Guess what still hasn’t been blocked?

All those ends.. taunting me.

Guess who has finally finished the never ending increases of a top down raglan, and is now in smooth sailing (and not increasing!) lace territory of her February Lady Sweater?

That would be me.

Guess who had a relaxing Fourth of July with friends I don’t see enough, and a visit with some adorable pups at her parents?

Zoe Blum

Artemis (and my mom!)

Well, that would also be me.

Guess what ancient stone structure in miniature has mysteriously gone missing one of its pieces?

I guess that’s why they don’t let tourists touch it anymore.

What seems like miles of garter stitch is actually only six inches.

It feels like so much more than that.

This is the start of the February Lady Sweater, a loving and wonderful adaptation of EZ’s classic February Baby Sweater. It made its internet debut while I was in Massachusetts for the wedding, but I made its acquaintance when I came back to the blog-world, and introduced Lindsey when she got back from Hawaii.

We’re both knitting it.

In the same yarn.

Back at Rhinebeck 2007, we each bought a full bag of worsted wool from The Little Barn - Filatura Lana Chaco, I think it’s called. Great colors, nice plie, and CHEAP. Lindsey has a soft buttery yellow - I have a peacock teal. You might recognize it as the yarn that was once almost a cabled pullover inspired by Indigirl’s Charisma cable pullover.

Yes, almost. I ripped it out. It was a little sad. A little. All of those lovely cables!

Now that you’re done cringing, I’m really happy with my progress on the FLS so far. I’m knitting the large on US8s, and though it’s getting a little crowded on my 32″ circ, it’ll be OK once I get past the yoke.

Because I’m crazy, and need everything to be bulletproof and dense, I’m double stranding the yarn for the garter yoke - I always find garter stitch stretches like crazy, and whenever I ripped back with a single strand, I felt like every single mistake could be seen. So this yoke is tough. Nice and dense, with a good hand, but quite rigid. And squishy. If that’s possible.

I’ve done 17 of the 30 or so increases in this top down raglan. This is my least favorite part - I like to knit my sweaters from the top up because once you get to the yoke? You decrease! It practically flies by! By top down raglans.. each row gets longer and longer and longer…

Thanks for the comments on my Shetland Triangle. I have yet to block it. It sits on the couch, mocking me. I have to weave in the ends before I block it, and that just seems so daunting.. especially when there’s garter stitch to be knit.

Life has been nuts.

I mean, the good nuts, not the tear out your hair nuts.

My Celebrant business is getting off the ground.  Lindsey and Ben got MARRIED.  I’m finally done with my training for my day job, which means that I won’t be traveling anytime soon (I went to Orlando twice in three weeks for training).  Those are all very good things.

In the midst of getting to this calmer, more serene place, past the good crazy, there hasn’t been much time for knitting.

I finally cast off for a shawl project I’ve had on the needles for a few months - The Shetland Triangle, by Evelyn A. Clark in Wrap Style.  I bought the book simply for this shawl - I love Clark’s simple triangle shawl designs.  I need to get my hands on a copy of the Flower Basket Shawl - I think that’s my next plan (I have the issues of IK that it’s in, but I can’t find it anywhere).

I used Manos Silk/Wool blend, a DK weight yarn, and a US9 needle, larger than what was called for in the pattern.  I used a total of 4 skeins, for a nice, big shawl - I’ve decided I like my shawls large.  I’ll see how it looks once it blocks out.

In life/knitting news, I’ve been actually wearing my other two shawls!

Kiri at my Celebrant graduation.

With the beautiful bride (and Kiri)

Lindsey and I on the move (I like my shawls larger so I can easily wrap it around my shoulders, tuck it under my arms, and tie it in the back - easily stays on, looks beautiful, and doesn’t cover up my dress)

Swallowtail shawl while performing a wedding.

Lindsey & Ben’s wedding ceremony was an amazing experience - and it had handknitting, too! Lindsey knit a shrug and matching purse to wear - but it was nearly 100 degrees, so she didn’t wear the shrug. She also knit her handfasting cord with the extra yarn! I helped her finish it the evening before the wedding.

I got this lovely shawl pin in the mail today, and I’ve tossed my shawls over my shoulders, pinned it, folded it, and I just can’t seem to get the hang of it.  How do you wear a shawl?

With Kiri.

Something sad happened this morning.

I was getting ready for work, and decided, since it was one of those cold sunny spring days, that it may be the last opportunity to wear my Cascade Yoke sweater this season.  I hadn’t worn it since mid-January, and it had been sitting, patiently, on a closet shelf ever since.

I pulled it on, and immediately sensed it.

It’s too big.

I knew it was going to happen.  I knit the sweater in late September of 2007.  Since then, I’ve lost a little over 50 pounds.

My body doesn’t change shape rapidly when I lose weight.  It just happens one morning, when I pull on a pair of pants, and all of a sudden realize that I didn’t need to unbotton the fly to get them on.  Or I put on a button up shirt that I always have to wear a camisole under, because the bottom few buttons don’t close, and realize that I’ve buttoned it all the way.  It’s always a surprise, and usually a pleasant one (other than the pants - I desperately need new pants).

