all together now

So, as mentioned yesterday, I did get some knitting done.  I'm going to post a bunch of pictures of progress, as well as what they're for. 

The first thing that made knitting difficult was this:

This is him making sure that his turkey dinner doesn't notice he's eating it.  I kid you not.

Cute, isn't he?  Pain in the royal rump, but cute.  Cute enough for me to knit this for him:

Yep, it is a bit big.

That little hat is not done, but he hasn't given it back for the inner liner to be added.  I sure would like to finish it... yep, I sure would.

So I finished the knitting on giant pink blob.  It hasn't been blocked yet, so it looks like this:

test knit of Joie pattern

This is me testing my Joie pattern in the largest size.  I intend to have 3 different sizes, and this is the large size.  My test knit for this one took 600 yards, and I think it's coming in at the size I estimated.  This will be blocked this week.  That yarn?  It's Fleece Artist 2/8 Blue Faced Leicester in petal.  Love!  It smells a bit closer to the sheep than some, but it's just so nice to work with.

Added to that, I worked on this big green blob:

doesn't look like much yet

This is a test knit of my vines and leaves pattern.  I have misplaced skein number 5 on this, so it will wait to be finished until I determine what safe place I tucked it into to protect it from Ninja Boy.

Here's a close up of how the yarn behaves:

Manos Del Uruguay silk blend

This is a 50-50 wool & silk single, DK weight.  It's very similar to one put out by Malabrigo, but I find a whole lot more vegetable matter twisted into the single itself.  So at the moment, it's nice to work with but given the choice between the two I'd chose Malabrigo as it's been more consistent for me.

I've also done this: 

blue leaf cashmere shawlette

It's a simple, small triangle in blue-ish leaf patterns.  Just knit for the joy of the yarn, to be honest.  Needs blocking, but it stretched out well with very little coaxing.

This is another thing I'm working on.  The color in this picture is off, it's a deep evergreen color in real life.

another test knit

This is a test-knit of the pattern for Autumn Glow.  I'm using a nice mink/cashmere yarn from Great Northern Yarns.  If you haven't checked them out, please do.  They are a sustainable mink-fur farm.  What this means, is they raise mink and shave them once a year.  They believe that happy minks make better fibre, and it shows in their product.  Their yarn has been consistent quality, and the mink/cashmere is not something you'll find anywhere else.

The final thing that has been keeping me from writing new patterns is this:

crappy shot

Yep, it's a shell/tank top.  It's my own mix o patterns, and I have a sweater I want to knit for it as well.  But I want to get this finished so I can wear it.  I know it's strange and selfish to want something to wear that I knit.  Don't hold it against me? 

ha, take that intarweb

I got my first 4 shawls put up!  It only took huge amounts of swearing under my breath, a little help from my teen in getting photos, some cooperation from the weather, and time with an internet connection. 

On my side bar I have put up the links to 4 of the finished shawls.  Under finished objects even. 

So, here's the shop for anyone who is interested
My Baby Shop, take a peek?

In the meantime, here's a shawl I didn't write the pattern for, but I did knit. 

isn't it pretty?  I wish I wrote it!

crap photographer, nice knitting for my mum!

Let's see what else I can get done this week!

unexpected shawl 2, autumn glow, finished!

And to top that one off, this one is done as well.

haha, you can see my foot in the pellet stove reflection

Love love love autumn colors.
I barely managed to beat the leaves going full on with this one.  A few more cold nights, and the trees will mirror the shawl well.

need a better photographer:  I'm standing crooked

Not to pat myself on the back, but I put this on my dress form and kept sighing because I love it.  The combination of 70% silk 30% camel is just so lucious, and the colors just glow.

showing the drape, and on my monitor this is color correct

This last shot I somehow managed to turn my flipping flash off, and the colors are more accurate.  They're more rich than riotous, and the finished fabric has a gorgeous hand.

This one, I've made the repair kit and just need to put together the care kit portion.

Otherwise, these babies are just about ready to find loving homes.

lalala I can't hear you

So, the folks who have seen the completed shawlette prior to blocking have all been excited and sure that it would fit within the parameters of my shawl sizes once finished.

I, of course, knew better.  It was made from a single skein of handmaiden camelspin in madder.  Camelspin comes in 300 Meter put-ups, and 300 Meters is a good size, but not huge.  I mean, the thistle shawl took just under 900 Meters to get to the size it is.

Speaking of which, I measured the relaxed-after-blocking thistle shawl and it's.. um.. huge.  70 inches from tip to tip across the top and 40 inches down the center.  I'm 5ft 4in tall, and when I hold it up, the top of the triangle is almost shoulder level with the tip being precariously close to the floor.  And it has room to grow, as it wasn't a severe blocking job.  I just ran out of space to comfortably block on my son's king sized bed.

But I digress.

The true point of this is I just measured the blocking 'shawlette.'  I may have to upgrade the sucker to a shawl after all.  Fleece Artist:  packing magic in every skein.

The shawl is actually straight , the bed is crooked (I use a yardstick)

And another for gratuitous foliage because I can.

it's the most wonderful time of the year.

Next post, who's on first.

