Shetlandish Shawl

Designed for an auction benefitting Family Rescue in Chicago.

Close up of it on the dress form.

A shot of it blocking.

Merino silk lace weight yarn with glass beads in the edging. The beads don't really show in these photographs.

Inspired by Shetland lace knitting traditions.

More Mittens

I started the mitten part of my mitten last night!
Still obsessed.

Mitten number one, thumb gusset created & held on thread untill I can come back and knit it. Hand progressing nicely, almost time to work on the flip top that I'm planning. These are mittens for a girl who needs to use her fingertips in a cold, cold city.

These are also mittens for an ambitious knitter who thinks the mitten part of this pair needs to live up to the cuff part of this pair. They must be fancy with couture details, just like a Bohus sweater.

Aeolian Shawl for Me!

All lumpy, as yet un-blocked.  

First go round of blocking.  Center of each flower pinned out.  

Each flower with five points pinned out.  The shawl gets stretched further and further as I work my way around and around.  

Flower close up.  

Malika's Aeolian Shawl

I used a beautiful lace weight alpaca to knit this for Malika.  In my mind this is like a long distance hug of fibery goodness.    

All done, un-blocked in it's "cat yack" stage.  I had to use a contrasting merino lace yarn to bind off the edge because I ran out of the main yarn.     

Soaked, squeezed dry, and stretched to within an inch of it's life!  Pinned out to dry on our futon.  It's beautiful, I love it and can't wait to see how mine comes out.  

The yucca leaf pattern that makes up the main part of the shawl.  

The agave and flower edging, pinned out to dry in perfect little points.  

Another shot of the  flower edging.  

There are actually little tiny glass beads in the flower that didn't show up in any of these photos.  They are very nice and add just a touch of glitz.  

Spinning

This, is becoming yarn!

I've started spinning the birthday roving.  It's really beautiful.  This photo looks browner than the real stuff, but there's no accounting for computer monitors.  

I wanted to make this into a lace weight two ply.  It might end up being more of a fingering weight though, which will still serve my purposes very nicely.  

New Hat?

Every year I tell myself that if I knit a really great hat, that I will like wearing it.  I hate wearing hats, I live in Chicago.  I need to wear hats.  It never really works.  

This year I'm going to make a really great hat from my own hand spun.  Maybe that'll do it.     

My hand spun in a little skein.  I have more than 100 yards of an almost lace weight (it's heavier than true lace weight).  

I'm not sure how much lace weight I'll need, I feel like I have enough.  

This is what I'm working on.  Adapting it to be a hat.  

A crazy lace doily!  I love it.  

Here is my sample.  This isn't quite big enough for a hat.  I'll have to add more patterning to the edge.  I'm going for a beret type cap.  I need something bigger and slouchier to fit all my hair inside.  

And the close up shots.