Goings On at the Purl...

First of all, I cannot let another second pass without sharing this photo of Daren and her Peasant Shawl...didn't she do a LOVELY job!!!! I love that this is done in sock yarn. But most of all, I love the easy repetition of the leaves and the way the edging emerges out of nowhere (practically) and makes the shawl into something more than just rows of lace - it becomes something lovely and ethereal: equally pretty over jammies in the morning, a black strappy dress at night, or just a pair of faded jeans and a favorite old t-shirt.

Good job Daren!!!!!!!!


Also,
I got a chance to stop by First Friday last week, and there was

quite

a

lively

crowd...

Chris was hunkered down in the back working on her very pretty toe-up sock design...

I believe she's calling it

"Wysteria"











And that's about it for Cultured Purl photos. I haven't done a lot of knitting lately. The design for the Fair Isle back is coming along slowly. Not the kind of thing that I can work on in a noisy chaos or surrounded by children, or while worrying about

THIS...



Yup. My pathetically pained puppers had her spleen removed. And it probably goes without saying that a 75lb moaning, hot-nosed, furry creature and two-stranded knitting just don't mix.

But she's a bit better now: sans staples and cone and eating like a trooper again. SO it's back to the bag for me.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

On the needles...

I stopped by Cultured Purl today after a few days away - I always get that peaceful sense of coming home when I walk in and smell one of Shirani's candles burning and find a few knitting friends camped out in the sunroom.

Today was such a day: Linda was there seaming a baby sweater; Rita was making excellent progress on the gusset on her second pair of socks (I'm thrilled to say she's seen the sock light!!); Peggy was on her way out as I walked in, but it was nice to get a hug and hear about the new intarsia bag she's about to start; and of course Sue and Shirani were knitting and Leo was quite in the thick of things - the basket full of blanket swatches to be exact...

We got to talking about how many projects we have going - something I often find difficult to face because all that yarn on needles in various (read many many many) knitting bags around my house - well it can get a little overwhelming. I try to scatter the bags throughout all the different rooms of the house, thinking that if I don't see one great pile then it can't really be that bad. I do, however, have to admit the situation in our new laundry room is getting a little out of hand. I'm thinking if I tried to describe it, you just wouldn't believe me,


so,,,,,






I'm just going to show you....






a little scary...



and,




a little frightening because





my mother reads this blog...





and what makes it really really scary is that this is just what's in the laundry room (it's the new laundry room with lots and lots of space.) My husband, who does the laundry (god-love-him) has started giving me a lot of looks...

but in my defense, the stuff in here mostly has to do with works in progress for classes I am teaching!

But as to the rest of the house... want to hear? it might make you feel a little better about the couple of projects you've had hanging out on needles for a while...

okay.

2 socks - the second of Audrey's pair of ankle socks; my own in Jitterbug, ohmygod I almost forgot about the few rows I've started on that second yellow sock I began before Christmas - that's 3 then.

the lace shawl for class (About 2/3rds complete)

George's mitered baby blanket (as well as the one I started for myself in Noro...)

that really cool car coat from I think Interweave Knitting in about 40 balls of baby alpaca --the real problem here is that I've used some of the balls for another project. Rita, I am just NEVER GOING TO FINISH THIS!!!!

The red Lucy bag AND the blue Lucy bag...which is sad really because I have about 20 minutes of work left on the red one but I keep thinking I'll need it to demonstrate in class - so is it really fair to count this??

the rest of the works in progress really are for classes so I'm not going to include them here...

I just feel like I'm missing something big here...but that's what I have ON THE NEEDLES

As to the rest of it - well I'm feeling some pressure from the humongous bag of Debbie Bliss (hidden in the closet) earmarked for that ribbed sweater I want to make for myself. And there is this beautiful bag of Collinette that is at the back of my linen closet waiting for me to whip out an afghan - you knit-a-long ladies know what I'm talking about...I had to hide it behind the extra pillows because the guilt of it all was eating away at me, particularly over the last 2 years...

I have also about 10 skeins of sock yarn I keep looking at wanting to work on (this sock thing is like a disease...)

so there it is...I wish I could say writing about it has eased the stress of it all, but I'm feeling more than ever like I need to sit down and finish a miter before I fix dinner...

Yours in WAY TOO MUCH yarn,
Claire

Cultured Purl's Tea Party

Last week saw the start of the Colinette Afghan Knit-a-long and the Purl Girls kicked it off in grand style with an English Tea Party! Shirani set out an assortment of teas, some wonderful scones from the Brick House and best of all...real Devonshire Clotted Cream! Here are Sally and Rita enjoying themselves. There was a nice crowd and I think everyone enjoyed the treats AND got a good bit of their afghans done!Leo was right in the mix of things and I heard a rumor that he loved the little niblies Grandma was sneaking him!!

The group will continue meeting on Wednesdays, albeit minus the decadent desserts..., for the next few weeks. Stop in and check out their progress!

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Cultured Purl News

When I stopped by the shop Saturday, I got a chance to take a peek at the draft of the next newsletter. It's absolutely packed with lots of new classes as well as the return of some old favorites. Shirani's got a new series of beginner classes lined up, as well as children's lessons by appointment. Laura's adding a new sock class as well as an adorable zippered baby sweater which Leo modeled for us a month or two ago. You'll find a couple of new bag classes, and I'll be teaching my floral intarsia felted bag class again. And if you haven't made those comfy cosy felted clogs yet, you're in luck as Sue will once again be offering this popular class.

If your looking for a new challenge, please consider signing up for the fair isle hat class in January. If you're a beginning knitter and have mastered knits and purls and are ready to move beyond scarves and felted bags, I'd love to have you join me for the monthly afghan block class. We'll begin with simple blocks comprised of knit/purl combinations and basic increases and decreases. And then together we'll move onto more intermediate skills such as cables, bobbles, and beginner lace. I think the ladies who took last year's class felt an amazing sense of accomplishment. By the end you'll be knitting at an intermediate level and you'll have created a beautiful heirloom afghan!!

Look for the newsletter to arrive in the mail in a couple of weeks, or stop by Cultured Purl at the end of the month and pick one up.

Yours in knitting,
Claire