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 By strangeangel, on March 11, 2010, 3:44 pm This has been a very non-lacy season for me. Part of that has been due to knitting sweaters and hats, and part of that is due to knitting (gasp!) non-lace shawls.
I’m not crazy sock knitter. I’ve amassed a certain amount of socks over the years (and sock yarn begging to be knit up), but it’s not a driving passion. However, I find lace in a sock can be a great motivator, and as I’ve been intrigued by Cookie A’s Marlene for a while, I decided to make this one of my Ravelympics projects. I got them done just under the wire. Since today was bright and sunny, I finally got a half-way decent shot to share with you all.
By alittlefuzzy, on March 10, 2010, 6:53 pm Let’s see, the Olympics have been over a good 10 days now, and I’ve yet to post my final progress…I think that really sums it up! This is actually a pretty good (by pretty good I mean shows the whole thing in its bumpy, compressed glory–not that it reveals the pattern or anything) picture of my progress to date.
And a close-up:
There are several reasons why I didn’t finish by the (self-imposed) goal:
- A head cold at the start of the Olympics severely hampered my initial progress.
- Indecision. Was 12 repeats of the Yucca Chart enough? If I measure down the center and add 30%…or maybe I should just stretch and measure…or maybe…?
- Answer: 12 repeats definitely not enough for my goal size (super-big). Let’s make it 16.
- The purl-back rows are really looooong. And slightly boring.
- Well, I was watching the Olympics, now wasn’t I?
- And finally, I really didn’t have enough time to knit a shawl this big (unless I took off a lot of work).
I didn’t really expect going into this (realistically) to finish, so I can’t say I was too disappointed. On the contrary, I’m thrilled to have as much of this much-delayed shawl finished as I do (initially planned as a Fall ‘09 project). As of this moment, I’ve finished the (16) Yucca repeats and the transition chart. Bring on the Agave! Or not…I may have started something else last weekend…
To Be Continued….
By maya, on March 9, 2010, 6:05 pm 
I finished my socks. They were so fun to knit…the pattern is part of a sock club though (Cascadia) so it isn’t available just yet. When it does come out I recommend it though because the pattern is interesting and unique; beautiful (I think), and easy to memorize. Runs a bit big though. Here’s a detail of the back pattern:
And the front:
By Pegalex, on March 9, 2010, 5:59 pm  This is roving (aka top or sliver). It is a luscious form of fiber which has been carefully dyed, blended and combed. All the gnarls are gone. All the vegetable matter is gone… and no dingle berries…
To most knitters, dingle berries and vegetable matter are unknown, but to the knitter who also spins her own yarn, they remind me of that sheep and farmer and worm and pasture which is part of everything I knit.
Since the holiday knitting begins in September, for me, January is Selfish Knitting Month. This January, I was very selfish indeed. I used my own handspun merino/’silk in an almost-fingering weight yarn to knit this very special wrap. The pattern is Estonian Garden Wrap by Evelyn Clark. (Fiber Trends).
Estonian Garden Wrap was much easier to knit than I expected and the nupps were fun. 
The color reminds me of grass in late summer – brown and golden and nearly straw.
Seems I am embarking on my own Year of Lace… my queue is full of them, but I have decided to be a bit selfish. I will work at my own speed and only work to please myself. It takes longer that way.. but it is sweeter.
Peg
By ShadowDancer, on March 9, 2010, 5:05 pm Some things are Just RIGHT! Like another knit night full of laughter. This time I got stuck in a bizarre riff on mini-sheep and Bedlington terriers (which I’ve always thought looked rather like lambs), and the possibility of using mini-sheep instead of lawnmowers… I can’t repeat it… I’m not even sure what made it all so funny, but we laughed until we cried.
The laughing slowed my knitting down a bit… but I still made progress. Here is Irtfa’a three rows into the last chart before the edging!
I think maybe I can take out the life line that I put in at the beginning of the last chart, eh? You can even almost see the beginning of the new pattern taking shape!! But, in that picture anyway, you can’t see the beads closely enough to figure out what I decided to do. I’m still hoping I made the right decision.
This is only slightly better. While it clearly reveals that I’ve opted for the larger beads, you won’t be able to tell for another two rows that I’ve decided to use a blend of the larger and smaller beads in this section. I’d go for the big ones, but I fear that I won’t have enough to make it through two repeats of the chart and the edging. I’m hoping to avoid ordering beads AGAIN for this shawl.
