Quiddity

Fini! Or At Least Until the Next Batch

Blocking marathon finished!  And just in time for Jim to come home for the weekend, so the dining room looks like it should, instead of a mess of pins, blocking boards, and wadded up lace projects waiting to be stretched.  And actually, this first project didn't even get blocked, because I thought it looked just fine as is.

• Ulmus Rectangle.  I knit the triangular version of this last year, and enjoyed it so much that I had to do the rectangle.  
• The greenish yarn is The Sanguine Gryphon Bugga! "Dainty Sulphur" and the black Dragonfly Fibers Dijinni Sock "Midnight at the Oasis."  

• Celes Lace Stole.  Another lovely Jared Flood design.
• Isager Alpaca 2 - 50% merino/50% alpaca.  It's a bit more green than the photos, but still fairly muted.

• Icelandic Lace Shawl/Thordis.  As you can tell by all the photos, I'm quite taken with this shawl.  It was fun to knit, and it really is lovely.  I can't wait for it to cool off so I can start wearing it.
• Jaggerspun Maine Line 2/9 wool, fingering weight.  Not smooth and squishy soft, but "rustically" just right for this shawl.

And finally...

• Traveling Woman Shawl.  A nice pattern, easy to knit.  It was free when I got it, but it looks like there is a new, improved pay version now.  Mine is not as big as the ones shown on the pattern page, more like a shawlette than a full shawl.
• The yarn is Lollipop Cabin Original/Rustic Organic Sock "Columbine at Haywood Brook."  I bought this skein at Sock Summit in 2009.  Rustic is the right word, as it is rather coarse, but again, fine for this shawl.  It looks (and may be) handspun, and not being superwash, and being somewhat scratchy, I never considered making socks with it.

Thus ends the current cavalcade of lace projects.  With two more in the wings, I guess you could say I'm on a lace kick.  Now I need to settle back down into lace knitting mode and finish that christening blanket!

Surprise!

I'm back, and not just with words, but also pictures.  Of finished knitting!  I have been, as usual, knitting like a fiend.  Between horseback riding and knitting, not much else gets done around here, but that's ok because it's too darn hot.  It's way too early for this even if it is the South, believe me.  Anyway, I finally pulled myself away from knitting long enough to block some of the shawls I've finished this year.  I've been on a lace kick lately, and while I love the knitting, I hate the blocking.  But since one of them was a birthday present, and I didn't want to give her a bag of boiled ass, it had to happen.  While all the stuff was out, I bit the bullet and kept right on.  Even now, a shawl is stretched and drying on the dining room table, while THREE more wait in the wings.  Here, with a quick digression into a pair of socks, are a few of my finished projects, with more to come.

Actually the last thing I finished knitting, back on June 6.  The pattern is something I either made up or came across I don't know where, but I call it Pebble Rib.  The yarn is Spud & Chloe 'Fine' in "Lizard."  I love this sock yarn. Sturdy, not splitty, shows off the pattern well, and affordable.  The colors are great, too.

I think I showed this scarf a while ago, but after looking at it for a while, I decided it needed more than a steaming, so onto the blocking mats it went.

It's actually a gift for someone, and needs to go in the mail asap.  The pattern, Bias Shawl, is from Rowan.  I used less stitches to make a scarf.  The yarn is Isager 'Alpaca 2', color #24.  Mmmm, alpaca!  It's a very long scarf, with dimensions of 7"x96".  Looped around and around, it should be very warm when it finally gets cold again.

This is the shawl that started the blocking frenzy - "Sea & Shells Stole" a freebie you can find on Ravelry.  I made it as a 50th birthday present for my friend Diana.  It's just her color, and I had such fun making it for her.  The yarn is Classic Elite 'Silky Alpaca Lace', color #2477.  Such a pretty shawl, and really fun to knit.  It turned out to be 19"x72" blocked, although I think I could have stretched it a bit bigger.

This is Jared Flood's "Rock Island Shawl."  Oh. My.  So interesting to knit, and really amazing when blocked.  I used Miss Babs 'Yet', a heavy laceweight, in "Flax".  Try as I might, and with two different cameras, I could not get close to the hue and depth of color.  It's actually a deep, rich purple, with bits of blues.  Blocked, it's 36"x72" and is extremely open and airy.  Here's a few more photos.

Of all the photos, the next to last is closest in color.  I highly recommend both pattern and yarn.

On the needles now - two lace projects.  The first is "Bridgewater" by Jared Flood.  I just finished the big garter stitch square that is the center, and this evening will sit down to pick up 612 stitches around the border for the lace edging.  Instead of a shawl, this piece is to be given as a gift to my cousin's daughter, to be a christening blanket for her first child.  This mom is the recipient of the Estonian lace wedding shawl I knit last year, and the blanket is made from the same cone of yarn.  A certain symmetry there, I think.

The other project is "Ene's Scarf," that I'm doing as a knit-a-long with some friends.  No deadline for this one, and although I've already made good progress, I am putting it aside for a while to concentrate on finishing the christening blanket.  I have until the end of July to complete it, but all those edge stitches are making me nervous!

So, you see I've been keeping busy.  By the middle of this week, I should have two more shawls blocked, so you may very well be hearing from me again.  Imagine that, two posts in the same month.  Heh.