How The West Was Spun

New Shawl Pattern - Voussoir Shawl

I think many of you have likely knit the very popular Traveling Woman shawl (or one of the other matching accessories of that name).  The designer, Liz Abinante, is releasing an eBook collection of small shawls based on the architecture of Venice, and her final one of the collection, the Voussoir Shawl, features my DK-weight Aerten yarn (that's the squishy and soft merino, cashmere, nylon blend).

This shawl takes 2 skeins of yarn and it's a great, versatile, elongated crescent shape.  You could wear it scrunched up as a scarf, or draped around your shoulders like a shawl.

Liz wanted a really deep, rich fall colorway, so I sent her the "Bittersweet" colorway for her sample, but I think the shawl would be great in any of the colors I carry. (And if you don't see a colorway you want, please shoot me an email - I'd be glad to do a custom dye for you!)

For the rest of the month, I'm running a 10%-off special on this base yarn.  You can find it in the shop here!

(All photos courtesy of Liz Abinante).

All for now....

Unsinkable

Did you know that this April marks the 100th anniversary mark of the sinking of the Titanic, a ship deemed "unsinkable"?

To commemorate the event, Kirsten Kapur of Through the Loops and I have teamed up for a fun, quick-to-knit project.  I was really excited when Kirsten approached me about collaborating on this project, and even more excited when I saw the gorgeous pattern she came up with.  Interesting to knit, but a single-skein shawlette with just a hint of lace, it's a great spring project that you can finish and wear for cooler evenings in the late spring, early summer.

Kits will be available in the shop starting April 1st (and includes the pattern with written and charted instructions, plus the yarn to knit the project).  Or shoot me an email/leave a comment if you'd like to pre-order yours now!

All for now.....

The Scottish Play and Spring

A quick post to mention that The MacBeth Shawl which was a club kit in December 2011 is now available via my Ravelry shop if you were waiting to purchase it.

And I have another shawl that was just released to the Shakespeare in Lace club members for spring 2012, the Roses of Avon shawl. This is not available to non-club members until June, but if you'd like to be notified when it is for sale, please P.M. me via Ravelry and I'll be glad to add you to the notification list.

This is a triangular shawl, knit from the top down. It features three different rose-themed lace patterns (and takes it's inspiration from several of Shakespeare's sonnets with rose imagery).  It begins with a small rosebud pattern, which grows into climbing roses and then a rose bush pattern for the final border.  It's knit from the shop's 100% merino Brigit Lace yarn, and while this version is knit with two colorways (Petals and Rosehips), it could also be easily done in a solid color just as prettily!

A HUGE thank-you to my test knitter, Toby, who zipped right along through this and multiple versions of charts for me! 

All for now.....

Pattern Release: Sweetwater Shawl

Another new pattern for February:  This is the Sweetwater Shawl, finally ready for it's debut.

This is a simple triangular-shaped shawl, which knits up quickly in a DK or light-worsted weight yarn.  I used the bouncy, squishy Bijou Basin cormo/yak in their Sky and Natural Brown colors, but something like Cascade 220 would be a good substitute.

The finished shawl measures 25" x 51", and is knit from the top down.  It features a simple striped stockinette section, an easy-to-knit slip-stitch tweed section, and then a ruffled edging.  The inspiration for this shawl came from the memoirs of Elinore Pruitt Stewart, "Letters of a Woman Homesteader" (which is actually available as a free book for Kindles via Amazon.  She her autobiographical notes about her life in the west after moving to her second husband's ranch in Sweetwater County, Wyoming.  I wanted to design a shawl with a combination of practicality and warmth, with a little feminine frill at the hem. 

Many super thanks to Manise, who test knit this for me! 

All for now....

Winter 2011, Ennea Collective

The newest Ennea Collective magazine is now available on line!

I have three patterns in this edition, but I'll be highlighting just one today (the others to follow tomorrow).

This is the Crevasse Shawl

It's a fairly simple crescent-shaped shawl featuring bands of a subtle handpaint and bands of lace inserts of a semisolid pewter gray.  The bulk of this shawl is just plain ol' stockinette, so it's a great travel project and would make a nice vacation knit.

You can, of course, knit it using commercial sock-weight yarns, but Ginny of FatCatKnits (who dyed the original roving) has put together a kit to spin it yourself.  She's offering it in a couple of different fiber bases, at a 10% discount for the fiber pack to spin it up in the original colors.  (You get to pick the fiber!).

We had a lot of fun photographing this one.  D and I took it with us when we went to Colorado a month or so ago for our little vacation, and found a pretty little aspen grove to photograph this (and my other projects) in in the late afternoon, when the light was great.

Always helpful to have a cute puppy as part of the modeling crew, although I probably coulda done without quite so much tongue.

All for now......

