Little knitting

Found this on Ravelry this morning. Good fast project, I can use leftover alpaca from previous cardigans, shawls and scarves I have knit. Started it right off:



Smarty pants that I am, I decided to use a modified applied I cord method on the the edge stitches, but am knitting them on as I go, with a width of 3 stitches on each side. I forgot that this really ends up being essentially all slipstitched every other row, so now the middle section with the argyle features is really "poofing" up. I will have to decide what to do, it is sorta interesting.
The other day I saw another item on Ravelry , and was inspired. So - I spent some time with my Walker books, found a suitable lace edging altered it a bit and graphed it:


I used the "Double Edging" on page 375 of her second book, got rid of the middle and smaller lace section and decreased repetions to 24 from 30 to make the actual design a comfortable "scarf" size. I also added my favoirte "YO, K2tog" loopy edge to each right side.

I had to change some of the K2togs to SSK to make the scarf lie flatter and have more of an equal pattern on both sides. And, as indicated by the two pink lines in the middle of the pattern, I decided to have a gradation of triangle sizes (1 small, 3 middle sized), though to the main part will be all large size. Easy pattern to get in the swing of. The yarn is heavenly, "Mountain Goat" by Mountain Colors out of Corvallis MT. It is a 100 gm. skein of "Winter Sky" in a worsted wt. I am using size 8 needles and plan to use the whole thing!

















The color is absolutely fabulous, and the slight sheen from the mohair seems to deepen the depth of the colors.

Here is a pair of pre-felting "Felted Clogs", lying atop the wonderful suede I bought on eBay for soles. It is wonderful heavy suede, all one needs is the patience to punch the holes. I have made many many pairs of these clogs, and the suede bottoms really do make them more functional. These are you the Mensa scholarship auction in May.
But I am happiest that I am gradually cutting down my spinning stash. And using the old Ashford with the bulky head. I really tried to use my Schacht Matchless to spin bulky yarn, but the Ashford is simply easier, with much less frustration. For all the bobbins/whorls I own for the Matchless, it really seems (for me) to have a limited range of yarns spun to my satisfaction.

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!