Peacock feathers WIP

We had a great weekend visiting the grandparents in Michigan, with bonus time spent playing with Aunt Alli and Uncle Eric.






Since the girls were otherwise occupied, I was able to work on the Peacock Feathers shawl a little more. I'm up to row 126ish?(near the end of the 4th chart), and here's how it's looking:




I also worked on the broadripple cotton socks. Can't wait to get to the toe since I'm going to try splitting off the big toe - I think it's going to be pretty darn cute.

Since it was a little cloudy this morning, we did a little kitchen craft: SpongeBob gummy candy. Not the most wholesome of activities, but pretty fun, fairly tasty, and a good time all around. Off to the library this afternoon!

Blue lace June

I guess the Stanley Cup Finals were good for finishing blue lace sweaters, right Lolly? I finished this during the games except for the closure, which I cannot decide on - I'm thinking just some small middle buttons and skip the leather tie through the center as suggested in the pattern. I seem to be having trouble with my pictures, so please bear with the sidewise shots.

Pattern: this garnstudio pattern
Yarn: Skacel Riviera, Navy color, cotton/linen/rayon blend
US 6 bamboo circular needles
size made was the XL, and for reference I'm 5'9"
Modifications: I knit the sleeves flat instead of in the round because I was carrying them around to finish and didn't want to fiddle with DPs. I was also planning to make them open at the bottom, and made them quite a bit longer for the flow-y effect, but now that it's together I'm not so sure. Will have to wear this baby to determine it's final form.

Verdict? I love the yarn, although it is splitty and very, very linty - not terrific on a white background. It might make a quick trip through the dryer to de-lint. It blocked beautifully, and didn't bleed too much when washed in Eucalan. The pattern was very easy, and I love the effect of this simple lace with the texture of the yarn.


You can see the sleeve detail and the back in these pictures.


Thanks for looking! Oh, and I finished the patterns I was submitting, so I'll be starting on something new soon. I'm working on some more socks right now, can't seem to finish any that I've started, and they might get "reassigned".

no more braces! (for now)

Emily got her braces off yesterday, and we celebrated with a little corn on the cob.

Nautie, baby

One down many to go, but I'm motivated to get the unfinished stuff done.

Nautie from Knitty.com was indeed made from stash: some Kraemer Natural Nazareth wool (the shell) from the teeny tiny tote, and some Encore worsted from something, probably mittens? (the animal). This is a quick knit if one follows the instructions. I made a couple false starts on both the shell and the animal because, as usual, I was multitasking while working on it - today it was the zoo. We actually got to see the wolverine, yea!! Oh, and I still need to add the eyes, I'm thinking about it.

I have everything together to finish up my blue linen cardigan from this garnstudio pattern.
I have 3 inches on the back shoulders to finish, then just make the sleeves to be done. I think I just got bored with it because I love the design and I love the yarn. oh well.

doily madness and other business

It's been 2 busy weeks since I last posted. To get up to date:

Pioneer Day was great. Here are a couple pictures of the square dancers and some little butter makers. I was on Team Butter, and of course it was a 90 degree day and we were in the hottest spot...we had some melting issues but for the most part, butter was made and the children enjoyed it. We had the leftovers on our biscuits and corn at lunch. Emily had a great time, and especially enjoyed the candle making and tin punching.
The last day of school was Thursday, so we will probably have less knitting time for a while.



In the past 2 weeks, I've completed the cucumber cool top, and worked on some "mystery" projects. I cannot post pictures of the completed stuff because I'm going to submit them for publication, but here is a snippet of the mystery stuff: Note the blue for Project Spectrum June?

I also started the Peacock Feathers Shawl from Fiddlesticks in Basil Zephyr wool-silk, and I'm currently at row 70. I have not been even remotely successful at participating in the Summer of Stash because there was a ridiculous sale that was impossible to resist - trust me - deal of a lifetime on high-end yarn. I have also started knitting Nautie from Knitty.com for Roger for Father's Day, but I am actually using stash for this. OH WAIT! I was using stash for my mystery projects too...maybe there is hope for me? I have 2 different unfinished socks on the needles. I still have not finished my linen lace cardigan.

Finally, for some reason I felt I needed to make a doily. I used a pattern from the First Book of Modern Lace Knitting , the "Azalea" design. I just made a glass sized doily out of some #30 crochet cotton, ecru, on US 0 needles. You can see by my blocking picture that it is far from perfect:



The "madness" was not with the actual knitting of the lace which was pretty fun, but rather with the starting and finishing. I'm not a crocheter, the center starts with a crochet chain circle. I didn't have a teeny tiny hook, so I think that is part of the reason my center is wonky. The edge is finished with a crochet loop bind off, and although I went a got the proper sized miniscule hook for the job, it was still very challenging and probably took me way too long. I'm not giving up on this, though. There are some really cool designs in the book that I want to try, and I may even incorporate them into a shawl.