Gansey Education Continues

So my gansey knitting education continues today with a few more insights. I am now up to row 36 on the 1st pillow pattern and here's what I've figured out today:

1. Crushed raspberry frangipani yarn really does look quite smashing once knitted up. Smashing...did you get it.... LOL (boo hiss, moan groan). Ok, I need humor because I've had an awful day so forgive my feeble attempts.

2. Frangipani yarn doesn't seem nearly so scratchy once you get going knitting it. The feel of the pillow top isn't at all unpleasant. So another reason to not pass judgment on a yarn by what you see and feel in the ball and wait until you've tried it. I'm still not knitting a sweater out of it for myself, though.

3. Black dots that don't look at all interesting on paper can surprise you. I wasn't at all impressed with the 2-row stairstep sequence in the center of the pillow. It was one of the reasons why I intended to knit the other pillow first. But hey, once knitted this pattern looks amazing! I love the texture. The bottom line, a) you can't trust the chart to tell you the truth about a stitch pattern and b) ya gotta swatch it first before passing judgment on a stitch pattern--you might just be surprised!

4. I really dislike k1, p1 knitting. I avoid 1x1 ribbing and have never done moss stitch because I hate the constant manipulations required for throwers to do k1, p1 knitting. But golly gee, moss stitch sure is superb way to knit borders. Nice texture, no curling, maintains its width without the sucking in of ribbing. Moss stitch is cool! I'm getting better/faster at knitting k1, p1 sequences and will no longer look away from a pattern because it is done in moss (seed) stitch.

And one last observation which is independent of ganseys, knitting is wonderfully soothing when it's cold and yucky outside and you're having a really sucky day. A warm fireplace, a good movie, and a lap dog also help :-)

Reelin' Me in a Gansey

I'm reelin' me in a gansey! "Reeling" you ask? Why yes, because reeling in is what you do to fish after you've hooked them and fish because the guys that did the reeling in the UK were the ones who wore Ganseys. Gansey Sweaters (Jumpers) that is. And I'm getting quite an education participating in Liz Lovick's Gansey Workshop on the EZasPi Forum. The above scan is of my second class project, a pillow comprised of stitch patterns used in Gansey sweaters. I am using the authentic, from the UK, spun from pure new wool, 5ply Frangipani Yarn and 3.25mm needles for my pillow. Here's what I've learned thus far:

1. Black dots on the pattern are the bumps on the right/front/public side of the knitting. The bumps are made using purl stitches--but only if you are knitting on the front side. You have to make a knit stitch on the back side to get the bumps to show up in the right place on the right side. Got it? Oh, and you have to be adept at reading from right-to-left and from left-to-right because a pillow is knit flat and you don't want your bumps to end up on the wrong half/side of the pillow. Now I'm sure you've got it!

2. Frangipani yarn is spun differently from most yarns used over here "across the pond". One is "woolen" and the other "worsted" spun. Don't ask me which. It's very tight and *very* twisty. Like tatting cotton tight and twisty. So you have to pull out long lengths of yarn from the ball in order to give the fiber space to twist up on itself and then chill out again before you wrap it around your needles and knit those little bumps. In tatting when the thread is too twisty you just drop your shuttle and let it untwist itself by spinning around in the air. Trying to do this with knitting is not so easy. Hanging on to yarn up near the ball while letting a metal needle with a point and some fabric hanging from it spin in front of you is, well, potentially dangerous. At least when it's going on midnight and I'm in bed with the dog it's dangerous. I decided to leave this untwisting technique to my tatting. You just gotta learn to love the twist in the yarn and somehow, once it's knitted up, everything looks just fine.

3. Stitch markers are your friend. I generally avoid stitch markers as they are more of an annoyance than a help in my lace knitting. In Gansey knitting they are your friend. They help you keep the different stitch patterns in their proper place. And sometimes, in the plain sections, they allow you to just knit across to the next marker without counting like a crazy woman. This is a good thing. That is unless you think you're in a plain section when you really aren't. For that problem see #1 about the bumps.

4. If you are a blue blood with sensitive fingers, do not use Frangipani yarn. It is rough and scratchy. Not icky scratchy. Just scratchy in a rustic kind of way. But then it doesn't take much for this I-don't-have-a-clue-about-fleece-and-spinning-and-wool-except-that-
I-can-go-to-my-LYS-and-buy-something-all-ready-to-knit city slicker girl. While I am hopeful that a shampoo and conditioning treatment will help soften things a bit, I know this is not a fiber I want next to my skin no matter how cold it is outside. I will not knit a sweater from Frangipani. Oh, and a good hand lotion treatment before knitting sessions is helpful :-)

5. Do not decide to cast-on and start knitting a pillow at 11:00PM. You will grab the right yarn, the right needles, cast-on the right number of stitches, and start knitting the wrong pillow pattern. I really intended to knit the one with the anchors on it. You see I'm doing this doctoral dissertation on HOPE and the anchor is one of the symbols linked to HOPE and so I thought it would be timely to knit the pillow with the hearts (love or charity) and the anchors (HOPE) as a part of my adventure in learning. What I learned is to go to bed and turn off the lights and cast-on the next day when I'm awake and lucid.

