Lace Shawl Design-Naming Contest!!!

Hey knitters!

I’m in the process of designing my very first triangular lace shawl and I need some pattern name suggestions.

In order to make this a fun process, I thought I’d have a contest.

RULES:

1. From now until July 31st, 2011 comment on this post with suggestions of names for my new lace shawl.

2. Suggestions should somehow relate to the shawl in some way (note “images” below) and I’d prefer if the name wasn’t already being used in Ravelry as a pattern, particularly a lace pattern.

3. The winner will not only be named awesome and amazing (on here, my blog and facebook), but also will receive a FREE copy of the lace pattern (or pattern of his/her choice in my pattern store). There is also free yarn involved (that part is a surprise).

4. In the first week of August, the winner will be announced, as well as the unveiling of the new pattern (pics included)…available for purchase on my Raverly pattern store as well as here on my blog.

The above picture is the yarn I'm using for this design: Mad Color "Classica" in the Margharitaville colorway.

Can’t wait to read your suggestions!!!

Hugs,
Gina :D

Here are key images to work with:

margharitas
limes
lemons
waves
fans
ripples
cool, frosty drinks
summertime
cotton sundress
sunshine
salt

Good luck!!!

SleepyHeads Group on Ravelry: http://www.ravelry.com/discuss/sleepyheads/1752283/1-25

It's a Gemini thing...

I think it's a Gemini thing to have a million interests at one time. At least, that's what's normal to me. It seems like, once I feel like I've mastered (or semi-mastered) a hobby, craft or activity, it's time to move on to something else. I think that's why I loved school so much growing up. Every year, every month, every day was something new to learn. I don't think I'll ever go back to college to get my Master's degree (I've got a B.S. in Mathematics), but I love learning and I think of my life now as my own, personal college.

In life, I've not only had experience with being a daughter, friend, sister, girlfriend, wife, lover and mother, but also learned how to read, sew, crochet, knit, quilt, cross stitch, paint, cook, canning, making soaps, candles and dolls. I've taken up yoga, Reiki, reading tarot cards, bellydance and now, my favorite, hooping and hoopdancing. These are only a partial list of the interests in my life of learning so far. Is it because I can't sit still? (very possibly - you can ask my husband) Is it because I'm flighty and can't stick to anything? (possibly) Or is it because I just can't stop my love of learning and absorbing new information as much as possible? (that's MY answer - lol)

This year has been a challenge. I've had an incredible number of changes and events in the past year and I sometimes feel like I'm not quite caught up yet. In some people's eyes, these changes and events may seem trivial and unworthy of so much contemplation and time. But, to me, the accumulation of these things has been overwhelming - both good and bad. I've tried to organize these experiences in my mind and heart and, hopefully, at some point I can say that everything is in it's place - and can sigh in relief. In order to keep some perspective, I've made sure to write down all the things I'm grateful for each day and it truly makes a difference.

Having such a large number of hobbies and interests helps to calm my mind and dampen my feelings of being overwhelmed. For the most part, knitting is my activity of choice when it comes to calming my emotions and balancing any feeling of anxiety. It's amazing how two needles and yarn can be so relaxing!

The past few months, sewing has taken over - more as an obsession than a relaxation. I find that, as soon as I get my sewing machine out, I'm frantically tracing, cutting, looking over patterns and dimensions and then, exhausted, sitting at the sewing machine to crank out my project. Of course, sewing is so much fun and very rewarding - I love creating practical items for myself, my home and my family. But, man, is it frantic! It's go-go-go the whole time. Whereas with knitting, I can sit there, knit one stitch as slowly as I feel like, daydreaming about whatever I want and the knitting still happens and I'm still calm. of course, sometimes there are outbreaks of craziness - like yarn that breaks, splits, knots, pukes up the middle or a pattern that is just SO wrong that you feel like strangling the designer (that sometimes includes myself!). But, on the whole, knitting is wonderful.

I'm happy that I've gotten my knitting mojo back in time for the end of spring/beginning of summer. That time, of course, is known (to me at least) as the Summer of Lace Knitting.

In New Hampshire, it doesn't get overly warm but, to us, it's damn hot. When it's humid outside and the temps are in the high 80s, I don't feel like touching the fiber on my spinning wheel, doing any exercise (unless fully air conditioned) or cooking on my stove. The last two are inevitable, but the first I can substitute with some nice, lightweight, super fine yarn and an interesting lace pattern.

