New Patterns

Hello readers! I had three new patterns published yesterday!

 R&R Shawl is available on Knit Picks for $2.99.

Hunter Socks is available on Knit Picks for $2.99. The pattern contains both sizes.

Bottoms Up Dishcloth Set is available on Knit Picks for $1.99.

R and R Shawl

I finished my R&R Shawl sample!

 It took one intensive week of knitting, and seven skeins of KP Galileo, which I raved about in the previous post. I am in love with this yarn; it is so silky and soft and warm.

And the color is true in these photos; this is what "Luminous" really looks like. On KP's website, it looks much lighter. Not that I'm complaining; it's a gorgeous color. It just wasn't what I expected. I can't wait to see some of the other colors in person.

Oh, and again, these photos were taken by Angel. Her photography skills are really coming along. She managed to not cut my head off, and to get a few good shots as well. ☻

The election is only a week away! Get out there and vote for R&R!

R and R

I've recently found my knitting mojo, which had been on a little hiatus. I'm hanging on tight to it, so it doesn't go walkabout again. I had a design idea that had been bouncing around in my brain for a while, and I finally decided to put it into yarn. I used Caron Spa, which is a bamboo/acrylic blend. I love Spa; it's so silky and comfy. I had five skeins of the colorway "Ocean Spray", which is a gorgeous light turquoise. Now I have one and a half...and a big, silky, warm shawl.

It's perfect for those chilly autumn days when you want to just curl up with a shawl and a book.

  I used similar construction to a triangular shawl, but made it with three sections instead of two. It stays on my shoulders much better, and has a lot more fabric to wrap around myself.

I designed this with Knit Picks' new bamboo blend in mind. I think it will look amazing in Galileo Yarn. The name of the pattern is R&R Shawl, and I sent in a design proposal to Knit Picks yesterday.

Now I'm back to working on my Cathie scarf, and my unnamed baby blanket. I need to get those two projects done before I start any more. I have chronic start-itis.

I finished a project.

I've had a rough day.  I want to whine, but I've already done that elsewhere.  I just can't wait for today to end, so I can sleep, and hope for a better day tomorrow.  Anyway, on to happier topics.

I finished the Laura shawl I was knitting for my friend Leann!  She dyes and sells gorgeous, soft, squishy, lovely yarns, and she asked for volunteers to knit some samples with her yarn to help customers to get a better sense of how the yarns look knitted up.  I volunteered, and chose a large project.  I feel like I took so much longer than I had planned.  But it's done now, and just in time, since the movers will be here in three days. 

 The yarn I used was from Forbidden Woolery; Sparkle, in the colorway "Dumbledore"  It's a lovely mix of blues and grays.

 I used a US7 circular needle.

 The pattern is Laura.

The shawl ended up roughly 24 inches wide, and five feet long.  I forgot to measure it.  Oops.

Knittin' from someone else's pattern...

I'm participating in a KAL with some of my friends.  We're doing the Ginkgo Shawl by Maggie Zimmerman.  I found some lovely yarn on sale last Friday, and I couldn't wait to get started.  It's Patons Silk Bamboo, and I love it.  It's so soft and silky, and not too warm for a summer shawl.  Once I got started, I couldn't stop.  I finished it yesterday.  Most of the others haven't started.  I'm planning on getting some laceweight and making another one, so I can still KAL.  Anyway, here's my Ginkgo Shawlette.

 I followed the pattern exactly, which I almost never do.  It turned out about 48 inches wide, so it just covers my shoulders.  I think I'll make the next one bigger.

I also made the shawl pin.  I needle tatted it, using silver rayon embroidery thread.  I discovered that rayon thread is very slippery, and not very well-suited to needle tatting.  It turned out lovely, but it was a pain to work with that thread.  The stick is just a piece of dowel(the thickness of a US5 needle), sharpened and sanded.  I used a silver paint pen to make the stick match. 

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. ☺

Knitting up a storm...

Okay, I've finally got time to blog about my recent knitting projects! While on vacation I completed this baby blanket:

Here's a closeup of the lace pattern. I showed the blanket to my sister, asking whether she liked it, and her baby Evellyn grabbed it and claimed it as her own before Sara could say a word! I hadn't been able to decide on a name for this pattern before then, so its name is Evellyn Anne, after my little niece.
And here is Angel, modeling a shawl I made on vacation. She doesn't yet know that it's for her. I'm giving it to her for her birthday on Monday. She'll be nine years old.

