Crown Jewels is up!

My latest pattern is up on Knit Picks!  Here's a pic to remind you what it looks like...

 Crown Jewels Shawl can be found here:

http://www.knitpicks.com/patterns/Crown_Jewels_Shawl__D11059220.html

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And today I got tired of the "Mommy Gives Up" look, so I went and got a haircut.

I finally have a style again! ☺ The girls all got their hair trimmed too.  We went to the salon at Walmart, because the guy we "usually" (once or twice a year) go to is out of the country.  I think I'll stick with the Walmart salon.  It was quick, and relatively painless when it came time to pay.  The stylist gave me exactly what I asked for; long layers, without taking too much length off.  And all the damaged hair from when I used to dye it is gone! Finally.  It took about two years to grow it all out.

Crown Jewels is done!

I finished Princess's shawl yesterday and got it blocked.  So today we did a photo shoot.  She did really well, so we didn't have to take very many shots.  This one is my favorite, but it doesn't show the lace pattern as well as the others, so it's not going to be in the actual pattern.  I'll send it along for the website, though.  She was pointing at a lizard, in case you're wondering. ☺

 Here, she's showing off the whole shawl...

 And this one will be the main pattern pic.

That flower shawl pin is something I tatted yesterday.  I came up with the idea myself. ☺

Tatting and Knitting

One of my friends showed me a link for learning needle tatting.  Using that tutorial, I made this pendant. ☺

I used a size 3 tatting needle, and sockweight alpaca yarn.  I love how it turned out.  In fact, I love it so much, I decided to try tatting with a finer needle and thread.  Using sewing thread and a size 8 needle, I made this one: 

As you can see, it's smaller than the dime next to it.  I'm thinking I might attach it to a hairpin, so I can wear it in my hair.  But then, I'll have to make more...

And I've finally found some time to work on Crown Jewels!

 Princess is 48 inches tall, so it should be that wide and half as long when it's done.  I hope I have enough yarn.  I've completed six repeats of the lace, and it's about 16 inches long down the center, unstretched.  Here's a closeup of the lace pattern:

Growing lace

Here's a picture of the white lace, yesterday afternoon. I've done another repeat and a half since I took the picture. This is just one end of the stole, but you can get the general idea. It'll look pretty much the same when it's done, except that the flowers will be tiny in comparison with the size of the stole. I'm still trying to decide whether I want to wear burgundy or teal with it. I like how it looks against this burgundy blanket...Next time I take a picture I'll put a teal towel in the background. ☺
And, because I haven't got enough projects on my needles at the moment... I started this shawl for Angel.

Actually, I started it because she wouldn't quit asking when I was going to. Now that I've done a little work on it, I set it aside, telling her that when she makes progress cleaning her pit of a bedroom, I'll make progress on her shawl. Haha...I'm such a mean mommy sometimes.

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I considered working on the washcloths for the girls, but haven't done it yet today. I have four cloths done with the knit/purl butterfly design, and two done with the tiny butterfly lace, so I need to make two more lacy ones, and then use up the yarns in stripey ones. This afternoon I put the grommets on the top edge of the shower curtain I made, and it looks pretty good, if I do say so myself. It looks like a shower curtain that you'd buy in a store, only much cuter than any we found in stores.

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My oven died. It's a gas oven with electric ignition, so I think it's just the ignitor. I hope it's just the ignitor. I'm having a guy come to fix it on Wednesday. Why is it, when my oven doesn't work, that I want to do a bunch of baking? I haven't done much baking lately, other than our Friday night pizza. Now, suddenly, I want to make bread, and cake, and pie, and cookies....

Princess's shawl is done!

I spent most of today, working on the edging of this shawl, and now that it's bound-off and blocking, I don't think I like it. The edging, that is. Overall, I like the design, but I must have done something wrong on the edging.
Here's a closeup. I was expecting it to be more pointy, at the points, instead of just scallopy. And the bound-off edge is too tight, even though I went up two needle sizes for that. Oh, well. Princess loves it anyway. I'll continue to tweak the pattern, once I figure out just what I did wrong on the edging. Should I have switched to larger needles for the entire edging, not just the bind-off? I did add beads at the increase and decrease points of the edging, but I don't like how they won't stay exactly where I wanted them.

So, overall, I like the way this design came out, just not the edging. ☺

Progress made...

As you can see, I've made quite a bit of progress on Princess's shawl...it's almost 3 feet wide at the top edge now. I'll probably be able to get the body of it done today or tomorrow, so now I need to start thinking about what kind of border to do... I was planning on doing a ruffle, originally, but now I'm thinking of doing something more along the lines of the edging on the Swallowtail shawl. (You'll need to Google that one if you don't know what it looks like; it's not one of mine.) I haven't decided yet. But the reason I'm leaning toward the lacy/pointy edging is that I want to use the beads I bought....and because I've done ruffles on several projects recently. I do love ruffles, but I also like learning new techniques. ☺ I'll update when I make my decision. And now....back to knitting!

Okay, so I lied.

I said yesterday, that I was only going to chart and swatch for the shawl... but I couldn't resist. I went ahead and started it.

"Surf" is still languishing in my pink knitting bag, while I knit on this one. And actually, I took this picture last night; I've finished two more rows of diamonds since then, and it's about two feet wide at the top edge. Today, on a whim, I bought some tiny clear foil-lined beads, and I'm planning on using them around the bottom edge somehow. Princess is very excited about her shawl, and is calling it "Princess's Crown Jewels". The name was suggested by my friend Cyndye. ☺