Of course, if I’m wrong, I’ll just take out the wee beads, and suck it up to order more big ones. Ah well, that will be a good time to order the beads for Evenstar I guess.
By KnittinDiva, on March 8, 2010, 4:03 pm I’m not so sure this is my season for lace. I got off to a pretty good start, or so I thought, on the Spring Time Bandit, and then realized that I somehow forgot the set up for the center stitch. It’s a steep triangle, and I’ve not yet figured out how to manage it. So, instead of fretting, I put it aside, and started on the Traveling Woman instead (pictures to come by the end of the week). I’m very pleased with it, although I seemed to have some issues with the stitch count. I altered the last chart, just a smidge, to make it work.
Now that it’s done, and my linen beach wrap is almost done, I’m almost ready to cast on something new. Mary White, on Ravelry, has several beautiful patterns I’m just itching to cast on, but I cannot decide which one. she recently designed Leaf Envy, using my Lavish Lace, and it’s just gorgeous. I just can’t decide what shade of green I’d like to use. Then there’s Fluidity and Sunstar. So many beautiful choices! What’s a girl to do?
By lynnzpickles, on March 8, 2010, 2:30 pm  Damson is finished! Whoo! I’m all excited and dry-eyed…no disasters this round.  All it took was one hank of Malabrigo sock yarn. I probably had about 3 yards left once I had bound off. It was a semi-nail biting experience since I had another hank, it just wasn’t wound and I have other plans for it. hehe. But the yarn faeries were good to me.
Now I’ve started another project. I picked up Isbel, also by Ysolda Teague, and am more than half way finished with the beginning  stockinette section. I’m using Berocco Ultra Alpaca Fine with US 4 needles. I’m making the larger shawl version and am hoping to have it finished for St. Patty’s day in all of it’s pretty green glory.
I hope everyone’s having a beautiful spring day like ours here on the East Coast. Finally! Spring’s right around the corner!
Peace, love and grape creamsicles.
<3 Lindsay
By sligo, on March 8, 2010, 1:30 pm
By ShadowDancer, on March 7, 2010, 8:19 pm
I’ve hit a decision point on Irtfa’a, and I’m dithering so much I’ve decided to ask for help.
It’s about beads. I have to choose what to do about them before I knit the next row (which row I must finish before tomorrow night, when we have Knit Night).
You see, I’ve used two different bead sizes on this shawl. At the very top, I’ve used 6/0 beads.
I like those, but they seemed, oh, a bit heavy handed to put throughout a whole shawl. So…
Throughout the center section, I’ve used 8/0 beads.
Here’s that magic point where I switched bead sizes.
And now, I’m at the bottom. I plan to use the 8/0 beads at the very bottom — in the edging. But… what about this last section before the edging. Do I keep up with the 8/0 beads until the edging? Or do I go for the larger beads in this “Quill and Feather” section.
Or… do I do the first repeat of the Quill & Feather in wee beads, and the second and the edging in the “larger” ones?
Alas, photography is a challenge, what with it being night time and all….So that was the best I can get for shots with the beads in situ.
By knitsbyteri, on March 6, 2010, 2:30 pm It is strange when I don’t have at least two projects going and as I finished the scarves (shown in the previous posting), I realized I didn’t have ANY projects to work on so I had to start 4 right away. They are all lace: the 2010 Calendar Lace Sample KAL, the Evenstar Mystery KAL, Sharon Millers Pink Puzzle Wrap (not in pink), and my own pattern. I plan to give the Puzzle Wrap to a good friend who announced last week that she is getting married again in June (she is in her 70s and a Great-Grandmother). I started this three times before I found the right yarn in my stash for it and her: Kid Seta Mohair. 
The original pattern piece came to me when I was doing the January clue in the first KAL – Winter Wonderland. I am using yarn that I bought from one of our Autumn Lace Sponsors, Skaska Designs Limited. I had hoped to start a shawl with this yarn last Fall but never got to it so I am starting one now. This is the start of the center panel of the stole.
I am planning to have the end panels blend from the snowflakes to a mountain of trees and then I’ll have to come up with a lace edging.
As for the Evenstar, I may end up making two because, this one is the correct colors for my sister but I really like it in a blues silk that I have (maybe for me). I haven’t started it in the second color yet. This yarn is tencel and I am hoping that what I read somewhere is correct and that I can kill it so it will be easier for my sister to take care of it.
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