Garland Redux

Here she is, my Garland Shawl redone in this amazing new yarn I'm testing out.  I've been gushing over this yarn and it's all true!  THE best singles yarn around.  Forget the commercial stuff, this is THE best.  Too bad I can't take credit for having spun it, it's that good.

As I mentioned yesterday, I knit this shawl originally in a colorway that suited some of my clothing.  But it's a weird colorway, and  the pattern never sold very much.  I had wanted to redo it for some time, but there were always new ideas to play with.  So, along comes this singles yarn, and I thought:  "This is perfect to try out with the shawl.  It'll show up garter stitch, a bit of stockinette and lace."  And so here is the result.  (Notice that I am not modelling any of these pics.  It's kind of hard for me to take pics of myself.  And the Hubz tends to cut off heads, shoulders, whatever.)

This is how I wear my little shawls, all snugged up around my neck.  Cozy, you can see the fabric from the back, and you get this cute look from the front. 

 Want to make it yourself?  Go on, it's easy and fun and requires only a 400 yard skein of fingering or sock yarn.

Garland Shawl

What's on my design floor, needles, hooks, etc.

 
Crazy busy week last week.  Between yarn dyeing for Sock Madness 7, sewing, knitting, crocheting, and feeling generally lousy with the acid reflux from hell,  I went nonstop.  I was so happy when Saturday rolled around and we had a lovely field trip to Warwick, NY. 

Sewing news:  I've fallen in love with the Scrappy Trip Around the World that's sweeping the blogosphere.  As you know, I'm not the greatest machine sewer in the world (or for that matter, the greatest hand sewer, either), but I kept looking at this neat quilt, and decided to go for it.  Mine is not scrappy; I'm using a Marmalade jelly roll from Moda.  It's such fun to do it.  First I get to pick out the strips, put them in order (all color work that I love), and then the machine work is easy.  I'm in love!

No EPP went on.  Just no time for hand sewing.  It really was a crazy busy week.

Knitting news:  So, here are my current knitting projects.  Yep, I have a bunch more, but these are now on the frontline.

1. Baby sweater and hat for Benjamin Bunny.  My own hand-dyed SW merino DK yarn.  Softer than you can imagine.  Cushy, cuddly, and perfect for a Frozen Northland Baby.  It needs the buttons sewn on, and a good blocking.  (And that's why the front edges looks so odd.  It's the nature of knitting, but wool sorts everything out.  You'll see.)

2.  Garland Shawl revisited.  I made this about 3 years ago, and it never photographed well.  I wanted a shawlette in soft avocado, rust, etc, etc.  In real life, it's very pretty, but the photographs made it look very dull. 

I am playing with this incredible singles yarn, and so I decided to reknit the shawl.  WOW!  That's all I can say.  If you follow me on Ravelry (ruth), you'll see that I'm over the moon with this yarn.  I don't like commercial singles, but this yarn is beyond gorgeous.  Yep, it's a singles, which means that it wants to get this little kink in it, but the yarn is of such quality, that the kinks just disappear as you knit.  The yarn glides through your fingers. 

Here's the original followed by the singles version.  Non-knitters:  it will block out into lacy wonder.  This is just what knitted lace looks like in progress (an old tatty bag).

I should finish this today. I hope.

Dyeing:  3 different colorways for the Sock Madness group on Ravelry.  Lots of work, but very satisfying. 

AND, take a look at this singles yarn.  This is the same yarn I'm using for the new Garland Shawl, but in a different colorway.  See that bit of sheen?  That kink?  Yep, this is a singles yarn.  And you don't feel the kinks as you work with it.  Now, that's a singles!

Next time I order yarn, I'm buying 3 kilos of this. 

Crochet news:  This is another version of the singles above, only this one is a bit softer, and with virtually no kink.  They are both beautiful yarns.  This one is not yet available for me to order; this is a trial skein.

And that's that.  Now if i could get this acid reflux thing solved.......  Going to the gastroenterologist tomorrow.  I'm pretty nervous about it, but I feel so awful, and this simply has to get taken care of.

Ya think I had a busy week? 

Garland Shawl Posted!

Yep, it's finally up for sale on Ravelry. There's a way of linking it from this blog directly to the pattern, but I haven't yet figured out how to do it. Sigh. Anyhow, here she is, and she is truly one of my favorites. Center pattern, wings on either side of the pattern. Somewhat Faroese in shape, which means it will fit so beautifully when you wear it. I love triangle shawls, but they often don't lay well on the shoulders. This shaping does.





Pattern is available on Ravelry. It includes charts and written instructions, and is lots of fun to knit.

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/garland-shawl

pendie - I haven't dyed lace yarn since the early fall. It might be time again to dye some up. Hmmmmm.

Scrabblequeen - Thanks. You should have heard my cursing when I was writing up the pattern. It was not ladylike at all.

The Yarnarian Returns.

Please help the folks in Haiti; I've put up a link to Doctors Without Borders over on the top right.

It's been a while since I've blogged, but sometimes a girl gets busy. So, yuchy news first: We went out with our dearest friends for dinner at one of our favorite Indian restaurants, and I ordered chicken korma, which I've had many times before. Um, maybe not a great idea. My poor little tummy has been not happy since. I don't know if it was too rich for me, or something in it didn't agree with me, but there you have it. So it will be a while before I venture into korma-land again. Bummer, because I love kormas. I'm on the mend, but the old tum is still growling at me.

OK, got the kvetch out of my system. Kvetch = complaining, grousing, grumping, whining. A good word to know. And you pronounce that k and v together. Good lip exercise.

