May I Present...

Joanna's Prosperous Plum Tank, in aqua! Ta-da!

And the back...
A detail...
The details: Started June 20, 2006; finished July 2 PM July 13, 2006 - fast, for me! Yarn: Rowan Calmer, in aqua, shade 467, bought at my LYS. This is size 34, to fit my size 38 bust, and it took about 3 .25 balls of Calmer. My modifications: I used a three-needle bind-off for the shoulder seam, instead of the grafting the pattern called for, because I hate grafting and I thought this stretchy yarn needed a little more stability at the shoulder. I also crocheted only one round of crab stitch around the neck edge and armholes, but that's because I was so happy to be finishing something that I forgot it was supposed to have two rounds of crochet. I like the neck line just as it is, with one round, but I might add another round to the armholes, because they have a tendency to curl. I haven't blocked this yet, though, and I won't be able to until the 110% humidity here moves out. I've never crocheted anything before, and I'm really happy how this edging turned out.

In fact, I'm really happy how this turned out overall. The pattern was great (thank you, Joanna!) - very clear and well-written. The yarn was perfect for a summer knit - soft, smooth, calming indeed.

However, I was appalled - appalled! - at how I looked in the photos Earle took of me. I need to lose weight! I need to cut my hair! I need to put up a full-length mirror, so I can keep track of these excessive, ahem, developments in my maturity.

Other than that, this was enormously rewarding to knit! Try one yourself!

Round 'Em Up

I have some dim memory of having committed to working on, maybe even finishing, a bunch of lace projects this summer. This strikes me as a good time to see how we're doing in La-La Linnet Land.

Ostrich Plumes Stole - about where it was a month ago.
Flower Basket Shawl - still haven't dug out the pattern again.

Peacock Feather Shawl - nada.

Aguave - ah, so this is what that green yarn is for!

Arrowhead Shell - ditto Ostrich Plumes Stole.
Lacy Cables Shawl - eh, maybe I've added a row or two to this since last we saw it, two, three weeks ago.

In short, I haven't accomplished much on my projects for Amazing Lace.

On the other hand, I've just started the v-neck front of Joanna's Prosperous Plum Tank- the end is in sight!
And this?
This is a badly done, badly cast-off swatch in Marine Blue Zephyr for Melanie Gibbons' Mystery Stole Number 2. Why, yes, that does mean I'm casting on new lace before finishing old WIPs. Do you expect any less from me?

Natural Lace

From my weekend in northeast Vermont:


A pink-edged Sulphur butterfly.

And a calligraphy beetle.

Stay tuned for a round-up of lace progress later today, if I get enough chores done.

Doncha Just Hate It?

When you run out of yarn this close to the end.

Creativity and the yarn stash to the rescue, resulting in finished hat, flanked by the two rescuers, a lovely basic wool on the right and an English kid mohair on the left, which courageously held hands throughout the final 10 rounds or so of this hat. Tell me this looks like I intended it all along.
At any rate, this is Hat No. 1 for Afghans for Afghans. Back to our regularly scheduled lace obsession, at least till next week.

Poetry, Sorta

Holes, a single thin line stretching.
Why am I making lace?
A fabric barely there.

I turn old soon, and I don't like it.
Regrets, regrets.
Children are spit-spliced onto parents.
I suppose I should have had some.

Art Saves Lives, the pin says.

I made quilts to find out who I am.
I put the pieces together so the seams disappeared.
Splice a whole cloth from yards cut up and sewn back together.

When does my lace tell me who I am now?

Budding Prosperity

Ah, vacation.... It was great, and there was too much to tell you about, so let's just leave it at two things: It was sunny most of the time (a miracle for the Northeast right now) and I went to two yarn shops. Two lovely, lovely yarn shops. I can't imagine how that happened.

On the knitting progress front:

First, I'm about one-quarter through Joanna's Prosperous Plum Tank. It's working up beautifully in Rowan's Calmer yarn,

although I'd say my ssks leave something to be desired, compared to my k2togs.
Ah, well, it'll make it look handmade, right?

