2013: The Year of the Finished Project – October edition

During September I came to realise two things: one about me, one about my lack of fore-thought!

Firstly, I am addicted to my iPad. Seriously! If I pick it up in the morning and start using it, I can still be on it when WM comes home at 2:30pm. Whole days have been spent (wasted?) browsing the internet, reading blogs, reading emails (and not even in answering them, sorry) and playing games like FreeCell, Spider Solitaire and Jumbline 2: Star Tower. I will now no longer allow myself to turn my iPad on until after lunch. Hopefully, by then, I will have started on some crafting project, and be keen to get back to it!

As for my lack of fore-thought: I have come to realise that it is a very good idea to check the calendar before deciding on how many projects can reasonably be completed in the month! This may sound obvious but I have gotten into such a habit of listing six or seven items that I just didn’t think about my schedule in combination with how much work needed to be done to complete each project!

I didn’t allow for the fact that I would be gone for one weekend teaching at The Knitters’ Guild of NSW biennial camp. I didn't allow for the fact that one of the two classes I was asked to teach needed a great deal of preparation time in writing notes, preparing patterns, knitting samples, etc. In fact, all the preparation, knitting and so forth, swallowed up most of a week!

I didn’t allow for the fact that we had a Conference at church for the last five days of September or for the fact that we would be billeting people for those five days. Preparation for those visitors in terms of making the spare bedroom habitable (we have been de-cluttering!) took more time than expected!

Basically, I really only had about fifteen days of “normal” life during September and all of the projects I listed for the month needed a great deal of work on them to bring them to completion. I did have the sense to realise that number seven wasn’t possible so took that off my list in the first couple of days.

Here is my September list and how I fared in my progress towards finishing:

1. Scrappy Log Cabin quilt (50” x 60”) – goal: quilting and binding
   – finished 4 September (see this post)
   
2. Westall cardigan, aka as “Cardigan for Me” – goal: get it done and on my back
   – I didn’t get it finished but I did pick up the stitches for the first sleeve, and knitted the sleeve cap twice. I wasn’t happy with my short rows (they looked very messy) so I did it all again. Eventually I got the sleeve done to the elbow where the lace pattern begins. This requires concentration so I didn’t get any further!
   
3. Scrappy Heart blocks – goal: enlarge all thirty and turn them into a flimsy
   – I didn’t get all thirty blocks enlarged, I have done a total of twelve, nine in September and three in August
   (show in the two pictures below)
   
4. Country Houses quilt – goal: get it off the shelf and on to our bed
   – this project wasn’t touched; I never remembered to measure it for the amount of wadding I needed! I only ever remembered when I was already in my LQS for classes!
   
5. Gift of Hope quilt #2 (24” square) – goal: backing, quilting and binding
   – finished 19 September (see this post)
   
6. Purple Cocoon Socks – goal: just get them done, they've been on the needles too long!
   – I finished the first sock on 19 September and cast the second one on at Camp on 20th September; I also knitted on the way to Conference one day but was too tired the other two mornings (the fourth morning I had to drive myself and have not yet mastered the art of knitting and driving at the same time!). I am almost at the heel of the (toe up)socks; I am still finding using the shorter needles of 40cm (16”) circulars quite clumsy – I much prefer dpns!
   
7. turn another set of blocks from the Rainbow Scrap Challenge 2012 into a flimsy – unrealistic and removed from list!

So that was September – not too bad considering my lack of time!

Now for October. Let’s see, I have not had any crafting time in the first three days and have my grandsons here from tomorrow night until at least next Thursday so there’ll be no crafting during that week. That leaves me about 21 days of “normal” life. Realistically:

1. Scrappy Hearts quilt – finish enlarging blocks, make flimsy, make backing, baste, quilt and bind!
2. Country Houses quilt – get it off the shelf and onto our bed!
3. Purple Cocoon Socks – to be finished
4. Westall Cardigan – sleeves to be finished
5. turn another set of blocks from the 2012 Rainbow Scrap Challenge into a flimsy

That seems reasonable for the amount of time I have.

What about you?
How did you go in September? Did you learn anything about yourself along the way?
What are your plans for getting those UFOs done in October?