And since we got home from vacation, I made these mitts! These are the samples I'll be sending to Knit Picks, as soon as I get some good pictures of them on someone's arms. The blue ones fit me, but I won't be modeling them because I have no fingernails right now(thanks to my nervousness over flying). I think I'll ask my neighbor to model them. Angel will model the red ones, once I get a chance to paint her nails.

And here is the beginning of my new Upstream scarf. The picture was taken a couple days ago. I've completed five repeats of the cable pattern now. The photo doesn't do the colors justice. There's much more variation in the blues, and a hint of green; it's a gorgeous colorway. This is also a sample for Knit Picks. I am very excited about the prospect of having two more patterns published.

Back to knitting

I took a little time today to work on some of my WIPs(works in progress). Here's my white lace:

It still doesn't have a name, but I'm narrowing down my ideas.

And here's a very brightly colored "Cathie" scarf. I'm planning on giving it as a Christmas gift; I don't know yet who it's for.

And in this bag is my latest Posy Patch.

It's about 4/5 done. But I still have to keep it hidden, until the new colors are released. It's a very pretty color, and that's all I'm saying for now. ☺

♥

About the dryer balls in my previous post: they really do work. I've been doing a lot of laundry in the past two days, and not using dryer sheets, just the balls. My laundry is fluffy and static-free! I think I'll just use the dryer balls from now on, and save the dryer sheets for keeping mosquitoes away when I'm working in the yard.

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.

♥

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.

♥

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....

Binding off and Casting on, and a small rant

Adamas is done! I'm very happy with how this shawl turned out. It's a gift for a dear friend, and I hope she'll be thrilled to receive it; she likes it, but doesn't yet know it's for her.

Okay, vital stats: 62 inches wide at the top, 31 1/2 inches long down the centerline. I used two hanks (but had a nice-sized ball left over) of Knit Picks Gloss Lace, in the colorway "Raisin".

I'm really glad I went ahead and bought the blocking wires; they made blocking this shawl quick and easy.

♥

Since I finished Adamas yesterday, I gave myself permission to cast on something new...white lace!

The white lace doesn't have a name yet(though I have a few ideas), but it's going to be a diagonally-knit stole, and I already love it. I wish you could feel the yarn through the computer screen; the picture doesn't do justice to its incredible softness. I'm making this stole to wear to next year's West Point Founder's Day ball. No, the lace isn't Army-themed in any way. I just wanted something special to wear, and knitting a stole is simpler and quicker than knitting a ball gown. LOL. I haven't picked a dress, and I'm hoping none of my current dresses will fit by then, because I'm trying to lose weight. The ball is always in April, so I've got 10 months to lose. My ultimate goal is 50 pounds, but I'll settle for what I can get. At this point, I'm just sick of being the size I am. So I'll be happy with every lost pound. Anyway...I'm thinking I might go with burgundy. I was leaning toward navy blue, but so many women wear navy blue. I wore black this year, with a fuschia lace cardigan, but only because that's what I could find in a hurry in my size and for what I was willing to pay. If I lose a bunch of weight, I'll reward myself with a gorgeous dress next year.

♥

And now, I want to air my opinion for a minute. Unless you live under a rock, you've heard in the news about Abby Sunderland, the 16-year-old girl who was attempting to sail solo around the world, but had to be rescued. So many people, especially in the media, have been quick to judge her mom and dad as bad parents. They say that 16 is too young to sail around the world. They say that the parents forced her into it for a tv show. (I don't know if the tv show thing is true, because the only place I've heard about it is in the "news". Time will tell.) They say that the parents are publicity-seekers, who don't care that their little girl's life was in danger.

In our society, a 16-year-old is only considered normal if she is sleeping around, doing drugs, wasting hours of her life playing meaningless video games or buying slutty clothes, and mouthing off to her parents. And her parents are "just doing the best they can".

