Seasons of Lace

Oh holler! I have most of my yarn all rolled into balls, a few projects in mind and even more yarn on the way! I’m so excited for the season to start! Eeeee!!! :o)

So for my warm-up I’ve been working on the Le Dentelle Belle Scarf using Berroco SOX and size 7 needles. I’ve grown attached to circular needles lately. Maybe it’s because it’s easier to store away a project without fear that it’ll come off the ends of the needles, I’ll have a better chance at not poking my kids with the ends and it’s easier to nurse and knit at the same time. Anyways…this has been a great warm-up and an especially great first lace project. The pattern is simple to follow and after a few rounds, the middle part is practically memorized. Anyways, this is a picture of what I have so far. I think I’ve given myself enough time to finish Grandma’s birthday present considering it’s in September. ;o)

In any case. I’ve signed up for the Goddess Mystery Shawl KAL and I ordered my yarn today so hopefully it’ll all be here by the time it starts. I went with Knit Picks Gloss Lace in Pinot. Oooooh I can’t wait until it gets here! I just received my order of Shadow Lace in Vineyard. I’m actually planning on making my aunt the same scarf only in her favorite color, (Grandma loooooves blues and greens like these so I know she’ll at least like the color scheme), which would be purple. 

So patterns I have all set up to do are as follows…
Print O’ The Wave Stole
Juno Regina Stole
Woodland Shawl
Hemlock Ring Blanket

I’ll have plenty of nursing time and “mommy time” to make it threw all these. I may or may not switch out the Hemlock Ring Blanket with a different shawl….maybe the Swallowtail? I donno. I’ve been dying to make and wrap myself up in a big shawl. Maybe it’s all those Jane Austin movies I’ve been watching with Ma. In any case, I’ve also been attempting to start (and hopefully someday make it past the frogging and finish) Lucky; the clover lace wrap from Stitch N Bitch Nation. I think it’s the long needles I’m using…I’ll try starting it up with the circulars next time. Maybe I’ll just add that to the list…
….so many fun patterns…so little hours in the day to play with them. 

So when does the season start again? ;o) 

After I signed up for season of lace summer ‘08 I started working on picking out my lace projects and deciding on lace yarn. I got so excited about knitting all the lace that I just had to start a lace shawl projects to keep my sanity in check until June. I have been working the Bigfoot Shawl from the book “Wrapped in Comfort: Knitted Lace Shawls” by Alison Jeppson Hyde. I just love this book! Every pattern is just so beautiful, and there is atleast one pattern for every skill level. Being fairly new to lace weight yarn and shawls I decided to go with one of the easy skill levels. I’m around 50% complete on this shawl. I’m on the second of two hanks of Oregon Coast Heather from Knit Picks. This yarn is so pretty, and combining the yarn with the bigfoot pattern has been very successful! I am very pleased with the way it is turning out. I can’t wait to get it complete and blocked! I’m thinking that I might be able to finish up the shawl before the season of lace begins; I might be pushing it though. The pattern knits up pretty fast, the body is only a 4 row repeat. Here’s a link to a photo: Oregon Coast Bigfoot. I haven’t figured out how to get flickr to work with wordpress to insert photos as of yet. I’ll have to read up on that.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their warm up knitting, I know I am!

~Happy Knitting~

I knit lace all the time anyway so I posted a picture of my progress on my “International Shawl” at the Flicker site as a warm up.  This was the brain child of fleegle who got bored one day and suggested to four of us lace knitters to try and knit a shawl using 4 different types of lace patterns from four different countries. The center is a Niebling pattern from, Knitted Lace Designs Of The “Modern” Mode Book 2 by Naoko Ichida.  It’s called Chrysantheme.  The second lace pattern is a leaf design from an Estonian lace book called Pitsilised Koekirjad by Leili Reimann (# 114 page 49). I’m almost done with the leaves and then each knitter is supposed to come up with the last two patterns.  I think I’m going to try the Madeira and Diamond pattern from Sharon Millers Heirloom Knitting book (page 98) and then end with a different leaf edging from a Danish book called Knitted Lace by Sonja Esbensen and Anna Rasmussen ( page 73).   In addition to this warm-up lace, I went ahead and cast on a simple lace scarf that is also a free pattern on Ravelry.  The pattern is called “The Saigon Scarf” and is by Badcatdesigns.  I am knitting this on US 3 needles and using a handspun lace weight 2 ply yarn that I spun from batts I purchased from Spritely Goods. The fiber is a combination of merino/alpaca/firestar and angelina fibers for glitter in a colorway called Palo Verde.  I have posted pictures on the Flicker site of this as well. 

I signed up right away, but I’m finally getting my first post in. It’s been rather cloudy so I will try to link up some pictures later.

 I am warming up by finishing off the Syrian Shoulder Shawl from Victorian Lace Today. I have a few more repeats and the edging to do. I thought it would be mindless knitting, but it got rather boring after a while and has been hard to force to the end.

