Spring Things Shawl

Here is a photo of the Spring Things Shawl. I spun this yarn from some super soft merino top, that I purchased from handpaintedyarn.com. It spun like a dream, so I left it as singles and made this shawl. I love love love it, but I could have made it just a tad larger.

Spinning Along

Well I've been spinning a bit so I have started a new project just as I've finished another. At the top is a picture of a stole from a Japanese knitting book (shown just below). The book is called Vintage Knitting in Tradition and the pattern show is captioned "Cloches a travers les feuilles" which fleegle thinks means something like "Bells through the leaves". I spun up some Madder dyed BFL that I purchased from A Verb for Keeping Warm . It's a two ply lace weight yarn that I spun on the Majacraft Rose using the lace flyer and fat core bobbins. This wheel used to belong to my sister but she traded me for the Lendrum since she never spins on the Rose and prefers to use her spindles or the Lendrum. I have been buying her pretty spindles as a bit "Thank You" for making that trade since it's the perfect 2nd wheel to my Schacht Matchless single treadle wheel.

I am knitting the birdseye lace center for this stole using US 0 needles. The birdseye is an interesting construction so not at all boring to knit. And lastly, shots of The Saigon Scarf by Badcatdesigns . It's free on Ravelry if you are already signed up for that site. It has lovely beads and the fiber from Spritely Goods is shimmery in the sunlight! Really fun to spin and to knit.

Handspun Juno Regina in progress.

Almost forgot to post this on here. I've got a handspun shawl in the works. It started out as 4 ounces or so of bfl from YarnWench in Cherrybomb.
I spun it up into a 2 ply lace weight yarn, and got about 830 yards.
Here's a close up shot.
I am knitting it into a Juno Regina shawl/stole and it's looking pretty good!
I plan on doing two halves, and grafting. I want to have symmetricalness and all that. :)

Glitz (You want some bling with that?)

Back again :-) I recently bought batts of a limited edition fiber from Spritely Goods. It's my first foray into "glitz" in that it has sparkle in it from firestar and angelina. This batt is called "Palo Verde" and has merino and alpaca in it. While it looks pretty tame in these photographs, if you take this out into the sunlight, the fibers catch the light and glitter. I spun this on the Majacraft Rose with the lace flyer and fat core bobbin and produced a 2 ply yarn at 25 WPI. The pattern I selected is from badcatdesigns and is called "The Saigon Scarf" and has the added bling of beads which are placed using a crochet hook. It knits up quickly and has really clear instructions. It's a free pattern on Ravelry.

First post and first FO with my hand-spun

Well, this is my first post here ever since I got access to the blog and I can also share my first FO that I knit with my own hand-spun yarn, too! Anyhow, I'm Elemmaciltur (some of you might already know me as Elemm). I'm living in Germany but I'm not from Germany. Been knitting for almost 3 years and have been spinning for almost a year now. I also do a knitting podcast called Knitters Uncensored with two of my friends.

Anyhow, let me show you my project now:

Le Flambé du Pacifique [138:366, 24.06.2008], originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Start: 8th May 2008
Finish: 17th June 2008
Yarn: My own hand-spun - "Tahiti", merino optim from Chameleon Colorworks
Needles: Addi Lace, 3.5 mm - 80 cm (US#4 - 32")
Pattern: Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark from Interweave Knits Fall 2006

It's the Swallowtail shawl knit from my own hand-spun yarn. Don't be fooled by the photos though, because the shawl's not that big. It measures to about 125 cm wingspan and 65 cm height.

"Flambé" is French for the Scarce Swallowtail...it's native to Europe and not the Pacific. I chose the name "Le Flambé du Pacifique" (Scarce Swallowtail of the Pacific) because the colourway "Tahiti". Besides, I reckon that the colours on the Flambé's wings also reflects the colourway of this shawl.

Here are the rest of the photos:

Le Flambé du Pacifique, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Le Flambé du Pacifique, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Le Flambé du Pacifique, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

Le Flambé du Pacifique, originally uploaded by elemmaciltur.

All photos were taken @ the courtyard of "Prinzipal" (the restaurant at Prinzregententheater)

Have a great week everyone!

Wing-'o-the-Moth Shawl

I finally blocked the shawl after finishing it October last year.
I did not want to block the waffles out.