6. It's a good thing I purchased 2 balls of Frangipani from Pat at the Yarn Barn so I have enough yarn to knit both pillows. Oh, and I also learned that the "Sea Spray" is a perfect shade of aqua blue and the "Crushed Raspberry" is a little dark for my taste. I'm glad I chose to buys 2 balls instead of 1 cone. Hmmm, maybe I should have tried the Herring Girls Pink. Next pillow, next one.

Orkney Oy!

If at first you don't succeed at knitting the Orkney gansey swatch correctly...Oy! I don't know why I managed to knit the 1st one using a stockinette ground instead of a garter stitch ground, but I did. But thanks to our fearless leader, Liz took a gander over here and saw the error of my ways :-)

This time I dug a little deeper in my stash and found a slightly fatter yarn to use. One of my follow EZasPi classmates had mentioned using Sinfonia cotton for her swatch and I knew I had a ball somewhere. I didn't find it the first go around but was successful tonight. This time I used US3 (3.25mm) needles and I found the knitting much easier. The larger gauge compensated for the inelastic fiber and the predominantly knit stitch use made this swatch a very fast knit. The block was 3" square which was right on target. I think I pass this time :-)

Getting an Education

So classes are officially underway for the spring semester on Rocky Top and what am I doing? I'm getting an education, not in nursing, but in the fishing communities of Victorian England and Ganseys, the sweaters knitted and worn by those who live by and made their living from the sea. Fascinating! I got into this through my camaraderie with the knitty folks at EZasPi where Liz Lovick is leading an online workshop on Gansey Knitting. So instead of going to the University Bookstore and buying textbooks (Thank God I'm past that point) I went to the used bookstore to snoop through the knitting and craft books. And guess what? I hit the jackpot! I found the top 2 out-of-print (OOP) books Liz recommended for reading about Gansey Knitting. The 1st is Michael Pearson's Traditional Knitting: Aran, Fair Isle, and Fisher Ganseys (c 1984) and the other is The Complete Book of Traditional Guernsey and Jersey Knitting by Rae Compton (c 1985). And in keeping with my lace addiction I also came across a multi-technique lace book called The Gentle Arts which includes both knitting and tatting patterns among its many offerings. It's a good thing I don't need any more yarn for awhile since I just splurged on all these books. While the prices were more than reasonable they still add up and my trade-ins only defrayed a part of the outlay. The sacrifices one has to make for education!

You Belong in Spring

Optimistic, lively, and almost always happy with the world... You can truly appreciate the blooming nature of spring. Whether you're planting flowers or dyeing Easter eggs, spring is definitely your season!

What Season Are You?

Gansey Pincushion

I'm participating in Liz Lovick's Gansey Workshop in the EZasPi group. The first class assignment was to practice gansey knitting charts and techniques by knitting two pattern "swatches" and turning them into a small pincushion. What a novel idea, making swatches into something useful! LOL

I've ordered some 5ply Frangipani yarn, the stuff used to knit authentic ganseys, but for this project I used yarn from my stash that was sufficient to meet the needs of the project--namely a very smooth, firm textured yarn in a fingering-sport weight. I used smooth baby pink DMC Senso which is about a fingering weight. I think this one is microfiber but I don't have the ball band any more so who knows? I used US2 (2.75mm) needles and the resulting fabric is firm but still pliable. I think I guessed correctly in my needle choice. I pinned out my blocks and steamed them before assmbling the pincushion. The diamond block measured 2.75" x 2.75" while the other block was 3.0" x 2.75." The diamond block called for 1 less row in the pattern so that, along with the top/bottom purl bands probably accounts for the difference in size.

This was an interesting exercise. My swatches passed the Liz test which requires they be examined from 6 feet away to see if the texture of the stitch pattern is clearly visible. If it is the yarn and needle choice was appropriate. If not, you get to try again. I like passing tests on the 1st attempt :-) 

Florida Wins, Hell Freezes Over

I shoulda seen it coming. It was all my fault. I shoulda known better that to cheer for the University of Florida to win the NCAA championship game in football last night against Ohio State University. After all Hell would freeze over before an "I bleed orange" Univ. of Tennessee Volunteer fan would root for their arch enemy the Gators. And so it did. In the midst of record warm temperatures and daffodils about to bloom in East TN I woke up to SNOW on the ground! Yikes!!!! Snow.

I promise immediate repentance, Lord. I won't do it ever again. I'll never cheer for Florida again. Please take that cold stuff away, QUICK! And as luck would have it, I had to go out of the house this morning. In a semi-stuporous state I was rummaging through storage bins trying to dig out a very warm sweater to wear over a turtleneck. Add one of those nice Alpaca shawls I've been knitting all year and presto---no coat needed! The status of my winter coat supply is well, pitiful at best, but then who needs them around here? Not often enough to invest is a really nice, warm coat.

My morning panic over sweaters left me with knitters remorse for not having knit a few nice sweaters that fit properly and are constructed out of quality yarns. The only ones I've made were out of "fashion" chunky yarns from big box craft stores and knit on fat needles. My swatching was inadequate, the yarn to pattern combinations awful, and the resulting sweaters excessively short and wide. In a words, big knitters *don'ts*. The box of don't sweaters is what led me to stop knitting sweaters, but my knitting savvy has increased wonderfully as of late. I know better than to make the same mistakes I once did. No more crappy yarn. No more size 15 needles. (aka broomsticks). Maybe I'll knit a proper sweater in time for next year's cold weather. If we have any cold weather that is.....

