Seasons of Lace

Man, I haven’t posted since the beginning… It’s been the season of the kids out of school for me! LOL   Who knew that summer would be so busy?

But… I did finish my first ever lace project AND I’m entering it in the State Fair (and this is Texas, so that is HUGE!)  It doesn’t count for the Seasons of lace because I was more than halfway done when we started here… but I have to show it off.  This is my Little Princess modeling.  She wants to know when I will make her one! LOL

I’m also working on some lace socks, but I can’t show those yet because they are a secret swap gift.  I have to mail them Sept 1, so Ill post them after that.

I’m getting a late start on my project for SoL. It took me quite awhile to decide on a project because their are so many gorgeous ones out there. I finally have settled on Laminaria from Knitty’s Spring ‘08 issue. I’ll be swatching using Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in Tide Pool. I’m in the middle of another non-lace cardi project which I’m designing. It’s my first garment design and I’ve had to rip back a few times to get it right. I should be able to juggle them though as the cardi I’m doing is easy- mostly stockinette and I can multitask with it. The lace will be a challenge for my “serious knitting” time, which I’ll be finding more of. Can’t wait to get started and have some pics to contribute.

Hi everyone!  I had posted earlier that I was taking a lace class at my LYS and working on my very first lace item…and it’s finally done and looks GREAT, even if I do say so myself!  It’s a little longer than I had wanted it, but it’s a little tricky (at least for a newbie) to shorten a triangle vertically but keep the width horizontally; and I probably stretched it a wee bit too much when I blocked it.  This is the Flower Basket Shawl:

My Summer of Lace project will be the Melon Pattern Scarf from Victorian Lace Today; I’m doing it in a “copper pennies” color in 100% silk…I can’t wait!  I just started a new job on Monday after a 2-year hiatus and am pretty tired at night when I get home, so I won’t start casting on for the SOL until this weekend.  I’ll be sure to keep posting here with progress!

My “warm up knitting” is not finished and I promised myself that I would not cast on a new lace project until I had finished my friends wedding shawl. I can see the end in sight at least. If I am good and can finish 2 rounds a day for the next 16 days it will be finished in time for her wedding. The wedding shawl is Queen Anne’s Lace by MMario and is in silver silk from Colourmart UK. It is turning out very nice.

I am so wanting to cast on a lace project as I have some lovely handspun lace from Juliespins on Etsy that I want to make a small shawl from. I am torn between Swallowtail or the new design from Sivia Harding, Norwegian Woods. I am also thinking of knitting a doily in a thinner version of the silk I originally got for her wedding shawl.

This is it, ladies and gentlemen…

The warm ups are over. Tonight is the last night you’ll sleep before the Summer of 2008 has begun.

I’ve got yarn poised with needles and patterns, ready to be cast on tomorrow. I’ve got plans for all sorts of wonderful lace…..

I’ve unfinished lace projects that I’m pretty sure can’t count for anything at all — I’m pretty sure I’m more than half way through with Boing! I’m well past that with Willow. But that’s okay. I had fun warming up with you all while knitting on them. And I’m going to finish them this season whether they count for anything or not (not that I get to win, really, being the Prize Maven and all).

But someone gets to win today.

That’s because we have all these nifty prizes in our prize vault. And some of those prizes are just plain tired of waiting … .they want OUT! So I checked with my partners in glee, and we’ve decided that those of you who have participated from the beginning should get a chance at a little Warm Up Prize! As it turns out 80 of the over 200 registered members of Seasons of Lace posted during the Warm Up period. 3 of us are administrators, so we don’t count really. Well not for this anyway.

I sorted our list of Warm Up participants by the first date you posted — I had to sort it somehow, didn’t I? Then, I called upon the random number generator to pick me a number between 1 and 77.

Number 55 will be receiving two treats in the mail sometime soon:

First, a copy of Interweave’s wonderful Lace edition of Piecework

I’ve got this one myself. It got me to subscribe to Piecework no less! It’s got some yummy lace in there. Really.

And then, from Knit Foundry, a three-pack of Highlighter tape to help keep track of her place on the lace charts.

I’d implode without my highlighter tape. There’s just never enough….

What?

OH!

You want to know WHO number 55 is?

Ebonyr! YOU are our lucky Warm Up Winner! Congrats! You should get an email from me … just let me know where to send your goodies, and I’ll have them on their way!

I am quite pumped up for this KAL. I have been going lace crazy. I dug up some very old lace WiPs that I decided to finish. Here is Argosy.  Okay, I still need to block it and weave in the ends, but the knitting is done! Since it is ridiculously hot here in Florida, I am just proud that I sat down and knit a wool scarf.

I am so excited to cast on tomorrow. I haven’t got the yarn out of the hanks and I haven’t printed out the pattern for Seascape, but I am pumped! What can I say? I have delusions of grandeur that I will be able to finish this shawl in 2 or 3 weeks even though I have yet to finish a shawl (I tend to get bored around 3 inches into a shawl). I am determined to turn over a new leaf this summer! Okay, I am also excited about having something pretty to wear when I am at work, since the AC is super cold!

Here is my final warm-up project. It is sherri from Berroco. It turned out a little short no matter how many times I measured so now it’s more of a crop top. It makes me mad because I have another ball left so I had plenty of yarn. Maybe my daughter grew that much in the week it took me to make it.

PS. I modified the sleeves to have lace instead of garter stitch.

I am warming up with a Wedding Forest Canopy Shawl for my niece. I plan on using 660yds of Jagger 2/18 instead of the 440 Yds required to increase the size and will be adding beads to the border.

Two quick thoughts.
1) The latest prize(s) added to our vault: Interweave Press will be sending copies of its new Lace Issue of Piecework out to several lucky winners! I personally think that’s VERY cool!

2) Rules for competitions and Raffles: Please read them carefully
I notice that a number of you are signing up for both the Most Yardage Knit competition AND the Most Small Objects Knit competition. This is fine — as long as you keep in mind that you can’t use the same project for both competitions. If an item is in the small objects count, its yardage can’t be in the Yardage count.

I’m off to contemplate just how to add beads to lace mesh. That’s what’s next in my …. variation … of the Weeping Willow shawl (Two Old Bags wrote the original version).

My biggest problem with getting ready is that I keep changing my mind about what I want to do first :)  I want to enter both competitions so I guess I will just have to close my eyes and pick two patterns so I can decide on the yarn for each. I also need to figure out how to enter the two competiive contests. Off to look