Swatching Gracie

I'm planning ahead and trying to make some decisions on the Gracie shawl that I want to knit. This is a beautiful Faroese shawl from Myrna Stahman's book Stahman's Shawls and Seaman Scarfs. Opinions are welcomed (click for larger image).

Yarn - Jojoland Wool Yarn fingering weight - 22 WPI - fingering weight


Top swatch was done on size 7 needles. I liked this swatch best unblocked but now that I blocked it (a bit too severly), it seems more open and floppy. In Texas, this might be an advantage

Bottom swatch was done on size 4 needles. Unblocked I thought it was too dense and firm, but it opened up a bit with blocking.

What does everyone else think?

till later ~~ Dene

Memorial Day 2006

Happy Memorial Day to all. Let us not forget all those that died for our freedom.


The above is a quilt I made several years ago. It comes out of the quilt trunk every Memorial Day and stays up until sometime in August.

I'm knitting a lot these days - it is good meditation. With all the stress at work and the loss of a friend, it is good to keep my hands busy so that my mind can center on what is important to me. I'll post pictures soon of my progress on various projects.

Till later ~~ Dene

Big Love

For the Amazing Lace knit-along, I'm listed as having "Multiple Teammates". Since I'm self-admitted as being a project polygamist, then I might as well come out-of-the-closet and flash my teammates. Each has their own personality and satisfies in various ways *smile*
Click on images for larger view.



Teammate #1 - Print O' The Waves Stole
This lover is dark and mysterious. It was originally my Knitter's Olympic project but there was an error in the pattern (correction here") and I ended up with a Bode Miller moment and didn't finish. The correction was mysterious until the pattern author came through with a correction. I'm almost done with this project lacking only 20 repeats of the edge pattern. Slow and sure for this dark project.

Teammate #2 - Mountain Stream Scarf
This lover is the exact opposite of the Print O' The Waves. She is bright (PINK! Yikes!), flirty and bold. The yarn is kid mohair and is new and exciting as I've never knit with mohair before. Not something I would have picked out for myself, the yarn was gifted to me. The pattern is simply FUN and holds my attention. When I first received the yarn and pattern, I had to abandon all my other lovers for this lovely flirt of a project.


Teammate #3 - Triangular Lace Shawl
This lover is plain, steady, and faithful. Since the shawl is done in one motif, there isn't much to hold my attention. But it is always there quietly begging for attention. The pattern is from the Needlecraft University class that I took and didn't finish. The yarn is Merino Oro and is quite lovely to work with. The needles are Addi Turbo's that I've decided I hate for lace so I'll have to find another pair of needles to work this project on. I'm determined to finish this lovely, faithful teammate.

Teammate #4 - Fox Island Vest
This lover caught my eye at Stitches West last winter in the Black Water Abbey booth. Perfect for the Texas weather, this teammate promises to be interesting and fun to knit. The yarn is BWA's laceweight in natural so this vest will go with most anything I wear. I've not started the project yet so it will be a late summer knit after all the other demanding teammates are silenced.



Teammate #5 - Faroese Shawl
Elusive and flirty, this teammate has yet to show herself totally to me. I know it will be from this wonderful book - Stahman's Shawls and Scarfs. Which one has yet to be revealed. I feel like a kid in a candy shop! I have plenty of wool yarn from an impulse buy at Stitches West that I'm toying with dying before I choose a project.









Teammate #6 - Unknown project
Hiding in the shadows is this wonderful Knit Picks Shimmer yarn that was gifted to me. I have 4 skeins and have yet to settle on a project for this wonderful lace-weight yarn. Maybe a intricate scarf? Maybe a garter-stitch shawl? Something for myself or my mother? It will keep flirting with me until I finally seize the yarn and start something.

I hope you enjoyed meeting my teammates for this summer. They will have to share my time with my sock knitting and vacation but I'm sure they will beg for attention that I'll be able to finish several. I'm going to be tired!

Till Later ~~ Dene

Is polygamy a good thing?

I just joined this:

And this is how they listed me:


Project polygamy - is it a good thing? Actually, I'm working on 2 lace projects at the moment. I'm plugging along on the Print o' the Waves stole - 60 border repeats left. I also have completed one of the Opal Masterpiece socks in the lacy Angel's Peak pattern. You can't see it with the busyness of the yarn pattern, though.

Till later ~~ Dene

Cinco de Mayo

It is Cinco de Mayo! I'm so happy this week is over. I've not been feeling well all weekend but things are looking up :)

A big THANK YOU to my Sockapaloooza pal Jane in London ENGLAND! Yes! I was one of the fortunate folks that got a pair of International Sockapaloooza pal. I was so excited when I received the package. The socks are so lovely and fit like a glove. I really like lace - especially in Texas! And the waves are groovy :)


As you can see, the package of Cadbury eggs is fairly flat - actually it is empty. They sure were good!! The oragami birds are in celebration of Project Spectrum and will hang from my bookcase above my computer monitor. The pattern is "Falling Leaves" from Knitty.com and the yarn is Opal. Thank you so much Jane!

The second pair I'd like to show you are my Dreamcatcher socks that I finished on the 3rd.


Yarn is Opal Dreamcatcher 1230 and the pattern is my own (k5,p1 rib). Notice how close they match? :: does happy dance:: I knit these on US size 1 bamboo double points.

Only 71 more lace chart repeats to finish my Print 'o the waves stole. I worked about 8 last night and then switch to my Masterpiece socks that took less concentration. I'm going to try the same Falling Leaves pattern that Jane used but from the cuff down instead of toe up. I'll see if it works.

Till later ~~ Dene

Lists

I make lists for a lot of things. Last weekend, I made one for my top 10 knitting projects (either started or not) that I'd like to complete. I ended up spilling over to another list but I thought 10 would be a good place to start. So here it is:


Help cheer me on! 2 down, 8 to go. I've started on the Print o' the waves stole again after getting the pattern correction from the author. I noticed that she has not posted the corrections to the .pdf file so if anyone out there is as stumped as I was, here is the correction:
Edging chart: Rows 9,11,13,15 - add a K2tog after the last YO on the left edge.

I've done 2 repeats and it is lovely! 2 down, 78 to go :)

Pictures soon.

Till later ~~ Dene

Sockapaloooza Mail Day

Today is the day! All the Sockapaloooza's out there are off to the post office to mail their packages to their secret pal. I've already received my package since it was mailed early from England. I'll post a picture very soon - they are quite wonderful and I have to take them off my feet to photograph!

But today I wanted to share what was going into my package to my pal in Minnisota (that is all the hint you will get). Anyone that has read this blog a while will know that I attempted about 5 pairs of socks before finally settling down with one pair. And no, it isn't the Pomatomus Socks that I blogged about from California. I got the cuff done and discovered that while the pattern is very interesting, it is also very holey and not very stretchy. So rip them I did. I used the same yarn to cast on a pair that I felt would fit better (being a rib) and I love them. I hope my pal does also.

Here is what is in the package:


There are 2 postcards there because the socks were knit in both California and Texas (and all other states I passed over in the airplane.) They were cast on in Campbell, CA, knit on also in San Jose, CA and Pinehurst TX. Also included are some Texas pecan pralines .. yumnmm!


Details:
Pattern: My own adaptation of the Yarn Over Cables from Sensational Knitted Socks by Charlene Schurch.
Yarn: Opal Cool Ocean #223
Details: US Size 1 bamboo double-point needles. Traditional heel flap and toe.

I'm hoping they fit!

till later ~~ Dene