Hmmm... now to find the mosquito killers. We're gonna have a bumper crop of the little devils next summer. A girl can't win for losing..... Go Vols Go!

Here's Kiri--Again

I love the Kiri Shawl. It's an awesome pattern. It's lacy without being too lacy. It's easy enough to knit without being too complicated or too boring. Well that is unless you did what I did and add extra repeats to make a bigger shawl so that by the time you get there you are so sick of knitting little leaves that you are ready to scream. But then again that screaming may have been influenced by the fact that it was Christmas and I was trying to finish and I was hopelessly too far behind to get all my knitted presents finished in time for Santa to put them under the tree. But then again it didn't really matter because the presents were for my parents who knew what I was up to and didn't care if they were done by Dec. 25th. God Bless Mom & Dad!

So here's my second Kiri shawl which finally got it's lovely bubble bath and trip to the blocking bed. I had to wait until the last of the relatives departed so I could have the bed to use for blocking. I suspected the shawl would be too big to fit on the bed, which it was, but I fudged it anyway 'cause I wasn't up to crawling around on the floor waving T-pins and metal rods. Oh, the metal rods---this was my 1st time using blocking "wires" to block the straight edge of the shawl. These were aluminum welding rods I found at the little Ace Hardware Store in Dixie Lee Junction. Things sure have changed at Dixie Lee Junction from my high school days when DLJ was known only for the fireworks shop which was next door to the dilapidated drive-in movie theater which showed only XXX movies and was a frequent topic of discussion among the jocks and rednecks at good old Farragut High School. But I digress... The wires do make a terrific straight edge to the shawl but threading them is a little tricky, esp. since I had to use 5 of them to cover the wingspan of the shawl. But they do a much better job than running a long length of fishing line to block the top, so that's that. Oh, and the shawl is a heathered purple and not the blackish brown color that it looks like in the pictures. I have a crummy digital camera but the price was right (yup, free).

The final statistics:
1. Pattern: Kiri Shawl from All Tangled Up
2. Yarn: KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud, color-iris, 4 skeins knit double-stranded (used ~1550 yds.)
3. Needles: Addi-Turbos US 5 (3.75mm), 32" circulars
4. Finished dimensions: 40x80" (15 repeats, 16 leaf motifs along center line)

New Year's Update

OK, so in my last post I updated that status quo of most of my knitting projects. This time I thought I'd update my blog and add those little things like KAL buttons and pictures of wips. You know, all the little things I've neglected for a few months plus all the new things I've jumped in on over the holidays. OK, so here's goes:


I bought the amazing new book by Jane Sowerby called Victorian Lace Today. The photography is enough to make this book a coffee table special and the updated Victorian era lace patterns make it a must-have for any lace knitters personal library. And when great books and patterns emerge, the online KALs of folks wanting to knit them together quickly follow. So the VLT KAL blog was one of my newest additions.


Not being the kind of soul who knits only one lace shawl project at a time (ROTFLOL)I also chimed in on a new KAL of folks knitting the Hidcote Garden Shawl designed by Miriam at mimknits.com. I bought the pattern back in November thinking I would knit it as a part of the Lacevember KAL. I knit on it for maybe 2 weeks before it got pushed aside in favor of Christmas knitting. So now I've picked it up again and am making good progress. I'm using ColourMart 2/28 laceweight cashmere in a pretty dusty aqua blue color and size 5 needles. I've finished the first section of lace and am into the diamonds (C6, r13).














OK. So that's what up with the lace along parties. But when that lace jumps ship from shawls and stoles and hits the ground you get...lacy socks. And that brings me to the next KAL-the Branched Fern Socks. A member of the Lace Knitters list, Rochelle Ribeiro designed this pattern for a contest. When she didn't win she turned her disappointment into joy by sharing her great pattern with friends online and started a KAL group. Way to go Rochelle! I haven't cast-on yet, but I plan to use some Regia Silk yarn for this one.

And then I detour from lace altogether and follow my fellow EZasPi friends in a workshop on Gansey Knitting led by the Brit Knit extraordinaire herself, Liz Lovick. This should be interesting since I know nothing about Ganseys, Guernsey's, or other Aran and Celtic knitting forms. I don't plan on knitting a Gansey sweater, but a small project incorporating the techniques will be sufficiently educational.

Knit, Knit, Knit

It's that in between the holidays time and I'm still knitting like crazy to finish Christmas presents. I cast-off mother's Kiri shawl late Wednesday night. I deliberately knit several more pattern repeats in order to make this Kiri a bit larger than my 1st one. Using double stranded Alpaca Cloud helped it be a bit more substantial as well. I haven't blocked her yet since my sister and her family arrived yesterday to spend New Year's with the "grandparents" and Aunt Kristina :-) They occupy all my blocking spaces in the house, so the task (and the pictures) will have to wait.

Now that my sister is here, I needed to put the finishing touches on her Fetching fingerless gloves. I knit the last thumb and sewed in the ends while we chatted after the kids opened their presents. I can't believe how tall Mark Thomas and Victoria have gotten in only 6 short months. Mark had just passed me at 5'4" in July and he's passing Julia (aka Mom) now at 5'8+". But he's also in size 11 shoes and he just turned 12 last week. Yikes! Victoria is 7.5 yo and is shooting up like her brother. It won't be too many years and I'll be reclaiming my title as shortest person in the family.

