Wool Power

Yarnland - neat stuff going on out there

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 01:47:00 +0000

I've been spending a fair bit of time in yarnland. I finished my test knit of my Secret Project I mentioned in February with the lovely Woolen Rabbit Muireann.

The photos will be taken tomorrow & I'm looking forward to it. Meanwhile, thanks to the fantastic Free Pattern Testers group on Ravelry, I was able to get the instructions test knit quickly by 6 different people. It was fabulous!

This inspired me to keep an eye out for new projects looking for test knitters. I recently test knit Buttercup for Gégé à la Gomme, (Geneviève in Québec City). I realize the pictures aren't great, but it's such a nice warm hat because of the slipped stitches & the almost double-layered nature.

See the Flickr pictures, as Blogger seems currently unwilling to upload my photos.

The new design that I've seen recently that I haven't been able to get out of my head is Morgan's Flower Garden by Amy Herzog. I think it would be great on Zoé (and she'd probably wear it if I used pink or purple), but I don't know when I'd make it.

And here are some interesting yarny places you can go this week to win stuff:

Blonde Chicken Tara is looking for some advice on what colours to dye. Are you familiar with Tara? And her new store A Novel Yarn? And all the crafty classes she's been offering? Very interesting stuff & you can find her on Twitter as @blondechicken.
Laura Nelkin is giving away 2 copies of Chrissy Gardiner's Toe-up sock book.
Wendyknits is giving away copies of her new toe-up sock book.

Congratulations on your Gold Medal!

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 14:24:00 +0000

Today is the last day of the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. It's also the last day of the Ravelympics and the Knitting Olympics.

Today I'm writing to celebrate the gold medal that Sue, aka soxchik won because it's dear to me too - she knit a shawl from my Chrysler Crown Shawl pattern.

I love this early picture she took early on with a picture of the building:

And here's the finished object blocking.

Sue told me that she was working to the deadline of wearing it to Stitches West - and she was successful! Congratulations to you!

For those on Ravelry who want to have a look, Sue's project is the Team Sasquatch Chrysler Crown Shawl.

My Olympic knitting is also complete. I completed Ishbel. My early guesses about whether or not I had the yardage were accurate - it was close, but on the side that worked out well for me. I had about 16 yards left.

This has me thinking about working on something that will make these guesses a little easier to make - a kind of generic tool where you can put in some data & figure out whether you've got enough wool, or how big to make your project. I have seen a couple of spreadsheets that do this kind of thing, but I'm thinking of something simpler and more generic. More on that soon, I think.

Knitting Olympics: Vancouver

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 02:13:00 +0000

So since the secret project with the gorgeous ruby-red Muireann (see a previous post) is progressing nicely, I will almost wrap that up in time to begin the Knitting Olympics and Ravelympics tonight. I'm planning on doing Ishbel in Swiss Mountain Sea Sock that I bought with my birthday gift certificate. It's blues & browns & not necessarily something I'd usually get, but I kind of fell in love with it. What I didn't realize is that if I'd waited a month or two I could have had a lovely skein of silk lace in an entrancing blue, but that's fine. This, I think, is perfect for Ishbel. I'm probably one of the last knitters on the planet to try it, seeing as there are now well over 5000 Ishbel projects on Ravelry.

Should I actually complete that project (given that I have a family, a life, a 5-year-old's birthday party, and other things), I'm going to do my very best to finally complete the Cardigan for Merry that I started before Sam was born. It was in pieces & I finally seamed it last fall. It's on the needles & ready to go. I just need to knit the hood. Plus a friend just found out she's having a boy in June. Perfect! Should I ever finish this, I think it'll be one of the best things I've ever knit.

What the Knitting Olympics makes me think about is how far I've come in the last 4 years of my knitting. Last time around I boldly declared that I would be knitting something new of my own design. My first time creating something from nothing out of my head. And then I wrote it down. I made a cushion for my daughter out of some vibrant Lopi that was too tempting on sale to pass up. Here's the result:

Now I've written a few more patterns & I'm actually selling one. I'm hopelessly addicted to lace knitting. I have a stash that I'm both proud and embarrassed of. And I'm working on developing even more patterns. It's fun and makes me happy.

