Saturday, September 27, 2008

The Rambling Rose Afghan


I love this blanket!!!!!!



Noro's Silk Garden is such a lovely yarn to work with. This pattern is all about picking up stitches for the different blocks meaning there's no seaming involved! Also, it's done in garter stitch which yields a beautifully thick fabric - prefectly for a child's cuddly blanket!

I was a bit worried that I'd find the pattern boring, but between keeping track of the decreases, and anticipating what each new geometric shape will look like in the self-striping yarn, I'm finding this project to be extremely interesting and a delight to work on.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Thursday, September 25, 2008

It Was a Day Like Any Other...

I got the kids off to school, ran a few errands, stopped by Cultured Purl to drop off the new shawl, then somehow CAME HOME WITH 20 SKEINS OF SILK GARDEN and a pattern for a mosaic afghan for my son. OHMYGOD...i did the only thing that seemed sensible-i quickly ran it down to the basement and dumped the whole load of new yarn into one of my big rubber bins, sealed it up tight, then went upstairs and had a cup of coffee. THEN, I found the right needles, read through the new pattern and, realizing happily that I could finally make use of some of my stash, went back down to the basement, grabbed a couple of skeins of the silk garden, and got started on the project :)

yours in yards and yards of yarn,
Claire

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

I just finished the new shawl...

It's blocked out on wires and is in the process of drying right now. This is the part that seems to d r a g g g g o n s o o o o oo long...waiting for it to dry to see if it really is as pretty and lacy as I hoped it would be. One never really knows, with a new yarn, how it will work as lace.

This is done in Noro's Silk Garden sock yarn. There's a lot of thick and thin going on, but I think it adds to the organic feeling of this shawl. It reminded me, as I was knitting it, of a butterfly, so I had given some thought to naming it "The Butterfly Shawl". Then I decided that I'm not sure there are any striped butterflies actually in nature, so I was going to call it the "Old Shale Shawl" after the lace pattern. But then today at the shop, Rita commented on how much it looked like a butterfly....so I don't know. What if, for instance, a year from now, I come up with a design that actually resembles a real butterfly pattern? Then I would have wasted the name on a non-existent striped butterfly....





Here, by the way, is my left-it-in-mistake. (If you've taken one of my classes you probably already know that I tend to always leave one mistake in a project as a reminder that no one's perfect and this is a hand knit item after all.) I messed up a couple of yarn overs down the middle seam. However, I don't think it's that obvious!

The shawl should be dry by the morning. If you're looking for a new lace project, stop by the shop and take a peek!

Yours in knitting,
Claire