A Sheep In Wools' Clothing

Christmas Knitting Commences

I have watched this pattern since it came out in IK Summer 2005.  DD actually cast the project on, but has not completed it.  I don't consider it a loss, however, since she learned how to do a provisional cast on, read charts, and knit lace.  She was 15 at the time, so not too bad!  I've kept this pattern in the back of my mind, and putting things into Ravelry has brought it back up to the front.  I needed a nice, personal Christmas gift for this year, and so a trip to Fiberphilia was in order.  I was looking for a soft, luxury type of yarn but that would offer good stitch definition. 

Michele had a number of yarns which were in the running, but remembering the coloration of the intended recipient, and seeing this yarn, it was done.

Project details:
Pattern:  Lacy Kerchief Scarf
Source:  IK Summer 2005
Yarn:  The Fibre Company  "Terra"
Colorway:  Madder
Fiber content:  60% merino, 20% baby alpaca, 20% silk
     (the silk takes on the madder dye so beautifully!)
Needles:  KnitPicks options wood, Size 6  (love these needles and the points!)
Cast On:  November 15
Description:  A very shallow triangle scarf/shawl with a wide lace border on one side, garter stitch in the middle, and an eight stitch border on the other side.  The garter stitch mid-portion gets progressively wider to the center, then starts decreasing again to make the shallow triangle.  Finished dimensions are supposed to be ~82" X 12". 

Fiber Fix at Fiberphilia

I've been in a funk - no knitting, no spinning, not accomplishing anything anywhere.

And so, I took an afternoon to Fiberphilia.  Michelle fixed me a cuppa, and I played and touched and felt and coveted.  Sheep Shop Yarn, Blue Sky Alpaca and some Claudia's Hand Paint in sport weight found their way home with me.  But first, I cast on two baby hats for co-workers' new babies.  With the cold weather (-6 F) we finally have, the babies can use a nice warm wool hat!

I cast on the baby hat while in the shop.  I had a few hours of my kind of people (fiber folks), and a fiber friendly atmosphere to recharge my soul.  I finished the first hat at home, and did the entire second hat the same night.  Both gifts were delivered the next day to their fathers.  The colors as usual for painted yarns, did not do justice to the actual yarns at all.

Last night, I cast on Swallowtail.  I'm always lagging a bit behind everyone else in these things, but I've had my eye on Swallowtail since I first saw it.  I am doing this one for a breast cancer survivor.  I've knit a shawl of some sort for each co-worker I've had who got a diagnosis of cancer.  Some were experiments of sorts, and some were more involved than others.  The first one was EZ's Shetland shawl..... others weren't so successful.  The only shawls I've knit that I actually still have are the two Faroese shawls I knit for my mother and grandmother and got back after their deaths, and a large baby blanket of Shetland wool that me so long to knit and three re-orders of yarn.  Ultimately, I'd lost mom's address and never mailed it, so now I use it for myself on the nights I can't seem to warm up.  (One disadvantage of being single).

And lastly, I had forgotten how much fun and how addicting colorwork is.  I picked up a kit for a Fair Isle hat kit from Nancy's Knit Knacks at Patternworks when I visited them last year.  I rarely get kits, but colorwork is the one place it makes sense to me.  This is giving me a taste again for Fair Isle work, and I am starting to think there will be a Fair Isle sweater in the fairly near future for me.

Lead or Follow Revisited

I started Lead or Follow last year, and stalled out (along with several other projects).  In my current finishing mode, it has surfaced again.  Since I had made some mistakes, I couldn't decifer where I had left off with the project.  So, it went to the frog pond, and I started over.  I made one change this time, however. 

In the time interval the project has lain in the UFO pile, I found the Clover Knit Lites lighted needles.  As my eyes have lost their accommodation powers, I find I make more mistakes with lace.  My Ott light helps, but the light reflects off my Addis, and after 90 minutes or so, I can't focus any longer.  I saw these in a shop, and after they showed them in action, I thought they might help with my lighting struggles to identify yarn overs from their adjoining stitches....  This is the first project I've used them on, so I have no idea yet how long the batteries last, but thus far, I really really like these needles for lace.  They simplify identifying unique stitches.  In the last photo, using just the light generated from the needles, it is easy to see the individual stithes on the needle tips.  The nightshot shows how bright the tips are, which can even be seen on the Ott light shot on the upper left.

All in all, I am quite happy with this purchase, and it was less than half the cost of other lighted needles.

The Quest for FOs Continues!

And my finishing spree continues.  My UFOs still outnumber the FOs, but the balance is changing.  This week, I have finished my Cat's Cradle scarf, knit in Schaefer's Anne.  Photos to follow when I return home and do the blocking.  I also spun my first month's roving from Amy's Spunky Club  - beautiful soft BFL in "Berry Pickin" colorway.  I also started on this month's selection - The New Black in tussah silk.  The BFL I think I will leave as a single.  I haven't decided yet on the New Black silk... 

