Never-ending shawl

Is it just me or do the last few rows of a project seem to take forever? I have only eight rows left on my Shaped Triangle. Doesn't sound like a lot, does it? So let me tell you this. Each row is now in excess of 450 stitches, so that's over 3600 stitches left on the body of the shawl alone. Of course, when the body is done, I still have the edging to do. The edging is knit in rows and attached at one side to the live 480 shawl stitches. Each of those edging rows is about 15 stiches, so take the 480 rows times 15 and that's 7200 edging stitches. It looked so much closer to being done before I just had to do the math and realized I still have over 10,000 stitches left. Why do I knit shawls again?

Have I mentioned that I'll be casting on soon for yet another shawl?

You can only see three in the picture, but four of our little friends came to hide from the rain this evening. We've been so long without rain that they are probably wondering what it is. 

New Interweave Knits!

I got my Fall Issue of IK in the mail yesterday. It's not as if I don't already have enough patterns in the queue. But how cute is the Greek Pullover? And I love the Vintage-Inspired Jacket. I really don't have a lot on the needles right now. Just two shawls and that's it. (That's if you don't count the spinning I'm doing for another shawl. But technically, that's not on the needles yet, so if I were to cast on for another project that would bring the grand OTN total up to three.)

I'll need jackets for the fall. Really. Right after I make a couple more tops for summer. Let's face it, I have enough patterns on my list right now to keep me busy for a very long time.

But just in case I didn't have enough knitting to do, I found out that Lorna's Laces has wool tops in their gorgeous colorways for spinning. The thought of spinning something in such lovely colors has so much appeal.

Well, it's off to bed now.

Empty Nest

Our little birds spend the day away from the nest now. So no more pictures. They do return at night and sleep on the top of the box. But I don't think they'll be around much longer. Sort of a bittersweet moment for me. I am happy to have had the opportunity to watch them grow up though.

Okay, I admit it, I like pink

There, I've said it. I like pink. It's recently been asked if I like pink - there's my pink ballet wrap, pink summer top, and then here's a picture of a lovely pink shawl that I made before I began a blog.

That's right, it's pink. It's a design by Nancy Bush (she is such a wonderful designer!) in Peppermint Alpaca Cloud from Knit Picks. Wonderfully light and warm. And it's pink. So, just so there's no confusion, I like pink.

That being said, there are actually no pink works in progress right now. I have a "Midnight" Alpaca Cloud shawl that has stalled and a teal/turquoise triangular shawl that is nearly done.

Cranesbill Square Blouse

This is my finished Cranesbill Square Blouse from Interweave Crochet 2004 done in Knit Picks Shine. I didn't realize until I was putting it together that I had not done the crochet squares exactly right, but it still looks nice and I'm sure no one would have even realized it if I hadn't told on myself. 

More baby bird pictures

I realized when someone asked that I never explained where our feathered friends were. They are under the eaves of our front porch. We put the box there after they made a horrible mud mess in previous years. They didn't use it last year, so we weren't sure that they would. As for the pictures, I'm able to stand on the porch step, zoom in and raise the digital camera so that I can sort of see the direction in the view window. Then I click. The little ones aren't afraid of us at all and mom and dad seem tolerant of us. (After all, they did take over the nest knowing we went in and out of that door!) The little ones have now started flying lessons. The two on top of the house have been out for short flights, the rest haven't yet.

And here's mom or dad bringing a snack.

 

Our little birds now have feathers. They've been stretching and exercising their wings. Mom and Dad have been busy bringing them bugs. 

Our five little baby barn swallows waiting for mom and dad to bring a snack.

 

My mother's felted purse

Here's the before picture. It was 20 inches high before felting. It is made with Knit Picks (big surprise) Merino Style in "Iris" and "Vanilla". It is Number 3 from Bags: A Knitter's Dozen.
And here's the after picture, now a mere 13 inches high.

For felting, I threw it in a pillowcase, tossed it in the washer along with a couple of tennis shoes (thanks to Nancy for suggesting those!), a little bit of detergent and I started up the wash on hot. It took about 10 minutes of agitation. I probably could have felted it a bit more (it's still huge), but this was my first felting experience and it was so lovely that I was afraid of pressing my luck. So, I laid it flat and left it for about four days. Okay, to be honest, I kept checking it and turning the fan on it so maybe it would dry just a little faster, but it really took forever!
 

Cranesbill Square Blouse

The crochet squares from my Cranesbill Square Blouse. The yarn is Knit Picks "Blush" Shine. The yarn is beautiful and all that, but I don't think I've ever spent so much time picking out tangles. This yarn tangles very easily in the ball, but hopefully the top will be worth it. I'm done with the knit part, so I need to finish the squares, block it all and sew it together.
 

Happy Birthday Mom!

Just wanted to say Happy Birthday to my mother. I'll post pictures of her present after she gets it next week.

Maryland Sheep and Wool rovings

I bought these rovings at the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival last month. I had never spun before and knew only that these would look pretty plied together in a laceweight for a shawl. At the time, I had no idea about the shawl or even about spinning, but I am already spinning laceweight and when I saw pictures of the Forest Path stole I knew I had to order a back issue of Interweave Knits because I had found my shawl. The roving on the left is a "seafoam" green tussah silk and unknown wool blend from Little Barn and the one on the right is an aqua-colored merino from Cloverleaf Farms. (It is so soft and spins so easily!) 

Forest Path Stole

This is part of the Forest Path Stole from IK Summer 2003. Click here for a picture of someone else's(scroll down to the bottom of the page; she has tons of beautiful shawls!). I handspun from each of the rovings pictured above and plied them together. I have a lot of spinning to do before I can make the stole, but it will be worth it.

Not actually knitting related, but cute. You may not be able to tell, but there are at least four newly hatched barn swallows in this nest. The nest was originally built by sparrows, but they never used it, so the swallows moved in. Much easier than the mud nests they usually build. Mom and Dad swallows have spent their entire day swooping around and catching bugs to feed the little hungry mouths. They have got to be tired by sundown.

Okay, I really didn't need to start another project, but the Knit Picks Shine was calling to me. It kept telling me that I needed another summer shirt. (Well, the 90 degree weather we've been having probably contributed just a little to the decision.) This is going to be the Cranesbill Square Blouse from Interweave Crochet 2004. I'm modifying it so that the knit part is knit in the round instead of back and forth. I've yet to be disappointed in a Knit Picks yarn and this is no exception. It holds the crochet and knit stitches very well and drapes beautifully. It's also very soft.

New to blogging

Okay, I'm new to blogging, so I'll begin by introducing my current projects below. I know, I need to work on my photography and my witty commentary. For now, you get the idea. I also have a project going that I can't show until after my mother's birthday in a couple of weeks.

This is Lace Dream from Shawls and Scarves : The Best of Knitter's Magazine. It's all lumpy now, but will look beautiful when finished and blocked. I'm only about a third of the way through. I'm using Midnight Alpaca Cloud from Knit Picks. It really is soft.

This is the Shaped Triangle from A Gathering of Lace. The yarn is a miscellaneous coned wool/silk blend with fuschia specks in it that can't really be seen in this picture. You can see my life lines. So far I haven't had any problems with this pattern.

Ballet Wrap

Ballet Wrap from IK Spring 2005 

Isn't my Golding spindle pretty?

This Knit Picks yarn is destined to become a pretty summer shell using knit and crochet. It has a really nice shine and is very soft.

Victoria Tank

Victoria Tank IK
As I was wearing this for the first time the other day, I tried to pick one of my long blonde hairs off and realized it had been knitted right into the tank.

Testing

Testing my new blog