Tag: knitting lace

Back to Lace Knitting

As promised, here is the Onesie I finished last week, blocked but still without buttons. I did buy some, they just needed sewing on. All 10 of them. Ugh. I don’t like sewing on buttons, so it’s a good thing this turned out cute enough to make that worthwhile. :-)

Onesie (1)Onesie (3)

I have moved Carolan onto a longer needle and and on the next to the last repeat of the main body stitch pattern. Here’s the most recent picture but I have knitted on it a bit more since.  It’s a pleasant knit so far. The lace is just interesting enough but memorable so just a glance at the chart is plenty. I dislike having to look at the chart constantly.

Carolan-wip (5)

I am in Lexington, KY for the Kentucky Fiber Festival this weekend. It’s a nice show, and so close to home for a change. It’s nice to only have to be away for three nights and to be home early on Monday. I have a few days home again before my next festival. Anyway, here’s a shot I took of the booth this morning before the market opened.

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Okay, I lied, it’s two. :-)

KFF-2018 (1)

 

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Home again

I arrived back home from Connecticut safely, after another two day long drive. I saw much snow on the ground all along the way, even as far south as Wytheville, Virginia. When I was maybe 50-75 miles from Bristol, the state line into Tennessee, it began to look like spring at last. Now home in Nashville, for the last three days, I am enjoying seeing grass and trees budding. We have still got so much rain that every thing is pretty soggy, but at least it’s not cold. I did have to turn on the heat last night because the overnight temperature dipped into the 40’s, but we have had some windows open, up until then. I am afraid I will once again see wintery weather when I am in Pittsburgh next weekend for the Pittsburgh Creative Arts Festival. I am hopeful that it may be warm, as it was last year, but I will be packing sweaters, scarves, and gloves just in case. :-)

I am spending my week at home enjoying my family, and catching up on dozens of business related tasks. At the top of my list, with hopes to have it ready for next weekend, is the pattern for the new lace square shawl. I have begun work on it and have got the pattern basically written as far as the overview and procedural steps. I just need to finish up the charts and insert them and it will be ready to publish. I still have as a working title for it, Honeydew Lace Square, which I know is kind of boring, but I am putting all my energy into writing and will hopefully come up with something better later. I did get a few good suggestions which I will take into consideration at that point.

I was very pleasantly surprised that there were so many people who liked and wanted to make it. Quite a few actually went as far as to buy the 7 skeins of Classic Merino Lace required to make it, even with the pattern not written yet. But no pressure right? LOL! Many knitters have also emailed asking for it, so yeah, I feel obligated to make it a priority now. :-) Thank you to all who have encouraged me to finish it.

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In addition to all the family and business stuff, I have managed to make some progress on my two knitting projects I have going. Here’s the progress on Carolan. It is looking pretty good, I think.

Carolan-wip (3)

And here is Tiriltunge, which I work on when I don’t want to be bothered with referring to a chart.

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Back to Lace Knitting

We have been super busy here getting all that dyeing done that I mentioned in my last post. Last week we had a window of warm weather right before a cold front came through on Thursday. So we had just 3 days to get almost 1200 skeins dyed and we just made it. Whew!

It got chilly after that but we managed to get it all dry, labeled and loaded in the trailer by Tuesday night, right before a second cold front came through. It is still pretty chilly today but warming back up slowly. I am so ready for spring this year, aren’t you?

A good deal of the yarn which we just finished is a new base which you have seen me talk about and knit with. Do you remember this shawl?

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I spent some time yesterday taking and editing pictures of our new Classic Merino DK and will have it live on the website in a day or two. I will let you know when it’s ready and give you some more details then.

For now I want to share another new thing I am very excited about. I spent some time talking with a wonderful designer named Dee O’Keefe of Designs by Dee, last September at the Shenandoah Fiber Festival and we have been in touch over the winter working out an on going working relationship. She is a fabulous designer and I really admire her work. I am going to be selling her patterns both in my online shop and at shows beginning this spring.

I cast on a beautiful crescent shaped shawl, Holbrook and oh my is it good to be back to some lace knitting. I took a long hiatus from lace knitting because I needed a break but I am ready to get back to it now. This shawl is very fun so far. It starts with a technique that was new to me but not difficult to work, called a garter tab. I love the perfect finish it created for the edging. It is those center stiches you see at the top edge. Love it!

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She recommends my Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn which I agree is wonderful for the stitch definition and dramatic color, but I chose to try it in my Classic Merino Bamboo in Peaches and Cream. After I started I did wonder if I would stick with my choice, but I think the softer drape of the Merino Bamboo will be nice for spring so I am going for it. I found a Raveler who has done this shawl in my Sock yarn here. I think that I am going to barrel through because I can’t wait to see the finished project and may need another in Sock yarn for contrast. :-)

It is a very fun project so far and my favorite part is that there is neither a long cast on nor a long bind off at the end since it has a knitted on border. Oh and the stockinette on the sides makes for nice relaxing parts while the lace panel is easy to follow but not boring or tedious. :-)

Before I close this post I will show you what I finished between my last post and this one. My new around the house socks for cold mornings. I have not made many socks in thicker wool but I like these. They are too thick for wearing in shoes but they are dense and warm like slippers for wearing on cold wood floors. Perfect!

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