I'm looking forward to the lighting of the torch, the winding of the Swiss Mountain Sea Sock, and the knitting while watching people hurtle down hills and fly across the ice.

It's a small world

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:47:00 +0000

In the world of my secret project things are rushing along. I'm finalizing the last few things & fixing up the pattern.

I can't believe how easy Ravelry and the Free Pattern Testers group are making my life.

Despite not even being able to share a picture(because I'm looking to submit the project to Knitty) within 24 hours of posting my request for test knitters, I had a group of 6 volunteers living in 4 different countries (and on 3 different continents). How cool is that?

Now the questions, corrections & suggestions are flowing. I'm feeling so lucky that all this technology is connecting people with such a strong interest. It makes the world feel like a smaller, friendlier place.

Oh, and the other cool thing this week is that my Ravelry designer page was made viewable to non-Ravelry users. Now all you relatives that read this blog can see what we're talking about!

Next challenge: the Yarn Harlot's Knitting Olympics, Ravelympics (sorry non-Rav folks) start tonight! Oh, and the Vancouver 2010 Olympics too.

Donation made to MSF!

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 18:04:00 +0000

Thanks to all who bought the Chrysler Crown Shawl pattern in January, I was able to make a $75 donation to Médecins Sans Frontières Canada. Just to be really open & clear about this, here's a shot of part of the receipt:

On the weekend I finished my Miralda shawl. Here's how it looked after blocking:

And once again, it was using lovely alpaca/silk laceweight from Silent Valley Alpaca.

And now I'm on to a secret project, to be revealed later on. What I can tell you is that I'm using this lovely silk/linen blend, Muireann in the lovely "Oh Ruby" colour from The Woolen Rabbit. Oh, and beads are involved. The Muireann is delicious stuff to knit with and I'm making excellent progress given that I only started on Saturday.

Awesome Response!

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 14:01:00 +0000

There has been an awesome response to people donating some profits from their patterns to help Haiti. The end of the month is coming up in a few days & right now the total I'm set to donate is at least $69. That's just incredible. And since it is way more than I'd normally sell, I decided to spend some of my portion on patterns too. I bought both of Ysolda's collections. Don't ask me why I waited so long to do that, because I've no clue, but it worked out well for donations as she's giving 80% to Doctors Without Borders. I also bought Kristen Rengren's Harlow pattern. I have appropriate stash yarn for this, just not enough time. All of this donating means that the total for the Yarn Harlot's Tricoteuses Sans Frontières / Knitters Without Borders is now over $1,000,000 since 2004. Crazy, no?

Progress on Miralda's shawl was good for a while but has slowed with a silly work/life schedule. I'm in the home stretch and I've started the final chart. I'm about 10 rows into it and it's easy to remember. The decreasing should mean that it's still possible to finish it this weekend for my first entry into the 10 shawls in 2010 group! Stay tuned for pictures.

It's not too late! Buy the Chrysler Crown Shawl before end of day Jan. 31st & I'll donate half of the price to Doctors Without Borders.

$6 CDN

Ravelry and Help for Haiti

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 22:42:00 +0000

For the knitters out there who are already Ravelry members, there are a large number of designs (over 40 pages of them now) where the designers have pledged at least a portion of the sale towards help for Haiti. Please visit the list and see if there are any patterns there you've been longing to buy.

I've added the Chrysler Crown Shawl to the list of patterns. 50% of sales for January are going to Doctors Without Borders.

$6 CDN

A few of the participating designs and designers that have me tempted are:

10 shawls in 2010: the start of the first

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 19:25:00 +0000

On Jan. 1, I cast on for Miralda's Triangular Shawl from Knitted Lace of Estonia.

I'm using 4.0 needles (Addi Click), and gorgeous alpaca/silk laceweight from Silent Valley Alpaca, a local producer. This was the lovely stuff that I bought at the Almonte Fiber Fest and I'm really enjoying the knitting process because of the feel of this wool.

I'm having some fears about not having enough yardage to make it through, but hopefully this first skein will last a few more rows and it'll all work out in the end. So far I've finished the first two charts and have moved on to the section with the nupps in it.

