A Sheep In Wools' Clothing

Stonewall Complete

2008 seemed to be a lace year for me.  I joined not one, but two lace clubs (YOL and Wooly Wonka), in addition to doing one of the Mystic shawl KALs (Mystic Meadows).  Stonewall was the third offering in the Wooly Wonka Fibers lace club, featuring one of Anne Hanson's man lace patterns and Wooly Wonka's Celestial yarn.

I haven't done the blocking yet, so I don't know the final measurements.  It just came off the needles last night.  The lace is an easy, 8 row pattern, staggering the repeats to make a nice undulating pattern.  I am strongly considering making each of my three sons one of Anne's man lace scarf/stoles for Christmas, using Hypoteneuse and Oh! Canada as the other two.  

I did not do a gauge swatch, as I figure with lace it is only critical to have sufficient yarn.  The pattern called for 29 repeats of the 16 row lace, and I did 25.   I had only a few yards of the yarn left after casting off - but even unblocked, the scarf/stole is plenty long for a warm hug during winter.

I've really enjoyed Anne's patterns.  They knit up quickly, don't get boring, and have nice transitions between sections (if applicable).  More details on my Ravelry project page.

Mystery Stole 4 KAL

This year, I've been digging into lace a lot.  And enjoying it.  Kinda got into the rhythm of lace charts....I've joined the Mystery Stole 4 KAL, my first of this series.  It is also going to be my first beaded project.  I plan to use the crochet hook method for placing beads.

I had some stash Suri Elegance laceweight alpaca in black in sufficient yardage for this project.  I took it to a bead shop in Bangor, and found some beads which contrast (suggested by the designer), but not a displeasing contrast.  The yarn is black, and the beads are a matte sort of irridescent colored bead in dark jewel tones.  They should show up, but not compete with the lace design, or at least that is what I have envisioned and hope.

Cast on Saturday evening - updates to follow!

Zephyros, A Beginning

I joined a lot of groups this year - I've been a long-standing member of Spunky Eclectic Fiber club, and now I've added Zen Yarn Garden Harmony semi-solid sock yarn club , A Change of Seasons lace subscription through Wooly Wonka Fibers , and A Year of Lace 2008 through MakeOne Studio in Canada.  Fortunately, the lace ones are a quarterly mailing, so there is hope I will actually keep up.  This year, with the advent of "reading" books on my Nano (I love this little device!!!), I multi-task by "reading" books while I knit and spin.  There isn't a spouse here, and my kids are old enough they go off to the TV room, or computer loft and don't speak much to me these days.  So, the Nano and the needles/wheels are my companions with dogs surrounding me.  All the dogs seem to be at my feet these days - I am guessing I am quieter than the kids' TV and DVD programs are, so they seek me out, with or without the treats and belly rubs.

The first mailing for A Change of Seasons is MimKnits' Zephyros shawl in a wool lace weight in dark green.  I frogged the very beginning a couple of times the first weekend, but since then, it has been going well.  I am now at the transition to a new set of charts, so I took a bit of a break to knit another pair of socks.  Soon, I'll be back into this one - I find with lace I don't do well setting it aside for very long, so I am better off forging ahead immediately on it.

With fuel oil prices climbing, I seriously turned down the thermostats in the house this year, so wool socks, and wool garments have been welcome and necessary here.

Bees Are Swarming

I loved the Marie Antoinette socks so much, I decided to knit the Bee Fields Triangle Shawl as a lace chaser.  I am liking the pattern, but after using the Tupelo Honey colorway yarn for Marie Antoinette, I am feeling this yarn I am using for the Bee Fields seems a bit lifeless and flat compared to what I was hoping for.  I am not a wearer of golds, yellows, browns or oranges, so while I loved the Tupelo Honey colorway from Kim, I know it is not the right choice for a shawl for me to wear.  So, I am holding tight on this project for a few days, and have ordered some new yarn to try.  When it arrives, I'll post both, and perhaps you can help me select the one which depicts bees and their activity in the summer fields best...

Now That Christmas Is Over, Gift Knitting Revealed

Now that the gift giving is over, I can finally reveal the stealth knitting.  Not certain how many recipients read the blog (or even know about it), I was hesitant to post.  You know the feeling....

First up are my renditions of the Lacy Kerchief Scarf from IK Summer 2005.  I have wanted to knit this for myself for the past 2 1/2 years, and haven't done so.  I have, however, now stashed some Rowan Felted Tweed for the project.  I knit two renditions for Christmas.  The first is for Kille's Brother Beta's girlfriend, Jenn.  This was her first Christmas with the clan, and I had no idea what would make her happy, or what she needed.  I decided this scarf was the item.

Specifics:  Pattern  Lacy Kerchief Scarf
                Source:  IK Summer 2005
                Yarn:  The Fibre Company Terra  7 hanks
                Color:  Madder
                Fiber:  60% Merino, 20% Baby alpaca, 20% silk
                Needles:  US 6 Knit Picks Harmony interchangeables

Notes:  I made myself an Excel spreadsheet with two columns - one for the lace pattern repeat row, and one for the increases row.  One was eight rows, the other six rows, so the spreadsheet kept me on track.  The lace pattern is easily memorized, and though I liberally use stitch markers for my lace projects, I only needed two in this, which delineated the garter stitch section between the top edge border and the lace leaf border at the bottom edge.