So anyway, I tossed the 1st mitt over to Julia while I finished the 2nd one. her hands were icy as usual so she put it on right away. She said she tried wearing athletic wristbands after we chatted about this idea, but they were too tight and uncomfortable. But it wasn't 15 minutes and she was commenting on how her hand was warmer already and the Fetching mitts were just perfect for when she's at the computer at work. Yippee! She didn't even mind my color choice of charcoal gray. I told her I was trying to be practical about how grungy they might get with extended use. I guess I'll have to knit another pair so she has one for the office and another for home. That's simple since they are such a fast knit:-)

Now I'm on to daddy's socks--my last gift knit. I measured his foot and am making up the pattern as I go. The subtle tweedy variegation in the Trekking XXL yarn is helping me minimize boredom, which is a good thing since I'm using size 1 (2.5mm) dpns and a 72 st count (yawn, yawn). After consulting with our local sock expert/celebrity Judy Sumner (KnoxSox Designs) I decided to do the cuff in a broken rib pattern. It was a very good choice. I just finished the last row on the heel flap and am ready to turn the heel. Picking up the gusset stitches should be interesting. I may have to switch over to my trusty Crystal Palace bamboo needles for the task as I've been using the new Knit Picks dpns which have a finish similar to Addi-turbos. They are super slickery (one of my mom's favorite invented words) which has been both wonderful and, at times, challenging in this project. These needles are not for the faint of heart sock knitter for sure!

I need to get daddy's socks done so I can move on to the 3 KALS I've signed up for. The first is the Branched Fern Socks KAL initiated by one of my Lace Knitters pals. She designed this great lacy sock pattern so a bunch of us are going to join together and knit ourselves a pair. Oh boy!

Next is the Hidcote Garden Shawl KAL. I've been granted special entrance to this one, but am ineligible for the prizes since I started knitting my shawl back in November. For this one I'm using Richard's ColourMart 2/28 laceweight cashmere in aquamarine--a beautiful dusty aqua blue. After swatching I chose to use US 5 (3.75mm) Addis for this project. Right now I'm on chart 5, row 19 of the pattern which is almost to the end of the first section. The pattern is extremely well charted and is very easy to follow so even newbie lace shawl knitters will be able to keep their place. I've knit a ton of cdd's at this point and am ready to move on to the next stitch sequence :-) I didn't have that luxury when I was crazy tired of knitting on Kiri!

And the last group I jumped into in the Victorian Lace Today KAL. I'll be lurking there initially until I decide which project to knit 1st out of this amazing new book. Of course the EZasPi group is starting a gansey workshop, but there I'll be learning technique and history and knitting little things. I'm not planning on knitting a full-blown gansey sweater just yet. The way things are going, It won't be cold enough around here this year for me to wear it. Heck, I've got daffodils shooting up like rockets in my garden and the earliest bloomers already have buds. This is 3 weeks earlier than ever before! Daffodils in December... Sheesh!

There's no place like home

It's good to be back home again after an extended absence. I'm talking about accessing the internet from my desktop computer at home of course, something I haven't been able to do since our wireless router died sometime last summer. I replaced the router and got the upstairs computer back up without a hitch but nothing I tried worked when it came to my own computer. I tried all the little things the online help said to do, but none of it worked and I was frustrated and just plain old grumpy about the whole thing. My previous experiences with tech support services over the phone have been awful, mostly because American companies keep outsourcing tech support to places like India where they speak a different kind of English language. You know, the kind that can't be understood and you spend and hour just repeating "I'm sorry, I can't understand what you're saying" and playing a-b-c-1-2-3 with every letter and number in the hopes they'll finally get it. Sheesh! But after 2 hours on the phone with tech support (still with foreign accents, but I think they may have at least been on American soil) I have finally managed to get everything together to successfully reconnect with the web "in my own little corner in my own little chair." Hallelujah!

It's pretty hard to blog from someone else's computer so I have some catching up to do. The up side is I spent a fairly good amount of the time I wasn't surfing either in my garden or knitting. I got lots of lace knit and my garden received Yard of the Month from the neighborhood. How cool is that? I was *so* surprised! Right now I'm madly working on Christmas presents so stay tuned!

Finished another Lace Shawl

I've had internet access problems on my own computer, so I haven't taken the time to update my blog. But I have been finishing knitting projects lately and I need to tell you all about them! I'll try to get some pictures posted soon, but here's the scoop:

Mystery Stole 2: I cast off last night! I knit the body of the stole right on schedule with the KAL--about 6 weeks--but I got derailed on the edging. I've decided I don't love knitting edgings that are perpendicular to the shawl. Oh I think they're really pretty and all that, but the shorter rows, frequent turning, and etc is cumbersome at best and is generally a hassle. So this one sat in a basket lacking the edging on one side for a couple of months until I decided to empty my UFO basket and get things finished. Actually, it's mostly becasue it is now cold enough and I want to *wear* my lace pretties :-) I dressed the stole out this afternoon and it is really a striking piece!