The thing that I'm looking forward to is that this shawl is knit from the outside triangular edge in, so the rows are getting shorter & shorter. It doesn't feel like they're getting any quicker, but soon I'll just be racing through them and finished. Perhaps. Here's how it looks today:

2010: the year of more knitting

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:42:00 +0000

It's probably no surprise that I intend to knit in 2010. And why wouldn't I? 2009 was an awesome knitting year. I wrote two free patterns and then finally invented my own lace knitting pattern: the Chrysler Crown Shawl. I'm thrilled with how it turned out, yet still wondering how I can ever match it.

2009 also ended quite well, knitting-wise.

1) I got Romi's fabulous book as a prize from Peggy for pointing them at my Mirage scarf pattern.

2) I made knitted presents for all Zoé's teachers and had no trouble finishing.

3) I made 2 berets from Peruvia. Once I got started on the Star Crossed Slouchy Beret I couldn't stop! And I gave one to Louise.

4) Louise gave me these (Miss May and Spice Market!!!):

I think she's lost her mind, but it's hard to argue when someone is giving you Wollmeise even if you think they shouldn't.

5) I recently read Connie Chang Chinchio's post about a tubular cast on and had a bit of an a-ha moment where this really made sense and made me think of a bought sweater whose edge I couldn't quite puzzle out. This was it!

Looking forward to an excellent 2010!

10 shawls in 2010?

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 18:36:00 +0000

I've gone & joined another group on Ravelry. These enterprising folks are aiming to knit 10 shawls in 2010. This seems much more likely to be something I'll do than, say, a pair of socks a week or a sweater a month. Heck, I'm working on a new shawl pattern right now and I'm going to have to knit it in full at least once in the next few months! And I know I have some great patterns from MimKnits and Knitspot that just need to be knit. And Aeolian does look lovely, doesn't it? And I do happen to have plenty of laceweight yarn to play with.

Add to that the fact that there is contest on Denise's blog to come up with suggestions for patterns. What's the prize? A lovely skein of silk yarn from Lost City Knits. You can see some of her wares on the web site for her lavender farm.

There's a break before starting this challenge though, which is good as I'm just finishing up the last of my Christmas knitting & blocking (yay!). No official casting on until 2010! Perhaps in the next week I'll magically find the time to work the kinks out of some pattern ideas.

Enjoy your holidays! I know I'll have a great time with my family. The kids have been looking forward to Christmas for a while - so much so that I haven't dared to leave any gifts under the tree!

Finishing up some stuff

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 16:40:00 +0000

So I've had a few opportunities to knit lately. Since August I've been having issues with gall stones. That meant a few trips to doctors. At one visit I finally found the time to tuck in all the ends on a baby cardigan I'd knit ages ago. I even found buttons in my stash. Perfect. Finally. I'm so happy with how the stripes look on this little sweater. This is the end of some Phildar cotton (Coton No 4?) I bought in Calgary in December 2006.

I spent a week & 1/2 at home recovering from the laparoscopic cholecystectomy: the gall bladder is gone! Yes, this meant more knitting time.

The first weekend, when I was still on some heavy duty painkillers all I could manage was simple scarves. I made 2 more Mirages. Yes, I know, it's my own pattern, but it's simple & all I could really handle. Yay, stashbusting. Plus they're presents for Zoé's teachers.

Mirage 1: Mei Mei Baby Bamboo, 3 balls, almost all used:

Mirage 2: Oasis solid, 1 ball, sapphire, almost all used:

Later, I was feeling more adventurous & tackled a Star Crossed Slouchy Beret from the Tosca I had hanging around. It was a quick & relatively easy knit and took a ball and a bit. The hardest part was finding big enough needles, and I don't think I quite used what was required, but the end product is wearable. I'll need a picture of it on to see what it really looks like.

Finally, a recent acquisition will have to be knit soon. My curiosity has limits. Ever since Anne Hanson at Knitspot started posting about the mink & cashmere yarn she was using to make some lovely mittens and a cowl, I'd been intrigued. I finally gave in to temptation and purchased some in green & black. Expect to see some leafprints or something similar soon. Oh, and no mink were harmed in making this yarn!