In the second version, shown here, I used Rowan Felted Tweed held double.  This one I made for a dear friend, who was fondling Jenn's as it was just off the needles.  The light finally dawned that Megan needed a handknit present.  She is at this moment, the only handknitter/spinner with whom I regularly exchange presents.  I just barely got into the seventh skein on Megan's. 

I have asked Kille's Brother Beta to get me a photo of Jenn wearing hers, and hopefully this evening, I can grab a photo of Megan modeling hers.

In other gift knitting, I made each of the four kids a knitted helmet with earflaps - total geek hat using The Fibre Company's Pemaquie a 60% Merino, 30% alpaca, 10% soy wonder that is a bulky weight incredibly soft yarn perfect for warm soft non-scratchy hats!  Photo to follow when I can catch an unblurred one.

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.

Spinners At Your Wheels - Right Foot, Left Foot, Go !!!

OK.  The lists are ready.  We have 33 spinners at this point, and over 40 knitters.  Here are the spinners:

1. Dianna-Margene
2. Amie----Patricia
3. Rissa  and her friend
4. Loraine Guritzky spinning --Rachel Sunshine knitting
5. Lori <bonjourlori...>

7. Sarah Bell
8. Kathy Ryan
9. Denise Stevenson
10. kelly <thegabby....
11. JoShell Koliva
12. Annie      knittygr
13. Kate/Massachusetts
14. Gretchen Lieb
15.  Janel Laidman
16.  Tina Shaddox
17. Robyn <irrob...
18. dez
19. Mary     cisco...
20. Cheryl  newhue...
21. Veronica Velasco
22. Jeanne     blossom...
23. Anjeanette Milner
24. Jackie Joy
25. Lisa Milliman
26.  Chris Hadaway
27. Mary Tucker
28. Lola    lolajl
29. Gwendolyn M
30. Shelley
31.  Sandra    Thistlecove
32.  Susan Rachel

The spinners need to use BLACK fiber only, or over dye the yarn once spun to BLACK.  These women will only be wearing black during their one year mourning period, so any other color will not be able to be worn for at least a year.  Thank you!   If you thought you had volunteered and don't find your name on the list, please E-mail us asap!

If we should need additional spinners or knitters, we will post again with that information. For now, please hold the offers, and that we thank all of you from the bottom of our hearts for all the volunteering of spinning, knitting, fiber, and other assistance, including thoughts and prayers!

The shawls will be the Simple Garter Stitch Prairie Shawl shown on page 53-54 of Cheryl Oberle's book, Folk Shawls.  It has simple garter stitch, is triangular, and has a border fashioned by a yarn over eight stitches in from the edge.  Very simple and unadorned.  Easy to knit, and comforting.  The pattern calls for 750 gms of worsted weight, but is easily adaptable to virtually any weight yarn.  Since these shawls for the most part are worn in place of a coat, I would think sport, DK or worsted would be the best weights.  I am thinking in terms of 1200 - 1500 yds of worsted for the project.  Thank you!

Spinners Needed for Shawls

We have a clearly disproportionately high number of knitters coming to our aid as compared to spinners.  If there are more spinners out there sitting on the fence about helping us out in this project, we would very much appreciate your help.

Additional information has come forth regarding the shawls.  The mothers who have lost a child must wear black for the period of a year following their loss.  Amish shawls are plain, plain, plain.  No lace.  No cables.  No embellishments.  We have found some photos which depicted short fringe on some shawls.  It is possible that even knitting the victim's name into the hem might not be acceptable to the recipients.  While the spinning is commencing, we can dig into this further.  In the meanwhile, the Prairie Shawl pattern in Cheryl Oberle's book Folk Shawls seems to be compatible with the shawls we have seen in photographs of the Amish.

Meanwhile, thank all of you in the fiber community for your support in spinning, knitting and even cheering us along in this endeavor!

Amish Memory Shawls - Woman to Woman

Shelley Platt, of My Mountain Home and I were "talking" earlier this week about the tragedy of the Amish schoolhouse shootings. Shelley is a part-time Episcopalian priest, and in the recent past, has learned to knit, spin and weave.  We thought it would be wonderful to reach out and offer our support, in a fibery way, to the mothers, sisters and perhaps even grandmothers, of the victims of the shootings.  We also wanted to include the poor wife of the shooter, who has to be devastated by what her husband did, and in shock.  None of their lives will ever be the same.

So, what we have envisioned, is to spin and knit an Amish-compatible shawl for each mother, sister and grandmother (if possible) of the deceased and alive, of the shootings.  There would be one spinner and one knitter per shawl.  We have researched Amish dress and their shawls.  Colors seems to be black, brown, blue and purple in medium to dark tones.  Their dress and shawls are plain and unadorned.

That brings us to our need from you, our fiber sisters.  We are in need of a few, but diligent and reliable, spinners and knitters.  We are going to assign one spinner and one knitter per recipient, and give only them the name of the victim they are memorializing.  Perhaps in each shawl we could knit in seed stitch the name of that recipient's victim into the hem, or in the case of the shooter's wife, her husband's name.  We do not need a huge number of spinners and knitters, but we do need ones who can commit to this project and get these shawls completed fairly soon.  We decided on a single spinner per shawl in order to have more consistency in the yarn and finished shawl.

If you are able to help us and focus on this project for a short time-frame, please contact either myself at  knitmdster AT gmail DOT com  or Shelley at  shelleyplatt AT frontiernet DOT net .  Perhaps our crafts of spinning and knitting can offer some comfort to these victims.