Second, it's less than a month till the July 21st deadline for donations to Afghans for Afghans, so I'm going to whip out at least one child-size hat between now and then. This is the beginning of Sally Melville's Canadian-Winter Hat, from her book The Purl Stitch, in Phildar Superwash Lenox Bulky yarn. A quick-and-dirty, I hope.

And finally, one beautiful bud on my New Dawn rose.

If the mosquitos hadn't been biting my every extremity, I would have taken you a better photo, but I sacrificed enough blood in northern New Hampshire, so this is all you get.

Calmer

First day of vacation. I feel better already. So low-key, in fact, that this post is going to be short on blather and heavy on pictures.

First up: The Garden.

Nice, eh?

Then, a short photo-essay on What I Did on my Summer Vacation, Day One, Morning One:

Emily of Emily's Needlework, my LYS, gave me the mug, gave me the Yarn Harlot bumper sticker, and sold me the aqua Rowan Calmer, for Joanna's Prosperous Plum Tank, and the bright blue Sesia Windsurf, for the Lotus Blossom Tank in the current IK. Oh, and Elsebeth Lavold's Book Number One of patterns - the Viking Knits Collection. Now I'm ready to vacate. I love my LYS.

Looking for lace content? I give you the Lacy Cables Shawl, one-third complete. Ta-da!

Let's Get This Straight

This summer I am knitting ALL six of my lace projects named previously (I don't remember all their names now: my mind, what's left of it, is reserved for bigger and better things). I consider this extreme knitting, and extreme insanity as well. Plus, I have somehow acquired two skeins of Schaefer's Anne this past couple of weeks (see, up above ^) and I am resolved to design my own lace patterns (heavily borrowed from Barbara Walker, no doubt) and make scarves from these beauties. And I believe I just ordered four skeins of linen with which to make a beaded lace shawl.

So, as it's Father's Day and that means it's time to check progress on the lace front (there's an obvious connection in my overheated mind), I present to you my one-quarter-completed Lacy Cables Shawl:
And my maybe 10%-completed Arrowhead Shell:
The others? Well, let's just say I have two vacation trips coming up in the next two weeks and I expoect to take many of my little lacies for a summer tour of northern New England. First, we'll be going to New Hampshire, just west of Mt. Washington, for the regional meeting of the Dragonfly Society of America. Then over the 4th of July weekend, a friend and I are going to Vermont's Northeast Kingdom, where we will chase yet more dragonflies.

I would not be at all surprised if I come home with more yarn than I set out with. I can't imagine how that might happen, but it just might.

Lookee!

It's a photo! Blogger is letting me post photos again! Yay! OK, so here's the blankety-blank column of knit stitches that should have been purled - see in the middle of the pic that column anchored by the pin at the bottom - that's the little ba**, ahem, darlings.

And here we have the dropped-and-purled-up-again stitches - see that sinuous ditch leading ever upward, there in the middle? Don't they look fantastic? Don't they set off the lace on either side? (Say yes, or I'll scream; it's been a bad week.)

And here we have the house number post that Earle carved - if you see it, drop in!

In other news on the fiber front, I took a trial class in weaving on a Japanese Saori loom. Saori Worcester offers classes in weaving on Saori looms, which are simple, two-harness looms, designed to be easy to use and easy for many people to use, because different warps can be interchanged on the same loom framework. This little mat was just my playing around with various yarns - nothing planned or special, but fun nonetheless.

Character Building, Dammit

I knit because it's fun, allegedly. So why is it irritating the blue blazes out of me right now? I have an exemplary character, thank you, I don't need any more!

Example A: That Lacy Cables Shawl of mine. Simple, really. I've been enjoying it. Beautiful yarn, the occasional cable here and there, lovely thing. Except for the realization that my shawl was not turning out like the one pictured in Knitter's. This shawl has five vertical columns of lace, punctuated by cables. The five columns are separated by two stitches. In the magazine photo, those two stitches look like they're purled, but it's not really clear. The chart shows blank cells for those two stitches, meaning k on right side, p on wrong side, whiuch I've been doing.