And today, I am returning to my Lead or Follow Lace Scarf , also from Heartstrings, and I believe also in Schaefer's Anne yarn, different colorway.  And so, the quest for FOs continues....

Cat's Cradle

Progress is resuming on Cat's Cradle. I am virtually at the half-way mark this afternoon.  I am hoping that with severe blocking, the cat's cradle portion pops out more. I believe there is a mistake in the pattern - at the end, there should be another six rows of eyelet in order to make the pattern symmetrical side to side.  I guess I am getting  a head start on winter knitting.  I have the kit for some thrummed mittens using Spunky Eclectic's handdyed yarn and black roving which I am looking forward to using this summer as well.  And then there is the enormous stash of wonderful sock yarn with which I can keep my feet warm.  Since my heating oil bill projected for the next year is double what it was four years ago, I suspect the thermostats will be dropping severely here in my home, and the woolens will take the forefront.... I am virtually at the half-way mark this afternoon.

"Creatures of the Reef", Section 1

Progress is beginning to actually look like something on this project.  While I am not signed up for the Amazing Lace KAL, I guess I am shadowing or lurking on my own in lace.  The right hand picture is of the center of the shawl.  The color in the upper corners where it is bunched up is probably the closest representation of the actual colors, though still lighter than in reality.  The lower photo on the left side is of one corner of the shawl border.  The shells have a "Purl 13 slipped stitches together" row in them to accomplish the look.....

I have finished the shell border, and the separating section of bubbles between the shells on the lower border and the next band, which will have crabs and seahorses.  Neither of these photos does the yarn justice, despite using an Ott lamp, with or without a flash.  Somewhere between these two is reality.

Now back to work - the magic of knitting lace is partially in that each section lures one on to the next..... then the final piece of magic is in the blocking!

New Lace Projects

I went through withdrawal I think, after completing my DIL's wedding shawl.  After initially thinking I would have UFO completion time, I broke down and started not one, but two lace projects. 

The first is a lace scarf by Heart Strings Fiber Arts . It is knit sideways, and I am using Schaefer Yarns Anne (60 % merino superwash, 25% mohair, 15% nylon), in a handpainted unnamed colorway from my stash.  It uses blues, teals, purples going almost into black.  Very deep colors.  Very rich.  Doesn't compete with the lace.

The second project I cast on is Creatures of the Reef from Fiddlesticks .  The bottom border is seashells, followed by crabs and seahorses.  Borders of bubbles separate the bands of creatures.  The next band is starfish, then two sorts of fish fish, followed by waves at the top.  I am knitting this also from stash yarn, but this one is Lorna's Laces Helen's Lace in "Pioneer" that I picked up at Patternworks last winter.  The photo on the left is the one from the Fiddlesticks website.  The one on the right is Teresa's  version from last summer.

I will begin photographing my progress later today.  I am most pleased that I was able to use stash yarn for these two projects!

The Back of THE Shawl

Here is the back of the Raku shawl I knit for my DIL for her wedding.  This was shot the evening before the wedding, when all were relaxed and dressed casually.  This was taken in a house they rented for the weekend - this is where their reception was held after the beach wedding at sunset.

She wore an engagement ring that had been my mother's ring (something old), the shawl (something new), a bluish opalish shawl pin (something blue) and some borrowed earrings to fill the traditions.

First child married.  Three more potentially to go....

The Shawl.The Wedding. All Done.

  The shawl was completed in the Philadelphia airport waiting for flight delays.  It got blocked on the hotel room floor the morning before the wedding.  The photographer of my post-block, pre-wedding shots of the back of the shawl being modeled is in California, so it may be a few days before I get those shots....

I found a silver and opal-ish shawl pin to hold it in place, which also sufficed as the something blue.....  the shawl was something new, I had given a ring of my mother's to my son to use as an engagement ring, so that was something old.  She borrowed some earrings, so we had all the bases covered....

Above are some ceremony shots with the shawl, but not of the shawl, and on the right is a blocking photo, in progress.  I later arranged the wires from the inside corner down the borders adjoining the three squares to get them to square up - and it worked well.

So, after hauling my blocking wires from Maine to North Carolina, I wound up forgetting them in a NC airport as we boarded - so, I need new ones after all.  However, mailing tubes full of blocking wires don't bother TSA if anyone needs to know.

She'll be coming 'round the mountain (er, corner)

The shawl is getting borders fairly rapidly now.  I have done 60% of these band things - the two inside connecting the squares, and four of the eight outside border ones.  I just turned the third corner.  I am getting antsy to see this one dressed out!