November Needler's Retreat

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 16:40:00 +0000

I've been meaning to post about my wonderful weekend away in Ganonoque at Glen House for the Needler's Retreat weekend organized by Debbie Wilson (taking over from Mabel for the first year).

This was my second year, and once again getting there was a bit of a trial. Last year Ron was ill for the week leading up to it. I was so grateful to be recovering from my self-induced concussion that I didn't worry about getting ill myself. It turned out to be mono (which I caught), but we didn't figure that out until January.

Anyway, this year it was the weekend before retreat, and Ron was not feeling well. On Monday, he went home from work early. He finally decided (when the shivers and aches hit) that he had the flu. I quarantined him in the master bedroom (because it has an en suite bathroom), took care of him and the kids all week, and washed my hands at every opportunity.

On Friday afternoon I finally set out for Ganonoque, ready to return at a moment's notice if I developed symptoms or if I got a phone call. Thankfully that worked out.

I shudder to think what Ron has planned for next year, although when he jokingly mentioned testicular cancer I pointed out that it's not something he can pass on to me.

I had 2 very busy but enjoyable days learning, knitting, eating, chatting, and playing with yarn. The moebius class with Mary Pat McDonald was a first for me, because I actually finished the project from the class & it's usable!

The collar obedience training class from Maureen Mason-Jamieson (Ravelry) was useful. I learned some more about finishing and construction (green arrow = collar point shaping)

and I'll definitely be using the edging technique (see how neat both sides are!) on a garment - if I ever manage to work up the nerve to do an adult-sized garment again.

And then there was the cabled mittens from the top class with Suzanne Atkinson. The cast-on alone was worth the price of admission. I had found a skein of Briggs & Little to use for this class, but after having gauge issues, I gave up. I do intend to use this yarn for these mittens eventually.

I also acquired some yarn, all from Turtlepurl (aka Genevieve Noel, a local dyer). I was selling her yarn to others (see how that worked out!) along with my friend Francine's shawl pins, which are now also available on the Turtlepurl etsy shop.

It's a mirage?

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 18:16:00 +0000

I have learned that the one-a-day One-skein project of the day at OregonLive today has inadvertently put a picture up of my Amber Ruffles scarf, which is a MimKnits pattern by Miriam Felton: the Flutter Scarf. As you'll see in my previous post, I loved the pattern. I am happy to report that I'm wearing the scarf on a daily basis and still loving it.

What I had tried to enter as a submission was instead my Mirage scarf pattern, also available from the link in the sidebar here.

Sorry for any confusion.

Amber ruffles

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 02:24:00 +0000

I finally finished & blocked my MimKnits Flutter Scarf. This took one skein of Louet Mooi (mmm, bison, cashmere & bamboo) and the knitting time was minimal. The centre section was easy to memorize but enough to keep my brain going. The ruffles at the end flow elegantly out of the pattern.

I had fun with this and am glad I finally found the right pattern for this lovely yarn. It's light as a feather but very warm.

Although I love the colour, I think the difference in the colour of the halo showed up much better in the Jade Lily of the Valley Scarf that I made for my sister. It doesn't seem to be something I captured in the pictures. Perhaps you have to be up close to see it.

Overall, very happy with the pattern, very happy with the yarn, thrilled with the finished product. Yay for finishing something new!

What are you knitting with?

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 03:30:00 +0000

I made a half-hearted bid on eBay on some lovely-looking mink/lambswool yarn. I was immediately outbid and forgot about this completely.

Later, eBay let me know that the yarn had gone, and here's what surprised me. Have a look at the other auctions that eBay thinks knitters should look at:

Yeah, Noro, that makes sense - but hair extensions? What are on earth are people knitting with?

Shawl Pin Winners

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 18:25:00 +0000

Thanks to all those lovely people who've bought the Chrysler Crown Shawl pattern. The 3 lovely winners are all Ravelers: SuInAZ, risiko, and Cassiopia. As soon as the winners have decided on the pins, they'll be heading off in the mail.