Please link up with the URL of your specific blog post. Thanks for joining the party. Don’t forget to visit some of the other people who have joined in and leave a comment on their blog.

2013: the Year of the Finished Project – February

How did you go in January?
What plans do you have for your UFOs/WiPs in February?

Write your post which answers these two questions (you can be as expansive – or not – as you like). Then join up with the linky party below. Please remember to use the URL of your specific post, not just your blog URL. Thanks.

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January was a hectic month for me. Not only did I have house guests until 9 January, then overnight guests on 22 January, I put enormous pressure on myself to “get things done”!

You see, our quilting group has the “Airing of the Quilts” on the second weekend in April. I was asked towards the end of last year how many quilts I would be contributing and I said six. It seemed reasonable at the time! However, I started 2013 with only one finished quilt so I planned to finish two in each of January and February, and the fifth in March. Easy-peasy, right?

Well, putting pressure on myself means I tend to rush a little and don’t notice things – or I ignore the things I do notice! The second quilt I intended to finish in January was quilted. The binding was cut and ironed and ready to go. But there I stopped!

I think the top of the quilt was not pulled tight enough when I basted and it looks “wrong” now that the quilting is done. Deep down, I wanted to pull out all those quilting stitches and start all over again. But no-one wants to do that in reality! So there I was, torn because the quilt was so close to being finished and wanting it to look better than it does! Will more quilting fix the problem? Perhaps!

Look at the bunching of the fabric around the brown square on the left and the green square in the centre right. Look at the wrinkles in the light brown fabric of the four patch between them!

It didn’t help that the border fabric I chose, which looked so right to begin with, has changed the quilt from looking quite sophisticated (which I loved)  to looking more frivolous!
Fortunately, my quilting class resumed on Monday (after our seven-week summer break). I asked for my teacher's opinion. Whatever she recommended I would have done. The good news is that she told me it was fine and to get it bound and done! So the binding was added during class.

I'm a bit concerned about the backing fabric now though -- look at my sewing machine:

Remember this backing fabric I showed you last week:

The founder of our community quilting group doesn't like us to wash quilts when we're finished them, she likes the pristine look for exhibition but I think I'm going to have to wash this with a packet of colour catchers! I know the quilts are taken down at the end of the exhibition and stored, then a few weeks later they are sorted and distributed to the local hospitals and other charities. I can't let this one go while it's leaking this much dye! Imagine the mess if it got wet!

So, my January list looks like this:

1. Westall Cardigan – I am currently knitting the bottom ribbing. I then have sleeves and the front band to go. I should have it finished by the end of February but would like it sooner!
2. sideways baby jumper – started November 2011 -- to be finished by end of the month -- frogged 6 January 2013
3. Deb’s Diamond Blanket – I didn’t work on this at all during January; all my knitting time was spent on the Westall cardigan, except when I had company and then I was working on plain self-striping socks!
4. Squares quilt – blocks made, the layout planned (done 10 Jan), and the blocks sewn into rows by the end of January (done 15 Jan); this is the quilt mentioned above. As you can see, I reached my progress goals by the fifteenth of the month; it was in pushing myself to get it done by the end of the month that things fell apart!
5. Dotty Bright quilt -  finished 25 January (yahoo! a real finish!)
6. hexagon project bag – I didn’t touch this during January
7. piano cross stitch – I didn’t touch this in January
8. placemats for the Grandsons – this was to have been a new project but, because I am drowning in unfinished projects, I’ve given myself a two-for-one deal: finish two quilting projects and you can start another! Because that squares quilt is not finished, the placemats have to wait! As Shakespeare said, “to thine own self be true!”

So, do you think I will go easier on myself in February?
Here’s my list – what do you think?

1. Older Grandson’s birthday surprise  – UFO
2. Westall cardigan  – WIP – ribbing, sleeves and band
3. Black Stump Creek quilt  – WIP 
4. hexagon project bag – WIP
5. Scrappy Log Cabin quilt – UFO – border, backing, bating, quilting, binding
6. Rainbow improv quilt – WIP – layout, joining blocks into rows and rows into top; I think I’ll be content if I get to completed flimsy!
7. Deb's Diamond Blanket –  WIP –  will not be finished this month, this is a long term project 
8. placemats for the Grandsons – this will be my new project for February but first I have to get one more quilting project finished!
9. piano cross stitch – UFO -- if I do a little on this every month, I may get it finished sometime this decade!

