Miralda is here

Cast on Jan. 9, blocked Jan 22.
2 skeins Les Femmes Sock in Mae West, from Hyena in Petticoats.
Miralda by Nancy Bush, from Knitted Lace of Estonia
A gift for a friend.

Pretty little (and not so little) things

A top-down raglan for Sophia in lovely colors from Midnight Sheep. Almost ready to separate for the body and sleeves.


Miralda's shawl, knit in sock yarn from HyenainPetticoats in Mae West. Loving this color!

The back of a vest knit in brioche stitch. Knit in DK superwash merino in Midnight Maus, fro m The Midnight Sheep. This one is for Pete.

The beginning of Tishdecke, knit in Ultra lace from Shelridge farms, one of my prizes from an earlier Seasons of Lace.

A crochet hook stand made by my friend Dave, who is the maker of Hitchhiker spinning wheels, from the Merlin Tree. He makes these for me using special little scraps of wood from his shop. They are odd shaped sometimes, but very practical. I love the little black "veins" in this wood.

Emily 2, the top-down version of the Emily Dickinson shawl, knit in AK47 100% silk from the Gossamer Web in tequila sunrise. This yarn is so incredibly gorgeous. I am making this one as a gift for my oldest sister, who is always keeping my daughter supplied with yarn.

been busy.

Camera's out of town, but I'm still here.

Oh yes, my husband took our now eleven-year-old daughter to New York City for a birthday trip, leaving me here at home with the three boys. And so far all is going well. They've been gone since Thursday and we'll go pick them up Friday.

I'm kicking myself for accepting work for this week. I could be spending the evenings knitting and wake well rested in the mornings. Instead I'm spending the evenings and late nights editing and waking up a bit undone. I have a push for a deadline on Wednesday, so late nights it must be. The youngest are still too young to be alone.

But, I am getting a lot of knitting done during the day. I'm working on Miralda's Shawl by Nancy Bush. It's a lovely triangular shawl from her book on Estonian lace knitting. I'm knitting this in sock yarn from HyenainPetticoats, in the most beautiful red ever, and I can't seem to stop working on it.

I am also working on the top-down version of Emily Dickinson. I'm using AK47 silk laceweight from the Gossamer Web in the Tequila Sunrise colorway, and it is incredibly luscious. I have never actually knit with pure silk before, and it is such an incredible pleasure.

I have a circular shawl going, Tischdecke, using Ultra Lace from Shelridge Farms in natural. This is prize yarn from the Seasons of Lace KAL.

Also two sweaters: one vest for Peter in a DK weight from Midnight Sheep, and a raglan in sockweight, also from Midnight Sheep. I can't wait to show photos of all my fun, but alas, the camera is in New York City. We'll meet again Friday, so no photos till next week, I'm afraid. Hopefully they'll be worth it!

Taking Stock--2010

What's on the needles:

one colorwork sweater for Sophia
one brioche stitch vest for Pete
one pair of mittens for Dante
one pair of socks for me, I think
one shawl for me
swatch for new design

What's on deck:
mittens for Sophia and Fintan
hats for Sophia, Dante, and Fintan
cardigan jacket for me
raglan sweaters for Dante, Fintan, and Gavyn
socks for Lucy
lots of socks
a scarf,
a stole
a circular shawl

What I have knit this year:
14 shawls/scarves
20 pairs socks
4 sweaters
8 hats (3 were crocheted, actually)
3 pair mittens
1 pair mitts

Projects I have in publication from this year
already published:

2 shawls

in press:
1 scarf
1 sweater

Design projects on deck
scarf/stole
vest
sweater--cardigan jacket
sweater--cabled pullover (Sophia is knitting the prototype)
Stole using Estonian stitches. This one is already swatched--it's awesome.

Techniques I've learned:
brioche stitch
two-color brioche stitch
blind cast on
Norwegian cast on
spinning on a spindle and on a wheel
double knitting
an awesome technique for writing up patterns in multiple sizes so that it's easy to check all the numbers.
how to knit a ruffle

What I have given up:

posting my projects on Ravelry--too much time and effort involved for every little project. I'll essentially post my big projects when they're finished and my designs (if I continue to pursue publication)

posting frequently on Seasons of Lace. This makes me sad, but I just have so little to show with so much other knitting going on. I still need to work on this one.

swapping on Ravelry--spiritually draining

Next technical challenges:

learn to design an Entrelac stole that I have pictured in my head. I've named it already, and I love it, I just have to learn how to knit it.

Design a much more intricate lace shawl/stole

Percy and kid knits

Okay, I'll admit these photos are not much better than the last, but look at that blue sky--that's not something we see much of in November. And of course, if you click on the photos to see them actual--huge--size, you can see much more detail.


The shawl is growing on me, but I am still bothered by that second pattern in the middle. it seems too large for the design, and there really is no transition between the three charts, so it's a bit abrupt to me. But that's only looking at it close up. From a distance it looks pretty dramatic.
Here's the first of four sets for the kids: I did the smallest set first, for the three-year-old. I knit them actual stockings each year. We fill them on Christmas Eve and the children empty them and then wear them all winter inside their boots. I love it!
This is my first successful project made from my own handspun. My husband took our 9-year-old son to Gettysburg for a week for a birthday present. While they hiked the battlefields for four days, I spun some roving from the Yates farm in southern Vermont. I should have been working, but I had three kids to care for, so I put that off. The six-year-old wanted to learn to spin, so he played with me, and I decided to knit something up for him with the yarn. I finished the hat just after they returned, so it was a little vacation prize for the kid who stayed home. Well, one of them, anyway.

Percy preblock, blocking

I cast off Percy late last night. I ran out of the sea silk, so I stopped after row 31 of the edging chart, and joined some Gaia Lace in cobblestone mazes for the purl back row and bind-off. I love the look actually.



I look forward to weaving in those ends and trying to get some nice shots. We're supposed to have sun for a day or so, so it looks like the chances are good. I think these photos give a sense of the color, but it is just so much lovelier in person.--Thalassa Sea silk in Korrigan, from Gaia's Colours. Total yardage about 750.

Aster Nyx Available now

At long last, the project I started nearly two years ago is available as a pattern from the Sanguine Gryphon, one of my favorite dyers. I just love the fabulous fibers and gorgeous colors. they require me to be creative.


So, here is Aster Nyx, which was released along with the Sanguine Gryphon's Fall 2010 Steampunk line of patterns. The great black and white photos fit in with that idea very well, and they show off the details of the pattern very well.
The color photos show off the subtlety of the yarn. This large size, about 34" deep by 68 " wide, I knit in Gaia Lace, an incredibly soft and lovely cashmere silk blend. What a luxury. Two skeins is enough for the large size, and it is large. This colorway is Eye of the Devil.

NOTE: thanks to Troy, for the comment below. The little square in the chart does indeed represent a sk2p. I submitted the chart with a left leaning triangle for the symbol, and was unaware that it had been changed in the chart. The corresponding change was not made in the legend, but I have contacted Sanguine Gryphon to ask that the change be made in the pattern. I do apologise for any inconvenience.






A lovely friend on Ravelry swapped with me for the first version of this shawl, then called Starry Night. She also took photos of her knitting friends modeling it. This is the smaller size, which is about 30" deep by 60" wide, but which can really stretch widthwise when worn, which I love, because I tend to wear these things as scarves more often than not. I knit this first version in 1 skein of Sanguine Gryphon's Little Traveller, in Pantanal. this is a light fingering weight yarn, and is just lovely to work with. It's a nice size shawl for a single skein of yarn (580 yards).