Engeln Spitsenstricken B Done!

I finished my “B” version yesterday. I found it quite difficult to follow all new symbols for the knitting stitches, so I graphed it all out in spreadsheet format with symbols familiar to me and just printed out the parts I needed as I went along knitting.

I LITERALLY had 2 feet left of my yarn!

Blocking was difficult, I had a very hard time getting the two sides to come out symmetrical, so I tried a novel approach, I folded the shawl and blocked. Just had to steam out the fold line when I was done. Finished size is 29” deep and about 60” tip to tip.

OOh OOh But there is still more!

I am currently participating in MS3. I love it and am totally inspired by it. I have purchased Melanie's Hanami and plan to spin my own yarn. I have about 15 pounds of merino in the grease that was brought home for me from Australia by Marguerite, a fellow nurse, about 15 years ago. She was a particularly ballsy, if uninformed, person and went directly to the exporter at the wharf. She told him what she wanted and he apparently was so blown away that he let her select whatever. She didn't have a clue about fleeces, but brought me home lovely stuff. Contrary to what you might read, it cleans up really nicely even now, no "hardening" of the grease. So - I washed the locks individually today and they have turned out quite nicely. I plan to blend this with cashmere raw fleece I bought years ago to spin, inspired by a garter stitch crayon colored scarf at a Maiden Lane boutique in San Francisco. (Well, THAT never happened.) And I plan to include some cultivated silk top and one ounce of a merino-silk-angora roving my sister bought for me from Woodland Woolworks years ago (what was I supposed to do with that?)
I have spun a sample, space dyed it and knit it up. A little too pink for me - I want more white spaces! This is supposed to commemorate cherry blossoms and I plan to give it to my dear cousin who works at the FAA in Washington!
And now about my carder - it is a Clemes and Clemes. Well worn, I have used it for everything from lincoln and adult mohair to the aforementioned merino, as well as for silk and angora. With careful determination, you can card ANYTHING!
Tomorrow about fine tuning my wheel!

First of August - Let's Begin!

I simply spend hours reading other's blogs and think "I'd like to show what I have been doing - knitting-spinning-gardening-hiking-weaving." Not to mention just watching and listening to the birds. Here are the mother/child wild turkeys that currently inhabit our neighborhood. WE also have the the voracious cowbirds who were, not by their choice, born to a VERY small lark. Noisy noisy, noisy. Picture later when I can get closer.

Knitting. Got the Knit-Picks "Shimmer" today to knit the Syrian Shawl from "Victorian Knits Today."