But the sweater - well, the sweater was sad.

I had measured myself and custom designed it for my body.  There were short rows along the bust line, and waist shaping.  Now, the bottom flares out, obviously too big for my hips and belly.  The short rows bunch under my arms.

The shaping, which made it such an elegant, well-fitting sweater in October, excludes it from becoming a comfy, over sized sweater, as the fabric falls in odd places on my body.

I mean, that didn’t stop me from wearing it today.  But this may be the last time.

I’ve been on a not well-enforced sweater moratorium since September.  I didn’t really follow it.  I did try not to make large yarn purchases intended for sweaters, as I knew I was losing weight and didn’t want to be sad when I couldn’t wear them.

But now I guess I’ll enforce it.  No more sweaters knit for myself until September 2008.  I figure by then I’ll have reached a very doable goal for myself - or at least be so chomping at the bit to start knitting garments again that I won’t be able to stop myself.

It’s still a sad day for me - this sweater was easily the most wearable sweater I’ve ever knit.  Elegant, comfortable, and well-fitting.  Well, I guess I’ll fold it up carefully and put it in the closet for now.

I guess this just means I have to knit more lace.  Oh, well.

Yarn suggestions please!  I have 300 yards of Manos Silk Blend - it’s a DK weight in those lovely Manos colors.  I’ve been swatching and trying endlessly to figure out what it will be, but all of the patterns seem to 150 yards of yarn or 500.  What can I make with only 300 yards?  I’m trying to see how long I can go without buying yarn…

I cast on for this on Saturday afternoon, after discovering that Dan had stepped on the needles for the shawl I was working on (he has since bought me a new needle, but I’m still waiting on it, as KnitPicks shipping isn’t the fastest). Worsted weight wool and US10.5 needles and an easily memorizable lace pattern made the knitting fly by.

Pattern: Kiri (available free here)
Yarn: Mediterranean by Reflections on Roclan, two skeins. I bought this yarn at the New York Sheep and Wool Festival in 2007. Just under two skeins, aprox 500 yards.
Needles: KnitPicks Harmony interchangeable US10.5s (I think - Harmony needles aren’t labeled, and I always forget to stick them in the needle gauge. I liked the fabric I got, so it wasn’t a problem).

Details on Ravelry.

The original pattern is written for Kid Silk Haze, and on smaller needles. I knew I wanted to use worsted weight, so I just stepped up the needle size. I don’t know how many repeats of the pattern I did (five, maybe?). I worked the repeats until I finished the first skein of yarn, then finished that repeat and worked the border. This left me with maybe 1/2 an oz of yarn left, so I used all of the yarn that I could. If I had run out of yarn, I had planned to cast off in Chestnut Brown Paton’s Classic Merino - or even work the full border in that. I thought the color would work well with the teal. But, I didn’t need to do that. It was a comforting thought when I wasn’t sure if I would make it.

OK, this picture is more of a windy picture of my new hair-cut.

As soon as I cast off, I wove in the ends, and gave it a long soak in some wool-wash. A lot of dye leached out, but the color of the yarn didn’t fade too much.

It blocked out beautifully. I was worried about the heavier worsted wool, but the fabric is light, and the lace feels delicate and soft. The yarn and fabric blocked beautifully. And it’s so big!

There’s something so magical about knitting lace. I still can’t believe that I knit that.

As I type this, Kiri knit on US 10.5s with a lovely, slightly heavier than worsted teal yarn I got at Rhinebeck, is blocking on the floor of my living room.

Kiri is slightly damp, my hands smell faintly of Soak (A Scent for Celebration!), and though the shawl turned the soaking water Hawaiin Punch Blue, the color is still vibrant in the yarn.

I can’t stop looking at it. Good thing the couch has a nice view.

Next up? Dan will buy me a new needle, and Icarus will get finished. I think I’ll invest in some blocking wires as well, as I don’t think my carpet is very happy to be pinned so much. Also I think it would be easier and my knees wouldn’t get so wet, crawling all over the shawl and pinning. And all it takes is one extra pin left in the carpet to get a pin in your foot…

Before that though? Wrap Style is on its way to me. The Shetland Triangle is practically begging me to knit it. Now, to just dive into my stash and find the perfect yarn… I’m thinking perhaps the two skeins of Manos Silk. Oooh. That sounds nice.

Pictures tomorrow, when there’s better light. But belief me. It’s spectacular.

All I want to knit is lace. Lace, lace, lace, lace, lace.

I decided to knit the Icarus shawl after searching through a bunch of old Interweave Knits issues.  Since I cast off on the Swallowtail shawl, I really wanted to knit another shawl.  I had tried to start Ene’s Scarf from Scarf Style while I was traveling last week, but casting on 375 stitches? Not something I enjoy doing.  I really like the pattern where you start off with a handful of stitches, and slowly increase, creating the shape of the triangle.