So, what about you? Did you meet your goals for January?
Are you, like me, pushing yourself too hard?
And what are your goals for February (are they realistic?)

progress is being made

The 16th, being exactly in the middle of the month, seems like a great time to share progress on my January focus list.

So far I have worked on only three of the eight items on my January list. 

But I am happy with that, considering I had house guests until 9th January.

I have cast on another pair of socks -- these don't interfere with my Year of the Finished Project. Plain stocking stitch socks, single-coloured garter stitch squares, class samples/projects and rainbow scrap quilting blocks are exceptions and are not counted as new projects.

You will no doubt notice that the toe of the first sock has not yet been grafted. That's because it's easier to cast on for another sock while in the car than to try grafting while in a moving vehicle! 

Socks make great travel knitting: they are small and easily transported, they don't lie in my lap when the temperature outside is over 35°C (95°F), and because they are knit in the round on dpns are only ever sixteen stitches from the "end of the row"!

Many of you would have read that my first "finish" of the year was to "frog" (rip out) a baby sweater I started in November 2011 because I thought the head hole was too small after I knitted the collar on. That's one thing off my Focus list, even if not the way I originally intended.

My "big" knitting project is the Westall cardigan that I am making for myself. I planned to be up to the waist shaping a few days ago but had to extend that deadline to yesterday because the cotton/acrylic yarn, while knitting up into a nice soft fabric, is hard on my hands so I can only do a few rows before I have to take a break.

knitted from the top down, back and both fronts at the same time

I did reach yesterday's deadline and have started the waist shaping but I'm beginning to have my doubts about having this finished by the end of the month! Nevertheless, I will persevere, I will soon be up to the plain stocking stitch part of the body so it should go a little faster then!

And on the quilting front, I started thirty-two square-on-square blocks last Friday and finished them on Monday (I had no time for sewing over the weekend). I only needed thirty-one but it doesn't hurt to have one extra, just in case. Yesterday I sewed the blocks into rows and the rows into a flimsy, so I have met my goal for January for this project and need to turn my attention to other projects while I think about the borders for this one.

I think I'll use a thin blue solid inner border but I'm not sure about the outer border. Strips (piano keys) with corner stones?

Time to baste this baby, I think. Eight months in the waiting pile is long enough!

So, how about you? How are you going with your January goals?

Linking up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced (hosted by Lee).

works in progress (or not)

Warning: poor quality photos – I had to use my iPad because my camera batteries were all flat!
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At the beginning of December, I published a list of my December WiPs. It looked like this:

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt
2. Christmas Tree wall-hanging
3. Cardigan for Me
4. Deb’s Diamond Blanket
5. Merlot Toe Up Sock
6. hexagon project bag
7. Scrappy Rainbow improv quilt

Then came the fiasco which was my packing of craft activities for my week away.

But I did manage to finish the second Merlot Toe Up Sock while I was away. Not having my basic knitting tools with me meant that I had to wait to sew the ends in till I came home!

I also mentioned that I took my appliqué heart blocks away with me instead of the hexagon project bag that was on my original WiP list. With stitching time on the train, at embroidery class last week and sewing class this week, I have managed to finish the appliqué on the last few blocks (three of which are shown here).

The ten-hour travel time also gave me a chance to think about the setting of these blocks. I am going to try setting them alternately with the four patch blocks I have made for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and use the Rainbow String blocks for a piano-key-style border. Well that's the theory anyway!

An incredibly busy and tiring week followed my return home – I am so tired that I don’t have the energy for most craft activities and so fall back to my good old stand-by: knitting.

I have done a little on the right front of my cardigan.

But this lace pattern, as easy as it is to memorise, requires concentration. I can’t knit it when there are people around!

And so, I have been working on the Drop Stitch Scarf I started while away. I don't really have to think, except to count the yarn overs in one row out of four.

