The Swallowtail has been a total hit - it's a gorgeous color, the perfect size for me, and people love looking it over and checking out those nupps in the lily in the valley section.
And of course, I'm now thinking what other lovely lace shawl to start next! I'm thinking something similar in size, probably another triangle. I was pretty doubtful of the shape at first finishing it, but the more I wear it the better I like having the little tails to wrap around my shoulders and neck, to tuck in and keep the whole thing in place.
I have two skeins of Ecco Cashmere given me by my lovely aunt, in a natural white, and I also have two skeins of beautiful Curious Creek Wasonga sock yarn in Toto (black/grey) and Ruby Slippers (bright, bright reds). I'd love to do something fun and cheerful - would I be nuts to do another Swallowtail? The red deserves a very lively pattern, and I think I'd wear something made from that quite a lot as a colorful counterpoint to my black jacket and dark jeans self-imposed uniform.
Others I've found in my Ravelry searches include the Shetland Triangle, Ene's Scarf, Fountain Pen Shawl...
Or maybe a small Wing O' The Moth in that black and grey would be just perfect and moody. Hmmm.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Thursday, July 16, 2009
swallowtail
I've finally completed a triangular lace shawl! My first, the Swallowtail Shawl by Evelyn A. Clark. What a beauty. I used Malabrigo sock, in the colorway Lettuce, which I bought from Eat.Sleep.Knit in my first purchase from them (but not my last!). I didn't find the nupps too hard, but I was definitely using the wrong needles. Someday I'll have a set of pointy lace needles in every size up to about a US7, and my life will be complete.
Things are going well out here, we had a lovely barbeque on Saturday to celebrate T's birthday. The weather wasn't the best, but we pulled out the propane heater, braved the overcast clouds, and ate more than our fair share of meat, quite a lot of which was smoked all day in one of our TWO smokers! Pork shoulder, beef shoulder, 5 racks of ribs, brisket, a dozen sausages, and 6 pork tenderloins... and that's just what we made at the house. More ribs, burgers, sausages, and various dishes arrived with our guests, not to mention the cookies and cupcakes. Mmmm. We drank beer, tequila, and Pimm's Cups and made merry for quite a while. Great day, and a very happy birthday!
We also have the lovely Bailey back with us for a little while. I'm working with her every day on her leash skills - she's 6, so she's a little calmer and quicker to tire out, and that makes it so much easier to teach her. It's really fun and we have a great time together. Today we conquered a local hill, very steep, I could feel my shin muscles tugging right off their bones. Tuesday night though we went to the beach, all together, and it was just heaven.
Things are going well out here, we had a lovely barbeque on Saturday to celebrate T's birthday. The weather wasn't the best, but we pulled out the propane heater, braved the overcast clouds, and ate more than our fair share of meat, quite a lot of which was smoked all day in one of our TWO smokers! Pork shoulder, beef shoulder, 5 racks of ribs, brisket, a dozen sausages, and 6 pork tenderloins... and that's just what we made at the house. More ribs, burgers, sausages, and various dishes arrived with our guests, not to mention the cookies and cupcakes. Mmmm. We drank beer, tequila, and Pimm's Cups and made merry for quite a while. Great day, and a very happy birthday!
We also have the lovely Bailey back with us for a little while. I'm working with her every day on her leash skills - she's 6, so she's a little calmer and quicker to tire out, and that makes it so much easier to teach her. It's really fun and we have a great time together. Today we conquered a local hill, very steep, I could feel my shin muscles tugging right off their bones. Tuesday night though we went to the beach, all together, and it was just heaven.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Baby knits ahoy! I've jumped right into the baby knits for the year, considering there are at least 3 children on the way just in my small circle of friends and family. I got a couple balls of Shine Sport for those parents who need a machine wash, machine dry yarn, and a few of GGH Maxima for those who can do the air dry thing. I'm also looking over my quilting fabrics and considering attempting a cute crib quilt... maybe one of those broken nine patches that have become a trend lately.
First up, though, is a pretty purple February Baby Sweater. Can't go wrong with that. I'm about to sit down and watch the Formula One race from this weekend, and knit!