Here are some of the lace projects that I've finished so far this spring/summer:

1. Pleidades Shawl



-Knit using Mad Color's (formerly Sereknity Yarn and Fiber) Perfect yarn in Purple People Eater colorway

2. Weekend Shawl



-Knit using Swoon Fiber's sock yarn in Pinkish Red/Maroon colorway and Cascade Heritage sock yarn in brown colorway.

3. Echo Flower Shawl



-Knit using Jaggerspun Zephyr merino/silk in white colorway

and, the shawl I'm working on now is this,

4. Spring Things Shawl



-Knit using Karabella Lace Mohair in a neon green colorway

(All of my projects are also on Ravelry with more detail and more photos. Click HERE for my Ravelry notebook page.)

Along with knitting lace, I'm finding a lot of joy in hooping and hoopdancing. As I've mentioned before, I'm taking a teacher training course with Hoopnotica in September - in the meantime, I'm teaching free hoopdance classes in my neighborhood for experience. So far, they're going amazingly well and I'm having a lot of fun. (I hope my students are, too!) I'm still working on shoulder hooping, leg hooping and angled hooping. I look forward to my 30+ minutes each day that I practice ; )



If you're ever in the southern NH area, I'd love to see you at a class. The free classes are ending at the end of August, so take advantage while you can! If you'd like more information about Hoop Glow hoopdance and my classes, click on these links.

Thank you for still being loyal to my blog and for listening to my babble. It's so nice to know that you're still out there...

*HUG* :D

FO Friday: Kismet Clapotis

Lovely, LovELY, LOVELY Project!!!

The three reasons why I LOVED knitting this shawl are:

1. The design is genius and so fun to knit.

2. Since I was able to download the spreadsheet for this pattern, keeping track of where I was and how many stitches should be on my needles at the end of ANY row was extremely easy and helpful.

3. The beautiful yarn that I used was special, not only because it's very vibrant, colorful and oh-so-soft, but because it was given to me by such a special friend, Heather, for my birthday this year.



DETAILS:

Pattern: Kate Gilbert's Clapotis from Knitty.com.
Yarn: Sereknity's DK Merino/Tussah Silk, colorway Kismet. Approx. 800-850 yards.
Needle: Addi Natura circular, size US 8.
Dimensions: Unblocked: 20" by 75"
Alterations: I knitted the stitches somewhat loosely and I also added two extra repeats in the straight section, Section 3. Other than that, I followed the pattern exactly.
Time: Started September 19th. Finished October 10, 2008.
Fun Level: A! I would start another one immediately if I had the yarn I wanted. My next one will be in a finer yarn- in black with either some mohair, angora or silk in it. I loved knitting this and I was able to bring it anywhere to work on it. It's really easy to follow with the chart.



Not much more to say, because the whole project was just simply wonderful from start to finish.

Do you like it as much as I do???

Winter White Icarus

I've been dying to show you my newest knitting project, but have been up to my eyeballs in everyday life responsibilities (the usual mountains of laundry, visitors, bills and cleaning...ugh!) to actually be able to blog about it.

But, I promised myself that, if today was snowing, I'd do my best to take time to post. And, HERE I AM!

I was inspired (aka corrupted) by Hilary to start the Icarus shawl. She bought some gorgeous Cherry Tree Hill Merino laceweight from the store last week for her birthday and started her shawl right away. Now, I WAS trying to be good and finish the three projects (Noro lace scarf, Wavy scarf and shop sample Phiaro scarf...hmmm...why all the scarves, I wonder?) I already had on the needles, but I've been dying to start this every since I saw Cayli's shawl a few months ago.

When Hilary brought her SIP (shawl-in-progress) to knitting group last week, I was just bowled over. Amazed. Dazzled! I immediately went home, took out the gorgeous Alpaca with a Twist's Fino in "First Frost" and balled it up. Oh, this yarn is wonderfully "cleavage worthy" and has just a slight halo from the alpaca and shine from the silk. Start drooling....now.

Here is what my shawl looked like after one night:



Here is what it looks like close up:



The picture at the start of the blog is how far I got after only 3 days. and now that I am 5 days into it (with only about an hour's work a day), it is about 8 inches tall and 20 inches (or so, hard to tell on circs) wide, unblocked. The pattern is extremely easy to understand and I can even knit on it while at knitting group or during the day with Ben. It's not difficult at all and, since the yarn is so pleasing to work with, I'm really loving every minute of it.

