Still more doilies

I love these things!  I am mastering the crochet chain edging, too!  This doily is Egeblad, knit in DMC Baroque crochet cotton on 00 needles.

I have picked another doily pattern so that I always have one on needles, because I enjoy them so much.

A new love -- knit doilies

Just finished and blocked my first knit doily, the Swirl Leaf doily.  It's been knit for quite some time, but I never sat down with a teeny-tiny crochet hook to crochet the picot edging.  Finally bit the bullet, and other than being time consuming (88 loops of 7-stitch chains) it wasn't that bad.  I have all my grandmother's teeny-tiny crochet hooks, that I thought I would never use when I got them but just wanted them for the sentiment, but they came in handy.

Knit with Aunt Lydia's Crochet 10 thread, using a 00 needle.  The instructions called for DPN, but there was no way I was doing that, so I just used the Turkish cast-on and went to town.  It measures 13" across.  While I was knitting, I kept saying, "My fingertips hurt so bad from pushing stitches off those very pointy needles.  Never again."  But apparently not, because I have the Egeblad doily on needles, and am on my way.

Amazing what $6 in fiber will get you!

On my last trip to the Brown Sheep factory, I got almost a pound of 85% wool, 15% mohair roving to spin up.  My latest post was to show the fingering weight I spun up with most of the fiber.  Last night I spun up the rest of the pink.  The fiber was $6.50 per pound, so I guess I spent about $6, and here's what I turned my investment into:

 
The chunky turned out to be 116 yards of a chunky yarn.  Just right, I think, for a nice warm hat, maybe with cables..... hmmmm

I am searching Ravelry for "rose" or "pink" in shawl names, to pick out a pattern for the fingering weight.  So far the finalists are: Rose Fragrance (calls for laceweight), In the Pink (calls for fingering), Campanula in Pink (calls for DK) and Rose Garden Shawl (calls for DK).  Obviously there will be some swatching happening before a final decision is made.  The construction of In the Pink fascinates me, so it is the heavy favorite right now.

Spinning -- it's not just for health clubs anymore!

I have been bitten by the spinning bug in the last couple of weeks.  I obtained some roving (wool/mohair blend) from Brown Sheep factory, put on my lace flyer, and went to town.  About 8 or 9 ounces of fiber turned into about 640 yards of laceweight or light fingering yarn.  I can't wait to decide on a shawl for this fiber.  I still have about 5 or 6 ounces of this left, so I will probably spin that to a worsted weight for a cowl.

(When snow is all you have for an outdoors backdrop for your picture, that's what you use.  It snowed a foot in Cheyenne Sunday and Monday, and a foot at our house in Fairplay Colorado during the same time period.)

I also picked up at Cowgirl Yarns, my favorite Wyoming LYS, 3 ounces of llama fiber, locally produced in Laramie.  I sat down and spun it Thursday evening, then plied it Monday night while watching "24 - Live Another Day."  (Great show, BTW.  It was a stroke of genius to let it sit for a few years.)  Anyway, here's what became of the 3 ounces of fiber.  It took a while to spin, because I had to stop and remove vegetable matter quite often.

 I tried to spin and ply this a little more loosely than I tend to normally, because it is such a fuzzy fiber that I don't want to lose that property.

I haven't yet decided what it wants to be.  Since there are only 200 yards of it in fingering weight, it probably will become some sort of scarf or cowl.

  
Stay tuned for my next spinning adventure -- superwash yarn to spin to fingering weight for socks.  Wish me luck!

Do I ever stop knitting lace?

and the answer is NO!  I found this pattern, Greek Revival Shawl, and fell in love with it.  I knitted it in Louisa Harding Jasmine yarn, a cotton/bamboo/silk yarn with flecks of silver thread.  I was torn in the choice of fiber, since cotton doesn't block easily to show off the pattern, but I wanted something with some weight to it for cool evenings when a lightweight wool shawl is not enough.  I had 3 yards left from the 535 yards I started with.  I was not able to finish the complete shawl, but there was enough to the body to go around the shoulders, so I felt justified in finishing it off.  I think it might be too heavy if I had made it as deep as the pattern called for.  On the pattern model, it goes down to about the backs of her knees, and that was a bit too much for me in the cotton.  I enjoyed the knit enough that I might do it again in a lighter yarn and complete the entire pattern.

Trying new yarns

One of the best things about being a knitter is the opportunity to branch out to new techniques and new fibers.  I was gifted a kit when I went on the tour of Brown Sheep factory in Mitchell NE on MLK day.  I had no idea who would get this set after I finished it (and I still don't) but I really enjoyed knitting with the Lana Boucle yarn.  It is 100% wool, and has a spring you don't often find in boucles, which tend to just get caught on other bumps in the boucle, and I don't find it enjoyable to knit with them.  The kit included 5 skeins (180 yards each) and I have enough of the 3 different colors to knit a hat to go along with the scarf and gauntlets.  I am looking for a hat pattern with the same ruffly brim as the other pieces, and will add the hat to the collection for a complete set.

So thank you Linda for the kit, and I will find the right person to enjoy the finished products.

Sad day, happy day

Last week my favorite LYS closed their doors after 8 years in business.  Rhonda and Diane at Prairie Wind Fiber and Beads are moving on to other stages of their lives.  That is the sad part.  The happy part is that all their yarn was 40% off, needles and notions were 30% off, and beads and beading accessories were 25% off.  So I spent more than I should have, but came away with lots of good stuff.  I got enough bookmarks and cross charms to make bookmarks for all the women in my Bible study group.  I also got 3 hanks of neutral shade Ella Rae laceweight yarn to try some yarn-painting, along with 4 colors of jacquard dye to use for the project; 3 pairs of fixed circular needles; and 8 balls of a really soft pima cotton/alpaca blend yarn for some special project.  All in all, a pretty good haul.

Goodbye Rhonda and Diane.  Good luck with all that goes on with you in the future.