for my Majacraft Rose at Carolina Homespun, a rosewood inch gage at ASCIANO, a nickle shawl pin by Romi, 2 braids of BFL in "Helleborus" from Pigeonroof Studios, a treasure trove of lace weight 70/30 Blue Faced Leicester/Pygora from Toots Le Blanc & Co, 2 skeins each of lace weight baby alpaca and silk in the "Chartreuse's Sister" colorway from A Verb For Keeping Warm, the Ethereal Fichu pattern by Jackie Erickson-Schweitzer (revised) and a new pattern by Romi called "Blue Bird". The green skein of lace weight is alpaca from Royale Hare in "Spring Wheat"which I could not resist. Both of us bought some of those square double pointed needles we have heard so much about and I'll let you know how those work out.

My sister picked superwash BFL from Tactile Fiber Arts (2 in wisteria, 1 in heliotrope), 6 Ledrum bobbins from Carolina Homespun, 3 skeins 80/20 Yak/Merino in "Jade" and 4 skeins of "This is a new day" in 50/50 Yak/Merino from A Verb For Keeping Warm. Last but not least, she picked up 3 skeins of sock yarn at Pigeonroof Studios in colorways Morrollo, Olive Leaf and Black Walnut.

Whew! I'm going to be a very busy woman for the rest of the year.

Crown Prince Square Shawl (I didn't go into knitting so I could sew!)

I don't know about anyone else but I did not go into knitting so I could sew! That said, I did end up sewing the edging onto the center of the Crown Prince Square Shawl. Alpaca is not a very elastic yarn for sewing so I'm not thrilled with how difficult it was to sew up.It was tricky to get the tension right. If I had actually read the pattern before I started knitting it, I might have knit the edge first and then attached the live stitches to the center as I knit it. That might have worked better for me. Still, it is a pretty thing. Sorry for the color shifting in the pictures but I could not really get the color down with flash photography and even the natural light photos at the end don't really show the color of this shawl. If you are going to Stitches West this year, perhaps Kristine (seen wearing the shawl) will have it with her at the shop booth for "A Verb For Keeping Warm" since it now belongs to her :-)

To Recap-

Crown Prince Square Shawl pattern from "Knitted Lace of Estonian Techniques, Patterns, and Traditions" by Nancy Bush. Knit on US 3 needles using 100% alpaca lace weight yarn from " A Verb For Keeping Warm. Yarn is called "Holding" in the "Twilight" colorway. Be sure to check out the errata page at Interweave Press for the corrections to this and other patterns in the book!

Now I'm back to work on Goldregen but have switched to US 000 Addi Lace Needles since I had needle failure on the Hiya Hiya needles in US 0000. I'm a bit more than half-way done with the pattern so the change of needles at this point is OK. I have more stuff to show but I'll post later.

Weaving Stuff (Skip if you only like Lace)

Just a short post to show some of my stuff for weaving. At the top we have Swedish Weaving Shuttles by Bluster Bay in Curly Maple and Leopard Wood. Very thin and will be able to go through the shed of the Rigid Heddle Loom that I own. I just have to make quills out of paper and I'm in business. Of course, I've never done that before but I don't find that to be a deterrent.
Below that I have boat shuttles by Schacht in Cherry and some sort of combination wood. All of them are "slim" shuttles and can use either quills or plastic bobbins. Because I want to protect my tools, I'm taking placemats or table runners and making padded rolls for my shuttles. The Stick Shuttles were made for me by BrandywineWoodworks and are made of Canary Wood, Walnut, Sheaoak and Bubinga. Below those we have tapestry bobbins made of Goncalo Alves, Red Heart, Mallee Burl, Birdseye Maple and Koa. Not that I'm going to do tapestry work but you can use them for other things besides tapestry work. Of course, with all those shuttles, I needed a Quill Winder which I got on E-Bay from someone who gets used ones and cleans them up. Under that, thanks to Lartiza, I got a battery opperated fringe winder from Lacis. So much better than twisting them by hand that I almost wept for joy. Thank You Laritiza! Below these I have several skeins of fingering weight yarn from A Verb For Keeping Warm. The brown skeins are superwash merino in colorway Kerala and the Red is65/35 wool/tussah silk in "Brick". Not lace weight but can be used for weaving some really nice scarves. I can practice a few techniques with this heavier weight yarn. Last but not least, I continue stash busting. I took left-over cashmere from ColorMartUK and wove it with "Double Kiss" Rayon yarn that I have had FOREVER in my stash from "Wool in the Woods". It makes a nice scarf and I have enough for a second one (good "Mother/Daughter" scarves). I have more yarn for weaving but I don't think you need to be that bored. Did I mention I also have lots of books? I swear the next post will be about lace. I'm almost done with the center of the Crown Prince Shawl and I did fix Goldregen so I can start knitting on that again. With Stitches West coming up, I have to finish at least one of these or hang my head in shame :-)