Spin A Yarn for Ewe

Yes, the spinning bug has finally struck again. Here are the lace singles I just finished and I have another lace pattern in mind to try them out on. Another self-designed pattern.



Hope you all have great Holidays!

So I finished the first half of the lace stole and I decided to block it to see what it would look like. I know that I will have to block it all over again but I think it was worth it to get an idea of the over all size and look. It should be about 72" long and of course I forgot to measure the width but about 16" or so. Thanks Gina for the "test knitter" offer but I would have to figure out how to do the charts first since the ones I am working off of are hand written. I know I could do them in Excel but for me it is so labor intensive it is not really worth it. If I ever get serious about designing I will for sure invest in a program for it, Knit Visualizer is very cool.







Here is a close up of the beaded bind off which I like very much. I just put a bead every other stitch and it adds a little sparkle and some weight.


I finally got the old wheel out and am happily spinning my nights away again. I hope to have some laceweight singles done in the next day or 2.

I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! I might be back before then but just in case.

I have been working on my lace design and really having fun with it. I am knitting it from the center out and then will pick up stitches and work the other half. So far I am at the border design and have just the rest of one chart to do then I plan to use beads in the bind off since I am using them in the design itself. It should be fun to see it all blocked and done.



This photo is very flashed out ( and a little behind where I am now ) but it seems to help everything show up better since I didn't feel like pinning it all out. It is a super simple pattern since the yarn seems to grow colors every time I look at it but I think it will still show up. This half should be done tonight and I think I will block it just for fun and to see if I really like it. I really think lace is so hard to tell until it is all blocked.

So other then finishing Icarus I really haven't been getting much done. I am working on the Raven but it is really a daytime knit as it is not a pattern you can memorize as you have knits and purls on both sides and so far it has not been one I can just look at the knitting and figure out. So it has been relegated to weekend when I have time to sit and knit. Or at least I did until this Christmas stuff started creeping into my prime knitting time. I decided the other day that I needed something easier to knit on at night since not knitting at night had left me twitching.

I started on a Shetland Triangle, simple pattern with great results, but the yarn I wanted to use was too variegated.

See when I started knitting lace I was seduced by the multi-colored lace skeins only to find out that a lot of patterns get lost in it. I mean I thought this skein would work as the colors were all in the same family but after a few rows I just knew it would never work. So what is a girl to do but design something herself. Yes, I have finally gotten the nerve up to try something of my own design. Something that will work with the variegated yarn and still look nice plus it had to be something I could memorize at least part of, you know TV knitting, and use just one skein of yarn with only 880 yards. It seems like a lot of indie dyers will dye lace yarn but only do 1 skein at 880 yards. Well, that doesn't work for most lace patterns. So I am hoping this will do the trick of using this one skein, make a descent size stole and still look nice. Wish me luck.

I finished Icarus this week. I was really meaning to work on my Raven but when this was so close to done it was hard to tear myself away from it. I mean blocking really shows you what you did and I wanted to see it blocked.







Icarus - Interweave Summer 2006
Yarn: Spritely Goods Sylph - Chaparral
Needles: Knit Picks Options size 6

I did do one less repeat of the "ribs" section since I was using fingering weight yarn and size 6 needles. It came out plenty big at 89" x 39" and is still beautifully light and cozy. I will for sure use this yarn again for a shawl as it was great to work with.

None of these really show off the beautiful colors in the yarn. Here is a better shot of the colors.



Now I can concentrate on Raven. I am moving along on it as I have finished the shoulder shaping section and am moving on to the shoulder drop.