Tag: lace knitting shawl

Knitting Mingling Daisies in the Dark Days of December

Mingling Daisies shawl

As the dark days of December begin, my exclusive knitting project is my Mingling Daisies shawl.

I know many people think of December as a month of light, and it is in many ways. There are all the lights of the decorations and candles. These are used for many to signify the light that came into the world by the incarnation of Christ as a baby. I believe that, but still to me it is also a month of darkness. As the days grow ever shorter the light gets less and less until that day when we reach the shortest day of the calendar, The Winter Solstice. I do look forward to that day, because it is at that point that it only gets better, right? The days begin the shift to lengthening and it feels so much less oppressive to me that there will be a reversal of the darkness. I no longer put up a Christmas tree, since all the children but one are grown, but we do string up lights. I like the lights as a reminder that the darkness won’t overcome in the end.

Knitting

But, I digress. The knitting update on my current work in progress is the focus of my post, so let’s get on to that, shall we?

Mingling Daisies shawl

It has been awhile since I have shared anything about this shawl. So, to recap, it is a Stephen West design and I am knitting it with my Classic Merino Bamboo in the Sea Coral color. I hope that two skeins will be enough to complete it. I haven’t weighed the one I am working from, but it looks like more than half of it remains. I currently have about 270 or so stitches on the needles. The final stitch count is 601 and 2 stitches are added on every row. That means that I am close to the halfway point. So, we will see.

It is a relaxing but not boring project. I would recommend it to advanced beginning knitters and experienced knitters alike. There’s something for everyone here. Actually, I think I will close this post for now, brew a cup of tea and get a bit of knitting done on this gray, dreary December day. Happy knitting!

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A Knitting Post From Home and Some New Office Stuff

Flames and Lace Stole Knitting Pattern

Home Time, Books, and New Office Stuff

I am home for this weekend and have some knitting to show you. I also have a few new things in my home office.

I drove home from Pittsburgh on Sunday . The trip was long but uneventful. The one bonus of a long drive is more audio book time. During my trips from Nashville to Kalamazoo to Pittsburgh and back to Nashville, I had many hours of listening time. I listened to Later by Stephen King, Secrets of a Charmed Life by Susan Meissner, and began The Weight of Ink by Rachel Kadesh.

This was my second time reading Later. I had forgotten how good it is. If you like the movie The Sixth Sense, you might like this book. Secrets of a Charmed Life is very good for fans of historical fiction set in two time periods. The main characters are two sisters separated by World War II and how that affected their lives. I am not even halfway through The Weight of Ink yet. It’s a bit historical too, but in a different way from the other one I read. It doesn’t feel as personal but it is very interesting. The main plot revolves around some manuscripts from the mid 17th century and the people that wrote them in the past versus the ones discovering them in the present. Technically it is the year 2000, so the past to us, but in modern times.

While we are on the topic of home, I want to show you that I added a few things to my home office recently. I added a few desk lamps, a filing cabinet and best of all, a comfortable desk chair. I am writing this post from here and it’s awesome! I really do feel more productive. Now, I just need to use that productive feeling to get my new knitting pattern written for that shawl I finished.

Knitting Updates

Speaking of that shawl, let’s take a look at the blocking shots and a few after blocking pictures.

I love how the pattern opens with the blocking. This stitch pattern is not hard to work because as you can see it’s pretty solid for a lace pattern. That is the reason I chose to use US 3 needles for the fingering weight Classic Merino Bamboo yarn that I used. Normally I used US 5 needles to knit lace with either of my fingering weight bases. I am happy with the body in this shawl that the tighter gauge creates.

I ended up using almost all of the 3 skeins. The shawl weighs 295g. I measured it after removing the pins. The length is about 84″ and the width about 23.5-24″. The width was more than I had planned but it’s actually a nice size for wrapping up in. I think the width is a result of how I blocked it. The edging wanted to be stretched more and therefore, I went with it rather than making the fabric stretch more lengthwise. You may also notice that I chose to accentuate the shaping of the selvedge that occurs due to the lace. Now, I just need to get the pattern written and published. I would like that to be done in time for my next show in Wisconsin next weekend.

I have one other knitting project to share before I end this post. You may recall that I started Saltarello in my Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn.

I am finding the stitch pattern easy to follow, even in the dark yarn. I do need good light to work on it but that can be true no matter the color when working lace patterns. I have gotten through the first two charts at this point. I hope it will show the design well in the booth in the dark color. Blocking will help I think. I am using US 5 needles on this shawl to help the stitch pattern open up more. See you next time.

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Knitting and Yarn Dyeing

Things haven’t slowed down much. We have been working on yarn labeling and restocking a lot. We finished that job on Tuesday. I increased our inventory for the fall since I have a very busy show schedule and don’t want to run out of anything that I may not have time to redye until later in the fall. Most of the yarn is in the trailer but we have about 20% of the inventory in our work room storage now since I couldn’t fit it all in the trailer storage anymore. I hitched up the trailer to the new truck and moved it closer to the work room door to make loading easier.

