Onward

After wishing the Witches Stockings yarn a fond farewell today, I let the wheel rest and worked on my current knitting project. The Elizabeth Freeman Shawl KAL Group (Ravelry link) is knitting their way through three of Elizabeth's shawls. The KAL was already in progress when I joined, so I jumped in where they are and am knitting the Aeolian shawl (Knitty link). It is a beaded lace shawl with nups. I never thought I would be knitting something with (gasp!) bobbles, but it is soooo pretty I could not resist:



See? Gorgeous!

I am making the smaller version, the shawlette, because it fits the amount of yarn I have. I bought multiple shades of pink beads to go with the slightly variagated Shaefer Anne yarn (do not know the colourway off hand). Here is a progress pic:










I have a looooong way to go! Not sure what is with my current obsession with pink, but it might have something to do with living with three boys... could be!

Was not sure if I would enjoy stopping my knitting to place the beads, but it is a very enjoyable knit. Thank goodness Elizabeth designed the shawl so the beads are put on with a little crochet hook, and not threaded on at the beginning. Imagine threading 850 beads before starting knitting! If you have the patience to do that, you are MUCH more patient than I am.

Witches Stockings

Cheryl dyed the Halloween colorway "Witches Stockings" which looks like this:

I worsted spun it into this:

Then I Navajo plyed it into this:

I have been coveting Cheryl's Halloween colorways since she dyed them, but I've been keeping my hands off - The rovings are for the customers. Then, a wonderful customer decided she had to have the Witches Stockings, and wanted ME to spin it!! WAHOO!! I love how the yarn turned out - long stretches of each color, then a long transition into the next color. Cheryl dyed long stretches of the roving to make just that effect!! Brilliant!!

Feather Cowl

I put the final touches on the Feather Cowl today - I like to block first, weave in ends second. It came out pretty well. I used some yummy hand dyed sock yarn from Tanis Fiber Arts.

80% superwash Merino
20% Nylon
400 yds (365 m)
Seabreeze colourway

A close-up of the lace (running sideways, knit from right to left.)











The cowl is basically a tube, knit in the round using Barbara Walker's Japanese Feather lace stitch. Easy peasy! Here it is folded in half.











And here it is scrunched up.










I think if I knit this one again, I may lose two or three repeats worth of stitches, and one repeat of the lace pattern (could be narrower and shorter). I am thinking of tacking the top and bottom together to make a doughnut with the seam on the inside, so I can just pull it over my head and go, no fussing. I'll let you know how it works out.

Having a bit of a slide lately with my routines. Not getting anywhere with the house. I think the problem is all the clutter. I keep cleaning it up and it gets spread back around. Today is Labor day, and I'm going to take advantage of a bonus day of hubby being home to help with the kids. The clutter had better watch out! I'm gathering up donations for The Salvation Army today, and loading them into the car, to deliver them tomorrow! Baby clothes and old clothes of mine. (hubby's too. Shh! Don't tell. He wants to keep that old tee shirt that hasn't fit him since college. I am sure he won't miss it.)

Next on the needles: I'm designing a poncho for a client's daughter, with matching hat and bag. Yeah! I get to knit with PINK!! That's something that someone with two boys does not get to do very often... :)

Best Laid Plans

Well I had planned to work more on the house today, establishing my routines, decluttering. And then my one year old fell and cut the inside of his mouth. All those plans went right out the window. The poor baby was bleeding and crying. Doctor says he had cut his frenulum (sp?) and did not need stitches. Thank goodness for that! Can you imagine how scary the emergency room would be to a little guy like that? Yipes.

My four year old was a peach through the whole thing, letting Daddy take him to his first day of preschool while I took his bro to the doctor.

The brave little dude even let the doctor check his lip, no tears, no wiggling. What a trooper!

Good to know my kids are good in an emergency!

Before all this excitement, I finished my latest project, one that I designed before I found out that someone else already designed something eerily similar (her version here - Ravelry link) While hers is a wimple, mine is a simple lace cowl. Pattern for mine with pictures to come tomorrow.

Today I cast on a go-to project, another baby bib from the Mason Dixon Knitting book. My sister has a few and RAVES about them, so I'm making bibs my car project for sitting in line at the bank, the preschool, the carwash, wherever I'm stuck in the car for a time. It is nice to have something to fill the gaps between projects, isn't it?