Congratulations to you all, and thanks again to Francine. And I'm going to be bringing some of Francine's pins to the knitting retreat at Ganonoque this coming weekend (as long as the family & I remain flu-free). Fingers crossed, because Ron's home sick from work today...

In knitting news, the Flutter Scarf is coming along very nicely. I've got 1 end done and about 50 pattern repeats. I'm not sure how many repeats I'll hit before I get to my marker that'll tell me when to start the second fluttery bit. The good news is that I'm no longer worried that this scarf will strangle me if I do it up. It looks like it's going to be plenty long enough. Phew. As with most lace, this scarf will look a lot better blocked, but here it is a few days ago:

Last chance to win a shawl pin...

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 23:55:00 +0000

As I mentioned before, the very talented Francine (PurpleHaze on Ravelry) has given me some of her lovely shawl pins to give away. Have a look:

How do you win one of these beauties? For a chance to win, be one of the people to buy the Chrysler Crown Shawl pattern before Oct 31st at 11:59pm EST. Not on Ravelry? Use this button to pay with PayPal & get your very own copy of my shawl pattern.
Chrysler Crown Shawl: $6 CDN

For more details on the shawl, see the launch post.

And that'll be the last shawl shilling I'm doing for a while, I suspect. I just didn't want folks to miss out on the deadline.

Pseudo-Rhinebeck

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:55:00 +0000

I wasn't at Rhinebeck, but my money was! Michelle, aka PearlPower on Ravelry, was the brains behind a local convoy that traveled down.

I sent some birthday money down & was greatly rewarded with:
Angel Face from Briar Rose. It's 2500 yards of lovely green alpaca laceweight yarn.

55%/45% Silk & Yak by Skaska Designs in a lovely silver colour. A mere (!) 1675 yards of loveliness.

And then we probably shouldn't ignore the lovely Sweet Georgia Merino Silk Lace that Kirsti (Ink) snagged for me while out in BC. It's 765 yards of a lovely golden colour that seems to almost glow pinkish in places. I have immediate plans for this. Well, probably not immediate, the way my knitting goes.

I've been told that I need to go to Rhinebeck next year. If anyone's looking for me, I'm busy on Oct. 15, 16 & 17 2010.

In the mean time, if someone could just find me the time to knit up another 4000 yards of laceweight yarn (in addition to the yarn I already have), that would be just perfect.

Gail

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 03:18:00 +0000

So after I finally launched my Chrysler Crown Shawl pattern, I needed an easy knitting break. I started with some basic baby hats (stockinette in 90% acrylic/10% angora). That was easy.

Then I tried a challenge. I've been trying off an on for about 4 years to figure out what this particular skein of silk lace from Handmaiden wants to be when it's knit up. I love the fall colours. It feels delightful to knit. But anything I've attempted so far comes out looking awful. I've tried a variety of lace patterns, I've tried non-lace, I've tried Trinity stitch, and I'm just about out of ideas. Thoughts? Help? Here's the ball. Linen stitch has been the most promising.

Perhaps this yarn just needs another yarn of similar makeup but one single colour that it can play nicely together with in a completely different type of project. It's a great reason to buy some black silk laceweight, no?

To distract me from this continuing failure, I started Gail (aka Nightsongs) in my Handmaiden Camelspin in a lovely wine colour. This is the second pattern from MaweLucky (Jane) that I've done & although both required a bit of initial head-scratching, once it all gelled, the knitting was a piece of cake. I did some measuring & calculating to ensure I'd have enough yardage to complete the last repeat and then do the edge chart. I had about 14 arm lengths left in the end - not enough for even 2 more rows.

I'm also in denial about how much time I have to knit. I went a little crazy & bought 2 patterns from MimKnits: the Flutter Scarf, which I've been ogling for my Amber Mooi for a while, and the Hidcote Garden Shawl just because. And I still want to make Miralda from the lovely silk & alpaca laceweight that I recently got from Silent Valley Alpaca, a local producer.

And just a reminder - you've got only 3 weeks left to buy my Chrysler Crown Shawl pattern via this link or on Ravelry for a chance to win one of Francine's lovely shawl pins!

Launch of Chrysler Crown pattern!

