Check out what's new at the Cultured Purl!!!!!!

It's Cherry Tree Hill sock yarn and Wow is it GORGEOUS!!!! Rich, vibrant colorways, beautifully soft merino wool with an interesting little twist that I think is going to knit up to one very pretty sock. It arrived at Cultured Purl 2 days ago and before it had even been tagged, 10 skeins had been sold!! So hurry on in and take a look.

And for all the lace knitters out there...check out the beautiful Addi Turbo Lace circular needles...

It's pretty common knowledge that I am a DIEHARD wooden needle lover...but I am working on a design for a new triangular lace shawl and decided to give these a try. Skacel has come up with a needle that is geared toward the needs of lace knitters: very sharp tips for getting into tricky stitches on fine yarns; soft, dark toned cord that makes tiny stitches really visible; hollow, coated brass tips which let the stitches fly along at a quick pace without being too slippery to control; and finally, and BEST OF ALL, the
smoothest, tapered join that you could ever hope to find which really cuts down on the drag and snag that so often happens when working lace on hundreds of stitches... Can you tell I love them??? So...I wouldn't say I'm a convert, because wood will always be my first love, but for lace knitting, ADDI LACE TURBOs ARE THE WAY TO GO.

And finally, Sue just got a delivery of Blocking Wires: sets of very thin, long, flexible, metal wires that are designed to make blocking lace, among other things, simpler. You slide the wires through the edge stitches and then pin the wires down with a couple of T-pins. For example, they would have come in REALLY HANDY when I was blocking my Lace Sampler Shawl with 102 T-Pins...Definitely worth a serious look.

Well I am heading back to the lace design board...hope to see you soon at the Cultured Purl.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

It's Done!!!

Well, I finished the Lace Sampler Shawl yesterday...and blocked it last night, and I have to say that the Silky Wool turned out to be a beautifully lacy fabric. Working a lace pattern with any kind of yarn, but certainly one not really intended for lace, takes a giant leap of faith. It works up looking like this:




pretty, but



not really



very lacy looking...


because




you haven't blocked it yet...



and it takes a


really strong constitution to take this thing that you've LABORED over, maybe even very likely seriously STRESSED about for a long LONG LOOOONNNGG time, and soak it in water.



and by soak I mean really truly drench it...

and then


it takes



every


T-

pin


you



can



put


your



hands


on




to stretch it out...(by the by, that's the (in)famous Teddy Bruschi make-a-wish t-shirt...a story for another time)



and then with the patience of Job, you wait and you wait and you wait for it to dry; and you try not to cry when you step on a T-Pin because you stupidly blocked it in your bedroom and it doesn't exactly glow in the dark...


and then the everything you put into it suddenly seems SO WORTH IT.....

because





it turns out like this:







and this....





and even this.....







And you think


MAYBE



I can do this in another color...



Yours in Silky Wool,

Claire