Specs:
Indigo dyed handspun Corridale

Pattern by Anne Hanson

More details and pictures in my blog.

I am happy with the end result.

Finished, pics to come later

Ok, so the deadline for my project is today at 11AM. For the past two weeks, I haven't knit anything but the Alpine Knit Scarf. Now, I'm not a monogamous knitter. I need multiple projects going at once so that I don't have to do the same thing over and over again. So, just knitting this shawl for almost three weeks now was torture.
I'm also not good with deadlines. In fact, I'm so bad with deadlines that even though this shawl is due to my english class today, I only bound off yesterday afternoon and pinned it out to block right before dinner. I literally rolled out of bed and unpinned it 10 minutes ago and I'm not happy with the way it blocked. Last night I was in a hurry to get to the rest of my homework and it blocked not so straight. So, as soon as I get it back from school, like a week from now, I'm going to reblock it. There are no pictures of the FO because a) it's crooked and b) it's 6:15 AM, there is no light outside and I have to be at the bus stop in half an hour. So, sorry about the pictureless post, I'll get some up in about a week or so.

In for another one

Well, I guess I'm in for another shawl. And this one's for a grade at school.







That's bamboo in three colors and I'm knitting the Alpine Lace Scarf from Victorian Lace Today with it.



More details on my blog.

Hello!

I just wanted to drop in and say Hello. I joined the blog last month and have been so darn busy getting ready for our move that I have not had much time to drop in with an introduction. I hail from Nicholasville, KY (just south of Lexington) and have been spinning for over a year now.

When I found the group I had been searching for a pattern to use for some lace-weight natural grey ramboilette wool I had spun and came across Jane's post about the Hyrna Herborgar shawl she just finished. I simply fell in love with how beautiful the pattern turned out. So much so, that I have decided to be a copy cat of sorts. They do that that emulation is the best for of flattery do they not?..lol I was at first a bit leery of buying a book I could not look at first for just one pattern especially with the price tag. Now that I have the book in my hands, I can only say I think there is just one pattern in the whole thing I am not overly fond of. This book is going to be a very valued treasure in the years to come.

Outside of that, we are in the middle of moving our home. We recently purchased a new (not brand) house, so our small little world is being turned upside down so to speak. I am an old hat at moving, but sheesh, you would think that I would have learned after moving over 30 times to not accumulate so much JUNK! Ooops, I mean valuable treasures which I will never use, serve no purpose and could definitely live with out (ahem...junk). DH has been helping, but I think much of this over whelms him. He is becoming a bit more motivated now that he sees none of his treasures (junk) are packed. He thinks we are going to take our time moving everything to the new joint....hehehe....Poor guy just doesn't know what he has gotten himself into....lol

As soon as things settle down around here I will post a bit more:) Just wanted to send a quick hello for now.

Heartland Lace Shawl from Silk Handspun

I started on the Evelyn Clark Heartland Lace Shawl created for Wild Fibers Magazine. I was able to get a free copy of the pattern, but I think the pattern is now being sold as a kit. This is being knit out of 2.1 oz of Tussah Silk that I handspun on my Babe spinning wheel. I am knitting this on US 4 Lace Addis, which is the first time using this needle, and I like the pointy-ness of it; especially great for SK2P, and maybe even the dreaded nupps of Swallowtail.

My goal is to finish this by my 34th birthday on May 1st, so I can get started on another shawl. For any further details on the yarn or the shawl, check out the blog.

Laminiaria blocking (Mohair doesn't stretch much folks)

This was quick and different to spin and to knit. I had not really spun any Border Leicester and had limited experience with Mohair when I made this yarn 4 ounces of that mix with a little added alpaca to lighten the color up a bit in sections (the neck/star chart section in particular). I had not really knit Estonian lace unless you count the border for the Swallowtail Shawlette and the techniques for making the stitches as well as how the lace progression developed were all really different than what I had knit before. It is interesting to say that Hyrna also had some interesting stitch construction that I had not run into before but reminded me of this style of lace knitting. Would I do it again? You bet but I would choose a much more elastic yarn to knit this in so that the blocking was not so difficult. Now to go look at my fiber stash for the next project :-) I have a lot of regular lace knitting to do right now so I might be awhile before I post again. I have to knit baby stuff for my now pregnant niece! Later!