One other FO that I forgot to show you is a hat I knit about 2 weeks ago. Get ready for a PINK ATTACK!



DETAILS:

Pattern: Insubordiknit's Monster Hat Kit, "Hiya Cat"
Yarn: Jacey Bogg's Handspun and Handdyed single ply yarn in pinks and whites
Needle: Knit Picks Options size 9
Time: Only 1.5 days of knitting on and off, very quick knit.

I loved knitting Tim's Monster Hat and I begged Jacey to make me up a "Hello Kitty-like" kit. Isn't it great? It's a little big for me, even though I used the smallest needle size, but I knit loose. It's sooo warm and sooo cute!

One other thing....

On Friday night, after knitting, Blogless Amanda brought her new, adult size Hoola Hoop to show us and also demonstrate in the hallway outside the shop. I can't believe how fun it was to do it (though I was horribly spaz and only managed to do it with my knees) and so funny to watch others. Amanda said that it's great exercise, too. So....Lora has created a Ravelry group called "The Ravelhoopers" (I think...am I right?) and we're all going to make/buy our own hoops and then knit, then hoop. Though, at first, we won't be trying them at the same time. LOL!

Here's a great couple of pics of Heather doin' some hoopin'....with Jackie off to the right:



Go Heather!



Happy Hooping AND Knitting!

P.S. I put a Ravelry -along, called Amanda Hat Mania up on the site a couple days ago, so if you're on Ravelry and making an Amanda Hat, make sure to sign up for the group and also go back and link your Amanda Hat project to the group as well. I'd love to see lots of hats up on there by the end of week. Thanks!!

My Day Knitting Orenburg Gossamer Lace

OMG....I cannot tell you how fantastic a day I had yesterday. Ian generously took the day off so that I could take a gossamer lace knitting class in Newburyport, MA ...with none other than the famous Galina Khmeleva, author of Gossamer Webs: The History and Techniques of Orenburg Lace Shawls.



There were about 8 of us in the class (including Cyndi, Julia, and Kelly and Cheryl from my spinning group) and we were so lucky to have the class at Merrill Place, a historic home near the port...now a lovely inn run by Ruth Ann. The class itself took place here in the dining room...complete with a crystal chandelier!



We had the most delicious lunch: freshly squeezed lemonade, Hot and Cold peanut noodles, chicken ceaser salad, another salad, squash with rice & pears, homemade buns made also with squash (I think), fresh veggies and cheese/crackers. There was also cookies and cheesecake for dessert. YUM! Half of us ate outside on the steps (it was such a gorgeous and sunny fall day) and the other half ate in here on the porch with Galina and her husband. (This was also where the luxury yarn shopping was later on....oooooh!)



Meeting Galina was a treat....she is matter-of-fact, very funny (she had us with tears in our eyes at one point) and extremely talented. She was more than happy to sign books, explain the lace knitting as carefully and patiently as possible and gave me a big hug at the end of the class. I would definitely take another class with her....the three day lace knitting sounded like a blast!....what a wonderful teacher she is.

We were blessed with a nice, long, leisurely lunch after a couple hours of introduction to the history and technique of Orenburg lace knitting and then.....there was SHOPPING!!! I'm kicking myself now that I didn't take a picture of all of the handknitted Orenburg lace shawls she was selling. Why, oh, why didn't I????

I took pics of-

The rainbow color circles of Zephyr laceweight displayed on the table (the yarn some of us used for our triangle lace sample):



Julia taking a picture of me:



Cyndi knitting her lace:



and even this cool stone cat on the porch:



But not shawls...oh, what is wrong with me?

Anyway, I able to finish more than half of the triangular Orenburg gossamer lace shawl sample before we left. The purple Zephyr is just so wonderfull silky and soft....oooh! (This is the border with "tooth" edging, the start of the shawls.) The picture at the start shows a square sample I did using KP Alpaca Cloud...both samples are knit using size 0 needles. (I truly wish I'd used a 1 or 2.)



When the yarn TUBS (yes, tubs) were brought in, there was a frenzy of running, grabbing and fondling yarn. Oh, it was wonderful. The selection was something like this: (90% was laceweight)

-100% superwash merino
-100% quiviut
-Quiviut blends
-Silk/merino
-Silk/alpaca
-silk/angora
-100% cashmere
-silk/cashmere.....

