An FO, finally!

It feels like a long time since I've finished anything. Well, today I have a finished object to share with you. Evelyn A. Clark's Swallowtail Shawl is off the needles.

And for the sake of comparison, here is the shawl before blocking...

I tried, intentionally, to take these sets of pictures in the same position and the same detail just to show what a difference blocking makes. I know that those of you who knit lace know that blocking is what brings your lace to life; it's just such a dramatic difference!

The project details: I started this shawl on May 4 (thanks to notes on Ravelry!) and finished it on May 17... that's just shy of two weeks from start to finish. In other words, it wasn't a difficult pattern. I used Fleece Artist Merino, 100% wool, 26 st/4" on 4.0 mm (US 6) Knitpicks Options circular needle. The shawl blocked out to 49" x 25", not a large shawl, but the perfect size for a shoulder shawl/scarf.

The one thing I can't tell you about this yarn is the colourway number. It didn't have one. It is hand-dyed, that's all I know.

I will definitely knit this pattern again, with a few changes. First, I won't be doing the nupps on the next one. I'd like to knit it in a lily of the valley green (already ordered), using pearly beads in the lily of the valley border, mimicking the look of the actual flower. I think that would look really pretty. I would also make it bigger, working more repeats of the main "bud" section. As long as you begin the border section with a multiple of 10 in the actual shawl section (excluding the first and last 2 edge stitches), the pattern will work. Speaking of the first and last edge stitches, I started the shawl with 3 edge stitches rather than 2, the only change I made to this shawl.

Now, it's time to enjoy the remainder of this long weekend... a much needed and appreciated break!

P.S. I almost forgot! For the time being, my free patterns are unavailable. MediaMax has decided to do a name change and a move and, because I have the free membership, deleted all my files. I do have them all here, on a disk, but I will need some time to upload them all and get the posts back up again. I think I'll use the webspace provided by my cable company to set up a web page of my own rather than using Blogger for the free patterns, once I have time to get it all up and running. I will happen, but not today. In the meantime, if there are any patterns you'd like, please feel free to email me and ask.

Spring Rains and Swallowtails

Last week, we had gorgeous weather. Today, it's gray and yucky. A perfect knitting day, for sure!

I've been doing a few rows here and there on the Swallowtail shawl; I've now completed the main body of the shawl and have also gotten through the first Lily of the Valley chart. That leaves one repeat of the second Lily of the Valley chart (12 rows) and the edging chart.

I was surprised to find out that I really hadn't read the pattern very carefully before starting; it contains nupps. I don't like nupps. At least, I didn't like nupps in laceweight yarn.

The arrows are pointing at some of the nupps. In this yarn, I don't mind them at all. As long as I make the increased stitches rather loosely, I don't have too much difficulty in purling the 5 stitches together on the wrong side. Using Knitpicks Options needles helps, too. Have I mentioned how much I love my Options needles? So far, they are THE best for lace knitting, even better than the Addi Lace needles, which make my fingers smell like copper, not to mention the price. I really, really want to get more of the KP needles!

While grazing through some Ravelry discussions this morning, I came across one that was discussing preferred colours for lace knitting. If you had asked me that question two weeks ago, I would have said that I preferred lighter colours for lace, colours that reflect nature. One of my favourite shawls is in autumn shades, copper, green, gold; another fave is a natural white. The Swallowtail shawl, in it's gorgeous jewel tones, is really wowing me. The colours are vibrant, strong. And I love how it's working up into this shawl.

The pattern... it isn't a difficult pattern. The nupps are the most difficult part of the entire pattern (so far, and I don't anticipate anything more daunting than the nupps), so I would heartily recommend the pattern for anyone wanting a fun, not too challenging shawl pattern.

May, and Finally Spring

Yup, spring has finally arrived in the Okanagan. The weather's gorgeous again today, sunny, with a promise of warm. It's the perfect day to start a lace-knitting class. And, that is exactly what I'm doing today. No, I'm not taking the class, I'll be teaching it. As always, when I start a class, I'm terrified. I know it will be fine once I get there, but I'm always nervous and anxious before the class starts. I just keep telling myself that, really, all I'm doing is sharing something I love, and that is never a difficult thing to do.

Because I'll be leading this class, I've been doing some casting on.

This little bit of knitting will eventually be the "Fundamentals of Lace Scarf", graciously shared with me by Colette Simon. Colette designed this scarf to introduce knitters to some of the fundamentals of lace knitting, such as provisional cast-on, directional decreases, yarn overs before and after purl stitches and knitted on edgings. All in all, a good intro to lace. To be honest, I'm not sure I'll be using the pattern in the class; it will depend on the skill levels of the students, 5 of them, if I'm not mistaken.

