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.

TWO FO'S (finally!)

My Fibonacci Faroese by MMario has been done for a while, just took me some time to block it: It is very soft, quite warm, and a real disappointment in the color category. Very expensive yarn from Artyarns, and just not satisfactory, color wise. And after I blocked it, the "raw silk" smell was really prevalent.







The beige one is from my handspun Romeldale from White Barn Farms in MI, and is an original design, using Ms. Zimmerman's PI formula and Susanna Lewis's lace patterns. It was my experiment in spinning lace and plying it for softness. I think I've got it now, and am planning to purchase an electric spinning wheel from Alden for future plying. I can get behind SPINNING lace, but the plying just bores me, and really bothers my fascietis (does that never go away? - 15 years!).
I am happy with both, particularly since I get to start TWO MORE PROJECTS now!

I wonder, I am on TWITTER. Most of the people I am following are on Ravelry. What is this fascination with indy and NASCAR? I must be missing something!

Eyes Too Big

Eyes too big for my mouth. Seem to be forever taking on more than time will allow. Spring is here, the grass is literally as high as most of the rose bushes I have neglected to prune. And I sit inside on these sunny days, knitting. Felted slippers for friends of friends, as a barter for a new diz, as auction items for Scholarship Fund at the May Mensa RG in Portland.

Really, this morning I just completed my 13th pair, and have two more to do. I may be done with this particular pattern for a while!



My new Forsyth Combs are sitting at the PO waiting for a pick up, and this last week has brought three fleeces, a lovely mixed grey CVM as well as two icelandic, a black and an off white. Where is this time gonna come from?

On a more fun side, the fibonacci shawl is done. I added a lace edge to it, now I have to block it. Of course, that will entail moving Diva off her favorite snoozing spot, the bed in the front room.



My good friend Melody drug me thrift store shopping and and scored this cotton sweater for 99 cents! I am gonna try to decipher the pattern and maybe knit a blanket with it. It is very fine machine knitted, but with all those full-fashioned details a knitter loves.







Off to do a gauge swatch for the black cashmere scarf I am doing for my brother. Trying to simplify, simplify (and have something I can knit without actually having to constantly read the pattern!

Too Much Lace? Never!

I find I have become infatuated with lace of late. Here are the 4 WIP's. The black and white are both Mystery Stole 3. The black is lace merino and I plan to go with Melanie's asymmetrical design, though the eyelet row seems to disturb the flow of the design. The white cashmere one I am making into an oblong one with one pointed and one curved end. I so became sure the theme was honeybees that I am incorporating the honeybee pattern from Barbara Walker's second book, page 273. I spent much of the day designing the last half of the shawl and now can't wait to finish it. The blue triangular shawl is the Syrian Pattern, page 130 in "Victorian Lace Today". I read Moni's blog about how easy it was to knit and relaxing with it's memorable pattern. Two balls of KnitPicks alpaca/silk, you can't go wrong!

The giant crumpled brown mass is my circular shawl project. I purchased some CVM this spring (Cary - they are so close to you!) and had forgotten how wonderful the springy softness is. I started spinning some thinly for lace and then figured I could create my own circular lace shawl. This is to be a spinning "sampler" of sorts, for the FIRST time I am actually keeping track of how each succeeding skein of yarn was spun and plied. I am on the 10th skein and have finally perfected it, just enough twist for stitch definition. I found an obscure lace pattern in Susanna Lewis's lace book and incorporated the increases into the design itself, loosely using EZ's Pi formula. Aside from the obvious differences in the quality of the spun yarn, I washed and carded bit by bit, so they are all a different shade, I will have concentric colors. I NEVER have the patience to wash, card, or spin all at once. But - I only have about 20 more rows to go, but have been spinning it on my Alden Amos wheel, the flyer and favorite bobbin of which I just packed up and sent to him to have more bobbins made. What a lovely wheel.

The rose is my Mme. Isaac Perriere. So so fragrant, and yes, THAT screaming pink! I'd love to have it down here where I am writing about it, but haven't been able to figure out how to move pictures in Blogger. Besides, living in the the hinterlands, I can't TELL you what a strain dial-up is getting to be. We are being left in the dust!