I could go on and on....and the colors!....well, if you love lace and lace yarns.....there was something for EVERYONE! The only thing we felt badly about was that we didn't have enough money to buy everything we wanted.

This is what I got:



55% silk and 45% angora bunny....it's a 2/32 yarn (meaning 2 ply, 32 wraps of yarn per inch)....it's finer than any laceweight I've ever used and I hope I can do it. It's one of my goals to knit my own Gossamer Orenburg lace shawl...we'll see. Remind me in about 2 years, okay? LOL!

Before I forget, I want to say that I'm SO behind on my blog reading, so if I haven't commented lately, please know that I will soon. I'm trying to find a day that I'm NOT working so that I can get caught up. I have to say that, even though I love working at the yarn store, I'm having a difficult time keeping up. I feel like I never see my family because I'm working Friday nights, all day Saturday, half of Sunday and Monday nights....then my knitting night is Wed. Ahhhh!

A good thing is the sock class that I'm teaching is getting less difficult and I've only got 2 more classes. Thank goodness.

Another good thing is that the Friday Night Knitting Club that I'm hosting at the store is getting pretty popular. See the write up and picture of me (ugh...I'm not even smiling!) here.

Hope all is well with you, my knitting friends, and let me know how you think my lace is coming along....

Mom and Dad

Tomorrow, for FO FRIDAY, I have two new patterns to show you.

But, for today, I have pics of my mom and dad from the wedding.....

Here is my beautiful mom with her fantastic new haircut (Mom, you look so pretty!) and wearing the lace shawl I knit for her:



And here is my handsome dad in his kick-ass outfit as best man for his friend, Joe. Dad, you look fan-tast-ic!



The only complaint I have is that neither of them is reallly SMILING...and my dad looks a bit menacing....don't cross him, dammit! LOL!

I am thrilled to see these pics...I only wish there was a pic of the two of them together! They just celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary last month and it's so wonderful seeing them all "gussied up".

Love you, Mom and Dad!

Fibergasm!

I finally got it!!! My Bee Fields Stole Kit from Wooly Wonka Fibers in the luscious colorway of "Buckwheat Honey". The price of the kit was very reasonable...great even....and I am so happy to finally have it. I'm not sure when I'll be starting it, but most likely in the later fall. (Which would actually be a great time to knit and wear it...)

I was thrilled to get another fantastic package in the mail last week. One of my all time favorite fiber gals, Holly EQQ, sent the fibers I ordered (plus a little extra something...which was so nice!) from her out-of-this-world shop, Oceans of Fiber.

Wanna peek?

GERONIMO

A brilliant, bright, and startling mix of greens...I love it! It's dyed using Brown Sheep's Wool/Mohair blend.



So easy to spin, though a bit "hairy". I love the way it's coming out. I'm actually almost done spinning it all up and just have to ply it. Not sure what I'll use it for, but I'm thinking either mittens for me or the kids.

PURPLE RAIN

A super shiny, silky soft parade of purples. You can't tell how shiny and soft this is. 100% Bamboo.



Once you try spinning bamboo, you won't be able to stop. Easier than spinning silk, as soft as silk and as shiny as tencel. I've almost spun up the other batch of bamboo I got from Holly last time....Bali Hai in peaches and pinks. A little goes a LONG way!

SKUNK

Yup, you read this correctly! S-k-u-n-k! And, no, it doesn't smell at all like one. I'm pretty sure it's just a wool blend, but it jumped right out at me and I just HAD to have it!



If anyone has any ideas of how I could spin this up, I'd love some suggestions. It will have to be something really special! The contrast of black and white is something I've never done before. A new experience....

And, if that weren't enough, Holly threw in some gorgeous deep purple locks for me. I love her locks!



(Forgive this picture...it looks a bit...intestinal, don't you think????)

My other treat was to pick up a skein of Heather's new colorway, "Pumpkin Patch". It's a soft, muted and beautiful color...in a bamboo/superwash merino/nylon blend! I can just imagine how wonderful it will be to knit this up. Mmmmmm.... You can check out some of her other 'selling-like-hotcakes' yarns and fibers here and here.