Friday, June 5, 2009
Holy cow! I am a lucky girl this week. First I was among some folks who won a draw at Mim Knits, celebrating Miriam's birthday and the release and re-release of some of her fabulous designs (her new Nefertiti wrap... mmmmm, I have not the words). And just now, I scratched off the little Lotto ticket included in my recent Eat.Sleep.Knit order (delicious Shibui sock and Malabrigo sock)... and it looks like I won a $100 credit! Whaaaaaaat?
Suffice to say this is a great start to summer. Happy June, indeed! Thanks to Miriam and Erin for offering such awesome rewards to their customers and fans.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
molly
Whoops, I've gotten behind! Things have been quite busy for me here; this weekend included a lot of family time which was fun and hectic. Sunday we had a mother's day brunch thing at my boyfriend's brother's place, and that was really nice. T's other brother brought his new puppy, who is a ~4 month old Boston Terrier, totally incorrigible. She's a kick and never stops moving! We hung out on the couch eating waffles and frittata, lots of fruit, blueberry crumble.... delicious. Here's little Molly, in motion as usual. This is one of my experiments with actions, I think this one came from Totally Rad Actions, and I think it's pretty fun. It definitely gives a nice summertime saturation flavor, which is appropriate seeing as how this was a lovely hot day.
We went straight from there to my brother's house for a housewarming / birthday celebration. I turned 30 last week so we combined my bday with their wonderful new home, and had friends and family over to help celebrate it all. It was a gorgeous day, very hot and sunny, though their house is directly across from the Golden Gate so quite a bit of nice ocean breeze makes it over the water to them. We had two toddlers in attendance, one 17 months old and the other 19 months, who were just besotted with each other - walked after the other saying, "baby!", gave lemons from the yard back and forth to each other, traded lots of hugs! Both are white blonde, blue eyed babes and it was quite a match. I have some pictures, but hesitate to put snaps of other people's children online.... so you'll just have to use your imagination.
We went straight from there to my brother's house for a housewarming / birthday celebration. I turned 30 last week so we combined my bday with their wonderful new home, and had friends and family over to help celebrate it all. It was a gorgeous day, very hot and sunny, though their house is directly across from the Golden Gate so quite a bit of nice ocean breeze makes it over the water to them. We had two toddlers in attendance, one 17 months old and the other 19 months, who were just besotted with each other - walked after the other saying, "baby!", gave lemons from the yard back and forth to each other, traded lots of hugs! Both are white blonde, blue eyed babes and it was quite a match. I have some pictures, but hesitate to put snaps of other people's children online.... so you'll just have to use your imagination.
Monday, April 27, 2009
up
What a weekend. On Saturday, we saw the premiere of the movie that Thomas has been working so hard on for the last 3+ years. I'd managed to avoid almost any information about Up, and I'm glad I did. What an amazing picture! Bring your hankies and the person you love the most in the world, because you're going to want to squeeze them very tightly when you see it.
We got to watch it in the beautiful, historic Paramount Theater in Oakland, and if I thought that would be hard to top, we then walked a couple blocks over to the even more beautiful, recently restored Fox Theater. Incredible. I'm so glad to see downtown Oakland getting a few of its gems back in working order. It was awfully strange to walk in this parade of fancy dressed-up party people through sketchy-ass Oakland, though, with police and private security standing between us and the street. We felt kind of like wildebeest. With broken ankles. Don't make me run!
The party at the Fox was fun; big band swing when we got there, DJs later; food and big bars (with short waits, hoorah). We got stuck in one room for most of the night, and it actually worked out great - people kept coming by and would stop to talk, so I got to see so many of my friends and congratulate all the folks who worked on the movie. They should be so, so proud. Those folks really set the bar. After most of our chatting, we finally made our way to the dance floor, where all hell broke loose. All I can say is there was some doing of the robot, some break dancing, and a whole lot of hip-thrusting, jacket-swinging, steam-letting-off.
We got to watch it in the beautiful, historic Paramount Theater in Oakland, and if I thought that would be hard to top, we then walked a couple blocks over to the even more beautiful, recently restored Fox Theater. Incredible. I'm so glad to see downtown Oakland getting a few of its gems back in working order. It was awfully strange to walk in this parade of fancy dressed-up party people through sketchy-ass Oakland, though, with police and private security standing between us and the street. We felt kind of like wildebeest. With broken ankles. Don't make me run!