But having gotten through a little more than a repeat of the 36-row lace pattern, I had this little nagging thought in the back of my mind: those stitches are supposed to be purled.

Nonsense, I said! The chart is wrong, clearly! Some fool made up an incorrect chart, and I like my shawl just the way it is, even if it is different from the photo.

But I didn't like my shawl, not really. I wanted those two purled stitches to set off the five columns. And I took another look at my copy of the chart.

Why, look! There are TWO blank cells in the legend for the chart! One says K on RS, p on WS, the other says P on RS, k on WS. Hell...

So I looked at the original chart in the magazine. Lo! The second cell in the legend is shaded in! As are all the two-stitch columns in the chart!

Damned photocopier did away with the shading. So I spent last evening undoing 46 pairs of knit stitches (the yarn held up admirably, by the way) and redoing them as purl stitches. That's one of four such columns of 46 pairs of knit stitches, mind you. I took myself out to the Adirondack chairs in the backyard and settled in for a relaxing evening of dropping stitches.

The phone rang. The mosquitoes AND the black flies found me. The Carolina Wren decided to sing loudly practically right in my ear. The fledgling Chipping Sparrows were lisping inspidly and constantly, begging for food. Earle wanted to show me the house number post he'd carved and set in the ground and then go for a walk. I went. So much for progress on my knitting.

By 9 PM, I had fixed one column, except for the rows I had inexplicably missed. My admiration for this yarn has increased yet again - it's hairy, somewhat like mohair, but with a bit of effort, it frogged and knit up and frogged and knit up, again, and frogged again, dammit all to hell, and reknit up, AGAIN, with no real problems. I, on the other hand, was completely exhausted and went to bed early. Now I want you all to tell me how much better this looks with purl stitches between the lace columns.

Once Blogger lets me post photos. Grr. I think I need a better/easier/different blogging platform.

Run, Run, Run

Let's see if I can get off a posting in the 30 minutes I have between more-or-less finishing my dinner (two string cheese sticks, a fancy granola bar and an apple; I'm still working on the apple) and zooming off to the Planning Board meeting. Did I mention that I just got appointed to the Planning Board? And that I have a meeting or something scheduled for every night this week, except Friday, and Friday I should go to the mall and use up my $60 worth of JJill coupons. And you wonder why I don't post more often.

No rest for the weary. Oh, and I have to go get changed for the Planning Board; I can't get away with wearing the jeans I wore to work. That just Isn't Done around here; we take our civic responsibilities seriously.

Knitting: Go to the Jager Icelandics web site and buy all their yarn. It's great. No, wait, leave it all for me. No, wait, I'm supposed to be saving up for a wheel. No, wait, I want the knitting world to know how great their laceweight is.

OK, while the photo is loading, I'll go get changed. I hope I can still fit into at least one skirt that goes with the (knitted-by-me!) top I've got on. And a public service reminder: Don't eat baked beans the night before a Planning Board meeting, even if it was a graduation party.

As I was saying, this yarn is stupendous. Incredible depth and diversity of color, lovely sheen, really nice feel - hairy, but not scratchy, and with a nice lanolin overtone, works well on my needles.

If you're really good, I'll post a photo tomorrow night of what I've knit so far with it...

Poly-lace-amous

[Editor's Note: Kindly excuse the lack of photos. I have tried for three days to upload photos here, and nada is the result. Use your imagination; that's likely to be better than my photography skills anyway. Sorry!]

Apparently, I'm only supposed to have one teammate (aka lace project) for Amazing Lace. And right now, I'm smitten with six projects (well, more than that, lots more, actually, but I'm only counting lace projects here) - how can I choose among these beauties?

