Blob and unblob

Lace shawls in 2 forms:  blob (i.e. unblocked), and unblob (blocked).

This is the Diamonds and Rust pattern by Anna Victoria, and it is not blocked!  In total blob form.  I"ll probably wash it tomorrow and will post pics then. Wait until you see how it changes!

Next is Mermaid's Lair, also by Anna Victoria.  Do you sense a pattern here?  (bad pun)  I love working her shawls.  They are challenging enough to keep me on my toes (I count a lot), fun to make and stunning when finished (and blocked).

Here's Mermaid's Lair in blob form and unfinished.

2018 resolutions

I rarely make New Year's resolutions, mostly because I never follow through on them, but this year I decided to make some.  We shall see if I actually accomplish all of them.  Hah.  Feel free to laugh.

1. Knit 6 sweaters.  This is not hard and I'll probably make it through.
2. Knit 6 shawls.  Ditto on this knitting.
3. Make 6 quilts. Uh huh.  Probably not, but at least I have some sort of goal.
4. Actually finish 6 quilts, quilting, binding and all.  Meh. Doubtful, but you never know.

First shawl of the year.  Look how far I've gotten since a couple of days ago.  It's remarkably pleasant to knit, even with the endless garter stitch rows.  You can see the swoopy part over on the top right.

The name of the shawl is Frozen Skies, but with my colorway, I think of it as Neapolitan Ice Cream.  There are some nice lace sections, which will look dopey until blocked.  That's just the way for knitted lace:  it needs a firm stretched-out blocking.

The new quilt is proceeding nicely.  I almost have it down-pat, i.e. I rip only every 3rd block.  I have to keep a block in front of me to make sure my pieces go where they should.  I need a name for this.  No ideas.

Photographed on top of the fluffy comforter.  That's why the hills and valleys.  I think this will be the layout I use.  The question is whether I put sashing between the 4-patch blocks.  I think so.

Stargazing Shawl unblobbed

Blocked and ready to wear!

This was impossible to photograph.  The neck starts off with a deep purple and bits of brown, and the bottom of the shawl is green with bits of tan.  My camera will not get it right.  So that's why these pics are going to look different as I played with light, location and background.

These first pictures were taken on my dining room table on top of the white table protector.  No external light, just whatever the camera wanted.

This on is on the porch floor and is probably the most accurate although the floor is a very dark wood color. 

Same porch but on the table which gets full sunlight and on top of a white cardboard.

Well, you get the idea somewhat.  It's much prettier than I can photograph. 

Fingering weight sparkly wool and delightful to knit.

Poor lonely neglected EPP

The dear little thing is languishing because I'm into shawl obsession.  So no pics.  Sorry.

On the other hand, I have a finished shawl, which I just love to pieces.

To the Heart of the Mountain, a mystery KAL (knit-a-long)

Yarn:  Findley Dappled in Watermelon Soul ( a slightly heavier lace weight yarn, very easy to knit)

And another one on the needles, Illumine

Shawls all over the place

Shawls!  Lace shawls!  I'm obsessed with them at the moment.  I just can't get enough knitting time with them.  Here are 3 new ones (click on them to see the details):

Each to Each.  This is the final shawl, all finished and worn once (way back when the temps wouldn't get out of the 50's)  I posted about this last time.  I love the beads, but they do make the thing considerably heavier. 

Waiting for Rain.  I used KnitPicks Stroll, which I find too mooshy for good stitch definition on socks, but it's so cuddly that it makes a great shawl.

Loftus.  Like wearing a feather.  It helps that I knitted on size 7 needles with lace weight yarn.  I do love this.

I also have 2 mystery shawls on the needles, and plans for at least 4 more.  I have no idea what I'm going to do with all these things, but it's such fun to make them.

I'm still here

Just didn't have much to blog about.  But I finished a gorgeous beaded shawl and it's now blocking.

You can only see a bit of this because it's really large for a crescent shawl.  104" X 17".  I'll get the tall Hubz with the large wingspan to hold this when it dries.  The pattern is Each to Each Shawl and I bought a kit (which I never, ever do) from Earthfaire.  I used the Lucas colorway.  The yarn is Freia Ombré Fingering weight, and it's 70 merino/30 silk.  Just wonderful to knit with.  So why the kit?  I figured that it was just easier to try out a new yarn for me, plus get matching beads.  Her service is great and I'll buy from her again. 

I find myself uninterested with socks at the moment.  There's always a pair on the needles for mindless, TV knitting, but that's it, at least for now.  What's obsessing me are shawls and scarves.  Lace, lace and more lace, with an interesting new technique for me:  mosaic knitting with lace.  I bought Mosaic and Lace Knits and fell in love with the ideas.  I've done a lot of mosaic and other slip stitch knitting, but never with this complexity.  This is fun and challenging with both knits and purls on the right and wrong sides and the fun of lace, too.  Good stuff.

Yarn is KnitPicks Palette; needle is a size 2, since I'm a loose knitter.  Colors are cream and Bluebell.

Quilting?  I don't remember what that is.  All I want to do is knit.  My poor quilts in progress.  But I'll get back to them and then will not want to knit.  So it goes.

Just off the needles.

Aleh Shawl:  2 sizes in 2 different yarns.

First is a little shawlette, more like a scarf or fichu.  Knit in Lyric yarn, which is this amazing singles fingering wt yarn.  Singles can be a pain to knit with, but not this one.  This one just knits up so easily.

Here it is in Lili Lace, which is a slightly heavier lace-weight yarn. Considerably skinnier than Lyric, but not as skinny as "regular" lace, and much easier to knit up.