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 04:17:00 +0000

Beautiful things inspire me to try to create beautiful things. When I was looking for inspiration I was browsing through Art Deco pictures and saw one of the Chrysler Building. Now this pattern is ready to share with other lace knitters, and I'm thrilled to be able to do this!

Win Shawl Pins!
The first 100 knitters to buy the pattern, with a cut-off of Oct. 31st, have a chance to win one of 3 lovely shawl pins by Francine. See this blog post for pictures!

Chrysler Crown Shawl
The pattern starts in the middle with a provisional cast on resulting in a symmetrical shawl with a near-invisible join.

Apart from the usual types of lace increases and decreases (yo, m1, k2tog, ssk), the pattern contains some “new” stitches, which are explained in depth. There is also an optional legend to use to knit the pattern without them.

The pattern has 5 pages of advice, pictures, layout, and instructions and 2 pages of charts.

Finished Measurements:
Shawl (fingering weight): 17.5" x 82"
Scarf (lace weight): 9" x 80"
Guidelines for adjusting the size are included in the pattern.

Yarn: Fingering or lace weight (~550 - 900 yards)
Shawl:
option 1: 2 skeins of Handmaiden Sea Silk
option 2: 1 skein of Handmaiden Silk Lace
Scarf: 1 skein of JaggerSpun Zephyr Wool-Silk 2/18

Needles: US3 (3.25mm) circulars (pointy lace needles recommended)

Notions: stitch markers, darning needle, beads if desired

$6.00 (CAD)
Ravelers can buy the pattern here.
Non-Ravelers can user this handy button:

Thanks to my wonderful test knitters, Yvonne, Francine, and Marianne!

Chrysler Crown pattern almost ready to go, with a chance to win lovely shawl pins

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 16:57:00 +0000

Wow, what a busy time it's been, as usual. When you've got 2 small kids & a day job there's never enough time to knit, let alone finish up a pattern!

Marianne (lismete on Ravelry) came to my rescue as a fabulous test knitter. She asked great questions and her keen eyes picked up on a few changes to be made. And in the end, this is what she produced:

It's 17" x 82" and it used less than one skein of Handmaiden Lace Silk (Rav yarn link). Thanks, Marianne, for being so helpful & so quick!

Ravelers can look at her project here.

In the mean time, I'm trying out a true laceweight scarf-sized version from Jaggerspun Zephyr and adding beads on the row dividing the pattern repeats to give it a little weight (and sparkle). So far so good - I'm over half way done, but I'd really like to be 100% done before I release this pattern so that I can include info about how much it took, etc.

And then I did a crazy reckless thing. I saw a tweet from @YarnHarlot looking for something new to knit. And in a very un-Canadian kind of way, I actually responded - how self-promoting. The earth didn't open up & swallow me whole, but it sure felt strange. And now, of course, I really have to deliver the goods.

Target for the pattern release on Ravelry: on or before Sept 19th (happy birthday to me, arrr). Also look for a fabulous bonus: the very talented Francine (PurpleHaze on Ravelry) has given me some of her lovely shawl pins to give away. Have a look:

My plan is to do a draw for winners from the first 100 people to buy the pattern (with a time limit, just in case). Francine does wonderful work, doesn't she?

Leave a comment or send me a Ravelry note (to nservant) if you want me to let you know when this goes up.

Another month gone

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 16:14:00 +0000

Wow. Another month has rushed by. What with returning from vacation, visits, Sam's birthday, etc., I haven't really had undisturbed time to work on my shawl pattern. Bummer.

But of course I'm knitting. The kids mind if I'm in the office on the computer, but they don't mind if I'm hanging out in the same room knitting (although they will come and hang off me and interrupt, but that's fine).

So I finished up Dianna and although it's off the needles I have yet to block it. Ugh. Meanwhile, I got a little worried that I didn't like how Dianna was turning out so I wound up one of my 2 precious skeins of Mooi, for another attempt at a pattern from the Estonian Lace book. This time I knit the Lily of the Valley pattern. Despite the yardage, I was able to eke out the full pattern repeats, in the end, or pretty close to it. This scarf also sadly remains unblocked, despite being finished one week ago.