My que for projects to start as soon as June 21st rolls around is getting bigger by the day. I have three rather large and complicated projects to finish up, but I plan to throw in a healthy dose of small items to keep me motivated. Oh, baby’s up. Gotta go…

I’m warming up with Schaeffer’s:  Heather yarn and the lace sock pattern that you can buy with the yarn.  One sock down and one to go.  I’ve started and restarted Adamas in Knit Picks: Snorkel.  Having a little trouble but should be able to lick it after I’ve restarted several times (arghhh…).  Besides the sock I’ve only knit a lace scarf before in a simple pattern.  I enjoyed knitting it (after finally getting the pattern) immensly and am hoping to use the Seasons of Lace to:   learn more about lace knitting and getting some new projects done.

I’ve been spending a lot of time lately emailing complete strangers and asking them to give me yarn. Or patterns. Or discounts on yarn. Or stitch markers.

Really.

And these complete strangers have been saying yes! And I’ve been doing happy dances around the computer room, and then going to post about all this generosity on the Prize Page . Because, you see, all of this wonderful yarn, and all of these delicious patterns, and all of these marvelous stitch markers are prizes for the Summer of Lace competitions and contests and raffles. I’m thrilled beyond measure.

And not a little jealous of all the winners, because we have some fine loot coming in!

And as Prize Maven, I have been receiving all the lovely parcels containing prizes from individual members of the KAL. (Is that cool or what! It’s not just businesses, who can count the cost of these donations as advertising expenses, and who can reasonably expect that folks will buy more from them), but regular old folks who want to play and want it to be more fun for all!). I get to open yummy new yarn packages.

And sigh.

And pet the yarn.

And put it safely away where I won’t see, drool on, or be unable to resist the urge to swatch or cast on.

And log in here and update the happy Prize Page.

Since so many of these fine prizes were already on the Prize Page the day we opened the doors to welcome our members, I have so far resisted the urge to crow each time another donor or sponsor said yes. But ya know what? That’s silly!

You all should get to hear the news, and share the joy along with me! So….

I’ve decided to review the prize vault, and show off what’s in there right here on the blog.

Today, for example, I got a lovely email from Melanie Gibbons (PinkLemon ) of Pink Lemon Twist . I’d emailed her out of the blue a short while ago, asking if she’d like to sponsor this KAL. And ya know what she’s gonna do?? She’s going to give two of her patterns (winner’s choice) to not one, but three lucky Seasons of Lace winners!

She’s the latest one of the really talented pattern writers who have promised copies of their patterns for our Prize Vault. Among the other designers who are sharing their lacy genius with us are:

Laura of Fiber Dreams , who has promised one lucky winner the choice of one of any of her patterns. She’ll provide the pdf download once the winner has made her (or his) selection.

Andrea (ajurgrau ) of Bad Cat Designs has donated two of her lovely lace patterns, in the form of pdf downloads.

And… Anne Hanson, of KnitSpot has given us THREE $10.00 Gift Certificates to her pattern store.

Fiber Dancer’s Design Studio is providing a pdf of the pattern of one winner’s choice too.

The fun just goes on and on!

There are stitch markers, and gift certificates and yarn (lots of yarn) and knitting bags…. go check it all out on the Prize Page!

And don’t forget - members who donate prizes get extra chances for the Random Joy prizes….

June 21st seems like such a long time away! LOL!!! However, it will give me time to finish the Norwegian Lace Shawl currently on the needles and a few other WIPs. Thank you for the recent comments on my current lace!

I have three projects planned for our Seasons of Lace:
1. Swallowtail Shawl using Sea Silk
2. Laminaria using MiniMaiden
3. Foliage Shawl using ShiBui Merino Sock

Who knows what will evolve as the weeks go by!
Vicki

A straightforward pattern that I’m knitting in fingering weight, Socks that Rock mediumweight (Undertoe colorway). This is not meant for anyone/anything in particular, so I’m just puttering away on it between current deadline knitting. Easy and fun. Here it is on Flickr.

I also have a true laceweight shawl on the needles; a little farther along than in this picture, but I’m still on the set up rows; Wendy Johnson’s “Kay’s Diamond and Purls shawl” which I am test-knitting for size purposes, but said test knitting has been going woefully slowly.

So I don’t know if this will be a warm-up, or a SoL project (for Wendy’s sake, I hope I get farther than 40% by the beginning….) I am looking forward to dedicated lace knitting time on an upcoming trip late next week; it’s woefully lacking at my house sometimes.

Cathy-Cate

Hallo everybody,

My lace WIP right now is the Veil of Isis using an unknown cone of lace weight yarn found in flea market. I’m almost finished withe the 3rd of 5 repeats+border that I plan of. Since I only have this shawl and pomatomus sock on the needle right now, I hope it would be finished before 21st or maybe even before Goddes Knits Mystery Shawl started.

Hi, Everyone!

I am almost finished with my Norwegian Woods Scarf, by Sivia Harding. I am using laceweight from The Woolen Rabbit, in one of her new Spring colors called Iris.

Vicki