But find a girl who is independent, competitive, mature, and adventurous, who wants to sail around the world just like her big brother did, and her parents let her? OMG, lock up those parents! They're endangering their little baby girl! (/sarcasm)

And why didn't I hear anything in the news about this amazing girl until she was missing? It reminds me of one of my favorite lines from Apollo 13: "If landing on the moon wasn't exciting enough for them, why should not landing on it be?" The media didn't care about Abby until something went wrong. If she had made it all the way around the world, she would have gotten one or two days of interviews on TV, just like her brother did, and then the next week, nobody but the readers of her blog( http://soloround.blogspot.com/ )would remember her name. If she was after publicity, there were easier ways to get it.

I wish more American teenagers were adventurous like Zac and Abby Sunderland. I'm not saying I'd let my kids sail around the world, but we're not a sailing family, and my kids are still, well, kids. Congratulations to Laurence and Marianne Sunderland for raising strong, independent, adventurous young people. Any "kid" who is able to sail even halfway around the world by herself, shouldn't be called a "kid" anymore.

This is just my opinion, and should be taken as such.

Blankets done!

I finished the blue blanket! And that's not all.....

(Excuse the sideways picture; I don't know why it uploaded that way.)

These two blankets are a baby shower gift for my friend Sarah, who is expecting twins; a boy and a girl. Hence the blue and the pink. Anyway, this is one of my designs, and I'm attempting to have it published by someone other than myself. Yesterday, I sent my design proposal to Knit Picks. If they like it, I'll send the actual pattern, and knit another blanket for them to see in person and photograph for the pattern. If they publish the pattern, it will be my first pattern published for sale, rather than free. I am very hopeful. I'm sure I'll be on pins and needles until I hear from them. I got the standard thanks-for-submitting-a-pattern email last night. But it could be up to 3 weeks before I hear whether they like my design.

♥

In other knitting news, I'm back to working on Adamas, which is not my own design. ☺I have finished 12 repeats of the lace chart, so I need to do two more repeats, and it'll be ready for the border. Once I finish that, I have another design ready to cast on, in white merino laceweight. It doesn't have a name yet; I've got a few ideas, but haven't picked which one works the best. Maybe after I've gotten a little work done on the project, I'll know for sure. I have a few other projects that I want to start; a couple pairs of socks, and another baby blanket idea, but I need to finish some projects first. Two of my current projects are gifts, and I intended to have them done a while ago.

Visiting family!

I'm in Kansas, visiting my family. ☺ The girls and I are having a blast. My sister has brought her girls over every day that we've been here, so it's been pretty wild. Here's a little sampling of what we've been up to....

♥

A daffodil at the zoo

Angel, reading to her sisters and cousins
All eight girls, at the zoo. (3 belong to my sister Sara, and 2 to my sister Rebekah)

Watching "Annie" on movie night

Me, having a little quality time with my dad and our firearms. ☺

♥

I haven't had much knitting time, and what I've had was mostly spent tinking. I dropped a stitch on my Adamas shawl, and it fell several rows. I tried to pick it up, but since it was lace, there were yarnovers and decreases in the way, and that just made it worse. I hadn't used lifelines, so I couldn't just rip. I had to tink back about 5 rows, before I was able to pick up the stitch properly. Now I've caught back up to where I was before I messed up. I think I'll finish this repeat, then put it aside to work on Surf.

♥

In case I don't get time to be on the computer tomorrow.....Happy Easter! I hope you have a wonderful Resurrection Day celebration. ☺

Progress on Adamas

I've been working on my Adamas shawl! We finally decided to start our knit-along. ☺ Here it is, after I had just finished the fifth repeat of the second chart.
Today, I finished the eighth. I didn't take any pictures today, though, because I'm busy preparing for a trip. I'm driving up to Kansas tomorrow to visit my family. I haven't time to post more right now; still more work to do. I'll try to post something next week, while I'm there.

A whole lotta knittin' goin' on.

I finished this yesterday morning, with grafting the strap stitches, and Princess wore it all day. Turned out yesterday was a good day for it; warm, humid...we actually had to make use of the air conditioner in the van. Anyway, here are pictures of Princess, in her new tank top.

Here's a closeup of the front. The cables continue up the straps, and connect to the cables on the back.