The party at the Fox was fun; big band swing when we got there, DJs later; food and big bars (with short waits, hoorah). We got stuck in one room for most of the night, and it actually worked out great - people kept coming by and would stop to talk, so I got to see so many of my friends and congratulate all the folks who worked on the movie. They should be so, so proud. Those folks really set the bar. After most of our chatting, we finally made our way to the dance floor, where all hell broke loose. All I can say is there was some doing of the robot, some break dancing, and a whole lot of hip-thrusting, jacket-swinging, steam-letting-off.
Sunday was great too; I booked an extra night at the hotel room so that we wouldn't have to get up at any particular time, and so I could drop Thomas off at work Monday without having to drive home and then back again. I miss Berkeley/North Oakland so much sometimes; we walked a lot and there was so much to walk to - local bakery, Peet's Coffee, and then Wood Tavern for dinner on Sunday afternoon. The walks were a real highlight of our stay. We were delighted by all the trees, by the different architecture in every single house, by the gardens that were obviously so planned and loved (and a few that weren't, but still somehow had a beauty and proliferation that's unusual in our neighborhood). It was the perfect temperature, sunny and maybe 68, with a tiny breeze. We had debated bringing our bikes, or Thomas's at least, since Tunnel Road is a perfect loop for a nice little ride. In the end we went with the lazy, rejuvenating rest option. Delicious.
Monday, April 13, 2009
cowl bandwagon
I finally got with it, as far as "with it" goes in the knitting community, and made a cowl. I promptly gave it away, but here I was yesterday, binding off my newest lace shawl to make a short little cowl for myself.
The woodland shawl pattern as written out by Nikol Lohr is really simple and lovely. I can see it being used in a lot of different knit garments. Here it is all laid out in its blocking glory, held tight by welding wires. All I have to do now is decide whether to seam, or add buttons.
Yarn is Dream In Color - Smooshy, colorway Strange Harvest. I was fondling it at Purlescence when the evil, evil Jasmin told me the following:
"Oh... that color! It looks so good on you! You are one of three people I know on this planet who can wear that color so well."
I never had a chance.
I've also started this - Queen Silvia, from the incredible Knitted Lace of Estonia. I've just gotten through the first repeat and I am loving it much more than I expected. I started the project as a challenge to myself. I've been looking for things to do that will work my brain, and somehow playing Scrabble on Facebook just wasn't serving all my needs (plus, I kept getting my ass handed to me). Working through this stitch pattern in a swatch was addictive - watching the tiny little stitches line up over and over is still magic to me, and in lace it's even better. Instant gratification, as long as you're gratified by a few rows at a time.
This is working up relatively small, which I'm happy about, since I'm on the short end of the bell curve. Knit on Addi lace needles, out of Yarn Place Gentle (only 5% cashmere but I swear I can feel it).
The woodland shawl pattern as written out by Nikol Lohr is really simple and lovely. I can see it being used in a lot of different knit garments. Here it is all laid out in its blocking glory, held tight by welding wires. All I have to do now is decide whether to seam, or add buttons.
Yarn is Dream In Color - Smooshy, colorway Strange Harvest. I was fondling it at Purlescence when the evil, evil Jasmin told me the following:
"Oh... that color! It looks so good on you! You are one of three people I know on this planet who can wear that color so well."
I never had a chance.
I've also started this - Queen Silvia, from the incredible Knitted Lace of Estonia. I've just gotten through the first repeat and I am loving it much more than I expected. I started the project as a challenge to myself. I've been looking for things to do that will work my brain, and somehow playing Scrabble on Facebook just wasn't serving all my needs (plus, I kept getting my ass handed to me). Working through this stitch pattern in a swatch was addictive - watching the tiny little stitches line up over and over is still magic to me, and in lace it's even better. Instant gratification, as long as you're gratified by a few rows at a time.
This is working up relatively small, which I'm happy about, since I'm on the short end of the bell curve. Knit on Addi lace needles, out of Yarn Place Gentle (only 5% cashmere but I swear I can feel it).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