In the midst of "Weekend Madness" (Jackie knows what I'm talking about, right?), I had two ideas:

1. I must organize my patterns.

2. I must make a list of winter-knit-to-dos.

So, here is what I came up with:

1. Patterns- I bought 3 pretty 3 ring binders and I'm going to spend one day this week sorting through them all and putting them in appropriate catagories (yes, I'm very picky, perfectionist and...well, detail-oriented). I think some of the patterns are REALLY outdated and some I've totally forgotten I had. Before I go buying more, I think it's a good idea to just take stock...and then proceed. Anyone else thinking that, too?

2. Winter Knit To Dos- This is my list of things to knit before the end of the year...necessities in my mind. (These are totally new projects, not ones I've got OTN...like Tim and Ben's sweaters...sigh....)

*Mittens for Me (to match my Tassled Hat)
*Mittens for Tim
*Mittens and Hat for Ben
*Holiday Stockings for all 4 of us

Not sure if I'll be able to get ALL these done....with all the other things I need to do, but the mittens are pretty easy projects and I think I can do a "Month of Mittens" in November. Yeah! Actually, I will do a contest for it! So, start putting patterns and yarn aside...you can join me and win some free yarn to boot! What do ya say?? (I'll make a button that you can put up on your blogs, too.)

Is that all? Hmmmm....I think so. I just cooked a 3 lb. chicken with potatoes, carrots, and celery for lunch and now I'm sorting through the grosstastic stuff that's left so I can make homemade chicken soup for lunch tomorrow. YUM!

It's a bit dry in the Sahara....

Before I show you my progress on my Sahara, I wanted to show you a pic of my mom that I took this past weekend.



Doesn't she look GREAT??!!!

She wasn't able to bring the dress she'll be wearing to the wedding this coming weekend, but she had on a very fitting black and white top so I just had to take some pictures of her. I'm so, so happy that she loves the shawl and there's no one else in the world that deserves something special more than my mom. (This pic makes her look slightly church-esque, don't you think?)



I can't wait to see how the shawl looks with her red dress (my sister, Kim, promised to take pics of her in it) and also my dad in his duds...he's the best man in the wedding. And, get this, the wedding is somewhat "cowboy themed" (since the groom, my dad's closest friend, Joe, is a bit of a "cowboy" himself)...and my dad will be dressed accordingly. There's nothing more spectacular than a Chinese man dressed as a Cowboy! I'm dying to see him all spiffed up.

Trust me, pictures will follow. (he he)

Okay, now onto the Sahara.

First, I will show you where I am in the pattern.



I've finished both short, cap sleeves and I'm onto the special ribbed diamond neckline. (I'm saving the more mindless stockinette hip and shirttail hem section for last...easier to bring to knitting.)

The sleeves look great...hopefully, they're long enough to hide my unsightly upper arms ("Time for some weight lifting!", I tell myself).

I've got a few things to mention about this pattern...

Though I love this pattern dearly and it is well written...and the designer is one of my very favorites, I found a few things I didn't like much.

-The cap sleeves are created by using short rows...and, if you have never encountered short rows before, you would be panicking when you reached the sleeve directions. There were no pictures and very, very little direction on completing the short rows. If I hadn't JUST read the directions for short row heels in the Cat Bordhi sock book, I would be ripping my hair out. It doesn't even give a slight overview of short rows or even a mention/hint on the correct way to pick up a short row wrap, which is ESSENTIAL in the knitting...so the wrap will be invisible. I find it strange that there are two HUGE pictures and detailed instructions on a provisional cast on and a make 1...and nothing for short rows.

-In the short sleeve version, I believe there is an error in the pattern. I think the directions for the sleeve cap should read for Row 3: P to 2nd m3, sm, wrap and turn. At the moment, there is no sm and I had to do some trial and error to figure out if it was correct or not. (Or, alternately, I made both sleeves COMPLETELY wrong....but I don't think I did.)

-The neckline section was a bit of a horror show. This, though, may have been totally my fault and due to sleepiness. But, I read the neckline section over and over and thought I'd understood it. I knit 8 rows of almost 100 stitches (maybe it was OVER 100) which took me 3-4 hours (and I'm a fast knitter)...only to realize that I'd misunderstood and had to rip out the ENTIRE neckline that I'd spent so much time on. And, with the Disco Lights yarn (with sequins), it was VERY slow going and frustrating. I finally figured it out, but I feel like the directions weren't as clear as they could have been. If you are working on this, email me and I can let you know what to avoid.

Besides that, I love these aspects of the pattern:

-There are row counts as well as measurements as you go along and that is extraordinarily helpful. I wish every pattern had this.

