The Chatelaine Table Runner

It dried overnight...

it never ceases to amaze me - that

something which starts out looking like this



and this,

turns into

something like


this






and

this,



with just the help of some water and a few pins, and of course the patience to leave the thing alone until it's thoroughly dry!

I LOVE LACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yours in crochet cotton yarn,

Claire

A Rock is not a Stone...

...but knitting is still knitting whether one does it Continental or English!



I'm making this top-down raglan sweater, from the Fitted Knits book, for a class this winter. It's done in Cascade's Pastaza yarn - a luscious blend of llama and wool. It's lovely shape is derived from the COPIOUS use of 2x2 ribbing. Simple enough, but hard on the wrists...

I'm finding the wrist strain from the alternating knits and purls is greatly diminished by throwing in a row or two of Continental knitting every so often. Although I'm somewhat of a slow poke with this method and I have to work harder at maintaining an even tension, I must admit that the relief to my wrist when "picking" makes the snail's pace worth it!

We're such an opinionated bunch, us knitters... proponents of both methods can get rather hot under the needles when defending the merits of their preferred technique. But really, in the end, all that matters is that it looks nice!!

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Finally...something besides that Jack o"Lantern!!

It's been busy around my house...
since Halloween, the addition has moved along nicely. The guestroom is just about done, although probably won't be inhabitable when my sister's family comes for Thanksgiving...but at least the new bathroom will be functioning!

I've just about driven my builder to a Home for the Hopelessly un-Hinged by taking SOOOOOOOOO long to make the sun room flooring choices and then, when I finally did decide....it's turned out to be a floor from Spain which will take ages and ages and ages to get here... plus there are some installation issues because of the type of stone it is...so now I'm thinking it would be really nice to have the sun room done by Christmas.



And then the other big thing of course was Beauty & the Beast at McDowell High School. Here's my very own personal Chip(ped) tea cup!! :He loves being on stage and had a blast with all the high school theatre arts kids, but we were all pretty done in by the intense rehearsal schedule and run of shows last weekend.

But



despite all the distractions,

I have managed to make some progress on my knitting projects and even teach a few classes.
Here are the ladies working on Fair Isle hats. They're using Debbie Bliss Rialto, DK or Baby Cashmerino which all feel like butter, and everyone was pretty focused on getting down the technique for working with 2 strands of yarn at a time. I love all their color choices!

I also have a Mitten class going on, and the 2 lace shawls, plus another Intarsia Bag class, and it looks like there's enough interest in an evening Oops class to schedule something for December or early January. So it's looking pretty busy.

Shirani has turned the shop into a Holiday Wonderland of gift ideas, kits and beautiful new yarns, so stop by and take a look.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Ann's Afghan

We're just about to wrap up another 7 month long afghan class and one of my star pupils finished her project ahead of schedule!



Everyone in the class is doing a great job. I've loved our meetings and it's been really rewarding seeing the group's progress over these months. This project really increases confidence! All that's left now is the seaming ladies!!

Yours in knitting,

Claire

Blocking Wires

Yes, those are my toes in the corner of this picture...I uploaded it without really taking a close look at it. Anyway...




This is the "Autumn Leaves" Shawl done in Lorna's Lace sock yarn. I have been off socks lately and totally, and with abandon, engrossed in lace. So what better way to deal with the pressure of the MOUNTAINOUS sock yarn stash than to knit a shawl with it!! Okay, as a total aside...I'm am writing this from my husband's new laptop, and I am having some trouble getting used to the flat mouse, not to mention the flat keyboard, so it's going r e a l l y r e a l l y s l o o o o w l y... but isn't technology cool? Thanks to the Geek Squad, we have a network in our house and all the printers talk and the pictures on the desktop can be viewed from this laptop wirelessly and can be uploaded to the Internet in pretty much the blink of an eye...In truth though, Vista is a big mystery to me and I have accidentally left this post and mysteriously gone to various Internet sites or random places on the laptop about five times since starting this post,, so it's going a little slow...but still cool!

Okay so getting back to the point, Sue and Shirani are selling these really useful blocking wires which make blocking something as large and ungainly as a big lace shawl very easy. The trick is knowing where to insert the wires.




Here you can see that I inserted the wires into the main body of the shawl and then used T-pins to pull out the points of the edging. That edging, by the by, is the beautiful and timeless Van Dyke Edging from the Shetland Islands. I have been reading alot about vintage knitting techniques and some things are too lovely to ever go out of style.

The shawl is on display at the shop and the blocking wires are in stock also, so stop by and take a peek.