The scarf is progressing quite quickly considering my lack of enthusiasm for this project – the acrylic yarn is not pleasant to work with!

And so my list now looks like this:

1. The Very Hungry Caterpillar quilt (no progress)
2. Christmas Tree wall-hanging (today’s project)
3. Cardigan for Me (some progress)
4. Deb’s Diamond Blanket replaced with Purple Dropped Stitch Scarf (much progress)
5. Merlot Toe Up Sock (finished)
6. hexagon project bag replaced with appliqué blocks (finished)
7. Scrappy Rainbow improv quilt replaced with Scrappy Rainbow “hearts and four-patch” quilt

Just as well I realised at the beginning of the month that there was no way I was going to get all these finished by the end of the month. The list was supposed to focus my activities and, despite my swapping some projects for others, I have managed to stay focused and achieve some progress. At least I swapped and didn’t just add to the list – six or seven is the limit; after that I become overwhelmed!

works in progress

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you would know that I have a large number of projects that I've started, many of which have fallen by the wayside.

I have tried to remedy this by determining a finish date for each UFO, and then working on those things which need to be finished first. Sounds logical, I know, but until I put it all in writing, I couldn't see the wood for the trees – or, more truthfully, the projects for the piles!

Since I wrote that first detailed list back in June, some projects have been finished and I've blogged about them. Some new projects have inevitably crept in – nieces have had babies or recently become pregnant, Secret Santa projects were unexpectedly thrust upon me, or I’ve fallen in love with a fabric, yarn or pattern (such as the three bags I've recently finished)!

But, thanks to the organisational skills of this app on my iPad, my WIPs are under control and at the moment there are six that I am actively working on.

In my last post, I showed you the first of two Secret Santa projects and the first of two cloth books which, naturally enough, need to be completed by Christmas.

Here is the second Secret Santa project in progress. Today I will stitch the turnings closed and do the necessary embroidery.

And here is part of the second of the cloth books – cut out, batting fused and pages pinned together. All I need to do is load another bobbin, change to my integrated walking foot and get stitching.

Also to be finished before Christmas, is this – the third embroidered Christmas tree. I plan to finish that before the end of next week because I need to turn the three into a wall hanging which will need to be hung soon!

I mentioned nieces having babies or finding out they were pregnant.

This unblocked lace knitting (still on the needles) is 4ply (fingering) bamboo/acrylic (machine washable – new mums love that); it is for our latest grand-nephew. His mother, our niece, is also our only god-daughter, so she gets something a little bit extra-special. I could have knitted it sooner but I was hoping to use some of the pink baby yarn in my stash!

It’s the Bernat Baby Blanket (Ravelry link) and should be finished in plenty of time to be given to the proud parents at the family Christmas party on 16th December. This baby, by the way, is my MIL’s 13th great-grandchild! (She has sixteen living grandchildren).

And on my side of the family, my eldest niece has just been surprised by an unplanned pregnancy. Her mother, my sister, told me a couple of weeks ago that D. really likes The Very Hungry Caterpillar, so there is a surprise play quilt in progress. Here’s a peek at the top. The spots are part of the VHC range; I can’t quite figure out why!

You may remember that I started an Intarsia Blanket in November 2011. Here it is in July this year.

I have finished the knitting. All that remains is to finish knitting the i-cord edging and sew it on, then secure a few hundred ends (they were woven in while I was knitting but the acrylic yarn slides so they need to be sewn back in the opposite direction).

 I know what you're thinking, why didn't I knit the i-cord on? The answer is simple, it’s too hot to sit under a blanket and knit, plus the weight of the blanket kept dragging on the i-cord, making it difficult to knit. I quite like hand-sewing, so this is the best solution for me. I did knit the i-cord onto the 200 open stitches at the top of the blanket.

Finally, there is a pile of scraps on my ironing board for making more blocks for the rainbow scrap challenge. This pile, as you can see is blue, which was the colour a few months ago – I had so many blue scraps that I could still be sewing with them into 2013. I might put away the blue (again), and get out the brown, which was the colour for October or black which is the colour for this month. My black scraps are few and will be mixed with white.

I hadn’t planned on making blocks but it was hot here yesterday and I already had dark grey thread and my quarter inch foot on my machine – what's a girl to do? 