Mohair, for those cool nights of late spring and early summer. Four ounces of hand-dyed mohair plucked, a decade or more ago, from Elaine Eskesen's shop in Damariscotta, Maine. It's destined to be Eugen Beugler's Ostrich Plumes stole from the Spring '96 Interweave Knits. However, first I have to get by the slight problem that half-way through the first repeat, I have 5 more stitches than I should have. Just a little jog in the road to paradise...

Sea Silk, for the sticky days of August. Here we have a lovely ball of pink and green Hand Maiden Sea Silk, just waiting to be knit up into, into, ... well, hell, I know I had that pattern around here somewhere. I think it's Evelyn Clark's Flower Basket Shawl from the Fall '04 Interweave Knits, but I'd know for sure if I could just find the damn pattern. I know I tried knitting a swatch on circs and the tips kept sliding right out of the yarn, so I bought myself a pair of bamboo straights, which are, by some miracle, with the yarn, but the pattern .... well, maybe by my next post.

Cashmere, for always, in subtle grayed blue. Which is about how long it's going to take me to knit the Peacock Feathers Shawl from Fiddlesticks Knitting. Especially since when I tried to swatch, the yarn broke on row #3. That would be the first row of real laciness, after two rows of garter stitch. Prediction: This one's just for show, at least for this summer.

Jaeger's Trinity - silk/cotton/polyamide fibre, pale icy blue, for a lovely summer knit. This will, whether it likes it or not, become Katherine Hunt's really lovely Aguave lace pullover, from Knitter's magazine, Summer '05. However, I'm already up (down?) to a third swatch, as swatch #1, with the suggested needle size, was way too big. Swatch #2, with needles two sizes smaller, is still too big, even after washing, so it's on to swatch #3, on, coincidentally, size 3 needles. Here's a pic of Marguerite's finished Aguave - lovely, isn't it? This is the only photo of Aguave Google would find for me, but it's a good one!

Cascade Pima Tencel, deep purple, for those mindless days of summer, when all you want is lots of smooth, sleek stockinette, with just an arabesque here and there to liven things up. Now that I'm finished casting on three times, and have finally figured out that ssk is not k2togtbl, and even conquered that odd double decrease, more or less, I think this Arrowhead Shell by Barbara Venishnick, from Knitter's, will fit the bill. If I don't run out of yarn. I bought the right amount, but somehow it's going by awfully quickly.

Rowan Felted Tweed, wool/alpaca/viscose, tweedy light green, because you'd think I'd know better for summer knitting, but I don't. This is for the gorgeous Jean Moss Eriskay Cardigan, from the Fall 2000 Knitter's magazine. This knit up beautifully, I almost hit gauge on the first try, but then I realized a dreadful fact: This is not lace. This is twisted stitches, not a yarnover in sight. Hell....

Enter Plan B: Conveniently, I went to the Massachusetts Sheep and Wool Fest this past weekend and there I found, in addition to the spinning wheel of my dreams, this beautiful Icelandic laceweight yarn, in the colorway Gemstones, a green/blue mix, from Jager Farm Icelandics, of Haydenville, Massachusetts. I'm saved. And then, browsing through old knitting magazines as I was drifting off to sleep, I came upon Gayle Roehm's Lacy Cables Shawl, from Knitter's of Fall, 2001. I have the right yardage and the pattern even calls for Icelandic laceweight! Clearly, this is destiny calling.

There's not a chance that the Amazing Lace-Mistresses can coerce me into choosing just one of these.

Of course, we can predict that about a third of the way through any of these, I'll get frustrated/bored/seduced by a new pattern or yarn, or maybe even by spinning, and these luscious summer shawls will get stuffed in a bag or a box or a basket, somewhere.

I never was good at yarn monogamy. But a heady summer fling with all of these, all at once, well, sure!

Reading the Signs

I tried, really, I did try to cast on the laceweight cashmere, but I didn't have the right size circular. Which is strange because I must have maybe a hundred or so circulars, having been the recipient of many from my mother and her friends.