The final facts: Yarn-KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud, Color-Tide Pool, approx. 950-1000 yds., Addi-turbo needles size US 3 (3.25mm), Blocked dimension- 18" x 84" (72" length of body of stole plus 6" on each side for edging). Comments: This was a great design and fairly pleasant to knit, an intermediate level lace pattern; you do need to count like crazy and concentrate on the charts. I would knit this one again. Thanks Melanie (pinklemonknits)!

Ostrich Plumes Scarf: I finished this scarf back in September I think, although it was a few weeks before I got up the courage to block it. I used only pins for the blocking so the edges were a bit dimpled. I need to get some blocking wires! Then I reblock it and the scarf will look even better. As it is it already looks pretty darn wonderful so I can't complain. It took me awhile to memorize the pattern, mostly because I kept wanting to knit the pattern on every other row instead of every 4th row. I do love the ostrich plumes lace motif though and will definitely knit it again in either a scarf or a shawl (or both!).

The final facts: Yarn- Rowan Kid Silk Haze, Color-Candy Girl (a bright, deep raspberry pink), approx. 1.5 balls (~375-400 yds.), Addi-turbo needles size US 6 (4mm), Blocked dimension - . Comments: My 1st KSH project (I'm crazy in love with this yarn), After blocking the ostrich was *very* lacy. I think size 4 (3.5mm) needles would have looked better.

Branching Out Scarf: This is the infamous pattern from Knitty.com that many suggest as a good 1st lace project. I disagree. It's a nice design, but the "how many ways can you knit a 3 to 1 decrease in a single row" aspect of the design drove me bonkers. Yes, it was essential to the look of the branching, but it was a PITA to knit (esp the k3tog). It was such a PITA that it took me 7 or 8 months to find the courage to pick up this UFO and finish it.

The facts: Yarn- Elsebeth Lavold Silky Wool, Color-Bright turquoise, 1 skein (the whole skein!), Size 6 needles (I tried them all- Addis, Bamboo, BaleneII, Bates--none of them improved this knitting experience). I haven't blocked it yet, but it's approx. 9"x66". Comments: Never again. Not the pattern and not the yarn. NOT NOT NOT!

Sock Memories Socks: This was my brainless portable sock project. Just plain mostly stockinette knitting out of a royal blue, raspberry pink, bubblegum pink, and purple color mishmash. But they fit perfect (56 sts. on 2.75mm dpns) and I love how soft and yummy this KnitPicks yarn is. Too bad it's not superwash. I've already cast-on for the next pair (purples, blues, and yellow) as it's time to wear those warm wooly handknit socks! Yum :-)

Still here, still knitting

I know it's been almost 2 months since I last updated my blog, but I'm still here and I'm still knitting! I've had troubles with my wireless internet connection and frankly, I've been too lazy to fool with fixing it. Oh I've done a few things, but it's still not working. I am about to the point where it's starting to bug me though, so this shall be remedied soon. Then I'll be ready to add pictures and all that jazz.

While I've been offline I have kept up a steady pace of knitting. Let's see, I finished a nice pair of cotton blend anklets in shades of aqua, green, and yellow. I like the idea of cotton socks, but I prefer the wool yarns for knitting as they have so much more *spring* in them, hence the fit is superior. I also finished test knitting a scarf pattern for someone on the Knitlist who gave a shout out for some help. The actual design of the scarf was pretty much OK (it was a well-known lace pattern) and the chart was fine, but I didn't like some of the finishing recommendations or how the pattern was written in general. I started to write out all the things I though should be corrected, then decided hey, isn't that what they pay editors to do???? Since the designer hasn't contacted me at all since sending me the pattern, I figured I would save myself the grief. If she *really* wants input, she can contact me and I'll tell her. Thanks to Loops, my new LYS that carries several great lace yarns, I knit the scarf in a luscious raspberry colored Rowan's Kidsilk Haze. I made a zillion mistakes while knitting it since I kept forgetting that every other right side row was just a plain knit row, not a patterned one. Tink, tink, tink. It's an honest error when one is knitting a stole at the same time where every right side row is knit in pattern.

And speaking of the stole, I've also been knitting with Melanie's Mystery Stole 2 KAL. For this one I used KnitPicks Alpaca Cloud in the Tide Pool colorway. The stole has a mix of paisley and diamond geometric elements and it's quite lovely in my chosen yarn. The 6th and final clue will be posted in the morning so I'll have this one finished sometime next week. That gives me a couple of weeks to spare before the next EZasPi KAL starts in September. I've got a simple pair of socks OTN at the moment for my brainless/portable knitting project and I bought some delicious alpaca laceweight yarn (Alpaca witha Twist's Fino in a rich mulberry shade) at Loops to knit the Shetland Tea Shawl from Meg Swansen's "A Gathering of Lace." I also bought some new Regia Superwash Merino & Silk blend sock yarn at the Knit n Purl. I've been wanting a solid color sock yarn to knit a fancy pair of lace socks out of. The brand new yarn feels heavenly! I'm still considering patterns, though, so I haven't started knitting these socks yet.