I had so much fun doing these.  The border is a very easy leaf pattern, and the ground is a tiny leaf pattern, also.  A bit more work than garter or stockinette, but very much worth the extra effort.

What's on my needles

Lots of stuff, including 2 mystery projects that just resurfaced.

Here's the first mystery- a sock.  There it was, hanging out in a project bag that turned out to be pretty dopey.  The bag, not the sock.  I have the chart, so I'll make a second one.  I have no idea when I made this, but it was in the last couple of years.

And the second mystery - a shawl.  I totally forgot about this baby.  I have the chart but no written instructions.  However, I'm pretty sure I can figure out what I did. I don't know where I was going with the pattern, but that's the fun part of knitting; I can design whatever strikes me at the moment.

The Elsa Shawl, named for The Mommie.  The Mommie's given name was Elza.  An uncle of hers (Hillel Bacsi - pronounded as bachee - aka Uncle Hillel) called her Esti (her Hebrew name was Esther).  Her aunt (Cili Neni - aunt Celia) called her Estelle.  My father called her Elsie.  In her later years, I would call her Elzele (little Elza), just for the fun of it.  She'd give me "the look" when I did that.

This is all finished, and I'm writing it up, but here's the same shawl in a different colorway.  I'm reknitting it to make sure that my instructions and charts are accurate.

And finally, here's another sock that I'm knitting for Elder DD, she who got smart this year while slogging throught the Sandy mess in Manhattan, and discovered that my woolly socks kept her feet mighty warm.  Yes!  A convert!

I love knitting patterns like this, the kind that wave right and wave left.

So that's keeping me occupied, along with all the quilty projects, a crochet scarf, and general stuff.

Warning!

Get that towel out; you're going to need it.

This post is heavy on drool.  Keep that towel handy as you salivate over my new fabric.  Don't say I didn't warn you, either.

The peachy/rosy/orangy colors.

The green colors.

Put them all together and you get cantelope, cucumber, honeydew, and other assorted sorbet colors.  What I did not show you is the soft off-white polka dot on soft off-white.  Figured it wouldn't show up well.  BTW, the colors are softer than what my camera is showing.  It really is pretty.

 Elder DD wants a quilt!  And not in black or gray or neutrals!  Whoopie!  The New Yorker likes color!  I always knew she was a classy dame!

So what to make with it all?  I have tons of fabric here, although I think I'll need more of that off-white.  Easy enough to get. Rail block with that off-white as one of the strips?  Some sort of diagonal strippy thing?  I have no idea.  Clearly it'll need white to keep it under control.  Otherwise it'll tend to look like the great pumpkin, only with more peachy tones. 

More sewing stuff:  here are the 2 doll quilts now at the hand quilting part.  I'm not terribly good at this.  Can't do the hand under the quilt thing because it hurts my hands.  So I slowly do a running stitch.  It's quite pleasant to do, although I have learned never to quilt through seam allowances unless I have to.  So far I can't seem to get more than 10-11 sts/inch, although going down to a size 9 between is helping.  Well, so it goes.  I'm certainly never going to enter anything in a competition.  I'm just doing this for the fun of it.

I started another doll quilt, also.  This is from a Schnibbles pattern, only I'm going to make it smaller for a doll.  I'm learning how to make flying geese.  Ack.  What a mess it is, except that I seem to be able to fudge it well.  Just don't look on the wrong side.  Next time, I'll really spray with more starch!

I have another row of geese to sew, and then add all the cute sashing in-between, etc, etc.




Here's my take on quilting:  I love picking out the fabrics and looking for patterns. I actually like some of the cutting out very much.  I love arranging the blocks, and then hand-quilting them.  The machine sewing part is OK; not my greatest love, mostly because I'm so totally inaccurate.  And basting the layers together is not grand fun, although on these little pieces, it's kind of pleasant.



I was chatting with the shop owner about how much I'm loving this craft even with my crummy cutting and sewing,  and she told me that she can barely knit.  So there you have it:  Different skills and some of us are great at one thing, and others of us excel at other things.  It's a challenge to step out of your comfort zone, and it keeps the brain alive.  Plus all those colors!  What can I say?  It's all about the color!


Knitting?  I'm working on the next shawl of the Light & Dark Lace Club.  I had this gorgeous border planned, but I know I won't have enough yarn, so I'll put the pattern aside for another shawl, and come up with a cute little guy.  Can't show you pics, BUT I can finally show you Arachne's Delight, the current shawl in progress.  I had the best time knitting it, and don't you love that adorable border? 

Arachne's Delight will go up for sale in Feb.

And that's enough of my blather.

Lacy Angles is here.

Do you  need a lacy little shawl to keep your shoulders warm and to look elegant and lovely?  Look no farther than here.  Presenting Lacy Angles Shawl, a shawl of slanted stitches.  A mere $6, and you can knit it too.

And she's now available for purchase.  This was the June selection for the Light & Dark Lace Club, and I've released it on Ravelry.  Yay, Ravelry.  I love Rav to pieces.

 

Lacy Angles is knit top down with a center and a wing on either side of the center pattern.  The shawl is ended with a NEB (never-ending border), which is fun and finishes the shawl as you knit along.  When you are done with the NEB, all you have to do is weave in the beginning thread and the last stitch.  Block, and then you are done.

It takes one 400 yard skein of fingering weight yarn, size 5 circular needle, tapestry needle, stitch markers.  An intermediate pattern, although a confident beginner could do it too.

Thanks, Henya!
krayolakris - I kept saying it as Angeles. 
 Wall-to-wall books - They're not that difficult.  I've had beginners knit them with great success.  I'm about to post the Oct edition.  Wait until you see that one!  Well, you won't see it 'cause it's a mystery KAL, but you'll get to see the yarns!