So I put off casting on the cashmere - mistake #1. Instead, I frogged the purple Pima Tencel and recast on 256 stitches, started the ribbing on the purl stitch, worked two sections of the lace correctly (meaning, knit all stitches), got half-way through round two, when - bingo!

Mistake #2: I twisted before joining. Twice, in fact. And I checked for twisting, I really did. I could just spit! So I frogged again (the yarn getting just a wee fuzzy by now).

And, having fortified myself with a 32" size 4 Addi today at my LYS, I am casting on the cashmere. As I should have done last night. I should pay attention to these signs from the Knitting Gourdnesses.

Goal: Fiddlesticks Knitting's Peacock Feathers Shawl, in laceweight cashmere, from Colourmart, in the color Everglades. Estimated Time of Arrival: Yeah, right.

Inequalities, Or Why I Shouldn't Finish Projects

Did you know that 36 does not equal 39.75? And that 120 is definitely not the same as 115? For that matter, I'm simply astonished to discover that the right side of a garment is not the same as the wrong side. Who would have thunk?

36 Does Not Equal 39.75
You may remember that hot on the heels of my finishing my Sunrise Circle Jacket and my felted bag, I've been knitting like mad on a Debbie Bliss-designed cardigan out of Noro Kureyon. Well, I've finished the back and fronts, blocked them, and sewn them together (OK, OK, I do need to redo one puckered sleeve seam, but I'm close). Hooray! I even bought buttons. More hooray! I just have to crochet around all the edges and sew on the buttons - I'm damn near done! I love the colors!

It doesn't come close to fitting me, however, dammit. I'm a 38 bust; I knit the size that should be expected to end up with a 39.75 bust. I got gauge, both within and across rows, which matters in this garment, because the body is knit side to side, not bottom to top, so row gauge matters a lot.

Shall we look at the evidence?
Eighteen inches across the back means 36 inches around. OK, I could have blocked the hell out of this and gotten another 3.75 inches out of it, I expect, but that would be stretching things more than a little, literally. I could knit seed-stitch front bands and that could add another inch or two. But....

Evidence Part B:
I have a bust of consequence. It is my consolation for being, oh, a good 30 pounds overweight. However much I may like to show off my twin consequentials, this does not flatter them. In fact, the low semi-circle of a neck line on this cardigan is not at all what I envisioned from the pattern photo. [Yes, Mom, I do have a bra on.]

Enter The Photo:
See what I mean? Hell...

On the other hand, it'll probably fit and flatter my friend Sue, whose birthday approacheth, and if she's really nice to me, I might just finish this in time to give it to her. Hear that, Susie darling?

If I don't bury it in the compost pile instead. Wool rots, right?

120 Does Not Equal 115
In further evidence of my incompetence, I bring you my Ostrich Plume Stole, lovingly brought to near-fruition at the half-through-the-first-of 19-repeats stage. Isn't it lovely? Don't the mohair and the colors suit this simple lace pattern?
So how come after casting on 115 stitches, and getting to a point where there should still be 115 stitches, I have 120 stitches on my needle? Were they invited? Did I say they could join the party? Yes, I have totalled up the charted yarnovers (up 36 stitches) and single and double decreases (down 26 and 10, respectively), and by God, I should stay at 115 stitches on each and every row. Only one of every four rows is anything more than plain knit or purl in this lace, so the fact that I am up five stitches after five lace rows has clued me into the possible cause of my problems.

Solution: Off with her pretty head! No, I didn't put in a lifeline; I think more of myself than that. Evidently, I should revise my self-estimation downward.

Part 3: Right From Wrong
I swatched. I really did. I got some deep purple Cascade Pima Tencel at the WEBS tent sale, and I decided to make a simple, simple, 5-year-olds-in-Nepal-can-knit-this, simple summer shell. It's called Arrowhead, designed by Barbara Venishnick, from the Summer '04 issue of Knitter's. Easy as pie - just a 19-stitch lace insert up the sides and the same lace inserted across the shoulders to form a bit of a cap sleeve.