Icarus seemed perfect.  The mostly stockinette portion is really pretty in the subtle hand-dyed solid of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock.  The yarn over column will block out really well in the wool, and it’s a fun knit - pretty easy to memorize with a nice result.

I had plans to relax and make some progress on it this weekend.  That is, until I woke up on Saturday morning.  Dan told me he had something to tell me.

I had left the shawl on the floor, near the coffee table.  This got covered by the blanket that was on the couch.  Which Dan stepped on when crossing the room on Saturday morning.

Oops.

So now Dan’s buying me a new needle, but I don’t have any long, sharp, wooden US7s that aren’t currently in use.  So I had to put it aside.   And cast on a new project.

This is the Kiri shawl (free PDF here) knit in Reflections at Roclan worsted wool on US10.5s.  The fabric is dense and airy, the yarn has a ton of spring to it and, though you can’t see it in the pictures, has a lovely hand-dyed variation from light to dark teal.  I have two skeins, which I think will be more than enough for a wrap.  I really like the feel of heavy lace, of these delicate patterns worked in a larger yarn and on a larger needle.  And they knit up fast!

And thank you for all of your comments on the Swallowtail shawl.  I can’t tell you how happy I am with it.  And it seems to have sparked this new lace passion as well!  I have plans to knit another one, because I just love that lily of the valley border (nupps and all).

It’s official: I’m addicted to lace.  It’s so much fun to knit - always interesting, the pattern slowly evolving and changing as you go.  The thin yarn on larger needles makes the knitting fly, and it grows swiftly.  But the best part?  Once you’ve cast off, and soaked it in a nice wool-wash bath, you pin it and stretch it out to within an inch of its yarny life and wait a few hours.  And when you unpin it?  Soft, crisp, perfect peaks.  Open yarn overs and delicate lace patterns.  And I made that?  Unbelievable.

 I think this is the most beautiful thing I have ever knit.

I didn’t change much from the pattern.  The pattern calls for lace-weight yarn and US5 needles.  I used Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock in Perwinkle (fingering weight superwash merino) and US7s (KnitPick’s Harmony needles have a nice sharp tip for wooden needles, perfect for those “nupps” and their infamous p5tog).

 I wanted to make sure my shawl was more, well, shawl sized, and less scarfy, so I added 5 extra repeats of the budding lace pattern (a tip I picked up on the Ravelry boards - if you’re going to increase the size, do it in repeats of 5 - so instead of 14, as called for in the pattern, do 19, 24, or 29.  This way the numbers will match up for the border).  Since I used a heavier yarn and larger needles, I knew it would be a little bigger than the one in the pattern, even if I didn’t add any extra repeats.

 Of course, there are a few mistakes in there.  I had some trouble transitioning between the charts, mostly because I had to follow the chart blindly when I started it off, and wasn’t able to easily read my knitting.  I tried to fix them the best that I could, and I don’t think they take away from the overall look.  In fact, I was happy that I had some mistakes that I conquered.  That was all part of my grand plan for the shawl.

As I mentioned, I made this shawl as a symbol of my choice to become a Celebrant.  I picked this color in particular because periwinkle has always felt like a magical color to me, that beautiful ethereal color of the sky that I always felt wasn’t quite real.  As a Celebrant, I will get to know a couple, then create and perform an original ceremony for them.  This will involve taking elements from many different places - the couple’s own words and cultures, known traditions, and my own creative knowledge.

The same can be said for this shawl.  I followed a general pattern, one that many have followed and done before (just as the wedding ceremony).  I made my own choices - I made it larger, changed the yarn, chose the color.   I even made some mistakes along the way, but I incorporated them into, and made it a part of the piece.  Though I followed the “rules” of the pattern, I created a completely unique shawl.  Just like when I write wedding ceremonies - I’ll follow the “rules,” but I’ll end with something completely personalized and unique for the couple.

Even if someone liked my shawl so much that they decided to do it exactly the same way, adding extra repeats and the same yarn and same needle size, they would still be different.  That’s the beauty of any kind of art, any kind of creativity.  By simply writing, simply knitting, you are making something that is completely yours, something that will be memorable, beautiful, and unlike anyone else’s in the world.

 I love it.  Absolutely love it.  I can’t believe I made this!

I cast off Sunday night.

I unpinned it at 7am, admired the nupps, tried it on in the bathroom and gazed at myself in the mirror, and then went to work, and got on a plane to LA.
And just got back last night.

So more pictures will be coming soon.

For now, I’ll just tell you that I am in love with this shawl. It was so much fun to knit that I am contemplating knitting another one. I think it would be beautiful as a wrap in a heavier weight yarn.

I also have a ton of Lorna’s Laces Shepherd Sock left over, as I had ordered six skeins and only used 2.5 for this shawl. Since I’ve now got lace on the brain, I’m thinking of using some of that yarn to make the beautiful Adamas Shawl. I’m so excited.