Seasons of Lace

Here is my last lace project for the Season of Lace 2008.  The pattern is Upstairs (Rav link).  The yarn is Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in the Peppermint colorway.  I did four extra pattern repeats to increase the length.  The blocked measurements are 19″ x 60″.  I probably could have stretched it a bit more.  I’ve got more pictures on my Ravelry Project page.

This is most likely going to be the last lace item for this “Season”.  It is Upstairs by WollSchnegge.  I am using the English version of the pattern that is at Ravelry.

I started it Sept 3rd and have been knitting away on it to get it finished.  I’m not quite half way done.

The yarn is Knit Picks Alpaca Cloud in the Peppermint colorway.  I’m using size 5 needles.

Blog entry — Raverlry page

This stole reminded me of black olives while I was designing it so that is what I ended up calling it.  It starts with a provisional cast on.  Once the main knitting is done the lace edging is knit sideways on the working end, then unzip the provisional cast on and knit the border on the other side.  It was fun to design and to see it progress.  The blocking really did open everything up a bit more.  The yarn is Pisgah Yarn & Dyeing Co., Inc Article 2025, Rayon Petalspun in Black.  It was a 1680 yd cone.  I’m not exactly sure how much yarn I used…more than half….maybe 3/4’s of the cone.  I used size 5 (3.75mm) bamboo needles.  They were circular…it was what I had available at the time I started the project.

I put more pictures on my Ravelry project page.

So I’m noticing that some of you are actually producing gorgeous finished knits as opposed to simply casting on a ridiculous number of lovely lacy items to add to your WIP bin.  Hmmmm. 

Well, since I’m operating with a self-control deficiency, I’m fessing up with 2 more cast-ons.  First the Hedera Socks I started today. 

It’s a fun, addictive pattern… and I have a pretty good track record with socks so far this summer so I’m optimistic about these.

And here is the beginning of the Sea & Shells Stole I finally settled on for my DIC Baby.  The beauty of Dream in Color yarn really goes unnoticed until you begin to knit with it.  I just adore the rich variations in color and have great visions of it wrapped just so around my shoulders come winter. 

It’s just a good thing winter isn’t visiting So Cal any time soon.

I’d like to propose “Finish It Up Fall” as a follow up to this Season of Lace or I just may drown in a tangled web of lace and pointy needles.

I’ve finished my pretty japanese feather stole.  It’s celedon green, not white, and very lovely.

I’m making a little progress on the Mystery Shawl. I downloaded the final clue for the edging. That on is probably going to take a while since I have never done a knitted on lace edging. I’m thinking about frogging what little I have done on the yellow shawl I started. I’m not sure I want to devote the time to a second round shawl right now. I’m thinking that the yellow would look good on another shawl from the Wrapped in Comfort book. I know I will eventually do another round shawl using the Goddess Knits charts, just not right now.

I made some progress on my Arctic Diamonds stole too. I want to get a full pattern repeat done before I take another picture of it. But, it really is coming along nicely. The Diamond pattern is really starting to become visible. I’m very pleased with it.

I hope everyone is doing well!

~Happy Knitting~

After some tidying up of loose end projects around here I am jumping in to the Honeybee Shawl by Anne Hanson of Knitspot.  I’ve picked the beautiful lacewight cashmere “Sophia” from Poshyarn in the “Finch” colorway and it is a joy to work with.  The very subdued yellow dances through the green as I knit it on my patio.  I will be posting pics soon of my beginnings, but for now my yarn is on my Raverly stash page.

So it took me awhile to figure out how to turn the Laminaria shawl from knitty into a stole. It’s a complex pattern to start with, but I finally did figure out how to make it work and I made it through the first 8 rows. I’m working from the center out, so I started with a provisional cast on. It feels like a huge accomplishment just to have rewritten the pattern to make it a rectangle instead of a triangle! We’ll see how long this takes me.

Yay, finished Peacock Feathers from Fiddlesticks. Instead of the triangular shawl, I went with the stole version, using the original pattern as guide.

What a lovely fun knit.

This took me a little less than 4oz of zephyr, and a tad under 2 weeks to finish.  I knit this by provisional casting on 128 stitches, and then when done with the one side, picking up and knitting the other side. I also added clear #6 beads. Here’s a pic of the join.

There is a disaster associated with the stole. My two year old beautiful daughter somehow thought it was okay to play with the ball of yarn and proceeded to bite into it like an apple (sigh). She broke the yarn at the needle, and several places in the ball mess. Here’s that picture:

First things first. I amused myself over the weekend. Saturday morning I finished up clue 2 of my mystery shawl. I inserted another lifeline. This lifeline was much easier to insert with the circular needles. I was pretty proud of myself. I printed out clue 3 and proceeded to knit. I knew I was not going to get the third clue completed over the weekend, but I wanted to get as much done as I possible could. I got about three or four rounds into the clue and guess what I noticed!

Oh yeah! I inserted the lifeline through my stitch markers! Oh the humanity! I felt like such a newbie! I just shook my head and stared at it for about 5 minutes. I put the lifeline through all of the stitch markers! Clearly I was not thinking when I did this. I told my hubby about it, and his response was to cut the stitch markers! Gasp! NEVER! I ended up taking the lifeline out, but not before taking a picture to document my goof! Oh well. Maybe my next lifeline will go much better. LOL!

I’m not quite half way through the third clue. But I think this clue is going to be the one clue that I don’t have mistakes in. I am definately going to have to cast on another one of these shawls after I am done with this one.

 

I did make some progress on my Arctic Diamonds stole as well. I completed the first section of the chart. I am pleased to see the start of the diamond pattern on it.

I really think this one is going to turn out real good. I tried to knit the first row of the second section, but I attempted this while watch Jean Claud Van Dam in BloodSport. Yeah, I got through 2 of the chart repeats and decided that I am going to have to unknit them and redo them. Stitchs are off. LOL. Jean Claud is too much of a distraction apparently. 

I’m really excited to see how both projects are going to turn out. I probably won’t be able to tell much on the mystery shawl until after it is blocked. I’m really enjoying all the pictures everyone else is posting. Keep up the good knitting guys!

~~Happy Knitting!~~