I did, however, decide to take this bit of knitting with me in order to show them the method of provisional cast-on that I prefer... the crochet cast-on. If they decide they'd like to try this scarf, great; if not, we'll find another project.

The past couple of weeks, and this week in particular, have found me a little restless in my knitting. I've been doing a lot of casting on and frogging. Remember the Ene Scarf? Frogged. Another lace project was started and frogged. Yesterday, though, I cast on for a project that I don't think will end up in the frog pond.

Any of you who are signed up with IK's Knitting Daily will recognize the ubiquitous Swallowtail Shawl, by Evelyn A. Clark. I tend to resist patterns that everyone else is knitting, but for some reason the pattern and the yarn just seemed to be attracted to each other. I had started the shawl in a different yarn, but it just wasn't working. So far, this is a perfect match. The knitting is flowing well, the pattern is easy to remember and I'm loving it.

I made one small change to the pattern as written: the pattern begins with two stitches that are cast on to a crochet chain, then, when 6 rows have been knit, 3 stitches and the provisional stitches are picked up. I had a bear of a time trying to pick up from 2 stitches, so I cast on 3. Once I get to the edging, I'll have to knit 2 together at each edge in order to have the correct number of stitches, but I don't think that will be a big deal. It just made the beginning a little easier for me.

This piece of knitting will also come with me to the class today, to demonstrate how the shawl begins, at the neck edge. I'll also be taking my Evolution Shawl (Emily Ocker's circular cast-on) and the Pi Are Square shawl, to demonstrate the knitted on edging.

It's a lovely day here and it's time for me to enjoy it, now that I seem to be over the worst of this head cold.

With My Apologies

I generally try to post at least once per week. Last week, I didn't. I made the decision to head to Abbotsford for my ex mother-in-law's funeral. On Saturday morning, I boarded the bus and returned on Tuesday evening. By Wednesday morning, I realized I'd caught a cold (thanks to one of the girls at work, I think) and today, I'm home with a sinus headache. That's it for the whining!

I'm glad I chose to attend the funeral. It was an opportunity to say my own goodbyes and to see a lot of family (on the in-law side) that I hadn't seen in ten years (it will be ten years ago this August that I left my husband). I also got a chance to get together with children and grandchildren, as well as a great visit with my Dad. The day Mom took me there, he was very lucid, recognized me and, once his hearing aids had fresh batteries, we even had a conversation. (He liked my alpaca shawl.)

I thought I would share one picture with you; my daughter and I were going through some pictures and we came across one that I really liked, so I took a picture of it.

This was Oma. She loved to have the kids over and babysat them every Friday for a lot of years while my husband and I were janitors of our church. Even after we left that position, she loved having them over at least once a week; she felt that if she did that, they would remember her after she was gone. They'll never forget her.

That picture was taken over 20 years ago; my son will be turning 32 on May 6. She would have been in her mid to late 70's at the time.

Because I was taking the bus, I needed something to do. The projects I've got on the go right now are either too big or needing too much concentration (read that as lace) to take on a bus trip; I needed something relatively mindless. To that end, I took along a ball of sock yarn and a set of 2.25 mm (US 1) dpns and cast on for a pair of socks shortly after leaving Kelowna. By the time I got to Abbotsford, I had about 4" of cuff on my needles (incidentally, the bus was an hour late getting in to Abbotsford).

That's what it looked like. That, however, is not the sock I was working on. I started the above sock on the return trip because this is what the sock looked like by the time I got on the bus for the return trip...

So, now I just have to finish the second sock, and because it's already this far I don't think second sock syndrome will become a factor. It feels good to have another pair of socks almost off the needles. I have one pair that's becoming a little thin at the toes, so I figured I needed another pair. Besides, even though the weather's warming up, I still like to wear my wool socks with my Birkenstocks... at least, until the weather's warm enough for bare toes.

Now, I'm off to pamper myself.

April 23, 2008

Today is my granddaughter’s 4th birthday. Today, my ex-mother-in-law died.

Aaltje Stolte, formerly Den Uyl, nee Westerhuis, born on April 11, 1911, in the Netherlands, was 97 years old and lived on her own until about two weeks ago.

She was a strong woman, a woman who made her own way through life. Her way was the only way, the right way, and no one could tell her otherwise. She was, at times, my nemesis and my inspiration. She was a part of my daily life for about 25 years.

To her, a clean home was the most important part of being a wife and mother. There were times I hated her and, at the same time I wished I could have been more like her. She was married twice, first to the father of her only child, my ex-husband. He died when my ex was just a small child. She married again when he was about 16 years old, emigrating to Canada to marry her second husband. She never expected to see grandchildren of her own and was grateful to have three of them. She loved them dearly and babysat them every week for a lot of years. At her death, she even had six great grandchildren.

