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 :-)

Recognizing My Mistake And Sucking It Up! (Hyrna 2.0)

Well, not only did I not like how the Polworth felt to knit, I did not like how it looked with it's muddy colors. Then it tried to commit suicide by dropping stitches and my brain froze trying to knit the pattern. The Polworth has been put out of its misery and I am now using a heavy lace weight yarn I spun from merino/silk from Chasing Rainbows in the Lagoon colorway. I got the roving at Stiches West this year and spun it over two days on the Schacht. It's not refined in the least since I was trying to prove I could still spin something other than really thin singles. Anyone out there who wants to try to knit Hyrna may want to check out the really excellent and helpful notes from Jackie Her notes really make knitting this shawl much more enjoyable! I'm using US 4 needles in the center and have changed to US 5 for the remainder of the shawl. I will post when done!