I've had a migraine for 3 days now. I tried casting on for the Shetland Tea Shawl last night, but I couldn't do it. OK, a circular cast-on isn't the easiest thing to do, but honestly I am capable. That's when I knew my headache was *really* bad (as if I didn't already know that from the pain LOL). I gave up, took drugs, and went to bed at 8:00 PM. The migraine is still here today, but it's a little better. That's good because I *had* to go to campus today and fill out the application form so I can graduate this semester (if the Good Lord's willing and the creeks don't rise--again!). I rewarded my courage with a brief stop at Lilly's Bead Box for some pearls and Swarovski crystals. Then I hit Loops with the intent of getting some more Kidsilk Haze. She has a yummy shade of dusty aquamarine KSH that I love, but then I saw this multicolor Madil Kid Seta that just took my breath away. the Kid Seta was a couple of dollars less per ball, so I bought 3 thinking I might just try it out in another Kiri shawl (which calls for KSH). The Kid Seta is basically the same weight and texture as the KSH and the melange of apple green, royal, fuschia, purple, and teal will mix and match with tons of things in my closet. Besides, I need a quickie project to knit before the next KAL gets going, right???? ROTFLOL Knit on!

It's a Monster!!!

My 60" Addi circular arrived in the mail from KnitPicks on Tuesday and I resumed work on the pi shawl. At 1152 sts., about 1400 yds, and at least 60" not stretched out, this thing is a MONSTER!!! I pretty much have to work on it inside under the influence of air-conditioning (and diet coke) because it's too big and too warm to knit on it outside. I couldn't even lay the shawl out flat when I had both the 32" and the 60" needles in place during the transition/doubling process. Well, I said I wanted it to be big (just in case I never endure something like this again) and BIG it is! ROTFLOL

I've been keeping up with all my groups and email, but I haven't really been able to post this wek since I got bit by the unsavory, worm laden, email that attacked yahoo on monday. I had just opened a yahoo email account 2 days before the attack and the only people on my address list were my yahoo groups, which was fortunate in that they were the only ones that got the ugly mail sent from some lesbian source in my behalf. Of course the unsavory character that sent it was taking advantage of a loophole in the "new & improved" yahoo stuff that was implemented last week. Yup, that's progress for you! And most of the folks in my groups all hate the changes. Personally, I'm neutral at this point as to the improvements but I hate that I was attacked by the worm even though I never opened the email. I just trashed it and reported it as spam from the get go. The only good thing was that it didn't get to my other email accounts and I don't think it ever infected my computer. I'm sick to death of running scans for virii, adware, & spyware. The reality is, none of them are worth a hill of beans until after a worm like that is unleased on you. Then they can go write a program to fix the problem or prevent it from getting someone else in the future, but if you are in the targeted group, you are just SOL. period.

I've signed up for another lace KAL which starts in July. Melanie at pinklemontwist is offering another mystery stole along. Since I didn't knit lace last summer when she did the 1st KAL--Leda's Dream--this will be another new adventure for me. Oh boy! Better yet, I will be done with the pi shawl so I don't have to feel guilty about creating more ufos/wips. I finished one wip while I was waiting for my 60" needle, the Holly's Socks knit in KnitPicks merino. I'm still not in love with knitting fancy patterns into my socks, but this was only my 1st time doing it so hopefully it will grow on me. For now it only seems to increase the amount of time it takes to knit a pair of socks. My previous attempts all resulted in socks that were too big, either a little bit big or really big, but my holly's socks fit snuggly. I haven't washed them yet, but I think I probably want just a smidge more room for my feet. The best part is I now have the perfect match of sock yarn, needle size, and stitch count to achieve that perfect fit. It does take a little trial and error to get to this point. Somehow all the math in the world just doesn't quite do it.

I've also pulled the N Wiseman Shawl out of the ufo basket and started to knit on it again. For now, this is my portable project as the pi shawl is too big to be portable. However, with all the experince I've gained knitting the pi, I am more comfortable with this shawl and the Zephyr yarn. Zephyr is a 50/50 blend of wool and tussah silk and it is one of the most popular laceweight yarns out there. The price is reasonable and the yarn comes in a zillion colors, both solid and hand-dyed multicolors, and it does have a nice touch of a sheen to it. But the yarn is not a stretchy and elastic as the merino I've used or as supersoft as the baby alpaca or kid mohair I've knit previously. I just didn't love the feel of the yarn at first and the zephyr was finer than the other things I'd used. But I've adjusted to fine threads from using the gossamer and now the zephyr doesn't feel so foreign to my fingers.

Many folks will be using zephyr for the mystery stole, but I'm still debating what I want to do. I just got a bunch of natural merino laceweight from KnitPicks. I love the natural cream color although most folks buy this stuff to custom dye their own yarns. Then there's the 2 cones I bought from Colourmart. Melanie say it's not a wide stole and you can't alter the pattern to make it wider so if you want a more substatial stole you should knit it in a fingering weight yarn. I could double the dusty aqua cashmere which will make it about a fingering weight, but then I would have only 1150 yds and that might be just a tad shortof the 1200 recommended for the project. Running out of yarn on the border would be awful and I can't get more, so I probably won't do it. I have some alpaca cloud in "tide pool" which would knit up very nicely. The bonus is this color matches my new Coldwater Creek trousers perfectly, so I have a great wardrobe option from the start. Hmmmm...this sounds good. Decisions, decisions, decisions!!!!