My lack of blocking mojo had more to do with back pain issues initially (so I didn't want to bend over & crawl around pinning things) and then general life chaos and tiredness (I went to bed several nights instead of blocking). I will get to it this week because I really want to see how these things turned out.

But my blocked blocking mojo didn't interfere with the knitting. No sirree. I went to the stash looking for my Baby Bamboo to make a present for to-be-parents of a September baby. I found it. I also found my version of the Cardigan for Merry that I started before Sam was born, I think. He's 2. All of the pieces are finished, it just remains to sew them together & knit up the hood. Crazy.

But does that mean I'm doing baby knitting? No, of course not. I also came across the skein of sock yarn that I bought thinking of Zoé (because of the purple) and she was quite excited to hear that I would be making her socks.

Of course I was further distracted by some Sirdar Silky Look. I bought a ball of this ages and ages ago. A single lone ball from a sale bin. I just love the colours (Denim Blue), even if I don't love the yarn composition (acrylic/nylon). I did a lacy triangle thing from the bottom up, inspired by all the Baktus and Reclamation scarves I've been seeing on Ravelry. It was easy, quick, and very satisfying.

Then on to the socks, because Zoé was understandably confused that I would talk about making her socks and then not knit them. So sock #1 is past the heel and fits (Wendy's generic toe-up pattern, 48 stitches). Zoé keeps wanting to try it on. I'm going to start the second sock from the other end of the ball so that I can make them as long as possible, as requested! I love how quickly children's socks go.

For some reason I'm not able to upload pictures at the moment. I'll add them when possible.

New works in progress

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 16:45:00 +0000

After ripping out my lovely Wollmeise I have been sidetracked.

First, I thought I should do another pair of socks, since finishing up the Uptown Boot Socks went so quickly. I pulled a skein of Fleece Artist sock yarn out of the stash (colour is likely Tiger) and set out to make my very first pair of Monkey socks. It's not a new or original thing to do, because there are over 9500 projects in Ravelry alone. I finished the first sock quickly, cast on for the second, and then I got sidetracked.

I saw the Dianna shawl someone was knitting in Kauni. I liked it. I have Kauni in the stash...so I started that too.

I then abandoned that for a few weeks to start development on a new shawl idea. It's currently having a little time away from me as I'm pondering how to proceed next, so it's back to Dianna. Perhaps one day the socks will be done.

Oh, and I'm still working on the pattern for the Chrysler Crown shawl. My hope is to get that out by the end of July. There's still quite a bit of technical pattern stuff to be done, so that'll be fun (although not knitting fun).

Chrysler Crown Shawl pics

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 19:33:00 +0000

I managed to get out in the sunshine to take a few pictures of the finished Chrysler Crown Shawl (Ravelink). Here are some of the better ones. The one of the middle clearly shows how the provisional cast-on looks when it's all done.

There are currently 2 people test knitting the charts as they stand, and I'm working on a project of seeing how the result would look if I simplified it a bit. Then there's a bit more formatting to do, but I have every expectation of getting this pattern out this summer. The sooner the better! It'll be available here & on Ravelry. Feel free to send me emails & make me feel guilty for not being done yet.

"The Bag" finishing is done

noreply@blogger.com (Natalie Servant) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 18:52:00 +0000

I started this bag just after Christmas. I quickly finished the knitting. Then I washed it, blocked it, and waited a month or two to attach the handles and sew gussets. Then I bought something to line it with.

Finally I bought some interfacing to stiffen up the lining and attached it all together. This past weekend I did a whole lot of hand sewing and now I have a mostly-finished object. I say mostly-finished because now I'm thinking it needs some kind of attachment in the middle & I have to work that bit out. Let's hope it doesn't take another 4 months. Well at least I can use it in the mean time!

Details:
Pattern:The Bag by Wendy Wannacott in No Sheep For You
Fiber: almost all of 4 balls of Elspeth Lavold Hempathy (2 in 05, 2 in 09)
Needles:3.25 mm circs
Lining: nice scrap of curtain cloth bought for almost nothing
Alterations:Instead of straps as instructed, did double knitting to produce a reverse stockinette tube, since I wanted them a little thicker