-I like the way each part of the Sahara has its own directions under bold headings...with an accompanying schematic of the whole sweater.

-The Sizing Tips are great....I'm able to measure myself as I go along and compare it to the measurements listed. If it's not looking big enough, there are directions on how to fix it and adjust. If it's too small, I'm all set, too. The bust, waist and hips areas are all adjustable. Very nice!

So, it's been a bit "dry" this week with my sweater, but I'm slowly plodding along and it's looking like there is an oasis ahead. Wish me luck!

P.S. I'm getting a yarn fix tonight from Heather of Sereknity and also a fiber fix from HollyEqq of Oceans of Fiber in the mail soon. I'm soo excited!!!!

P.P.S. Thanks to everyone for your compliments on my glasses. I feel MUCH better now. (I'm still sticking to the contacts, though....)

Lovely Lace

Who better to model my mom's beautiful (and finished!!!) shawl than my closest friend, Jackie? Not only was she a very helpful model, but she is also the person who found the pattern for me in the first place. Three cheers for Jackie!!!



Now that I'm done with this lace stole, I feel MUCH more free and less stressed. It's not that the actual knitting with unenjoyable (it was a nice simple pattern), but it was the stress of moving from part to part of the pattern and feeling it would never get finished.

Running my hands over this lovely, lovely lace is worth it and, once I see my mom wearing it, I will be really HAPPY.



DETAILS:

Pattern: Large Rectangle with Center Diamonds from Victorian Lace Today by Jane Sowerby
Needles: Size 7 for lace and size 6 for knitted on lace border
Yarn: Jade Sapphire Lacey Lamb in Black colorway (2 balls, knitted double standed)
Size before Blocking: 15" by 45"
Size after Blockinng: 22" by 78"
Time: The border took 11 hours of straight knitting and the lace panel was about 19 hours...a total of 30 hours.
Dates: May 16 to August 6, 2007
Tips: If you are using this specific yarn, make sure to pull the yarn from the OUTSIDE and not the inside of the ball. I spent many hours untangling very, very tiny laceweight knots when pulling from the center. AND the balls very easily fell apart when I had gone through half of it. Also, writing down the pattern on paper made things easier for me...line by line to go with the chart. It may not work for you, but it certainly helped me. In addition, I used paper and a pen to keep track of every single line I finished and wrote down comments along the way....it was invaluable when I had to get up for a second or rush after Ben and thought I would remember where I was.

Here, take one more look at the detail....



I'm so thrilled that I can now go onto other lace....woo-hoo!! Tell me what you think!

Apparently...

I smell like lace.

Hmm...not a bad thing, I suppose.

This morning, Ben comes up to me while I'm knitting the lace border on my mom's shawl and says, "Ooh, nice, Mommy!" And I say, "Thank you, Benji!". Then, I said, "Feel this yarn..." and I bring his hand to the lace and show him how to nicely (and carefully) feel the chinese lambswool. "Ooooh!", he says. All of a sudden, he leans down and says, "Lemme schmell it." And, he leans over, smells the lace and says, "Mommy! It's smells like you!"

LOL! It was hilarious! He's been pretty funny lately.....yesterday, as we were in the car on the way to the library, he asked me to play a song by FreezePop on my iPod. (It's got a great beat) I don't know most of the words, but Ben was yelling from the backseat...

"Mom-my! Sing like a dancer!!!!"

I'm not sure what that means, but I was laughing so hard, I almost had to pull over on the side of the road. I love 4 year olds!

Okay, enough Ben-talk.

I am happy to say that I've accomplished one thing this week.

I got a request from my pedicurist/eyebrow-wax-inator (does it have a name?) to dye up some yarn for her new baby. Well, not for the baby per se, but for her mom who is going to use this yarn to crochet the baby-to-be a nice blanket. She found a yarn on Etsy that she really liked and asked me to try and make it similar to this yarn. The original yarn was called, "Austin Peacock", but mine is a bit different and I've called it "Princess Peacock".

Wanna see?



