Some progress has been made on my Cherry Blossom but not enough to see any difference in a photo.

Another shawl I've been working on doesn't look much different either, this is Crystal Blue Persuasion. Pardon the poor photo.

This is the cherry blossom shawl, it is on circular needles so I can't spread it out to it's full size. I still have quite abit to finish having just started Chart 3 and there are 12 repeats and over 300 stitches in each round.




Don't you hate it when you find a pattern and yarn that you like, put a lot of time into knitting it then try it on and it looks horrible on you? I have one sweater in an almost complete state but when I look at the color I think why in the world did I choose that color--I never wear that color. I was looking at the back cover of one of my Knitter's Magazines, I think it was a fashion show at one of their Stitches events. Anyway, some of the sweaters the knitters wore were just beautiful, but they weren't flattering to the people wearing them. I suppose that's the risk we take when we knit.

I still haven't gotten my computer fixed. I left it with my ISP in town and it was there a week but they still hadn't even looked at it, so I picked it up on Friday. Everything works fine except I can't surf the internet. In the meantime I can use AOL, so I subscribed for 3 free months, but you can use only 5 hours per month and then it's $1.95 per hour after that. I'm sure I'm over the 5 hours already just trying to find help over the internet to fix my surfing problem. Tomorrow I hope to take it to a real computer whiz to see if he can fix the problem.

I was in the JC Penney store yesterday and they had the cutest knit stole on display. It would be so easy to duplicate, I wish I would have scrutinized it a little bit more, though. I tried to find it on their website but could only find ponchos. Essentially it was knit in a bulky mohair type yarn, a short rectangle, (enough to wrap around your shoulders) then it was fastened with a buckle type fastener in front. Very cute. I have some Homespun at home and I just might give it a try.

I haven't posted in awhile, but haven't knit much either. I would post current pictures of my shawls except my computer isn't working right and I had to take it in to be looked at. It'll be a week before I get it back! If I'd known that I would have taken it somewhere else. For now I have to use the computer at the library. Maybe by the time I get my computer back I will have made some good progress to report.

Currently, I'm unsatiable when it comes to lace knitting, I want to read more about it, try more patterns, buy more yarn... I think I belong to every lace knitting list out there. Even though I rarely post, I'm learning a lot from everyone else. Wouldn't it be nice if someone put together a lace knitters gazette, something along the lines of Dawn Brocco's Heel and Toes Gazette. If I was a little more knowledgeable I would be attempting it myself.

I've been knitting the Cherry Blossom Shawl, it's an easy pattern. The Flower Basket Shawl might be next on my list, though I would like to try something more difficult--maybe the Rose of Sharon tea cloth--very pretty!

The 2nd border of Madli's shawl has to be kitchenered to the body.

I've never had to kitchener so many stitches before, it wasn't bad but probably took almost 2 hours.

After that I soaked it in water with a capful of Eucalan, spun it out in the washer, then pinned it out on the bed.

I considered keeping the sides straight rather than having the points, but I decided to try it and if I didn't like it, the next time I washed it I would leave it straight.

I weaved in the ends after I blocked it and she's ready to wear! It was a little breezy when I took the photo so I couldn't get the shawl to hang flat against the rail.



I estimated that I have over 40 hours knitting time. I used Jaggerspun Zephyr, color Admiral, knit with size 4 needle. Finished size is approximately 19 inches wide--from point to point and about 64 inches long.

Who would have thought a ball winder could be so exciting. Here's my first wound ball, some handspun Romney.



I was going to make a scarf for my MIL but this is a little too scratchy, so I've started a bobbin of Rambouillet. I really miss my sheep when I spin.

Madli is close to being finished, work got in the way of her completion. Plus, I misplaced the needle I was going to use to hold the stitches while I knit up the other border. I finally gave up looking and just put it on a stitch holder for now.

Today, I'm planting some strawberry plants so the border might not get finished today either.

Yesterday, I ordered a one pound cone of Zephyr Vanilla from WEBS. Apparently I will be making lots of shawls or lace! I can make approximately 4 shawls from one cone. I'm waiting for my fall issue of IK to arrive. There is a shawl in there that I would like to look at before I order another pattern. I really like the Lily of the Valley shawl in Knitters Summer 04, but I don't want to make another shawl with nupps (bobbles) right after finishing Madli, who also has nupps. Then I found another shawl called Cherry Blossom in an old IK that I would like to make.

For Christmas, I'm considering spinning some lace yarn and knitting a scarf for my MIL. I don't know if I can spin my yarn fine enough for lace, though. One more thing to put on my to do list.

I was gone all of last week so I didn't get Madli done, but I'm making good progess...



I'm on the 26th repeat--only 5 more to go then knit and kitchener the border. It doesn't look very long, but it has a lot of stretch to it. I'm wearing it to a wedding on September 4th.

While I was gone I worked on this shawl.



This is Crystal Blue Persuasion from a back issue of Knitters.
I'm using the handpainted yarn I purchased from Danette Taylor. I took this with me because the pattern was simple enough to memorize.

I'm at the point where it's time to find another shawl pattern. This morning I started going through all of my knitting magazines and have decided to make a list of all the shawl patterns I have so I don't have to leaf through every single magazine when I'm looking for a pattern.

Another project I might start is to crochet or knit edgings on hankies and give them to my nieces as part of their bridal shower gifts. I bought this from my BIL antique store.



I'm going to take the poem, Something old, something new and rework it so they know why I'm giving them a hankie.

