Lace update

As the title suggests, there really isn't much to see on this blog lately. I've been plugging away on my Grandma's shawl and have begun Chart D (it goes through chart G). I'm really starting to feel the growth of the shawl now because I don't think I can get through more than 3 or 4 rows in an HOUR! And this is what I have to look at for my rewards...
Not exactly tempting, I know. I'm also a little concerned that the 100% wool characteristic of the yarn will not make a very friendly shawl. The swatch is kind of stiff and it's not particularly cozy. I've told myself that if I finish the thing and it's not something I would want to wrap around myself I'll have to scrap it and try to make something else out of the yarn.

On another note, I have here a picture of the new stitch markers that I bought at the LYS last week. Quite cute!
And finally, I have a picture of my finished scarf.
It was a fast knit with three strands, I'm estimating about 5 hours! I actually enjoyed this knitting, as much as I could with it being a scarf anyway, and plan to CO for the afghan using this pattern. Cross your fingers that I'll actually be able to finish the darn thing!

And one more tasty tidbit, I've ordered some more of Abby's yarn! Can't wait for this gorgeous blue to come! Of course I'll have to put a hold on my own blue socks until I finish the ones my mom has asked for.... I did start sort of looking for a pattern the other day...

Link Happy

This past week I've spent a lot of time on Ravelry queuing up patterns and making plans for my stash, I thought I'd post here to bring the blog up to date and so I don't forget what I planned!

I've frogged that boring brown garter stitch scarf because I know it was never going to get done. I had planned to use the Yarn Harlot's One Row scarf as a new pattern. It will be easier enough to remember and work on when I can't put all my attention on the scarf, but should draw me in enough to make me want to finish it. Now that I've been working on my sister's scarf with the yarn doubled and the bigger needles I think that even that might be a possibility. Another thing, I found a matching ball of yarn to the more tweedy one and might be able to include that as well.

I haven't touched the afghan since I last posted a finished repeat over a week ago. It's just too involved for me to make any significant progress on it and I think the overwhelming size is impeding my progress. I was really enjoying the Lotus Blossom shawl: the pattern and the end result are AWESOME. Then I found this pattern and I think that this could be a real contender for a do-able afghan. Another thought I've been having recently, my sister's garter stitch scarf is SOO squishy that maybe I could just do that for an afghan. However, I'm already pretty bored with the scarf and can't imagine finishing an entire afghan in that stitch. Maybe the Yarn Harlot's One Row scarf would be good for an afghan?

I've decided on a pattern for my Cabernet socks: another Yarn Harlot original, the Earl Grey socks. I found some GORGEOUS examples on Ravelry of some longer socks and in some pretty colors, here for those Ravelrous readers, that really sparked my lust. I know that I wanted some simple socks in a fairly solid colorway and I think that this might be them! I've even been feeling some inklings of having them finished in time to show off for Christmas... that might be laughable, but I'm going to give it a shot! I'm hoping for some GREAT stitch definition on those cables.

Late post.

Sorry for the late post, I sat down with my cup of tea at 2:30 to write but got distracted when the doorbell rang and this showed up:
and this:
Michael's chanukah gift to me. Needless to say I had to play with it a little:
That's Oriri Draco's yarn that she sent me a while ago. I kept telling myself that Christmas knitting was coming soon and that I should wait to get started on these until I had a ball winder and some time. WELL.... the yarn for the Christmas knitting still hasn't shown up and I got the ball winder... The cake is currently sitting on the coffee table awaiting a weak moment in my knitting emotions to pounce on a pair of needles for some toe up pomatomi.

Well that winding went so well and the end result was so yummy I decided to keep playing; two hours later and one pair of the devil's socks less I had this:
That one big one on the bottom left is what the whole thing started with. Everything else is some handspun that I tried to knit up into socks. The going was well until I realized that I'm not very good at colorwork, especially in the round when the end result should be stretchy. I'm not sure how I ended up with all those little balls of grey because I have a GORGEOUS picture of the finished yarn skeined up into one big one...

