10Shawls2010 Tempt Me Giveaway

On Ravelry there is a new group formed with the goal of knitting 10 lace shawls in 2010.

Ten Shawls in twelve months.  Yeah - it's crazy.

To qualify as a 10shawls2010 the shawls cannot be cast on before January 1st.  Now the rules are set to allow small shawls and scarf of 250 yds up.  Many lace knitters are queueing up all sorts of fun shawls and scarfs, some are going to chose patterns as they come by way of inspiration.

Since all of my holiday knitting is complete I've been trying to divert myself from starting a new lace project.  It's hard my friends.  You have no idea how deep my addiction to lace goes.  For example, I woke around 1:30am today and pulled my Icarus Shawl out of hibernation and knit a nice long row.  It felt so good I'm sure I was purring by 3:00am.

While I have umpteen shawls in my 10shawls2010 queue I'm certain I'll be switching the order as new projects catch my attention.  So I thought I'd see if the knitting readers wanted to play along in the mania by entering a contest.

What's at stake you ask?  Yarn!  More on that in a moment.

First things first though.  How to enter: Comment below with a pattern suggestion.  Anything between 300-1000 yards, the pattern must be in the Ravelry database or website download, and intriguing.  Yep - pull out all the stops - Nupps.  Beads.  Estonian.  German.  Russian.  Then post on your blog,  facebook, twitter, or Ravelry about this contest (include a link) - and include a link to your post in your comment.

Here is a list of shawls already in queue that cannot be included in the contest.

Trachentuch A by Erich Engeln
Baltic Blossoms by Evelyn Clark
Swallowtail by Evelyn Clark
Night Blooms by ThatLoganChick
Percy Shawl by Sanne Kalkman
Elm Row by Anne Hanson
Hecate Stole by BadCatDesigns
Norwegian Woods by Sivia Harding
Gail (aka Nightsongs) by MaweLucky
South for the Winter by Anna Dalvi
Artichaut by Anne Hanson
North Roe by Dodile
Lilac Leaf by Nancy Bush
Traveling Woman by Liz Abinante
Bitterroot by Rosemary Hill
Pivot by Michelle Miller


Nor can any of the shawls I've already knit be considered fair game for entry.  They're listed in the right side panel.

Now back to the prize.  Silk my friends.  A 500yd skein of Lost City Knits Silver Bells yarn.






Now come on knitters - let's get crazy!

Contest ends Midnight December 31 - Lost City Time.

Happy Solstice Everyone!  

Yeah!

I think Mom likes her shawl.  Wanna see how it turned out?  Chris took some photos of me modeling Petals of Pink Champagne before I took it to Mom.

Comfort Knitting

You've heard of comfort food right?  This morning I told Chris I didn't feel well and I needed comfort knitting.  It's that knitting that isn't frivolous and isn't fancy.  It just makes you feel good.  And usually it's fast.  I think this is part of why people knit dish clothes (although I've never done it myself) and garter stitch scarves.

Several years ago for our bike trip I'd knit a hat for myself from handspun yarn I'd bought from That'll Do Betty at the Walnut Valley Guitar Festival.  Betty always has a great selection of handspun.  For the hat I'd used most of the three little skiens I'd bought so this year I added another to my collection in a deeper green (top center - but destined for cuffs) because I had mittens on the mind.

I'm using the Fitten' Mitten technique from Jean Shrouder whom I took a class from at the 2009 SWAK Knit Out.  Jean is an amazing knitter and a great teacher.  You walk out of a workshop with her and know you have just received lessons that can be applied to your knitting through your life.  I've already knit one pair of Fitten' Mittens for Chris (he's wearing them now or I'd get a photo!) and know I'll be knitting many more using Jean's pattern.

Knitting Distraction

It's a little crazy but I joined a group whose goal it is to knit ten lace shawls in 2010.  Yeah, ten lace shawls in one year.  Crazy - like I said. 

None of the ten can be cast on before January 1st.  Since I've recently finished one big lace project (which I cannot show on the blog for a few more days) I've been a bit antsy.  I don't want to begin any new lace projects that cannot be completed before the end of the year.  So what's a knitter to do?  Pick up a project that has been languishing in a bag stuck in the corner cubby of her bookshelf is what.  

