The Green Monster and some Spinning

The big greenie is done!!! Two shots of it unblocked, proper blocked shots tomorrow.

A closeup, the lumpy bottom edge will look like lovely leafy lace once it's all sorted.

And a bigger shot, you can see we're still unpacking, please excuse the half empty boxes in the background.

And this year I decided to participate in the Tour De Fleece, where you set a challenging spinning goal and spin every day that the Tour De France rides. My goal is simple, to spin every day. I've been neglecting it.

So here goes, day one. A little bit of roving from Lorna's Laces. I forget the name of the colorway.

And I'm Back

I'm working on a shawl/scarf design. I fell in love with this lace motif, and it hasn't been cooperating. I gave up, started designing the way that it wanted to work, and was well on my way to finishing the sample (and pattern) today.

Tuesday evening.

Then I realized that I had been optimistic with how big the thing would be and that there was no way I'd have enough yarn to finish. My only choice was to rip out the 80"x6" of knitting that was already done. That's 480 square inches of knitting and more than 11,000 stitches (yay math).

So this morning I set up my knitting station, comfy chair, computer loaded up with knitting podcasts (thanks Wonder Mike for getting me through), some water, and my chart.

I put on an inspirational outfit.

And I sat down to knit.

8:30 am (Wednesday)

11:00 am (Wednesday)

4:00 pm (Wednesday)

1:15 am (Thursday)

The yarn is the Pistachio colorway in Atlantis, a really great Silk Seacell and Rayon blend hand dyed by my friend Angela.

The pattern is coming soon, it will be available at Windy Knitty in Chicago.

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.

Beauty Shots

The hand painted sock yarn that I took with me to knit a wrap while on vacation.  

The two colors of tweed yarn that I bought at This Is Knit in Dublin.  

The roving and drop spindle from the Handweavers Studio in London.  

Silk top also from Handweavers Studio.  

Eggplant colored wenslydale wool from I Knit in Waterloo.  

Hand painted roving, also from I Knit.  

Silk lace weight (yes it's from Habu, but I never see Habu here in Chicago), also from I Knit.  

Lovely soft merino cashmere blend that I bought at Loop in Islington.  

And lambswool, also from Loop, that I have now seen all over Chicago!  Oh well.  

One of my yarn buying goals was to try for things that I can't get here in the states.  

New Favorite Yarn

I ordered this blue green yarn from an online shop.  It is super soft, very cushy.  I made everyone pet it.  

I think I'm going to use it for a gift though, so I hunted online and in real life for more.  

I bought this at Jo-Ann Fabrics, and I'm going to order some in a pale pink from e-bay.  Yum.  

A Little More Detail

All cell phone photos, sorry for the crappy quality.

Josh, on the plane.


First sight of Ireland.

First pints, Bulmers.

Saturday morning.

And 5 minutes further down the street.

The Bride! This was very late and we were all quite drunk.

Salamanca, a lovey tapas place where we all met for dinner the day after the wedding.

Trinity College.

My peeps on Grafton Street, no family discount.

Delicious kebabs from Zaytoon's, highly recommended post pub.

Pints at O'Neil's.

The Guinness Storehouse, completely overrated, even when we were in the mood for touristy schlock. I say wikipedia how beer is made (if you aren't already aware) while you grab a pint somewhere else.

Josh, on a bus, whizzing past Christ Church. We did go in, another day.

First sight of London.

Parliament.

Dr. Laura Miller, my cousin, knows how to show a girl a good time.

Mr. Toby Joe, best dog of the trip!

Pigeon wanted in at Tate Modern.

Josh, pretty much how he looked the whole trip. (Camera to face)

Harrods.

Regent Street Apple Store.

Need I say more?

Our last look at Dublin.

My Loot!

Irish yarn purchased in Dublin at This Is Knit.

My new drop spindle, handmade on the Isle of Wight, with a little wool I purchased to play with, from the Handweaver's Studio in London.

Silk for spinning, also from the Handweaver's Studio.

Cashmere Merino blend, so soft, from Loop in Islington.

Lambswool, one of the softest things I've ever touched, also from Loop.

Reddish silk from Habu on a cone, a braid of hand dyed roving, and DK weight Wenslydale in an eggplant color (it just looks black), all from I Knit in Waterloo.

And on our last day Laura taught me how to crochet! She also bought me a wonderful little book, so I practiced all the way home on the plane and was able to complete my very first granny square. Yarn is GGH something or other purchased at Loop solely for the purpose of learning to crochet.   

The whole trip my travel knitting was the Clapotis Wrap knit out of a Cascade hand painted sock yarn. I got this far.

I actually ripped out the entire thing tonight. I had started it a little skinny, hoping to get by with one skein, I realized that that wasn't going to happen, so I bought another skein and am starting over, full sized. Why knit it skinny when I now have enough yarn?