There are stories I could tell about her, but none of it is important now. She was courageous; she was strong; she was stubborn; she was hardworking; she loved on her own terms. She was my mother-in-law.

April 23, 2008, Trinity Eliana Renee’s 4th Birthday and Aaltje Stolte’s last day on this earth. She is at rest in the arms of her God; I’m thankful she died a peaceful death. And I’m thankful I knew her.

It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like ... Christmas?????

This is what we woke up to today... April 19!!! Snow!!! Apparently an arctic cold front swept down and dropped this on us. And to think that earlier this week, I walked home from work in short sleeves!

Knitting this week has been minimal again, but with the snow may come the urge to work on something cozy again.

Yesterday was a strange day; at least, it was for John. On his bike ride to work, he fell. It seems he cracked a rib, hit his knee pretty hard and skinned the knuckles on one hand. He'll be alright, but is in more pain than he usually is. I'm thankful he wasn't more seriously hurt.

After he got home, he went across the street to the grocery store to pick up a few things for dinner. He came home with the fixings for our feast (potato, broccoli and steak) for under $5.

Why am I telling you about our dinner? Well, someone made a mistake... check this out.



That's how much steak was in the package. Two lovely top sirloin steaks. John said that other packages with a similar amount of steak were up to $16.

$3.00! This was, apparently, the only package priced wrong and, of course, they have to give it to you for the labelled price. And, in all honesty, there's enough steak there for two meals for us. I like steak, but I didn't even eat half of mine! All for $3.00!!

Melons, Melons, Who's Got Melons?

That title is a little misleading, perhaps. The melons I'm referring to are these...

I decided to test some of the thrift store yarn I picked up last week and, after some careful consideration, chose to try the Melon Scarf pattern from Victorian Lace Today. As I've already written, I have no idea what this yarn is other than the fact that it's wool. And how do I know that? Well, I did the burn test.

What's that, you ask? Well, you take a little piece of the yarn and burn it. If it melts and doesn't flame, it's acrylic. If it burns (in this case, quickly!) and smells like burnt hair, it's wool. This burned very quickly (had to drop it into the sink because it would have burned my fingers) and smelled like burnt hair, so it's wool.

I'm using 3.5 mm needles (no idea what that is in US sizing). This wool isn't the softest, but I'm hoping it will soften up during the washing/blocking process. Originally, I just wanted to see how this yarn worked up, but I really like the stitch pattern with the yarn and the colour, so I'll keep going with it. I'm in no rush to finish it, so if I don't feel like working on it for weeks at a time, that's okay. No pressure.

Cookies

This is what I did yesterday. From left to right, Apricot Oatmeal Drops, Lemonade Drops, and Ginger Cookies.

Because Kristen (my daughter) said they sounded good, here are all three recipes for your enjoyment. (And John loved coming home to fresh baked cookies)

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Apricot Oatmeal Drops

3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 tbsp. water
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Heat oven to 325F. Lightly grease cookie sheets. In large bowl, beat brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add water, vanilla, and egg; blend well. Stir in oats, flour, baking soda and salt; mix well. Fold in apricots and nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake at 325F for 10-15 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen.

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Lemonade Drops

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed, reserving 3 tbsp.
Sugar

In large bowl, combine sugar, butter, shortening and eggs; beat well. In small bowl, combine flour, soda and salt. Alternately add dry ingredients and lemonade concentrate to sugar mixture, mixing well after each addition. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake at 375F for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove cookies from cookie sheets; place on wire racks. Brush with reserved lemonade concentrate and sprinkle lightly with sugar. Cool. Makes about 5 dozen.

(These cookies are somewhat "cakey" in texture.)

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Ginger Cookies

2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups butter
1/2 cup molasses
2 eggs
4 1/2 cups flour
3 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. cloves
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
Sugar

In large bowl, beat sugar, butter, molasses and eggs until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, ginger and nutmeg. Mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls; roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8-12 minutes, or until set. (Cookies will puff up and flatten during baking.) Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Makes about 10 dozen.

Enjoy!

And Here in the Okanagan...

...it's a gorgeous day! The sun is shining; the girls are out in their mini dresses; it could be summer. At least, that's how it is today; it's supposed to get chilly again this coming week. That's ok, I'm enjoying it while it's here.

So what am I doing? Baking cookies. Some way to enjoy a nice sunny day, isn't it? I don't mind, though. I haven't baked in a long time and when the urge hits, you go with it. John will be happy. (Me, I don't eat much in the way of sweets.. I'd rather sit down with a bag of potato chips or Cheetos.)

