Tag: knitting lace

This Week’s Progress

I am getting sooooo close to the finish on this project. I am about halfway through with the final side. I got a fair bit of this knitting done last weekend when Jerry and I took a short overnight trip to visit my mother-in-law. It’s the most knitting time I have had in awhile, which explains the slow progress I guess.

On our trip home after an overnight in Evansville, we took a slight detour and spent about half a day checking out the Land Between the Lakes park. Jerry has wanted to try some off road trail driving in his truck and we discovered that they have some there. We tried that out and while it was a fun adventure we weren’t too impressed with their trail markings and didn’t want to get lost in there, so we didn’t go very far in. LOL! It was a fun experiment though. I got only one picture of the Bison. There are also Elk but we didn’t go on the drive where you can see them. I think it was still closed anyway.

Since we are on the subject of nature; here’s our yucca plant in full bloom this week. :-)

On the business side; I got all the Nostepinnes and Darning Eggs added to the website last week, and since I told you I would update you on that, consider yourself updated. :-)

  • Walnut Darning Eggs $25
  • Cherry Darning Eggs $25
  • Purple Heart Darning Eggs $35
  • Walnut Nostepinnes $25
  • Cherry Nostepinnes $25
  • Cherry Nostepinnes $25
  • Purple Heart Nostepinnes $35

We are working on a few ideas for new products at the moment that we are getting very excited about. More on that when I have something to show you. :-)

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Yarn Boxes and Other Updates

We are keeping production going in the hopes that we can get back out there soon vending at festivals. So far we have lost 7 festivals from the first half of the year. Two more that are in late May and mid June in Ohio are holding off until next month to decide on whether they may hold the events. I am trying to remain hopeful that they will be able to happen. We do have our online sales, but that is such a small percentage of our income in comparison to festivals that it is not making up our losses. Maybe the second half of the year will rebound us all?

Finishing Yarn Boxes

Anyway, so we have finished up a large batch of Yarn Boxes, as you can see above. The finish is curing for a few days before we apply the final wax and labels. We have plenty on the website ready to ship if you had been planning to pick one up at a festival that cancelled this spring. :-)

At least spring didn’t forget to arrive in Tennessee. It’s one consolation to be able to walk around our property and see evidence that life does go on even in the midst of many upheavals. I have always appreciated the wild flowers on our lawns. I don’t mind a bit that it’s not all just grass. I think it’s much more interesting. Here’s one of my favorites that are usually blooming by mid March or early April in these parts. I love violets because I am a big fan of purple.

I wish you could smell these Mountain Laurels that we planted when we bought this house 22 years ago.

In other news, I have progressed on my Honeydew Lace Square in fingering weight yarn. I have begun the knitted on edging now. I am only on the first side, so quite a ways to go.

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Still Plugging Along

Wow, it’s March? How did that happen? Not that I am complaining mind you? The days are getting longer and it’s almost spring. Anyone who knows me, knows I am not a friend of winter. It has been a gray and wet winter here in Nashville, but at least no frozen stuff to speak of, so that’s good.

I have progressed to the inner border on my fingering weight re-knit of my Honeydew Lace Square pattern. I am halfway through that and making edits to the charts to update that pattern when I am finished. I just added the third skein so I may be able to complete the whole thing with only four skeins. That is what I hope for anyway.

The festival season will be starting back up for me in just 10 more days. I have three shows lined up for the second half of March. I will be at the Carolina Fiber Fest on March 13-14; from there I will be in Pittsburgh for the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival on March 20-22; and then it’s on to Hartford, CT for Stitches United on March 26-29. It’s a two drive home from there. I am working through my preparation list and have completed most of the tasks. I am mostly just focusing on that and trying not to think too much about being away from my loved ones for almost three weeks. :-( I enjoy what I do but that is the hard part.

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Does This Look Familiar?

Holbrook #3

I finished the Firenze sweater and blocked it in time for the Natural Fiber Extravaganza this past weekend. I will show you the pictures in a minute. If you recall I knit the above shawl earlier this year in the same color only to have the sample stolen from my booth about 6 weeks later. So, I have finally gotten around to making the replacement for it. This is actually the 3rd time I have knit Holbrook, but the first was in a different yarn and color. I sold that first one because the color I had used was discontinued and I wanted a new one in a current color. The one I made this winter that was stolen was that replacement. And above it’s replacement. Is that confusing? LOL

Firenze pullover

I really love this sweater. It’s so soft and comfy. It was a pretty quick knit too for a sport weight sweater on size #4 needles.

All the details and link for the pattern are in the Ravelry project page linked above. Here’s a direct link for the yarn if you are interested in that.

Is it crazy that I am hoping to have the Holbrook ready for Stitches Midwest which is next weekend? We’ll see!