My handpainted yarn arrived yesterday
 

 
It took me over an hour to wind this up by hand. I think there is over 1800 yards of lace weight yarn here. Maybe it's time to start thinking about a ball winder! The colors look much prettier after it is wound. I started a swatch but I didn't do something right so I have to start over.
 
Here's another photo of Madli's shawl.   
  
 

 
I stretched it out and pinned so as to get a better look at the pattern. If I knit three pattern repeats everyday it will be done in a little over a week. In reality, I know it's going to be more like 2-3 weeks before I finish it.
 
 

I haven't been posting, but I have been knitting.


This is the back of the entrelace sweater. I really like the way it's turning out. It's about 20 inches wide so I hope it isn't too large. The way the pattern is written it is difficult to change the pattern to reduce the size. I'm using size 2 needles which are smaller than those called for in the pattern.
This project was rudely interrupted when my Jaegger Zephyr came in the mail last Friday. I had to start Madli's shawl from Interweave Knits Summer 04

When stretched, it'll be about 19 inches across. The color is called Admiral,I'd call it royal blue.

Then for some reason I had the bright idea to try to handpaint some brown sheep nature spun that had been sitting around collecting dust.
It wasn't a success.

I think this will probably be socks--or felted into something.

After looking at some of the yarn on ebay, I decided to make a shawl from some handpainted yarn. I ordered this from Danette Taylor Designs.

She sells on ebay and I think her colorways are gorgeous. She'll do custom colors at your request. She says she doesn't keep her website up very well, but you can see some of her colors there, as well as her ebay store.

Add a few gray highlights and it'd be me!

I'm happy to report that my Violets by the River shawl has been completed.

It turned out as nice as I thought it would. From start to finish it took me about a week to knit. This was the only project I worked on, knitting 2-3 hours each day. As shawls go, I would say that it is small, but if someone is looking for immediate gratification this shawl is a good pattern to start with as it gives you the confidence to try something a little more challenging.

While I'm waiting for my yarn order to arrive, I've started a entrelac/lace sweater.

This is one of the sleeves, done in a mesh lace pattern. I have never done entrelac so only time will tell if I actually finish this one.

I'm almost done knitting my shawl. The directions say to knit the neck edge in garter stitch when knitting with silk yarn, rather than knit the honeybee pattern. I'm not sure of the reasoning for this, but that's where I'm at right now. Tomorrow I should be ready to block it.

I've already ordered some Zephyr from The Knitter. This yarn received rave reviews from some of the shawl knitters at the yahoo shawlknitters group. My next shawl will be Madli's shawl from Interweave Knits.

I underestimated the time it would take to finish up my projects. I did get this one done, though.


This is the bellflower tank from an old issue of Cast On Magazine. I used Lion Brand Microspun and it worked up nicely. Microspun does split quite a bit, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Then I started my Violets by the River shawl.


The lace weight yarn that came in the kit is 100% silk. I'm barely started, but I like it. The pattern is easy and a good beginner project for someone who would like to try lace knitting.

Yesterday I went to the mall for the first time since Christmas, and I saw a lot of ponchos. Most of them were very plain in a solid color stockinette. I didn't even look at the price tag. I have no future plans for knitting one, but ya never know if the right pattern comes along.

Despite the lack of posts, I have been busy knitting. In addition to the baby sweaters for charity, I've been trying to finish up my UFOs because I've ordered this shawl, Violets by the River, from Blackberry Ridge Woolen Mill. By the time it gets here I should have at least three projects finished and it will be a relief to have them done. So no photos today, but maybe tomorrow.

Can you believe that I've finished two baby surprise sweaters this week?

This pattern is terrific for using up yarn leftover from other projects. The only problem is that I don't have any yarn left for a hat or booties.

I was looking through a project bag that I haven't touched since last summer and found an unfinished baby surprise sweater. I also found a skein of Caron's Simple Soft variegated yarn that I bought for a baby sweater that was never started. Without buying any more yarn I think I have enough for at least five more baby sweaters. And that doesn't count the yarn from the unfinished baby afghan that may become sweaters instead.

That's good for the Cheyenne River Reservation, but now I have to finish up those UFOs I listed awhile back. My plan for now is to alternate UFOs with baby sweaters. Then I can satisfy my desire to start something new and still get some of my own projects completed.

Last night I started on the right front of the white cotton sweater. I hope to wear it this weekend over one of the tanks I knitted last month.

I've gotten sidetracked from my white sweater and started a baby surprise jacket. It all started when blogdogblog posted about the yahoo group knitbabysurprise.
I've made a couple of BSJs before but it's been a few years so I thought I'd use up some of my stash. Then I was wondering what I was going to do with it when it was finished and I found out about the Native American Support group. This wonderful group of people works to help the Native Americans at the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota.

I'm working on my second BSJ because the knitbabysurprise group is having a sweater drive over the next couple of months to support the Reservation and can use all the sweaters they can get. Maybe you could use up a little of your stash and send them a sweater or two.

Yesterday was a busy day. With all of the rain we had over the weekend the grass has just grown wild. I had to use the brush mower to cut some of the lawn and then rake it up and dump it on the garden. The flower beds needed weeding too, but I can only do so much of that before my hands get tired. So in between the yard work and knitting I made some soap.


I love homemade soap, but I don't make it fancy. For fragrance I used Milk Honey and Oatmeal in the first batch and Plum Spice in the second batch. It smells divine.

I'm making progress on my white sweater, too.