Flower Fairies Sock Club news: We are really full, more folks than I've ever had. YarnYenta and I are quite excited about this. So, this is the final call: Sign up between today and Wed, and then we are closed! Gotta have time to do the dyeing, and you know that I do skeins individually, so I really need time. Info is here and you can purchase on Etsy.

Speaking of Etsy, they may finally make it easy to switch the name of the shop and I can hopefully become just plain PennyRose Yarns. But not yet. You still have to do the "fritzl" thing. Fritzl is my poor little defunct kitty. Don't even ask why he's my contact name on Etsy.

Pattern news: Test knitters are happily (I hope) working away on the Garland Shawl pattern.





I've been learning a new charting program, Intwined Studio, and I love it! I'm not a geeky person; nothing on the computer ever comes easily to me. I have to struggle with it all. But this wonderful new program is working its way through my brain, and it is really great! I can do my charting, document writing, and then making it all a PDF in the same program. I believe the program becomes available on Wednesday, so if you want to do your own patterns, check it out. Reasonable too. We have a winner here. And I did the pattern for the Garland Shawl in it.

Knitting News: I finished another little shawl, which I'm thinking of calling Fairy Dots because I can't think of another name. If you have one, let me know; Fairy Dots is kind of lame, but that's all that came to mind. I must have Fairies on the brain.




The pattern has to be written up and then test knit, so it will be a little while before it's ready.

I think I might be shawled out. I'm not sure what to knit next. It would be nice if I finished the 2 sweaters on the needles. I'm still plugging away on the 2 blankies. Finished the socks for elder DD, and still have 3 pairs left to do for her, but I don't feel like working on any of them. Maybe I'll thumb through my pattern books and find something that calls to me and then build a project around it. Or, maybe do a real lace shawl, a large one to swoop around me. The thing is that I have lots of these that I've designed and I'm not wearing any of them. They are beautiful and are just sitting in a cupboard waiting for me. Nothing is tempting me in the slightest, and I hate this. I love to zip from one project to the next full of excitement. Not to worry, all of a sudden I'll get motivated and then off I'll go.

baby face - Unfortunately none of my shawls are warm. The big lacy jobbies are out of very skinny lace yarn with big holes and wouldn't keep a cat warm, let alone a person. I do let my kids pick from the pile every now and then, 'cause I'm a good mother, and I'll wear them in spring or summer when I need just a bit of something to combat the AC. I'm glad you like my blog.

Angelika - As soon as Garland has been test knit and I've made the corrections, I'll have the pattern for sale both on Ravelry and in my Etsy shop. The second one, which still needs a good name, has to be written up and then test knit. So, in a few weeks, I hope.

=Tamar - That's a good name. A lot better than Fairy Dots!

The Yarnarian Returns.

Garland Shawl

I'm back from the frozen northland, aka Minneapolis. Lots of snow, messy side streets with snow and ice and sand, and COLD! Brrrrr. But I had the right clothing, so I was fine, and now NJ is delightfully warmer.

Sunrise, Sunset in Morristown, NJ: 7:22 and 4:46. Pretty soon we'll start having longer days in the morning and spring will really be on its way. Notice that we are ignoring winter this year.

Flower Fairies Sock Club: I'm closing off registration on Jan. 15 or so. I need enough time to get the dyeing done, and with a very old mother, I never know if I'm going to be in the ER all day with her. So, I need some extra time for emergencies. Not to worry, though. If you want to join and it's Jan. 20, that's OK. I just want the bulk of the members signed up. All the information is here, and you can sign up on Etsy if you wish.

Knitting news: I'm working on a pair of socks for elder DD. This is the New Yorker, who basically wears black, but she found this bright pink yarn in my collection and wanted it. So here is the nameless sock. I am finding all sorts of variations as I'm knitting it.





I started and finished another triangle shawlette while I was away. This one is based on a sock pattern that I made and loved. It's amazing how different the pattern looks when it's knit on much larger needles and severely blocked! Here is Garland:







Yes, I know that the yarn is not to everyone's taste. I wear a lot of browns and such, and it fits in well with those colors. I could do another one, I suppose, but I'd rather knit a new one. These little shawls and scarves are an addiction!

Mommie News: the Mommie and I spent Tuesday in the ER. She took a little fall, basically she slid down onto her behind while getting out of bed and bruised her bottom. The EMTs didn't want to take a chance on her having broken a hip, so off they went to the hospital. She's fine, flirted with all the male personnel, got loved by everyone, and is happily back home. I'm afraid this is going to be on on-going problem. I don't want her to go to a nursing home; she is very happy where she is and doesn't need that kind of care. So everybody pray or keep your fingers crossed or whatever that she will be able to live out her life in her senior residence. She is well-loved there and cared for very well. It's just her falling episodes that are the difficulty. I'm going to see if I can find her a PT service that will come to the home. Maybe they can help her balance or at least exercise her legs. She's very lazy and won't walk, even with the walker. This is the woman who never owned a car and walked everywhere. She says she is old, and doesn't have to do anything she doesn't want to any more. Yep, I know: if you don't use it, you will lose it, and she's losing muscle tone in her legs daily. but go argue with a stubborn 95 year old. Besides, I have never won an argument with her. She told me that the day I win an argument, she will be in her grave. I suspect that she is right.

Scrabblequeen - As if I'm ever going to win an argument with her. My sister and I once had a knock down drag out battle with her about the right way to fold crepes. She still claims she was right.