I'd better go - I have things to do!

Linking up with WIP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced blog.

it’s that time of year

It’s just eight weeks from tomorrow!

I know it’s getting close because of what's coming off my sewing machine:

First I made this apron (on behalf of DD) for a “Secret Santa Swap” at Caring Hearts Community Quilters. DD was given the panel (called “A Christmas Gathering”) but there’s no way she has time to sit at the sewing machine with two very active under-threes! I’m sorry some of it is missing but this is as much as WM took! I love this so much I’d like to keep it for myself! So would DD (who was conveniently wearing a red tee-shirt when modelling)!

 Secondly, this book which I started last year and never finished -- a gift for the Grandsons who both love books. Older Grandson will love identifying the animals and Younger Grandson needs cloth books because he still puts everything in his mouth and his teeth damage cardboard books!

 This has nothing to do with Christmas but I am so glad to finally have it finished!

First the inside view with its two generous pockets. My teacher, Kerry, and I designed this bag as we went along.

It had to fit this panel (designed by Kerry, embroidered by me) and will be used to carry my sewing/embroidery supplies.

It may look small the way I’m holding it but in fact it is 38cm (15 inches) wide, 35.5cm (14 inches) tall and 18cm (7 inches) deep.

It is actually a very deep purple colour as shown on the sunlit (right) side of the bag, not the royal blue shown on your left!

Goodbye to the green eco-bag from the local supermarket that used to carry my sewing supplies!

What about you -- are you crafting gifts for Christmas?

one skein challenge revealed

Yesterday at the monthly meeting of our chapter of the Knitters’ Guild of NSW, we had a display of items knitted for the One Skein Challenge – what can be knitted with 100g of yarn or less? Here is a detail of my knitting:
Some of you who are members of Ravelry or who read a lot of knitting blogs may recognise this as the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark (a free pattern on Ravelry). I deviated from the written pattern by not adding the nupps (a type of small bobble) in the Lily of the Valley pattern (the denser knitting towards the edges of the shawl) and by adding an extra five repeats of the Budding Lace pattern to the body of the shawl.

I knitted it Misti Alpaca – 100% baby alpaca in a hand-painted, lace-weight yarn. It's the first time I've knitted with alpaca and I was a little surprised at its fuzziness. It is very light and very soft. It’s hard to see the colour in my photos but it’s a blend of charcoal and denim-blue. The Misti Alpaca website (from where I copied this photo) says the colorway  is “Ashes”.

When I finished knitting the shawl, I was very disappointed about how small it was but I forgot to allow for the magic of blocking. It is 140cm (4ft 8in) across the top and therefore quite a nice size now!

And I still have 48g of the 100g I started with!

still a bag lady!

Last week I showed you a small rectangle of linen stitch which was my preparation for a workshop held last Saturday at my local knitters’ guild.

The workshop was very well prepared and presented and obviously very inspiring since that little rectangle has now become this:

A fast and easy knit. I think the most tedious part was the linen stitch handle. I foresee some more of these in my future.

The bag even has my very first i-cord closure:

Thanks WM for modelling!

a knitted item!

Today is the monthly meeting of the Blue Mountains group of the Knitters' Guild of NSW and I am tutoring a workshop in no-sew grafting.

So I thought it would be a good idea to show some knitting!

Here is my baby wrap for Angels for the Forgotten. I started it in "feather and fan" (also known as "old shale") but I got bored so switched over to garter stitch.

It's interesting that the ball I started with on the left pooled but the ball which started the right side striped! Ah, the surprise of knitting with variegated yarns!

I knitted it in two pieces so the curves went the same way on both ends.

I thought the straight edges looked bland so I knitted two borders of feather and fan and grafted them on with no sewing - I used the method I will demonstrate in today's workshop. This is the same method I used to graft all 128 pieces of the Pinwheel Blanket.

I know there's a line across the middle (which hopefully is not too apparent to you). It happened because I grafted the wrong side with the right side so I have made a stocking stitch row where there should be a garter stitch row. I didn't notice it until I had grafted on the first side border. By then I had grafted 656 stitches so was reluctant to undo it and fix it.