May I present 1/3 of the color portion of one sleeve of the Equinox Yoke Pullover.  The sleeves are knit flat in fair isle then they join the body sections (already knit) on the circular needle.  Then the big fair isle yoke is knitted in the round.
Sounds easy huh? 

Flat knitting fair isle is kicking my butt. 

It's brutal. 

It's hard.

But my fingers are distracted from lace and that's what I was aiming for.  WTF

Crimson Orchid goodies!

 Recently I won a prize over on Seasons of Lace and the goodies from Crimson Orchid arrived this week!

Below are three stitch marker sets, each with it's own ring to keep them organized when not in use.  The largest ring is a Row Counter Bracelet - it's really fun!  Each of the two coils has ten beads.  Designate which is for ones, which for tens, and as you finish knitting a row the appropriate bead is slid through the little glass bead cluster (strung with elastic).  

As Chris said, it's a knitting abacus! 

All of these little gems (actually they're Jasper) are from Crimson Orchid Designs.  Aren't they fun?  Don't you need them too?  Shipping was fast and the prices are really reasonable.  Go shop - have some fun - and keep your knitting organized!

Petals of Pink Champagne

Deadline knitting forces me to invest excessive amounts monogamous knitting time in completing a project.  There are no “oooh shiney” diversions when a deadline looms.  While in a previous post I wrote that I would not have Mom’s shawl finished in time for Christmas, I then set myself on a path to do just that.

Friday night’s attack of the clumsy helped tremendously.  During a mid-Ravelry post regarding weight and yardage I rushed back to the laptop after weighing some yarn and ran smack dab into what serves as our coffee table.  The impact of my right foot against the library card catalog that is topped with granite was excruciating.  I howled - and maybe swore – then fell on the couch grabbing my aching appendage.  Chris was kind and brought a bag of peas to stop the swelling while I whimpered.  He’s good at gingerly patting what hurts and making me laugh at myself – even if it is between tears and bouts of nausea. 

Yesterday I was sidelined from any activity I couldn’t hop on one foot to accomplish.  Therefore an enforced day of knitting brought me much closer to my goal of having the shawl finished in time for Christmas and maybe even in time for the final days of Season of Lace. 

This morning I was so pleased with my progress I took a time to pin the shawl on the little blocking board for a few photos. 

I’m smitten with this pattern.  Those little Estonian Star Flowers are a joy to watch bloom with each added row.  The designer is Jenny Johnson Johnen of Sweden.  She’s a clever gal, that Jenny.  I foresee several more Echo Flowers in my future. 

It was hard (mostly because I stink at photography) to catch the true color of the Pink Champagne Silk with the camera.  The flash washes out the light color.  The sheen and beads are glorious in person but don’t show up well on the screen.  These photos just do not do justice to the shawl as a whole (or close to whole since it’s not off the needles yet).

The top photo is the truest to the color and sheen.  The little dots are clear silver-lined beads.

Which brings me to a conversation earlier this week in which I tried to explain my fascination with the dyeing process. It too is hard to get across.  My urge to dye yarn began during a visit three years ago to New Mexico for the Taos Wool Festival.  One of the days in NM I spent at the Ghost Ranch – primarily staring at how the cloud movements changed the color of the rock bluffs and walls.  A subtle shift in cloud cover could change what was a pinkish-terracotta wall into something I can only call dusty-purple. It was fascinating!  After a day of watching colors I spent hours wandering through booths of lush yarns and fleeces – wool, alpaca, and llama.

I returned to Oklahoma with a fierce desire to dye yarn, several books, and a handful of natural herb seeds to begin a dyer’s garden.  After several years of research and thought, I shifted from herb dyeing to the traditional method of dyeing.  Several reasons brought that switch. First - we are already working on one crop and I didn’t want to add more growing/harvesting time to that endeavor and second - a concern for what the mordants would do to our water source – Clear Creek and a shallow well.

Once I finally began dyeing I was enthralled with the color changes that the fiber undergoes during the process.  By no means does the color you pull from the dye pot give you the exact shade of yarn your fiber will be when it dries.  And different fibers respond completely different in the same dye bath.  It’s endlessly fascinating.