Knitting has been minimal this past week. I guess with me recuperating from the cold I had last weekend is to blame. One night, I even fell asleep on the sofa by 8:00 p.m. Yikes! I did work on Ene's scarf a little bit. I'm on Chart 3 now and just realized this morning that I'll be working that chart a total of five times. And here I thought I was about half way! Silly me!

I still haven't got that part of the pattern memorized, even though it isn't difficult. I'm very happy with how it's turning out; the alpaca is so lovely to work with.

This week, though little knitting was accomplished, my stash grew somewhat. Robbyn (her blog can be found here) dyed some KnitPicks Alpaca laceweight in a colour called Pigeon's Blood. Sounds appetizing, doesn't it? The colour, though, is incredible! Well, she decided that the yarn had my name written all over it and gifted me with it. I'm thrilled and grateful; it truly is a gorgeous colour and the picture doesn't do it justice.

I didn't do too badly in photographing the yarn, but the colour is a little deeper, darker and the blue in it really sets it off. Now, I need to find a pattern that screams for this yarn. I want the yarn and the pattern to be perfect for each other. In the meantime, I'll just keep fondling the yarn.

As well, I dropped in at the thrift store that's in the same complex as the print shop I work in. It's rare that I find any yarn that I like, but this time was different. Someone had dropped off a bunch of lace weight odds and ends, probably left over from machine knitting. Here's some of what I bought...

The rest is at work. I didn't want John to be overwhelmed by my yarn purchase. All told, I spent about $10 and probably have another basket full of odds and ends. It was all in separate bags, each marked at $1 to $1.75. In all, I think there are about eight different colours. I'm thinking of re-doing the Icelandic Shawl with a variety of colours. It could be quite effective, don't you think? (Incidentally, see the basket? I made it; it's the only basket I've ever made and I love it!)

The clock is telling me that the dough for the ginger cookies is ready to be rolled into balls and baked now, so I'm off again. Enjoy your weekend! I hope it's as nice where you are as it is here.

Never Nothing On My Needles

So, the Drops shawl is finished and is being enjoyed by both John and myself. Because the needle was empty, I had to cast on for another lacy project. There's one project that has been a challenge to me from the first time I saw it.

Ene's Scarf from Scarf Style.

I've cast on for it a few times. 375 stitches. I've frogged it as many times. For some reason, I could NOT get the beginning to work. I put the book away.

This week, I've been home sick for two days with a cold (and a reaction to the meds I was taking.. ugh! I am getting better, don't you worry!) and I decided to cast on (again) for Ene's Scarf. I'm using Drops Alpaca, a lovely soft yarn, in a natural brown shade. I got the stitch count correct. I did Row 1... correctly. Row 2 went just fine. Then, on Row 3, something didn't work. I couldn't figure out what was going on, so I frogged it and started again.

After casting on and frogging twice, I decided to take the chart and knit it up in another yarn, exactly as charted, with no repeats of the pattern, just to see if I could figure out how it all fit together.

I got the entire chart 1 finished and I knew what I'd been doing wrong. See the arrows? Those are double decreases. On the chart, each repeat starts with a double decrease. In my drug induced haze, I didn't realize that each double decrease takes a stitch from either side of a center stitch. The center stitch was the first stitch of the repeat, not the first of the three stitches used in a center decrease. Make sense??

Incidentally, the mini shawl will be completed as just that, a mini shawl. I may as well make something for the LPP (Little Plastic Person... see a couple of posts back), right?

Once I got that figured out, the rest was simple!

This is after Row 2, with markers marking each center stitch of the double decreases. After a while, they were so recognizable that I no longer needed them and they were removed. This morning, I finished Chart 1. Here's how it looks so far...

This yarn, like the alpaca I used for the Drops shawl is a joy to work with. It's so soft and warm, positively cuddly! I'm using 4.0 mm (US 6?) Knitpicks circs. The pattern calls for a knitted cast on using a double strand of yarn, but I used a crochet cast on with a single strand. I just like how it looks, more like a cast off edge, with enough stretch for blocking the points.

I'm having fun with this shawl; everything else I should be finishing has been pushed aside. As I said earlier, this is one pattern I've wanted to do for a long time; now is the right time apparently.

Drops Shaw with leaf pattern in Alpaca

"-A late afternoon by the ocean. Lay a pretty lace knitted shawl in soft warm Alpaca around your shoulders"

So begins the pattern, Drops number 98-21.

It was released from my office floor this morning, where it had lain, pinned to the floor all night. Here's how it ended...

... and it's life as a shawl begins.