DETAILS:

100% Superwash Merino Wool
Worsted Weight
220 yards
Dyed using Jacquard Acid Dyes
Colors: Chartreuse, Deep Blue, Teal and Turquoise



This extra skein is actually for sale in my Sleepy Eyes Etsy Shop, as well as this yarn:



DETAILS:

50% Superwash Merino/50% Tussah Silk
Heavy Fingering/Light Sportweight
440 yards
Colorway: Baby Monster
Colors: Chartruese, lime green, spring green and a bit of creamy lemon
Dyed using Jacquard Acid Dyes

I had made 5 skeins of the "Princess Peacock" (see below for the skeins all wound), but this one was left over, so if anyone is interested, please go buy it now! There's only one left!



Here is all the yarn packed and ready to send off to Melissa's mother:



Speaking of yarn, guess what came in the mail yesterday???



Oh, yes....the amazingly gorgeous "Ravelry" yarn created by the one and only, Amy Boogie of Spunky Eclectic. Isn't it fantastic??? I love the colors - JUST LIKE RAVELRY!

And, one more thing.....

I've been working frantically on the knitted lace border of my Lace Shawl every day. I am happy to say that I'm halfway done with the second long side and only have that half and the short side before it's done.

Only 350 more rows (29 repeats) to go! (Hmmm...that doesn't sound very good, does it?)

And, since it takes me 1 hour to do 8 repeats (12 rows per repeat, all rows different), that means.....less than 4 hours to go.

I'm hoping to get all the border done by Friday night and be able to block it this weekend. Anyone have any tips on using the lace blockers? I've blocked lace before, but with pins, not wires.

Can't wait for knitting tonight...have I told you that I LOVE my knitting group??

And one BIG QUESTION:

Does anyone out there in Blogland have an extra skein of Rowan Big Wool or 2 skeins of the Duotones alpaca yarn that they would trade with me?? I could dye up some sock yarn or trade from my stash...I've still got some good stuff left. LOL!

Just email me if you do. Thanks!

Have a Wickedly Weird Wednesday!!!

Ho Waiting

As soon as I saw this on my prescription, I laughed out loud. Yes, I am a HO waiting. (First two letters of my last name..and I was waiting for the prescription, not picking it up later....hence the label.) Little do they know how appropriate that title is! LOL!

Well, it's official. I am S-I-C-K.

I visited the doctor (not my usual one unfortunately) on Wed and I found out that my headaches have been caused by:

1. Sinus Infection (correctly diagnosed by the masterful Melissa)
2. Ear Infection (my ear, which didn't even hurt, is apparently is worse than the sinus infection)

and, possibly,

3. Temporal Arteritis (a constricting of the arteries in your head)...this, though, was looked into the informative and lovely Jackie and is not very common and is usually a condition of people over 50. So, I probably will not have to worry about this. I'm having xrays, blood tests and, if necessary, an MRI to see if I have this. I don't think it will be necessary for me to have the MRI, though....I think everything should be okay. Just cross your fingers anyway.

Here are my drugs:



Nice, huh? The doctor also told me that my muscles (in my back, neck, shoulders and head) are extremely tense and gave me muscle relaxants as well. Have yet to take those....I'm a bit nervous about it and think I might just get a massage instead. Safer and definitely more enjoyable.

Also, a small update on the lace and Ben sweater:

Lace Edging in Progress



The Body and One Arm of Ben's Reversible Sweater



And.....guess what else I made (while sitting in bed sneezing and moaning...not necessarily related to each other....LOL!)???

A BEN SOCK!!!



Melissa placed Knit Picks order a couple weeks ago and I ordered some of their new self striping, superwash merino/nylon, fingering weight sock yarn called "Felici". It is one of the nicest and softest sock yarns that I've knit with. Nice colors, great striping, soft as butter (very close to Regia Striping sock yarn), and the yarn didn't split once. I have to buy more colors!



Details

Pattern: Ann Norling's Basic Baby and Kid Socks #26
Size: 7 inch foot, 4 inch leg (for a size 11 or 12 child's shoe)
Yarn: Knit Picks' Felici sock yarn.
Needles: Size US 2 dpns, bamboo
Gauge: 7 stitches to the inch
Time: 24 hours for one sock. On my way to make the second.



Ben loves his sock....and now, instead of asking "Is my sweater done yet?"...he is also asking me..."Is my other sock done yet?" Oh, the pressure!!!

Now, lemme ask you a question: (for the podcast)

"What is your favorite knitting book and why? And, also...along the same lines....is there one pattern book that you always go back to over and over again? If so, what is it?"

And, this is for Chris.....

While I have my peppermint tonight, I will think of you.

(he he...just teasing....)