And sometimes it hands you lemons

It's hard not to think that I'm the most vile person ever.  I mean I hardly interacted with them, and when I did it was to help or take them someplace.  And yet.

Long story short, the ladies have decided to move to Cape Cod because they believe rent will be cheap there.  Or so they say.  I'm surprised and pleased they found something for less than the nothing we charge them.

They honestly believe that Ann will not have any more medical issues.  The 2 hospital stays in less than a year that happened ... well, 6 months ago... that forced her into bankruptcy are a fluke. 

I can't help but worry.  But they are adults.  And so they must do what they will.

So, now I'm forced to wonder "What the heck do I do now?"

The point of this blog/project was to make their lives easier while making something beautiful.  I can't use this to underwrite them.  If they want to stand on their own, I have to let them.  So what do I do now?

The house still needs upgrades, but we're not elderly and can live with things the way they are.  On the other hand, our oldest son will be going to college next year.  200 shawls wouldn't be enough to upgrade college to something fancy, but it might be good to help out. 

I just don't know.  I'm kind of at a loss.

In the meantime, well I knit of course.  I had 2 shawls off the needles, it was time to do something new.

I was craving something alive, so I picked out this:

Those are some of the skeins of yarn I got from the Woolery last weekend.
This is an interesting yarn.  It's 85% cotton, and 15% silk.  It reminds me of knitting lettuce.  It's very satisfying through the fingers.  I think it inhereted the best qualities of both materials.

You can probably see that I've been writing my own charts out on graph paper.  So above you see all of the important tools in determining how things will work out.

And here's how it's going:

Not a great photo, but a very satisfying knit.  Again, still working out edging.  Might be an ongoing theme for me, we'll see.  Thank goodness for knitting.  Regardless of what happens, it's always exactly what it is.

Nothing But Knit

Another day at work where there wasn't a thing I could accomplish.

I meant to put this post up last night, but youngest son wouldn't stay asleep.  Seasonal allergies kept waking him up, and he wanted comfort.  But here we are today, with pictures of a pile of finished shawl.
Click to make bigger, but be aware:
 

Yep, lace knitting never looks nice until after the magic of blocking.  No wonder folks always look at my knitting dubiously while in progress...






Oh, and it was a truly rotten and LONG day, so I also finished the knitting of this:

Later today look for new post on shawl 2, the yarn and pattern.







Depending on the weather, you may also get "blocking:  how to turn a pile of limp yarn into something stunning."  Or something like that.

mmmm, camelspin

So, when I don't have the mental energy to keep track of a complicated pattern, I've been poking at my skeins of luxury yarn.  These singletons aren't enough to make a large shawl, but they're enough to wrap yourself in hedonism.  Mmmm, hedonism.

The yarn I wrote about for this shawlette is Handmaiden Camel Spin in Madder.  My camera refuses to capture the colors correctly.  The reds are actually burgundies, the tans are dark walnut browns.  Instead of early fall (which is what my poor camera captured), think late fall.  November browns with the mature reds that go with them. 

Not that I don't love what the camera shows, it's just not what it actually looks like.  Poot on a stick.  As always, you can click the little pictures to get a full sized one.

Anyway, you can see that this yarn colorway will pool.  I decided to knit it in simple leaves, which lets the colors pool into delightful late fall leaves.  I think the pooling works well with this pattern, rather than being a detraction.

Plus the yarn is heaven to knit.  Win-win all around.

globe thistle shawl progess (shawl 1), day 3

Today was actually kind of a wash for knitting.  I only got one more repeat finished.

I spent a great deal of time on the phone today, so instead I put together a couple of pins for keeping the shawl closed.  Personally I can't decide which one I like better for this yarn.

Both of them can be clicked for larger versions.  The one with the butterfly, I made with dark purple, deep sea green, and a grey peacock pearls, and with white and deep marine swarovski crystals.   The follow your heart one I made with a single large half-moon pearl, and 2 golden shadow swarovski crystals.


Truthfully, I think the deep purple pearl gets lost in the beautiful purple of the yarn.  The white pearl stands out more, and it glows within the purple yarn.  I guess my preference is for the single white pearl this time.  Now I need to make a shawl for the one with the deep colored pearls.

Given the amount of concentration the larger patterned shawls take, I'm thinking about putting up shawlettes here as well.  I have several skeins of really nice yarn that I want to test with a simple pattern, but that aren't enough to make a large enough shawl to count for the 200 shawl project.  These would be the kind of knitting that can be done while in groups or while being driven around.  The kind of project I don't need to write a chart for, because I know the patterns by heart.

Something simple, that showcases the yarn at the heart of it.  For instance, I have a skein of handmaiden camel spin in madder.  It's roughly these colors:

Only slightly more brown.  I would dearly love to knit this up, as I'm looking forward to autumn and the colors sing fall days to me.  But it wouldn't make a full shawl to the sizes I've posted I would make here.  I'm thinking maybe I'll knit up a shawlette and offer this as well, for folks who want something definitely luxurious but not necessarily large.  Here's a link to the folks I borrowed the picture from, it goes to the exact product the picture references in case anyone wants some themselves.

I guess we'll see how it knits up.