The details: the pattern is Drops #98-21, a free pattern available at garnstudio.com. I used 100% fingering weight local alpaca, a gift from a very generous friend, on 4.5 mm (US 6?) needles. The shawl took about three weeks to finish, so, all in all, a quick, easy, and very pretty knit (at least, I think so). The pattern, because it's translated into English, isn't always the clearest, but really isn't a difficult one at all. The pattern calls for a crochet edge all around, but I chose not to add it. I don't think it needs it and if, in the future I feel it becomes necessary, I still have yarn to do it.

Thank you, Margie! I will treasure this shawl for a long time to come, I'm sure (if I can pry it off of John's shoulders... he is appreciating the warmth of alpaca on his very achy shoulders right now... some kind of man, huh? Do you think shawls for men will ever come into vogue? I have a feeling John would be one of the first in line to wear one!).

FO!

I wonder what THAT could be, besides one ugly sun-bleached towel that was used as a chair cover? A clue? You'd like a clue? Maybe this will help.

I'm sure that by now you've realized that the alpaca shawl is finished and that it's hiding beneath a damp towel for blocking. Good guessing! I pinned it out dry, misted it with water, then applied a wet (damp) towel; once dry and unpinned, I'll post another picture, just to give you a better idea of what the shawl really looks like. In the meantime, here's how it looked pre-blocked...

Margie stopped by the print shop this week with another ball of alpaca for me. I wasn't in much of a mood for knitting that night, but I did finish it the following evening and have had it wrapped around me every evening since. Alpaca is so warm and cozy! I can already tell that I'll get a lot of use out of this shawl. And this is what's left of the yarn...



Yes, I have started something with the remainder. I won't tell you what it is just yet; for one thing, I haven't exactly decided. All I'll say is that I've cast on 64 stitches on 2.25 mm needles and am working 1x1 rib. For now, this project is a mystery project. And that's all I'll say on that matter.

On another matter, allow me to introduce a new member to my (knitting) family.

I have quite a few ideas for sweaters floating around in my mind, some of them already on paper, but I have no intention of knitting every single one of them, especially not in adult sizes. That would be a LOT of knitting and a lot of time. I've read numerous suggestions by other knitters that recommend knitting child-sized or doll-sized versions of sweater designs. I like that idea, so today, on my walkabout, I stopped in at the thrift store just down the way from us (not even a block away) and found this little plastic person. For $3.00, I have myself a model. Hopefully, you'll be seeing more of this LPP (little plastic person) in the not-too-distant future.

Having this LPP in my home also ensures that, when my granddaughters come to visit, there will be at least one toy for them to play with. That's always a good thing!

Orkney Pi Anyone?

Orkney Pi
Originally uploaded by Strings 'n Things

Just a short post today.

I'm a member in a number of Yahoo groups. One of them is EZasPi; that group is currently in the middle of a knitalong for the Orkney Pi Shawl. The shawl is designed by Liz Lovick, a knitter and designer who lives in the Orkneys and incorporates traditional Orkney designs in a pi shawl, Elizabeth Zimmermann's design.

This little bit of knitting already has history, beyond the stitches used. It's my second attempt. It isn't that it's a difficult pattern; it isn't. I started it yesterday, using Skacel's Merino Lace, on 2.5 mm (US 2) needles. I was almost at the point I'm at in this picture when I encountered a break in the yarn. After finding the other end of the break, and giving it a tug, I found another break. And another break. Do you see where this is going?

When I picked up the ball of yarn, I realized that something had decided that this particular ball of yarn was a delectable buffet. The entire ball of yarn was nothing but pieces! Immediately, the work in progress was freed from the needles and it, with the entire ball of yarn, was trashed... filed in the circular file. And then I went back to my stash to check the rest of it.

I haven't seen any other evidence of little nibbles, so I'm not too worried. I'm thinking that this yarn had been in the same spot as my Icarus shawl (remember the holes in my completed shawl??). I know I had played with the Merino Lace at about the same time.

Anyway, this yarn is Hemp for Knitting laceweight yarn. This is the yarn I was using to make elann's Luna Moth shawl; the one that I dropped 40 or so stitches from. Once again, I'm using 2.5 mm needles. I do like how it's knitting up. Even though it's supposed to be a shawl (Liz has written that her completed shawl measures over 7 feet across!), this one will be a fair bit smaller, probably just the right size to fit on my glass coffee table. It will also look stunning as a centerpiece on my antique oak dining room table.

The arrow you see in the upper left hand corner points to the first of the traditional stitch patterns, the cat's paw. I'm finding this, like my Evolution Shawl, a fun project. I think I could become obsessive about it, as I did with my pi shawl.

Now, back to knitting and the next section... horseshoe lace.

Titleless

Sometimes it's difficult to come up with a title; today, I'm not coming up with one. So there!