I have been enjoying my new truck. I got a new Rush plate for the front bumper and we got my tonneau cover transferred over from my old truck. Today we also got a new bed liner mat for it so it’s all ready for traveling next month.

One of my daughters has been doing missionary work in Ireland since January 2021. She made the trip home on Monday, so we have enjoyed visiting with her and other family for the last few days. She brought me some presents; handmade jewelry (which I am wearing and didn’t get a picture of, sorry), candy, and some yarn. I already know what I am going to do with the green Donegal tweed. It will be a Maize cowl, which is a pattern I wrote about 8 years ago for my DK weight yarn. The white yarn is some very lovely lanolin rich hand-spun, which I am not sure what I will use it for yet.

I haven’t started the cowl yet but I did finish Midlothian and start a new shawl last week. I was finally able to get Midlothian blocked today because all the yarn is now out of the way in the work room.

More on this later when it’s off the blocking mats.

The new shawl on my needles at the moment is called Bensusan. I am using my Classic Merino Superwash DK for it in Cypress. The color is a bit off in this picture. It is more accurate on my website if you click through and select the color there. It’s an olivey brown. I like the texture of the cables and twisted stitches, which are fun to knit too.

That’s about it for my post today. I need to get school finished with my youngest. We are on the last chapter of The Goblet of Fire for our reading time and I am looking forward to starting The Order of the Phoenix. :-)

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Making Progress

Here’s a little something I cast on after New Years while I was deciding which color I wanted to use for the shawl you will see below. This will be another pair of long cuffed fingerless mitts in fingering weight this time instead of sport weight. I haven’t touched them much since then though because I cast on for the shawl a few days later.

I am making decent progress on my re-design of my pattern Honeydew Lace Square.

You may recall that I originally designed this from my Classic Merino Lace but since that was discontinued, I am re-knitting and editing the pattern to work with fingering weight yarn. I chose to use my Classic Merino Superwash Sock for the sample but the Classic Merino Bamboo would work as well. The difference would only be in the hand of the fabric since the gauge would be the same. I am using the Lavender and the above picture that I took several days ago when the sun was out shows off the color better. This was after one repeat of the chart.

This is after two repeats, that I took today. It’s an indoor picture because the weather is really gray and cold today so the color is a little dark. So far I have adjusted the cast on number to account for the larger gauge. The needle cable at the top is the one I am knitting with and the one at the bottom is from the provisional cast on. I used Judy’s Magic Cast On so I just leave it on the needle until ready to use those stitches when the center square is complete.

I am weighing the ball after every repeat to help predict the amount I will need and it looks like it will take 1 3/4 skeins to complete the center square. It’s harder to predict the amount for the borders yet since I haven’t swatched that part. I hope it won’t take more than 5 skeins for the whole shawl.

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Last Post of 2019

Here is the progress on my current project. In case you forgot, since it’s been a few weeks, I am knitting a new sample of Ode to the Butterfly shawl in my Classic Merino Bamboo yarn. I am only six rows from finishing this so my next post should be of the completed shawl.

It’s hard to tell what this will look like while it’s on the needles but it is a beautiful design and I can’t wait to see it blocked out in this yarn. That keeps me motivated to get this done. Also I need to get the re-knit of my Honeydew Lace Square on the needles. I don’t know how long it will take to knit and I am probably going to have to edit the pattern with new numbers for the fingering weight version so it won’t be too humongous. My ambitious goal is to have it done for the spring festivals.

Hope your holiday celebrations were wonderful and that many blessings come your way in the new year.

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December Update

Wow, where to start? I knew it had been a bit long since my last post, but I didn’t realize until I looked it up today that it has been over a month. Here we are at the end of 2019 almost. Why are we always surprised by this? Anyway, we got the tree up yesterday, and Mimi is having fun driving me crazy bonking the ornaments and climbing on the presents.

So I’ll catch you up on my knitting since last month. First, I finished the Usonian II in my Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn. This is the second one I have made and it’s just a really fun shawl to make. People are drawn to it too. It’s gets lots of attention in the booth.

So the next thing I did was to swatch for a reknit and possible rewrite/edit of my Honeydew Lace Square design from last year. The yarn that I used for this was my lace weight base which I had to discontinue this year due to the mill not producing it any longer. I decided the thing to do would be to try it with one of fingering weight yarns. Here are the swatches in my Classic Merino Superwash Sock from the above shawl.

Top sample is the Merino Superwash Sock yarn and the bottom is the original Merino Lace
Both samples in Merino Superwash Sock with different needle sizes

In the bottom picture I tested first my default lace needle size in fingering weight yarn, which is a US 5 (the blue yarn). I then tried a US 4 to see if I liked the definition and fabric better. It was a bit preferred, but I was surprised that the size/gauge of the overall swatch was almost identical. I will probably go with the US 4’s but haven’t decided what color I want to use.

So in the meantime I have another design that I used as a sample in my lace weight. It is a pattern one of my daughters wrote about 10 years ago called Ode to the Butterfly. I am re-knitting it in my Classic Merino Bamboo, which is a fingering weight. I am using my US 5 needles on this even though the pattern calls for a US 7. I have a Ravelry project page here.

