Baby Blanket for a niece's baby

 

I decided to do it form theoutside in, so started with a picot edging.

It is comiung along, but still has a long way to go. It measures about 24" square.

One Third Bound Off

Here's the state of the Niebling melange. I don't think it is going to stretch out right. Oh well! The edge I've done thus far is ruffly (not what I wanted, so I'm making a tighter edge from now on.

Progress on the Vampire Shawl

April 25 - About44-45" wide Middle of the ribbon

What's On the Needles Now

I've started two shawls. Here is MMario's Vampire W(h)ine:


I'm only on row 35, but it is coming along. Currently 240 mm (9.5 inches) in diameter. Since there are 225 rows without the edging, this will probably be a pretty large shawl (and I will run out of yarn before it is done!!) It will be more than 5 feet in diameter when done before the edging if size is consistent with what I have done thus far!! The yarn is KnitPicks gloss.

The other shawl is a Niebling variation called Frosted Ferns,

Friday at Stitches Midwest 2010

This was to be our relaxed day. My sister and I had signed up for a morning class and then planned to cruise the market in the afternoon. Unfortunately we were running late, so we did not get our morning coffee and the class turned out to be a little bit complex - Patent Estonian Patterns with Merike Saarnit.  I had one of my first ever Stitches classes with Merike in Minneapolis when she taught me how to spin on a hand spindle.  It made me all nostalgic to get to see her again.

We learned that the Estonians did more useful kinds of knitting like the samples above and didn't really do fancy lacy stuff for themselves, but when the Tsar and his retinue visited they emulated the lacy things that the courtly followers wore and then used the patterns to make items to sell to those wealthy tourists.

The patterns we learned were beautiful and a bit more intricate than our morning benumbed brains wanted to deal with, but here is what my sampler ended up looking like.

Merike was a fun teacher. (You can tell by the impish expression on her face.)

After class we had lunch with Lois. You may remember her from my Craft Cruise descriptions. She is becoming quite a well-known designer these days with items in Vogue Knitting and this months issue of Knitters. I was so glad to see her that I forgot to take a picture - but we went out for a sadly mediocre Mexican meal, but it was great to learn from an experienced designer and to just rehash happy old times.

After lunch it was time to shop. Designers don't like pictures to be taken in the market, lest people try to copy the designs, so I tried to be discreet in my photographic undertakings. This gives some of the flavor of the market without revealing any design secrets.

My sister doesn't like to have her picture taken (despite the fact that she is quite lovely), but since she was distracted by shopping I was able to sneak a couple of shots - here she is shopping at the Yarn Barn in a teal/turquoise t-shirt.

And here is a better view of her, showing her beautiful smile.

The market is large and so the only real damage we did was to our own wallets.

I bought some cotton yarn for my crochet class with Myra Wood and couldn't resist getting a bit more Noro (Don't I have enough Japanese yarn from trip there this March?!)

I always enjoy the ambiance of the hotel. Upstairs there are coffee shops and a bar with seating areas and fire pits. It is very modern and pleasant.

We hung around the hotel a bit before getting in line for the upcoming event.

Of course one of the great things about knitters is that they aren't afraid to plop themselves down on the floor to knit while waiting in line. (And you see some lovely designs.) I just love the drape on this woman's top.

That evening was the Fashion show and dinner and I will soon do a longer series of posts to show some of the beautiful things that we got to see on the runway.

Playthings

I got all this really cool yarn in Japan and China, so what am I playing with right now, you might ask.  Hmm, well there's the wire.....

and the cheap yarn I decided to use for learning to do double knitting with....

(Here's the other side of the double knitting). (It's a Traditional Turkish sock pattern published by Anna Zilboorg in the 2010 edition of Knitting Traditions).

and I haven't touched any of the fancy cashmere. silk or yak that I bought in Asia!

No, I don't know what is wrong with me!! I did get back to my Possum DivaRomana and here is where I am on that:

Finished, but Not Blocked

The knitting and binding off are done. Now there is just the blocking.  Here are some preview images.

Not such a great photo since I had to push the shutter button myself. Here it is on the couch. It is big and should be pretty warm!  Unfortunately the pointy edges are curling so you can't see them yet.

Experimentation

After having knitted so many other people's patterns, I decided I would play with making my own. Although it looks exactly like Myra Wood's free form lace, it isn't really. I actually drew up a plan and hoped that I would produce something organic and curvy.

The product however is less than pleasing to me. It looks very eratic and poorly planned.

Here is a larger version done with a flash. You can see the beads better and the "pattern".  The cabled movements of stitches to broaden the swing of the ssk / knit two together lines has not worked too well, and I will have to figure out another way to do this (Maybe try it on the purled row instead of the pattern row.)

I guess I still have a long way to go to become a Herbert Niebling:

State of the Parts

I  decided to just bind off the edge - It turns out the yarn is no longer available and I'm down to one tiny skein per sleeve - I may have to do miniature cap sleeves or do the sleeves i a different color.

Can't decide what to do about it yet.

For the first time in my life I'm caught up with a Knit along!! Finished Clue 1 earlier today. This is a very interesting shawl design, but it takes a lot of concentration!

New Project

Okay, I know I'm losing my mind - I really needed to start a new knitting project, but Monika Eckert has this great Lace Shawl Knit-Along called the Panama Shawl going and I just could not resist! So every day we have to knit as much as we can and I am two days behind already.

This is what I have so far!

Our family finally got healthy enough (with everyone out of the hospital) to have the celebration we had planned for Solstice. What fun! It was Aimee's first time through this and she really liked opening presents! Look how tired she got!

Have you ever seen a bigger smile? Children just love the holidays!

New Knitting Project

I think this is going to be the back of a sweater.

This is a soy wool blend called Waves (by Lighthouse). It will probably pill like crazy, but it is fun working in a big not too tightly spun yarn for a change. (It is going so much faster than my tiny needle lace projects!!