I did more knitting yesterday; I won't have enough yarn. I would have had if I hadn't looked at the pattern to make sure I was at the end. It seems the shawl requires a full repeat of the leaf pattern before doing the edging, which is just a basic garter stitch edging, really. I was thinking I'd finished the repeat; I was only half way through. And so, I don't. However, I did get an email from the dear friend who gave me the yarn and she has more, so I won't have to frog back to the lifeline. I love my friends!

Yesterday was a very nice, relaxing kind of day. John got home at about 2:30 (he's working again today), and by that time I'd baked a Swedish Tea Ring, something I haven't baked in a lot of years. Basically, it's a sweet bread, stuffed with cinnamon, brown sugar, raisins and nuts. John loved it!

After he got home, we did some grocery shopping, then just relaxed. I cooked us a lovely meal of pork chops, mashed potatoes and peas; John had his spicy apple sauce (he added cinnamon, nutmeg and cayenne to it... not quite to my liking) and then we did nothing but watch tv and go to bed early. As I said, relaxing.

Today, again, I have time for myself (I could get used to this). I didn't really feel like baking, but I did feel like doing something creative in the kitchen. While we were in Gibsons, I started what I hoped would become a tradition; each Sunday, John would spend the morning at home and go to the restaurant after lunch. I started making us an omelette every Sunday and, for the most part, we've kept up that tradition. Today, that omelette will be a late lunch, early supper for us.

I decided that, since we'll be having a late lunch, we won't need much for dinner, but it would be nice to have something sweet for later in the evening. One of my favourite desserts is panna cotta, basically milk Jello. This time, however, I wanted something different; I still had a can of coconut milk in my pantry, so I wondered if I could use it instead of cream. So, I went hunting online.

The makings of a delicious dessert.

I found a recipe for Cardamom Panna Cotta here. In the same post was a recipe for Cardamom Coffee. Both recipes sounded interesting and I had all the ingredients in the house, so dessert tonight will be Cardamom Panna Cotta with homemade cherry sauce (cherry jam that didn't gel up the way it was supposed to... it's in the jar in the picture), Cardamom coffee (the plastic baggie in the coffee cup contains the ingredients... just have to put it and the water in the coffee maker and let it do it's thing) and a little bit of chocolate on the side. The chocolate is Divine (that's the brand name, but it is divine!) 70% dark chocolate, a fair trade chocolate, sent to me by my sister as interest paid on a book she borrowed a while back. (Thanks, Gloria!!)

I think John will enjoy!

It's Saturday!

I'm off and John's working. That means 1) spring is here and 2) I have 'me' time! It means spring is here because John's boss got the landscaping contract for the college and that means John's back to work!! I'm very thankful for that; that means bills will get paid again... and we'll actually have food in the cupboards again.

I have me time today. It's been a long time since I've had time just for me. I've already given myself a facial this morning and now I'm trying to decide what to do with the rest of the time I have available to me. Of course, some of that time will be spent knitting, that's a given. I've been trying to decide whether or not to do some baking or some cooking. Until I decide, I'll knit. ;)

Speaking of knitting, I've really only been working on the alpaca shawl this week, and not very much on it, either. One of the projects at work (a 2 day job) was a little repetitive and has aggravated my already achy wrist, so knitting has been kept to a minimum.

I do, however, have pictures.

Progress. This part of the shawl is almost mindless. Almost because you do have to figure out how to add repeats at one point. The directions aren't very clear on how to do that. I managed, though. You can see I have a lifeline inserted...

That was a joint decision between John and myself (he's turning into my knitting advisor... how long before he picks up the needles??). I looked at the shawl; I looked at the yarn remaining. I wasn't sure there would be enough yarn and I had to decide where I could cut corners, if I had to. We decided that, if necessary, I could eliminate the second repeat of the straight section. After the straight section, the pattern calls for one repeat of the leaf pattern and then a treatment edging of some kind (haven't read that part completely yet, but it's not patterned, just knit rows and purl rows). Hence, the lifeline.

What do you think? Here's what I've got left...

It will be close, that I do know.

The last picture I posted of the shawl wasn't the greatest. Of course, lace always looks like a blob before it's blocked. However, I did take a better picture of the shawl, draped over the armrest of my recliner. It gives you a much better idea of what this shawl will look like.

There you have it. Now, on with my day... might even go for a walk in the rain. Yes, rain. Hey, at least it isn't snow!

Of Shawls and Gloves

I tried to post yesterday... twice! Blogger was having issues and my post never did make it to the blog. Let's hope that today Blogger's feeling better.

Where shall I begin? Last weekend, I had decided to knit the Blackberry Shawl from the Drops website (this one). I have some Drops Alpaca that I'd intended to use for this shawl; it had been purchased with Evelyn A. Clark's Estonian Garden stole in mind, but I frogged it. Anyway, I started the shawl. And frogged it.