Yee-Haw! Clue 4 is Done

Yee-Haw! I finally finished knitting the Clue 4 section of my pi shawl. Yup, all 96 blessed rows of the durn thang! Yes, it's beautiful, but I am half batty. I would have jumped up and down swinging my arms wildly in jubilation but 1) I have *so* much pain in my right shoulder and arm right now I could cry--swinging is out, and 2) I ain't done yet. Nope, gotta double those stitches to a ridiculous 1152 and starting bleeding--uh, start knitting the bleeding heart border that is. But that will have to wait until my care package from Knit Picks arrives with a 60" Addi circular needle in it. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would ever need a needle that long, but it was a snug (for me) fit to knit 576 sts on 32" and nothing short of 60" will handle this monster. I finished my 3rd ball of yarn on row 93 so it's taken about 1400 yds to knit the main portion of the shawl. Another yikes! I have 2 more skeins so I know I have enough to finish the border to my satisfaction.

I picked up some ufo socks (Holly's Socks) to knit on this afternoon. It's too warm to wear them right now, but I'd like to get them finished and off the needles. I still have the leaf shawl in coral Zephyr left to finish, but it's not talking to me at the moment. I could cast-on for the ostrich plumes scarf I promised to test knit for someone on the knitlist who hopes to publish the pattern. The glitch is she hasn't gotten the yarn or a commitment from the supplier that she hopes to use and frankly, I don't want to waste my time knitting it up in something else that may not meet her needs in the long run. The pattern is OK, basically a standard lace pattern with a simple selvedge edge on each side. It's knit in 2 pieces and grafted together at the center back, so it should be good for a newbie lace knitter. I have some fingering wt mohair that might work nicely and it's just enough for the project. I hate to dip into some of my lacewt stuff that is enough for a shawl to do a scarf. or I could use some of the leftover cashmerino from the Kiri shawl. That might be really nice too. Hmmmm.

I signed up for another mystery KAL that starts in July. I should have the pi shawl finished by then (please!!!!) so the timing is good. I missed out on the Amazing Lace Race KAL that I wanted to do, but my priority was to finish the pi so I wasn't able to meet the time frame. Ah, so many projects, so little time & energy & yarn. After all, there *is* more to life than knitting. Yup, like gardening. It was hot a dry today and I hauled the hose around twice today. But I have lots of baby tomatoes growing and my veggie box is progressing. My new hydrangeas are just starting to bloom (a big bluebird lacecap in a pot and 2 little forever pinks outside my window). The front bed is bursting out with daisies and the new transplants in the rose garden are making it despite the lack of rain. The liatris is also on the verge of blooming in the rose garden despite the bunnies nibbling on the leaves at night. Yup, I had to do another chili powder treatment yesterday to discourage the little critters. I love 'em but I want them to eat other things.

Aztec Pearl Verbena

I've never planted verbena before, but this lovely blush pink color of this hybrid along with the mounding trailing habit of this plant made it an excellent choice for a ground cover in the rose garden. The more I can cover with plant material, the less space there will be for the weeds which plague this bed. I set out 5 plants around the border of the bed and I hope they do well. Despite the fact they were on the "scratch and dent" half price table, they were beautiful plants ( I think they just weren't selling so they got moved out). I almost wish I had purchased a couple of more of them, but they aren't cold hardy and I hate to pay out too much $$$ for annuals. 

Landmark Peach Sunrise Lantana

This is another new hybrid, Landmark Peach Sunrise Lantana. This one is a very soft blush pink and butter yellow combination-one of my favorites! I planted 2 in the rose garden but I may try to add at least one more as it is so pretty! This should do a wonderful job of hiding the bare ankles of my floribunda roses. 

Miss Emme Inspects the Flowers

This is one of the new Lantana hybrids I planted this year, Lantana camara 'Christine'. I adore Lantana because it grows into a huge, sprawling bush 2.5-3 ft tall and attacts bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds like mad! I've planted confetti lantana in the past, but I like the bright magenta to yellow colorway of this one even better. If I'm lucky and the winter is mild (as they have been recently), the lantana will come back again next year in late June or July. They sell it as an annual here (zone 6), but it's a perennial further south. 

Pi Psychosis

I think I have have lost my mind. I have been knitting away at this same lace pattern for so long now I have reached a zombie-like state. Is this pi psychosis???? I just started the 1st row of the last repeat of the trailing vine. I only have 11 more rows to go in the 96 row section and I am *so* looking forward to getting this over and done with. I can't tell you how tempted I was to cheat and skip the last repeat, but I didn't. Besides, I need a bigger Addi to do the border. I ordered a 60" from Knitpicks last weekend and it won't get here until Saturday at the earliest so it's not like I can go on anyway. I'm just eager to be finished. Mom was sitting out on the deck with me tonight while I was knitting and she asked me why I was torturing myself. ROTFLOL! Uh, because it's LACE! Then she asked me what I was going to do with it when I was done. Oh duh, Mom! Sometimes she has no vision at all. I told her I was going to wrap myself up it in this winter and be warm and cozy--that I was going to drape it over the back of a chair and stare at it and smile and say "I knit this! Wow!" And this from the woman who readily chimed in with the rest of my family to tease me about my lack of imagination and humor as a child (the attributes she and my sister possessed in abundance). Of course people in the real world all think I have a delightful sense of humor and am very imaginative & creative. Only in my family am I the fuddy duddy. Geez......