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Blocking the Triangle Shawl

We're back! And of course, despite all the unpacking we have to do, I couldn't wait to block the new shawl.


I used JaggerSpun's beautiful Zephyr: a lovely blend of wool and silk which is easy to knit with and blocks into something almost more ethereal and gossamer than what is implied by the term "lace".

Here you see the shawl pinned out on my bedroom floor. I had soaked it for a good long while (to remove the tell tale campfire smell!) in this really nice product Shirani has started carrying:


I used the citrus scent and while there was a bit of bleeding in the sink (funny that the water turned RED from this taupe colored "suede",)it didn't seem to affect the loveliness of the yarn.

Now the trick is to leave the thing alone so it can dry completely. I'm SO IMPATIENT!!

I'll bring it into Cultured Purl so you can take a peek.
Yours in yarn,
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

Teddy Massacre

Despite the limbs and severed heads this is not a teddy massacre....This is Laura's teddy bear class! Some really really cute bears were made that day. Trish even made one for Leo...Thanks Trish, we LOVE it...

The Lace Sampler Shawl

Well as Linda kindly reminded me, it has been a while since I blogged...besides feverishly working on this....



to keep ahead of the very talented lace knitters in my Wednesday Lace Sampler Shawl class,

I was busy last week running our elementary school's bookfair. 24 hours at school doesn't sound like alot until one considers that during those 24 hours (spread over 2 1/2 days) we sold $5,200 in paperback books to over 600 students and their families!! I did NOT get a lot of knitting done!!!

but I THOUGHT about knitting...and how I was going to set aside most of the weekend to finishing the shawl and maybe a sock or three (lonely singles waiting for partners but that's another story) but then I came to my senses and the reality of the laundry problem set in: My dear husband is away - renowned heart surgeon who's real claim to fame is his amazing ability to fix hearts all week and STILL get all the laundry sparkling clean and BEAUTIFULLY, METHODICALLY, PERFECTLY folded and (here's the clincher) - PUT AWAY!!!!! I had really felt kinda proud about getting it done through the busy week, but getting is done led to the larger problem of not being able to get into the laundry room to start another load because I couldn't move through the 6 loads of clean clothes that were piled in front of the door crying out to be folded. I tried to ignore the cries (plaintive ones, for any kind of folding, not even the crisp done-right kind), so that I could get a few more rows done on the shawl, but then I started to panic and hyperventilate a little and my count was off....

so the laundry is done...but the shawl is not...

still, I'm in good shape for the class today and it's a beautiful, crisp, May kind of day today, and I'm not going to let a little thing like a few unfinished pairs of socks bother me. But Linda, I'm glad to hear you finished the Lorna's Lace socks and that they turned out nice, and thanks for missing me!

Yours in knitting,
Claire

Lucy Bag in ribbon

Happy Easter!

Shirani had the great idea to do the Lucy Bag up in ribbon. Hers is a beautiful combination of blues and greens: spring fresh and perfect for today. Mine, not surprisingly, morphed into my typical greens, reds, & golds. Not very springlike but I LOVE it!

No matter what color combination you choose, felted or not, the Lucy Bag is such a great design, it always turns out beautiful!

Yours in ribbon 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

Gloves with Sock Yarn

Self-striping sock yarn is one of the coolest products on the yarn market today. And if you've made a sock lately, you know exactly what I'm talking about. If you haven't tried it out yet, stop by Cultured Purl and take a look at the BEAUTIFUL self patterning and striping yarns Shirani has in stock. This Tuesday, I'll be teaching a class on how to make gloves with sock yarn. We'll learn how to work with double pointed needles, and how to make fingers and thumbs in the round. These gloves are very funky and really quite simple. There's still room in the class, so stop by and sign up!!

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

Look at Leo!!!!!!

Shirani emailed these pics of Leo modeling clothes knit by friends of the yarn shop.

Laura, our awesome sock teacher, knit the yellow sweater Leo's wearing in his car seat. Isn't the hood adorable? It's cuter than adorable, but I can't think of the word right now. And the bunny hat is so fun!!! Look at the ears!!!!! How nice of Leo to wear them so well:)

Shirani, he really is the cutest little monkey!!

Stop by the shop and ask Shirani for the patterns. And if you're looking for a quick baby gift, we're starting a hooded baby sweater class Monday night. It's knit in one piece, from the top-down: A cute little cardigan in a range of sizes that beginners will find fun and quick to knit. And if you're an intermediate knitter, we'd love to have you join us too! There are some interesting little quirks about this pattern that make it a good learning project for everyone. Call and sign up, there's still some room in the class!!

Yours in knitting,
Claire