DAY 11: Something Blue
Lorna's Laces Shepherd Sock in "Devon"
DAY 12: Sunset
A lack of actual sun forced me to get creative!
DAY 13: Yourself With 13 Things
1: Mandala, 2: Swan Lake, 3: Bitterroot, 4: Cracktus, 5: Clapotis, 6: Aestlight, 7: Lune, 8: Clapotis, 9: Flowing Rivers/Moss Shawl, 10: Lotus Blossom, 11: Citron, 12: Summer Mystery Shawl, 13: Aestlight
This is the face of someone who is pleased with their work!
Pattern: Taygete by Romi from 7 Small Shawls to Knit; Year One: The Pleiades [My Ravelry Project Page]
as my mother would say when I handed her a plate of my early “cookery”.
WARNING! ‘ERE BE SPOILERS!!!
See? Spoilers!
If you’re knitting the “Laceless” shawl from Strange Knits the following post contains photographs of a border. A lace-less border. Knit (!) in sock-weight yarn. In two colours. You’ll have to contain your own excitement.
Nb: This post has been ready to go since last Monday but between a birthday to celebrate, a rather unexpected consequence of my antibiotics and obtaining a new washing machine I just haven’t had the motivation to upload and edit some photos! I’m also scrabbling to catch up on other people’s blogs. Everyone on stand-by!
I think one of the most important abilities as a crafter is knowing when to give something up as a bad job.
I decided that I would never wear a chunky-weight, black raglan jumper with a boat-neck which rolled. I would, however, wear a long-line chunky-weight waistcoat with pockets!
Exit: Weekend Pullover.
Wave bye-bye!
Enter: Rooibos! (roy-boss)
Left front and start of back
Well, since it’s black and not red let us call it Swartbos (black bush, svart-boss).
I’ve retained the hood of the sweater intact because I may add it to the waistcoat once it’s finished (keeping it detachable as it was in the Weekend Sweater).
At 12 sts to 10 cm, this is not a slow knit! I finished the left front in 3 days while working on other craft projects.
The spinning is progressing (nothing worth showing) as are my three shawls. No, that’s not a mistake! Alongside Taygete and Sakaki, I’ve cast on for the 2011 Anniversary Mystery Shawl from Goddessknits (Yahoo Group now closed so the link is to Ravelry).
Not a great shot! Halfway through clue 1
The yarn I’m using is from ilLOOMinated Yarns and is dyed using walnuts! As evidenced by this photo, I can confirm that this is a truly natural product! This is what sloughed off when I was winding the yarn.
Nuts!!!
The yarn is more of a cobweb than a true lace weight so when blocked this shawl will be very delicate and feather-light. Can’t wait!
And of course Wendy has started a mystery KAL for sock-weight small shawl and …. well, let’s just say I like scarves and I have a lot of sock yarn!
How I keep track of the various decreases
Orange = SSK, Green = K2tog, Pink = double decrease
and where I was as of yesterday evening:
SPOILERS! 
Don’t like that pun? How about:
Ship to Shawl?
No?
Fair point.
Thanks for the comments on my three-FOs-in-formation posts. I’m really glad I’d drafted them earlier because I’ve had one heck of a week health-wise (see tl;dr at end of post).
So, in between feeling sorry for myself and having things stuffed into my ears, what have I been up to?
Spinning and then winding yarn off my spindle.
Snazzy, huh? Think I can market it?
Like my high-tech solution? Mini M&M tube supplied by H3Dakota. Mysteriously the chocolate didn’t survive long after arriving. :strokes chin: Curious…
I mentioned in my last ordinary-service post about starting two shawls designed by Romi. Well, I have done!
First up is Sakaki (the shawl in support/memory of the Japan earthquake and tsunami) using Mean Girls Yarn Club Run Amok (merino sock yarn)
This is not as mindless as it looks because there are short rows and lace and texture and a pico edging and …. So I’ve not made as much progress on it as my second shawl.
Never mind the quality, feel the texture!
Second is Taygete (in another MGYC called Baby Melter and Xen’s Capability):
The full stretch so far
Hmm…. stripes …
Right side, wrong side, right side!
Both yarns are merino/cashmere/nylon so there’s a very soft halo to the finished fabric. Yummy!
tl;dr
Lets keep this brief since I’m sure you’re all as bored of my ears as I am but Sunday I collapsed (in an elegant way, I might add) probably due to low blood sugar, Monday I had headache all day (unusual for me), Tuesday was very bad and I had a full-on M.E.-crash and Wednesday I had my right ear stuffed with iodine-soaked ribbon gauze. Less fun than it sounds.
I’m now on a 1-a-day antibiotic (scary!) which warns you against going out in the sun lest you get a rash. Typical.
I’ll be back after the double-bank-holiday-I’m-trying-to-pretend-isn’t-happening, hopefully with some more shawl progress!