Here's the back. Can you see where the stitches were grafted? The only problem I see is that the last cable, where the straps meet the top of the back, is a little longer than the rest. I should have done one less row on the straps before grafting. Oh, well, you knit, you learn. Two more girls want tank tops....and my sister wants me to design a "romper" with the same cables, and make them for her girls.

♥

I'm also working on an extremely boring pair of socks. I'm using a variegated yarn, so I decided that I wanted it to be a pair of plain socks. To keep me from sticking my US2s in my eyes, I take a break every few minutes, and look at sock patterns that are not plain and boring. I've fallen in love with a bunch of cabled sock patterns. And I'm planning on sticking with solid or semi-solid sock yarn after this, so that I can do the more fancy designs, without worrying about the cables fighting with the color changes in the yarn.

♥

I haven't done much work on Surf. The long long long rows were wearing me out, and I wanted to do some projects with shorter rows, or rounds. I need to get back to it, so that I can send it to the friend I'm making it for.

♥

Adamas is still languishing in my other knitting bag, next to my chair. I really want to work on it, but I agreed to wait. I'm doing a lot of waiting these days.

♥

I got my box yesterday, from my friend Angela. If you remember I posted about our UFO swap in January. I sent her a bunch of fingering-weight cotton/bamboo/silk, and she stitched it up for me. I have to wait until Sunday to open it. The suspense is killing me. ☺ Okay, not really. I love surprises. And I even enjoy waiting for surprises. The anticipation is half of the gift, for me. I will post on Sunday afternoon, and let y'all know what she made for me....and what I made for Cathie. I'm not sure that Cathie reads my blog, but I know that she could find it pretty quickly if she wanted to. So that's why I haven't yet posted pictures of what I made for her.

I iz sick.

Ugh. Hubby gave me his cold. I need to run out and get some Zicam, because he took the Zicam I had to work. Anyway, prayers would be much-appreciated. I am so congested, and my head feels heavy. I don't even feel much like knitting this morning. That, right there, tells you how bad I feel. Anyway, I'm gonna get some Zicam and some Vitamin C and hope for the best.

I decided to set aside the Adamas Shawl I was working on yesterday. I had forgotten that some of my friends also wanted to do that pattern, and we had talked about doing a knit-along. Oops. My friend Christine reminded me, but not before I had already done four repeats of the second chart. So it's back to "Surf" for me...once I feel more like knitting. Maybe this afternoon.

In the meantime, I have to get up off my behind and mail a couple of packages... ☺

New project on the needles!

I did a few rows on my "Surf" shawl yesterday, but I also decided to cast on a new project. My friend Ally sent me two hanks of Knit Picks Gloss Lace last fall, and I finally picked out a pattern to go with it. I decided to use a pattern written by someone else this time. ☺ It's the "Adamas Shawl" by Miriam Felton. It's a free pattern, and can be found here: http://mimknits.com/shop/index.php?main_page=document_product_info&cPath=65&products_id=199
I really like this pattern so far. It's well-written, and easy to memorize. I started last night, and here's a picture. I just completed the first repeat of the second chart. Thirteen repeats to go.

This is my first project with laceweight yarn. I've done several lace shawls, but all with fingering-weight or thicker yarn. I've been a little afraid to try the thinner yarn, but now I see that my fear was unfounded. It's knitting up beautifully, and isn't any more difficult than sockweight.

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. ☺

Swatching...

Princess wants a shawl. She's been asking me for one since I finished my Ichthus shawl last fall. But she wants diamonds, not fish. And she says gray is her new favorite color. Fortunately, I took apart several gray cotton sweaters recently, so I have a lot of gray(3 different shades, I think) fingering-weight cotton from which to choose. This swatch is just some yarn I had lying around(Paton's Decor "Chocolate Taupe"), not the actual yarn I intend to use. I was just figuring out the design, making sure that it would look in-the-yarn how I made it look in-the-chart.
And, lol, I just realized I should have turned the picture upside-down. The point should be at the top; it's the center of the back. Oh, well. I'm just trying to decide whether to do a triangular shawl, with two wedges, or a 2/3 shawl, with four. Guess maybe I ought to ask Princess!

♥

Now that "Cathie" is done, I'm going back to "Surf"...I just wanted to get this other project charted and swatched. ☺