From the start I wanted to work with lace weight or fingering weight yarns.  Feeding my own addiction some would say.  But only partly so – what I’ve discovered in my own lace knitting experience is that a knitter picks different yarns for different types of knitting.  A pale color will highlight intricate stitches – like those in Estonian lace designs.  A deep rich color will give you big bang from a distance (and photograph much easier!) letting a simple design be a true work of art.  A skein with vast color changes regardless of the hues can be too busy and obscure the stitches that took hours for a knitter to accomplish. Additionally the dyer must keep in mind that when a knitter is using the yarn for a lace project the yarn is stretched out with yarn-overs and blocking therefore the mass color of a skein plays a bit differently opposed to a solid stockinette knitted garment.

All of these facets, different fibers and different dyeing techniques, have a place in a knitter’s stash.  I’m the coming years I hope to offer a well-rounded selection of yarns for knitters – those who purchase my yarns, win them in contests, and myself.

Word for the Day

Here on the creek we like a good cryptic crossword puzzle, primarily The Nation's puzzle.  It arrives weekly and both households take pencil to paper and exorcise our brain cells to twist and turn the clues into  the words that only the likes of Frank W Lewis can pull out of his hat.  Mr Lewis is 90-something and has been writing the cryptic puzzles for the magazine for decades.  This guy must be a blast at a party.  

I love learning a new word or discovering I know an obscure answer.  

For all the knitters out there - here's my new word from last week's puzzle.

Etui def: A small, usually ornamental case for holding articles such as needles.  

photo coming soon of my etui - 

Lovin' the tote!

The felted journal tote rocks!  Here it is after sewing on the wooden button with swirls that I bought at SWAK.  Next step is adding the strap, which won't happen until I make it back to civilization.  

A good day was had by all.

Today was good.  I had an FO (finished object for those not up on their knitting lingo), a Bind Off, and a sugar rush.

First up - the FO because it just doesn't happen often enough.  Last Saturday Cathy and I drove to OKC for a SWAK class on Fair Isle knitting.  For longer than I care to admit I've had the Equinox Yoke Pullover in a holding pattern because I was just too chicken to tackle the colorwork without a bit more experience.  Cathy, being an accomplished knitter, knows how to fair isle but is usually game for a road trip to SWAK.

Here my dear readers is my Mug Cozy in two color knitting.  (Pattern on the SWAK website) Complete with little black rubber buttons sewn on.  Chris said it was gratuitous knitting but really liked the stitch pattern.  I'm pleased with it since my travel mug doesn't have one of those rubber grips to keep me from burning the bejebus out of my hand at 4am when we're on our way to the farmers market.

And here's my Bind Off.  I'd call it a Near FO because it's knitted but currently in the washer with a load of jeans and towels felting itself silly (my hope anyway).  The yarn was a vacation purchase from several years ago - maybe three.  Manos del Uruguay in a colorway I can't remember.  You can plainly see where I added the second skein but since it's being felted I don't think the change will be obvious when I pull it from the dryer.  It doesn't look like much now but it is a journal tote for me to use while hiking.  Hopefully I can find decent webbed strapping with one of those metal adjustable contraptions for the shoulder strap.

The best part of the day was not an accomplished by me.  Chris, as has been stated before, has been craving Magnolia Bakery cupcakes.  Last night he baked the cupcakes, this afternoon he iced them.  They are good!! As good as we'll get without going back to Bleeker Street.  He did half of the icing straight vanilla, half with our culinary lavender!

Who knows with a sugar rush like this I could accomplish anything! (or I could crash on the floor in front of the fire at 9pm)

Steaming

Today Chris bought me a new tea kettle because my old one's valve was stuck and it no longer whistled.  

The new one is pretty and shiny.  But it has problems releasing the pressure within.  Instead of a nice fine whistle, it sounds like a slow ..... fart.

The tea kettle is going back to Target.  I'm just the woman to drive 60+ miles to avoid that sound every morning when I make my coffee.

Also - I'm now placing a strict blog ban on the word fart.  

It's been used entirely too much lately.