FO: The Scottish Shawl, aka the MacBeth Shawl

Did you know that there's a superstition in the theater world about not calling Shakespeare's play MacBeth anything other than "The Scottish Play"?  It's true - there's a quick blurb here on Wikipedia about the reasons behind it.

So we won't chance bad luck by naming the play in association with the shawl, but I now can share with you the monster lace project I worked on a lot during the fall.  This is the final kit project for the 2011 Shakespeare in Lace, and it is indeed based on themes found in The Scottish Play:  The storm, flowers (represented by Scottish thistles), and the trees of Birnham Wood.

This is a large square shawl, knit from the shop's Euphrosyne lace in the "Scottish Heather" colorway.

The thistles are my favorite portion:

The pattern and kit are currently only available to club members, but if you'd like to be notified when they go on sale to the general public (March 1st), please leave me a comment, or shoot me a PM on Ravelry and I'll be glad to add you to the notification list!

All for now......

FO: Dragonflies Shawl

I finished up the Mystery Shawl from the Ennea fall edition, aka the Dragonflies Shawl.

PROJECT DETAILS:
Pattern:  The Mystery shawl as noted above at the link.  This is now available as a full-fledged pattern via Ennea Collective magazine from Lori.
Yarn:  My handspun from eons ago.  It's a 50/50 cashmere and silk blend in the Forest colorway from Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks.  I originally purchased the roving at the Back of the Wasatch fiber festival - I think it was now 6 years ago?  At least 5.  The yarn was a 2-ply, 440 yards from 3.8 ounces.  I used about 400 yards for my version.
Needles:  Size 5 US circs.
Mods:  None.

Depending on the light, this colorway is either very dark and broody, or prettily subtly striped with the dark green/purple/golds you see directly above.  It is insanely warm for it's size (which I would consider a small shawl/shawlette, in an elongated crescent shape) due, I'm sure, to the cashmere component.

I don't think I'd recommend this for a very beginning lace knitter - there are a few rows of the border you need to pay close attention to with patterning, although not lace patterning, on both sides.  Otherwise, tho, it is not a super tough knit and definitely one you could knit in less than a month if  (unlike me... ahem...) you worked on it without putting it down for almost 2 weeks and getting distracted by other things.

No Spinning Friday tomorrow. D and I are taking a long weekend of R&R, but hopefully I'll be back with some spinning for next week for y'all.

All for now.....

WIP Wednesday: October 26, 2011

I finished up my Mystery Shawl, aka the Dragonflies Shawl this week, and I'll have more details on that for you tomorrow.

I haven't knit much on my Elemental Pullover, but I think that's next up on the for-me project rotation for a while.  So I'll see if I can get sleeve #1 finished on that, and then I'll get cast on for the body.

I'm in the midst of 53-1/2 (seems like it anyway) design projects right now.  I've started work on the 2 projects I'm designing for the Shakespeare in Lace club next year as I want to get those off to be test knit as soon as I can.  (I'm up for the first full shawl installment and the second smaller accessory one, but it's sort of a one-two punch in March/April when I know the calendar is already filling up, so I want to be sure they are finished.)  I've got several swatches I'm working on.... AND I'm still knitting things for the crafts fair in another few weeks.

It'll be slow-going with the pullover, I suspect, but hopefully I'll be keeping you entertained with a few other tidbits here and there.

All for now...

WIP Wednesday: Ennea Mystery Shawl

I'm finished up through the end of clue #2 for the Mystery Shawl from the fall Ennea Collective.

I sort of can't believe that I've been hanging onto this yarn in stash for eons. It is absolutely fantastic to work with and I love the colorway.  (Note to self:  Don't DO that.)

 

Final clue #3 is due out this week, which will be the border.  I hope to get some knitting time in in this over the weekend!

All for now.....

Fall 2011 - Ennea Collective

The Fall 2011 edition of the Ennea Collective magazine is live!  We've got some great articles and a product review, and as always, some fun knitting patterns to go along with all of that.

Y'all have already seen previews of my Hollow Oak Socks, which are a heavy fingering-weight wool yarn written for small/medium and medium/large feet. These featured a 3-ply yarn I spun from 4 ounces of mixed BFL from Two If By Hand, and I've already worn these once this season during a cold snap (it's now quite warm and sunny again here tho!).  I think they are going to be a go-to pair for the winter, however.

 

I've also decided to join up with the KAL for Lori's Mystery Shawl, which will be released in installments (the first one is already available) over the next few weeks.  This is another fingering weight project.  She knit her original from the same mixed BFL colorway from Two If By Hand.  I opted to go stash-diving and came up with a skein of 440 yards of 50/50 silk/cashmere in the "Forest" colorway from Chasing Rainbows Dyeworks that I think it going to be beautiful with this pattern.  Here's the first clue.

 

And.... today Lori is arriving from Toronto after a long day en route through Dallas/Fort Worth.  Once she recovers, we are heading out to Taos Sheep and Wool this weekend for a little R&R and vino and dinner out!

All for now......