Okay, so that’s enough catching up for now. Hope you are enjoying getting ready for the holidays!

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Richland and Delmare

I have finished my Richland Shawl since my previous post and have cast on for my next project. Before I show you the pictures of Richland, here is the yarn I am using for what’s on my needles at the moment.

Fern, Midnight Blue, Earl Grey

I am using the Earl Grey (greyer in person than in this picture) as the Color A, Fern as color B and Midnight Blue as color C. The pattern is one of Dee O’Keefe’s latest releases, Delmare, in which she used my Classic Merino Superwash Sock yarn as the base yarn. It should be a pretty quick project since the lace work is minimal. I am not a big fan of making these garter shawls which are all the rage because I prefer complexity, but the color changes help keep it interesting. :-)

Lavender, Damson Plum, Berry

These are the original colors Dee used for her sample. I usually like to select different colors for several reasons, but in this case I had two main reasons. First I discontinued the Berry this year (heh, sorry about that); and second I was itching to use some of my new colors from this year. (Fern and Earl Grey)

Okay, so on to the finished shawl you are waiting to see. I really love it! These DK weight asymmetrical triangles are pretty fun to knit and get a lot of admiration in the booth. :-) The are quick and easy but still interesting enough to not get tedious.

last progress shot to see the texture before blocking
Quite a difference!
Just look at those texture stitches!

This lovely shawl will be making it’s debut this coming weekend in Yellow Springs, OH at the 24th annual Woolgathering Festival at Young’s Jersey Dairy. Hope to see some of you there!

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Holbrook #3 and Other News

I completed my Holbrook last week and am finally getting around to updating the blog. Hopefully this one will be staying in the booth longer than the last one did.

Here’s my new project on the needles. It’s another of my favorite styles to make lately out of my Classic Merino Superwash DK yarn, called Richland, by Dee O’Keefe. These have really been popular in the booth and I am excited to have a chance to knit with one of this year’s new colors for it.

Since my last post I returned from Schaumburg and Jerry and I took a short little road trip to the Smoky Mountains for two nights alone. We have been happily married for 31 years this year but have only away alone like this 5 times, including this one. We had a lot of fun just exploring and hanging out together. Must do it again! Anyway here’s a few pictures.

Hike up to Clingman’s Dome
At the visitor’s center in Kodak, TN near our hotel

We saw two caves and I think this is from The Lost Sea

View from Clingman’s Dome

So the weekend after this I was in Allegan, MI for the Michigan Fiber Festival and had a great time there in my new space in the nice new Expo building. I think the booth looked especially nice with the better lighting and more room.

Before I close I will throw in a final couple shots of Holbrook which will be back in the booth next weekend in Wisconsin at the Sheep & Wool Festival.

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Posting from Raleigh

Good morning again! Last week you may recall I was in Pittsburgh for the Knit & Crochet Festival there and in the final stretch on my Holbrook shawl. All went well at the festival and I drove from there on Monday morning to Raleigh, NC, where I am currently for the Carolina Fiber Fest. I have had a couple of days here of down time, so I mostly hung out at the hotel and made good progress on my booth sample knitting.

I finished the Holbrook last night and while it is impossible for my to block it here in the hotel I will show you how it looks right off the needles and will update on it later once it is properly blocked.

So, last night after finishing that project I immediately cast on for the next one I had in the queue, Kimani, which I had brought the yarn with me in case I got to this point while away from home. I am re-knitting this one also to replace the sample I have in this pattern because I decided I wanted to try it in a new lighter color. I am using the same yarn I used before, Knitting Notions Classic Merino Superwash Sport in Honeydew. I have completed the first chart so far. I like how it is looking in this color. :-)

I have to go get the booth set up right now so I need to get the trailer hitched and head out for the afternoon. Next post I write will probably be from home. I love doing shows, but am sure going to be glad to get home. I miss my people. See you soon!

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I think I can…

I am about 10 days into my Holbrook Shawl and the progress is encouraging. I have only 3 repeats of the main stitch pattern, which means 18 more rows, if I want to end it there and move on to the border. I had entertained the idea of adding two more repeats to make it a bit larger, but I am probably just going to go with the size as written. I would like to have this one finished in time to have it in the booth at Pittsburgh and Raleigh next month.

Speaking of fiber festivals, I have been working through my other show prep lists when I am not knitting or taking care of the household and family tasks. It has been a challenge with all the rain this winter but I did manage to get some yarn dyeing done on Monday. This is about half of it which I put back out on the lines today during a short respite in the wet weather. My next opportunity to get it all dry will be Sunday and Monday.

There are things that can be done on rainy days too. I have some Yarn Boxes I need to wax, yarn labels that need printed, cut apart and color labeled, patterns to be printed, etc. Of course it’s that time of year that we all dread; tax time. I have done my Federal return, first quarter sales tax returns, and local business personal property return, so that’s at least out of the way. Whew! I also need to take my truck to get some scheduled maintenance done before I hit the road again.

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