Finally, the finished Cherry Blossom Shawl...



I haven't pinned it down yet. I don't have blocking wires or anything that I could use to make a perfect circle so I hope it doesn't turn out too lopsided. I'm relieved that it is finished, but I am somewhat disappointed in that the outer edges seem too tight to stretch out the way it should. Maybe after I work on it, it will be okay.

I've been trying to find the right scarf pattern for my MIL and it seems to be more work than I'm willing to put into it. Unless I find something soon, I won't have time to make it anyway. There are a number of other projects I would like to make. The Tilted Jacket in the Winter 04 IK is intriguing. I would need 2000 yards of yarn though, but I don't have that much of one color in my stash--and I really want to use up some of my stash. I guess I'll spend the afternoon deciding what I would love to knit next.

I bought some variegated sock yarn to make a scarf for my DS girlfriend, but I didn't like the looks of it so I ripped it out. Now I'm thinking about making a pair of socks with it. I haven't made any socks for a couple of years. I just joined a sock knitalong and am hoping to hear from some knitters who have knit pretty socks with variegated yarn. I don't want a boring stockinette sock or I probably won't finish it.

On another note, my three sisters and I took the train to Chicago Friday and returned Saturday night. We didn't have enough time to do the things we wanted to do and since I'm the only knitter we didn't go to any yarn shops--not that I need any more yarn anyway.

Knitter's Mag Winter 04 is supposed to be in the mail. I saw a photo of a lace scarf on their website that I hope will be a future knitting project--maybe the scarf I wanted to make for my MIL. If I'm going to make any Christmas presents, I will have to set aside everything I'm working on now or it won't be done in time.

Progress!


Finally, picked up the Cherry Blossom shawl again and have started on the edging. There is about 12 inches completed with a lot more to do. I should know better than put myself on a schedule to complete a project, I never get them done according to plan.

I'm doing some decluttering and I need a better system for organzing my knitting magazines. Right now they are in piles on the book shelf and I flip through them whenever I'm looking for a pattern. Because there are so many of them, I'm thinking about taking the oldest ones and putting them in a box in the closet. If I don't use them after one year then I will either sell them or give them away. My sister is a beginner knitter and I think she might like my old Family Circle Easy Knitting magazines.

I'm still working on my two shawls and haven't started any new projects. I'm starting to get itchy fingers though. Next month my three sisters and me are going to Chicago and I think I've talked them into going to a yarn store. I'll need to do a little research to find one that isn't too pricey and also has a good selection of books.

If you're still undecided about who to vote for in the Presidential election, Peaches has recently announced her candidacy. I can't imagine we'll ever have a better candidate to represent our fiber interests.

I have to confess, I've been reading rather than knitting. Well, I've been knitting a little, but not enough to show any progress. I just came back from the library with two more books, so it looks like the shawl and all my other projects waiting to be finished or started will have to wait a little longer

This is an unfinished sweater from last winter, it's the one that I really don't like the color. It's so close to completion that I really want to finish it--and who knows I might actually wear it. BUT there's one little problem...

This is a photo of the two sleeves side by side. As you can see I did my increases differently on each sleeve. The pattern didn't give very clear instructions about how to do the increases, and apparently I didn't think to look at the finished sleeve to see what I did. There are only 4 or 5 inches to rip out so I might as well get it over with.

It doesn't look like I've made much progress on the Cherry Blossom, but if I knit an hour each day, it will be done in about a week.



There is about six inches folded underneath that can't be seen because of the circular needles. In the process of taking the photo I lost slipped six stitches off the needle and I'm not looking forward to fixing it.

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.