I even washed my swatches. Note the 'es' on the end of the word 'swatch' in that sentence: I tried size 5 needles; I got too few stitches to the inch. I tried size 4; perfect when washed. Onward!

So I cast on 256 stitches (it's knit in the round, at a gauge of 6 stitches to the inch). One-by-one rib from the start of Round 1 to where the lace starts. Hmm, why do they say p1 after the ribbing and before the lace - I guess it's to set off the lace, right? OK, I can p1 when told; I do so.

The lace is charted. I can cope with charts; I'm a visual learner. The chart says Row 1 is knit on the right side and purled on the wrong side. This is the kind of lace where every other row - in this case, the odd-numbered rows - is just knit or purl, no confusing sl1-k2tog-psso or anything like that. So I think to myself [note to self: stop thinking]: OK, clearly row 1 must be the wrong side, because row 2 says k2tog and s2kp2 and stuff that only happens on the knit, i.e., right, side of garments. So, I purl the first row of the lace. Beautifully done, isn't it?
Well, it wasn't till I got all to the way to the second lace insert, over on the left side, that I realized that this shell is knit in the round, stupid, I'm ALWAYS going to be working on the RIGHT side! And the ribbing? I should have started out p1, k1, not k1, p1, so there aren't two purl stitches right before the lace inserts. The pattern says, and I quote, "[P1, K1] 54 times, P1, place marker, work Chart for lace...."

This is what I get for finishing two projects within recent memory.

I've decided my only hope is to cast on another project. Immediately. Obviously. Forthwith. Break out the laceweight cashmere, gang; I'm going to swatch for my Peacock Feathers Shawl! And the rest of these projects can just go sit in a corner until they've learned to behave themselves.

45,872 Yards

I need to join a Stash-along. Maybe two or three Stash-alongs. I have at least 45,872 yards of knitting yarn. I have not counted the random balls, when I only have one ball or less of a color, nor the sock yarn (not that I have that much at all, really), nor probably a bunch of yarn stuck away in the back of the closet. And I'm leaving out the clearly-for-weaving yarn.

Let's say that an average ball in my possession has 150 yards on it. I have just over 300 average balls of yarn in my possession.

My handy-dandy Ann Budd's Yarn Requirements pamphlet says that a size 38 sweater (my size) in 5 stitches-to-the-inch gauge takes an average of 1377 yards of yarn. Therefore, I have a little over 33 average sweaters' worth of yarn stashed away.

As a wild guess, it might take me two months to knit an average sweater, which means I have five and a half years worth of knitting stockpiled.

Plus whatever I haven't totaled up yet.

I'm screwed. I have absolutely no reason to buy more yarn. None whatsoever. Damn.

Is This Healthy?

I finished yet another project today - two in two days! Clearly, something's wrong with me. Perhaps I need mega-doses of Vitamin Silk. Maybe even Essential Mineral Merino. Certainly I should schedule a visit to Dr. WEBS.

So here's the beginning of the end.
Long-time readers of this blog (snort!) will recognize that this is my Sunrise Circle Jacket, pattern by Kate Gilbert in a recent Interweave Knits. I've been struggling with the row gauge on this jacket, because for the ever-so-lovely circular fronts, it matters, it really matters, and my yarn was giving me many fewer rows to the inch than the row gauge specified. I've been using Katia's Mexico, a soft half-wool, half-acrylic. The row gauge was sufficiently different from the pattern yarn that I'm left with two extra balls of yarn, about 200 yards. In fact, since I had bought one extra ball anyway, just because I thought I might be short, I have three balls - enough for a matching scarf, maybe? Or a hat? Anyhow, the photo above is where I snipped one stitch near the sleeve cuff, in prep for removing three (3!) inches of sleeve and reknitting down through the hem. I'd never done this before, but by God, it worked just dandy.