It's a lovely design, but the pattern is very confusing. It would be very helpful to have more spacing between the paragraphs, for one thing. The charts for each half are placed one above the other, making it very difficult for the eye to follow the flow of the pattern. As well, the center stitches and their increases are not shown in the pattern, but you're told, in the written instructions, to incorporate the increases when there are enough stitches for a pattern repeat. Fine and dandy, but it would be helpful to have that charted.

Like I said, I frogged it. For now. This week, I was able to copy the charts into PageMaker and now have them side by side, which will make them easier to follow. One of these days, I'll start it again, but for now, I'm working on this, another Drops design...

The pattern can be found here. It's working up quickly. Looking at the picture, it looks like there are seven repeats of the initial leaf pattern; I already have six repeats completed. By the end of today, I should be well into the second section.

The yarn I'm using was a gift from a friend. She and a friend have alpacas and this is yarn from those alpacas. Margie originally had a design in mind for me when she gave me this yarn, but, though I tried to cast on for it a couple of times, this yarn just didn't want to be that design. It seems to like this design very much! This will be one cozy, comfy, and cushy shawl! Once I have it done, I'll have to be sure and show Margie and once again let her know how grateful I am for her gift of this yarn.

Oh yes, I do have a progress picture...

Lace never looks like much before it's blocked, does it?

And then, there are the gloves. I did post a picture of the glove in progress in my last post, but it wasn't a very good one. I must be honest, I haven't worked on the gloves this week; they seem to be a weekend project (or a Sunday project). I do, however, have somewhat better pictures.

Keep in mind that the glove in progress is for the right hand; I've photographed it on my left hand, so everything is reversed. What you see on the palm is, in fact, the back of the hand and vice versa. I'm very much liking how this is knitting up. They're going to be one warm pair of gloves!

I know that if an expert in Fair Isle were to examine the gloves, they would critique a few things, but all in all, who's going to look too closely at my hands? They're meant for warmth more than anything else.

Now, it's time to hit the "publish" button and get on with my day. I have a couple of overdue library books, so I do believe a trip to the library is in the schedule for today. After that, I intend to get some knitting done!

This and that

I'm home sick today; I woke up with a knitting needle stuck in the side of my head and coming out of the back of my neck. No, not really, that's just what it feels like. I'll be fine, but in the interim, I'm home today.

March, according to the American Crochet Guild (or whatever it calls itself), is national crochet month. I used to do a lot of crochet work; rarely with wool. When I crochet, I prefer #10 crochet cotton, or finer. I thought that, since I usually show my knitting on the blog, I'd show you that I really do know how to crochet, too.

Here's a collage of three pieces I did years ago. They've not been blocked since the first time, so they're not looking their best anymore, but it will give you an idea of the work I used to do.

I remember discovering that I much preferred the Japanese patterns (I have 2 Japanese crochet books); the finished doilies lay much flatter and block out so much better than the patterns I made using the Magic Crochet magazines (which are lovely, but they just don't lay as nicely).

These days, however, my passion is knitting. I've worked on the gloves a little bit.

It's very interesting how the yarn seems to tell you what it wants to be. I've been at this point in the first glove already, but frogged it back. I've drawn out a pattern I liked for the back of the hand.... and scrapped it. This pattern is what the yarn wanted and so, this is the pattern I'm staying with.

I also found out why the first attempt was too short in the thumb gusset; I did it wrong. I did the increases every other round. The base pattern I'm using (Ann Budd's "Handy Book of Patterns") calls for the increases every third round; that makes all the difference!

Over the weekend, I found a FO in one of my knitting bags that I'm not sure I blogged about before.

I finished this little beret while we were in Gibsons. The yarn is from Mirasol yarns (I don't have the tag handy), a really nice yarn to work with. Really nice! I used two skeins, that I remember, although I didn't need much from the second skein. Once again, the pattern is from Ann Budd's book. I finally blocked it this weekend.

Oh, I did do one little embellishment, knitting-wise. The brim of this tam is worked in baby cable rib, one of my faves.

Now, I'm going to see if I can't get that knitting needle out of my skull. It's driving me nuts!

Things that make you go "Hmmm..."

I spent a bit of time (not THAT much!) on Ravelry this morning. In one of the groups I'm in, a poster referred readers to Fleegle's blog and something called "normality". Fleegle's post can be found here. Go ahead, read it, I'll wait.

Fascinating, yes? And so, after reading Fleegle's post, I sat down in my living room, picked up some needles and some yarn that just happened to be on the coffee table (I'm frogging an old crochet project that I know I'll never finish) and cast on 30 stitches using the Turkish cast on, as suggested. Here's what I came up with...