Yes, I agree, it's not perfect but it doesn't affect the usability of the item and the baby won't care. In the end I decided that there was potential for disaster in trying to rip out the grafting and that my time is worth more than one line across a blanket. I could fake one in the other direction, but what would be the point?

a new project on the needles

I ran out of yarn to finish the pinwheel blanket (afghan)! I'm hoping WM can get some for me on his way home from work this afternoon.

Last night, I should have been grafting all the squares I have knitted but my head is still not clear (from my head cold) and I was having trouble seeing to pick up the stitches on the dark triangles!

Well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

A few posts ago, I mentioned a group called Angels for the Forgotten. They are trying to collect 1,000 baby blankets and 3,000 bags by the end of August. These items are given to "the forgotten" - children who are going into foster care. I want to help and have bought fabric to make some bags but don't feel well enough yet to sew.

Knitting is a different story - I can do that, even with my eyes closed. So, last night, I grabbed some 4ply (fingering) yarn and my 4mm (US 6) needles and cast on several times because in my dopey state I can't count!

After the fourth attempt, I had what I thought was 192 stitches. I knitted six rows for a border then began my modified "Feather and Fan" (aka Old Shale) pattern. I got twelve stitches from the end of the first row and realised I didn't have 192 stitches! I had 182. I had to unpick the whole row. Finally I did what I should have done in the first place - I went and got some stitch markers! I don't generally use stitch markers for such an easy lace pattern but my head is obviously thicker than I thought!!

Anyway, in case you are interested, here is my modified Feather and Fan pattern. I modified it so that baby's little fingers wouldn't get caught in the larger holes created by yarn-overs and it would be faster to knit having no purl rows.

Note: Pattern is done over a multiple of eighteen stitches. (my extra two stitches are now edging stitches - I was going to have a border of six stitches but I wasn't pulling all my knitting out and starting yet again).

Row 1: *K2tog 3 times, (M1, K1) 6 times, K2tog 3 times*, repeat from * to * till end of row
Rows 2-4: Knit

M1 = make 1; pick up thread between next two stitches from back to front and knit (this creates a small hole and doesn't twist the stitch)

And here is a photo of what I have done so far - not much, is it?

14 rows

new knitting book

After attending the Orenburg Lace workshop with Galina Khmeleva, I ordered this book from the Book Depository. It arrived last Friday - now I can knit lace (if I wasn't so sidetracked by this new quilting enthusiasm)!

"meat and potatoes" knitting

I have 'borrowed' the title of this post from a recent post on Bells' blog where she writes:

I've discovered something important. Lace, to me, feels like luxury knitting. It's not the meat and potatoes knitting that I need to do in order to feel productive.

In many ways, I agree with her. Especially with reference to fine yarns. Knitting lace-weight into a large object takes a lot of knitting hours. The finished object is beautiful and useful but somehow frothy [as lace should be]. Despite all the trials I had with the Myrtle Leaf Shawl, I still like knitting lace; I especially love the magic that comes with blocking.

Lace knitted with thicker yarn like the two baby blankets I've completed in the past few months is relatively quick and, in the case of these two, simple. The items are useful - at least I hope the two new mums are intending to use the items not just put them away for 'good'. Perhaps the thicker yarn and the simple pattern make it 'meat and potatoes' knitting?

I'm all for sweet treats; we crave them as much as we need the basics of meat and potatoes! Lace knitting is somehow special; to be successful we need to slow down and concentrate. It requires time in a "microwave and instant coffee" world! And how often do parents threaten their children with no dessert if they don't eat dinner? This proves that we want the sweet goodies [and not just as children]!

We knitters are so blessed that we can have both - the basic staples and the sweet treats! Having giving up the monogamy of my early knitting life, I [like many other knitters I know] have different kinds of knitting on the needles. One look at the progress bars in the side-bar will show you what I mean! Not to mention the items in my Queue and the UFOs in the "Waiting Room"! And the dozens of ideas in my mind for 'vegetables': the beanies, scarves and mittens that will make up most of my knitting this winter!