I have been having a good time scrolling through the ebay listings for patterns and yarns and such. I've purchased several promising issues of the Burda Anna magazine. The neatest one was a "buy it now" lot of 5 issues for about $7. The seller was promoting cross-stitch but when I emailed her I learned there was lace knitting too (as I suspected). I snatched that one up fast as I knew the seller had no clue how popular the lace content was and that folks were gladly paying $8-10/issue for the lace knitting. Groovy for me! I was watching several bids last night and I was *so* tempted to join in the fun but my June allowance is mostly spent and it's not even halfway into the month. I finally had to admit to myself that buying on ebay was addicting and that I needed to simply turn the computer off, walk away from the desk, and do something else. I have enough patterns, newly acquired ones at that, and lace yarn to keep me busy knitting for at least a couple of months. I think the pi psychosis was to blame in part for this crazed state of mind. LOL

My garden is doing quite nicely and I have most things pretty much planted and set for the summer. I have been pulling the overgrown pansies out of the rose garden and replacing them with lantana, verbena, and a few petunias. The lantana is a new hybrid called sunrise peach and it is my favorite shades of blush pinks and yellows--very soft and pretty. I found the verbena on the half-price table and decided it would be the perfect ground cover plant to help keep the weeds at bay. Its a hybrid called Aztec Pearl and the flowers are also a blush pink. They are a perfect border companion to the peach lantana I set in behind them. I filled in the otherwise barren little spots with small pony pack petunias (also 50% off). I would have chosen other things, but I needed to be budget conscious and the petunias will do fine. The only downside is getting *down* to keep them deadheaded-a must for standard petunias. But I deadhead all my wave petunias anyway, so it's not that big a deal. I just trot around the yarn with a little pail and some snips and deadhead every morning &/or evening, so adding a few more plants to the routine is NBD. It's what I do to destress--I deadhead plants. It's better than deadheading people I suppose ;-)

I'm still waiting to hear back from the IRB about my research proposal. Sandra hadn't heard anything as of Tuesday either, so I guess I'll just have to wait another week. If I don't hear back by next week, I'll email Dr. Hall and see where's she's at with the thing. I figure it's passed the College of Nursing committe by now and I'm only waiting on the University board to approve it. I'm anxious to get going on my study so I can get done! I am ready to graduate and move on with my life. Can you tell I'm very restless and bored today????

Stash Enhancement

I have been on a stash enhancing binge the last couple of weeks. Oh boy it *is* fun! this binge got started when I learned that I could buy amazing cashmere yarn at ridiculously low prices. The catch--you have to join ebay and buy the yarn from Richard at Colourmart in the UK. I have sucessfully avoided/boycotted ebay for 8 years after having a horrible experience in my first ebay transaction. Many of my tatting friends assured me it was an unfortunate "bad seller" experience and encouraged me to try ebay again--after all, there's awesome stuff to be had on ebay. I refused to bite. I figured there wasn't anything I neede that bad, and besides, I am so poor I don't need to be tempted by ebay. And so I wasn't--until the cashmere lace yarn came into my life. I just had to have some--and so I bit!

Ah, the evil fruit of ebay. I scroll through the listings of yarn, and patterns, and tatting things, and I drool and lust and waste oodles of time. I bought that first cone of cashmere. Next came a cone of lambswool and angora in a bright bubblegum pink. Now that will dazzle the eyes once knitted LOL But this week I have gone crazy finding vintage lace pattern in Burda's Anna magazine-the premier German needlearts publication. I won bids for 2 lots of Anna (6 issues) from the 80's and I just went gaga as I thumbed through each issue. Now those are great magazines. Why can't Americans have such great designs? Those mags came from a lady in Montana who bought the inventory of a craft store that closed. OK, not so bad. But then last night I won another auction for 1 issue. It's coming from Germany and the text is in German! The other ones were in English. Oh, but there is an amazing lace knit tablecloth in this issue that was screaming out to me. Yikes!

I have promised myself to improve and not buy any more stuff on ebay for awhile. I have lots of new lace patterns to choose from. After all, I just bought myself the Kinzel 2nd book of modern lace knitting and Meg Swansen's a gathering of lace as a birthday present to myself. I have enough lace yarn to knit for the rest of the summer right? Well, uh, sure. But I needed to go to the Knit n Purl to get a size 9 Addi (32") and some fingering wt. baby yarn to knit some booties for Kasey's baby. And darn that Melissa if she hadn't just stuffed the 50% off corner with tons of discontinued yarns. I could have spent $100 quick if I had the money. To make it worse, she had new skeins of Helen's Lace yarn from Lorna's Laces in beautiful colors. I WANT, I WANT!!!

My quickie trip to the lys turned into almost 2 hours as I drooled and fondled and tried to make a wise decision. I ended up choosing a some exquisite fingering wt. cotton yarn from Filatura di Crosa, a fine Italian yarn company. I love their yarns, but they are normally cost prohibitive. This yarn is called Dolce Amore (sweet love) and the color is a variegated baby pastel palette of pink, yellow, blue, green, and white. It is sweet to touch-so smooth! At $3/200yd. ball, I bought all 11 balls (enough for another pi shawl). I want to knit some lace with cotton threads, so this yarn will be a nice transition. I can adjust to the feel of cotton before going down to fine threads. I figure I can pick up the Helen's Lace another time as it isn't as likely to sell out as the closeout yarns.