Saturday, February 19, 2011

ANNIS SHAWL



I have always been thrilled with the beauty of the shawls from Estonia. Particularly the ones based on the Lily of the Valley. Such a beautiful flower and in the spring the ones that grow at my back door have a fragrance I adore. That being said the "nups" in the patterns have made me think about doing one of these. So when I saw Annis on Knitty I thought this would be a perfect time to try them out. Then I found the U-Tube demo on the crochet hook method. I was off and knitting. This is a fun shawl and I loved knitting it. Now if we could just have some warmer weather I will be able to wear this pretty pink treat. I have a few other projects that must come first then I think I shall cast on for the Lily of the Valley. Now understand there are 3 other shawls that must come first. Plus some work for upcoming classes but keep watching I will let you know when I start.

Sunday, February 13, 2011

EVERY THING OLD IS NEW AGAIN


A number of years ago (I forget how many) I worked out this pattern. Then it went to the "unfinished boutique" I am working hard at getting things organized, well at least as organized as I will ever be. I am now writing directions and the like after finishing the sample. I gave away sample 1 a long time ago. So it is back to square one. I have a shawl I must get busy working on as I am planning my December donation shawl now. None of the waiting until my life gets in the way stuff as in years past. Hubby's work schedule has changed once again so now I need to change my work schedule as well. No lace knitting when the TV is on full blast with some sort or other of sporting event. We have moved from football now to college basketball. I just can't count when they are yelling numbers at the top of their lungs in "surround sound" . This means I must work when he works. OK the house will keep and the kitchen floor is clean enough to be healthy. Thank goodness for little puppy Vera who is a great cleaner up of any food that might have landed there.

Thursday, February 3, 2011

I AM NOT LOST IN THE SNOW!




I am not lost in the snow but have been busy doing knitting things. I try in January to get caught up with all the items that never quite were finished at Christmas. Then it is also time to prepare for upcoming classes. We have had more snow than I can remember in years and keep in mind that memory goes back a long long time. I did finish up this black hat it is felted Gallway and some sort of fun fur yarn that I really don't remember. The pattern is from Fiber Trends and believe it or not it is for me....Perfect for this dreadful weather we are having.

There is one good thing about snow and cold weather here. We are all well prepared for it. My heart goes out to those of you who live where "real winter" is not something you are used to. Our heating systems, roofs, insulation and a large generator should we loose power. We are made for this stuff. We have a large tractor mounted snow blower that can send that white stuff miles if he wants to do it. So all is well with us.

I also made a couple of hats of my own design and I like to call this embossed knitting. Many years ago at Meg Swanson's Knitting camp we were delving into the Swedish Twined Knitting. With no translation of the first book on this it was pure guess work. So I designed this hat to use this way of "not twined twined knitting" I call it embossed knitting. I really do love to do it and this is going to be part of my classes before long.

Then we come to the always popular Wallaby by Carol Anderson. You know this is a favorite when grandchildren outgrow theirs and ask for a new one. So I knit up a little one in red as a class sample. I also have a large one almost finished now for Louis who requested it at Christmas. If that were not enough I have a pink one started for Lillie. I am doing a Wallaby Knit along class at Yarn for Ewe in Kennedy, Ny and this is all in preparation for these classes.

I have printed hand outs that go along with the pattern book so I have been working hard at getting these all ready for Saturday.

Then there were several days of sewing, cleaning the sewing room only to trash it again as I look for fabric.

More about that later. Keep warm