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Last Post of the Year

Here we are once again with Christmas passed and the new year about to begin. It’s another gray rainy day here in Nashville but at least it’s warm. I think we are going to hit 70 today, so there’s that. :-)

Here are some of my Christmas presents. I got a few more but these are all I happened to get a picture of. The one in the center was made by my third daughter, Meredith, from the sea glass she collected when she was living in Nome Alaska a couple of years ago. The watercolor portraits were painted by another daughter, Kyla. They are of all four of the children, including herself (top frame) that are still living here at home. She has promised the other six to be added to the collection as she completes them. I can’t wait to see the rest!

Here’s my progress on my Usonian shawl. It is coming along and I will probably get some more knit on it tonight since my husband has to work tonight so no going out. In the past he always had New Years Eve off but not this year. Boo Hiss!

Happy New Year to all and be safe!

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Winding Down

Christmas is almost upon us once again and it’s time for slowing down and taking in the year that has passed. We normally take this month off from as much as we can get away with. We pause homeschool lessons and it’s a slower time for the business, in that I am not traveling and doing festivals. I like to work on new ideas and samples for the coming year. Of course there are family gatherings to prepare for and presents to buy and wrap. We have all the gifts done and the tree is up. We will probably start baking on Sunday afternoon.

As you may recall in my last post, I started a sweater for my youngest which I finished a couple days ago. He loves it and has worn it to the library yesterday, where we loaded up with Christmas story books.

Since my needles were empty, it was on to my next planned lace project. I wound the yarn and cast on for Usonian in my Classic Merino Bamboo yarn. It is gray and rainy today and I had to make due with indoor pictures but actually the colors aren’t too far off. Click through to the website for slightly more accurate ones; the names are Damson Plum and Sea Oat.

I started last night and have gotten half way through Chart 2. This one should be pretty fun and easy, possibly quick even. We’ll see.

Have a Merry Christmas from our home to yours!

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Cables and Lace

cable-lace-5 reps

I am making pretty quick progress on the cable and lace baby blanket. I have 5 repeats of the chart completed and it is 14″ including the border. The border is 1 1/4″ so that is 2 1/2″ for both edges; each repeat is just under 2 1/2″ so I should need about 13 repeats to end up with about 35″ for the length. There will probably be multiple sizes in the pattern if I can figure yardage requirements for the other sizes without knitting them. ;-)

Kassiani-final-shots (1)

As promised I have some nicer pictures of Kassiani in it’s final glory. As always Dee’s pattern is perfect and fun to make. You can find the pattern in that Ravelry link and if you are interested, the Classic Merino Bamboo yarn I used is on my website.

Kassiani-final-shots (6)

This shawl will be making it’s debut at my next fiber festival which is Wisconsin Sheep & Wool in Jefferson, WI next weekend.

Kassiani-final-shots (8)

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Knitting at Home

I am back home for a couple of weeks and trying to get back to a “normal” schedule. ;-)

I have gotten a very good start on the new design and I am very pleased with how it is working up. The stitch pattern is just entertaining enough but not taxing on your attention if you like to listen to audiobooks or watch movies or TV while knitting. I am making my way for about the third time, through the X-files, during my knitting time. It’s the only time I watch stuff since I can’t justify watching TV at all unless I am accomplishing something at the same time. ;-)

cable-lace-blanket

I have also managed today to get Kassiani blocked, but it’s still on the wires right now, so I only have pictures from that to show you and you will have to wait a bit for better ones.

Kassiani-blocking (3)

Here’s a just for fun shot of my new pair of Chuck Taylor’s that arrived from Zappos today. Just had to have this color!

new-converse-2018

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New Project Underway

I have finished my Kassiani shawl! I bound off the edge on Tuesday evening, but since I was leaving for Michigan Fiber Festival very early on Wednesday morning, I won’t be able to get it blocked until I return home next week. Here is a pre-blocking picture I took fresh off the needles.

Kassiani-pre-blocking (2)

I think it looks pretty good even before it’s blocked so it should really shine once it’s finished properly. :-)

After I arrived at my hotel last night I got a start on the new design I have planned in my Organic Cotton Sport weight yarn. I measured my swatch and decided on a size to aim for, 30×35; did some math and cast on. I thought about going with a fancier border like a rib or something but then decided that a simpler garter border would be better suited to the busy cable, lace, rib stitch pattern. I am doing a slightly wide edge to square up the edges since the stitch pattern would naturally create a wavy edge. Here’s my start.

cable-lace-blanket-new (2)

I had the privilege of spending two days with my daughter Meredith and her family after I left Chicago before going home. She lives near Lake Michigan so I took a quick visit there but spent most of my time visiting. Here’s a few pictures of the grandbabies. :-)

Portage-August2018 (16)Portage-August2018 (14)Portage-August2018 (4)

 

 

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Still Plugging Along

Kassiani-progress (1)

I am closing in on the finish line on my Kassiani but didn’t quite make it in time for Stitches Midwest this weekend. I am already in Schaumburg and will be setting up the booth in a few hours. If you are coming to the show you can find me in booths 319-321. :-)

I have two charts to go on the shawl, which is 32 rows I think, so I should be finished soon and ready to start that new design I showed you the swatch for in my previous post.

I have some more computer tasks to work on in my time remaining this morning so I will close for now. Thanks for reading!

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