And I sewed on the button and crocheted (twice; the first time looked like crap) the loop to hold the button. You wouldn't think that all of ten single crochet stitches in a line would give me fits, but it did. Makes me wonder what will happen when I go to finish off the Debbie Bliss cardigan I'm galloping along on - there's supposed to be sc and dc and buttonholes all happening at once and I think that my umpty-ump years of higher education has not prepared me adequately for this work.
And it's done! In all its swirly glory, it's done.
Earle, in a display of good timing, came home just then and snapped this shot of me in the jacket. I'm not sure it's the most flattering thing I've ever worn, but then, maybe it's just that I need to lose twenty pounds. I loved knitting this jacket, nonetheless, and I'm quite tempted to knit this again in a dark, solid color, which might suit me better.
Or I could just lose some weight. Heh.

I'm Stunned

Shocked, even. I finished this bag tonight. Mr. Penguin kindly agreed to model it for us. This was, once upon a time, a half-finished fair isle pullover sweater, out of Lamb's Pride, in a pattern by Kristin Nicholas. I'd say I started it, oh, maybe ten years ago? I really don't remember.

It occurred to me a couple months ago that I was never going to finish the sweater, that I wanted the unused skeins of Lamb's Pride for another felting project, and that even if I were to finish the sweater, I wouldn't like it on me.

However, I couldn't bring myself to frog all that beautiful fair isle. I had even woven in the ends and sewed down the bottom hem. I quickly regretted having sewn the hem, however, as I decided this would make a great felted bag and the hem was the first thing to go.

So, down with the hem, quick sew the bottom together along the front and back, tuck in the pointy ends to make it three-dimensional, cast off the top, felt-felt-felt, and woo-hoo - a bag! I knit two straps by casting on the long way, knitting a few rows in red, a few in purple, a few more in red if I remember correctly and then seaming the two red edges together. More felt-felt-felt - we have strappage! This week I sewed in the zipper (pain in the butt) and tonight I sewed on the straps - why, yes, the twist in the straps IS a design feature, thank you for noticing, particularly since I didn't notice till both ends of the first strap were sewn down - and it's finished.

Wow. I feel naked. I need to cast on a few more projects, enough to fill up my capacious new knitting bag. ;~)

Graced by Lace

So my friend Jen is getting married in mid-September - therefore, I need a lace shawl to wear!

And, coincidently, I saw news of the Amazing Lace, a lace-along, a competitive summer laciness, a something like that. So I've signed up. And, as usual, I've plunged in full bore.

I'd like to work on (maybe even finish) three shawls or stoles this summer. The possibilities:
a) Eugen Beugler's Ostrich Plume Stole, from Knitter's of Spring 1996, in a hand-dyed, green/orange/blue mixture mohair, seen above, that I believe I bought 15 plus years ago from Elaine Eskesen, when I lived near her shop in Maine. And I am proud to report that I cast on for this last night and have knit a heaping total of ten rows! Ta-da! Which consist of 8 rows of st st, a k2tog, yo, row, and the following p row - about half the hem - but it's lace nonetheless!

b) Evelyn Clark's Flower Basket Shawl from Interweave Knits, Fall, 2004, in pink/green Handmaiden Sea Silk, below.

c) a player yet to be named, probably one of Fiber Trends' fancy shawl patterns, in laceweight cashmere from Colourmart, the color Everglades.

Did I mention that the only lace I've ever done before is Knitty's Branching Out scarf? (Did I mention I made it for my sister's 50th birthday last October? And that she has yet to thank me for it?!?) Did I mention I have no fear? Nor common sense, evidently?

Mindful Knitting, Part Two

Yep, I'm still plugging away at sewing in the zipper on the former-sweater-UFO-turned-felted-bag. It's supposed to rain all weekend here, so maybe I'll finish the bag, even attach the handles.

Or maybe I'll get seduced by lace all weekend. I can't imagine how that might happen, but it might.