Soon, I'm off to work on my latest contribution to 'vegetables': the Twisted Moss Stitch beanie. But first a special welcome to Deniasha and Rell who've joined in the fun of a Winter of Textured Knitting. We're up to seven! Woo-hoo!! Can you tell I'm excited?

Some progress

Six repeats!

And then so tired I had to tink back several times - I think that means 'stop' for a while, don't you?

Psst...

...I've done three and a half repeats and I can't find any dropped stitches. I'm being extra careful with that K2 tog! I was tempted to turn it into SSK but have stuck with the pattern - why should I let lace get the better of me? And, no more TV [boo hoo - the tennis season is just starting]; it's talking books only for me - I won't be taking my eyes off that knitting for one single stitch!

Thanks to all who commented. I really appreciate your support. Perhaps if the stole was for me I'd have given up and knitted some easier pattern - one with a rest row on WS. But this is the one the Bride has chosen so this is the one she will have! Off to knit - truly, thank you all so much, your comments and support mean more than you know!

It's a Long Lacy Summer this year

to the tune of "On the Road to Gundagai" [apologies to overseas readers]

There's a blog, a web-log and it's calling loud and clear
It's a Long Lacy Summer this year.
The lace-weight will be flowing
The needles will be going
With life-lines to save the tears.
And a blogger nicknamed Bells will be waiting to see
What fantastic productions there are going to be
So no sweaters will I make
Give thicker yarn a break
We'll have a Long Lacy Summer this year.

copyright 2008 Lynne @ Too Hot to Knit? Never!

Lace weight yarn

A week ago I had none! Zip! Zilch! Nada! Still I joined A Long, Lacy
Summer. One can knit lace without knitting lace-weight, yes?

On Saturday DD and I went, as usual on the third Saturday of the month, to Knitters' Guild. This month should have been no different; no alarm bells were ringing. In fact, we were having no workshop, just spinning for anyone who wanted to try this mysterious form of fibre art! [Not me, baby, pedalling that thing causes pain in my knee. Besides, why go all the way to a Guild meeting when a spinning wheel lives in my house - albeit only for another fifteen weeks or so?]. What made this Saturday different was the retail member invited for the afternoon - Virgina Farm Woolworks. They sell fleece and spinning wheels [that's where DD got hers] and dyes and ... you get the idea! But this week, they had lace weight yarn - merino - in an off-white, ivory colour. Guess who has an ivory wedding dress? Guess who wants mum to knit a lace stole in fourteen weeks? So, yes, two skeins of Artisan lace weight merino in ivory came home with us.

On the Knit4Charities message board I read that Tapestry Craft was having a sale - a minimum of 30% off everything. The sale commenced on Saturday 18th October. Since we were already going into the city for "My Fair Lady" we stopped in for a visit - and I'm glad we did. I bought DD's Christmas present - it's what I had always intended to buy her, it was just a pity she was there with me! WM bought me a new wool winder - I don't know if it's a Christmas present so perhaps I shouldn't be saying anything. *sh*

Out of character, on a whim, I bought myself two skeins of Filatura di Crosa Centolavaggi lace weight merino. Those of you who've been reading my blog for a while would know that I generally knit for charity in inexpensive [some would say 'cheap'] yarns and rarely buy more expensive yarn - not for me or anyone else. But I fell in love with the colour and softness of the purple skein and bought the white one to dye a colour I'd like some time in the future [when I know what that colour will be]. In the meantime, I need to look through my lace books and see what the yarn wants to become!! *drool*

And, as if that wasn't enough, yesterday I got home from work to find a package addressed to me [packages don't often arrive here and rarely for me]. This was from Deb - I had won the prize in her Blogiversary draw. Guess what it is? Yeah, don't be smart - what colour? What brand?

I wasn't going to open the package, I was going to wait for DD to come home and share the joy and excitement but, heck no, she was out with her fiance and I was at home alone and feeling a bit down. I opened the package. I read the card. I put my hand into the post pack and felt what was in there - soft, smooshy, squishy, yummy! I pulled it out. A skein of Re Fa Baruffa - pure wool merino laceweight! Thanks, Deb, I love it!

From nix to five skeins in four days! I think this summer was meant to be for lace knitting - whee-hee!!