Seasons of Lace

I had decided to try to do a little on each project each day, now that they are getting bigger and are slower going. But I can’t do it. I don’t enjoy changing from project to project in one day. I prefer to get a rhythm going on one and make to visible progress. So then I decided to do one project at a time, so I could have at least one finished project, and I put aside a few of the projects. This lasted two days. I simply can’t leave any one of the projects alone. So my new strategy is to work on one project for one or two days, make progress, and move on to another, so I can touch each one and make visible progress on each every week. I hope I can stick with this plan. Of course it means I won’t have any interesting photos for at least a week. Oh well, I’ll just have to enjoy all of yours. They are lovely.

Oh and a note–the couple of days between working on any one project really helps to work out those nagging issues–just how will I work out that decrease, just which pattern will I add here? The brain keeps working on a project, even when the hands are taking a break.

So, I finally got around to taking (bad) pictures of my new WIPs.

First, the Diamond Lattice Scarf (from Victorian Lace Today, and I believe the pattern’s called something like Scarf with Open and Closed Diamonds).  I’m knitting this on size 5(US) instead of the recommended size 7s, so it’s far less lacy-looking than the original.

Then we have A Handsome Triangle, also from Victorian Lace Today (I love this book, but the pattern names need work)

And last but not least, a picture of my eternal WIP’s edging.  For a screw-up, I think it looks nice.  Now, if I could just get the darn thing big enough…

I found one lovely skein of Cherry Tree Hill merino boucle in the Birches colorway  half off at my LYS.  I cast on for a very simple yo, k2tog stole– there is too much going on with the boucle texture and the many colors (foggy blue, rose, lime, white) to do anything complex.

I’m also knitting Anne Hanson’s rivoli scarf with CP Mikado ribbon yarn,  it’s got a great feel, and the pattern is lovely.

And I just received a bag of jubilee in Olive Branch to make her Totally Autumn throw for my son and DIL.  Must get busy!

Pictures later.

I cast on the Campanula mitts for my sister using the rest of the Pagewood Farms Yukon from my Spring Forward socks. She’s not much of a lace gal so I hope she will like these.

Now that “Whichy” has finally solve my password problem (THANK YOU), I’m having fun posting this afternoon!  This year, I joined the All Raveled Up Sock group and purchased a year’s worth of very cool sock yarn, coming one month at a time, from Blue Hands Fiber. The owner/dye-er Tonk donated part of the proceedsd to Ravelry (way cool!) and is naming the sock yarns–so far I have three yarns–Mascot (named for Bob), CodeMonkey, and Mama Rav, two of which are just sitting in my stash, calling to me. But I cast-on Mascot to make Judy-Bob Mascot socks, shown here. Finished the first one this weekend and cast-on the second–not colors I would normally chose, but hey, I think they’re pretty neat!

Although I intended (still intend) to knit the Candle Flame Shawl (for which I’ve had the pattern and yarn for more than two years), I’m stuck on knitting lace scarves (and my Monkey socks, off and on). Here are my first three completed projects–two are made with KnitPicks yarn from their “wine” lace sampler (my Clematis and my Delica), and one is made from a  novelty yarn I bought when I flew to San Jose (my SnowWhite). I have yet another scarf from the sampler on my needles.

Clematis, the one I started to knit on my trip to San Jose:

Delica detail:

SnowWhite:

I’ve started a second Swallowtail–I made one this spring, in fingering weight yarn, and decided I’d like to make one in lace weight.  I’m using Posh Yarn Sophia, which is a pure, lush, and wickedly delicious cashmere:

In a shocking pink.  There’s some slight variegation in the color, but I didn’t manage to pick it up with the camera.

I managed to get 9 repeats done–I started last night because I needed something relatively easy to knit while I was administering a mid-term.  (Of course, now I need to grade the midterms rather than knit, alas alack!)  I’m knitting it on US size 3 needles–I tend to knit loosely, so I’ve gone down a size.  I’m hoping that, between the smaller needles, and the plan to use beads rather than nupps, I can squeeze in an extra few repeats and make the shawl a little bit bigger.

Well someone had to follow that gorgeous shawl! Feel kinda silly, but here’s my quick little knit

Just a few shots now it’s dry. I’ve already packed it and I’m off to mail it to the woman who retired.  I have one more skein of this yarn and I’m going to knit myself something that I will keep this time.  Re-Cap-

International Shawl

Four women participated in planning this shawl. missalicefaye, fleegle, yorksett and myself. I can’t remember who started it but I think it was fleegle. Via E-mail we discussed different patterns and came up with the center and tentative patterns for the border. I can only talk about what I used since I’m the only one to finish so far. fleegle started hers in a different yarn/color but it’s on hold for now. yorksett did not “feel the love” and I know missalicefaye is hip deep in the Princess Shawl and school. For what it’s worth, here is what I did.

Yarn: Black Bunny Fibers superfine alpaca lace weight yarn custom dyed in a semi-solid teal color. Needles US 0 needles

Center pattern: “Chrysantheme” German Niebling pattern but in a Japanese knitting book, “Knitted Lace Designs OF The ‘Modern’ Mode” Book 2 by Naoko Ichida. (up to row 53)This book comes with a stitch key in English.

Border:I placed stitch markers in the corners and selected one stitch as a center corner stitch. I increased on the plain knit row on either side of this stitch to make the corners. As my stitches in the corners increased, I extended the patterns to fill in those spaces. No system. Just eye-balled it.

First set of leaves in the border : Estonianleaf pattern, page 49, chart # 114 from the book “Pitsilised Koekirjad” by Leili Reimann (as many times as you want to make the border as deep as you want with the understanding that there is one more border pattern to go) Stitch key in English available on the internet.

Second border pattern : Shetland Lace pattern, Madeira and Diamond Chart on page 90 of “Heirloom Knitting” by Sharon Miller (as much as you want until you like how it looks)

Edging: Danish edge pattern from a doily page 74 “Rosa” pattern from “Knitted Lace” by Sonja Esbensen and Anna Rasmussen. Unlike some edges, this one is knit directly on the needles with a crochet cast-off at the end to finish.

I finally finished the Seaweed Prince socks. They seemed to take forever. You can hardly see the lace even though the whole sock is lace! This yarn is very soft and nice, but it is not tightly spun so I’ll have to see how it wears.

Pattern- Seaweed socks by Wendy Johnson

Yarn- Knit Pick’s Imagination, Frog Prince 300 yds.