Me too!

There were some very lovely shawls featured in Spin Off's Spring handspun shawl gallery - and I'm honored to be among them!

I've been knitting on some lace, but these are from commercially spun yarns - this issue (along with all the gorgeous projects here) is starting up my urge to spin for another lace project!

Congrats again to Jane - I believe your Legends of the Sea was the teaser in the table of contents!

Great Fun! (Legends of the Shetland Seas Revisited)

Why post a copy of the Spring 2008 Spin-Off Magazine? Because they saw my version of the Legends of the Shetland Seas Stole and asked if they could photograph it for the Spring 2008 Spin-Off Magazine gallery of lace :-) Great Fun! I would never have spun/knit this without participating in the Spun Stitches knit-a-long so thank you Teresa and Kristen for hosting this wonderful site! The staff at Spin-Off made sure to mention this site in the information on the stole. Back to knitting Laminaria.

Laminaria ( Star and Blossom Charts)

So I'm up to the second chart in the Laminaria pattern at Knitty called the "Blossom" chart. In the last picture, you can see the flower like structure. This shawl is in Estonian Lace which I have not had much experience with. There are large areas of increase to make the "blossoms" you see in this close-up shot. The shawl is a triangle so you'd have to turn the pictures upside-down to see what they will look like hanging down your back. I'm making the smaller version of the shawl since I only have the 4 ounces of yarn and I'm using pretty big needles (US 6). The first picture is of the "star" chart in the pattern. You really can't see anything but I hope when I go to block it, there will be a more obvious pattern. I'm not really crazy about knitting Estonian lace so far. It's a little boring actually though the designer did a great job on this shawl with really good instructions. The only thing I'd change would be to do SSSK on the left hand side of the center to mirror image the right hand side in the star chart section. I'm on the border now and will get back to you all when I'm done.

Next Up, Laminaria

The word, "subtle" and I have only a passing acquaintance as you can see. I have been longing for the Summer to come and so I took 4 ounces of this lovely Black Bunny Border Leicester/Mohair Top in the colorway "Carnival" and spun a substantial lace weight yarn. I am spinning another fiber very thin on my Schacht and since that will take forever I have been spinning a weight of single that goes fast on the other wheels for fast and dirty projects. Sort of like what I did for my Hyrna. This fiber was spun on my sisters Majacraft Rose with the lace flyer and fat core bobbins. Since the color was so intense, I added some cream colored Suri Alpaca Top to one of the plies to add a little more softness and bring the color down to a dull roar. I have to say, it's not all that soft, but since it will be a shawlette rather than a scarf, maybe it will still be OK. But what to do with it? I had no idea until the Spring Knitty for 2008 came out with the Estonian Lace pattern, Laminaria . I'm knitting another project that I will have to add Estonian Lace to, so this is a perfect opportunity for me to try out a few examples of Estonian lace and get some practice in. I'm using US 6 but could have gone even bigger considering the weight of my yarn. If anyone else does this one, consider changing the "Knit three together" to a SSSK on the left side of the center line of the shawl so that those stitches will mirror the right side. My yarn is so busy that I don't think it really matters, however, if I had been using a solid or semi solid yarn, I think I would not have been as satisfied. Though I had thought to make the smaller version of this lace, if it looks like I have enough yarn, I might make it a little bit longer. I will post more once I have a little bit more on the needles :-)

Blocking Hyrna Herborgar

Well this one is done now and thank the Lord for it! The blocking shots are night shots so the colors are not "true" There is more light blues and greens. The finished shawl shots are a little better for the colors and my friend, Louise agreeded to be my model. The pattern is from the book Three-Cornered & Long Shawls by Sigridur Halldorsdottir with translation by Marilyn van Keppel, PhD. The additional knitting notes that makde it possible for me to knit this shawl were from Jackie E-S of heartstringsfiberarts.com. The fiber is from Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks and is Bombyx and Merino 4 ounces. The colorway is "Lagoon" and was spun heavy lace weight, knit on US 4 at the start, increased to US 5 with crochet cast-off. I have a little of it left-over but not enough for another project. Blocking was strictly "eyeball", no measuring this time.

I have an idea for my next project but after the Polworth fiasco, I think I will swatch first to see if I like it :-)