Today's Rant

I have lots of yarn (see my Stash Flash). So how come when I start trying to match up yarn in my stash with any of the desirable patterns in the latest issue of Interweave Knits, or in Norah Gaughan's new Knitting Nature, nothing matches? If I need, say, 1000 yards of a solid-colored summer yarn, do I have it? No, I don't. I might have 670 yards of something suitable, or 1050 yards of a lovely solid turquoise wool, or two cones of laceweight, red, linen/cotton, the gauge of which I don't know, especially if it were to be plied four-fold, but nothing jumps out at me as an obvious choice. Evidently I must go shopping.

Which is OK, since WEBS' annual tent sale is next weekend, and the Cummington Sheep and Wool Festival the weekend after that. And the new furnace isn't going to cost nearly as much as I thought it would - a reason to celebrate!

Mindful Knitting, Part One

In a rare move towards actually accomplishing something, I have re-bound-off the center front edging on the left front of the Debbie Bliss cardigan, and by some miracle, the two fronts now match. Voila!

I can also report that I'm two-thirds of the way up the first sleeve (this counts only as mindless knitting, however).

On to Mindful Knitting, Part Two....

Nowhere To Run To

Busy, busy week. I'm afraid they are going to be like this through the summer, but I've promised myself I'd blog at least every Friday. Those of you hanging on my every word can just go get a life.

I have, however, accomplished a great deal this week in terms of knitting. Last Friday night: The 10th Anniversary Party at my LYS, Emily's Needlework - I came, I ate, I shopped. The weekend: I don't remember; it was too long ago. Oh! I do remember - I did NOT go to the 50%-off sale in Worcester! I went chasing dragonflies instead; it was a beautiful spring day last Sunday. Monday night: 3.5 hours of knitting while attending the Annual Town Meeting. Tuesday night: 2.5 hours of knitting attending the Selectmen's meeting. Wednesday morning: 1 hour knitting while waiting to get my breasts squashed and my blood sucked out of me (just the usual annual invasive procedures, but thanks for asking), followed by swinging by Webs on my way home (details below). Thursday: No real knitting content. Friday: Hey, I'm blogging - what more do you want?

In fact, I have gotten several projects to the point that they are no longer in the Mindless Knitting stage. For example:

Ignore the reddish tone and blurry focus of this photo - obviously, the result of jealous bag trolls. You will note, however, that here we have a felted bag, two felted handles, and a zipper, none of which are attached to each other. Sewing ahead.

Exhibit #2: The Sunrise Circle Jacket. Ta da! It's almost done!
Except for sewing on one button.

And shortening the sleeves. Note that the left sleeve is rolled back about 5 inches - that is about how long the sleeves should be to fit properly on me. At least you can't say I have orangutan arms. To my face, anyway. Those sleeves are knit from the bottom up, by the way, and both are quite neatly hemmed, just to add insult to injury.

Exhibit #3: Te Debbie Bliss Noro cardigan, knit side-to-side.
In the back, we have a finished and blocked back to this cardigan. In the front we have two fronts, not yet blocked (hence the pins) but most of the ends are woven in. Except for one.

That one end would be the one where I have to un-bind-off the center edge of the left front, which is considerably longer than the corresponding edge of the right front. Yes, they're supposed to be the same length; this is Debbie Bliss, remember. Luckily, it's only that I bound off loosely, the way one is always supposed to ... except in this case.

In happier news, at Emily's party, I bought Malabrigo in the beautiful shade of Verdazul. I don't know what I'm going to do with this, except fondle it.

I went to Webs specifically because they had several close-out colors of Tahki Donegal Tweed for about half price. I love Tahki Donegal Tweed, but it has always seemed expensive to me. So when I heard on the Knittyboard that it was on sale at Webs, I figured I'd head there after finishing up at the doctor's.

Thus, two colors of the tweed, a bag each - that's 1830 yards each.

And a few other things crept in ....this lovely Cascade 128 Tweed, also cheap.

And this Cascade Pima/Tencel, for a summer top.

I think, maybe, I have too much yarn. Good thing summer's coming.

But I still need some mindless knitting. Time to cast on something new.....