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.

Finished and started

I actually finished a quilt.  I used William Morris reproduction fabrics (and, incidentally saw the original Strawberry Thief at the British Museum).

And started:  a new lace shawl, shown here it total lace blob moment.  Trust me, it will unblob when washed and blocked.

straythreads - We were in London a couple of weeks ago, and I actually got to see some ofWilliam Morris' fabrics and wall paper.  Such excitement!

A new quilt

A new quilt is in progress.  I finished the string quilt from some previous post, forgot to photograph it, and then dropped it off at the longarm quilter.  So no pics until it's back.

Of course I started another quilt.  This one is done all in Kaffe and friends fabric, and is a variation of a log cabin.

3 different fabrics for the center square, and then playing around with all those pretty colors and fabrics for the strips.  It is such fun to do!

On the knitting front, I very happily became canon fodder for Sock Madness:  too much pain in the wrists to keep on knitting quickly with splitty yarn and very slick needles.  I had fun, and now I'm doing other things, including this sweater.

These are swatches for me to practice the pattern and figure out gauge. The color is a bit more peach than shown. 

And here is a bit of the body.  You cannot tell anything from this picture since I have a bunch of stitches on a needle, and lace is blobby and messy until blocked.  The color is accurate here.  Yay, camera.

Wow! An actual sweater!

Can you imagine?  I've finally finished a sweater for DD in the FN (Frozen Northland).  Took me long enough.  Actually I finished it a few weeks ago, tried it on (what fits DD will fit me, except in length) and the sleeves were way too tight.  I have no idea why I did this, but they went back to the frog pond and I made them wider.  Since I pick up my sleeves from the armhole and work them down, this isn't a major rehaul.  I just had to make sure that the underarm stitches, which are live, are not dropped in the frogging.  What took much longer was that the Little Guy had a sock crisis, and I had to churn out a bunch of socks.  So....here's a lace sweater. (if she doesn't like it, I'll take it)

The yarn is Palette (Knit Picks), which I love to work in.  Very soft yarn with no merino.  So it wears rather well.  Size 3 needles, worked in the round from bottom up.  Separated at the armhole, and worked back and forth until the shoulder. Front, of course, had neck opening worked. Joined the fronts and back, picked up the armhole stitches and worked down (twice, sigh).  Gave it a gentle wash on Fri, and here it is, ready to be mailed out.  Stitch pattern is from one of my lace books, but I tossed the copy, so I don't know where I found it.  But it's very simple and a nice break from the endless stockinette.

And then, just because I like making helix socks, one more pair for the Little Guy.  3 different yarns worked in a helical pattern.  Mindlessly easy, although you constantly have to untwist the yarns.

The big ball is a turquoise that I dyed some years ago.  I don't think that there is nylon in this yarn, so I didn't use it where there would be stress.  Bottom left is some leftover from who-knows-what, and the bottom right was used to make these socks from the last posting.

So here are the new socks with these 3 yarns.

Here are the two socks, the first worked only in that yarn, and the second with the 3 yarns.

Isn't that fun?  This is a great way to use up leftovers, although I now have leftovers of my leftovers.  It never ends.

Blocked and no longer The Blob

It's delicious to wear, too!

The Blob

The Blob.  This is what a lace shawl looks like before blocking:  a blobby wrinkly mess. 

Wait 'til you see what it looks like when blocked.

Started sometime in Jan and finished yesterday.  It could have been finished a while ago, but I got distracted by all the sweater knitting.

Lots of goodies

I've been remiss in keeping up this blog, but I haven't been unproductive.  Here's what's in progress:

Quilting

 

One lonely little Whirligig block in progress.  Karen from Quilts...etc. has decided to take the plunge and make this quilt, too.  Given how awesome a quilter she is, she'll be done way before I even finish the next row.  Just take a look at her hand quilting and applique.

My Cake Mix quilt is now being assembled.  Top pic is of my placement.  Bottom one is actually sewn together.  I do love these Cake Mixes; it's the way for me to go with half-square triangles.  Perfection and no bias mess.  I ordered Brenda Henning's Triangulations for future HST moments.

One Exploding Block quilt back from the quilter, and now being bound.  I do love hand stitching my binding down.  Can't tell you why, but it is satisfying.

Knitting

One lace shawl needing a good blocking.  Mostly garter stitch with some easy and interesting lace bands.  Two skeins of sock yarn with leftovers, which will go into Miss P's never-ending mismatched socks.

The boring sleeve from Miss P's yoke sweater in progress.  I sent out a sleeve and the body for her to try on.  She's at least 5'7", so I can't base the fit on my size.  Now the pieces are back and make perfect TV watching knitting.  I'm looking forward to working on the yoke.

A brand new lace shawl from the amazing Anna Victoria.  This one is Mermaid's Lair, and it is a lovely challenge to knit.  I like her charts very much.  I'm not one for written directions, but give me a chart, and I'm a happy camper.  

Yes, the shawl looks like an old rag with a lot of holes.  In actuality, that's what it is:  a piece of knitting with a lot of holes (yarn-over) and decreases.  Wait until it's blocked!  I've stretched out a bit at the top so you can get an idea of who it will be.

And that's all.  Pardon me, now, while I get back to work on any and all of these goodies.

She quilts; she knits

And in between I bake bread and an occasional cake.  Cleaning?  Hah!  Cooking?  Only enough to survive.  Gimme yarn.  Gimme fabric.

Yarn is merino twin by Wollelfe, an amazing Austrian dyer.  She's on vacation at the moment, which is very good for my pocketbook.  875 yards of soft merino, fingering weight.

The pattern is Illumine, and you can find it on Ravelry, of course.  However did we knitters manage before Ravelry?  I'm number 1702, and the current number of members is 7,178,950!!!!! 

Also working on two mystery KALs (knit-alongs), so no pics until I'm finished.  But I can tell you that they are fun to do.

EPP continues slowly but surely.  2 more blocks and one more added to the quilt.

And 3 hibiscus flowers are blooming.