Anyway, I found some great Kelly green glass beads at... you'd never had guessed.. Hobby Lobby! I wracked my brain and Google trying to find nearby yarn stores that had good bead selections, then it was nearby bead stores. Those 'nearby' bead stores were at least 45 minutes out of my way and in places I don't normally go. Then... ( I finally came back to reality) I called my LYS for suggestions and they recommended a bead store in town. I went there, as well as another place down the street with no luck. They had nice bead selections but were geared more towards jewelry with higher prices and fewer beads. While I was out doing some Christmas shopping yesterday I saw Hobby Lobby and thought I'd give them a shot because I seemed to remember a better stock of beads than at Joanns. I'm SOO glad I did! I got what I believe will be MORE than enough beads for 8 bucks! They were having a 50% off sale on all Czech glass beads and had just the right color and size for my project.
I came home, ripped back to the appropriate row and got to beading right away:
(I think the picture is a little better if you biggify) I'm VERY happy with the result and finally feel like I can commit to the pattern enough so that it can be finished in time for the wedding. Then I'll decide if I should wear it :)

And, since I mentioned it yesterday, here is a picture of the scarf. I'm at a little over a foot.
And one last picture of unblocked lace.

Beaded Lily of the Valley!

Today I FINALLY found some beads! And you'll never guess where! I've been working a lot on the Lotus Blossom shawl and that darned brown scarf so there really hasn't been much in the way of blog fodder. However, I plan to work on the Lily shawl with my new beads tonight and give you a full update (with pictures) tomorrow while it's storming it up outside. :)

Beaded Lily of the Valley?

I haven't been knitting on my shawl at all lately because I have this nagging thought at the back of my head that I should replace the nupps with beads. I've looked all over google, ravelry, and flickr but haven't found anyone else who has recorded this change in their pattern so I've been nervous to make the switch. Until today. I decided that I can't knit the shawl up and wear it for the wedding if I'm going to keep having these nagging thoughts. I went to Joann's today with high hopes of finding some suitable beads. I'm not sure where these thoughts came from because when I got there they had a very limited selection and almost nothing that would match the shawl. I am still beadless and trying to plan a trip to a bead store some time soon (read: this weekend) so that I can put this nagging feeling to rest.

I'm hesitant to buy the beads online because I know absolutely nothing about bead sizing and what it means in relation to yarn. I plan on crocheting the beads onto the garment and this doubles the size of the yarn coming through the hole. Does anybody have any suggestions? I'm working with Bambu-7 yarn on size 7 needles.

I was having a lot of trouble with the saxon braid that runs through the middle of the green afghan I'm working on. I was trying to interpret all the written descriptions of the stitches into a chart but that just wasn't happening. Then, I found that Eunny had used this exact braid in a cable tutorial! The afghan is moving along smoothly now, I've got a full repeat done:


This year my sister and I decided to try something new for christmas gifts. She picked out some yarn that she liked and a hat pattern, then bought enough yarn for the hat and a scarf and gave it to me. The plan is to have a finished set of a hat and a scarf to give to her for Christmas... so far the yarn has not gotten to her house... I'm really starting to feel the crunch. I was planning on using those two projects as 'commute and at work' knitting because of their apparent portability. The other day I was thinking that I really could use a scarf because I have yet to knit one for myself. I dug through my stash and found two mismatched balls of brown yarn and thought that they were close enough to create some subtle striping in a scarf.

I've reserved this project for only while I'm away from home and just got started on it on Sunday night, this is what I have to show for it:
Probably around 6 or 7 inches.... just something to keep my hands busy at work while waiting for a procedure to finish.

This last Saturday Michael and I had plans with another couple to go up the mountain and bring home our first Christmas tree... We were all ready to go at 8 am and piled in the car with our blankets and layers and knitting... Driving down the road, we maxed at 20mph because the world decided to become one solid sheet of ice overnight. Within two blocks of our starting point we had seen 2 accidents involving at least 5 cars and they weren't just little fender benders. We are talking full on body repair work because the drivers didn't understand the severity of the ice. Needless to say, we did not continue our trek up the mountain and succumbed to buying our tree from a roadside lot.. Not that exciting but it sure is nice to have a fresh tree this year

*Please remember that you can always click on the image to see a bigger, clearer version!