Keep in mind that this is recycled yarn that hasn't been reclaimed. Also keep in mind that this is the first time I've used the Turkish cast on. As well, keep in mind that I wasn't following a pattern, so the faggotting around the point is imperfect. My first impressions?

1. I'm not thrilled with the Turkish cast on. Perhaps I just need practice, but I have a row of twists down the center of this mini shawl. I think I'd prefer a different provisional cast on.

2. I like the shape. Stocking stitch is not even top to bottom and side to side, as garter stitch is, so this shape isn't an equilateral triangle; it's wider than it is long. That isn't a bad thing. In a full sized shawl, that would give you longer tails at the front, right? I suppose if you want a true, equilateral triangle, you could decrease on every row rather than every other row, as I did.

3. I can see the possibilities for a variety of shawl and stole shapes. By changing the positions and number of increases and decreases, you could come up with a myriad of interesting shapes.

As Fleegle writes in her post, this construction lends itself beautifully to a lot of design options. Your borders can be knit on at the same time because, knit this way, the borders are at the side edges, and don't need to be picked up and worked afterwards. Gotta love that!

Personally, I'm looking forward to seeing what Fleegle comes up with, and I have every intention of playing around with her concept.

Hmmmm.....

The Update That Isn't

This is an update, and yet....

I've been working on my Fair Isle gloves this week, but working slowly. My right wrist has been bothering me quite a bit, so I know I have to take it easy. In the interim, I've read two Dean Koontz books (true literature, n'est-ce pas?), but I can't stay completely away from my knitting.

I took these three pictures earlier this week...

Since then, I've frogged back to the ribbing.

First, I decided the ribbing wasn't quite long enough for my liking. I get impatient with cuffs. They seem to take forever, and so, I give up on them when I think they're long enough. They never are.

Second, I've decided on a different fairisle pattern. I don't mind the one in the pictures, but.... eh!

Third, as you can see in the third picture, the thumb gusset isn't quite up to the point where the thumb gusset should be. It is, however, according to the pattern, the correct number of stitches. That means, the glove, had I kept going, would have been too small. I know, I know, I could have kept going, increasing to the right point. I thought about it, but I wasn't completely happy with the rest anyway and there were a couple of mistakes in the patterning, so..... I frogged it back.

Needless to say, it no longer looks like the pictures above and I haven't taken another picture because there's not much to show you past the ribbing. Because of that, this post is an update that really isn't an update.

On to other things... Last night, I, once again, picked up the Pi Are Square shawl. I'm thinking it needs, probably, another three balls of yarn to finish it to an acceptable length (I have eight balls remaining). I've just added in the second to last colour (light denim blue). After finishing that ball, I'm thinking I'll use the two balls of the dark denim blue to finish the shawl. I have no intention of getting into another repeat section; I haven't counted the stitches currently on the needle, but there are a lot of them! I have no desire to double that count, thank you very much. As long as I can wrap this shawl around my shoulders, and it comes at least to my waist, I'll be happy.

Generally, I wear shawls around the house to keep my shoulders and upper back (lower neck) area warm. Sweaters just aren't as cozy.

And, speaking of shawls, I might just be persuaded to cast on for another Pi shawl. Over in Yahoo groups, I've discovered the Ez as Pi group. Elizabeth Lovick is hosting a knitalong for an Orkney Pi Shawl; it is based on Elizabeth Zimmermann's basic Pi shawl (as mine was), and incorporating traditional Orkney lace patterns. I like that thought. The first installment of the pattern was posted yesterday.

I have some yarn in my stash that I think would be lovely for this shawl, but I don't think I have enough. Believe it or not, Liz is calling for approximately 3400 yards of 2-ply laceweight yarn for this shawl. I have 7 or 8 skeins of Drops Alpaca I was using for another project that has since fallen out of favour. The problem is, the Drops Alpaca is only 200 yards per ball. I would need seventeen balls!! That's a LOT of yarn. I might have to rethink this... or see what else I have in my stash.

I did say MIGHT be persuaded.... just not quite yet. In the interim, I'll be collecting the various parts of the pattern for possible future use.

So, what is it about shawls that makes them so addicting to make? I mean, I love knitting lace! I know there are lace knitters out there who don't wear the shawls they knit, but I'm not one of them. Right now, I have three shawls in my bedroom, not tucked away in drawers but draped over my bedside stand, and one around my shoulders. The appeal can't be because they knit up quickly; some do, some don't. Most lace projects take a lot of concentration. Then, once you've done with the knitting, you have to block it; that can be an exercise in frustration.

Perhaps the addiction is a result of that final step: releasing the shawl from it's pins and seeing that final, glorious product... Lace. And knowing that something so beautiful came from your own fingers. Perhaps.